Saturday 30 September 2017

29th Sept Daily current affairs for UPSC Civil Service Exam

New species in Western Ghats
  • Scientists have described a new species of non-venomous endemic snake “Aquatic Rhabdops” from the Western Ghats.
  • It is 3 foot long nocturnal snake hunts for prey underwater.
  • The new species is named after its aquatic nature since the adults are mostly associated with freshwater forest streams.
  • All Rhabdops snakes are endemic to India.
  • The Aquatic Rhabdops is found only in the laterite plateaus of the Northern Western Ghats in Goa, Southern Maharashtra and Northern Karnataka.
INS Tarasa
  • INS Tarasa, a Water Jet Fast Attack Craft was commissioned into the Indian Navy.
  • It is primarily designed for extended coastal and offshore surveillance and patrolling.
Information Utility
  • India’s first Information Utility (IU) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) was launched recently.
  • The IBC regulator Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBC) granted the National e-Governance Services Ltd (NeSL) renewal registration for Information Utility till 2022.
  • IU will serve as a store of information on all financial transactions of lenders and authenticated by borrowers and creditors.
  • It store details of borrowers, defaults and security interest with safeguards.
Mega Internal Security Scheme
  • Cabinet committee on Security gave its approval for implementation of the umbrella scheme “Modernisation of Police Forces” for 2017 to 2020.
  • This is the biggest ever internal security scheme in the country.
  • Ministry of Home affairs is the nodal ministry.
  • The expenditure for the scheme will be shared by both the central and state government.
  • Special provisions have been made for internal security, law and order, women security, mobility of police forces, CCTNS, e-prison etc.,
Fourth Gravitational Wave
  • A fourth gravitational wave has been detected with help from Italy-based equipment Virgo detector.
  • The latest space-time ripples were detected two giant black holes about 1.8 billion light-years away.
  • The Virgo detector is an underground L-shaped instrument that tracks gravitational waves using the physics of laser light and space.
  • The underground stations are known as interferometers, do not rely on light in the sky, but instead sense vibrations in space created by a gravitational wave.
  • Previously, gravitational waves have been found using two U.S.-based detectors known as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).

Source: The Hindu, Business Line

28th Sept Daily current affairs for UPSC Civil Service Exam

World Tourism Day
  • World Tourism Day is commemorated every year on 27th September by United Nation – World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).
  • The event seeks to highlight the contribution of the tourism industry in reaching the Sustainable Development Goals.
  • It is celebrated this year with the theme Sustainable Tourism – a Tool for Development.
  • In December 2015, United Nation General Assembly designated 2017 as the International year of “Sustainable Tourism for Development”.
Incredible India 2.0 Campaign
  • President of India launched Incredible India 2.0 campaign and “Adopt a Heritage” project on the occasion of World Tourism Day.
  • The campaign will focus on developing at least 10 cities where the spirituality quotient, medical and wellness potential will be promoted.
  • At present cities from UP — Ayodhya, Agra, Mathura, Varanasi-Sarnath, and Gorakhpur, Haryana -Kurukshetra, Assam - Guwahati, and Tamil Nadu - Kanyakumari have been identified for developing tourist circuits.
  • The tourism ministry has set itself a target of completing this exercise of developing cities by October 2018.
  • “Adopt a Heritage” project entails encouraging students, public sector and private organisations to participate more actively in the maintenance of Indian heritage.
Global Competitiveness Index
  • India has been ranked the 40th most competitive economy on the World Economic Forum’sglobal competitiveness index.
  • On the list of 137 economies, Switzerland emerged on top followed by the US and Singapore.
  • India has slipped from the 39th position to 40th.
  • Among the BRICS, China (27th rank) and Russia (38th rank) are placed above India.
  • According to the report, India’s performance improved in infrastructure, higher education and training, technological readiness and ICT indicators.
  • A big concern for India is the gap between innovative strength (29th rank) and technological readiness (107th rank).
BRICS Interbank Cooperation Mechanism
  • Union Cabinet has given its approval to EXIM Bank for signing Interbank Local Currency Credit Line Agreement.
  • With this agreement, the bank can now enter into bilateral agreement for co-financing with large developmental institutions to ensure lending in single currency.
  • Bank also signed MoU related to credit ratings, which would enable sharing of credit ratings amongst BRICS member banks.
  • The agreement and the MoU have been highlighted in the BRICS leaders Xiamen Declaration adopted in BRICS summit, 2017.
India Mobile Congress
  • The first ever mobile, internet and technology event – India Mobile Congress 2017, was recently organised.
  • It is organised by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the industry association of mobile and telecom operators and internet firms.
  • Department of Telecommunication is the nodal ministry.
  • The event is seen as a true example of a public- private collaboration where the government and the industry have put together a world class event in India.
Lunar Station
  • Russia and the United States agreed to co-operate on a NASA-led project to build the first lunar space station.
  • The project envisages building a crew-tended spaceport in lunar orbit that would serve as a gateway to deep space and the lunar space.

Source: PIB, The Hindu, Business Line and Business Standard

27th Sept Daily current affairs for UPSC Civil Service Exam

World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC)
  • WTTC, a forum for the travel and tourism industry, is made up of members from the global business community and works with governments to raise awareness about the industry.
  • It is headquartered in London and it organises global summit every year.
  • It is known for being the only forum to represent the private sector in all parts of the travel and tourism industry worldwide.
  • It publishes research in conjunction with Oxford Economics on the economic and social impact of the industry.
  • In its recent report on the Caribbean region, it states that the hurricanes Irma and Maria which struck Dominica, Puerto Rico has caused widespread devastation in its tourism potential.
In the Caribbean region, travel and tourism account for a higher share of the GDP than in any other region of the world.




Mount Agung Volcano
  • The volcano is located in Bali, Indonesia.
  • It is threatening to erupt for the first time since 1963.
  • Experts are saying that an eruption by the volcano is imminent. There has been evidence of hundreds of tremor being recorded at the site.
  • There is a very good indication that magma is moving up to the surface since the seismic tremors beneath the volcano are increasing in number, intensity and there is a reduction in the depth.
  • This has caused mass evacuation and local authorities announced state of emergency.
Impact of Volcano eruption
  • The most deadly feature of the volcano were the devastating pyroclastic flows which are waves of superheated gas, ash and rock that can travel hundreds of kilometres an hour.
  • The pyroclastic flows caused thousands of death in its last eruption.
  • When volcanoes erupt, the Earth actually gets cooler.
  • When it erupted in 1963, global temperatures dropped by between 0.1C and 0.4C.
  • But volcanoes also contribute to global warming by releasing CO2.
  • Underwater and land-based volcanoes are estimated to release between 100m–300m tonnes of CO2 each year.
City of Alexander
  • Archaeologists in Iraq have discovered a 2,000 years old city which is thought to have been founded by Alexander the great.
  • Qalatga Darband, a fortified settlement in northern Iraq is believed to have been founded in 331 BC after the battle against the Persian king Darius III in Mesopotamia.
5G 2020 Forum
  • Government has constituted High Level 5G India 2020 Forum with Secretaries of Ministries of Telecom, Information Technology and  Science and Technology.
  • The primary goal of the forum is to achieve early deployment of 5G in India.
  • It aims to strengthen domestic telecommunication equipment manufacturing and promote manufacturing ecosystem targeting 50% of India market and 10% of global market over next 5 to 7 years.
  • Under the 5G technology, the government aims to deliver about 10,000 megabit per second (10 gbps) in urban areas and 1 gbps in rural areas.
  • The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) will finalise the standards of 5G technology.
Deendayal Port
  • The Kandla Port, one of the top 12 major ports in the country, has been rechristened as Deendayal Port.
  • The port is located on the Gulf of Kutch and it is one of major ports on west coast.
  • It is the largest port of India by volume of cargo handled.
  • Ministry of Shipping in exercise of powers conferred on it under Indian Ports Act, 1908 made this amendment.
International Financial Service Centre (IFSC)
  • The RBI had recommended to the finance ministry to consider one common regulator to issue approvals required for doing business in the IFSC.
  • The country’s first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) is located at the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT), Gandhinagar.
  • The proposed name for the regulator is the GIFT Financial Sector Regulatory Authority, which will have all the powers to regulate Banking, Insurance and Capital Markets in IFSC.
  • RBI also highlighted the model of successful Asian IFSCs such as Hong Kong, Dubai, and Singapore having unified regulator.
  • Special Economic Zones Act, 2005 provides for the setting up of an International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in a Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
  • Businesses setup in IFSC comes under guidelines and regulations of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, RBI, SEBI and IRDAI.

Source: PIB, The Hindu.

Wednesday 27 September 2017

Project- IRV 2020


IRV 2020 is a partnership between the Assam Forest Department, the Bodoland Territorial Council, WWF, IRF, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

 Its goal is to have a wild population of at least 3,000 Greater one-horned rhinos in the Indian state of Assam – spread over seven protected areas – by the year 2020. 

IRV 2020 is an ambitious rhino range and population expansion programme. SRI has supported the programme since 2006 through the IRF.


Programme details:

Staff: Dr Bibhab Talukdar is the project leader for the International Rhino Foundation

Project partners: Assam Forest Department, the Bodoland Territorial Council, WWF, IRF, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service

Location: Kaziranga, Orang and Manas National Parks and Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam, India

Species: Greater one-horned rhinos

Habitat: Grasslands and shrub lands on the southern base of the Himalayas

Activities: Anti-poaching, monitoring, translocations and community conservation

why support this project ?

There are only approximately 3,333 Greater one-horned rhinos left in the world (as at 31 December 2012), with about 75% of those found in the Indian state of Assam. Through the concentrated efforts of the IRV2020 programme, the species is increasing in number once again, despite the continued threats of poaching and habitat loss. IRV 2020 is an exceptionally significant and inspirational programme that has captivated imaginations and support locally in Assam and nationally in India.

‘SHe-box’ portal for sexual harassment complaints

‘SHe-box’ (sexual harassment electronic box) — hosted on the website of the Women and Child Development Ministry, also seeks to ensure “effective implementation” of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.

The Women and Child Development ministry on Monday launched an online platform to enable women employees of the Central government to file complaints related to sexual harassment at the workplace.
Union minister Maneka Gandhi said the platform will cater to Central government employees in the beginning and thereafter, its ambit will be widened to include the private sector as well.
“We are also going to soon conduct a national survey to assess the nature and magnitude of sexual harassment at the workplace,” the minister of woman and child development said after launching the portal at her office here.
The online complaint management system — ‘SHe-box’ (sexual harassment electronic box) — hosted on the website of the Women and Child Development Ministry, also seeks to ensure “effective implementation” of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.
Once a complaint is submitted to the ‘SHe-Box’, it will be directly sent to the internal complaints committee (ICC) of the ministry/department/PSU/autonomous body etc concerned, having jurisdiction to inquire into the matter.
The ICC will take action as prescribed under the Act and update the status of the complaint. The portal is also an effort to provide “speedier remedy” to women facing sexual harassment at the workplace, as envisaged under the sexual harassment Act, a senior official of the ministry said.
The WCD minister also instructed officials to make the portal as “interactive” as possible. The portal should offer a list of follow-up details so that the employee gets to know the exact status of the complaint, she told officials.
The Union government has 30.87 lakh employees. According to the Census of Central Government Employees 2011, women constitute 10.93 per cent of the total force.

'Carbon Positive' ‘carbon zero’, ‘carbon neutral’, ‘zero energy’ or ‘zero emission’

  • The terms ‘carbon zero’, ‘carbon neutral’, ‘zero energy’ or ‘zero emission’ apply to buildings that use renewable energy sources on site to generate energy for their operation, so that over a year the net amount of energy generated on site equals the net amount of energy required by the building.
  • Carbon positive moves beyond carbon zero by making additional ‘positive’ or ‘net export’ contributions by producing more energy on site than the building requires and feeding it back to the grid.
  • Carbon positive projects can make significant contributions by helping to address the carbon intensity and damaging impacts of past building practices and lifestyles, and by offsetting situations where carbon zero homes are not possible.
  • Also in such areas carbon sequestration is more than carbon emissions and not just zero emissions.

Geo- Portal "NAKSHE"

A new web portal “nakshe” was launched by the Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan in New Delhi today, on the occasion of 250th anniversary of Survey of India(SoI).

Topographic maps or Open Series Maps (OSM) containing natural and man-made geographical features including terrain or topography are prepared by the SoI since its inception in 1767 and is in conformity with the National Map Policy-2005. These OSM maps have been made available for free download from “nakshe” web portal in pdf format on 1:50,000 scale through Aaadhar enabled user authentication process, in line with Digital India programme of the Government of India.

The Survey of India, the principal mapping agency of the country is celebrating its 250th anniversary this year. Origin of the Survey of India is traced back to Year 1767. It is the oldest scientific department in India and one of the oldest survey establishments in the world. Foundation for the scientific survey and mapping of the country was laid with The Great Trignometric Survey (GTS) in 19th century on this day i.e. 10th April, 1802, by noted surveyors Col. Lambton and Sir George Everest. SoI has surveyed and mapped each and every part of the country and these maps have played an invaluable role in the saga of India’s nation building and were pivotal in the foundation of almost all major developmental activities of modern India.

The launch of the portal was followed with a curtain raiser of SoI Geo-portal and Web Services Platform and a panel discussion on Geospatial Paradigm in India that deals with the users’ perspective on Geospatial Policy Framework in India. A technical presentation on development of the Geoid model for country was also made.

Minister of State for the Ministry of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Shri Y.S. Chowdary, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology, Dr. Ashutosh Sharma, Surveyor General of India Dr. Swarna Subba Rao and several other scientists and professionals of Geospatial Industry were present on the occasion.

New app to check air quality - SAFAR

In a bid to enhance awareness of the hazards of air pollution, India’s first ‘air quality’ Mobile App, SAFAR-Air, was launched on Tuesday at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune.
The application, developed by scientists at IITM, will enable citizens to check their city’s air quality in real time. The forecasting system, jointly run by the IITM and the India Meteorology Department is now available in Delhi and will come to Mumbai by May this year.
Launching the app, Shailesh Nayak, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), said it would greatly aid the policy maker to adopt practical city-level measures to address air pollution.
Gufran Baig, Project Director, SAFAR, said this was the first mobile application service in India to provide a current and advanced forecast for air quality.

Mobile App for Road Maintenance “Aarambh

The Hon’ble Union Minister Shri Tomar and Ms. Greenfield launched the following publications and Mobile App for Road Maintenance “Aarambh”:

Concept Note and Guidance Note “Mobilizing Funds for Maintenance of Rural Road”.

 Resource mobilization for rural roads maintenance has always been a challenge for the States. This Concept Note outlines innovative ways which can be adopted by the state Governments for mobilizing additional funds for road maintenance and presents some international best practices worldwide. 


“Mobile Phone based App for Performance Based Maintenance Contracting and Community Contracting for maintenance of rural roads” Brochure

This Mobile Phone App aims at use of GIS based mapping for making road inventories, condition surveys, and producing cost estimates and other relevant data for preparation and monitoring of annual road maintenance plans. Its usage would greatly enhance the service delivery of the state level institutions in planning and implementing performance based rural roads maintenance contracts.

She expressed that these publications and the Mobile App would greatly help in improving the service delivery for road maintenance in all the States.

The Hon’ble Minister appreciated the ongoing collaboration between ILO and Ministry of Rural Development, particularly PMGSY, MGNREGS and PMAY(G). 

He emphasized that the newly launched mobile application would simplify the maintenance management of rural roads. 

The Minister reiterated the resolve of Government of India to connect all eligible habitations in rural areas by constructing good quality roads by 2019.

 The States are being encouraged to put in place robust mechanism to ensure routine and periodic maintenance of these roads even after the first five-year period, after their construction is over.

Source -PIB

26th Sept Daily current affairs for UPSC Civil Service Exam

Portal PENCIL
  • PENCIL (Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour) is an electronic platform for no child labour developed by the Labour Ministry.
  • The portal creates a robust implementing and monitoring mechanism for enforcement of the legislative provisions of National Child Labour Policy (NCLP).
  • Since the subject of labour is in the concurrent list, the enforcement of the policy depends on respective state governments.
  • This online portal aims to connect the Centre to the state government, district and to all project societies for effective implementation of NCLP.
  • The portal has a component of child tracking system.
Economic Advisory Council
  • Government has set up a five member economic advisory council headed by Niti Aayog member Bibek Debroy.
  • The council would address issues of macroeconomic importance and present views to the Prime Minister.
  • The body, which is an independent council, can take up the issues suo motu or on reference from the Prime Minister.
  • Ratan Watal, Principal Advisor of NITI Aayog, will be the Member Secretary to the Council.
EFTA
  • European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is a bloc comprising of four countries - Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
  • The four EFTA countries are not part of the European Union.
  • India and EFTA started negotiating a free trade pact in 2008, shortly after India started FTA talks with the European Union.
  • The talks resumed last year in Geneva but hit a rough patch after the Switzerland insists on stringent IPR regime in India.
  • This is mainly due to number of Swiss pharmaceutical MNCs, including Novartis and Roche, having been aggressively fighting for their patent rights in India over the past few years.
  • The other areas covered by the proposed FTA include market access in goods, services, investments and public procurement.
Sixth Mass Extinction
  • Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), US predicted increasing carbon levels in the oceans may lead to sixth mass extinction in Earth’s history by 2100.
  • They analysed significant changes in the carbon cycle over the last 540 million years, including the five mass extinction events.
  • The last such event, known as the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction, occurred about 66 million years ago and led to dinosaur extinction.
ASEM
  • The Asia–Europe Meeting (ASEM) is an exclusively Asian–European forum, established in 1996 at the first summit in Bangkok, Thailand.
  • It currently has 51 nations from the European Union and South Asia. India is also a member.
  • The grouping is a platform for non-binding discussion on economic and trade issues.
  • 7th ASEM Economic Ministers’ Meeting was recently held in Seoul.
  • ASEM summits, attended by the Heads of State and Government of member countries have been once in two years.
  • Last year, Ulaanbaatar declaration to resolve fight against terrorism was signed in the summit.
Chromium VI
  • Researchers from CSIR have developed a new method to remove hexavalent chromium (Cr (VI)) from industrial effluents.
  • They have used the heat-dried fungal biomass which converts Cr (VI) to a tri-valent form of chromium.
  • Chromium VI is neurotoxic, genotoxic and a carcinogen whereas Chromium trivalent is a non-toxic.
  • Cr VI is found in high concentration in tannery waste which is slightly alkaline in nature.
  • The positively charged heat dried biomass binds to Cr VI and adsorb the negatively charged Cr VI and other toxic metals such as lead, arsenic which are normally found in tannery waste.

Source: PIB, The Hindu, Business Line

Portal PENCIL


  • PENCIL (Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour) is an electronic platform for no child labour developed by the Labour Ministry.
  • The portal creates a robust implementing and monitoring mechanism for enforcement of the legislative provisions of National Child Labour Policy (NCLP).
  • Since the subject of labour is in the concurrent list, the enforcement of the policy depends on respective state governments.
  • This online portal aims to connect the Centre to the state government, district and to all project societies for effective implementation of NCLP.
  • The portal has a component of child tracking system.