Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 12th July 2021

What is in news : Maiden journey of South India's first Vistadome coaches on Mangaluru Junction-Yeshwantpur Weekly Special Express was recently inaugurated

What does Vistadome coaches offer:

• Seats can move 180 degrees with wide
• Large windows offering a clear view of the landscape
• Rooftops with anti-glare glass enable passengers to view the sky
• Equipped with CCTV surveillance and fire safety systems
• LED display screens with ‘content-on-demand’, an oven, refrigerator, mini pantry, multi-tiered steel luggage shelves, and separate mobile charging sockets for each passenger.
• GPS-based public address system and Braille signage

What is in news : Uttar Pradesh  launched the State’s population policy for 2021-2030

What are the objectives:

• Decreasing the total fertility rate of UP from 2.7 to 2.1 by 2026 and 1.7 by 2030
• Increase modern contraceptive prevalence rate from 31.7% to 45% by 2026 and 52% by 2030
• Decrease maternal mortality rate from 197 to 150 to 98
• Decrease infant mortality rate from 43 to 32 to 22
• Decrease under 5 infant mortality rate from 47 to 35 to 25
• Maintain a balance of population among the various communities
• Awareness and extensive programmes would be held among those communities, cadres and geographical areas that have a higher fertility rate
• It also speaks about increasing male contraception

Mahiti for prelims :

Maternal Mortality Rate - Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) is defined as the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births due to pregnancy or termination of pregnancy, regardless of the site or duration of pregnancy. The maternal mortality rate is used to represent the risk associated with pregnancy among women.

Infant mortality rate - Infant mortality is the death of an infant before his or her first birthday. The infant mortality rate is the number of infant deaths for every 1,000 live births.

Mahiti for mains :

Problems of Population increase -

1. Unemployment: Generating employment for a huge population in a country like India is very difficult. The number of illiterate persons increases every year. Unemployment rate is thus showing an increasing trend.
2. Manpower utilisation: The number of jobless people is on the rise in India due to economic depression and slow business development and expansion activities.
3. Pressure on infrastructure: Development of infrastructural facilities is unfortunately not keeping pace with the growth of population. The result is lack of transportation, communication, housing, education, healthcare etc. There has been an increase in the number of slums, overcrowded houses, traffic congestion etc.
4. Resource utilisation: Land areas, water resources, forests are over exploited. There is also scarcity of resources.
5. Decreased production and increased costs: Food production and distribution have not been able to catch up with the increasing population and hence the costs of production have increased. Inflation is the major consequence of over population.
6. Inequitable income distribution: In the face of an increasing population, an unequal distribution of income and inequalities within the country widen.

What is in news : Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued an advisory to banks and other financial institutions to be prepared for year-end transition from London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor).

Why this move : Investigation led by Financial Services Authority (FSA) revealed banks were able to manipulate these rates

What is LIBOR:

• Full Form - London Interbank Offered Rate
• Interest-rate average
• Calculated on the basis of estimates submitted by leading banks in London
• Primary benchmark for short-term interest rates across the world
• To be phased out by end of 2021

MIFOR

• Full form - Mumbai Interbank Forward Offer Rate
• Rate that Indian banks use as a benchmark for setting prices on forward-rate agreements and derivatives
• It is based on LIBOR

What is in news : Manjhi river in dharmasala, Himachal has created damage to the city due to overflow caused by a flasflood

MAHITI FOR MAINS

What are Flash floods:

• Rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions.
• Caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, tropical storm, or meltwater from ice or snow flowing over ice sheets or snowfields
• Glaciers as a cause of flashfloods - When glaciers retreat due to rising temperatures, the snow melts but the debris remains. This debris aids in the formation of lakes. More lakes lead to more floods

What should be done:

• Coherent research about the topography, glaciology and other factors in area
• Satellite monitoring of the heavy prone areas
• Very strict environment impact assessment in the area

What is in news : Kesaria Buddha stupa has been watelogged

Where is it : Champaran, Bihar

What is the cause : Floods due to heavy rainfall in the catchment areas of river Gandak in neighbouring Nepal

About the stupa :

• Regarded as the largest Buddhist stupa in the world
• Circumference - 400 feet Height - 104 feet
• Constructed - 3rd century BCE
• Excavations on Stupa -
  • Colonel Mackenzie in 1814
  • General Cunningham in 1861-62
  • In 1998 an ASI team led by archaeologist K.K. Muhammad
• Believed to be built by emperor Ashoka (circa 250 BCE) as the remains of an Ashokan pillar was discovered there. The local people call the stupa “devalaya,” meaning “house of gods”.
• The ASI has declared it a protected monument.
• However, a larger part of the stupa is yet to be developed as it remains under thick vegetation.
• References in History -
  • Fah Hien(5th century A.D Chinese Buddhist monk),  mentioned a stupa which was built over Buddha’s alms bowl by Licchavis of Vaishali, which is believed to be Kesaria buddha stupa
  • Hieun Tsang says Buddha lived at this site and told his followers he is on verge of attaining Nirvana
• Buddha presented arguably his most revered discourse of Kalama Sutta, which revolves around the acceptance of his teachings only after observation, reflection and careful scrutiny from this place

MAHITI FOR PRELIMS

ASI PROTECTED MONUMENT - Protected monument means an ancient monument which is declared to be of national importance by or under the Ancient Monuments and Archeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 (Central Act 24 of 1958)

What is in news : The famous RATH Yatra of puri PURI JAGANNATH is being conducted amid covid restrictions

About Rath yatra:

• Celebrated on the second day of Shukla Paksha of Ashadh
• 9 day-long event during which the three holy chariots carrying idols of Lord Jagannath, his brother Balaram (Balabhadra) and sister Subhadra are pulled by thousands of devotees
• It Honours the Lord Jagannath’s visit along with his siblings to the temple of Queen Gundicha, the place of their aunt’s house where they revel in a nine day stay
• This year Colourful chariots — Taladhwaja of Lord Balabhadra, Nandighosa of Lord Jagannath and Debadalana of Devi Subhadra — will be pulled by the sevayats who are traditional priests of the temple.
• The three chariots were constructed by traditional carpenters at a place called Ratha Khala where no outsiders were allowed

SNIPPETS

• Uber and UNESCO are coming together to offer a ‘Free rides for teachers’ vaccination’ campaign to provide teachers with the means to travel to the vaccination centres in a safe manner while offsetting the costs of traveling long distances.The initiative offers 1,00,000 rides to 25,000 teachers to and from vaccination centres to get the two vaccine doses. The offer will be implemented in Tamilnadu
• India has evacuated personnel from the Consulate-General in Kandahar as a temporary measure in view of the fighting between the Taliban and Afghan security forces
• The Assam government on Sunday launched a scheme entailing a one-time financial assistance of ₹2.5 lakh to women who lost their husbands to COVID-19 since March-April 2020. It is called as Chief Minister’s COVID-19 Widows Support Scheme and it is for women from low-income families with a total annual income of up to ₹5 lakh.
• Scientists at the DBT-Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar and SRM-DBT Partnership Platform for Advanced Life Sciences Technologies, SRM Institute of Science and Technology,Tamil Nadu have reported for the first time a reference-grade whole genome sequence of a highly salt-tolerantand salt-secreting true-mangrove species,Avicennia marina.
• Kappa variant is one among three sub-lineages of lineage B.1.617. It is also known as lineage B.1.617.1, carrying E484Q mutations. It was first detected in December 2020 in India. Kappa accounted for more than half of sequences being submitted from India by March 2021. As per WHO Weekly Epidemiological Update, 34 countries had reported cases of this subvariant. By May 2021, number of countries had increased to 41. United Kingdom had detected 418 confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 Kappa variant as of May 2021.
• Indian Institute of Technology-Madras and Sony India Software Centre have proposed to host a hackathon called Samvedan 2021. Under the hackathon, contestants will be asked to develop solutions for societal problems in India. Winners of the competition will be eligible for entrepreneurial support from IITM-PTF. This competition is also open to industry personnel and academics.
• Federal Bank shareholders have approved the motion of re-appointment of Shyam Srinivasan as managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of the federal bank. Federal Bank Limited is a major Indian commercial bank in Private Sector. It is headquartered in Aluva, Kochi.

VOCABULARY

• PSYCHOANALYSIS is defined as a set of psychological theories and therapeutic techniques that have their origin in the work and theories of Sigmund Freud.