PERIYAR IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS 6-JANUARY-2018
Paper 2:
Topic: Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.
Council
for Trade Development and Promotion
Context: Shri
Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry recently chaired the
3rd meeting of the Council for Trade Development and Promotion.
About
the Council for Trade Development and Promotion:
The
Council for Trade Development and Promotion was constituted in July 2015 under
the chairpersonship of the Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, in
pursuance to the provisions of Foreign Trade Policy statement 2015-20.
Objective: The
objective was to ensure a continuous dialogue with the governments of states
and Union Territories on measures for providing an international trade enabling
environment in the states and to create a framework for making the states
active partners in boosting India’s exports.
Composition: The
State Ministers of Commerce and Industry, Secretaries of concerned central
departments/Ministries and heads of other export related organizations/trade
bodies are Members of the Council.
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Topic:
Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.
Central
Water Commission
Context: Central
Water Commission has received Central Board of Irrigation and Power (CBIP)
Special Recognition Award 2018 for Excellence in Health & Safety of Large
Dams.
The
award has been given in recognition of the contribution made by the Central
Water Commission (CWC) for promoting the health and safety of large dams in
India through the World Bank aided Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project
(DRIP).
About
DRIP:
The
Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR), Government of India, with assistance from
the World Bank, is implementing the DAM REHABILITATION AND IMPROVEMENT PROJECT
(DRIP), which would be a six-year project. The Central Dam Safety Organisation
of Central Water Commission, assisted by a Consulting firm, is coordinating and
supervising the Project implementation.
Goals: The
project originally envisaged the rehabilitation and improvement of about 223
dams within four states namely, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Tamil Nadu
and later Karnataka, Uttarakhand (UNVNL) and Jharkhand (DVC) joined DRIP and total
number of dams covered under DRIP increased to 250. The project will also
promote new technologies and improve Institutional capacities for dam safety
evaluation and implementation at the Central and State levels and in some
identified premier academic and research institutes of the country.
The
project development objectives of DRIP are: (i)
to improve the safety and performance of selected existing dams and associated
appurtenances in a sustainable manner, and (ii) to strengthen the dam safety
institutional setup in participating states as well as at central level.
Facts
for Prelims:
About
CWC: Central Water Commission is a premier Technical Organization of India in
the field of Water Resources and is presently functioning as an attached office
of the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation,
Government of India.
Functions:
The Commission is entrusted with the general responsibilities of initiating,
coordinating and furthering in consultation of the State Governments concerned,
schemes for control, conservation and utilization of water resources throughout
the country, for purpose of Flood Control, Irrigation, Navigation, Drinking
Water Supply and Water Power Development. It also undertakes the
investigations, construction and execution of any such schemes as required.
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Topic:
Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services
relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
H5
Avian Influenza
Context: An
outbreak of H5 Avian Influenza has been reported from Dasarahalli village from
Bengaluru Urban District in Karnataka. On the directions of the Centre, the
Karnataka Government has notified the outbreak and initiated the control and
containment operations.
A
central team of Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries
comprising of two experts has been deputed to Bengaluru for overseeing the
operation and to assist the State Government.
Avian
influenza or Bird flu:
Avian
influenza, commonly called bird flu, is an infectious viral disease of birds
with a tendency of causing large-scale outbreaks of serious disease. Although
most influenza viruses do not infect humans, A(H5N1) and A(H7N9) have caused
serious infections in people.
Symptoms: Fever,
cough, sore throat, muscle, body aches, nausea can lead to severe breathing
problems, pneumonia, and acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Treatment: Human
infections with bird flu viruses usually can be treated with the same
prescription drugs that are used to treat human seasonal flu viruses.
Risk
factors involved: According to WHO, a few A(H5N1)
human cases have been linked to consumption of dishes made of raw, contaminated
poultry blood. However, slaughter, handling carcasses of the infected poultry,
and preparing poultry for daily consumption in households are likely to be risk
factors.
Sources:
the hindu.
Topic:
Indian diaspora.
ASEAN
India Pravasi Bharatiya
Context: The
annual ASEAN India Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is being celebrated at Singapore.
The conference, which will be attended by top leaders and businessmen from
Singapore and India, will discuss the contribution of the Indian diaspora
community in Southeast Asia.
Aim
of the event: To highlight the “ancient
human, maritime, cultural, commercial and religious links between India and
Southeast Asia” and to promote greater economic, cultural and diplomatic
cooperation between the two regions.
Theme: “Ancient
Route, New Journey: Diaspora in the Dynamic Asean-India Partnership.”
Significance
of the event:
The
event coincides with the 25th anniversary of India-Asean dialogue partnership,
which will be marked by a summit on Jan. 25 in New Delhi. Asean leaders have
been invited by India to be chief guests at the Republic Day parade in New
Delhi on Jan. 26.
About
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas:
Pravasi
Bharatiya Divas (PBD) is celebrated every year on January 9 to mark the
contribution of overseas Indian community in the development of India. January
9 was chosen as the day to celebrate this occasion since it was on this day in
1915 that Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest Pravasi, returned to India from South
Africa, led India’s freedom struggle and changed the lives of Indians forever.
These
conventions provide a platform to the overseas Indian community to engage with
the government and Indian communities in India for mutually beneficial
activities. These conventions are also very useful in networking among the
overseas Indian community residing in various parts of the world and enable
them to share their experiences in various fields.
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Paper
3:
Topic:
Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in
everyday life Achievements of Indians in science & technology;
indigenization of technology and developing new technology.
Bio-toilet
project
Context: The
Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report on bio-toilets has found
1,99,689 defects in 25,000 toilets installed in Railways. Also, according to
the data released by national auditor to Parliament, the Indian Railways needs
to buy 3,350 truckloads of cow dung at Rs 42 crore in 2018 to “recharge”— add
bacteria to activate degradation — leaky, malfunctioning ‘bio-toilets’ that it
has fitted on 44.8% of trains and hopes to expand to all trains by 2018.
What
are Bio- toilets?
The
bio-toilets are fitted underneath the lavatories and the human excreta
discharged into them; these toilets incorporate microbes with an anaerobic
digestion process to digest human waste. A colony of anaerobic bacteria acts
upon the collected waste and converts the waste into water and biogases (mainly
methane and carbon dioxide). While the gases escape into the atmosphere, the
wastewater is discharged after disinfection onto the track, thus putting an end
to the crisis of railway tracks strewn with excreta.
Each
bio-toilet requires 60 litres — or three large bucketfuls — of inoculum, a mix
of cow dung and water. This inoculum begins the process of breaking down 3,980
tons of human excreta. Anaerobic bacteria are abundantly available in cow dung.
Sources:
et.
Topic:
Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact
assessment.
Latte
levy
Context: Britain
is considering implementing a “latte tax” to curb the consumption of disposable
coffee cups. The fee would amount to 50 cents on top of every coffee sold, and
it’s intended to encourage people to use reusable coffee cups.
Need
for levy on this:
In
the UK, 500 takeaway coffee cups are thrown away every minute. Most takeaway
cups aren’t recyclable; they’re laminated with plastic or polyethylene that is
difficult to strip away and most recycling facilities aren’t equipped to
recycle them.
Sources:
et.
Topic:
Awareness in the fields of IT.
Ethereum
Context: Ethereum
has hit $1,000 for the first time, while investors eye at alternative
currencies such as ripple, ethereum and litecoin besides bitcoin. Earlier
Ethereum was the second-most valued currency after bitcoin, but now ripple has
outpaced it lately. The market capitalization of ripple is $121 billion while
ethereum’s market cap is little less than $100 billion on Saturday. Bitcoin,
the big daddy of cryptocurrency, still rules the world of digital currencies
with a whopping market cap of $280 billion.
What
is Ethereum?
It,
like most cryptocurrencies, shares the same basic traits as bitcoin. It has
underlying blockchain technology with a tethered token, which in this case is
known as “Ether.” Ether is the token investors are purchasing.
How
is it different from other cryptocurrencies?
Unlike
most blockchains, Ethereum’s has an added component that’s particularly
attractive to enterprise clients: smart contracts. These protocols help to
verify, facilitate, or enforce the negotiation of a contract in an efficient
and secure manner.
About
Blockchain technology:
Blockchain
is the digital and decentralized ledger that records transactions without the
need for a financial intermediary, which in most cases is a bank.
The
advantages of blockchain technology are aplenty. First, is the potential for
smaller transaction fees as a result of having no third-party involved.
Secondly, the decentralization of blockchain ensures that there’s no central
hub cybercriminals could attack.
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