Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 16th June 2021

What is in news : Maravoor bridge on Athrady National Highway 67 connecting Mangaluru and Mangalore International Airport has developed cracks

Details :

The bridge

• Constructed in 1969
• 300 mts long
• Across Phalguni River
• Is being upgraded to 4lane and new bridge is built next to it at 50 crore cost
• Sand mining across river is being blamed for damage

Details :

• Cloudphysician, the start-up firm founded by the two doctors in Bengaluru in 2017, uses IT to relay visuals and data from the ICU to a manned command centre, where intensivists and other specialists make swift decisions on treatment protocol.
• The technology makes up for a critical vacuum in the country’s healthcare system — the paucity of trained ICU specialists such as intensivists, pulmonologists and anesthetists — a lacuna the two doctors identified five years ago when they left for the US to do their specialisations after graduating from medical schools in Bengaluru and Thrissur.
• While the first wave of Covid-19 highlighted the lack of ICU ventilator facilities in the country, the second wave showed that the scaling-up of infrastructure alone -- without equipping ICUs with trained doctors and staff to handle the equipment -- can be an exercise in futility.
• Last year, Cloudphysician received funding from ACT Grants, a non-profit created by the startup ecosystem in India, to deploy its technology-based ICU expertise in government hospitals.
• Between April and June, when the second surge peaked, 10 hospitals -- both in the government and private sector -- turned to Cloudphysician to support their ICUs, Joshi says, adding that their smart ICU technology has so far serviced over 3,500 Covid patients in Karnataka.
• The start-up is also using its technology in government hospital ICUs in Maharashtra and Kerala.
• While the Government of Karnataka used its own tele-ICU facility through the first and second waves of the Covid-19 crisis -- where top critical care experts in Bengaluru carry out tele-rounds of hospitals twice a day -- what sets apart the solution offered by Cloudphysician is that it is present in the ICU 24/7.
• Cloudphysician has now been roped in to run a 24-bed ICU facility at the 150-year-old government Epidemic Diseases Hospital, which is equipped with 24 PM Cares ventilators but does not have trained staff to operate the equipment 24/7.
• The 24-bed ICU was supposed to be in place in 2020, but the lack of staff meant it could take off only in June this year.
• The deployment of Cloudphysician's ICU systems in government hospitals has been backed by Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Dr C N Ashwathnarayan, a qualified doctor.

What is in news : Kerala cabinet gave the green light to begin acquiring land for SilverLine, its flagship semi high-speed railway project aimed at reducing travel time between the state’s northern and southern ends

What is the SilverLine project:

• The project entails building a semi high-speed railway corridor through the state linking its southern end and state capital Thiruvananthapuram with its northern end of Kasaragod.
• The line is proposed to be 529.45 kms long, covering 11 districts through 11 stations. When the project is realised, one can travel from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram in less than four hours on trains travelling at 200 km/hr.
• The current travel time on the existing Indian Railways network is 12 hours. The deadline for the project, being executed by the Kerala Rail Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL), is 2025. KRDCL, or K-Rail, is a joint venture between the Kerala government and the Union Ministry of Railways.

What was the need for the project:

• It has long been argued by urban policy experts that the existing railway infrastructure in the state cannot meet the demands of the future. Most trains run with an average speed of 45 km/hr due to a lot of curves and bends on the existing stretch.
• The government claims the SilverLine project is the need of the hour as it can take a significant load of traffic off the existing railway stretch and make travel easier and faster for commuters. This will in turn reduce the congestion on roads and help reduce accidents and fatalities.

What are the features of the project?

• According to K-Rail, the project will have trains of electric multiple unit (EMU) type with preferably nine cars and extendable to 12 cars each. A nine-car rake can seat a maximum of 675 passengers in business and standard class settings.
• The trains can run at a maximum speed of 220 kmph on standard gauge track, completing journeys in either direction in under four hours.
• A total of 11 stations are proposed including the two terminals, three of which will be elevated, one underground and the rest at grade. Every 500 metres of the corridor, there will be under passages with provision of service roads.
• The government claims the railway line will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, help in expansion of Ro-Ro services, produce employment opportunities, integrate airports and IT corridors and faster development of cities it passes through.

What is Gold Hallmarking: Gold hallmarking is a purity certification for precious metal. Presently, gold hallmarking is voluntary. Currently, 40 % of the gold jewellery is being hallmarked.

Which metals are covered hallmarking in India:

• The government, through a notification issued on June 14, 2018, notified two categories—gold jewellery and gold artefacts; and silver jewellery and silver artefacts—under the purview of hallmarking. So, hallmarking in India is available for jewellery of only two metals—gold and silver.
• However, a certain category of jewellery and items will be exempted from the mandatory requirement of hallmarking.

Hallmarking scheme: BIS is already running the hallmarking scheme for gold jewellery since April 2000. Government had announced mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery & artefacts in November 2019.

What are the purity standards for gold and silver under the hallmarking scheme:

• As per BIS standards, there are three categories of hallmarking based on purity of gold—22 carat, 18 carat and 14 carat. However, the ministry on 15 June announced that “Gold of Additional carats 20, 23 and 24 will also be allowed for Hallmarking.”
• The ministry further said that jewellers can continue to buy back old gold jewellery without a hallmark from consumers.

What is in news : Government will implement mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts from June 15, 2021.

Details :

• Earlier this deadline was June 1, which was extended by a fortnight because of Covid-19 pandemic.
• To ensure proper coordination and resolve issues while implementation, a committee headed by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Director-General Pramod Tewari has been established.

Why Hallmarking is mandatory now: Government has launched mandatory hallmarking of gold with the aim of ensuring consumers do not get cheated while buying ornaments. Mandatory hallmarking will protect public against lower caratage and it will ensure consumers get purity as marked on jewellery. Thus, from 15 June 2021, jewellers will only be allowed to sell gold jewellery of 14, 18 and 22 carats. Registration process has been made online and automatic.

Will there be any penalty on jewellers for non-compliance with the hallmarking norm:  Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal has said that “no penalty will be imposed till August 2021”.

Note :

• It has been decided that hallmarking will be initially be starting with 256 districts of the country which have assaying marking centres.
• Districts in Karnataka: 1. Bengaluru Urban 2. Tumkur 3. Hassan 4. Mandya 5. Mysore 6. Dakshina Kannada 7. Shimoga 8. Uduppi 9. Davanagere 10. Uttara Kannada 11. Belgaum 12. Dharwad 13. Bijapur 14. Gulbarga

Why is MONSOON early :

• Cyclone Yaas, formed in the Bay of Bengal during the third week of May, helped the monsoon make a timely arrival over the Andaman Sea on May 21.
• Despite a two-day delay from its normal onset over Kerala, where it arrived on June 3, the southwest monsoon made fast progress in subsequent days. This was mainly due to strong westerly winds from the Arabian Sea, and also the formation of a low-pressure system over the North Bay of Bengal on June 11 that currently lies over eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
• The monsoon currents strengthened and it advanced into the Northeast, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar and parts of Chhattisgarh.
• An off-shore trough, prevailing for a week between Maharashtra and Kerala, has helped the monsoon arrive early over Karnataka, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and southern Gujarat.

Is this phenomenon regular :

• In the last one decade since 2011, the monsoon has covered the entire country in June itself on four occasions — 2020 ( June 1–26) , 2018 ( May 28–June 29), 2015 (June 5–26) and 2013 (June 1–16).
• In all the other seven years, arrivals were delayed over major cities or regions. Cyclone Vayu in 2019 and Cyclone Mora in 2017 had delayed the monsoon progress by a few days. But overall, advancement during these seven years was as per normal dates and the monsoon covered the country around July 15 (the normal date, followed until 2019).
• In the years when the monsoon has arrived early, its progress has picked up towards the final phase; that is, the North and Northwest India regions have witnessed early arrival.

Does early onset mean more rainfall overall?

• The time of monsoon onset over a region has no direct impact on the rainfall quantum received during the season, or in the monsoon’s progress.
• For instance, the monsoon took 42 days in 2014 and 22 days in 2015 to cover the entire country. Even with such distinct ranges, India recorded deficient rainfall during both years.
• This year, the monsoon is most likely to cover the entire country by the end of this month. Although it is too early to predict the seasonal rainfall, it is possible that June rainfall could end in surplus over the normal of 170 mm. As on June 15, it was 31% above normal.​

How does early rainfall impact paddy sowing?

• Early rainfall will not directly impact paddy sowing, with seedlings still in the nursery stage in most paddy growing states.
• “There is still time for undertaking paddy transplanting over most areas that grow rice. Due to rainfall over coastal Karnataka and Konkan, farmers can undertake paddy transplanting in the third to fourth weeks of June,” said R Balasubramanian from the Agriculture Meteorology Division of IMD, Pune. Transplanting is being currently undertaken in Kerala.
• However, with not much rainfall recorded over Madhya Maharashtra (except Kolhapur, Satara & Sangli districts and the ghat areas) and Marathwada (except bordering districts with Vidarbha) farmers may undertake sowing once these sub-divisions get sufficient rainfall, he said.
• In Odisha and West Bengal, too, saplings are yet to reach the transplantation stage.
• The early monsoon also means a shorter summer. Is this unusual?
• Although the IMD considers June 1 as the beginning of the monsoon season over India, the summer in Northwest India is not yet over. In West and Northwest India, day temperatures remain above 40°C. For example, Fatehgarh in eastern UP recorded 42.4°C on Monday.

What is in news : The Union Defence Minister has approved a policy on archiving, declassification, compilation and publication of war and operations histories by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Desirability of Authoritative Record:

• Timely publication of war histories would give people an accurate account of the events, provide authentic material for academic research and counter the unfounded rumours.
• The requirement of having war histories written with clear cut policy on declassification was recommended by the Kargil Review Committee, 2019 headed by K Subrahmanyam to analyse the lessons learnt and prevent future mistakes.
• Post Kargil conflict, a Group of Ministers (GoM) recommendations on national security, 2001 also mentioned the desirability of an authoritative war history.

Provisions of Policy:

• Transfer of Record: Each organisation under the MoD such as Services (Army, Airforce and Navy), Integrated Defence Staff, Assam Rifles and Coast Guard, will transfer the records, including war diaries, letters of proceedings and operational record books, etc., to the history division of MoD for proper upkeep, archival and writing the histories.
• The History Division will be responsible for coordination with various departments while compiling, seeking approval and publishing of war and operations histories.
• Constitution of a Committee: For compilation of war and operations histories, the policy mandates the constitution of a committee headed by Joint Secretary, MoD and composed of representatives of the Services, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and other organisations and prominent military historians, if required.

Timeline:

• The policy sets clear timelines with regard to compilation and publication of war and operations histories.
• The committee should be formed within two years of completion of war and operations.
• Thereafter, collection of records and compilation should be completed in three years and disseminated to all concerned.
• The records should ordinarily be declassified (i.e. no more secret) in 25 years.
• Records older than 25 years should be appraised by archival experts and transferred to the National Archives of India once the war/operations histories have been compiled.
• Responsibility for Declassification of Records: This rests with the respective organisations as specified in the Public Record Act 1993 and the Public Record Rules 1997.

For Internal Consumption First:

• The compiled history on wars and operations, within five years, will be for internal consumption first, and later the committee may decide to publicly release whole or parts of it, considering the sensitivity of the subject.
• Declassification of Older Wars:
• The declassification of older wars like the 1962 war and Operation Bluestar is not automatic and will be taken up on a case by case basis by a committee to be constituted under the new policy.

What is in news : Recently, the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare addressed the 42nd session of Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Conference.

Food and Agriculture Organization

• FAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger.
• World Food Day is celebrated every year on 16th October to mark the anniversary of the founding of the FAO in 1945.
• It is one of the UN food aid organisations based in Rome (Italy). Its sister bodies are the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Flagship Publications:

• The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA).
• The State of the World's Forests (SOFO).
• The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI).
• The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA).
• The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets (SOCO).
• World Food Price Index.

India and FAO:

• Support of FAO in endorsing the Indian proposal for an International Year of Pulses which was celebrated in 2016 and for declaring 2023 as the International Year of Millets.
• India released a commemorative coin of Rs. 75 denomination to mark the 75th Anniversary of the FAO (16th October 2020).

About the conference :

• The Conference takes place every two years and is FAO's supreme governing body.
• It determines the policies of the Organization, approves the budget, and makes recommendations to Members on food and agriculture issues

• The Karnataka state government’s ambitious programme of providing eggs for ensuring adequate nutrition to pregnant women and children between 3 and 6 years has hit a roadblock owing to insufficient allocation and irregular disbursal of funds.The government provides up to 25 eggs per month for pregnant women, and 20 for children between three and six years. However, the government provides only Rs 5 per egg, while the market price ranges anywhere between Rs 6 and Rs 8.
• Jeevasarthakathe, the State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (SOTTO),  is the nodal agency that facilitates cadaver organ donations in Karnataka
• The Central government has allocated 78,000 tonnes of rice procured for food security purposes to be diverted to ethanol production instead this year, at a subsidised rate of ₹20 a kg, This is part of the government’s plan to double distilling capacities by 2025, partly by encouraging an increase in the share of grain-based ethanol production from the current focus on molasses-based production.
• Tamil Nadu’s M. Pranesh and Maharashtra’s Bhagyashree Patil won the National (under-16) online rapid chess titles
• The Haj Committee of India on Tuesday announced that all applications for pilgrimage this year stand cancelled as Saudi Arabia has stated that only a limited number of people residing in the Kingdom will be allowed to perform Haj due to the COVID-19 pandemic
• The Indo-German Science & Technology Centre (IGSTC) Industrial Fellowship programme was launched on the occasion of IGSTC’s 11th Foundation day on 14th June 2021.  This fellowship would encourage capacity building and would encourage students to think of challenges faced by industry and research solutions for them. It will encourage applied research, technology development and industrial experience in German setup for young researchers
• Reserve Bank of India on has expanded the scope of Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) which will be effective from August 31, 2021.BBPS, functioning under National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), is an integrated bill payment system offering interoperable bill payment service to customers online and through a network of agents on ground. It provides for multiple payment modes and instant confirmation of payment.