India is going to focus on linking textile industry with latest technology.
Indian
PM Modi has said that the textiles sector is a key sector that will help build
an Atmanirbhar Bharat or self-reliant India and the government is particularly
focussing on skills upgradation, financial assistance and integrating the
sector with latest technology.
Indian
textile sector has always brought opportunities and domestically, the sector is
among the highest job providers in India. Internationally, textiles helped the
country to build trade and cultural relations with the world. He said, Indian
textiles are highly valued globally and have also got enriched with customs,
crafts, products and techniques of other cultures.
•world
over, the textile sector employs many women and thus, a vibrant textile sector
will add strength to efforts of women empowerment. India need to prepare for
future in challenging times.
The
textile traditions of the country have showcased powerful ideas and principles
like diversity and adaptability, self-reliance, skill and innovation and these
principles have become even more relevant now.
As
work and life adjust to a new normal, people are looking for long-term
solutions that incorporate hygiene and mindful practices into food habits,
according to insights drawn from a survey of 150 food experts across the
country.
•The
interactive session is part of the conversation series “Rise of the Culinary
Explorer” and the survey was done for the third edition of the Godrej Food
Trends Report.
•Moderator
Ruth Dsouza, an ndependent food writer, opened the discussion on the changing
practices during the pandemic.
•Health
and hygiene are the primary concerns among consumers today, said Kamal Nandi,
business head, Godrej Appliances.Appliances specially designed for fermentation
and germination at home were being sought after
New
Caledonia votes on referendum for independence.
The
French South Pacific territory of New Caledonia votes in a referendum on
independence on Sunday, with voters expected to reject breaking away from
France after almost 170 years despite rising support for the move.
The
referendum is part of a carefully negotiated de-colonisation plan agreed in
1998, known as the Noumea Accord, designed to put an end to a deadly conflict
between the mostly pro-independence indigenous Kanak population, and the
descendants of European settlers known as “Caldoches”.
Violence
in the 1980s culminated in a drawn-out hostage crisis in 1988 that saw 19
separatists killed on one side, and six police and special forces on the other.
It
will be the second time the archipelago goes to the polls to decide on its fate
in two years, after a first referendum in 2018 resulted in status quo with
56.7% of the vote. But the result still marked a shift towards pro-independence
sympathies, raising campaigners’ hopes that this time it could manage to break
free.
The
19th round of Foreign Office Consultations between India and Myanmar was held
through virtual mode today. The Indian delegation was led by Foreign Secretary
Harsh VardhanShringla and the Myanmar delegation was led by Permanent
Secretary, U Soe Han.
•During
the consultations, both sides reviewed the entire gamut of relations, including
border cooperation and the ongoing restoration work on earthquake damaged
pagodas in Bagan.
•Cooperation
in regional and multilateral fora was also discussed. Both sides expressed
satisfaction that despite the ongoing COVID pandemic, meetings in several
areas, including power, energy etchave been held through virtual mode,
reflecting the depth of the bilateral engagement.
•It
was noted that the next Joint Trade Committee Ministerial Meeting to be held on
October 20, will be useful in further strengthening bilateral trade and
investment relations.
•Foreign
Secretary reiterated the priority India attaches to its partnership with
Myanmar in accordance with India’s Neighbourhood First and Act East policies.
Cengov.
to waive off compound interest on loans upto 2crore.
In
a relief to individual borrowers and medium and small industries, the Centre
has agreed in the Supreme Court to waive compound interest (interest on
interest) charged on loans of up to two crore rupees for a six-month moratorium
period announced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
•It
said, the government will seek due authorization from Parliament for making
appropriate grants in this regard and the endeavour shall be over and above the
support of 3.7 lakh crore rupees to MSMEs, 70,000 crore rupees for home loans
already extended through the GaribKalyan and Atmanirbhar packages announced by
the government earlier.
•In
an affidavit filed by the Finance Ministry, it said, the government has decided
that the relief on waiver of compound interest during the six-month moratorium
period shall be limited to the most vulnerable category of borrowers.
•The
loans were categorized into eight categories by the government including MSME
(Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises), education, housing, consumer durable,
credit card dues, auto, personal, and consumption.
C
& I ministry moots quality improvement to boost exports.
Ministry
of Commerce and Industry stressed that quality, technology and scale of
production would help India take its annual exports to $1 trillion and not
government subsidies.
•It
exhorted exporters and the industry as a whole to target $1 trillion worth of
shipments.
•“Why
can’t we aim for $1 trillion exports from India. We certainly can. I see no
reason, [why] we cannot. For that we need to be clear on actionable items [and]
subsidies are never going to get us there, I am very very clear about that,”
said Indian Commerce minister.
•“At
least in my six years of engagement, I have not found subsidies to be the
solution for India’s problems. I think it’s quality, technology, growth, scale;
and sometimes for a short period you may need to give a little thrust or
support.
Study
finds three foldincrease in leopard capture and translocation.
A
study conducted across Karnataka indicates that the policy guidelines brought
out by the government to mitigate human-leopard conflict and discourage
translocation of the animal have had little impact on the ground.
The
number of leopards captured per month increased more than threefold (from 1.5
to 4.6) after the human-leopard policy guidelines were brought out in 2011.
Similarly, there was a threefold increase in the number of leopards
translocated per month (from 1 to 3.5).
Sanjay Gubbi of the Nature Conservation Foundation, who led the study in the State, said the guidelines for human-leopard conflict management were brought out in April 2011 to reduceconflict with leopards, discourage their translocation, and suggest improved ways of handling emergency conflict situations.
These
findings have been published in a paper, ‘Policy to on-ground action:
Evaluating a conflict policy guideline for leopards in India’, in the Journal
of International Wildlife Law and Policy.
Taking
Karnataka as a case study, the researchers analysed pre- and post-guidelines
leopard captures, reasons for the captures, and the outcome for the captured
leopards.
The
study indicated that of the 80 leopards translocated to reserved/State/minor
forests, most releases were to the Kemphole Reserved Forest (16.2%), followed
by the Devarayanadurga State Forest (7.5%) and the Bukkapatna State Forest
(5%).
Though
eight reasons were attributed to capture and translocation of leopards, the
main justification was livestock depredation (38.1%), said Mr.Gubbi.
NASA’s
Sonification Project
NASA’s
Chandra X-Ray Center (CXC) has gone a step further by unveiling a new ‘sonification’
project that transforms data from Astronomical Images into Audio.
Data Sonification:
•
Data sonification refers to the use of sound values to represent real data.
Simply put, it is the auditory version of data visualisation.
•
For example, In NASA’s recent Chandra project, data is represented using a
number of musical notes. With this data sonification project, users can now
hear the birth of a star, a cloud of dust or even a black hole as a high- or
low-pitched Sound.
Sonification Project:
•
NASA’s sonification project is led by the Chandra X-ray Center in collaboration
with NASA’s Universe of Learning Program (UoL), which aims to incorporate NASA
science content into the learning environment for Learners of all ages.
How did NASA Translate Astronomical
Images into Sound?
•
NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space
Telescope in space collect digital data, in the form of ones and zeroes, before
converting them into images. The images are visual representations of light and
radiation of different wavelengths.
•
So far, the astronomers behind Project Chandra have released three examples
made using data collected from some of the most distinct features in the sky —
the Galactic Centre, Cassiopeia A, and Pillars of Creation Nebula.
•
Galactic Centre: It is the rotational centre of the Milky Way galaxy. It
comprises neutron, white dwarf stars, clouds of dust and gas, and a
supermassive black hole called
Sagittarius A*.
•
Cassiopeia A: It is one of the most well-known remnants of a once-massive star
that was destroyed by a supernova explosion around 325 years ago.
•
The Pillars of Creation: It is located in the centre of the Eagle Nebula, which
is also known as Messier 16.
Focus for UPSC Mains
How
Remunerative is Farming in India
The
government’s push to reform India’s agriculture sector has divided opinions and
Triggered a debate about the state of Indian Agriculture.
Highlights:
•
In the context of this debate, two long-standing characteristics of Indian
agriculture are Noteworthy
Indian Agriculture is Highly
Unremunerative:
•
It has been heavily Regulated by the Government and Protected from the free
play of Market Forces
Why are the New Legislation
Introduced?
•
According to the government, the new Bills passed by Parliament attempt to make
it easier for farmers to sell to and produce for the private sector.
•
The hope is that liberalizing the sector and allowing greater play for market
forces will make Indian agriculture more efficient and more remunerative for
the farmers.
•
In this context, it is important to understand some of the basics of Indian
agriculture.
Basics of Indian Agriculture:
1.
Workforce Engaged:
✓ At the time of
Independence, about 70% of India’s workforce (a little less than 100 million)
was employed in the agriculture sector.
✓ Even at that time,
agriculture and allied activities accounted for around 54% of India’s national
income.
✓ Over the years,
agriculture’s contribution to national output declined sharply. As of 2019-20,
it was less than 17% (in gross value added terms).
✓ And yet, the
proportion of Indians engaged in agriculture has fallen from 70% to just 55%
(Chart 1).
✓ As the Committee on
Doubling Farmers’ Income (2017) observes, “the dependence of the rural
workforce on agriculture for employment has not declined in proportion to the
falling contribution of agriculture to GDP”.
2. Land Holdings:
✓ While the number of
people dependent on agriculture has been burgeoning over the years, the average
size of landholdings has become reduced sharply — even to the extent of being
unviable for efficient production.
✓ Data shows that 86% of
all landholdings in India are small (between 1 and 2 hectares) and marginal
(less than 1 hectare — roughly half a football field).
✓ The average size among
marginal holdings is just 0.37 ha which hardly provides Enough Income to stay
above the Poverty line.
3. Debts:
✓ The combined result of
several such inefficiencies is that most Indian farmers are Heavily Indebted
(Chart 2).
✓ The data shows that
40% of the 24 lakh households that operate on landholdings smaller than 0.01 ha
are indebted. The average amount is Rs 31,000.
✓ A good reason why such
a high proportion of farmers is so indebted is that Indian agriculture — for
the most part — is unremunerative.
✓ Chart 3 provides the
monthly income estimates for an agriculture household in four very different
states as well as the all-India number.
✓ Some of the most
populous states like Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh have very low levels
of income and Very high Proportions of Indebtedness.
4.
Buying & selling:
✓ Another way of
understanding the plight of the farmers relative to the rest of the economy is
to look at the Terms of Trade between farmers and non -farmers.
✓ Terms of Trade is the ratio between the prices paid by the farmers for their inputs and the prices received by the farmers for their output.
✓ As such, 100 is the
benchmark. If the ToT is less than 100, it means farmers are worse off. As
Chart 4 shows, ToT rapidly improved between 2004-05 and 2010-11 to breach the
100-mark but since then it has worsened for Farmers.
5. MSP:
✓ A key variable in the
debate is the role of minimum support prices. Many protesters fear governments
will roll back the system of MSPs.
✓ MSPs provide
“guaranteed prices” and an “assured market” to farmers, and save them from
price fluctuations. This is crucial because most farmers are not adequately
informed.
✓ But although MSPs are
announced for around 23 crops, actual procurement happens for very few crops
such as wheat and rice.
✓ Moreover, the
percentage of procurement varies sharply across states (Chart 5). As a result,
actual Market prices — what the farmers get — are often Below MSPs.
Chandra
X-Ray Center (CXC) and Data Sonification.
Recently,
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Chandra X-Ray Center
(CXC) has unveiled a new ‘sonification’ project that transforms data from
Astronomical Images into Audio.
About Chandra X-ray Project:
•
The Observatory was launched by Space Shuttle Columbia in 1999. It is part of
NASA's fleet of "Great Observatories" along with the Hubble Space
Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope.
•
The "X-ray universe" refers to the universe as observed with
telescopes designed to detect X-rays. X-rays are produced in the cosmos when
matter is heated to millions of degrees.
Such temperatures occur where high magnetic fields, or extreme gravity, or explosive forces exist in space.
•
It is named after the Nobel Prize-winning Indian astrophysicist Subrahmanyan
Chandrasekhar.
•
The Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar 's work implied that stars more massive than the
so-called Chandrasekhar limit would eventually collapse to become objects so
dense that not even light could escape it. Chandrasekhar limit is the theoretical
maximum mass a white dwarf star can have and still remain a white dwarf.
•
Although this finding was received with some skepticism at the time, it went on
to form the foundation of the theory of black holes, eventually earning him a
Nobel Prize in physics for 1983.
Data Sonification:
•
It refers to the use of sound values to represent real data. It is the auditory
version of data visualisation.
•
It is a project, for Instance, data is represented using a Number of Musical
Notes.
•
The birth of a star, a cloud of dust or even a black hole can be ‘heard’ as a
high- or low-Pitched Sound.
•
Telescopes in space collect digital data, in the form of ones and zeroes
(binary), before converting them into images.
•
The images are visual representations of light and radiation of different
wavelengths in space, that can’t be seen by the human eye.
•
The Chandra project has created a celestial concert by translating the same
data into sound. Pitch and volume are used to denote the brightness and
position of a celestial object or phenomenon.
•
Pitch is related to frequency of sound waves. Changing the number of vibrations
per second changes the pitch.
•
Volume, or loudness, is related to the strength, intensity, pressure, or power
of the sound.
•
The data has been collected by NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory, Hubble Space
Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope.
•
Thus far, Project Chandra has released three examples - the Galactic Centre,
Cassiopeia A, and Pillars of Creation Nebula.
The
Galactic Centre is the rotational centre of the Milky Way galaxy.
•
It comprises a collection of celestial objects are Neutron and white dwarf
stars, Clouds of dust and gas and A supermassive black hole called Sagittarius
A*(weighs four million times the mass of the sun).
•
Cassiopeia A is Located around 11,000 light years away from Earth in the northern
Cassiopeia constellation. It is a well-known remnant of a once-massive star
that was destroyed by a supernova explosion around 325 years ago.
•
The iconic Pillars of Creation is located in the centre of the Eagle Nebula (it
is a constellation of stars), which is also known as Messier 16.
Significance:
•
The sonification project was led by the Chandra X-ray Center in collaboration
with NASA’s Universe of Learning Program (UoL), which aims to “incorporate NASA
science content into the learning environment effectively and efficiently for
learners of all ages”.
•
NASA has been working towards making data about space accessible for a larger
audience.
•
It like this allows audiences - including visually-impaired communities - to
experience space through Data.
About the Hubble Space Telescope:
•
It is one of the largest and most versatile telescopes in service. It is a
space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit (540km above Earth) in
1990.
