Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

What is in news : President of India, in exercise of the power conferred by clause (1) of Article 224 of the Constitution of India, appointed Shri Satyen Vaidya, to be an Additional Judge of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.

What does article 224 say:

(1) If by reason of any temporary increase in the business of High Court or by reason of arrears of work therein, it appears to the President that the number of the Judges of that Court should be for the time being increased, the President may appoint duly qualified persons to be additional Judges of the Court for such period not exceeding two years as he may specific

(2) When any Judge of a High Court other than the Chief Justice is by reason of absence or for any other reason unable to perform the duties of his office or is appointed to act temporarily as Chief Justice, the President may appoint a duly qualified person to act as a Judge of that Court until the permanent Judge has resumed his duties

(3) No person appointed as an additional or acting Judge of a High Court shall hold office after attaining the age of sixty two years

What : The India Smart Cities Award Contest (ISAC) is organized under the Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India. This is one of the important activities initiated under the Mission, where pioneering city strategies, projects and ideas are recognized based on innovation, impact and replicability/scalability. The ISAC will recognize and reward cities, projects and innovative ideas that are promoting sustainable development in urban areas in India, as well as stimulating inclusive, equitable, safe, healthy and collaborative cities, thus enhancing quality of life for all

What is in news : The results of ISAC 2020 along with Climate Smart Cities Assessment Results 2.0 were announced recently

Details :

• Bengaluru city’s Index App, which was developed following the outbreak of COVID-19, has been recognised for using technology to set up the COVID-19 war room. It has been adjudged the winner in the third round.
• Bengaluru bagged three stars with an overall score of 1,271 out of 2,800. It fared fairly well and bagged three stars each in the areas of energy and green building (330/600) and urban planning, green cover and biodiversity (244/500).
• The city also bagged four stars in waste management (395/600), but fared poorly in the areas of mobility and air quality (two stars; 187/500) and water management (one star; 115/600). Tumakuru’s Digital Library Solution also bagged third place in ISAC 2020 under the social aspects category.
• Uttar Pradesh was on Friday ranked the best State, and Indore and Surat were jointly named the best cities

About SMART CITIES MISSION

• The Smart Cities Mission is an innovative and new flagship initiative by the Government of India to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life of people by enabling local development and harnessing technology as a means to create smart outcomes for citizens.
• The Mission will cover 100 cities and its duration will be five years from 2015 to 2020. The Mission is implemented by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD). SCM will be operated as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) where in the central Government proposes to provide financial support up to Rs. 100 crore per city per year. An equal amount, on a matching basis, will have to be contributed by the State/ULB.

What is in news : World Bank (IBRD) sanctions funds for Andhra’s SALT programme.

What :

• SALT programme stands for “Supporting Andhra’s Learning Transformation” programme. This programme was launched with the aim of improving learning outcomes, quality of teaching practices and school management in basic education. This aim would be achieved by transforming government schools into vibrant and competitive institutions.
• Focus areas of SALT Programme: Apart from improvement in basic education etc, the programme focuses on reforming curriculum, improving classroom practices, professional development of teachers and preparing students to be fit for global competitive by introducing English as medium of instruction across State-run educational institutions.

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)

IBRD is an international financial institution. It was established in 1944. It is headquartered in Washington D.C., United States. It is the lending arm of World Bank Group. It offers loans to middle-income developing countries. It is the first of five member institutions that forms World Bank Group.

What is in news : National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and WhatsApp has launched its Digital Skill Champions Programme

Details

• This programme was launched with the aim of training Indian youth on digital skills in order to make them employment ready.
• Under this programme, school & university students would be coached to consume digital and online skills. These skills would culminate with ‘Digital Skill Champions’ certification by WhatsApp and NSDC.
• Course under the programme is based on module-format. It is comprehensive and intensive in imparting knowledge regarding important aspects of online ecosystem.
• It will also equip students with technology-based learning on campuses across tier III and IV towns and cities.
• It will be imparted through WhatsApp’s project implementation partner, InfiSpark.

WhatsApp Digital Skills Academy: In this academy, youth from tier III and IV cities will be trained on digital safety and online privacy. Initiative will be launched on a pilot basis across 50 campuses in five states- Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

What is in news : Uttarakhand Forest Minister announced on Wednesday that the state’s two Tiger Reserves — Corbett and Rajaji — would now remain open for tourism round the year.

Details :

Until now, the reserves would remain closed to tourists during the monsoon for 4-5 months every year for a reason that tourism activities in the rainy season will disturb tigers in their mating season.

TIGER BREEDING

• Contrary to the myth, tigers breed round the year. Except when raising a litter, a tigress comes into oestrus every 21 days. Even in the event of stillbirth or premature death of cubs, it comes into oestrus again within a month.
• The elephant, the other iconic species of Corbett and Rajaji, does not seem to particularly prefer the monsoon for species propagation either. While elephant breeding is indeed linked to rainfall patterns — they breed round the year in places where it rains likewise — a high number of births are observed in the winter months of November-January in India, indicating a surge in mating in the pre- and early monsoon months of May-July.

WHY SHUT THE PARKS

• A tropical forest is least accessible during the monsoons, with lush undergrowth blocking movements and gullies washing away tracks. This is why even the trophy hunters of yore picked the rainy months as the off-season — a window they had to allow the animal population to recover.
• In fact, the policy of shutting down a wildlife park is driven by weather across the world. Yellowstone, the first national park in the US, and also the world, shuts every winter in the snow season. Nagarhole and Bandipur Tiger Reserves of Karnataka shut to tourists in the dry summer season to protect animals from stress and the forests from fire.
• In the north, the rainy months are the most challenging. Only in 2019, a monsoon spate in the seasonal Dhangarhi nallah that flows across the Ramnagar-Corbett road swept away a tourist car. Inside Corbett, vehicular access is limited to only three (Dhela, Jhirna and Sultan) of over a dozen tourist accommodations during the rainy season when seasonal nullahs carrying boulders wash away roads and even knock down culverts.

ALTERNATIVE

• A number of southern reserves, including Nagarhole and Bandipur, have invested in such interventions to stay open for tourists round the year. The scale of construction, however, is not comparable to what is required in Uttarakhand’s forests.
• Besides, wildlife deserves a break from noise, light and other pollutions tourism brings to their habitat. And given the logistical challenges it poses, the rainy season is the most convenient period for providing that respite.

CAN SHUTTING PARKS HELP AVOID POACHING

• While opening parks to tourists in the rainy months will not hamper the breeding prospects of the tiger, it may yet put the national animal at risk. Unlike the royal trophy hunters who avoided the dirty rainy months, the poacher considers the monsoon an opportunity when guards struggle to patrol much of the reserve. That is why Project Tiger has always emphasised enhanced vigilance during the monsoon.
• Uttarakhand has a history of suffering heavy losses to poachers during the rainy season. Diverting the forest staff from ‘Operation Monsoon’ to tourism duties during these tough months will only make the reserves more vulnerable.

What is in news : Union Environment Minister recently released LiDAR-based reports mapping out the water requirement within forest areas in 10 states. These reports will be used to augment groundwater in forest areas so that animals don’t venture out in search of water

Details :

• The LiDAR (light detection and ranging) technology was used to create 3-D images of the project areas to recommend soil and water conservation structures. The surveys were carried out at forest areas in Assam, Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Goa, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland, and Tripura
• Survey was carried out by WAPCOS, a PSU under the Jal Shakti Ministry.
• The survey will help us in identifying areas which need groundwater recharge which will in turn help local communities
• The soil and water conservation structures will help in catching rainwater and prevent stream run-off, which will help in recharging groundwater, said officials.
• WAPCOS with the participation of State Forest Departments identified one major ridge inside a forest block in these states with average area of 10,000 ha selected in each State for preparation of Detailed Project Reports for planning and identifying locations and structures for construction of appropriate and feasible micro soil and water conservation structures consistent with site specific geography, topography and soil characteristics.
• States/UTs identified one major ridge inside a forest block with the criteria that area selected should have average rainfall of the state, and the area requires assisted natural generation which means the density of forests should be less than 0.4 or below, but should have reasonable potential to regenerate with the ANR interventions.

LIDAR

What is LiDAR:

• It is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth.
• These light pulses—combined with other data recorded by the airborne system— generate precise, three-dimensional information about the shape of the Earth and its surface characteristics.

How it works:

• A lidar instrument principally consists of a laser, a scanner, and a specialized GPS receiver.
• Airplanes and helicopters are the most commonly used platforms for acquiring lidar data over broad areas.
• LiDAR follows a simple principle — throw laser light at an object on the earth surface and calculate the time it takes to return to the LiDAR source. Given the speed at which the light travels (approximately 186,000 miles per second), the process of measuring the exact distance through LiDAR appears to be incredibly fast.

What is in news : Pakistan was retained on the greylist, or the list of countries under “increased monitoring”, by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)

Details:

Financial Action Task Force

• The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 during the G7 Summit in Paris.
• The objectives of the FATF are to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
• Its Secretariat is located at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) headquarters in Paris.
• Member Countries: it consists of thirty-seven member jurisdictions.

• India is one of the members.
• The FATF Plenary is the decision making body of the FATF. It meets three times per year.

FATF has two lists:

• Grey List: Countries that are considered safe haven for supporting terror funding and money laundering are put in the FATF grey list. This inclusion serves as a warning to the country that it may enter the blacklist.
• Black List: Countries known as Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories (NCCTs) are put in the blacklist. These countries support terror funding and money laundering activities. The FATF revises the blacklist regularly, adding or deleting entries.

India and FATF:

• Ahead of the crucial meet on 24th June, India plans to share more evidence with the key FATF members on the narco-terror cases linked to Pakistan-based syndicates, through which funds are allegedly being supplied to the terrorists operating in Jammu and Kashmir.
• The Enforcement Directorate and the National Investigation Agency have been probing several such cases.

Status of Pakistan:

• Pakistan, which continues to remain on the “grey list” of FATF, had earlier been given the deadline till the June 2020 to ensure compliance with the 27-point action plan against terror funding networks and money laundering syndicates, or face “black listing”.
• However, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, the deadline has been shifted to October 2020.

• After their demand for a bridge across a rivulet did not get any response from the State government, like-minded people of a village in Dakshina Kannada district accomplished the task on their own. They built a pedestrian steel bridge through crowd-funding. The rivulet is on Edoni-Eranagudde-Mogra Road at Mogra village under the Guthigar Gram Panchayat in Sullia taluk. The road connects Balpa and Guthigar towns. Incidentally, the Balpa Gram Panchayat was selected by Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel as ‘aadarsha grama’ (model village).
• The first indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC) being built at the Cochin Shipyard will join the naval fleet next year, coinciding with the 75th year of India’s Independence
• Uttar Pradesh was on Friday ranked the best State, and Indore and Surat were jointly named the best cities
• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Friday successfully test fired the enhanced range versions of the indigenously developed 122 mm calibre rocket as well as the extended range version of indigenously developed Pinaka rocket from a Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) at integrated test range, Chandipur in Odisha.
• China on Friday started operating the first bullet train line in Tibet, linking Lhasa to Nyingchi near the border with Arunachal Pradesh.
• Japan’s government has announced its plans to urge employers to initiate a four-day work week instead of the current five-day work week.
• Union Ministry of Law & Justice, Communications and Electronics & IT launched a e-filing portal of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) called ‘ITAT E-DWAR’. Itat e-dwar is a larger narrative of transformation that India is undergoing through digital medium. It will enable innovation & empowerment and open new avenues for growth.  This e-filing portal will enhance accessibility, accountability and transparency in working of ITAT.  It will result into economization of use of paper, savings in costs and rationalization of fixation of cases which in turn help in quicker disposal of cases.  It would help parties to file their Appeals, Miscellaneous Applications, documents, etc electronically.
• ‘Day of the Seafarer-2021’ was celebrated virtually on 25th June 2021. Each year, June 25 is observed as the "Day of the Seafarer." On this day, people pay respect to Seafarers and recognize the invaluable contribution they make to international trade and the world economy.The World Maritime Theme for 2021, "Seafarers: at the core of shipping's future"
• China has planned to send its first crewed mission to MARS in the year 2033.
• Department of Women & Child Development in Kerala has decided to expand Kaval Plus programme to five districts, after the success of this pilot project in two districts of Kerala.It is an ambitious programme to lend holistic support to children in need of care & protection and to the survivors of sexual abuse.This programme was launched in December 2020 in two districts of Kerala, namely Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad. This project is being implemented with help and support of NGOs who have experience in working with children.An early identification system will also be launched under the programme using community-level workers like Asha and Anganwadi workers.
• West Bengal Cabinet approved the “Student Credit Card scheme” on June 24, 2021. This scheme will be implemented and launched on June 30, 2021. Under the scheme, student can get a soft loan of up to ₹10 lakh with the help of credit card to enroll into higher studies. Loans will be given for higher studies in India as well as abroad. Loans will be given at 4% interest rates. State government would act as guarantor. Anyone who has spent 10 years in West Bengal can avail loan benefits under the scheme till 40 years of age. Similar scheme is run by Bihar government.Students will be provided Fifteen years to repay the loan after they get a job.. Bihar government has launched “Student Credit Card Scheme” on October 2, 2016.
• Twitter, has partnered with first payments operator, Razorpay for its Tip Jar feature.Tip Jar Feature allows Twitter users to pay creators for content. Twitter announced the tie-up with Razorpay on June 24, 2021. This Tip Jar feature is currently available to “select users”.

• Conservatorship is a form of adult guardianship in the Unites States, which allows the conservator — mostly another family member — to be in charge of the conservatee.
• A conservator is a person or institution that protects the conservator, and is empowered by a court to do so. The person who seeks the conservatorship files a petition in court asking to be a conservator.

AMBERGIS

• Ambergris, French for grey amber, is generally referred to as whale vomit
• It is a solid waxy substance that floats around the surface of the water body and at times settles on the coast.
• 1 kg of ambergris is worth Rs 1 crore in the international market. The reason for its high cost is its use in the perfume market, especially to create fragrances like musk. It is believed to be in high demand in countries like Dubai that have a large perfume market. Ancient Egyptians used it as incense. It is also believed to be used in some traditional medicines.

• REGISTERED VALUER: A registered valuer is an individual or entity which is registered with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBIBI) as a valuer in accordance with the Companies (Registered Valuers and Valuation) Rules, 2017. Under Section 458 of the Companies Act, IBBI has been specified as the authority by the central government.
• KAROSHI: It is a Japanese word which means death from overwork was invented in the country in the 1970s in order to refer to deaths that resulted from stress and other related pressures, a BBC report noted.