Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

NEWS

3rd edition of National Youth Parliament Festival (NYPF) to be completed

ABOUT

• Organized as part of celebrations on the National Youth Day to commemorate the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekanand.
• Aim is to hear the voice of youth between 18 and less than 25 years of age, who are electors but cannot stand in elections through deliberations in youth Parliament at district level and above.
• Seeks to make youth aware on public issues, understand others opinion and form once own opinion. It also promotes decision making abilities.
• To develop respect and views of others and also contribute to public policies.
• The festival also promotes national integration, the spirit of communal harmony, brotherhood, courage, and adventure.
• NYKS (Nehru Yuva Kendra Sanghthan) organises the festival.

NEWS

Cabinet approves Amendment of the Second Schedule to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 for specifying rate of royalty in respect of certain minerals

DETAILS

HOW WILL AMENDMENT HELP

• Specifying rate of royalty in respect of Glauconite, Potash, Emerald, Platinum Group of Metals (PGM), Andalusite, Sillimanite and Molybdenum
• Ensure auction of mineral blocks in respect of Glauconite, Potash, Emerald, Platinum Group of Metals, Andalusite and Molybdenum thereby reducing import of these minerals, generating empowerment opportunity in the mining sector as well as manufacturing sector which will help in ensuring inclusive growth of a large section of the society
• Lead to import substitution in respect of many important minerals for the economy of the country thereby saving valuable forex reserves.  It will reduce country’s foreign dependency through the local production of minerals

 

MINES AND MINERALS (DEVELOPMENT AND REGULATION) ACT, 1957

• Regulates the mining sector in India
• Lays down rules for obtaining and issuing mining leases for mining operations
• Both the Central and State Governments are responsible for the management of mineral resources
• Captive Mines – Under the Act of the year 1957, the Central Government can reserve any mine (except atomic mineral) for a particular end use while leasing it through auction process.

BENEFITS OF ACT

• Transparency will increase as the state governments at times lacked transparency in the auction process conducted by the states to the person of their choice. Organizing the auction process by the Center will increase transparency.
• Production will increase. By which India’s energy security and other important needs can be met.  By increasing the production of coal, India will be able to conserve energy security as well as foreign exchange.
• Ease of doing business will increase. Incorporation of new technology to boost production.
• To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in the mining sector, state openness, fairness, better regulation, accountability, inclusive policy formulation, the interest of the local community, national needs and the level of trust among other stakeholders should be increased.

NEWS

Reserve Bank of India launched a new Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments solution for feature phone users dubbed ‘UPI123Pay’

DETAILS

 FEATURES

• UPI-based service
• Designed to bring the digital payments platform closer to a significant number of feature phone mobile subscribers in the country
• Materially improve the options for such users to access UPI, who could earlier access the digital transactions platform through the USSD-based process, using the short code of *99#, which according to RBI is not popular

HOW DOES IT WORK

• Feature phone users will be required to go through an onboarding process where they have to link their bank account to their feature phone and then set a UPI PIN using their debit card for authenticating transactions
• Once they have completed this initial process, users will be able to use the new UPI facility for person-to-person as well as merchant transactions, among others, through one of the four distinct payment options that don’t require an internet connection.

HOW WILL USERS MAKE PAYMENTS WITHOUT INTERNET

• The new UPI payments system offers users four options to make payments without internet connectivity: Interactive Voice Response (IVR), app-based functionality, missed call facility and proximity sound-based payments
• Using the IVR option, users would be required to initiate a secured call from their feature phones to a predetermined IVR number and complete UPI on-boarding formalities to be able to start making financial transactions like money transfer, mobile recharge, EMI repayment, balance check, among others.
• The missed call facility will allow users to access their bank account and perform routine transactions such as receiving, transferring funds, regular purchases, bill payments, etc., by giving a missed call on the number displayed at the merchant outlet. The customer will receive an incoming call to authenticate the transaction by entering UPI PIN.
• They could also install an app on their feature phone through which several UPI functions, available on smartphones, will be available on their feature phone, except scan and pay feature which is currently not available.
• Finally, they could utilise the proximity sound-based payments option, which uses sound waves to enable contactless, offline, and proximity data communication on any device.

DO OTHER COUNTRIES HAVE SOMETHING SIMILAR?

• Mobile payment systems that do not rely on internet connectivity like the ones based on USSD or SMS technology were introduced many years ago and are still being used in some developing countries.
• In fact, one of the major mobile payment systems globally was introduced by Vodafone’s Kenyan associate, Safaricom in 2007.
• M-PESA, which is Africa’s leading mobile money service, operates across the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique and Tanzania, with 51 million customers making over $314 billion in transactions per year through the service, according to Vodafone.

 FRESH WATER

• Water is one of the most basic, one of the most used, one of the most exploited and perhaps equal in importance to the other natural resources essential for the survival of life.
• Three-fourths of the Earth’s surface is covered with water. Hence known as the ‘water planet’
• Out of this, the oceans cover about two-thirds surface, thus unfit human consumption
• Only around 2.7% is available for human use out of which the maximum is covered under ice sheets and glaciers, thus inaccessible
• It comes down to just 1% of the water that can be considered to be fit for human use
• The Global Water System Project, which was launched in 2003 as a joint initiative of the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP) and Global Environmental Change (GEC) programme, epitomises global concern about the human-induced transformation of fresh water and its impact on the earth system and society
• The fact is that freshwater resources are under stress, the principal driver being human activities in their various forms

FRESH WATER VALUATION

• In its fourth assessment report in 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlighted the link between societal vulnerability and modifications of water systems
• It is globally estimated that the gap between demand for and supply of fresh water may reach up to 40% by 2030 if present practices continue.
• The formation of the 2030 Water Resource Group in 2008, at the instance of the World Economic Forum, and the World Bank’s promotion of the group’s activity since 2018, is in recognition of this problem and to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on water availability and sanitation for all by 2030 (SDG 6).
• Designing a comprehensive mix of divergent views about water (along with ecological and environmental issues) held by stakeholder groups is necessary.
• In this context, a hydro-social cycle approach provides an appropriate framework. It repositions the natural hydrological cycle in a human-nature interactive structure and considers water and society as part of a historical and relational-dialectical process.

INTER-BASIN TRANSFER PROJECTS

• The anthropogenic factors directly influencing a freshwater system are the engineering of river channels, irrigation and other consumptive use of water, widespread land use/land cover change, change in an aquatic habitat, and point and non-point source pollution affecting water quality.
• The intra- and inter-basin transfer (IBT) of water is a major hydrological intervention to rectify the imbalance in water availability due to naturally prevailing unequal distribution of water resources within a given territory.
• The National River Linking Project of India is under construction. These projects, if executed, will create artificial water courses that are more than twice the length of the earth’s equator and will transfer 1,910 km3 of water annually.
• They will reengineer the hydrological system with considerable local, regional and global ramifications.
• Based on a multi-country case study analysis, the World Wildlife Fund/World Wide Fund for Nature (2009) has suggested a cautious approach and the necessity to adhere to sustainability principles set out by the World Commission on Dams while taking up IBT projects.

SOME OF THE KEY ASSUMPTIONS

• Recently, inter-basin transfer of water drew attention in India due to a provision made in Budget 2022 for the Ken Betwa river link project which is a part of the National River Linking project (mooted in 1970 and revived in 1999).
• This decision raises larger questions about hydrological assumptions and the use and the management of freshwater resources in the country. We shall ponder over some of them.
• First, the basic premise of IBT is to export water from the surplus basin to a deficit basin. However, there is contestation on the concept of the surplus and deficit basin itself as the exercise is substantially hydrological. Water demand within the donor basin by factoring present and future land use, especially cropping patterns, population growth, urbanisation, industrialisation, socio-economic development and environmental flow are hardly worked out. Besides this, rainfall in many surplus basins has been reported as declining. The status of the surplus basin may alter if these issues are considered.
• Second, there is concern about the present capacity utilisation of water resources created in the country. By 2016, India created an irrigation potential for 112 million hectares, but the gross irrigated area was 93 million hectares. There is a 19% gap, which is more in the case of canal irrigation. In 1950-51, canal irrigation used to contribute 40% of net irrigated area, but by 2014-15, the net irrigated area under canal irrigation came down to less than 24%. Ground water irrigation now covers 62.8% of net irrigated area. The average water use efficiency of irrigation projects in India is only 38% against 50%-60% in the case of developed countries.

WAY FORWARD

Looking into these issues may not be adequate to address all the problems. Nevertheless, these measures will help to reduce demand supply gap in many places, and the remaining areas of scarcity can be catered to using small-scale projects. The axiom that today’s water system is co-evolving and the challenges are mainly management and governance has been globally well accepted. Water projects are politically charged and manifest an interplay of social relations, social power, and technology.

It is important to include less predictable variables, revise binary ways of thinking of ‘either or’, and involve non-state actors in decision-making processes. A hybrid water management system is necessary, where (along with professionals and policy makers) the individual, a community and society have definite roles in the value chain. The challenge is not to be techno-centric but anthropogenic.

NEWS

Mt. Merapi of Indonesia is a volcano that erupted recently

MT MERAPI

• Merapi (Mountain of Fire) is the most active of Indonesia’s 130 active volcanoes
• It rises to 2,911 metres and has steep slopes with dense vegetation on its lower sides.
• It is located near the centre of the island of Java and Indonesia’s cultural capital, Yogyakarta.
• Mt Merapi’s last significant eruption was in 2010. At that time, more than 300 people were killed and some 2,80,000 residents were forced to evacuate the surrounding areas

VOLCANOES IN INDONESIA

• Part of Pacific Ring of Fire
• The Ring of Fire, also referred to as the Circum-Pacific Belt, is a path along the Pacific Ocean characterized by active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes

NEWS

As per National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 , Odisha has the highest coverage of full immunization in the country, with 90.5 percent coverage

DETAILS

WHAT IS IN FULL IMMUNIZATION –

• Preventive doses against 12 different kinds of diseases are included in full immunization
• tuberculosis, polio, diphtheria, jaundice, tetanus, whooping cough, brain fever, HIV, measles, pneumonia, diarrhoea, rubella, Japanese fever, and others.

MISSION INDRADHANUSH

• First launched on December 25, 2014 with a aim to achieve 90 percent full immunization coverage in India and also sustain it by the year 2022
• The ultimate goal is to ensure full immunization with all available vaccines for children up to two years of age and pregnant women
• To further intensify the immunization programme, Prime Minister launched the Intensified Mission (IMI) in 2017
• Government of India aims to reach each and every child up to two years of age and all those pregnant women who have been left uncovered under the routine immunization programme/UIP
• Intensified Mission Indradhanush 2.0 was launched in December 2019 to ensure reaching the unreached with all available vaccines and to speed coverage of children and pregnant women in the specified blocks as well as districts from 2019 December to 2020 March. It also aims that by 2030, the Sustainable Development Goal of reducing avoidable child deaths will be achieved.
• the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 3.0 scheme was implemented to cover children and pregnant women who missed routine immunization due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 4.0 was launched recently by the Ministry of Health. It will ensure that unvaccinated and partially vaccinated children, as well as pregnant women, receive Routine Immunization (RI) services. Children up to the age of two will be covered under this drive.

NEWS

Cabinet approves establishment of WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in India

DETAILS

BENEFITS

• Position AYUSH systems across the globe
• Provide leadership on global health matters pertaining to traditional medicine.
• Ensure quality, safety and efficacy, accessibility and rational use of traditional medicine.
• Develop norms, standards, and guidelines in relevant technical areas, tools and methodologies, for collecting data undertaking analytics, and assess impact
• Envisage WHO TM Informatics center creating a collaborative of existing TM Data banks, virtual libraries, and academic and research institutes
• Develop specific capacity building and training programmes in the areas of relevance to the objectives and conduct training programmes in campus, residential, or web-based, and through partnerships with the WHO Academy and other strategic partners.

ABOUT

• The WHO GCTM will be established in Jamnagar under the Ministry of AYUSH.
• Prime Minister praised this initiative of WHO and mentioned that WHO GCTM would emerge as a center of global wellness, bolster evidence –based research, training and awareness for Traditional Medicine.
• A Joint Task Force (JTF) is constituted for coordination, execution and monitoring of activities for the establishment of this Centre.  JTF comprises representatives from the Government of India, Permanent Mission of India, Geneva and the World Health Organization.

NEWS

Union Minister of Labor and Employment presented Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar (VRP) and National Safety Awards (NSA). They are presented by the Ministry of Labor & Employment since 1965

DETAILS

Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar (VRP)

Previously known as Shram Vir National Awards

Given in 3 categories

WHY

• Recognition of outstanding suggestions given by workers
• Implemented by the management of the factory during the previous calendar year.

WHAT DOES SUGGESTIONS RELATE TO - Regarding improving the quality, productivity, safety, health of the industrial workers or conservation of environment in industrial premises.

National Safety Awards (NSA)

WHY

• In recognition of the outstanding safety performance of industrial establishments, construction sites, ports, and installations under the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB).
• Stimulate and maintain the interests of both the management and the workers in the prevention of accidents.

• The Union Cabinet approved the setting up of a new government-owned firm for pooling and monetising sovereign and public sector land assets. The National Land Monetisation Corporation (NLMC) is being formed with an initial authorised share capital of ₹5,000 crore and paid-up capital of ₹150 crore.
• Jharokha-Compendium of Indian handicraft/ handloom, art, and culture programme is being organized by the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Textiles to celebrate the traditional Indian handlooms, handicrafts, and art & culture.
• Chhattisgarh government launched ‘Kaushalya Matritva Yojana’. Under this scheme, on the birth of a second girl child Rs 5000 financial assistance will be given to women.
• The largest reclining statue of Lord Buddha in India is being built in Bodh Gaya, Bihar. India’s Buddhist pilgrimage circuit is being proactively revived and Bodh Gaya is an integral part of it. Hence, the site of Gautam Buddha’s enlightenment will soon be home to his largest reclining statue.
• Smart Event Tracking System (SETS) is a Google Maps-based planning and analysis tool. It is in-house software of the Indian Railways, which is being used to tackle the problem of cattle getting run over by the trains. Kilometer stamps on electrical masts along the railway tracks are mapped and the exact location of ‘cattle run over’ is fed into the system
• India’s first 100 percent women-owned industrial park was opened in Hyderabad, Telangana. The FLO Industrial Park is named after the FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO), which is promoting it in association with the Telangana government.
• Scientists have found the sunken wreck of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance, more than a century after it was lost to the Antarctic ice. The vessel lies 3,000 meters below the surface of the Weddell Sea, about 6.4 kilometers south of the location recorded in 1915 by its captain, Frank Worsley. An expedition set off from South Africa last month to search for the ship, which was crushed by ice and sank in November 1915.