Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 1st Feb 2022

NEWS

The Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysala — the famed Hoysala temples of Belur, Halebid and Somananthpura in the State — has been finalised as India’s nomination for consideration as World Heritage for 2022-23.

DETAILS

• Background – They  are on UNESCO's Tentative list since 15th April, 2014
• What happens next - 
  • UNESCO will communicate back by early March
  • Site evaluation will happen in September /October 2022
  • Dossier will be taken up for consideration in July /August 2023.
• What is World Heritage site - Place that is listed by UNESCO for its special cultural or physical significance
• Who maintains the list - International 'World Heritage Programme', administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.
• Benefits –
  • Help maintain a legacy for the future.
  • Once a site is declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, it is accepted as prima facie evidence that such a site is culturally sensitive and warrants legal protection pursuant to the Law of War under the Geneva Convention, its Articles, Protocols and Customs.

ABOUT THE TEMPLES

• Built in the 12th-13th centuries
• Represented by the three components of Belur, Halebid and Somnathapura
• Attest to the creativity and skill of the Hoysala artists and architects
• 'Hoysala Temple' form.
  • Have a basic Darvidian morphology
  • Show strong influences of
    • Bhumija mode widely used in Central India
    • Nagara traditions of northern and western India
    • Karntata Dravida modes favoured by the Kalyani Chalukyas
  • Hoysala architects made considered and informed eclectic selections of features from other temple typologies which they further modified and then complemented with their own particular innovations.

• Hoysala temples are protected monuments of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and therefore conservation and maintenance will be done by ASI.
• The District Master Plan of the state government will also incorporate the buffers of all monuments and build an integrated management plan.
• State government will also look at the traffic management issues to be looked into especially around the designated property.

NEWS

Street vendors selling food in BBMP jurisdiction will be able to ply their trade only after they undergo mandatory training and receive certification as per the new guidelines of the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM)

WHAT IS HAPPENING

• Training will be given as per the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)
• BBMP stated that the move is in the interest of public health, and to ensure that quality ingredients are used, and food is sold in a hygienic manner
• Decision to have training for street food vendors was taken by the zonal town vending committees (TVC)

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Urban Livelihoods Mission

• Launched under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA)
• Aim - Uplift the urban poor
• How - Enhancing sustainable livelihood opportunities through skill development. Skill Development is essential for socio economic betterment.
• National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) is renamed as Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana-(DAY-NULM)
• Mission would also
  • Aim to providing the shelter equipped with essential services to the urban homeless in a phased manner
  • Address the livelihood concern of the urban street vendors by facilitating with suitable space, institutional credit, and social security and skills to the urban street vendor for accessing emerging market opportunities.
• COMPONENTS
  • The Urban component named as Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana will be implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation.
  • The rural component named as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana will be implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development.
• MAIN HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SCHEME
  • Employment through Skill Training and Placement through City Livelihood Centers.
  • Social Mobilization and Institution Development through formation of Self-Help Groups (SHG) for training members and hand holding, an initial support of 10, 000 is given for each group.
  • Subsidy to urban poor - An interest subsidy of 5% - 7% for setting up individual micro-enterprises with a loan of up to 2 lakh and for group enterprises with a loan limit of up to Rs.10 lakhs.
  • Shelters for urban homeless - Cost of construction of shelters for urban homeless is fully funded under the Scheme.
  • Other means - Development of vendor markets and also the promotion of skills for the vendors through setting up infrastructure and special projects for the rag picker and differently abled etc.

NEWS

Parliamentary Budget session 2022-23 begins

DETAILS

WHAT - Period during which a House meets almost every day uninterruptedly to manage the business

In general, the sessions are as follows:

• Budget session (February to May)
• Monsoon session (July to September)
• Winter session (November to December)

Budget Session:

• Considered to be a highly crucial session of the Parliament.
• The Budget is usually presented on the last working day of the month of February.
• Here, the members discuss the various provisions of the budget and matters concerning taxation, after the Finance Minister presents the budget.
• Generally split into two periods with a gap of one month between them.
• Every year starts with the President’s Address to both Houses.

NEWS

University Grants Commission (UGC) has developed a draft National Higher Educational Qualification Framework (NHEQF), which is part of a set of reforms that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 envisages.

DETAILS

• From job readiness to constitutional values, theoretical knowledge to technical skills, higher education institutes across the country will soon be brought under a new framework to assess students on a range of learning outcomes
• Country needs to move towards developing a nationally accepted and internationally comparable and acceptable qualifications framework to facilitate transparency and comparability of higher education qualifications at all levels
• Purpose is to bring up/elevate all HEIs to a common level of benchmarking to ensure that all institutions are providing quality education
• Envisages the award of certificates, diplomas and degrees based on what students completing a particular programme of study are “expected to know, understand and be able to do at the end of their programme of study.”
• Characterised by six levels based on the complexity of learning outcomes.
• While Level 5 of the NHEQF represents learning outcomes appropriate to the first year of the undergraduate programme of study, Level 10 represents learning outcomes with greater complexity appropriate to the doctoral-level programmes of study
• At every level, the students will be assessed based on parameters
• In line with the structure outlined in the NEP, the draft NHEQF also fixes the number of credits required to clear the different levels of the four-year undergraduate programme, master’s degrees and doctoral degrees.
• Those looking to exit the undergraduate programme with a certificate will require 40 credits; with a diploma after two years will need 80 credits; degree after three years will have a requirement of 120 credits; degree with honours/research after four years with 160 credits.
• One credit is equivalent to one hour of teaching (lecture or tutorial) or two hours of practical work/fieldwork per week, it adds.

NEWS

3rd World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day recently observed

DETAILS

• When - January 30
• How did it begin - Crown Prince Court of Abu Dhabi at the 2019 Reaching the Last Mile Forum, hundreds of partners signed up to mark World NTD Day and demand action to Face NTDs and End The Neglect.
• What are NTD - Diverse group of tropical infections which are common in low-income populations in developing regions of Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
• Examples - Dengue, rabies, blinding trachoma, Buruli ulcer, endemic treponematoses (yaws), leprosy (Hansen disease) etc.
• 1 in 5 people around the world are affected by NTDs.
• India is home to the world’s largest absolute burden of at least 11 of these major neglected tropical diseases.

• A crocodile park, first of its kind, was commissioned at Dandeli in Karnataka recently near Dandelappa temple. The two-acre park has been built on the banks of river Kali. The project is implemented by the State tourism department.
• The Andhra Pradesh government proposes to create 13 new districts — as many as the number that exist in the state now. According to a draft notification under The Andhra Pradesh Districts (Formation) Act, 1974, boundaries of existing districts will be redrawn to double the number of districts or revenue divisions to 26.
• PM congratulates Prime Minister of Portugal H. E. Antonio Costa on re-election
• Services e-Health Assistance and Teleconsultation (SeHAT) is the tri-services teleconsultation service of the MoD designed for all entitled personnel and their families. Home Delivery of medicines under SeHAT to begin soon.