Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 1st Nov 2021

ABOUT RAJYOTSAVA

WHY NOVEMBER 1 - Kannada language-speaking regions merged to form the state of Karnataka , in the year 1956

A BRIEF HISTORY

• Aluru Venkata Rao was the first person take steps for unifying Karnataka. He started  Karnataka Ekikarana movement in 1905
• In 1950 India became republic and different provinces were formed in the country on basis of language spoken in the particular region and this gave birth to the state of Mysore including various places in south India, which were earlier ruled by the kings.
• On 1 November 1956, Mysore state, comprising most of the area of the erstwhile princely state of Mysore, was merged with the Kannada-speaking areas of the Bombay and Madras presidencies, as also of the principality of Hyderabad, to create a unified Kannada-speaking sub-national entity. North Karnataka, Malnad (Canara) and old Mysore were thus the three regions of the newly formed Mysore state
• The newly unified state initially retained the name "Mysore", which was that of the erstwhile princely state which formed the core of the new entity. But the people of North Karnataka did not favour the retention of the name Mysore, as it was closely associated with the erstwhile principality and the southern areas of the new state.
• In deference to this logic, the name of the state was changed to "Karnataka" on 1 November 1973. Devaraj Arasu was the Chief Minister of the state when this landmark decision was taken.
• Other people credited for the unification of Karnataka include littérateurs like K. Shivaram Karanth, Kuvempu, Masti Venkatesha Iyengar, A. N. Krishna Rao and B. M. Srikantaiah.

RAJYOTSAVA AWARDS

• Second-highest Civilian Honour in Karnataka, right after Karnataka Ratna.
• Was initiated in the year 1966.
• Conferred in recognition of the contributions in fields like Arts, Literature, Culture, Education, Sports, Industry, Science, medicine, Public Affairs and Social service.

WHAT - Under-nutrition and overweight/obesity coexisting with deficiencies of micronutrients such as iron, zinc, calcium and several vitamins.

DETAILS

• More important especially in the case of children and adolescents as it is during these phases of life that we see rapid growth of the body and development of food habits. Childhood and adolescence are two conjoined periods of continuous growth and development — a seamless duration. For instance, between two and 10 years of age, children tend to grow at an average of 6-7 cm in height and 1.5 to 3 kg in weight every year
• Malnutrition in any form can put children and adolescents at risk of compromised immune function, thus making them vulnerable to infections.

FACTORS

• Traditional diets are disappearing from the plates which are replaced by government subsidised rice and wheat. Though, they are rich in carbohydrates, they lack micronutrients, leading to micro-nutrients deficiency.
• POVERTY CYCLE : Poverty - earn less - affects  capacity for physical work - under nutrition - low earning and poverty.
• Limited knowledge about nutritional qualities of food, irrational beliefs, inappropriate child rearing and irregular feeding habits also contribute to malnutrition.
• Inequitable distribution of food in the family especially in the patriarchal set up, where quite often less and low quality food is served to women and preschool children especially girls.
• Poor quality of housing, sanitation and water supply also contributes to ill health and infections thus contributing to under nutrition and micro-nutrient deficiency and malnutrition in general.
• Inadequate maternal and child care is a common phenomenon in India where an undernutritioned and micro-nutrients deficient mother generally gives birth to a malnourished child.
• In urban as well as among middle class and affluent communities - restricted movement, constrained socialisation and even dwindling physical contact
• COVID-19 isolation and fatigue have led to generalised stress, adding to the immunity challenge for children. These challenges coupled with a lack of diet diversity leading to imbalanced micronutrient intake or consumption of high carbohydrate and high sugar foods, endanger the child’s health by compromising their immunity and making them vulnerable to infections. Hence, the way we approach nutrition needs to change.

STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN REPORT FOR 2019 BY UNICEF – ON INDIA

• In India, every second child is affected by some form of malnutrition.
• 35% of Indian children suffer from stunting due to lack of nutrition, 17% suffer from wasting, 33% are underweight and 2% are overweight.
• Among countries in South Asia, India fares the worst (54%) on prevalence of children under five who are either stunted, wasted or overweight.
• It has the highest burden of deaths among children under five per year, with over 8 lakh deaths in 2018.
• One in five children under age 5 has vitamin A deficiency, which is a severe health problem in 20 states.
• Every second woman in the country is anaemic, as are 40.5% children.
• One in ten children are pre-diabetic.
• Poverty, urbanisation as well as climate change are some of the factors that are driving poor diet.

NEED FOR A BALANCED DIET

• Often overlooked, micronutrients are essential for production of enzymes, hormones and other substances for good immune function, healthy growth and development.
• Each stage of the body’s immune response relies on the presence of many micronutrients.
• Micronutrients that are primarily available in fruits, vegetables, greens, nuts, legumes and whole grains play a crucial role in enhancing the native and adaptive immune function and also aid ‘immune memory’ formation. A substantial serving of fresh fruits and vegetables, as much as about 300-500 gm per day per child is recommended depending on the age group.
• These, along with curd and nuts, can increase beneficial probiotic bacteria in the intestine.
• About 300ml-400 ml of milk or curd can provide the required calcium, good quality protein and other nutrients.

EFFORTS BY GOVERNMENT RECOGNISED:

• The report said POSHAN Abhiyaan or the National Nutrition Mission is playing a major role in improving nutrition indicators across India.
• The Anaemia Mukt Bharat programme to fight anaemic prevalence has been recognized as one of the best programmes implemented by governments across the world to address malnutrition.
• The 6X6X6 strategy (six target beneficiary groups, six interventions and six institutional mechanisms) of the programme has been highlighted for using anaemia testing and treatment as the entry point to provide information on healthy diets.
• The Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman Yojana (PM POSHAN) — the mid-day meal programme in its new avatar — is all set to broad base itself even to students of pre-primary levels or Bal Vatikas of government and government-aided primary schools along with primary and upper primary schoolchildren who are already within the ambit of the mid-day meal programme. The PM POSHAN envisages providing 450 Kcal energy and 12g of protein for primary; 700 Kcal and 20g protein for upper primary children through diet diversity.
• In addition, monitoring haemoglobin levels of schoolchildren, appointment of nutritional experts to ensure the haemoglobin and growth status are continuously monitored; focus on nutrigardens are all welcome steps as we prepare to reopen schools.
• Special provisions for nutritional items for children in districts with high prevalence of anaemia and the involvement of farmer producer organisations and self-help group women will strengthen linkages and convergence for promoting children’s nutrition.

UNICEF RECOMENDATION

• Empower families to reduce demand for unhealthy food.
• Incentivize food suppliers to provide healthy, affordable food.
• Create accurate, easy-to-understand labelling. 
• Scale up nutrition by protecting water and sanitation systems.
• Collect and analyzing quality date to track progress.

First census

• Was conducted in 2018
• Over period of five days in 185 km stretch between Talwara and Harike Barrage in Beas River in Punjab
• Objective - establish accurate population of dolphins in order to plan conservation of species.

INDUS DOLPHIN

• Subspecies of freshwater river dolphin (which also includes Ganges River dolphin) Found in Indus river (and its Beas and Sutlej tributaries) flowing through India and Pakistan.
• National mammal of Pakistan.
• State Animal of Punjab
• Key indicator species of river’s health. Its presence is considered as river is healthy. Functionally blind and relies on echolocation to navigate, communicate and hunt prey in muddy river water.
• Declined dramatically after construction of irrigation system.
• Listed by the IUCN as endangered on its Red List of Threatened Species.
• Was also found in Sutlej decades back, but river pollution has caused its extinction in river.

DEFENCE

Project 15B

• Project to develop world class warships for Indian Navy
• The first ship of the project, guided-missile destroyer ‘Visakhapatnam’ was launched on April 20, 2015.
• Project 15B MISSILE DESTROYERS
  • Modern warships equipped with latest weapons package in continuation of lineage of the highly successful Delhi and Kolkata Class ships.
  • Largely maintained the hull form, propulsion machinery, many platform equipment and major weapons and sensors as the Kolkata class to benefit from series production.
  • Feature enhanced stealth features over the earlier class through shaping of hull and use of radar transparent deck fittings which make them difficult to detect and also feature significant advances in automation and networking.
  • Propelled by four gas turbines in Combined Gas and Gas (COGAG) configuration and have maximum endurance of 4000 nm at economical speed of 14 knots, the Navy had said earlier.

HISTORY – ART – CULTURE

Punjab Police has submitted a proposal to Declare Guru Nanak Jayanti as WORLD PEDESTRIAN DAY

WHAT IS THE PROPOSAL

Suggested that Guru Nanak’s birth anniversary (Gurpurab) be declared as ‘Pedestrian Day’ (Guru Nanak’s 552nd Gurpurab - November 19 2021)

While beginning can be made by declaring ‘National Pedestrian Day’ within the country by the Union ministry, the Government of India can later take up the matter with the United Nations to get Gurpurab declared as ‘World Pedestrian Day’ to spread awareness on road safety.

WHY THE PROPOSAL

• The extensive travel undertaken by Guru Nanak Dev
• To spread the message of oneness and to break barriers across faiths by engaging in spiritual dialogues
• His journeys is called udaasis
• Travels were documented in texts called ‘janamsakhis’
• Sites are now spread across nine nations as per current geographical divisions — India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, China (Tibet), Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan Along with his companion Bhai Mardana, undertook most part of his journeys on foot.
• If the government can dedicate a day for pedestrian safety, then it will certainly bring major changes towards their safety and highlight the government’s commitment towards “Right to walk” or pedestrian rights.
• A community which safeguards its pedestrian is treated as developed and contributes to sustainable development goals,” says the proposal note prepared by the Punjab Police

SARDAR PATEL

NATIONAL UNITY

• Sardar Patel’s foresight and tactful navigation of the most turbulent period in post-Independence, and the resolve he demonstrated in integrating the more than 500 princely States into the Dominion of India is an unparalleled accomplishment in modern history.
• Hailing Patel’s feat, Lord Mountbatten declared the unification of India as the first great success of the new independent government.
• Patel was a statesman with a strong sense of realpolitik, a realist to the core and an earthy politician whose sole aim was to build a strong and united India.
• The princely rulers had the option at that time to either accede to India or Pakistan or remain independent.
• Patel’s wisdom, foresight, patriotism, tact, persuasive powers and abiding commitment to fair play enabled him to untangle a highly complex political and social problem without triggering any kind of revolt or civil unrest.

STATUE OF UNITY

• At 182 metre, the statue is 23 metre taller than China’s Spring Temple Buddha statue and almost double the height of the Statue of Liberty (93 metre tall) in US.
• Located on the Sadhu Bet island, near Rajpipla on the Narmada river, the Statue of Unity is located between the Satpura and the Vindhya mountain ranges.
• The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Rashtriya Ekta Trust (SVPRET), a special purpose vehicle set up by Modi in 2011, arranged some 129 tonnes of iron implements from nearly 100 million farmers in 169,000 villages across all states to construct the base of the statue in the ‘Loha’ campaign.
• The Statue of Unity was brought to fruition by Padma Bhushan-winning sculptor Ram V Sutar and intricate bronze cladding work was done by a Chinese foundry, the Jiangxi Toqine Company (JTQ).

PERSONS IN NEWS

• Indian filmmaker, screenwriter, music composer, graphic artist, lyricist and author, widely regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.
• Directed 36 films, including feature films, documentaries and shorts.
• First film, Pather Panchali (1955), along with Aparajito (1956) and Apur Sansar (1959), form The Apu Trilogy.
• Authored several short stories and novels, meant primarily for young children and teenagers.
• Characters created - Feluda, the sleuth, and Professor Shonku, the scientist in his science fiction stories
• Received 32 Indian National Film Awards and an Academy Honorary Award in 1992.
• The Government of India honored him with the Bharat Ratna, its highest civilian award, in 1992.