Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

What is in news : The Kempegowda International Airport has been inducted into the Airports Council International (ACI) Director General’s Roll of Excellence for the year 2020. It's one of six airports worldwide to get this recognition.

 Details : 

• This recognition is an outcome of the tremendous efforts and commitment from the entire Bengaluru Airport community. Passengers have widely acknowledged the services and have consistently voted for Bengaluru Airport, powering it to win four consecutive ACI ASQ Awards (2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020).

• Earlier this year, Bengaluru Airport won a global recognition from ACI World's 'Voice of the Customer' initiative. The 'Voice of the Customer' recognises airports that continued to prioritise their customers and remained committed to ensuring that their voice was heard during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

• KIAL

• Kempegowda International Airport  is an international airport serving Bangalore. It is owned and operated by Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL), a public–private consortium. The airport opened in May 2008 as an alternative to increased congestion at HAL Airport, the original primary commercial airport serving the city. It is named after Kempe Gowda I, the founder of Bangalore. Kempegowda International Airport became Karnataka's first fully solar powered airport developed by CleanMax Solar.

• Kempegowda Airport is the third-busiest airport by passenger traffic and total cargo handled in the country, behind the airports in Delhi and Mumbai, and is the 29th busiest airport in Asia

• The airport is awarded as the best airport in Asia-Pacific in 2020 (25 to 40 million passengers per annum) by Airports Council International

• Airports Council International (ACI) is the only global trade representative of the world’s airports. Established in 1991, ACI represents airports interests with Governments and international organizations such as ICAO, develops standards, policies and recommended practices for airports, and provides information and training opportunities to raise standards around the world. This section provides you with information on the structure and background of ACI.

 

What : 

• Instituted in 2006, the CII-ITC Sustainability Awards recognise and reward excellence in businesses that are seeking ways to be more sustainable and inclusive in their activities. Winners of the Awards are role models that inspire others to follow suit. The Awards are a part of the continued efforts of CESD to create awareness on sustainability practices and to create capacities in business. More than recognition, the Awards measure performance and provide detailed feedback for opportunities to excel.

• CII-ITC Sustainability Awards define the science of sustainability performance. Excellence in sustainability is a journey of continuous improvement in processes and results. In the past 15 years, cumulatively, 989 businesses have applied of which 326 have been recognised. Limited number of applications are accepted to maintain strong competition and high standards of excellence.

What is in news : Radio Vishwas, a Community Radio Station (CRS) in Nashik, Maharashtra has bagged two awards at the 8th edition of the National Community Radio Awards instituted by Ministry of Information and

 

• Radio Vishwas 90.8 won the first prize in the “Sustainability Model Awards” category and  the Second prize in the “Thematic Awards” category for its radio program 'Education for All' in the times of COVID-19.

• Radio Vishwas is run by the Vishwas Dhyan Prabodhini & Research Institute, Nashik, Maharashtra and has been broadcasting since its launch. The station broadcasts 14 hours daily.

• Audio lectures were aired and made accessible to all the students who study in Zilla Parishad and Nashik Municipal schools. The programme was broadcast in various languages i.e. Hindi, English, Marathi, Sanskrit.

What is in news : Haryana State is making significant contribution towards the success of Jal Jeevan Mission, a path breaking scheme of the Central Government which aims to provide potable drinking water to every rural household of the country by 2024. After attainment of “Har Ghar Jal” status for districts Bhiwani, Sonipat and Charkhi Dadri, 12 out of 22 districts in the State have achieved the target under this mission.

 

• Har ghar jal is a vision of Jal Jivan Mission 

• Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) envisages supply of 55 litres of water per person per day to every rural household through Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTC) by 2024.

• JJM focuses on integrated demand and supply-side management of water at the local level.

• Creation of local infrastructure for source sustainability measures as mandatory elements, like rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge and management of household wastewater for reuse, would be undertaken in convergence with other government programmes/schemes.

• The Mission is based on a community approach to water and includes extensive Information, Education and Communication as a key component of the mission.

• JJM looks to create a jan andolan for water, thereby making it everyone’s priority.

• Funding Pattern: The fund sharing pattern between the Centre and states is 90:10 for Himalayan and North-Eastern States, 50:50 for other states, and 100% for Union Territories.

 

What is in news : LEAF (Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance) Coalition was announced at the Leaders Summit on Climate, 2021.

 

Details :

• It is a collective of the governments of the USA, United Kingdom and Norway.

• LEAF coalition will be one of the largest ever public-private efforts to protect tropical forests and intend to mobilize at least USD 1 billion in financing to countries committed to protecting their tropical forests.

• The model weighs on work by the Environmental Defense Fund over two decades, in collaboration with Indigenous communities, forest peoples, Brazilian and US NGOs, and other partners, to protect the Amazon and tropical forests globally.

• Performance will be measured against the TREES Standard (The REDD+

Environmental Excellence Standard)

 

What is in news : The involvement of women as science leaders seem to be increasing as the percentage of them leading research projects has increased, said a report released by the Department of Science and Technology

 

Details :

• Women Principal Investigators participation in research that received extramural research (EMR) support -- through peer-reviewed competitive grant mechanism -- was 28 per cent during 2018-19, as against 24 per cent during 2016-17, according to the Directory of Extramural Research and Development Project 2018-19 report.

• Out of total projects under taken by women 64 per cent of the projects were received by 8 states -- Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.

• The most financial support went to engineering and technology, while the maximum number of projects went to biological sciences.

• DST accounted for the maximum Extramural Research (EMR) support of Rs 1,392.21 crore (67 per cent), followed by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) with Rs 341.37 crore (16 per cent). The two departments together contributed to 83 per cent of the total extramural research and development funding in India.

• Scientific and technological activities play a vital role in the economic, social, and physical development of a country.

• Extramural Research and Development projects support is a peer-reviewed competitive grant mechanism of the Central government to promote, catalyse and advance research and development and innovation in the country and provides special encouragement to scientists to pursue a research career.

• Centre for Human and Organisational Resource Development (CHORD) division, formerly known as the National Science and Technology Management Information System, of DST, has been collating, analysing, and disseminating information on extramural research and development projects funded by various scientific agencies.

• CHORD has been entrusted with the task of building the information base on resources devoted to scientific and technological activities for policy planning in the country.

 

• Malnutrition is one of the most important challenges facing contemporary India. Nutrition is acknowledged as central to the achievement of National and Global Sustainable Development Goals. Optimum and appropriate nutrition is essential for women and children to survive, thrive and break the intergenerational cycle of poor health and poverty in the community. 

• National Nutrition Mission named as the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition (POSHAN) Abhiyaan was launched in 2017, as a multi-ministerial convergence mission, with the overarching vision to make India malnutrition free by 2022.

• POSHAN Abhiyaan is the Government of India's flagship programme to improve nutritional outcomes for children, adolescents, pregnant women and lactating mothers by leveraging technology, a targeted approach and convergence. The initiative lays emphasis on creating synergy between various programmes in health, nutrition, sanitation sectors etc., to ensure efficiency and effective outcomes.

• The Ministry of Women and Child Development has rolled out Poshan Tracker application. The goal is to follow nutrition systems strengthening approach for improving maternal and child undernutrition, focused on strengthening implementation bottlenecks at all levels. The Poshan Tracker is built using centralized data architecture, that also aligns with the digital technology systems of other ministries and programs

Benefits :

• The system provides a digital identity to each beneficiary through a digital card, and allows convergence of call centre with the technology platform. 

• The system generates automated alerts to the critical last-mile beneficiaries. It also ensures efficient audit of the delivery system, by documenting real time attendance of beneficiaries and duty bearers. 

• Such a robust digital technology platform and management information system, will help the mission to scale efficiently, thereby generating and documenting significant positive impact.

 

What is in news : Google honours ‘founder of the paralympic movement’ Ludwig Guttmann with a doodle 

Details :

• The doodle "celebrates the 122nd birthday of Jewish, German-born British neurologist Professor Sir Ludwig "Poppa" Guttmann, founder of the Paralympic movement.

• Guttman was born on July 3, 1899 in Tost, Germany, which now comes under Poland. He was forced to leave Germany in wake of the increasing persecution of Jews during the Nazi rule. Guttman, who was one of the top neurosurgeons of Germany that time, escaped to England in 1939 with his family.

• In 1948, he organized a 16-person archery contest, one of the first official competitive sporting events for wheelchair users. Later called the “Stoke Mandeville Games” or the “Olympics for the Disabled,” the competition demonstrated the power of elite sport to break down barriers for disability and garnered the attention of global medical and sporting communities.

• In 1961, Guttmann founded the International Medical Society of Paraplegia, now the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS); he was the inaugural president of the society, a position that he held until 1970.

• He became the first editor of the journal, Paraplegia (now named Spinal Cord). He retired from clinical work in 1966 but continued his involvement with the sport.

• After retirement, 'Poppa G', as he was affectionately known to those close to him, turned to horticulture. He once grew a couple of massive broccoli in his back garden and was renowned for his mangetout wall.

• Guttmann suffered a heart attack in October 1979 and died on March 18, 1980 at the age of 80.

 

• Department of Public Instruction (DPI), Karnataka on Thursday released a report stating that nearly 55% of the students from classes 1 to 10 in the State had access to the internet, the disparity within educational districts is stark. Of the students surveyed, 40% had no internet. There was no data on the remaining 5%. Less than 50% of students in 13 education districts, of 34 in Karnataka, had no access. Chamarajnagar had the lowest percentage, at 38.92. Incidentally, Primary and Secondary Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar happens to be the district in-charge here. The other educational districts that fell in this category are Chitraduraga, Davanagere, Madhugiri, Belagavi, Haveri, Vijayapura, Ballari, Bidar, Kalaburagi, Koppal, Raichur andYadgiri. On the other hand, 74.64% of students from Bengaluru South district had access.

• Senior aeronautical scientist and science communicator in Kannada Dr. Sudhindra Haldodderi , 61 passed away

• Sirisha Bandla will be the second India-born girl and the first Telugu girl to go into the space as she is set to take off on Virgin Galactic’s winged rocket ship from New Mexico on July 11. Kalpana Chawla was the first Indian-born woman astronaut to go into space. Bandla, who was born in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh and grew up in Houston, Texas.

• The waters of the Vembanad lake are stirring once again. A robust vaccination drive underway has raised hopes of the Kerala houseboat industry to open for business as early as July.

• India hosted the 6th BRICS Culture Ministers’ Meeting recently

• Indian Navy’s Hydrographic Survey Ship Sarvekshak successfully completed survey action around the site of ill-fated MV X-Press Pearl on 02 July and handed over the survey data to the Sri Lankan authorities. The ship equipped with the state of the art survey equipment including the Side Scan Sonar, was deployed on 25 June at the request of Government of Sri Lanka.

• Indian Army inducts first batch of 12 indigenously designed & developed Short Span Bridging systems (10 m); designed by DRDO, manufactured by

 

• Maana Patel becomes first Indian female swimmer to qualify for Tokyo 2020 Olympics

• Indian Navy’s athlete MP Jabir qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in men’s 400m hurdles

• Recently, the 7th edition of Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) was hosted by the French Navy at Réunion island. It is a biennial event which was conceived by the Indian Navy in 2008.

 

EXTRA-MURAL : Extramural refers to that which exists outside the walls of an organized unit, be that a city, school, or hospital. In an educational context, extramural means to study outside, but under the aegis of, a university or other institution.