Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 30TH March 2022

NEWS

The high court on Tuesday directed the government to submit a status report on the constitution of the Civil Services Board (CSB) in compliance with the directions of the Supreme Court in 2013

CIVIL SERVICES BOARD

• To insulate the bureaucracy from political interference and to put an end to frequent transfers of civil servants by political bosses, the Supreme Court had in 2013 directed the Centre and the states to set up a civil services board to consider transfers and postings of bureaucrats among others.
• As per rules, all states should have a civil services board to decide on transfers and postings of the bureaucrats.
• Functions:
  • The board is mandated to decide on the transfer of a civil servant before completion of his or her fixed tenure.
  • The rules mandate the civil services board to submit an annual report on January 1 to the central government about the date of the meetings held by them.
• Composition:
  • Headed by chief secretary of a state.
  • Has senior most additional chief secretary or chairman, Board of Revenue, Financial Commissioner or an officer of equivalent rank and status as member.
  • In addition, it will have Principal Secretary or Secretary, Department of Personnel in the state government as member secretary.

NEWS

The impact of the pandemic on livelihood has persisted far beyond the lockdowns , found a survey by the Azim Premji University, in collaboration with nine civil society organisations

WHAT IS IN THE REPORT

• Without greater support, factors such as the long period of depressed earnings, lower food intake and debt/sale of assets will continue to hamper the ability of households to recover from the pandemic
•  Survey covered 2,841 households in settlements in 33 wards across eight zones in Bengaluru
• Workers in a wide range of occupations such as drivers (cab, auto, and others), daily-wage earners (construction and others), domestic workers, and factory workers (garment and others) were surveyed
• 41% of workers surveyed had no work and another 21% had reduced earnings even in January and February 2021. By October 2021, 11% had still not recovered from job loss and women were impacted more
• In January and February 2021, earnings remained 10% below pre-COVID-19 levels. The report also said that 40% reported lower food intake during COVID-19.
• Relief measures have had a mixed record of reaching the urban poor. While the public distribution system (PDS) had the widest reach, cash transfers fell well short of what is needed
• 55% households with BPL cards had received more than regular quantity of grains since the second lockdown, while another 32% got additional grains for at least a few months
• The percentage of households getting supplementary nutrition or alternatives from anganwadis and ICDS during COVID-19 (conditional to families with a child below 6 years and those with pregnant/ lactating mothers) went up to 38% from 24% (pre-COVID-19)
• In addition to continued extra rations from the PDS, more cash transfers, as well as the implementation of an urban employment guarantee programme, are urgently needed

ENVIRONMENT & GEOGRAPHY

 NEWS

The population of the greater one-horned or Indian rhinoceros in the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve has increased by 200 in four years, the latest census has revealed

DETAILS

• The last rhino census conducted in 2018 had put the number at 2,413
• There are 2,613 rhinos, which indicates an annual increase of 50 rhinos since 2018.
• During this period, Kaziranga lost 400 rhinos due to natural causes while poachers killed three
• This year’s census had a first — the use of drones for the recheck of 26 park compartments where the sample survey was done

INDIAN RHINOCEROS

• Also called the greater one-horned rhinoceros
• Native to the Indian subcontinent
• Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and Schedule I animal in the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972
• It once ranged across the entire northern part of the Indian Subcontinent, along the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra River basins, from Pakistan to the Indian-Myanmar border
• Poaching for rhinoceros horn became the single most important reason for the decline of the Indian rhino

KAZIRANGA NATIONAL PARK

• Located in the state of Assam, India
• UNESCO World Heritage Site
• Hosts two-thirds of the world’s great one-horned rhinoceroses. Rhinos are listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red list of Threatened Species.
• Home to the highest density of tigers among protected areas in the world, and was declared a Tiger Reserve in 2006
• Home to large breeding populations of elephants, wild water buffalo, and swamp deer
• Recognized as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International for conservation of avifaunal species
• Combines high species diversity and visibility
• Is a vast expanse of tall elephant grass, marshland, and dense tropical moist broadleaf forests, criss-crossed by four major rivers, including the Brahmaputra, and the park includes numerous small bodies of water
• Celebrated its centennial in 2005 after its establishment in 1905 as a reserve forest

NEWS

Polar Science and Cryosphere (PACER) scheme has been approved for continuation by the Union Cabinet from 2021 to 2026

THE SCHEME

Implemented through the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR)

COMPONENTS

• Construction of polar research vessel
• Construction of the third research base in Antarctica
• Indian scientific endeavours in the Arctic
• Polar expeditions-Antarctica
• Southern Ocean Expedition

MAJOR WORKS

• Field-based studies were conducted in the lakes of Larsemann Hills, East Antarctica for the understanding of biogeochemical processes in supraglacial environments.
• The IndARC mooring system along with the Hydrophone system was successfully retrieved and deployed in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard.
• Glaciological field campaigns were carried out in six benchmark glaciers in Chandra basin of Lahaul-Spiti region of Western Himalaya.
• Winter snow accumulation over the glaciers was recorded using snow pits and snow
• Two new Automatic Weather Station (AWS) systems were installed at Baralacha La, a high elevation site in the arid Spiti region to strengthen infrastructure across the Chandra basin.
• The 11th Indian Southern Ocean Expedition was executed successfully

PERSONS IN NEWS

NEWS

In the context of ongoing ‘Matua Dharma Maha Mela 2022’, Harichand Thakur is being remembered

HARICHAND THAKUR

•  Born  in 1812 in Orakandi in Bangladesh in a peasant farmer family of the Thakur community (SC community)
• Thakur, whose family were Vaishnavite Hindus, founded a sect of Vaishnavite Hinduism called Matua. This was adopted by members of the Namasudra community, who were then also known by the common pejorative name of Chandalas and considered untouchable
• The sect, opposed to caste oppression, later attracted adherents from other communities marginalised by the upper castes, including Malis and Telis
• His followers consider him God (hence called him Thakur) and an avatar of Vishnu or Krishna
• He came to be known as Sri Sri Harichand Thakur
• Married to ‘Jagat Mata’ Shanti Mata, with whom he had two sons, Thakur died in Faridpur district in Bangladesh in 1878
• After his death, one of his sons, Guruchand Thakur (born in 1846), collaborated with English Baptist missionary doctor Cecil Silas Mead, who worked and lived among the Namasudras, to get the Chandala people recategorised as Namasudras.
• Devoted his life to the cause of betterment of the oppressed, downtrodden and deprived people in undivided Bengal during the pre-independence era

• The Karnataka government has announced Vinaya Samarasya Yojana, an awareness programme meant to eradicate untouchability in Gram Panchayats across the state
• 3rd National Water Awards presented. The National Water Award was launched by the Jal Shakti Ministry in 2018 to recognise and motivate individuals and organizations doing exemplary work in the field of water resources management
• Gilbert F. Houngbo has recently been elected as the International Labour Organization’s 11th Director-General
• TEJAS (Training for Emirates Jobs And Skills), a Skill India International Project to train overseas Indias was launched at the Dubai Expo, 2020.