Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

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

What is in news : PM Launched Vidyanjali Portal

Vidyanjali 2.0 Portal:

• Aim - facilitating education volunteers, donors and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) contributors for school development.
• Vidyanjali Scheme is one of the innovative schemes that focus towards the improvement of literacy by offering volunteer teachers in government schools. It was launched in 2017.

Shikshak Parv-2021

• By the Ministry of Education (MoE)
• September 5 - September 17, 2021
• To recognise valuable contributions of teachers and to take the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 ahead
•  

What is in news : The Union Cabinet approved a Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the textiles sector.

Which segments will be promoted: High value Man-Made Fibre (MMF) fabrics, garments and technical textiles.

Which producers will benefit:

• The scheme is set to provide incentives to eligible producers in two phases.
  • Any person or company willing to invest a minimum of Rs 300 crore in plant, machinery, equipment and civil works (excluding land and administrative building cost) to produce products of MMF fabrics, garments and products of technical textiles will be eligible to participate in the first part of the scheme.
  • Investors willing to spend a minimum of Rs 100 crore under the same conditions shall be eligible to apply in the second part of the scheme.
• Directly benefit the states of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha, as these were states where the textile sector is already growing.

ICAI - CAAR MOU

ICAI - Institute of Chartered Accountants of India

CAAR - Chamber of Auditors of the Republic of Azerbaijan

MOU relates to - Establishing the Mutual Co­operation in the areas of Member Management, Professional Ethics, Technical Research, CPD, Professional Accountancy Training, Audit Quality Monitoring, Advancement of Accounting Knowledge, Professional and Intellectual Development

Implementation Strategy and Targets:

• Exchange books, magazines and other publications published by professional organizations, mutual publication of articles on audit and accounting in the magazines
• Conducting and financing joint conferences, symposiums, round tables, trainings on the development of audit, finance and accounting
• Intend to undertake study on application of new innovative methods in the field of audit and accounting including application of blockchain, smart contract system, transition from Traditional Accounting to Cloud Accounting and also intend to have joint cooperation in the fight against corruption and money laundering.

Impact:

• Influence the decision/policy making strategies of respective organisations of a country
• Lead to focus attention towards exchange of knowledge and strengthen best practices in both jurisdictions including application of new innovative methods and technologies in the field of accountancy.

Benefits:

• Government of India can adopt the best practices being followed there to attract foreign investment and to encourage them to establish their setup in India
• ICAI would be able to strengthen the partnership with Azerbaijan by providing the export of services in accountancy profession.

MAHITI FOR PRELIMS:

• The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is a statutory body established under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 for the regulation of the profession of Chartered Accountants in India. ICAI has contributed immensely in the field of education, professional development, maintenance of high accounting, auditing and ethical standards in furtherance of the profession of Chartered Accountants, which is recognized globally.
• The Chamber of Auditors of the Republic of Azerbaijan (CAAR) was established in accordance with the Law on Audit of 1994 as amended in 2004 to regulate the audit profession in the Republic of Azerbaijan.

ENVIRONMENT & GEOGRAPHY

What is in news : Environment Ministry launches Prana Portal

Details :

• Launched under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in Non-Attainment Cities (NAC), cities which didn’t meet Ambient Air Quality Standards under NCAP.
• Targeted to achieve 20-30% reduction in particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) concentrations across the country by 2024.
• Will support tracking of physical as well as financial status of city air action plan implementation, and disseminate information on air quality to the public

How will target PM be achieved :  In order to achieve the target, India has prepared and is implementing city-specific action plans to improve air quality in 132 NACs/Million Plus Cities. It targets city-specific air polluting sources like soil & road dust, vehicles, MSW burning, domestic fuel, construction material and industries

MAHITI FOR PRELIMS

Particulate Matter

About:

• Also called particle pollution, a term for a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air. It causes respiratory problems and also reduces visibility.
• It includes:
  • PM10: inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 10 micrometers and smaller; and
  • PM2.5: fine inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 2.5 micrometers and smaller.

Sources of PM: Some are emitted directly from a source, such as construction sites, unpaved roads, fields, smokestacks or fires.

PERSONS IN NEWS

What is in news :  Tamil Nadu government has decided to celebrate the birth anniversary of reformist leader E V Ramasamy Periyar as “Social Justice Day”.

About Periyar

• Thanthai Periyar was an Indian social activist and politician who started the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam.
• He is known as the 'Father of Dravidian Movement'.
• He has done exemplary works against Brahminical dominance, caste prevalence, and women oppression in Tamil Nadu.
• E.V. Ramasamy joined the Indian National Congress in 1919 but resigned in 1925 when he felt that the party was only serving the interests of Brahmins.
• He questioned the subjugation of non-Brahmin Dravidians as Brahmins enjoyed gifts and donations from non-Brahmins but opposed and discriminated non-Brahmins in cultural and religious matters.
• 1924, E.V. Ramasamy participated in a non-violent agitation (satyagraha) in Vaikom Satyagraha (1924–1925). According to the prevalent caste system in Kerala and the rest of India, low-caste Hindus were denied entry into temples. In February 1924, they decided to launch a ‘Keralaparyatanam’ to gain temple entry and also the right to use public roads for every Hindu irrespective of caste or creed.
• From 1929 to 1932 Ramasamy made a tour of British Malaya, Europe, and Russia which influenced him.
• Periyar and his followers campaigned constantly to influence and pressure the government to take measures to remove social inequality,(abolish untouchability, manual scavenging system etc) even while other nationalist forerunners focused on the struggle for political independence. The Self-Respect Movement was described from the beginning as “dedicated to the goal of giving non-Brahmins a sense of pride based on their Dravidian past”, While continuing the Self-Respect Movement, he advocated for an independent Dravida Nadu (land of the Dravidians).
• Opposition to Hindi: In 1937, when Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari became the Chief Minister of Madras Presidency, he introduced Hindi as a compulsory language of study in schools, thereby igniting a series of anti-Hindi agitations. Tamil nationalists, the Justice Party under Sir A. T. Panneerselvam, and E.V. Ramasamy organized anti-Hindi protests in 1938 which ended with numerous arrests by the Rajaji government.
• A political party known as the South Indian Libertarian Federation (commonly referred to as Justice Party) was founded in 1916, principally to oppose the economic and political power of the Brahmin groups. The party's goal was to render social justice to the non-Brahmin groups. To gain the support of the masses, non-Brahmin politicians began propagating an ideology of equality among non-Brahmin castes. Brahmanical priesthood and Sanskritic social class-value hierarchy were blamed for the existence of inequalities among non-Brahmin caste groups. In 1939, E.V. Ramasamy became the head of the Justice Party. (In 1944, he changed its name to Dravidar Kazhagam, the party later split with one group led by C. N. Annadurai forming the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in 1949.

• The Charaka Women’s Multi-purpose Cooperative Society of Bheemanakone in Sagar taluk has launched “Pavitra Vastra Abhiyana”.The Charaka Society had joined hands with the State government to implement “Pavitra Vastra”, aimed at supplying handloom products to religious institutions in the State.
• The Union government has constituted a committee for framing legislation regarding new drugs, cosmetics and medical devices. The eight-member panel, headed by Drugs Controller General of India V.G. Somani.
• The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the field of Geosciences between the Joint Stock Company Rosgeologia (State holding Company) (referred to as ROSGEO), a legal entity incorporated under the laws of the Russian Federation and the Geological Survey of India (GSI), Ministry of Mines, Government of India. The main objective of this MoU is to extend mutual cooperation for technological collaboration on exploration for deep-seated and / or concealed mineral deposit
• The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the signing of an agreement on the recruitment of Indian citizens to work in the Portuguese Republic between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of Republic of Portugal
• HDFC Bank has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) to offer and strengthen credit support to MSMEs across India
• The International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies is observed every year on September 7.The day is facilitated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Since 2019. In the year 2021, the day was observed under the theme– “Healthy Air, Healthy Planet”.
• Delhi govt launches ‘Business Blasters’ Programme. It will be implemented across all the Delhi government schools under the “Entrepreneurship Mindset Curriculum (EMC).  Business Blasters programme will become a basis of India’s progress. Thorough this programme, students will not run after jobs, but jobs will come to them. If this programme is implemented properly, it can take India from being a developing country to a developed one. It will also help in addressing the problem of unemployment.
• According to a new red list by IUCN, world’s sharks and rays have been witnessing declines in their populations since 2014 and are now threatened with extinction
• A group of researchers who went out to collect samples off the coast of Greenland in July found themselves on a tiny, uninhabited and previously unknown island. Measuring 60x30 metres and with a peak of three metres above sea level, it has now become the new northernmost piece of land on Earth. Before this, Oodaaq was marked as the Earth's northernmost terrain. It is named  'Qeqertaq Avannarleq'

• A light releasing diode is an electric component that emits light when the electric current flows through it.
• It is a light source based on semiconductors. When current passes through the LED, the electrons recombine with holes emitting light in the process.
• It is a specific type of diode having similar characteristics as the p-n junction diode.
• This means that an LED allows the flow of current in its forward direction while it blocks the flow in the reverse direction.
• Light-emitting diodes are built using a weak layer of heavily doped semiconductor material.
• Based on the semiconductor material used and the amount of doping, an LED will emit a colored light at a particular spectral wavelength when forward biased.