Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

What is in news : In all party meet on Jammu Kashmir, the topic on DELIMITATION was discussed.

What Is Delimitation: Delimitation is the redrawing of boundaries of an assembly or Lok Sabha constituency to reflect changes to the population of a region

What constitution says and what has been done:

• Under Article 82, the Parliament enacts a Delimitation Act after every Census.
• Under Article 170, States also get divided into territorial constituencies as per Delimitation Act after every Census.
• Once the Act is in force, the Union government sets up a Delimitation Commission.
• The first delimitation exercise was carried out by the President (with the help of the Election Commission) in 1950-51.
• The Delimitation Commission Act was enacted in 1952.
• Delimitation Commissions have been set up four times — 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002 under the Acts of 1952, 1962, 1972 and 2002

Delimitation Commission

• The Delimitation Commission is appointed by the President of India and works in collaboration with the Election Commission of India.
• Composition:
  • Retired Supreme Court judge
  • Chief Election Commissioner
  • Respective State Election Commissioners
• Functions:
  • To determine the number and boundaries of constituencies to make population of all constituencies nearly equal.
  • To identify seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, wherever their population is relatively large.
  • In case of difference of opinion among members of the Commission, the opinion of the majority prevails.
  • The Delimitation Commission in India is a high power body whose orders have the force of law and cannot be called in question before any court.

Present status: Freeze on the number of seats in Lok Sabha and Assemblies should have been lifted after the 2001 Census, another amendment has postponed this until 2026.

This was justified on the ground that a uniform population growth rate would be achieved throughout the country by 2026.

SOCIAL ISSUES

What is in news: Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has launched a centralized web-based workflow-based IT platform called “e-PGS”.

Why this platform was launched?

• LIC launched this platform for its group business operations.
• Project e-PGS was inaugurated by M R Kumar, Chairman of LIC, at Central Office, Mumbai.
• First digital receipt generated on new IT platform was received by Rakesh Sharma, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of IDBI Bank.

Significance of e-PGS

• New technology platform, e-PGS, has been designed to provide a centralized collection and payment accounting with high level of bank integration.
• It will provide collection through host-to-host connectivity. It has been designed to provide very innovative features of seamless and integrated banking with automatic reconciliations.
• This system is capable of providing comprehensive self-servicing capabilities through customer portal. On this portal, corporate customers will be able to view their data, initiate actionable processes and lodge & track claims.
• It has been designed to cater the expectations of technology intensive corporate customers.
• It will provide a high-level integration service with customers’ technology systems to transfer data and services seamlessly.

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC): LIC is an Indian government owned insurance and investment corporation. It works under the ownership of Ministry of Finance. It was established on September 1, 1956 by Life Insurance of India Act.

What is in news:  Cochin International Airport (CIAL) won Airport Council International (ACI) Director General’s Roll of Excellence honour in Airport Service Quality.

Key Points

• Airport Council International (ACI) is a global body of airport operators which established Roll of Excellence recognition to airports.
• This recognition is awarded to those airports which, in opinion of passengers, consistently delivered excellent services.
• Award will be presented during ACI Customer Experience Global Summit which will be held on September 9, 2021 in Montreal, Canada.

Why Cochin International Airport won?

• Cochin International Airport has consistently delivered excellence in customer service by winning multiple awards for five years in past 10 years. It is one among six airports across the world that will receive recognition in 2021.
• Service quality programme: ACI’s service quality programmes have been helping airport officials in ensuring international standards in airport management. Roll of Excellence honour is a gesture from global organisation recognising CIAL’s commitment to the passengers.

Airports Council International (ACI)

ACI is a global trade representative of world’s airport authorities. It was established in the year 1991. It represents interests of airport with governments & international organizations, develops standards and recommended practices for airports. It provides information and training opportunities to raise standards worldwide. It seeks to provide public a safe, secure, efficient, and environmentally responsible air transport system. ACI is governed by ACI Governing Board. It is located in Montreal, Canada.

What is in news :Recently, a three-member task force has been formed to help the government in bringing major bureaucratic reforms through its ambitious “Mission Karmayogi”.

Details :

• The Centre has recently approved the ‘National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building – Mission Karmayogi’ to effect a transformational shift from rule based training to role-based capacity development of all civil services in the country.
• The Programme also aims to enhance citizen experience for government services and improve availability of competent workforce.
• To effectively roll out this competency driven mission, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), namely ‘Karmayogi Bharat’, would be set up as a not-for-profit company.
• It will be set up under section 8 of Companies Act, 2013 as a 100% government-owned entity.
• The SPV will be responsible to deliver and manage design, implement, enhance and manage a digital platform and infrastructure, manage and deliver competency assessment services, and manage governance of telemetry data and ensure provision of monitoring and evaluation.
• The task force shall submit its recommendations on organisational structure for the SPV aligning its vision, mission and functions.

About Mission Karmayogi:

Aim and Objectives:

• It is aimed at building a future-ready civil service with the right attitude, skills and knowledge, aligned to the vision of New India.
• It aims to prepare Indian civil servants for the future by making them more creative, constructive, imaginative, proactive, innovative, progressive, professional, energetic, transparent, and technology-enabled.

Reason for Mission:

• At present bureaucracy is facing challenges like- Rule orientation, political interference, inefficiency with promotions, and generalist and specialist conflict.
• To change the status quo of civil services and bring about the long pending civil services reforms.

Features of the scheme:

• Tech-Aided: The capacity building will be delivered through iGOT Karmayogi digital platform, with content drawn from global best practices.
• Coverage: The scheme will cover 46 lakh central government employees, at all levels, and involve an outlay of Rs. 510 crores over a five-year period.
• Shift from Rules to Roles: The programme will support a transition from “rules-based to roles-based” Human Resource Management (HRM) so that work allocations can be done by matching an official’s competencies to the requirements of the post.
• Integrated Initiative: Eventually, service matters such as confirmation after probation period, deployment, work assignments and notification of vacancies will all be integrated into the proposed framework.

What is in news: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has launched a ‘Centre for Research on Start-Ups and Risk Financing’ (CREST) which will provide academic & thought leadership in innovation, entrepreneurship and risk capital.

About CREST

CREST

• Will help in creating a data repository on Indian start-ups and ventures.
• Will address a hurdle for engaging in high-quality research.
• As an information resource will be made accessible for researchers & policymakers which can result in top-tier publications.
• Mission would engage in scholarly research encompassing areas of innovation, entrepreneurship, and risk capital.

Vision of CREST

CREST mission has been launched with the vision to be globally recognized as leading centre of research in the fields of creation, development, and financing of innovation, start-ups, and entrepreneurship. It also seeks to establish a system of cross-country collaborative research which will help in use of unique data sets on start-ups and venture capital. It will carry evidence synthesis on start-up & innovation ecosystem to inform policymakers and practitioners.

What : The US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) is a non-profit organization, with the primary objective of strengthening the India-US bilateral and strategic partnership through policy advocacy in the fields of economic growth, entrepreneurship, employment-creation, and innovation.

What is in news : The Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman today participated in the Global Investors Roundtable organised by the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF)

Key points :

• The broad messages conveyed to the investors were:

a. Significant drop in new COVID infections in the country and decline of second wave

b. Strong Relief and Reforms undertaken by Government during the pandemic times

c. Continued macro-economic stability and resilience in economic recovery in the recent months

d. Vision to make India Self-Reliant (Aatma Nirbhar Bharat)

e. Steps taken for Infrastructure led economic growth

f. Creating multi-sectoral opportunities for investors

g. Strong track record of reform implementation in the last 6 years

h. Other strengths/advantages of India as an investment destination

i. Opportunities for investment in Climate, ESG and Sustainability focused investments.

• Finance minister spoke about going ahead with an overall vision to build a self-reliant modern India driven by 5 “I’s” viz. Intent, Inclusion, Investment, Infrastructure and Innovation.

What is in news : Recently, the 60th anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty was celebrated.

Antarctic Treaty

• The Antarctic Treaty was signed between 12 countries in Washington on 1st December 1959 for making the Antarctic Continent a demilitarized zone to be preserved for scientific research only.
• The twelve original signatories are Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the UK and the US.
• It entered into force in 1961 and has since been acceded by many other nations.
• Antarctica is defined as all of the land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude.
• Recently, an enormous iceberg 'A-76' has calved from the western side of the Ronne Ice Shelf, lying in the Weddell Sea, in Antarctica.
• Members: Currently it has 54 parties. India became a member of this treaty in 1983.
• Headquarters: Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Major Provisions:

• Promoting the freedom of scientific research.
• Countries can use the continent only for peaceful purposes.
• Prohibition of military activities, nuclear tests and the disposal of radioactive waste.
• Neutralising territorial sovereignty, this means a limit was placed on making any new claim or enlargement of an existing claim.
• It put a freeze on any disputes between claimants over their territories on the continent.

Dispute & Resolution:

• There have been tensions from time to time. Argentina and the UK, for instance, have overlapping claims to territory on the continent.
• However, a key reason why the treaty has been able to survive has been its ability to evolve through a number of additional conventions and other legal protocols.
• These have dealt with the conservation of marine living resources, prohibitions on mining, and the adoption of comprehensive environmental protection mechanisms.
• As disputes have arisen over the years, many have been addressed through the expansion of the treaty framework with these agreements. This framework is now referred to as the Antarctic Treaty System.

Major International Agreements of the Treaty System:

• The 1959 Antarctic Treaty.
• The 1972 Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals.
• The 1980 Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.
• The 1991 Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.

Indian Antarctic Programme

About:

• It is a scientific research and exploration program under the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCPOR). It started in 1981 when the first Indian expedition to Antarctica was made.
• NCPOR is the nodal agency for planning, promotion, coordination and execution of the entire gamut of polar and southern ocean scientific research in the country as well as for the associated logistics activities.
• It was established in 1998.

Dakshin Gangotri:

Dakshin Gangotri was the first Indian scientific research base station established in Antarctica, as a part of the Indian Antarctic Program.

It has weakened and become just a supply base.

Maitri:

Maitri is India’s second permanent research station in Antarctica. It was built and finished in 1989.

Maitri is situated on the rocky mountainous region called Schirmacher Oasis. India also built a freshwater lake around Maitri known as Lake Priyadarshini.

Bharti:

Bharti, India’s latest research station operation since 2012. It has been constructed to help researchers work in safety despite the harsh weather.

It is India’s first committed research facility and is located about 3000 km east of Maitri.

When : 23 June every year

Details :

• The day was chosen by the International Olympic Committee in 1948.
• It aims to promote the Olympic idea and the importance of organising mass sports competitions all around the world.
• As a result of the effort many nations adopted it to empower youth and represent nations in the global sports competition.
• Besides a number of school from various countries adopted Olympics/Sports as a part of their curriculum.

What is special about this Year ?

• Summer Olympics in Tokyo, scheduled to be held between July 23 and August 8.
• Infact this was delayed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic
• The event will be referred to as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
• A total of 339 events across 33 sports are lined up at the Games from different countries.

INDIA AND OLYMPICS

• India first participated in the Olympics in 1900 in Paris.
• The country was represented by Norman Pritchard, an Anglo Indian who was holidaying in Paris during that time.
• Sir Dorabji Tata suggested the need for a Sports body at National level for promoting Olympic Sport in united India IN 1920’s
• The nation first sent a team to the Summer Olympic Games in 1920
• 1923-24 a provisional All India Olympic Committee was set-up
• Which organised the All India Olympic Games in February 1924.
• That later became the National Games of India.
• In 1927 the Indian Olympic Association was officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee.
• Indian Olympic Association selected sportspersons to represent India at the Olympic Games.
• Later, the IOA also started sending National Teams to Games of the CGF and OCA.
• Indian Participation and achievements
• Indian athletes have won 28 medals, all at the Summer Games.
• India national field hockey team was dominant  that winning eleven medals in twelve Olympics between 1920 and 1980.
• At the 2016 Summer Olympics, a record number of 118 athletes competed.
• In the 1952 Summer Olympics wrestler K.D. Jadhav won the first individual medal for independent India.
• Wrestler Sushil Kumar became the first Indian with multiple individual Olympic medals.
• Saina Nehwal won bronze medal in badminton in Women’s singles getting the country’s first Olympic medal in badminton.
• Sakshi Malik became the first Indian woman wrestler to win an Olympic medal with her bronze medal.
• Shuttler P. V. Sindhu became the first Indian woman to win a silver medal in Olympics and also the youngest Indian Olympic medallist.
• India has never hosted an Olympic Games.

What is in news : Kabir Das Jayanti recently celebrated

Details : Sant Kabir Das was a very renowned saint, poet and social reformer of India who lived during the 15th century. His esteemed works and poems describe the greatness and oneness of the Supreme Being.

Teachings and Philosophies of Kabir:

• Kabir believed that God is uni-present .
• He did not advocated idol worship
• According to him true dedication is way to realize the one own-self & hence the supreme power called God.
• Kabir did not supported asceticism and believed that one can find God without leaving the materialistic world & its obligations.
• He wrote poems called DOHAS
• Kabir saw all the religions in the same light & considered religions merely different means to reach same God.
• He strictly criticized those who divides society on religious and caste grounds.
• Kabir was the first saint to reconcile Hinduism with Islam.
• Kabir took good things from all religions while filtered out orthodox practices & meaningless rituals.
• His God was a personalized God , which he can worship the way he want to.
• These ideas were basically bedrock of Bhakti cult followed by Mira bai, Raidas, Bihari etc.

What is in news : United Nations Public Service Day is observed on June 23, to recognise value and virtue of public service to community

Background: United Nations Public Service Day is celebrated on June 23 every year. The day was designated by United Nations General Assembly’s resolution to “celebrate the value and virtue of public service to community”.

United Nations Public Service Awards: On the occasion, United Nations Economic & Social Council established the United Nations Public Service Awards in 2003. This award programme was updated in 2016 to accord with 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This award is bestowed on Public Service Day for contribution made towards enhancing role, prestige and visibility of public service.

Significance of the day: This day also marks anniversary of date when International Labour Organization adopted the Convention on Labour Relations (Public Service), 1978 (ILO convention no. 151). This Convention determines the working conditions of all civil servants worldwide.

Theme of the day: This day was observed under the theme “Innovating the Future Public Service: New Government Models for a New Era to Reach Sustainable Development Goals” in 2021.

• Karnataka showed poor response to incentives to electric vehicles under FAME scheme
• Suburban railway in Bengaluru project is being executed by K- RIDE, the Joint Venture of Government of Karnataka and Ministry of Railways. According to officials, the suburban project comprises four corridors with a route length of 148 kms. The routes are Bengaluru City Railway Station to Devanahalli (41.40 Km), Byappanahalli to Chikkabanavara (covering a distance of 25 Km), Kengeri to Whitefield (35.52 Km); and Heelalige (Chandapura) to Rajankunte (46.24 Km).
• BBMP is set to reactivate the Ward Decentralised Triage and Emergency Response (DETER) Committees for COVID-19 management. They had been constituted during the peak of the second wave of the pandemic for decentralised management, but barring a few most have become dormant.
• Karnataka state government announced a slew of concessions and relief measures for hotels, resorts, restaurants, and amusement parks, including a 50% reduction in property tax.
• The monsoon rainfall, 40% above normal from June 1 to 18, has reduced to a trickle over the previous week. The latest update from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) computes the monthly rainfall until June 24 to be just 26% of the normal and there is unlikely to be a significant boost until the first week of July
• The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday announced that it has achieved the target of giving 1 crore Covid vaccine doses in just 24 days – six days before its deadline – under the state’s “Mission June” campaign.
• [Ziona Chana, famous as the patriarch of the 'world's largest family', died in Mizoram earlier this month. "Chhuanthar" (New Generation), as Ziona's cult is called, first made headlines in 2010
• International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), an autonomous R&D Centre of Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India, has developed the cost-effective electrocatalyst by anchoring transition metal ions into the sulfur-doped carbon framework via carbonization of a polymer called sPEEK (sulphonated polyether ether ketone). This catalyst synthesis method can also be used to recycle used ionomers (polymer composed of both neutral repeating units and ionized units).
• A bi-functional catalyst works for oxygen reduction while discharging the battery and the same catalyst helps in oxygen evolution reaction during the charging cycle.
• International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) has constituted a committee to examine global best practices in ship financing and leasing, identify opportunities and devise a roadmap to enable such activities from GIFT IFSC. This committee will be chaired by Ms. Vandana Aggarwal, former Senior Economic Advisor, Government of India.
• Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Kiren Rijiju launched the official theme song of the Indian Olympic Team of Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on the occasion of Olympic Day in New Delhi. On this occasion Secretary, GoI, Ministry of Sports Shri Ravi Mittal, IOA President Shri Narinder Batra and Secretary-general Shri Rajeev Mehta and DG SAI Shri Sandip Pradhan and other officials were also present.  The song has been composed and sung by popular playback singer Mohit Chauhan and lyrics are penned by his wife Ms. Prathna Gahilote.The Sports Ministry has launched a nation-wide #Cheer4India campaign through various activities like quizzes, selfie points, debates and discussions on Olympics.
• Ministry of Food Processing Industries has launched the Prime Minister formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) scheme under Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan with an aim to enhance the competitiveness of existing individual micro-enterprises in the unorganized sector. The scheme focuses on supporting groups engaged in agri-food processing such as Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), Self Help Groups (SHGs) and producer cooperatives across their value chain.
• Ingenuity is a small robotic helicopter which is operating on Mars under NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. It successfully completed first powered controlled flight by an aircraft on a planet besides Earth on April 19, 2021.NASA’s experimental Mars helicopter called Ingenuity undertook its 8th flight on Red Planet.
• Recently, UN body has endorsed a multinational project called “Committee on Earth Observation Satellites Coastal Observations, Applications, Services, and Tools (CEOS COAST)”.CEOS COAST programme is co-led by ISRO and NOAA from US. This programme aims to improve accuracy of coastal data on the basis of satellite and land-based observations.
• Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) in association with the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Ltd (NHSRCL) has launched world’s first exclusive Green rating system for High-Speed Rail.

• A general rise in prices; the rate at which prices rise
• Rising inflation further threatens to reduce the purchasing power of the rural economy struggling with declining incomes and job losses. This is further compounded by the shift in terms of trade against agriculture which has put agricultural incomes under strain. The rise in input prices for diesel has already contributed to rising input costs but the recent increase in fertilizer prices for most of the complex fertilizers have also added to the misery of farmers. Rising inflation in international commodity prices also threatens the rural non-farm economy. A majority of the rural non-farm sector already struggling from low demand has now seen its profit margins getting impacted due to the increase in the cost of raw material.

Floor Area Ratio : It is the ratio of the built -up area of the building to the area of the land parcel on which it is built.