Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 9th August 2021

What is in news : Ladakh Administration has removed the need of an Inner Line Permit (ILP) for all Indian nationals who seeks to visit protected areas of union territory.

What is Inner Line Permit :

• Document required by non- natives to visit or stay in states which are protected under ILP system.
• Duration of stay and areas allowed to be accessed for any non-native are decided by ILP. It is issued by concerned state government and can be availed by applying online or in person
• Extension of Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act 1873 under which Britishers framed regulations to restrict entry in certain designated areas. This was done to protect interest of the Crown in some states by preventing Indians (British Subjects) from trading within these regions
• States Covered : Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland

SOCIAL ISSUES

Full form : Pradhan Mantri Dakshta Aur Kushalta Sampann Hitgrahi

What is in news:Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment  launched ‘PM-DAKSH’ Portal and ‘PM-DAKSH’ Mobile App recently.

Developed by : Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, in collaboration with NeGD

Aim : Make the skill development schemes accessible to the target groups

features of this portal are as follows:

• Availability of all information related to skill development at one place for Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes and Safai Karamcharis.
• Facility to register for the training institute and program of their interest.
• Facility to upload desired documents related to personal information.
• Facility to register the attendance of the trainees through face and eye scanning during the training period.
• Monitoring facility through photo and video clip during training etc.
• Details on PM DAKSH Scheme
• Launched - 2020-21
• Eligible target group are being provided skill development training programmes on (i) Up-skilling/Re-skilling (ii) Short Term Training Programme (iii) Long Term Training Programme and (iv) Entrepreneurship Development Program (EDP).
• These training programs are being implemented through Government Training Institutes, Sector Skill Councils constituted by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and other credible institutions

What is in news : Government announced  that approximately five crore beneficiaries have been enrolled and four crores have been trained under Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan Scheme till date.

Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyaan

• Launched to make six crore persons residing in rural areas, across States and UTs, digitally literate.
• Aim of bridging digital divide and specifically targeting rural population. It also includes marginalised sections of society such as Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Minorities, Below Poverty Line (BPL), women, differently-abled persons and minorities.

When : August 7

Why :

• Swadeshi movement was launched on August 7 1905
• The day is observed to pay tribute to handloom weavers and artisan communities across India
• Handloom weave in India
• Every state of India specializes in different handwoven weave. For Instance,
• Assam is known for Kamrup cotton and eri silk.
• Dimapur and Phek towns in Nagaland are known for backstrap-loom textiles.
• Andhra Pradesh is known for Venkatagiri fine cotton & silk weave, embellished with jamdani and zari.
• Odisha is known for Maniabandha weft ikat in fine cotton and silk.

Handloom Craft Villages

• On the occasion, three Handloom Craft Villages will be set up at
  • Kovalam in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
  • Mohpara Village of Golaghat district in Assam and
  • Kanihama in Budgam, Srinagar
• Craft villages will be set up by Ministry in collaboration with State governments.
• Handloom Craft Villages are being set up with the aim of providing additional attraction for domestic and international tourists. It seeks to promote well-known Handloom and Handicraft Products of the region.

HISTORY – ART - CULTURE

What is in news : The final resting place of Mughal prince Dara Shikoh remains a mystery, with the Archaeological Survey of India saying it has not located the grave within the Humayun’s Tomb complex

Background :

• The present site is inside Humayun's tomb complex
• Government had set up a committee to identify the tomb site, which did not come to any consensus
• It was difficult to identify the grave as there were no inscriptions, and references did not confirm the site as well

About DARAH SHIKOH

• Eldest son of Shah Jahan.
• Killed after losing the war of succession against his brother Aurangzeb.
• Described as a “liberal Muslim” who tried to find commonalities between Hindu and Islamic traditions.
• Translated into Persian the Bhagavad Gita as well as 52 Upanishads.
• According to the Shahjahannama, after Aurangzeb defeated Dara Shikoh, he brought the latter to Delhi in chains. His head was cut off and sent to Agra Fort, while his torso was buried in the Humayun’s Tomb complex.
• Described as “one of the greatest free thinkers of that time”.
• Realised the greatness of the Upanishads and translated them, which were earlier known only to a few upper caste Hindus. Translations from that Persian translation have inspired a lot of free thinkers of today, even inspiring the likes of former United States President Barack Obama.
• Some historians argue that if Dara Shikoh had ascended the Mughal throne instead of Aurangzeb, it could have saved thousands of lives lost in religious clashes. He was the total antithesis of Aurangzeb, in that he was deeply syncretic, warm-hearted and generous — but at the same time, he was also an indifferent administrator and ineffectual in the field of battle.

INTERNTIONAL ISSUES

What is in news : Japan marks 76th anniversary of World’s First Atomic Bombing

About :

• 509th Composite Group of United States Army Air Forces was trained.
• Equipped with specialized Silverplate version of Boeing B-29 Superfortress.
• Deployed to Tinian in Mariana Islands.
• Allies called for unconditional surrender of Japanese armed forces in the Potsdam Declaration in July 1945.
• But Japan ignored the ultimatum.
• So, United States dropped world’s first nuclear bomb called “Little Boy”( Enriched uranium gun-type fission weapon) against southwestern city of Hiroshima. It immediately killed 80,000 civilians.
• On August 9, US dropped second bomb called “Fat Man” (Plutonium implosion-type nuclear weapon) on Nagasaki that killed another 74,000 civilians.

SNIPPETS

• The Zoological Survey of India, one of the premier organisations involved in taxonomical studies of fauna, got its first woman Director.Dhriti Banerjee, entomologist with an expertise in Diptera, has taken over as the 18th director of the 105-year-old institute.
• Prof CR Rao Centenary Gold Medal (CGM), instituted to commemorate his contributions to quantitative economic theory and practice, will be given this year to former Reserve Bank of India governor C. Rangarajan and professor of economics, law, and international relations at Columbia University, Jagdish Bhagwati
• The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force, which guards the Line of Actual Control (LAC) along the India-China border,  commissioned its first two women officers in combat after they completed their training