Comprehensive Current affairs 26 November 2020

 

International version of UMANG App.

Government launched the UMANG’s international version in coordination with Ministry of External Affairsfor select countries that include USA, UK, Canada, Australia, UAE, Netherlands, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Nationale-Governance Division (NeGD) have developed this app to drive Mobile Governance in India.

It provides a single platform for all Indian Citizens to access pan India e-Gov services ranging from Centralto Local Government bodies and other citizen centric services.

It provides easy access to a plethora of Indian government services ranging from - Healthcare, Finance,Education, blousing, Energy, Agriculture,Transport to even Utility and Employment and Skills.

Indian Medicine Central Council (Post Graduate Ayurveda Education) Amendment Regulations, 2020.

The new regulation has come after the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) amended Indian Medicine CentralCouncil (Post Graduate Ayurveda Education) Regulations, 2016, to include the regulation to allow the PGstudents of Ayurveda to practise general surgery.

CCIM is the statutory body that regulates the Indian Medical systems of Ayurveda, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa and UnaniMedicine.

Earlier, Indian Medical Association has been opposing the Centre's move to allow traditional systems of AYUSFI tooffer allopathic therapies and treatment.

Bengaluru Tech Summit.

Modi recently inaugurated the Bengaluru Tech Summit via video conference which was also attended by the Prime Minister of Australia.

Highlights:

• It is India's flagship event which will deliberate on the key challenges emerging in the post-pandemic world with focus on the impact of prominent technologies.

• It will also provide a platform for discussion to encourage disruptive technologies.

• The Disruptive technology is an innovation that significantly alters the way that consumers, industries, or businesses operate. It sweeps away the systems or habits it replaces because it has attributes that are recognizably superior. The theme for 2020 “Next is Now”.

• Innovations in the domains of Information Technology and Electronics and Biotechnology.

• It is organised by the Government of Karnataka along with Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS), Karnataka government’s Vision Group on Information Technology Software, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) and MM Activ Sci-Tech Communications.

• With the increasing use of technology in governance and other areas, data protection and cybersecurity become significant.

• There is a need to devise robust cybersecurity solutions which can protect digital products against cyber-attacks and viruses.

Mount Vesuvius.

The Italian Culture Ministry announced on November 21 the discovery of well-preserved remains of two men, who perished during the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

The eruption was a catastrophic event that destroyed the ancient Roman city of Pompeii and killed around 16,000 people.

Mount Vesuvius:

It is located in southern Italy near the coastal city of Naples, the 4,203-ft (1,281 metres) tall Vesuvius is the only active volcano in mainland Europe.

Vesuvius has been classified as a complex volcano (also called a compound volcano), one that consists of a complex of two or more vents.

According to livescience.com, Vesuvius typically has explosive eruptions and pyroclastic flows –– defined as a high-density mix of hot lava blocks, pumice, ash and volcanic gas.

Approval of Food Processing Projects more than 320 crore rupees in ten states.

The government has approved 28 Food Processing Projects worth over 320 crore rupees.

These projects supported with a grant of over 107 crore rupees by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries were approved under the Scheme for Creation and Expansion of Food Processing and Preservation Capacities- CEFPPC in the Inter-Ministerial Approval Committee (IMAC) meeting.

These projects spread over 10 states are likely to generate employment for nearly 10 thousand people.

Minister of Food Processing Industries to consider projects under Pradhan Mantri KisanSampada Yojana (PMKSY) for necessary Grants-in-aid.

These 28 projects will create a processing capacity of 1237 Metric Tonnes daily and are spread across the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Assam, and Manipur.

Reserve Bank Innovation Hub.

The Reserve Bank of India has set up Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) for the Financial Sector.

 Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH):

• Aim: To create an eco-system that would focus on promoting access to financial services and products. This will also promote financial inclusion.

• It would be guided and managed by the 9-member governing council.

Function:

• Collaborate with financial sector institutions, technology industry and academic institutions and coordinate efforts for exchange of development of prototypes related to financial innovations.

• Develop internal infrastructure to promote fintech research and facilitate engagement with innovators and start-ups.

Regulatory Sandbox Structure:

• In November 2019, RBI regulatory sandbox structure to promote innovation across the financial sector by leveraging on technology (same aim as of RBIH).

• A regulatory sandbox is a framework set up by a regulator that allows FinTech startups and other innovators to conduct live experiments in a controlled environment under a regulator's supervision.

Negative yield bonds.

China sold negative-yield debt for the first time, and this saw a high demand from investors across Europe.

There was a huge demand for the 4-billion-euro bonds issued by China.

China’s 5-year bond was priced with a yield of –0.152%, and the 10-year and 15-year securities with positive yields of 0.318% and 0.664%.

About:

These are debt instruments that offer to pay the investor a maturity amount lower than the purchase price of the bond.

 These are generally issued by central banks or governments, and investors pay interest to the borrower to keep their money with them.

Negative-yield bonds attract investments during times of stress and uncertainty as investors look to protect their capital from significant erosion.

The fact that the 10-year and 15-year bonds are offering positive returns is a big attraction at a time when interest rates in Europe have dropped significantly.

China’s Chang’e-5 lunar mission.

China’s Chang’e-5 lunar mission recently became the first probe in over four decades to attempt to bring back samples of lunar rock from unexplored portion of the Moon.

The spacecraft is set to return to Earth around December 15, 2020.

Key takeaways

Chang’e-5 probe is the Chinese National Space Administration’s (CNSA) lunar sample return mission.

Goal: To land in the Mons Rumker region of the moon, where it will operate for one lunar day, which is two weeks long and return a 2 kg sample of the lunar rock possibly by digging about 2 metres deep into the surface of the Moon.

The mission comprises a lunar orbiter, a lander and an ascent probe that will lift the lunar samples back into orbit and return them back to Earth.

The probe is named after the Chinese Moon goddess who is traditionally accompanied by a white or jade rabbit.

Do you know?

Early in 2019, China’s Chang’e-4 probe successfully transmitted images from the far side of the Moon, also referred to as the dark side.

 This was the first probe to land in this portion of the Moon.

Willow Warbler.

Willow Warbler has recently been sighted for the first time in India at Vellayani-Punchakkari paddy fields, Kerala.

About:

• Its Scientific Name is Phylloscopus trochilus.

• They breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe and the Palearctic.

• The paddy fields are a birding hotspot on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram and are known to harbour more than 213 species of birds that include both resident and migratory ones.

• Palearctic ecozone is one the Earth’s 8 ecozones and covers Asia north of the Himalayas, with parts of western Asia and most of East Asia and Africa north of the Sahara.

• They migrate to sub-Saharan Africa during early winter. It is one of the longest migrating small birds.

• It weighs around 10 grams and its long wing feathers help it fly long distances.

• They are generally difficult to identify owing to the small size and change in plumage twice a year. They are also the most difficult groups of birds to identify in the field for their striking resemblance to each other.

• They are affected by drought conditions in its wintering quarters and habitat alterations due to human population expansion. Its IUCN Red List status Least Concern.

Karnataka wants to Declassify Some Forest as Deemed.

Karnataka has announced that it would soon declassify 6.64 lakh hectares of the 9.94 lakh hectares of deemed forests in the state (nearly 67%).

Deemed Forests:

 • Deemed forests are land tracts that appear to be a “forest”, but have not been notified so by the Government or in Historical Records.

• However, this only applies to forest land that has not already been historically classified as “forest” in revenue records, or categorised by the government as “protected” or “reserve forest”.

•Supreme court in T N Godavarman Thirumalpad (1996) case order state governments to identify such deemed forest.

• T N Godavarman Thirumalpad case:

• While the concept of deemed forests has not been clearly defined in any law including the Forest Conservation Act of 1980, the Supreme Court in the case of T N Godavarman Thirumalpad (1996) accepted a wide definition of forests under the Act.

• Definition of Forest: The word ‘forest’ must be understood according to its dictionary meaning. This description covers all statutorily recognised forests, whether designated as reserved, protected or otherwise for the purpose of Section 2 (1) of the Forest Conservation Act.

• Definition of Forest Land: The term ‘forest land’ will not only include ‘forest’ as understood in the dictionary sense, but also any areas recorded as forest in the government record irrespective of the ownership.

Implications:

• Preservation of forest areas in India under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 has been continuously monitored by the Supreme Court since the Godavarman case judgment in 1996.

• Thus, state government must obtain clearances from the Supreme Court before making changes to land classified as deemed forests since the verdict.

• Why Karnataka want to release 6.64 lakh hectares of deemed forests?

• In 2014, Karnataka said that some of the ‘statutory forests’ had been wrongly classified as ‘deemed forest’ by the expert committee constituted after the Supreme Court order (1996).

 Argument of Karnataka Government:

• The committee used dictionary definition of forests. It should have applied well-defined scientific, verifiable criteria in identifying deemed forests.

• Such false classification resulted in conflicts between the Forest Department and other departments like Revenue, Irrigation, Public Works and Energy.

• Also, land was randomly classified as deemed forest by officials, causing hardship to farmers in Some Areas.

Atlantic Ocean’s Largest Protected Marine Reserve.

Tristan Da Cunha has been declared as the largest Protected Marine Reserve in the Atlantic Ocean.

Tristan da Cunha:

• It is a remote group of volcanic islands in the south Atlantic Ocean.

• It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world.

• It is a British Overseas Territory with its own constitution.

• It was once the main trading route between Europe and the Indian Ocean.

Biodiversity:

• The water around the islands is considered to be the richest in the world.

• Home to the World Heritage Site of Gough and Inaccessible Islands, which is one of the most important seabird islands in the world.

• Home to several species of land birds that live nowhere else, including the Wilkins bunting, the U.K.’s rarest bird, and the Inaccessible rail, the world’s smallest flightless bird.

• Thus, it is home millions of seabirds and several unique land birds that are comparable to the Galapagos island finches.

 Marine Protection Zone:

• Marine Protected Zones (MPZs) involve the management of certain natural areas for biodiversity conservation or species protection and are created by delineating zones with permitted and non-permitted areas within that zone.

• After being declared a Protected Marine Reserve, Tristan da Cunha has become the largest no-take zone in the Atlantic Ocean and the fourth largest on the planet.

• This prohibits fishing, mining, and any Such Activities.

• This development is also supported by the Blue Belt Program which is an initiative of the United Kingdom to support UK Overseas Territories with the protection and sustainable management of their marine environments.