Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 14th July 2021

By : Government of Karnataka

What it is : Family Id project

Aim : Create an Integrated Social Protection System, consisting of a social registry and an entitlement management system.

Background :

• First rolled out in August 2019 as a pilot project in Srirangapatna taluk in Mandya district.
• Following its success, the project was to be extended to the entire state in May 2020.
• Under the project :
• Any citizen would be able to register in Kutumba by providing information relating to his/her spouse and all unmarried children. However, at the discretion of the resident applying, the family may include other relatives also
• Data on the families that citizens create will then be shared with government departments to determine eligibility for services and benefit 

What is in news : After cabinet expansion, prime minister has brought changes in cabinet committees

What are cabinet committees:

• Extra-constitutional bodies
• Rules of Business provide for their establishment
• Works under the Government of India Transaction of Business Rules, 1961 which emerge out of Article 77(3)
• Prime Minister constitutes Standing Committees of the Cabinet and sets out the specific functions assigned to them. He can add or reduce the number of committees.

IMPORTANT CABINET COMMITTEES

• Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
• Cabinet Committee on Accommodation.
• Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
• Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs.
• Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs.
• Cabinet Committee on Security.
• Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth.
• Cabinet Committee on Employment & Skill Development.

Note:: All committees except Cabinet Committee on Accomodation and Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs are headed by Prime Minister

Article 77(3)- “The President shall make rules for the more convenient transaction of the business of the Government of India, and for the allocation among Ministers of the said business.”

What : Plant that reproduces with the help of spores

Additional details :

• "Cryptogamae" implies ‘hidden reproduction'
• Called "flowerless" or "seedless plants" or ‘lower plants'
• Need a moist environment to survive
• Present in aquatic and terrestrial places
• Examples : Algae, bryophytes, lichens, ferns and fungi

What is in news : India’s first cryptogamic garden was inaugurated in the Chakrata town of Dehradun, Uttarakhand

Why this place

• Height of 9,000 ft
• Low pollution levels and moist conditions
• Has pristine majestic forests of Deodar and Oak which create a natural habitat for cryptogamic species.

MAHITI FOR PRELIMS : Plant kingdom can be divided into two sub-kingdoms viz. Cryptogams and phanerogams

ANIMAL CORRIDOR

What is it : Pathways meant to ensure safe passage for animals between two isolated habitats

Additional details:

• Corridors are mainly of two types: functional and structural.
• Functional corridors are defined in terms of functionality from the perspective of the animal (basically areas where there has been recorded movement of wildlife).
• Structural corridors are contiguous strips of forested areas and structurally connect the otherwise fragmented blocks of the landscape.

What is in news : The Rajasthan government will develop a tiger corridor connecting the newly proposed ‘Ramgarh Tiger Reserve’, Ranthambore Tiger Reserve and Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve.

Info : states are required to submit a Tiger Conservation Plan under section 38V of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

MAHITI FOR PRELIMS:

Protected Areas in Rajasthan:

• Desert National Park, Jaisalmer
• Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur
• Sajjangarh wildlife sanctuary, Udaipur
• National Chambal Sanctuary (on tri-junction of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh)
• Ramgarh Tiger Reserve’
• Ranthambore Tiger Reserve
• Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve
• Sariska Tiger Reserve

Protection Status of Tiger:

• Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I
• International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List: Endangered.
• CITES: Appendix I.

Project Tiger : Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change launched in 1973 to provide central assistance to the tiger States for tiger conservation in designated tiger reserves in India  is administered by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).

National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)

• Is a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
• Was established in 2005 following the recommendations of the Tiger Task Force
• Was constituted under enabling provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, as amended in 2006, for strengthening tiger conservation, as per powers and functions assigned to it.

Who :

• 17th century Georgian Queen
• From Kakheti, a kingdom in eastern Georgia
• Was tortured and killed in 1624 in Shiraz during the rule of the Safavid dynasty
• Portuguese missionaries were said to have carried the relics to Goa in 1627.
• Revered as a martyr, her relics remained lost till 2005 as the St. Augustine Church collapsed in 1842
• DNA analysis by the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, confirmed their authenticity in 2013.

What is in news : After a long-standing request of Georgia, External Affairs Minister handed over the holy relics of 17th century Georgian Queen St. Ketevan nearly 16 years after they were found in Goa.

Other details :

• Larger part of the relic remained with the ASI in Goa and would be publicly displayed for the first time
• Smaller part had been handed over to Georgia, where it was likely to be displayed publicly with the citation that it was a “gift from people of India to people of Georgia”
• The larger part of the relic had been sent to Georgia for an exhibition for six months in 2017

INDIA-GEORGIA

• Georgia is situated at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia
• Relations between Georgia and India date back to ancient times.
• The Panchatantra influenced Georgian folk legends. During the medieval period, Georgian missionaries, travelers, and traders visited India.
• Some Georgians served in the courts of Mughal emperors, and a few rose to the rank of governor.
• India was among the first countries to officially recognize Georgia, doing so on 26 December 1991.
• India is a net exporter to Georgia.
• The main commodities exported by India to Georgia are cereals, nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances, pharmaceuticals, electrical machinery and equipment, aluminium and aluminium articles.

• The High Court of Karnataka has directed the government to respond to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) which contended that driving test is not being done as prescribed under Rule 15 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules.
• The High Court of Karnataka directed the state government to appoint National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM), Chennai, to carry out a survey to ascertain whether any part of the area of Honnavar port expansion project is within the ‘turtle nesting ground’.Olive Ridley is the only sea turtle that nests on the coast of Honnavar division.