Comprehensive Current affairs 20 December 2020

Parliament’s Winter Session Cancelled due to COVID 19 pandemic .

Indian Minister of Parliamentary Affairs has informed that winter session will not be held in the Parliament view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The government also indicated that it will be appropriate to convene the budget session in January next year.

Sessions of parliament is the period during which a House meets almost every day uninterruptedly to manage the business. There are typically three sessions in a year.

It is summoned by the President.In general, the sessions are as follows:

1. Budget session (February to May)

2. Monsoon session (July to September)

3. Winter session (November to December)

According to Article 85, the maximum gap between two sessions of Parliament cannot be more than six months.

National Hydrology Project.

Recently, Ministry of Jal Shakti held mid-term review of National Hydrology Project (NHP).

NHP was started in 2016 as a Central Sector Scheme for a period of 8 years.

The project aims at improving the extent, reliability and accessibility of water resources information and to strengthen capacity of targeted water resource management institutions in India.

 It has two groups of direct beneficiaries.

1. Central and state implementing agencies responsible for surface and/or groundwater planning and management.

2. Users of water resource information system.

Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme .

Extending support to J&K and Ladakh students, AICTE has decided to release the instalment of Rs. 20,000/- as maintenance allowance under Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS). The decision has been taken to support & empower students for completing their online studies.

Under the PMSSS Scheme, the youths of J&K and Ladakh are supported by way of scholarship in two parts namely the academic fee & maintenance allowance.

AICTE has already released the entire academic fee for the year 2020-21 to all the institutions. The maintenance allowance had been fully released as per scheme guidelines till the end of last academic year 2019-20.

Subsequently due to COVID-19, the academic institutions across India were closed and only online classes are going on. Since there is no hostel & mess expenditure involved, the maintenance allowance was suspended, till such time students physically join the institutes.

Background:

An Expert Group was constituted by the Prime Minister for enhancing employment opportunity among youths of J&K and Ladakh and formulate job opportunities in public and private sectors.

Subsequently, Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS) is being implemented by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), New Delhi.

The Scheme aims to build the capacities of the youths of J&K and Ladakh by Educating, Enabling and empowering them to compete in the normal course.

 

International Migrants day .

United Every year, the International Migrants Day is celebrated on December 18 by the United Nations and several other international organizations.

This year, the International Migrants Day is celebrated under the theme: Reimagining Human Mobility.

December 18 was chosen because on this date, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their families was adopted.

The resolution to celebrate International Migrants Day was adopted in 1990 during the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their families.

The day is celebrated by the United Nations to highlight the contributions made by the migrants.

According to UN, there are roughly around 272 million migrants in the world. This includes 41 million internally displaced persons.

Raja Chari.

Raja Chari is among the three astronauts selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the SpaceX Crew-3 mission.

The Indian-American will command the mission, while Tom Marsh burn will serve as pilot and Matthias Maurer as a mission specialist.

A fourth member will be picked to join the crew on the mission, which is expected to launch in the fall of 2021.

Who is Raja Chari?

 Raja Chari was selected by NASA to join the 2017 Astronaut Candidate Class. According to his biography on the NASA website, he reported for duty in August 2017 and completed the initial astronaut candidate training.

Earlier this month, he was selected as a team member for NASA’s Artemis programme, making him eligible for assignments to future lunar missions.

Under the programme, NASA wants to send the next man and first woman to the Moon by 2024.

India drops two ranks in Human Development Index.

India dropped two ranks in the United Nations’Human Development Index this year, standing at 131 out of 189 countries.

However, if the Index were adjusted to assess the planetary pressures caused by each nation’s development, India would move up eight places in the ranking, according to the report.

About:

For the first time, the United Nations Development Programme introduced a new metric to reflect the impact caused by each country’s per-capita carbon emissions and its material footprint, which measures the amount of fossil fuels, metals and other resources used to make the goods and services it consumes.

The HDI itself is an assessment of a nation’s health, education and standards of living. Although this year’s report covers 2019 only, and does not account for the impact of COVID, it projected that in 2020, global HDI would fall below for the first time in the three decades since the Index was introduced.

According to the report published by the United Nations Development Programme on December 15, India’s gross national income per capita fell to $6,681 in 2019 from $6,829 in 2018 on purchasing power parity (PPP) basis.

Purchasing power parity or PPP is a measurement of prices in different countries that uses the prices of specific goods to compare the absolute purchasing power of the countries’ currencies.

 The report said evidence from Colombia to India indicates that financial security and ownership of land improve women’s security and reduce the risk of gender-based violence, clearly indicating that owning land can empower women.

US Sanctions Turkey on S-400, Cautions India, Others on Buying Russian Arms.

United States imposing sanctions on Turkey for buying the Russian-made S400 Triumf anti-missile system.

The US has reiterated its warning to India and other countries about acquiring equipment from Russia.

India signed a deal valued at $5.43 billion in 2018 for five units of the S-400 anti-missile system defying the US.

US has repeatedly tried to dissuade India from by the Russian system, while dangling the threat of sanctions under CAATSA and the incentive of an alternative anti-missile system.

The US has refused to give a blanket exemption for India from the CAATSA, but it has continued selling arms to India.

What is the S-400 air defence missile system?

The S-400 Triumf, (NATO calls it SA-21 Growler), is a mobile, surface-to-air missile system (SAM) designed by Russia.

It is the most dangerous operationally deployed modern long-range SAM (MLR SAM) in the world, considered much ahead of the US-developed Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD).

The system can engage all types of aerial targets including aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV and ballistic and cruise missiles within the range of 400km, at an altitude of up to 30km.

The system can track 100 airborne targets and engage six of them simultaneously.

 Why does India need it?

It represents the fourth generation of long-range Russian SAMs, and the successor to the S-200 and S-300. The S-400’s mission set and capabilities are roughly comparable to the famed US Patriot system.

The S-400 Triumf air defence system integrates a multifunction radar, autonomous detection and targeting systems, anti-aircraft missile systems, launchers, and command and control centre. It is capable of firing three types of missiles to create a layered defence.

The S-400 is two-times more effective than previous Russian air defence systems and can be deployed within five minutes. It can also be integrated into the existing and future air defence units of the Air Force, Army, and the Navy.

The first S-400 systems became operational in 2007 and is responsible for defending Moscow. It has been deployed in Syria in 2015, to guard Russian and Syrian naval and air assets. Russia has also stationed S-400 units in Crimea to strengthen Russia’s position on the recently annexed peninsula.

Mamallapuram.

Mamallapuram or Mahabalipuram is known as a historic city and UNESCO World Heritage site is situated in the state of Tamil Nadu.

It was one of the major port cities by the 7th century within the Pallava kingdom and was the second capital of the Pallavas.

King Narasimha Varman 1 gave the title Mamalla which means ‘the great wrestler’.

Architectural heritage of Mamallapuram: Shore Temple; Descent of the Ganges/Arjuna’s penance; PanchaRatha, Varaha Cave etc.

 Financial Stability and Development Council bats for vigil on financial conditions .

Recently, Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) discussed measures that could be taken in next budget to accelerate growth while maintaining financial stability.

It was setup in 2010 for strengthening and institutionalizing mechanism for:

Maintaining financial stability,

Enhancing inter-regulatory coordination and

Promoting financial sector development.

The FSDC is chaired by the Union Finance Minister. And the members are the Minister of State, in charge of Department of Economic Affairs, Heads of all Financial Sector Regulators (RBI, SEBI, PFRDA, IRDAI, IBBI); Secretaries to various departments etc.

12th Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) Summit.

Indian Vice President virtually inaugurated the 12th GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment) Summit, organised by the GRIHA Council from Hyderabad.

The Theme of the 12th GRIHA Virtual Summit is Rejuvenating Resilient Habitats.

GRIHA is the national rating system of India for any completed construction on the building’senvironmental performance (like energy consumption, waste generation, renewable energy adoption, among other points).

GRIHA rating has been acknowledged as the tool to evaluate reduction in emission intensity through habitats, as part of mitigation strategy for combating climate change in India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

It was developed by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).

 PSLV-C50 injects communication satellite CMS-01 into orbit.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launches Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C-50 carrying CMS-01 communication satellite from the second launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), in Sriharikota.

This was only the second lift-off by the PSLV this year.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) ended 2020 on a high note with its workhorse - the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) - successfully placing the communication satellite - CMS-01 - in orbit.

CMS-01 is envisaged to provide services in the extended-C Band of the frequency spectrum that will cover the Indian mainland, the Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep Islands.

It was India’s 42nd communication satellite with a mission life of over seven years.

PSLV-C50 was the 22nd flight of PSLV in the ‘XL’ configuration (with six strap-on motors), and the 77th launch vehicle mission from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota.

Anti-microbial chemical Tridosan.

IIT Hyderabad Bio Researchers reveal neurotoxic nature of Triclosan an antimicrobial chemical used in soaps and dental care products.

It is found that tridosan can cause neurotoxic effects and damage the neurons.

Tridosan is used as antimicrobial chemicals to increase the shelf life of consumer products.

It is added to personal care products, such as hand soaps and cosmetics, and materials ranging from athleticclothing to food packaging.

US Food and Drug Administration have imposed a partial ban on its use. However, India lacks any such regulationso far on the use of triclosan-based products.

 2030 Asian Games will be hosted by Qatar.

The 2030 Asian Games were awarded to Doha on Wednesday and the 2034 event went to Riyadh after a deal was struck between the rival nations.

The Qatari capital of Doha beat Saudi Arabian counterpart Riyadh for the 2030 Games in the vote at the Olympic Council of Asia's general assembly.

The vote took place amid a bitter and long-running political dispute between Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Saudi Arabia is one of four countries which has imposed a trade and travel boycott on Qatar since 2017, though there have recently been indications the dispute could be resolved.

The OCA reached a deal to vote on the 2030 host but to give the other candidate the 2034 event.

WADA.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; French: Agence mondiale antidopage, AMA) is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate and monitor the fight against drugs in sports. The agency's key activities include scientific research, education, development of anti-doping capacities, and monitoring of the World Anti-Doping Code, whose provisions are enforced by the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport. The aims of the Council of Europe Anti-Doping Convention and the United States Anti-Doping Agency are also closely aligned with those of WADA.

Worldwide Legal Wildlife Trade Increased by 2,000% Since 1980.

A report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem

Services has said that trade in wildlife has become Highly Unsustainable.

• The international legal wildlife trade has increased500 per cent in value since 2005 and 2,000 per cent since the 1980s.

• Estimated value of the global illegal trade in wildlife is worth around $7-23 billion per year, equivalent to nearly 25 per cent of the value of the legal market.

 • Legal wildlife trade is unsustainable and becoming a threat to biodiversity conservation.

• North America, Europe and some parts of Asia were net importers and consumers.

• Countries in South America, Africa, Southeast Asia and Oceania were net suppliers or had a large domestic trade.

• In China, a growing wealthy middle class is often the main consumer of fashion products of wildlife for traditional Chinese medicine or for food.

• The European Union and the United States were leading consumers of legally traded wildlife.

• The US was one of the largest legal importers of Wildlife Globally.

• CITES had been able to reduce wildlife trade, drive up value of sustainably traded species and products and promote captive-breeding, ranching or farming as alternatives to wild capture.

• Captive breeding might increase consumer demand and put pressure on free-living populations for founder stock.

Note:

• Fisheries and forestry resources — were not regulated under CITES.

• Domestic use and trade of wildlife fell outside the Purview of the Convention.

What the Report said on Wildlife Farming?

• Wildlife farming might offer an alternative source for wildlife products and reduce hunting pressure on free-living populations but it has its negative sides too.

• Wildlife farms are stocked repeatedly with wild-caught individuals that are largely indistinguishable from those that are captive-bred.

• Record keeping is often lax or non-existent.

• Enforcement of laws is often poor.

• Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services:

• It was established in 2012 by 94 governments.

• Currently it has 137 member countries.

• It is an independent intergovernmental body established by States to;

• Strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services.

• Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

• Long-term human well-being and sustainable development.

• The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) provides secretariat services to IPBES.

• India is a member of IPBES since 2012.

Work of IPBES:

• Assessments: On specific themes (e.g. “Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production”); methodological issues (e.g. “Scenarios and Modelling); and at both the regional and global levels (e.g. “Global Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services”).

• Policy Support: Identifying policy-relevant tools and methodologies, facilitating their use,and catalyzing their Further Development.

Building Capacity & Knowledge: Identifying and meeting the priority capacity, knowledge and data needs of our member States, experts and stakeholders.

• Communications & Outreach: Ensuring the widest reach and impact of our work.

Comprehensive Current affairs 17 December 2020

Government tells Supreme Court that they cannot force couples into family planning.

The Centre told the Supreme Court on Saturday that it was against coercing couples into having a “certain number of children” in a bid to curb population explosion.

In fact, the government said that 2001-2011 witnessed sharpest decline in decadal growth rate among Indians in 100 years.

“The Family Welfare Programme in India is voluntary in nature, which enables couples to decide the size of their family and adopt the family planning methods, best suited to them, according to their choice, without any compulsion,” the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in an affidavit.

India was a signatory to the Programme of Action (POA) of the International Conference on Population and Development, 1994, which was unequivocally against coercion in family planning.

Only 12.9% Indian women hold agricultural land.

Lakshadweep and Meghalaya are the best among all the 35 states and Union Territories at providing land rights to women; Punjab and West Bengal are the worst, according to an index created by the Bhubaneswar-based Centre for Land Governance, an arm of consultancy firm NR Management Consultants.

The index was prepared using the data on women’s operational holdings from the agriculture census of 2011, the share of adult women owning farm land from the Indian Human Development Survey of 2011-12.

 

The share of women-headed households owning land from the Socio-economic Caste Census of 2011, and the share of women owning house and/or land (alone or jointly) from the National Family Health Survey of 2015-16.

The index ranks states in terms of women holding land rights in percentage points. On average, 12.9% of Indian women hold land.

In the southern states, 15.4% of women hold land, and in the northeast, 14.1%. Despite such low figures, these states outperform the northern states (9.8%), and the eastern states (9.2%).

Tharu Tribals .

Uttar Pradesh government has working to connect Tharu villages in the districts of Balrampur, Bahraich, Lakhimpur and Pilibhit bordering Nepal, with the home stay scheme of the UP Forest Department.

• The word tharu is believed to be derived from sthavir, meaning followers of Theravada Buddhism. The community belongs to the Terai lowlands, amid the Shivaliks or lower Himalayas.

• Terai is a region of northern India and southern Nepal running parallel to the lower ranges of the Himalayas.

• The Tharus live in both India and Nepal. In the Indian terai, they live mostly in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.

• They are scheduled tribe in the states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Most of them are forest dwellers, and some practice agriculture.

• They speak various dialects of Tharu, a language of the Indo-Aryan subgroup, and variants of Hindi, Urdu, and Awadhi.

• Tharus worship Lord Shiva as Mahadev, and call their supreme being “Narayan”, who they believe is the provider of sunshine, rain, and harvests.

• Tharu women have stronger property rights than is allowed to women in mainstream North Indian Hindu custom.

• Standard items on the Tharu plate are bagiya or dhikri – which is a steamed dish of rice flour that is eaten with chutney or curry – and ghonghi, an edible snail that is cooked in a curry made of coriander, chili, garlic, and onion.

About Theravada Buddhism:

• It is strongest in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. It is sometimes called 'Southern Buddhism'.

• The name means 'the doctrine of the elders' - the elders being the senior Buddhist monks.

• This school of Buddhism believes that it has remained closest to the original teachings of the Buddha. However, it does not over-emphasise the status of these teachings in a fundamentalist way - they are seen as tools to help people understand the truth, and not as having merit of their own.

• It emphasizes attaining self-liberation through one's own efforts. The follower is expected to "abstain from all kinds of evil, to accumulate all that is good and to purify their mind".

• The ideal of Theravada Buddhism is the arhat, or perfected saint, who attains enlightenment as a result of his own efforts.

• The Meditation is one of the main tools by which a Theravada Buddhist transforms themselves, and so a monk spends a great deal of time in meditation.

Mount Everest.

Nepal and China jointly announced the new height of Mount Everest as 8,848.86 meters.

• Mount Everest or Sagarmatha, Earth’s highest mountain above sea level, is located in the Himalayas between China and Nepal -– the border between them running across its summit point.

• Its current official elevation – 8,848.86m – places it more than 200m above the world’s second-highest mountain, K2, which is 8,611m tall and located in Pakistan Administered Kashmir.

 • The mountain gets its English name from Sir George Everest, a colonial-era geographer who served as the Surveyor General of India in the mid-19th century.

• Considered an elite climbing destination, Everest was first scaled in 1953 by the Indian-Nepalese Tenzing Norgay and New Zealander Edmund Hillary.

Everest’s First Survey:

• The mission to measure the world’s highest peak was taken up on a serious note in 1847 and culminated with the finding of a team led by Andrew Waugh of the Royal Surveyor General of India.

• The team discovered that ‘Peak 15’ — as Mt Everest was referred to then — was the highest mountain, contrary to the then-prevailing belief that Mt Kanchenjunga (8,582 m) was the highest peak in the world.

• Another belief, prevailing even today, is that 8,840 m is not the height that was actually determined by the 19th-century team.

• That survey, based on trigonometric calculations, is known as the Great Trigonometric

Survey of India.

Why is the Height being Revised?

• The height of the summit, however, is known to change because of tectonic activity, such as the 2015 Nepal Earthquake.

• Its measurement over the decades has also depended on who was surveying.

• Another debate is whether the height should

• be based on the highest rock point or the Highest Snow Point.

 Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians.

Dr. Carolina Araujo, Mathematician from Brazil, received the 2020 award for her work in algebraic geometry.

Prize is given annually since 2005 to a researcher from a developing country who is less than 45 years of age.

Srinivasa Ramanujan was Indian mathematician who made spectacular contributions to elliptic functions, continued fractions, infinite series, and analytical theory of numbers.

Award has been instituted by Department of Science and Technology (DST) in memory of Srinivasa Ramanujan.

India records one of lowest daily Covid cases in 7 days.

India has recorded one of the lowest daily cases and daily deaths due to Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) per million population in the past seven days, shows government data.

Union health ministry noted, “India reported one of the lowest cases per million population in the world (158) in the last 7 days; much lower than many other countries of the Western Hemisphere”.

New cases reported per million population in the world in the past seven days were 553. France reported 1,252 cases, Russia had 1,330, Brazil reported 1,387, United Kingdom with 1,753, Italy had 1,934, and USA reported 4,310 Covid-19 cases per million population during the same period.

When compared globally, India recorded one of the lowest new case fatalities per million population in the past seven days (2), according to the government data.

The world reported ten new deaths due to Covid-19 per million population during the past seven days. With 75 deaths, Italy has reported maximum Covid-19 deaths, followed by USA (49 deaths), France and UK with 43 deaths each, 26 deaths in Russia, and 23 deaths reported from Brazil.

India’s active caseload currently has fallen to 3.62% of the total cases.

 San Isidro Movement.

In Cuba, a country under an authoritarian communist regime for more than six decades, a campaign by artists and activists demanding greater freedom of expression is fast grabbing the limelight.

The Movement to San Isidro, or the San Isidro Movement (MSI), started two years ago to protest state censorship of artistic works, and has now become a platform for Cuban dissidents both within and outside the Caribbean nation.

What is Cuba’s San Isidro Movement (MSI)?

The movement started in September 2018, when the Cuban government sought to enforce Decree 349, a law that would have given powers to the nation’s Culture Ministry to restrict cultural activity it did not approve of.

To protest against the decree, artists, poets, journalists and activists gathered in San Isidro, a Black-majority locality that is among Havana’s poorest yet most culturally active wards, and which also forms part of the Old Havana UNESCO World Heritage Site.

What gave crucial firepower to the movement was a landmark 2015 deal between Cuba and the US, one of whose provisions stipulated that the Cuban regime should allow its people greater internet freedoms in exchange for opening bilateral relations with Washington.

Thus, the protesters managed to connect and amplify their message over the internet with relative ease, in a country where the government controls all modes of communication, and where no political opposition has been permitted.

UAE launches inoculation using Chinese drugs giant Sinopharm’s vaccine.

The United Arab Emirates has launched Covid-19 vaccinations in the capital Abu Dhabi.

It is approved the jab by Chinese drugs giant Sinopharm. The wealthy Gulf nation is one of the first countries to start widespread inoculation, after Britain became the first to roll out a campaign using a vaccine by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.

 

Gulf countries UAE and Bahrain, where third-phase trials of the Sinopharm vaccine were carried out, have both officially registered it for public use after it was previously approved for emergency use for frontline health workers.

Residents in the capital can book an appointment through the Abu Dhabi Health Services (SEHA) hotline.

Sinopharm -- which uses an inactive form of the novel coronavirus -- is administered in two doses, 21 days apart, according to SEHA.

The UAE has so far recorded more than 184,000 novel coronavirus cases, including 617 deaths.

China has four vaccines, including Sinopharm, in the final stages of development and is well advanced with mass human testing in a number of countries, including Brazil, the UAE and Turkey.

Pratas Islands.

Recently, experts are increasingly warning of a possible Chinese attack to capture the Pratas Islands.

Pratas Islands also known as Dongsha Islands have emerged as anew flashpoint in South China Sea (SCS).

Islands are located in the northern part of SCS underjurisdiction of Taiwan.

If China controlled the Pratas Islands, the islands could functionas a gatekeeper to monitor U.S. and other countries‘ships andaircraft entering the South China Sea from the Pacific Ocean.

India, Uzbekistan ink 9 pacts .

India and Uzbekistan signed nine agreements to further broadbase cooperation in an array of areas even as they vowed to combat the threat of terrorism by “destroying” terrorist safe-havens, networks and funding channels. At a virtual summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uzbek President ShavkatMirziyoyev extensively deliberated on expanding overall bilateral ties, and agreed to step up efforts for an early conclusion of a bilateral investment treaty.

In another news, many doctors at several hospitals in the national capital, including AIIMS, sported black ribbons in support of the protest call of the IMA against the Centre’s move allowing post graduate practitioners of Ayurveda to be trained in performing surgical procedures.

IFSCA notifies International Financial Services Centres Authority (Banking) .

In the Union Budget 2020, Finance Minister had announced for setting up an International Bullion Exchange at the International Financial Services Centre in GIFT City, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

The Government of India had notified the bullion spot delivery contract and bullion depository receipt (with bullion as underlying) as Financial Products and related services as Financial Services under the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) Act, 2019.

IFSCA has been entrusted with the responsibility of operationalization of this Exchange.

In this regard, International Financial Services Centres Authority (Bullion Exchange) Regulations 2020 were approved by the Authority in its meeting held on October 27,2020.

The said regulations have been notified and published in the Gazette of India on December 11, 2020.

The regulations inter alia cover the Bullion Exchange, Clearing Corporation, Depository and Vaults.

The regulations are divided into the 16 chapters. First half of the regulation deals with the Exchange and Clearing Corporations while the second half pertains to the Vaults and Depositories and related provisions.

Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure scheme.

All the states except Tamil Nadu have availed benefits of the newly announced scheme for “Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure”.

The scheme was announced by the Finance Minister on 12th October as a part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat package.

The Scheme is aimed at boosting capital expenditure by the State Governments who are facing a difficult financial environment this year due to the shortfall in tax revenue arising from the COVID 19 pandemic.

Capital Expenditure has a higher multiplier effect, enhancing the future productive capacity of the economy, and results in a higher rate of economic growth.

Therefore, despite the adverse financial position of the Central Government, it was decided to extend a special assistance to the State Governments in respect of capital expenditure in 2020-21.

The Scheme has got a very positive response from the State Governments. So far, capital expenditure proposals of over 9,879 crore rupees of 27 States have been approved by the Finance Ministry.

Project Loon .

Google has a subsidiary called Project Loon, which comprises of helium-filled balloons that aim to deliver internet access to remote parts of the world.

These high-altitude balloons are found in the stratosphere and create aerial wireless networks.

It is a network of stratospheric balloons designed to bring Internetconnectivity to rural and remote communities’ worldwide. It is a project under a Google subsidiary.

Huge helium filled balloons are launched at altitudes of 20 km above theearth, above the zone where airplanes fly.

The balloons can then act as cell towers to receive and transmit signals.

Recently, Loon seta new record for the longest stratospheric flight by staying inair for 312 days.

 HD106906 b.

Recently the astronomers have shown their interest on a strange exoplanet, orbiting a double-star 336 light years away.

HD106906 bhints about our own mysterious Planet Nine that because of oddball behaviour of the planet, — if it exists.

What is this exoplanet, and what is Planet Nine?

This exoplanet is not a new discovery: It appears in archival images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2004.

In our solar system Planet Nine is an elusive, distant planet. Although it has not been found yet, it has been predicted by a series of studies over the last few years, and has been described by astronomers as “hiding in plain sight”. If it exists, Planet Nine is 10 times as massive as Earth.

Why is Planet Nine believed to exist?

These predictions arise from the peculiar behaviour and alignment of various objects in the Solar System.

Astronomers believe all this is happening under the influence of Planet Nine. Some of the objects in this region have been found to be very peculiarly aligned, and Planet Nine is likely responsible for this, according to a paper published in 2016 by Konstantin Batygin and Michael Brown of the California University of Technology.

Then in 2018, astronomers reported the peculiar behaviour of another object in the Solar System, called 2015 BP519.

The object orbits our Sun — but at an extreme tilt (54°) when compared to the orbits of Earth and the other seven planets. Simulations showed that the influence of Planet Nine (if it exists) would explain this tilt. Without Planet Nine, the tilt would be unexplained.

Why is the new exoplanet being compared with Planet Nine?

Both planets (assuming Planet Nine is real) reside far out in their respective stellar systems. Both orbit their respective stars at an extreme tilt. And both are massive enough to influence the behaviour of other objects in their respective regions.

All that said, HD106906 b presents a more extreme case in these respects. While Planet Nine is assumed to be 10 times as massive as Earth, HD106906 b is 11 times the mass of Jupiter.

HD106906 b is unusually far away from its pair of host stars — over 730 times the distance that earth is from the sun. That makes its orbit extremely long — 15,000 years.

Its binary star is relatively young at 15 million years, compared to our Sun which is 4.6 billion years old.

Emission Gap Report 2020 .

Recently, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)’s Emissions Gap Report 2020 has been Published Recently.

About Record High GreenHouse Gas (GHG) Emissions:

• Global GHG emissions continued to grow for the third consecutive year in 2019, reaching a record high of 52.4 Gigatonne carbon equivalent (GtCO2e) without including land use changes (LUC).

• There is some indication that the Growth in Global GHG Emissions is slowing.

• The report from UNEP measures the gap between anticipated emissions and levels consistent with the Paris Agreement goals of limiting global warming this century to well below 2°C and pursuing 1.5°C.

• GHG emissions are declining in Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development

(OECD) economies and increasing in non-OECD economies.

Carbon Emission:

• The carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (from fossil fuels and carbonates) dominate total

GHG emissions. It reached a Record 38.0 GtCO2 in 2019.

Increasing Forest Fires:

• Global GHG emissions have grown 1.4% per year on average, with a more rapid increase of

2.6% in 2019 due to a large increase in vegetation forest fires.

• G20 countries account for bulk of emissions:

• Over the last decade, the top four emitters (China, the United States of America, EU27+UK and India) have contributed to 55% of the total GHG emissions without LUC.

• The top seven emitters (including the Russian Federation, Japan and international transport) have contributed to 65%, with G20 Members Accounting for 78%.

• The Ranking of Countries changes when Considering per capita emissions.

On Consumption-based Emissions:

• There is a general tendency that rich countries have higher consumption-based emissions (emissions allocated to the country where goods are purchased and consumed, rather than where they are produced) than territorial-based emissions, as they typically have cleaner production, relatively more services and more imports of primary and secondary products.

• Both emission types have declined at similar rates.

Impacts caused by Pandemic:

• CO2 emissions could decrease by about 7% in 2020 compared with 2019 emission levels, with a smaller drop expected in GHG emissions as non-CO2 is likely to be less affected.

• The resulting atmospheric concentrations of GHGs such as methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) continued to increase in both 2019 and 2020.

• Sector reporting the lowest dip in emission due to pandemic:

 • The biggest changes have occurred in transport, as restrictions were targeted to limit mobility, though reductions have also occurred in other sectors.

Issues and Possible Solutions:

• The world is still heading for a temperature rise in excess of 3°C this century.

• The levels of ambition in the Paris Agreement still must be roughly tripled for the 2°C pathway and increased at least fivefold for the 1.5°C Pathway.

• Rise of 3°C in global temperatures could cause catastrophic weather-related events around the world.

• UN Experts believe the way to avoid it is encourage green recovery for countries facing Covid-induced economic slumps.

• A green recovery involves investment in zero emissions tech and infrastructure, reducing fossil fuel subsidies, stopping new coal plants, and promoting nature-based solutions, according to the UN.

• Such actions could cut 25% of predicted emissions by 2030, and gives the planet a 66% chance of keeping warming below the 2°mark that the Paris pact had set as a long term goal.

• United Nations Environment Programme

• It is a leading global environmental authority established on 5th June 1972.

Comprehensive Current affairs 14 December 2020

5thNational Family Health Survey.

The Health Ministry released partial data from the fifth edition of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) claiming “considerable improvement” in the supply of vaccine for childhood immunisation from the fourth round in 2015-16.

Key highlights:

Substantial improvement in maternal and child health indicators over NFHS-4 was recorded in the present survey.

The fertility rate has further declined, and contraceptive use has increased in most Phase I States.

The survey found considerable improvement in vaccination coverage among children aged 12-23 months across all States/UTs.

 The newest edition too has information on population, health and nutrition for India, and is based on statistics gleaned from 6.1 lakh households.

The survey found considerable improvement in vaccination coverage among children aged 12-23 months across all States/UTs. Women’s empowerment indicators (including women with bank account) also portray considerable progress.

Typically, NFHS data has an accompanying summary that explains changes in key health indicators from previous surveys. The latest edition lacks such a national comparison and instead only has tables listing out data from the 17 States and five UTs.

Prime Minister Street Vendors Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme .

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched a programme of Socio-Economic Profiling of PM SVANidhibeneficiaries and their families.

Based on the profiled data, benefits of the various eligible Central Schemes would be extended to them for their holistic socio-economic upliftment.

PM SVANidhi was launched with an objective to provide affordable working capital loan up to Rs. 10,000 to Street Vendors for facilitating resumption of their livelihoods adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Urban Governance Index.

According to Urban Governance Index (UGI), Odisha has topped all Indian states in urban governance while Manipur and Nagaland are at the bottom.

It was recently released by the Praja Foundation.he Praja Foundation said the study for the Urban Governance Index 2020 conducted over three years (2017-2020) in 40 cities across 28 states as well as the NCT of Delhi.

It comprised 1,568 interviews, 20 state-level consultations, one regional consultation and a national-level consultation with key stakeholders such as elected city representatives.

 UGI ranks states to indicate where they stand in terms of real empowerment of grassroot democracy and local self-government.

Index showed that no state has devolved the 18 functions mentioned in the 12th Schedule (deals with Municipalities) of the Constitution to their city governments.

First rail link between Iran and Afghanistan.

The leaders of Iran and Afghanistan inaugurated the first railway link between the two countries. This expressing hope it would enhance trade links across the region.

The 140-kilometer (90-mile) line running from eastern Iran into western Afghanistan will eventually be expanded by 85 kilometers to reach the Afghan city of Herat, providing a crucial transport link for the landlocked country, where decades of war have hindered infrastructure development.

The $75 million project began in 2007, with Iran funding construction on both sides of the border as part of its development assistance to Afghanistan.

Iran hopes to transform itself into a regional transport hub, allowing Afghanistan and other landlocked Asian countries to transport goods to its ports on the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

Iran already has rail links with Turkmenistan, Pakistan and Turkey.

World carbon dioxide emissions drop 7 per cent during pandemic .

New preliminary figures show that, a locked-down pandemic-struck world cut its carbon dioxide emissions this year by 7%.

The Global Carbon Project, an authoritative group of dozens of international scientists who track emissions, calculated that the world will have put 37 billion U.S. tons (34 billion metric tons) of carbon dioxide in the air in 2020.

The study published in the journal Earth System Science Data.

Scientists say this drop is chiefly because people are staying home, traveling less by car and plane, and that emissions are expected to jump back up after the pandemic ends. Ground transportation makes up about one-fifth of emissions of carbon dioxide, the chief man-made heat-trapping gas.

The same group of scientists months ago predicted emission drops of 4% to 7%, depending on the progression of COVID-19. A second coronavirus wave and continued travel reductions pushed the decrease to 7%.

Emissions dropped 12% in the United States and 11% in Europe, but only 1.7% in China.

The calculations based on reports detailing energy use, industrial production and daily mobility counts were praised as accurate by outside scientists.

Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility.

It is a $9 billion initiative, launched by Asian Development Bank (ADB), that will help its developing member economies to procure and deliver Coronavirus vaccines.

Parts covered by its facility include cold-chain storage and transport, vehicles, distribution infrastructure, and also processing facilities.

APVAX will have two components:

Rapid Response Component to support critical vaccine diagnostics, procurement of vaccines, and transporting vaccines.

Project Investment Component for investments in systems for successful distribution, delivery, and administration of vaccines along with associated investments in building capacity.

Centre left with mere 10% NREGA funds as scheme sees 243% jump in Corona times .

In Covid pandemic time, the Central government has made a record payment to MG-NREGA workers, the world’s biggest job guarantee scheme, in the financial year 2020-21.

 It resulting in the rural development ministry being left with 10% of the total funds to be spent on the scheme in the remaining four months of the current fiscal year, shows government data.

The rural development ministry, MG-NREGA scheme, was provided with Rs 84,900 crore for the current financial year by the finance ministry in two instalments. Of this amount, the ministry data shows, Rs 76, 800 crore has already been spent. In comparison, till November 2019, the ministry had spent about Rs 50,000 crore on the scheme.

According to MG-NREGA tracker said the huge expenditure on the scheme was on account of 10 million more households getting work under the MG-NREGA this year (till November), 243% increase in person days (work) generated and higher wage paid to workers as compared to previous years. The total active job cards this year was 90.2 million and of them, 83.09% sought work,” the tracker prepared by People Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG).

The higher demand for MG-NREGA work was because of close to 20 million workers returning to their villages from cities after the Central government announced nation-wide lockdown on March 24. Although the demand peaked in the month of May, it slowed down in subsequent months as workers from poorer states such as Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand started returning to cities for work.

The report said the average work provided to individual households was less than the previous years.

The report also said that around 13% of the 75 million households, who demand work, got no work. “The data shows that there was a surge for NREGA work demand due to the pandemic and the government failed to meet the demand,” the report said.

Quantum key distribution technology.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully demonstrated communication between its two labs using Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) technology, which is a “robust” way to share encryption keys, said an official statement.

 In the QKD technology, encryption keys are sent as qubits in a fibre optic cable. Quantum computing uses qubits as basic resources, similar to how bits are used as basic resources in classical computing.

The QKD is designed in a way that if an illegitimate entity tries to read the transmission, it will disturb the qubits - which are encoded on photons - and this will generate transmission errors, leading to legitimate end users being immediately informed.

The Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) and The Research Centre Imarat (RCI) were the two labs that participated in this demonstration.

“Quantum Communication using the time-bin QKD scheme was performed under realistic conditions. The setup also demonstrated the validation of detection of a third party trying to gain knowledge of the communication.

Time-bin encoding is used to encode qubit on a photon.

3D printing policy.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) willintroduce 3D printing policy.

It aimed at promoting 3D printing on an industrial scale and helping domestic companies.

The policy will help develop a “conducive ecosystem for design, development and deployment” of 3D printing and additive manufacturing.

3D printing and a viable industry around it is mostly in the shape of additive manufacturing, wherein companies make specific products for projects where there are very specific demands such as lightweight equipment, etc.

A draft policy paper on the subject will soon be sent out to experts in the domain to seek their opinion on the way ahead.

 The global market for additive manufacturing is expected to reach $ 34.8 billion by 2024, which is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 23.2 per cent, according to the IT Ministry’s estimates.

3D printing or additive manufacturing uses computer-aided designing to make prototypes or working models of objects by laying down successive layers of materials such as plastic, resin, thermoplastic, metal, fiber or ceramic.

With the help of software, the model to be printed is first developed by the computer, which then gives instructions to the 3D printer.

According to the draft policy, the Central Government will also look to encourage market leaders to establish global bases for 3D manufacturing in India, while also discouraging imports of printed material for domestic requirements.

Haryana redesignates body for micro-irrigation projects .

The Haryana government has decided to restructure and redesignate the Command Area Development Authority (CADA) as Micro Irrigation and Command Area Development Authority (MICADA) for the effective implementation of micro-irrigation projects, especially in the water-deficient areas, along with watercourses work on various canal commands in the state.

The aim of the present state government has been to ensure optimum and effective utilisation of available water resources in the state. While implementing the micro-irrigation projects, priority should be given to the areas having scarcity of water.

The government also encourage to farmers to know about the benefits of micro-irrigation so as to encourage them to adopt micro-irrigation techniques in agriculture to conserve waters.

Climate ambition Summit 2020.

The United Nations (UN), United Kingdom (UK) and France are proud to be co-hosting the Climate Ambition Summit 2020, in partnership with Chile and Italy on 12 December held virtually.

 It exactly five years since the adoption of the Paris Agreement.

UN chief has urged world leaders to declare a “state of climate emergency” and shape greener growth after the coronavirus pandemic, as he opened a summit marking five years since the landmark Paris Agreement.

The commitments made in Paris in 2015 were “far from enough” to limit temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the UN secretary-general said in his opening address to the summit, which is co-hosted by Britain and France.

The Summit is a major step on the road to the next UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), which will be hosted by the UK next November in Glasgow.

The Summit will provide leaders with a global platform to showcase commitments to tackle climate change which will be under the three pillars of the Paris Agreement: mitigation, adaptation and finance commitments. There will be no space for general statements.