Comprehensive Current affairs 12th june 2020

Centre asks cities to make markets pedestrian friendly.

The Union Housing and Urban Affairs (HUA) Ministry on Wednesday said it had issued an advisory to all cities to make select markets pedestrian-friendly by November.

The advisory issued by HUA Secretary DurgaShanker Mishra said cities would have to identify markets — at least three each in cities with population of 1 million or more and one each in those

with less than 1 million population by June 30.

The advisory said municipalities would have to conduct consultations with the stakeholders, including vendors, traffic police, shop-owners and consumers, in order to come up with a holistic pedestrianisation plan.

After finalizing the plan, the implementation should be split into two phases - short and long term. The short-term measures include rearranging the market with temporary features like barricades etc.
Parking on the streets and carriageway lanes could be repurposed to give more waiting space.

CPCB to classify railway stations based on waste water output.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) will classify railway stations under the red, orange and green categories based on the quantity of waste water generated.
After the National Green Tribunal directed the Indian Railways to get a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the CPCB under the provisions of the Water Act & Air Act, a clarification was sought since railway stations did not figure in the classified list of industries requiring permission to operate.
While railway stations generating waste water equal to or more than 100 Kilo Litres per Day (KLD) would be categorised as red, those greater than 10 KLD but less than 100 KLD would come under the orange category. Railway stations with less than 10 KLD waste water generation would be branded green.

In a note to all Zonal Railways, the Railway Board said it had become imminent to reduce the waste water generation at railway stations and urged the need to identify quantity of sewage/non-sewage waste water separately to plan installation of water recycling plants accordingly.

 Indian-American soil scientist wins 2020 World Food Prize.

Indian-American soil scientist Dr. Rattan Lalhas won the prestigious 2020 World Food Prize, which is considered to be equivalent to a Nobel Prize in the field of agriculture. The award recognized his contribution to increasing the global food supply by helping small farmers improve the health of the soil. The award also highlights the importance of managing & restoring soil health.

Dr.Rattan Lal:

Dr.Rattan Lal was awarded for his role in developing and mainstreaming a soil-centric approach to increase food production that restores and conserves natural resources and mitigates climate change.
Dr. Rattan Lal has a career spanning more than five decades. He has promoted innovative soil saving techniques benefiting the livelihoods of more than 500 million small farmers. His inventions were aimed to improve the food and nutritional security of more than two billion people and saving hundreds of millions of hectares of natural tropical ecosystems. Lal is a Distinguished Professor in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) at The Ohio State University.

World Food Prize:

World Food Prize was first awarded in1987. The award is presented by the World Food Prize Foundation, with various sponsor companies. The award recognizes contributions that are made in the various field involved in the world food supply including Animal Science/Aqua Culture, Food Technology/Food Safety, Nutrition/Health, Plant Science/Seed Science, Plant Pathology/Crop Protection, Soil Science/Water/Conservation,  Policy/Research/Extension, Infrastructure/Emergency Relief, and Poverty and Hunger Alleviation. The first awardee of the award is an Indian agricultural scientist Dr. M S Swaminathan, who is the father of the Green Revolution in India.

Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle Complex inaugurated.

The Indian Navy has inducted the Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV) Complex to provide rescue cover to submarines on the east and west coast of India. The DSRV complex was inaugurated by Vice Admiral Atul Kumar Jain, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Eastern Naval Command (ENC) in Visakhapatnam on 10 June.

Highlights: 

·    DSRV Complex was equipped with state-of-the-art facilities.

·    It has been designed to accommodate the newly inducted submarine rescue system and store the DSRV

assets in the rescue-ready state

·           The system consists of a submarine rescue vessel, a remote operations vehicle, and side-scan sonar and associated equipment.

·          It has hyperbaric medical equipment and diver decompression chambers to decompress submariners after the submarines are rescued from sunken submarines.

·          DSRV complex can be mobilized by air or road to facilitate submarine rescue operations even at distant locations.

·          The Indian Navy has inducted two such systems to provide rescue cover to submarines.

·          At present, there are about 40 nations that operate submarines.

·          The 3rd generation submarine rescue capability of the Indian Navy can be sought by the other navies for assistance during contingencies in the Indian Ocean Region.

Kerala Startup partners with SCTIMST to launch IoT based used mask disposal smart bin and UV light-based disinfection device.

Kerala Startup partners with SCTIMST to launch IoT based used mask disposal smart bin and UV light-based disinfection device

Kerala Startup partners with SCTIMST to launch IoT based used mask disposal smart bin and UV light-based disinfection device.

Cochin-based startup VST Mobility Solutions has launched an automated mask disposal machine, named BIN-19, as part of efforts to develop products helping to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The disposal device developed using Chitra UV based face mask disposal bin technology from the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) was formally launched.
VST Mobility Solutions also launched UV SPOT, a UV light-based multipurpose disinfector, to combat the COVID-19.

BIN-19:

·         The Internet of Things (IoT)-based BIN-19 can be used to collect and disinfect Used Face-Mask.

·          The device has been successfully tested under microbiological tests by Sree Chitra Lab.

·          The used masks will be dropped inside a container of the bin will be first disinfected by a process.

·          The disinfected masks which are dropped in the BIN-19 will be transferred to another container inside the Bin.

·          The person dropping the mask can sanitize their hands with the help of the automatic sanitizer dispenser attached to the Bin-19.

·          The user does not need to touch/operate any switches in the Bin. The functions of the BIN-19 are automated in the hands-free equipment for the safety of users and health workers.

·          The IoT Features of BIN-19 are:

·         Auto Sanitizer Dispenser

·         Mobile Application to navigate/find Bin-19

·         Web Portal for Status Alerts

·         Power ON/OFF alerts

·         Box open alerts

UV SPOT:

·         UV SPOT is a multipurpose disinfector device with ultraviolet (UV) disinfection lamps. With the internal reflective surfaces and UVC Lamp, the device disinfects a board range of microorganisms.

·          The device will be used to dispose of the contaminated or used face-mask and for reusing the UVC stable metallic products

·         The device is proven under a microbiological test conducted by Sree Chitra Lab. SCTIMST is a testing agency for UV-based devices in the country according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines.

World Day Against Child Labour observed

World Day Against Child Labour (or Anti-Child Labor Day) is observed on 12 June every year. The day focuses on the impact of the crisis on Child labour. The economic crisis and labour market shock that is caused due to the COVID-19 pandemic is having a huge impact on people's lives and livelihoods. In such a crisis, the children are the first to suffer. The crisis due to the pandemic can push many vulnerable children into child labour.

Event:
On the World Day Against Child Labour or Anti-Child Labor Day. a virtual campaign was conducted. It will be organized jointly with the Global March Against Child Labour and the International Partnership for Cooperation on Child Labour in Agriculture (IPCCLA).
A joint ILO-UNICEF paper on the impact of COVID-19 on child labour will be released on 12 June. The report highlights some of the main channels through which the pandemic is likely to affect progress towards the eradication of child labour.

Background:
The International Labour Organization (ILO) initiated the World Day Against Child Labour in the year 2002. The aim was to focus attention on child labour and take efforts needed to eliminate it. On this day, the world governments, employers and workers organizations, civil society, and millions of people from around the world get together to highlight the plight of child labourers and what can be done to help them.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which were adopted by world leaders in 2015 includes a commitment to end child labour. SDG targets to take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour. It also aims to end modern slavery, human trafficking, secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour.

International Labour Organization (ILO):

Formed on: 29 October 1919

Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland

Director-General: Guy Ryder.

CCMB researchers develop new low-cost novel coronavirus.

Researchers at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) have developed a new low-cost and low-tech required test for the COVID-19 testing. This test is known as Reverse Transcription nested PCR (RT-nPCR) test.

Highlights: 

·         The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has recommended only a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) test for novel coronavirus testing.

·          The newly developed RT-nPCR test does not require real-time quantitative RT-qPCR.

·         The researchers reported that the RT-nPCR test has shown comparable performance to the standard RT-qPCR test.

·         The nested PCR (RT-nPCR) approach does not depend on RT-qPCR but uses standard RT-PCR as part of an endpoint assay.

·          During the trial, the RT-nPCR test was able to identify 90% of the detected samples as positive by RT-qPCR.

MoeFCC releases new guidelines for import of exotic species.

The Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) has issued an advisory saying people importing “exotic live species” will have to make a voluntary disclosure.

The advisory issued earlier this month defines “exotic live species” as animal or plant species moved from their original range (location) to a new one. Several exotic species of birds, reptiles, small mammals, fishes and even some plants are imported.

The Ministry has said “exotic live species” shall be construed to mean only “the animals named under the Appendices I, II and III of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of Wild Fauna and Flora”.

Species covered by the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 cannot be traded.Experts have welcomed the move and said it will create a process where all imports will be screened. As of now, the imports are being made through the Director General of Foreign Trade and State Forest departments are not kept in the loop.

For new “exotic live species”, the importer should obtain a no-objection certificate from the Chief Wildlife Warden ( CWLW) of the State. For existing species, stocks “shall be declared by the owner/ holder (stock, as on 1 January 2020) to the Chief Wildlife Warden (CWLW) of the concerned State or UT”.

NITI Aayog members moot border adjustment tax to help domestic industries.

NITI Aayog member V.K. Saraswat on Wednesday favoured imposing a border adjustment tax (BAT) on imports to provide a level-playing field to domestic industries.
BAT is a duty that is proposed to be imposed on imported goods in addition to the customs levy that gets charged at the port of entry.

Mr.Saraswat said various taxes such as electricity duty, mandi tax, clean energy cess and royalty lead to escalation of price. “Such taxes imposed on domestic goods, give them (imported goods) a price advantage in India.”

Indian industry has been complaining to the government about such domestic taxes that get charged on domestically produced goods as these duties get embedded into the product.
But many imported goods do not get loaded with such levies in their respective country of origin and this gives such products a price advantage in India. On the Atmanirbhar Bharat vision, Mr.Saraswat said advocating self-reliance should not imply that India will embrace isolationist policies.

Report finds MGNREGA wages lower than agricultural wages in some states.

Economists at SBI on Wednesday pitched for covering employment guarantee workers under provisions of the Minimum Wages Act, pointing out that MGNREGA payments are lower than the basic agricultural wages in some states.

In a note that comes after the government upped spends on the Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) by Rs 40,000 crore to limit the impact of the lockdown, they also suggested better strategies for making use of the migrant labour which has returned to their villages.

The economists said a comprehensive database of migrants needs to be built up and advocated the use of call data records (CDRs) which will establish their movements back to native lands from the cities to finish this task.

Lakhs of migrant workers have made arduous journeys back home on foot, bicycles, and crowded trucks, while the more luckier ones have been transported by special train services amid the coronavirus lockdown.

Additionally, most workers who are denied work are also unable to secure any unemployment allowance, it said. The economists, however, did not give the impact on the government coffers if such moves were to be implemented.