Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 15th April 2022

NEWS

Karnataka is set to provide eggs under the Midday Meal Scheme (MDMS) for school children

 MID-DAY MEAL SCHEME

• Guarantees one meal to all children in government and aided schools and madarsas supported under Samagra Shiksha.
• Students up to Class VIII are guaranteed one nutritional cooked meal at least 200 days in a year.
• Under the Ministry of HRD.
• Launched in the year 1995 & revamped in 2004

GUIDELINES

• The place of serving meals to the children shall be school only.
• If the Mid-Day Meal is not provided in school on any school day due to non-availability of food grains or any other reason, the State Government shall pay food security allowance by 15th of the succeeding month.
• The meal shall be prepared in accordance with the Mid Day Meal guidelines issued by the Central Government from time to time.
• Procuring AGMARK quality items for preparation of midday meals, tasting of meals by two or three adult members of the school management committee, including at least one teacher, before serving to children.
• The School Management Committee mandated under the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 shall also monitor implementation of the Mid-day meal Scheme.
• The State Steering-cum Monitoring Committee (SSMC) shall oversee the implementation of the scheme including establishment of a mechanism for maintenance of nutritional standards and quality of meals.

FINANCING

• Shared between the central and state governments
• The central government provides free food grains to the states
• The cost of cooking, infrastructure development, transportation of food grains and payment of honorarium to cooks and helpers is shared by the centre with the state governments

NEWS

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved continuation of the revamped Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA) till 2026

DETAILS

• Capabilities will be developed to deliver the SDGs through local governance that will be inclusive along with a focus on the optimum utilisation of all available resources.
• PRIs will be able to deliver SDG localization based on the themes that are
  • healthy, child-friendly, and water sufficient village
  • enhanced livelihood and poverty-free villages
  • village infrastructure that will be self-sufficient and socially secured villages
  • green and clean village
  • engendered development in the village
  • village with good governance
• Strengthening the Gram Sabhas so that they can function as an effective institution and also include vulnerable groups
• Focus will be given to the capacity development like adequate infrastructure and human resources of the PRIs at the national, district, and state levels
• Panchayats will be able to strengthen themselves progressively through various incentives that will be provided on the basis of the criteria of recognizing Panchayats’ roles in achieving SDGs and instilling the spirit of healthy competition
• Vision - achieving “Sabka Sath, Sabka Gaon, Sabka Vikas”

SIGNIFICANCE

• As panchayats have representation of Schedule Castes, Schedule Tribes and women, and are institutions closest to the grassroots, strengthening panchayats will promote equity and inclusiveness, along with social justice and economic development of the community.
• Increased use of e-governance by PRIs will help achieve improved service delivery and transparency.
• It will establish the institutional structure for capacity building of PRIs at the national, state and district level with adequate human resources and infrastructure.

NEWS

The India Meteorological Department (IMD), while forecasting a “normal” southwest monsoon and average rainfall for the year 2022

WHAT DID IMD SAY

• India would get 99% of the long period average (LPA) rainfall — changed from 89 cm to 88 cm in 2018, and in the periodic update in 2022, again revised to 87 cm
• The IMD does not expect an El Nino, a phenomenon associated with a warming of the Central Pacific and drying up of the rains over northwest India, the coming monsoon
• Currently La Nina conditions are prevailing over equatorial Pacific. The latest forecasts indicates it will continue during the monsoon
• Current indications suggest “normal” to “above normal” rainfall in the northern parts of peninsular India, central India and the Himalayan foothills
• Many parts of northeast India and southern parts of South India are expected to see a subdued monsoon

MONSOON

WHAT - A seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation

PHENOMENON

• Monsoons are seasonal winds which reverse their direction with the change of season.
• They flow from sea to land during the summer and from land to sea during
• Countries like India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Myanmar etc. receive most of the annual rainfall during south-west monsoon season whereas South East China, Japan etc., during north-east rainfall season.
• During the summers of northern hemisphere, North India receives high insolation and generates low pressure.
• This low pressure attracts winds from all direction. Heating of Tibetan plateau also plays role here.
• During the same time, Inter-Tropical convergence zone also shifts to the north and as a result trade winds starts blowing towards India carrying moisture with them.
• The shift in the position of the ITCZ is also related to the phenomenon of the withdrawal of the westerly jet stream from its position over the north Indian plain, south of the Himalayas.
• The easterly jet stream sets in along 15°N latitude only after the western jet stream has withdrawn itself from the region. This easterly jet stream is held responsible for the burst of the monsoon in India.

NORMAL MONSOON

• Normal or Near Normal: When per cent departure of actual rainfall is +/-10% of LPA, that is, between 96-104% of LPA
• Below Normal: When departure of actual rainfall is less than 10% of LPA, that is 90-96% of LPA
• Above Normal: When actual rainfall is 104-110% of LPA
• Deficient: When departure of actual rainfall is less than 90% of LPA
• Excess: When departure of actual rainfall is more than 110% of LPA

LONG PERIOD AVERAGE (LPA)

• It is the average rainfall recorded during the months from June to September, calculated during the 50-year period, and is kept as a benchmark while forecasting the quantitative rainfall for the monsoon season every year
• IMD maintains an independent LPA for every homogeneous region of the country, which ranges from 71.6 cm to 143.83 cm

LA NINA

• Climate pattern that describes periods of below-average sea surface temperatures across the east-central Equatorial Pacific
• Considered to be the counterpart to El Nino, and its impacts tend to be opposite those of El Niño
• Together, they form the "cold" (La Nina) and "warm" (El Nino) phases of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)

INDIA METEOROLOGICAL DEPARTMENT

• IMD was established in 1875
• It is an agency of the Ministry of Earth Sciences of the Government of India
• It is the principal agency responsible for meteorological observations, weather forecasting and seismology

BENEFITS OF NORMAL MONSOON

• The monsoon is critical for agriculture in the country since nearly 60% of India’s net arable land lacks irrigation. The monsoon delivers about 70% of India’s annual rainfall and determines the yield of several grains and pulses, including rice, wheat, and sugarcane
• Will help to contain food price pressures, especially in cereals and pulses. It is also crucial to keep up the rural demand
• Replenish nearly 100 large reservoirs critical for drinking water and power generation across the country
• Most major sectors of the economy like to base their sales and distribution activities on the monsoon’s behavior
• A normal monsoon will also lead to reservoirs across India, which are responsible for water supply in cities, filling up.Thus it  will also lead to an increase in production of hydro power which is a cleaner form of energy

 NEWS

April 15 is observed as Himachal Day

DETAILS

HIMACHAL PRADESH

• Formed as a Union Territory in 1948
• In 1971, became the 18th state in India with Shimla as its capital

OTHER DETAILS

• The word ''Himachal'' is derived from two Sanskrit words, "Hima" (snow) and "Anchal" (lap). The state, situated amid valleys and hills, virtually sits in the lap of the Himalayas.
• Main language spoken in the state is Hindi but there are several local dialects like Mahasu, Pahari, Mandeali, Kangri, Kullu, Bilaspuri and Kinnauri.
• The recorded history of Himachal Pradesh goes back to the Maurya period, that is, 4th Century B.C.
• A large part of Himachal Pradesh is in the Alpine zone with an average altitude of 4,500 metre.
• Himachal Pradesh boasts of spectacular snow-capped ranges like the Dhauladhar, Pir Panjal and the Zaskar.
• Tourism and agriculture are the backbone of the economy of Himachal Pradesh.
• The state has beautiful tourist destinations like Shimla - the queen of hill stations, Bilaspur, Mandi, Chamba, Kullu, Dalhousie, Kasauli, Kangra, Palampur, Solan, Manali and Dharmshala.
• The Kalka-Shimla Railway, often called the ''toy train'', is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• The Kalka-Shimla Railway traverses the steepest slope (over 5800 ft) in roughly 95 km. The train crosses several bridges and tunnels.
• Himachal Pradesh has 33 Wildlife Sanctuaries and two National Parks

NEWS

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (UN-FAO) has recognized Hyderabad and Mumbai jointly as the ‘2021 Tree City of the World

DETAILS

• WHY - Commitment to maintaining and growing greenery and urban trees so as to build resilient, healthy, and happy cities
• First time Mumbai has made it to the list
• Hyderabad has been featured on this list for the second consecutive year.
• Programme was started by the UN-FAO and Arbor Day Foundation, an American non-profit organisation
• AIM - To recognise towns and cities across the world that are committed to ensuring that their trees and urban forests are sustainably managed, properly maintained, and duly celebrated
• Assistance, direction, and worldwide recognition is provided to those communities that are showing dedication to their urban forest. The programme also provides a framework for a sustainable and healthy urban forestry programme in a city or a town.

CRITERION FOR RECOGNITION

A City

• Must delegate responsibility for the caring of trees within the municipal boundary to a city department, a staff member, or a group of citizens known as a Tree Board
• law or an official policy must be in place in the city to govern the management of trees and forests
• Must also have an updated assessment or inventory of the local tree resources so that it can establish an effective long-term plan for caring for, planting, and removing city trees
• Must also have a dedicated annual budget for implementing a tree management plan. Must organise an annual celebration of trees with the aim of raising awareness among the people and must also acknowledge the citizens who have carried out the tree programme in the city.

• The State Government has resumed ‘Saptapadi Vivaha’ scheme and mass marriages  in select ‘A’ grade temples of the Muzarai Department. The programme was suspended for two years in view of COVID-19.
• ‘Ambedkar Odu’, a unique experiment of reading out B.R. Ambedkar’s writings on a digital platform to take them closer to common people, crossed a milestone of 100 hours of reading on his 131st birth anniversary
• CJI visits the partition museum Amritsar

Vice President has conferred the International Gandhi Award for Leprosy, 2021 to Sahyog Kushtha Yagna Trust, Gujarat, and Dr. Bhushan Kumar of Chandigarh in New Delhi. It is an annual award that is instituted by the Gandhi Memorial Leprosy Foundation.