Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 18th March 2022

NEWS

Country’s first Digital Water Bank ‘AQVERIUM’ launched in Bengaluru aims to provide clean drinking water & sanitation

DETAILS

• India’s first-ever digital water data bank
• List of water data sourced from various institutions.
• Provides reliable information and insights regarding the various aspects of water.
• Helps in making evidence-based policies and decisions to achieve a water-secure world
• Intends to train around one million youth in water, sanitation, hydro-geological sciences, and data sciences. It is a unique innovation combining sustainable technologies along with IT, skill development, and entrepreneurship.
• Objective is to create ‘water entrepreneurs’ and make India ‘Water Positive’ by 2030

NEWS

The Kerala High Court  asked organisations associated with the film industry to take steps to constitute a joint committee to deal with cases of sexual harassment of women, in line with the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act of 2013

DETAILS

• FULL FORM - Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013 (also referred to as the “POSH Act”)
• Came into existence in 2013
• Establishes a mechanism for dealing with sexual harassment complaints in the workplace
• Has been implemented to prevent and protect women from sexual harassment at the workplace and thereby ensure a safe working environment for women
• Mandatary compliance, requires every company having more than ten employees to constitute an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) in the prescribed manner to receive and address the complaints of any sort of sexual harassment from women in a time-bound and extremely confidential manner.
• The person who can file a complaint has to be a woman

NEWS

Parliament’s Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj has asked the government to roll back the system of caste-based wages, under which NREGS workers are paid based on whether they belong to a Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, or Others

WHAT IS THE CASTE-BASED PAYMENT SYSTEM?

• Advisory by Rural Development Ministry sent
• States were asked to take necessary action for payment of wages to NREGS workers according to their categories — SC, ST, and Others — from the 2021-22 financial year
• Under the new system
• If 20 individuals (say, six SCs, four STs and 10 others) work together at a site under MG-NREGA, a single muster roll would be issued
• Payment would be done by issuing three separate Fund Transfer Orders (FTOs), one for each of the three categories

WHY IS IT CRITICISED?

• Some beneficiaries started complaining that despite working at the same site and registering on the same muster roll, they were getting their wages at different times depending on their categories
• Denounced by civil society activists at the time, has now been criticised by the parliamentary panel as well

WHAT WAS THE EARLIER SYSTEM OF PAYMENT?

• The Rural Development Ministry notifies wage rates for states and Union Territories under Section 6(1) of The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005
• Until 2020-21, the wages were being paid to NREGS beneficiaries through a single funds transfer order
• If 20 beneficiaries, including SCs, STs and Others work at a site under MGNREGA, all received their wages at the same time, through a single muster roll and a single funds transfer order

WHY WAS THE SYSTEM OF CASTE-BASED WAGE PAYMENT INTRODUCED?

To “accurately reflect on the ground flow of funds to various population groups

NEWS

Arabian Tropicbird, one of the rarest seabirds in Kerala, has been sighted off the Kollam coast during a pelagic survey

DETAILS

• Threatened Species in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List
• Generally found in the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Aden, Red Sea, Pakistan, western India, south-western Sri Lanka and the Horn of Africa
• Rare but regular vagrant to Seychelles Island.
• Considered a subspecies of the Red-billed Tropicbird (Phaethon aethereus aethereus) of Central Atlantic Ocean which breeds on islands south of the equator
• Distinguished by its smaller size, orange bill with black cutting edge, and the shape of eye-line.

NEWS

Government of India released India’s Arctic Policy, with the aim of enhancing the country’s cooperation with the resource-rich and rapidly transforming region

WHAT IS THE POLICY

• Built on six central pillars — science and research, climate and environmental protection, economic and human development, transportation and connectivity, governance and international cooperation, and finally, national capacity building
• Significance of Arctic - Rich in mineral and oil resources, many shipping routes that run through it
• Adverse effects of climate change are not only impacting the availability of mineral and hydrocarbon resources but are also transforming global shipping routes
• Documents the history of India’s relationship with the region, which can be traced back to February 1920, when it signed the Svalbard treaty in Paris
• In 2007, India launched its first scientific expedition to the Arctic. Since then, India has been able to set up an observatory in Kongsfjorden as well as an atmospheric laboratory at Gruvebadet
• Since 2013, India has been an Observer nation in the Arctic Council, where it has consistently participated in meetings of Senior Arctic Officials and contributed to its six Working Groups, the policy states
• Under the banner of science and research, the Indian government hopes to build its research capabilities in the region by strengthening existing facilities, such as the Himadri Arctic station in Svalbard
• It also hopes to align Indian research with international Arctic priorities. The policy further lays down plans to deploy space technology to better study the Arctic region
• India also plans to study the impact of climate change in the Arctic, to improve response mechanisms across the world. It aims to offer a better analysis of the implications of ice melting in the Arctic on global shipping routes, energy security and exploitation of mineral wealth
• It also seeks to study the linkages between polar regions and the Himalayas and deepen the cooperation between India and the countries of the Arctic region under various Arctic forums, drawing expertise from scientific and traditional knowledge.

NEWS

Telangana has started documenting crop diversification trends in the form of an index for the first time in the country, following the paddy procurement row with the Centre and the state government asking farmers to opt for alternate crops.

WHAT IS RECORDED

• State grows 77 varieties, with roughly 10 crops, predominantly grains, favored for diversification
• Nirmal, Vikarabad, and Sangareddy districts are more diverse
• Peddapalli, Karimnagar, and Suryapet were the three least diverse areas. Surprisingly, in these regions where paddy farming is common
• Maize cropping area has declined dramatically while the cotton cropping area has expanded
• Score will serve as a benchmark for future agricultural diversification in the state
• Has a starting value of one
• Represents the proportion of total cultivated area devoted to a single crop
• Many districts in the state have index values ranging from 0 to 5, and the higher the score, the greater the agricultural diversification.
• The current index was calculated using the area under 77 different crops, along with all food, non-food, and cash crops, and also the area under floriculture

BY - V-Dem Institute

WHAT IS IN THE REPORT

• India is among the top 10 autocratising countries of the world along with El Salvador, Turkey, and Hungary
• Indicated that there will be a further decline in democracy in India. Since last year, India is being classified as an ‘electoral autocracy’. Thus, India is in the category of the bottom 40% to 50% of countries.
• The report highlights that a new wave of democratization is being witnessed in 15 countries. On the other hand, 32 countries are reeling under autocratisation.
• In the Asia-Pacific region, the last decade witnessed a worsening of autocratisation in India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Thailand, and the Philippines.
• The report noted that the autocratisation is driven by anti-pluralist parties in six countries: Brazil, Hungary, India, Poland, Serbia, and Turkey.
• According to the report, the anti-pluralist parties lack a commitment to the democratic process, disrespect fundamental rights of the minorities, encourage demonization of the political opponents, accept political violence in the country and also use the government power to push forward their autocratic agendas.
• The report noted that the level of democracy enjoyed by the average global citizen in 2021 is down to 1989 levels. The report also highlighted that all over the world dictatorships are on the rise, which affects around 70% (5.4 billion) of the world population. ‘Electoral autocracy’ affects around 44% (3.4 billion) of the global population.

• Information & Broadcasting Ministry asked the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC India) to resume “news channel ratings” with immediate effect.
• This year’s first cyclone is set to develop in the Bay of Bengal around March 21, said the India Meteorological Department. Once it intensifies into a storm, the cyclone will be called Asani, a name given by Sri Lanka.
• The government of Sikkim is set to announce the Bahini scheme in its annual Budget later this month. The Bahini scheme aims to provide secondary and senior secondary school-going girls with 100% access to free and safe sanitary pads.
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• The European Union (EU) countries decided to impose the world’s first carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions tariff on imports of polluting goods.