May, 20 (Friday) TOPICS COVERED · Under this project, all the Government engineering colleges are selected for direct intervention, and all private engineering colleges are selected

Current Affairs

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15th May, 20 (Friday)

TOPICS COVERED:

GS-1:

Sukhdev Thapar (History)…………………………………………………………....2

GS-2:

SAMARTH Programme……………………………………………………………...3

Gilgit Baltistan…………………………………………………………………….......4

32nd Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting…………………………………….5

GS-3:

Second tranche of the Economic Stimulus package (Economy)…………………….6

Parkinson’s disease (Science)………………………………………………………...8

COBAS 6800 testing machine………………………………………………...............9

Jal Jeevan Mission (Envt.)………………………………………………..................10

Global Forest Resource Assessment (Envt.)………………………………………..11

Integrated Battle Groups (Security)………………………………………………..12

Current Affairs

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GS-1: Modern Indian History from about the middle of the 18th century until the present-significant events,

personalities, issues.

Birth of revolutionary Sukhdev:

Context: Punjab Government led by Capt. Amarinder Singh remembers the legendary revolutionary Shaheed Sukhdev Ji on his 144 birth anniversary.

Sukhdev Biography:

Sukhdev Thapar was born to 15th May, 1907 in Ludhiana, Punjab.

He showed a defiant spirit from an early age itself. During his

school days, he would refuse to salute the British officers who visited

his school.

Having lost his father at an early age, Sukhdev was raised by his uncle.

It was the arrest of his uncle that led him to revolutionary activities for

freedom from colonial rule.

Sukhdev joined the Naujawan Bharat Seva, which had been started

by Bhagat Singh in 1926. The two became close friends and

associates.

He was also an active member of the Hindustan Socialist

Republican Association (HSRA). The HSRA was a radical

organisation actively involved in revolutionary activities against the British government.

In an anti-Simon Commission rally in 1928, veteran Congress leader Lala Lajpat Rai was cruelly beaten by a

lathi by a British police officer named James A Scott. Lajpat Rai succumbed to injuries sustained a few days later.

The young revolutionaries including Sukhdev decided to avenge Lajpat Rai’s death.

However, on 17th December 1928, Bhagat Singh and his accomplices Sukhdev and Rajguru killed an Assistant

Superintendent of Police, John P. Saunders in a case of mistaken identity.

They still declared that Lajpat Rai’s death had been avenged. After committing the act, the trio escaped.

They fled from Lahore by rail to Lucknow. Rajguru went on to Benares from Lucknow. He returned to Lahore a

few days later.

The British government managed to capture all the people involved in the assassination. All three were sentenced

to death by hanging in the trial that ensued.

Despite tremendous pressure on the government to spare the youngsters, the trio was executed by hanging on

23rd March 1931.

Shaheed Sukhdev Thappar:

Current Affairs

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GS-2: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education,

Human Resources.

SAMARTH Programme:

Context: Department of Higher Education, M/o Human Resource Development, has mission to provide quality

education to students across all Universities & HEIs.

For this, M/o HRD has developed an e-Governance platform, SAMARTH(Enterprises Resource Planning) ERP, under National Mission of Education in Information and Communication Technology Scheme (NMEICT).

What is ERP SAMARTH?

ERP, SAMARTH, is an Open Standard Open Source Architecture, Secure, Scalable and Evolutionary

Process Automation Engine for Universities and Higher

Educational Institutions.

It caters to faculty, students and staff at a University/Higher Educational Institutions.

Now, the ERP, SAMARTH, has been implemented at National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, a

participating unit under the World Bank supported

Technical Education Quality Improvement Program (TEQIP).

The objective of this initiative is to automate the processes of the Institute.

This initiative will enhance the productivity through better information management in the institute by seamless access to information, and its utilization for various purposes.

The software was provided by the SAMARTH team free of cost to NIT, Kurukshetra; the rollout by done through an in-house team at no additional cost through a collaboration between NMEICT and TEQIP teams in MHRD.

Currently, the platform offers 38 modules to the institution.

Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP):

TEQIP is an initiative of the National Project Implementation Unit (NPIU) which implements World Bank Assisted Projects in Technical Education.

The initiative is aimed at improving the quality of engineering graduates .

Under this project, all the Government engineering colleges are selected for direct intervention , and all private engineering colleges are selected for indirect intervention.

The focus is on the most-backward states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, North-East, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh Etc.

The measures include:

Institution based: accreditation of the courses through NBA, governance reforms, improving the processes, digital initiatives, securing autonomy for the colleges.

Student based: improving the quality of teaching, teacher training, equipping the class rooms, revision of syllabus, industry interaction, and compulsory internships for students, training the students in industry -

relevant skills, preparing them for the GATE exam etc.

Current Affairs

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GS-2: India and its neighbourhood- relations.

Gilgit-Baltistan:

Context: As per Army Chief Gen. Naravane, The recent incidents of face-off between the troops of India and China are neither “co-related” nor have any connection with other global or local activities.

The statement was supplemented by official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava

who reminded China about India’s claims over Gilgit-Baltistan where China has teamed up with Pakistan to build

the Diamer-Bhasha dam.

Gilgit-Baltistan has functioned as a “provincial

autonomous region” since 2009.

Besides, India has conveyed that the entire Union

Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh,

including the areas of Gilgit and Baltistan, are an

integral part of India by virtue of its fully legal

and irrevocable accession.

Where is Gilgit Baltistan located?

Located in the northern Pakistan. It borders China in the North, Afghanistan in the west,

Tajikistan in the North-West and Kashmir in the

south-east.

It shares a geographical boundary with

Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and India considers it as part of the undivided Jammu and

Kashmir, while Pakistan sees it as a separate from PoK.

It has a regional Assembly and an elected Chief Minister.

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) also passes through this region.

Gilgit-Baltistan is home to five of the “eight-thousands” and to more than fifty peaks above 7,000

metres (23,000 ft).

Three of the world’s longest glaciers outside the Polar Regions are found in Gilgit-Baltistan.

How Pakistan took over it?

The British sold it, along with the rest of Jammu and Kashmir, to the Dogra ruler of Jammu, Gulab Singh, after defeating the Sikh army in 1846, but retained controlled over the area through a lease extracted

from the Maharaja.

This lease was last renewed in 1935. In 1947, a British army officer of the rank of Colonel imprisoned Maharaja Hari Singh’s governor in the region, and handed over the area for accession to Pakistan.

Recent developments:

Pakistan, in 2017, proposed to declare the strategic Gilgit -Baltistan region as its fifth Province.

Diamer-Bhasha Dam: o It is a dam being built by Pakistan on Indus river in Gilgit-Baltistan region o Both World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have refused to fund the project due to India’s

objections.

o China has come forward to fund and build the project.

Current Affairs

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GS-2: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.

32nd Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting:

Context: Recently, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare participated in the 32nd

Commonwealth Health Ministers' Meeting through Video Conference on 14 May.

The timely, graded, and proactive measures taken by the Indian government towards COVID-19 management were

highlighted during the meeting.

Highlights:

The theme of the conference was "Delivering a co-ordinated Commonwealth COVID-19 response."

Government of India's aim to protect lives by mitigating the explosive growth of the disease and by ensuring that

the healthcare system is able to cope up with the growth

of the disease was discussed.

The need to work on the causes of the pandemic and discover drugs and vaccines to control transmission and prevent a recurrence.

The Indian government has announced an economic package of more than $265 billion to support economic recovery and to support vulnerable segments of the population.

India has provided essential medicines such as Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to around 100 needy countries, extending solidarity and support during this time of crisis.

Current Affairs

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GS-3: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and

employment.

Second tranche of the Economic Stimulus package:

Context: Announcing the 2nd Tranche of measures to ameliorate the hardships faced specifically by migrant labours, street vendors, migrant urban poor, small traders self-employed people, small farmers and housing, Union Finance &

Corporate Affairs Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in her press conference detailed the short term and long-term measures for supporting the poor, including migrants, farmers, tiny businesses and street vendors.

Following are the short term and long-term measures for supporting the poor, including migrants, farmers, tiny

businesses and street vendors:

1. Free food grains supply to migrants for 2 months

For the migrant labour, additional food grain to all the States/UTs at the rate of 5

kg per migrant labourer and 1 kg Chana

per family per month for two months i.e.

May and June, 2020 free of cost shall be

allocated.

Migrant labourers not covered under National Food Security Act or without a

ration card in the State/UT in which they

are stranded at present will be eligible.

States/UTs shall be advised to put a

mechanism for targeted distribution as envisaged in the scheme.

2. Technology system to be used enabling

Migrants to access PDS (Ration) from any Fair Price Shops in India by March,2021-One Nation one Ration

Card:

Pilot scheme for portability of ration cards will be extended to 23 states.

By that, 67 crore beneficiaries covering 83% of PDS population will be covered by National portability of Ration cards by August, 2020. 100% National portability will be achieved by March, 2021.

This is part of PM’s Technology Driven System Reforms. This will ensure that the people in transit, especially migrant workers can also get the benefit of PDS benefit across the country.

3. Scheme for Affordable Rental Housing Complexes for Migrant Workers and Urban Poor to be launched:

Affordable Rental Housing Complexes will provide social security and quality life to migrant labour, urban

poor, and students etc.

This will be done through converting government funded houses in the cities into Affordable Rental Housing

Complexes (ARHC) under PPP mode through-

o Concessionaire;

o manufacturing units, industries, institutions, associations to develop Affordable Rental Housing

Complexes (ARHC) on their private land and operate;

o And Incentivizing State Govt agencies/Central Government Organizations on similar lines to develop Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHC) and operate.

4. 2% Interest Subvention for 12 months for Shishu MUDRA loanees- Relief of Rs. 1,500 crore:

Current Affairs

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Government of India will provide Interest subvention of 2% for prompt payees for a period of 12 months to

MUDRA Shishu loanees, who have loans below Rs 50,000.

The current portfolio of MUDRA Shishu loans is around Rs 1.62 Lakh crore. This will provide relief of about Rs

1,500 crore to Shishu MUDRA loanee.

5. Credit facility for Street Vendors:

Under this scheme, bank credit facility for initial working capital up to Rs. 10,000 for each enterprise will

be extended.

This scheme will cover urban as well as rural vendors doing business in the adjoining urban areas.

Use of digital payments and timely repayments will be incentivized through monetary rewards.

It is expected that 50 lakh street vendors will be benefitted under this scheme and credit of Rs. 5,000 crore

would flow to them.

6. Boost to housing sector and middle income group through extension of Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme for

MIG under PMAY(Urban):

The Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme for Middle Income Group (annual Income between Rs 6 and 18 lakhs) will

be extended up to March 2021.

This will benefit 2.5 lakhs middle income families during 2020-21 and will lead to investment of over Rs 70,000

crore in housing sector.

This will create significant number of jobs by giving boost to Housing sector and will stimulate demand for

steel, cement, transport and other construction materials.

7. Creating employment using CAMPA funds:

Approximately Rs 6,000 crore of funds under Compensatory Afforestation Management & Planning Authority

(CAMPA) will be used for Afforestation and Plantation works, including in urban areas, Artificial

regeneration, assisted natural regeneration, Forest management, soil & moisture conservation works, Forest

protection, forest and wildlife related infrastructure development, wildlife protection and management etc.

Government of India will grant immediate approval to these plans amounting to Rs 6000 crore. This will create

job opportunities in urban, semi-urban and rural areas and also for Tribals (Adivasis).

8. Additional Emergency Working Capital for farmers through NABARD:

NABARD will extend additional re-finance support of Rs 30,000 crore for meeting crop loan requirement

of Rural Cooperative Banks and RRBs.

This will benefit around 3 crore farmers, mostly small and marginal and it will meet their post-harvest Rabi

and current Kharif requirements.

9. Boost to 2.5 crore farmers under Kisan Credit Card Scheme:

A special drive to provide concessional credit to PM-KISAN beneficiaries through Kisan Credit Cards.

Fisherman and Animal Husbandry Farmers will also be included in this drive.

Current Affairs

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GS-3: Science and Technology.

Parkinson’s disease:

Context: Recently, scientists from IIT (ISM) Dhanbad and CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata, teamed

up to find a solution to the Parkinson’s disease.

Parkinson's often starts with a tremor in one hand, other symptoms are slow movement, stiffness and loss of balance.

It affects the age group from 6 to 60, treatment can help but this condition can't be cured.

What is Parkinson’s disease?

Parkinson’s disease is a common neurodegenerative disease that has no

cure. It is believed that an aggregation of

a protein called alpha synuclein

(ASyn) plays a crucial role in the pathology of the disease.

The aggregation is found in abundance in what is called the substantia nigra portion

in the midbrain of patients suffering from

Parkinson’s disease.

Many researchers from across the world are studying the mechanism of how the

protein forms the aggregates, and how the

aggregation results in the death of

neuronal cells observed in Parkinson’s disease.

They believe that once these mysteries are uncovered, it could help develop a drug for the disease, which is badly needed and has been long overdue.

What are the problems faced by Researchers?

The end point of the aggregation is the formation of small slender fibres or `fibrils’, in which the protein has a structure type, what is called a cross beta fold.

The fibrils are well studied thanks to a dye, Thioflavin T, which binds to the cross-beta structure and emits fluorescence. Scientists have solved the three-dimensional structures of the fibrils and have also learnt how to develop drugs to target them. However, these drugs do not work in the clinical trials.

These failures have made the scientists to think that perhaps they need to understand not only the fibrils but also the variety of intermediates that form early in the aggregation process.

Unfortunately, the structure of these intermediates could not be solved yet and hence it is difficult to target them using a drug delivery technique. Also, scientists have not been able to come up with a way by which a single technique could monitor both the early intermediate species and the fibrils, which form at the end.

Current Affairs

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GS-3: Achievements of Indians in Science and Technology; indigenization of technology and developing new

technology.

COBAS 6800 testing machine:

Context: Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare visited the National Centre for Disease

Control (NCDC) and dedicated the COBAS 6800 testing machine to the nation.

This is the first such testing machine that has been procured by the Government for testing of COVID-19 cases and is installed at the National Centre for Disease Control.

Facts about COBAS 6800:

A fully automated, high end machine for performing real time PCR testing COVID-19 in the service of nation.

COBAS 6800 will provide quality, high-volume testing with a high throughput of test around 1200

samples in 24 hours. It will largely increase the testing capacity with reduction in pendency.

COBAS 6800 is a sophisticated machine enabled

with robotics that minimizes the chance of

contamination as well as the risk of infection to the health care workers since it can be operated remotely with

limited human intervention.

As the machine requires a minimum BSL2+ containment level for testing, it cannot be placed at just any facility.

COBAS 6800 can also detect other pathogens like Viral Hepatitis B & C, HIV, MTb (both rifampicin and isoniazide resistance), Papilloma, CMV, Chlamydia, Neiserreia etc.

Current Affairs

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GS-3: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

Jal Jeevan Mission:

Context: Gujarat is all set to implement sensor-based service delivery monitoring system in rural drinking water sector

under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).

The pilot is already underway in two districts of the state so as to monitor the functionality of water supply i.e. potable

water in adequate quantity and of prescribed quality being provided to every rural household on regularly on long-term basis.

Background:

Gujarat, primarily a water stressed state, has dealt the crisis with a very strategic approach so far.

The state already has good community involvement in drinking water supply management, which kick-started in 2002

through Water and Sanitation Management Organisation

(WASMO).

Having strong foundation, the state recovers around 70% of annual O&M expenditure from the community in form of water

service charges.

Out of 93.6 lakh rural households in the State, 65 lakh (70%) are already having household tap connections. Gujarat state has

set the target year of 100% coverage by the year September,

2022.

What is Jal Jeevan Mission?

The JJM announced by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi last year aims to provide tap water connections to 18

Crore rural households of the country by the year 2024.

This ambitious scheme is benefitting all the states as the States/ UTs are working hard to ensure every rural household gets water tap connection.

Key features:

It aims to create local infrastructure for rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge and management of household waste water for reuse in agriculture.

The Jal Jeevan Mission is set to be based on various water conservation efforts like point recharge, desilting of minor irrigation tanks, use of greywater for agriculture and source sustainability.

The Jal Jeevan Mission will converge with other Central and State Government Schemes to achieve its objectives of sustainable water supply management across the country.

Need for and significance of the mission:

India has 16% of the world population, but only 4% of freshwater resources.

Depleting groundwater level, overexploitation and deteriorating water quality, climate change, etc. are major challenges to provide potable drinking water.

It is an urgent requirement of water conservation in the country because of the decreasing amount of groundwater level.

Therefore, the Jal Jeevan Mission will focus on integrated demand and supply management of water at the local level.

Current Affairs

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GS-3: Conservation Related Issues:

Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020:

Context: Recently, Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 has been released by the United Nations.

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The FRA 2020 has examined the status of, and trends in, more than 60 forest -related variables in 236 countries

and territories in the period 1990–2020.

Key findings of the Assessment:

Forest area has declined all across the world in the past three decades.

The world lost 178 mha of forest

since 1990, an area the size of Libya.

The rate of forest loss has also declined due to the growth

of sustainable management. The rate

of forest loss in 2015-2020 declined to

an estimated 10 million hectares

(mha), down from 12 million hectares

(mha) in 2010-2015.

The area of naturally regenerating

forests worldwide decreased since

1990, but the area of planted forests

increased by 123 mha.

Highest loss and highest gains:

Africa had the largest annual rate of net forest loss in 2010–2020, at 3.9 mha, followed by South America, at 2.6 mha.

On the other hand, Asia had the highest net gain of forest area in 2010–2020, followed by Oceania and Europe.

Geographical extent:

The world’s total forest area was 4.06 billion hectares (bha), which was 31 per cent of the total land area. This area was equivalent to 0.52 ha per person.

The largest proportion of the world’s forests were tropical (45 per cent), followed by boreal, temperate and subtropical.

More than 54 per cent of the world’s forests were in only five countries — the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, the United States of America and China.

The highest per cent of plantation forests were in South America while the lowest were in Europe

https://www.insightsonindia.com/2020/05/14/global-forest-resources-assessment-2020/

Current Affairs

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GS-3: Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate.

Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs):

Context: In order to modernise and reform the army, Indian Army was planning to raise Integrated Battle Groups (IBGs) along the borders with Pakistan that will help it carry out swift strikes in case of war.

Recently, it was announced by the Government of India that Integrated Battle Groups will soon be operational.

What are IBGs?

IBGs are brigade-sized, agile, self-sufficient combat formations, which can swiftly launch strikes against adversary in case of hostilities.

Each IBG would be tailor-made based on

Threat, Terrain and Task and resources

will be allotted based on the three Ts.

Their Structure:

They need to be light so they will be low on logistics and they will be able to mobilise

within 12-48 hrs based on the location.

An IBG operating in a desert needs to be constituted differently from an IBG operating

in the mountains.

The IBGs will also be defensive and offensive.

o While the offensive IBGs would quickly mobilise and make thrust into enemy

territory for strikes,

o Defensive IBGs would hold ground at vulnerable points or where enemy action is

expected. The composition of the IBGs

would also depend on this.

Significance:

This is one of the major reorganization plans of the Indian Army with the aim of enhancing command efficiency and the capacities for rapid response and coordinated operations.