PERIYAR IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS 17-JANUARY-2018
Topic:
Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and
Architecture from ancient to modern times.
INTACH to document heritage sites along Mahanadi river
Indian
National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) today launched a
programme for documentation of the tangible and intangible heritage sites along
both sides of Mahanadi river. It will be a road map for the conservation
workers, historians, students and researchers. Seven teams of culture
enthusiasts will cover nearly 1000 kilometres on both side of the river
Mahanadi under the project.
Background:
Civilisation
has grown on the banks of the river and there are numerous tangible heritages
like temples, palaces, forts dot it. Moreover, intangible heritage like
folklore, songs and dances, tribal art and craft have also thrived along the
river.
About INTACH:
INTACH
is an autonomous non-governmental Indian non-profit society that seeks to
preserve Indian culture and heritage. It was founded in 1984.
Facts for Prelims:
§ The
850km length of the Mahanadi river is divided almost equally between
Chhattisgarh, where it is born, and downstream Odisha.
§ Mahanadi
rises from Raipur district of Chhatisgarh and flows for about 851 km before its
outfall into the Bay of Bengal. Its main tributaries are the Seonath, the Jonk,
the Hasdeo, the Mand, the ib, the Ong and the Tel.
§ Near
the city of Sambalpur, it is dammed by the largest earthen dam in the world,
the Hirakud Dam.
Sources:
et.
Paper 2:
Topic:
Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.
Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE)
Context: The 65th Meeting of the
Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) was recently held under the
Chairmanship of Union Human Resource Development Minister Shri Prakash
Javadekar. A number of decisions were taken at the meeting, in part flowing
from the agenda, and in part stemming from concerns raised by the State
Governments.
The
board has decided to launch ‘Operation Digital Board’ in all schools in five
years. This will be undertaken jointly by Centre, State, CSR, and
community. This will improve the quality of education. Students will be
empowered with 360 degree information with interesting learning experience and
teacher accountability will also increase.
About the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE):
The
Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) is the highest advisory body to
advise the Central and State Governments in the field of education. The Central
Advisory Board of Education, the oldest and the most important advisory body of
the Government of India in education was first established in 1920 and
dissolved in 1923 as a measure of economy. It was revived in 1935 and has been
in existence ever since.
The functions of CABE would be:
§ To
review the progress of education from time to time.
§ To
appraise the extent and manner in which the education policy has been
implemented by the Central and State Governments, and other concerned agencies,
and to give appropriate advice in the matter.
§ To
advice regarding coordination between the Central and State Governments/UT
Administrations, State Governments and non-governmental agencies for
educational development in accordance with the education policy.
§ To
advise, suo motu, or on a reference made to it by the Central Government or any
State Government or a Union Territory Administration or any educational
question.
Facts for Prelims:
§ The
idea that there should be a central Advisory Board of Education was first put
forward by the Calcutta University Commission (1917-19).
§ Chairman
of the board shall be Union Minister of Human Resource Development. Minister of
State for Human Resource Development shall be the Vice- Chairman.
§ The
tenure of office of members of the Board, other than the ex-officio members,
shall be three years.
Sources:
pib.
Topic:
India and its neighbourhood- relations.
BBIN Motor Vehicles Agreement
Context: Bangladesh, India and
Nepal have agreed on the text of the operating procedures for passenger vehicle
movement in the sub-region under the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) Motor
Vehicles Agreement (MVA) signed in June 2015, and will soon complete the
internal approval processes for signing of the passenger protocol. The
participating countries have also agreed to conduct more trial runs for cargo
vehicles under the agreement.
Background:
Bangladesh,
Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) had signed a framework MVA in June 2015 to
enable movement of passenger and cargo vehicles across borders among the four
countries. Bhutan has not yet ratified the pact for its entry to come into
force. However, Bhutan has given its consent for the BBIN MVA to enter into
force amongst the other 3 countries i.e. Bangladesh, India and Nepal, who have
already ratified it.
About BBIN MVA:
What
is it? The landmark MVA was signed by Transport Ministers of the BBIN countries
in Thimphu, Bhutan on 15 June 2015. As per the agreement, member countries
would allow vehicles registered in the other countries to enter their territory
under certain terms and conditions. Customs and tariffs will be decided by the
respective countries and these would be finalised at bilateral and trilateral
forums.
Objective:
The main objective of the agreement is to provide seamless people-to-people
contact and enhance economic interaction by facilitating cross border movement
of people and goods.
Benefits:
It would permit unhindered movement of passenger and cargo vehicles among the
four countries. Cargo vehicles do not have to be changed at the border, a
practice that has prevailed until now. The BBIN agreement will promote safe,
economical efficient and environmentally sound road transport in the sub-region
and will further help each country in creating an institutional mechanism for
regional integration.
Assistance
from ADB: The Asian Development Bank(ADB) has been providing technical,
advisory, and financial support to the BBIN MVA initiative as part of its
assistance to the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program,
a projects-based economic cooperation initiative that brings together the BBIN
countries, Maldives, Sri Lanka and more recently, Myanmar. ADB is the
secretariat of SASEC.
Sources:
pib.
Topic:
India and its neighbourhood- relations.
National Knowledge Network
Context: India’s National
Knowledge Network and Sri Lanka’s LEARN which connect to educational
institutions between the two countries have now been linked with each other
through high capacity internet. This dedicated high speed internet connectivity
will boost the collaboration among the academic institutions of India and Sri
Lanka.
About NKK:
What
is it? NKN is a multi-gigabit pan-India network which facilitates the
development of India’s communications infrastructure, stimulates research and
creates next generation applications and services.
Aim:
With its multi-gigabit capability, NKN aims to connect all universities,
research institutions, libraries, laboratories, healthcare and agricultural
institutions across the country to address such paradigm shift.
What
it does? It enables collaboration among researchers from different educational
networks such as TEIN4, GARUDA, CERN and Internet2. It also enables sharing of
scientific databases and remote access to advanced research facilities. The
leading mission oriented agencies in the fields of nuclear, space and defence
research are also part of NKN.
Sources:
the hindu.
Topic:
Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or
affecting India’s interests.
‘Vajra Prahar’
What is it? ‘Vajra Prahar’ is a
Indo-US Special Forces joint training exercise conducted alternately in India
and the US.
Why in news? The upcoming edition of
the joint military exercise ‘Vajra Prahar’ will be held at Joint Base
Lewis-McChord (JBLM) in Seattle. The exercise will mainly focus on special
operations in urban areas.
Aim and objectives of the exercise: The
aim of the exercise is to promote military relations between the two countries
by enhancing interoperability and mutual exchange of tactics between Special
Forces. The objectives of the joint training is to share the best practices
between the two armies and to develop joint strategies by sharing expertise of
conducting operations in a counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism
environment, while capitalising on the rich repository of experiences of each
other armies.
Key facts: Though the exercise began
in 2010, there was a gap of three years between 2012 and 2015. The last edition
was held in Jodhpur in March 2017. This edition’s Indian Army team is from the
Pune-headquartered Southern Command.
Sources:
the hindu.
Paper 3:
Topic:
Issues relating to intellectual property rights.
‘IPrism’
What is it? It is one of its kind
Intellectual Property (IP) Competition for college and university students. The
Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM), Department of Industrial Policy
and Promotion (DIPP), in collaboration with ASSOCHAM and ERICSSON India, has
launched this competition.
About the competition:
The
competition aims to foster a culture of innovation and creativity in the
younger generation. It will provide young creators a unique opportunity to see
their creations recognized on a national platform. This competition invites
students to submit films on piracy & counterfeiting under two categories of
30 and 60 seconds. Another category in the competition is for a mobile gaming
app on IP.
Background:
Counterfeiting
and Piracy cause significant loss to the industry and pose serious safety
threats to the consumers. Generating awareness can help in tackling such crimes
since limited knowledge about their adverse social and economic impact leads to
circulation and consumption of pirated content and fake goods.
About CIPAM:
Cell
for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM) has been created as a professional
body under the aegis of DIPP to take forward the implementation of the National
IPR Policy that was approved by the Government in May 2016, with the slogan –
“Creative India; Innovative India”. CIPAM is working towards creating public
awareness about IPRs in the country, promoting the filing of IPRs through
facilitation, providing inventors with a platform to commercialize their IP
assets and coordinating the implementation of the National IPR Policy in collaboration
with Government Ministries/Departments and other stakeholders.
Sources:
pib.
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