Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 21st September 2021

What is in news : Central Sahitya Akademi award for Nataraj Budalu, Srinath Perur from Karnataka

Details :

• Noted Kannada writer and cultural thinker S Nataraja Budalu has won the 'Sahitya Akademi Prize for Translation 2020'. Nataraj's work in Kannada 'Sarahapada'—a translation of collections (works, philosophy and dohas)
• Srinath Perur has also won the award in the English section for his translation of the Kannada novel 'Ghachar Ghochar' by Vivek Shanbhag. This apart several Kannada works including the work of Dr Chandrashekhar Kambara's 'Shikhara Surya' that was translated to other languages has been chosen for the award. While Dr Kambara's work was translated to Malayalam as 'Shikharasuryan', Gopalakrishna Pai's work 'Swapna Saraswatha' has been translated to Konkani.

CENTRAL SAHITYA ACADEMY AWARD

• Literary honour in India
• Conferred by Sahitya Akademi which is India’s National Academy of Letters
• Conferred to the most outstanding books of literary merit which is published in any 24 major Indian languages including Hindi, English and other 22 languages of the Eighth Schedule of Constitution
• Award includes a casket comprising of an engraved copper plaque, a shawl and amount of Rs 1,00,000.
• Books were selected following the recommendations made by a jury of three members of the concerned languages.

What is in news : Nothern Coalfields Ltd (NCL),a Singrauli based Coal India arm under the Ministry of Coal is all set to start 75 “FulwariCenters” in the Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh.

Aim :

• Part of the Company’s sustainable business practices
• Mitigation of malnutrition in Singrauli District

Also focus : Poverty alleviation, good health, well-being and quality education for the people of its command area.

Other Details :

• Age-appropriate safe toys, early child care education training modules and other confidence-building measures are also arranged for the kids to ensure their cognitive, physical, emotional, and social development
• ASHA workers of the villages provide Health care services to the kids.

ENVIRONMENT & GEOGRAPHY

What is in news : A newly found fossil indicates that otters called Vishnuonyx had travelled as far as Germany. The discovery has been described in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

Details :

• Researchers from the Universities of Tübingen and Zaragoza have discovered the fossil of a previously unknown species, which they have named Vishnuonyx neptuni, meaning ‘Neptune’s Vishnu’.
• The species was discovered from a 11.4-million-year-old strata in the area of Hammerschmiede, which is a fossil site in Bavaria, Germany that has been studied for about 50 years, the University of Tübingen said in a press release.
• This is the first discovery of any member of the Vishnuonyx genus in Europe; it is also its most northern and western record till date.
• Vishnuonyx were mid-sized predators that weighed, on average, 10-15 kg. Before this, the genus was known only in Asia and Africa (recent findings show that Vishnuonyx reached East Africa about 12 million years ago, according to the release).

How did it travel as far as Europe: According to the researchers, its travels over 6,000 km were probably made possible by the geography of 12 million years ago, when the Alps were recently formed. These Alps and the Iranian Elbrus Mountains were separated by a large ocean basin, which would have made it easier for the otters to cross it.

36TH INTERNATIONAL COASTAL CLEANUP DAY

By : National Ocean Service

Aim :

• Creating awareness among people to keep beaches clean
• Safeguarding our environment
• Inculcating the habit of respecting the coastlines which ultimately nurtures the marine biodiversity

When : Traditionally held on the third Saturday of September

Theme of 2021: “Keep trash in the bin and not in the ocean”

Celebrations in India

• By : Indian Navy
• Eastern Naval Command undertook Coastal Cleanup Drive at Yarada Beach, Bheemili Beach and other sea fronts within premises of naval units at Visakhapatnam.
• Southern Naval Command observed International Coastal Clean-up Day on with focus on mangrove plantation and clearance of plastic/non-biodegradable waste along waterfront areas in and around Kochi. They undertook clearance of plastic and non-biodegradable waste at different locations spread across the city, coastal areas such as Fort Kochi beach, Thevara waterfront, Willingdon Island, Cherai beach, Bolgatty and around 2 km stretch of the Venduruthy channel while restoring around 1 lakh sqm of mangroves to the pristine condition.

What is in news : World Bank Group scrapped its flagship publication, the ‘Doing Business’ report.

Why : The Group acted on its commissioned study to examine the ethical issues flagged in preparing the 2018 and 2020 editions of the EDB index.

About Doing Business project:

• It provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 190 economies and selected cities at the subnational and regional level.
• Launched in 2003, looks at domestic small and medium-size companies and measures the regulations applying to them through their life cycle.
• It ranks countries on the basis of Distance to Frontier (DTF) score that highlights the gap of an economy with respect to the global best practice.

What is in news : India scores 46th rank in the Global Innovation Index 2021

Details :

• Released By - Co-published annually by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)
• Started in 2007
• Ranks the performance of innovation of economies and also highlights strengths and weaknesses in innovation ecosystem.
• Provides detailed innovation performance of 132 countries and economies across the globe.
• Relies around 80 indicators including measures on the political environment, education, infrastructure and knowledge creation of each economy and compile in 7 pillars to rank the 132 countries and economies across the globe.

PERFORMANCE OF INDIA

• India has climbed 2 spots and has been ranked 46th in 2021 rankings.
• The consistent improvement in the GII ranking is owing to the immense knowledge capital, the vibrant start-up ecosystem, and the amazing work done by the public and the private research organizations.
• The Scientific Departments like the Department of Atomic Energy; the Department of Science and Technology; the Department of Biotechnology and the Department of Space have played a pivotal role in enriching the National Innovation Ecosystem.
• The NITI Aayog has been working tirelessly to ensure the optimization of the national efforts for bringing policy led innovation in different areas such as electric vehicles, biotechnology, nano technology, space, alternative energy sources, etc.

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

What is in news : India is becoming the destination country for healthy food, said Union agriculture minister at meeting of G-20 Agriculture Ministers

ISSUES DISCUSSED

• Agricultural research
  • Has played an important role in tackling the problem of food security, improving the income of farmers and agriculturists and sustainable use of natural resources for the subsistence of the people.
  • Research contributes significantly to the three aspects of food security – availability, access and affordability.
  • Integrated research efforts can develop a package of techniques and methodologies for improving soil productivity, water management for storage, expansion and efficiency.
• Efforts by India
  • United Nations has accepted the proposal of the Government of India and declared the year 2023 as the International Year of Millets
  • Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, the government is providing income support of Rs.6,000 per year to small farmers. So far, Rs 1.58 lakh crore has been deposited in the bank accounts of more than 11.37 crore farmers under this scheme.
  • The ‘Per Drop- More Crop’ scheme for irrigation and ‘Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana‘ for organic farming is being successfully implemented.
  • Implemented the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana to provide insurance cover for the farmers.
  • Oilseeds Technology Mission doubled the production of oilseeds in 10 years.
  • India has made great progress in pulses production in recent times due to the introduction of new varieties in the seed system.
  • Developed and released 17 varieties of different crops which are resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses.
  • Developing bio-fortified varieties to meet the nutritional requirement of the people.
  • National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture has been launched which promotes integrated farming systems approach in agriculture.

ABOUT G-20

• The G20 (or Group of Twenty) is an intergovernmental forum
• MEMBERS - 9 countries and the European Union (EU) with representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
• Does not have permanent offices or employees. The country that presides over the group (in an year) takes care of all the organization and the logistical coordination of the meetings. ( CURRENT – ITALY )
• It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigation, and sustainable development.
• The G20 is composed of most of the world’s largest economies, including both industrialized and developing nations.
• The group collectively accounts for around 90 percent of gross world product (GWP), 75-80 percent of international trade, two-thirds of the world’s population, and roughly half the world’s land area.
• The G20 was founded in 1999 in response to several world economic crises.
• Since 2008, the group convenes at least once a year, with summits involving each member’s head of government or state, finance minister, foreign minister, and other high-ranking officials; the EU is represented by the European Commission and the European Central Bank.
• Other countries, international organizations, and nongovernmental organizations are invited to attend the summits, some on a permanent basis.
• At its 2009 summit, the G20 declared itself the primary venue for international economic and financial cooperation

• Jedi Mara Junction on Bannerghatta Road is set to get back the cashew trees it is named after. The name Jedi Mara is said to be a colloquial reference to cashew trees that once lined up the intersection. The name was first given to the bus stop.
• The Botanical Survey of India, in its new publication Plant Discoveries 2020 has added 267 new taxa/ species to the country’s flora.Among the new discoveries this year, nine new species of balsam (Impatiens) and one species of wild banana (Musa pradhanii) were discovered from Darjeeling and one species each of wild jamun (Syzygium anamalaianum) from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and fern (Selaginella odishana) were recorded from Kandhamal in Odisha.
• Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL) for installing public charging station for electric vehicles in Punjab
• The 6th Edition of SCO Exercise Peaceful Mission : 2021 hosted by Russia started at Orenburg Region of South West Russia today. The aim of the exercise is to foster close relations between SCO Member States and to enhance abilities of the military leaders to command multinational military contingents. An Indian military contingent comprising of an all arms combined force of 200 personnel from Indian Army and Indian Air force is participating in the exercise.