Daily Current Affairs : 30-Nov-2019
Major Topics Covered :
STEPS TAKEN TO POPULARIZE AYUSH
MAURITIUS IS CALLING UK AN ‘ILLEGAL COLONIAL OCCUPIER’
INDIA’S GDP GROWTH RATE SLIPPED
THE GUJARAT CONTROL OF TERRORISM AND ORGANISED CRIME (GCTOC) ACT
PROMOTION OF E-AGRICULTURE
HALLMARKING OF GOLD JEWELRY & ARTIFACTS
CLOWNFISH
GLOBAL MIGRATION REPORT 2020
ELECTORAL LITERACY CLUBS (ELCs)
STEPS TAKEN TO POPULARIZE AYUSH
Part of GS-Health
Why in news?
People across the country are following traditional Indian medical systems of AYUSH. According to the data available, 17,73,75,226 Patients visited Government Health Care Facilities under AYUSH in OPD and 19,57,921 were admitted as inpatients in 2017-18.
Highlights:
The measures taken by the Ministry of AYUSH for further propagating the natural medical systems are:
The Ministry of AYUSH regularly observes days dedicated to AYUSH Systems of Medicine Viz. International Day of Yoga, Ayurveda Day, Unani Day, Siddha Day, Naturopathy Day, Homoeopathy Day etc. to create awareness about the benefits of the respective AYUSH system of medicine including natural medical systems.
A Central Sector Scheme for Promotion of Information Education and Communication (IEC) in AYUSH has been devised by the Ministry of AYUSH for this purpose.
Under this Scheme, the Ministry of AYUSH takes up initiatives to create awareness about and to promote AYUSH systems of medicine including natural medical systems. These initiatives include organizing Arogya Fairs, Melas, Conferences, Exhibitions, Seminars, Workshops, Symposium, Yoga Fests and Ayurveda Parvs.
The IEC Scheme also supports undertaking publicity campaigns through electronic media, print media and social media amongst the citizens in the country.
Ministry of AYUSH has established five Research Councils namely CCRAS, CCRUM, CCRS, CCRH & CCRYN for Research in Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Homoeopathy, Yoga & Naturopathy respectively. These research councils apart from engaging in clinical/ field research also undertake the following activities: -
Running Mobile health programme catering to backward regions and SC/ST communities
Undertaking health awareness campaigns.
Piloting Innovations like telemedicine with the help of common service centres.
Source: PIB
MAURITIUS IS CALLING UK AN ‘ILLEGAL COLONIAL OCCUPIER’
Part of GS-2 IR
Why in news?
Mauritius called the UK an “illegal colonial occupier”, after it ignored a UN mandated deadline to return the Chagos Islands, a small archipelago in the Indian Ocean, to Mauritius. The United Nations had given UK
six months to process the transfer, a move the UK and the US have bitterly resisted.
Highlights:
Timeline of Dispute:
Mauritius has argued that the Chagos Islands has been a part of its territory since at least the 18th century, till the United Kingdom broke the archipelago away from Mauritius in 1965 and the islands of Aldabra, Farquhar, and Desroches from the Seychelles in the region to form the British Indian Ocean Territory.
In June 1976, after the Seychelles gained independence from the United Kingdom, the islands of Aldabra, Farquhar, and Desroches were returned by the UK.
The UK declared these islands as an overseas territory in November 1965. After Mauritius gained independence from the UK in 1968, the United Kingdom refused to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius claiming in petitions submitted to the Permanent Court of Arbitration that the island was required to “accommodate the United States’ desire to use certain islands in the Indian Ocean for defence purposes”.
The largest island on the Chagos Islands archipelago, Diego Garcia, is where the US and the UK operate a large military base and was also used as a US military base for the US-led attacks against Afghanistan and Iraq in the 2000s. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the military facility was also used as a CIA interrogation site.
CHAGOS ARCHIPELAGO:
The Chagos Archipelago is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 individual tropical islands in the Indian Ocean.
It is officially part of the British Indian Ocean Territory.
Source: Indian Express
INDIA’S GDP GROWTH RATE SLIPPED
Part of GS-3 Economy
Why in news?
India’s GDP growth rate slipped to a 26-quarter low of 4.5 per cent in July-September, dragged lower by a contraction in manufacturing growth, data released by National Statistical Office showed.
Highlights:
Growth rate in terms of Gross Value Added (GVA), which is GDP minus net product taxes, has slowed to 4.3 per cent in July-September as against 6.9 per cent a year ago.
With this, GDP growth rate for April-September, the first half of this fiscal, is now at 4.8 per cent as against 7.5 per cent growth in the year-ago period.
The previous low for the country’s GDP growth was 4.3 per cent during January-March 2012-13.
In July-September, manufacturing growth slumped to (-)1.0 per cent as against 6.9 per cent growth last year, while the “agriculture, forestry and fishing” sector recorded a growth rate of 2.1 per cent as against 4.9 per cent last year. GVA growth for the construction sector also slowed to 3.3 per cent in July-September from 8.5 per cent year ago.
Most economists expected GDP growth rate for the second quarter to slow down to sub-5 per cent level, with most projections hovering in the 4.2-4.7 per cent range. GDP growth rate for April-June was recorded at 5.0 per cent.
Impact of Slow Growth Rate:
The slowdown in economy is also expected to adversely affect income growth which, in turn, would further dent consumption demand.
With declining household savings and lower buoyancy in government’s revenue collections, there will be limited fiscal space to spur economic growth and the monetary policy tool - through more rate cuts - could be relied on to boost growth going ahead.
In just about a year-and-a-half, India has hurtled down the economic growth path.
The GDP grew at a robust 8.1 per cent in January-March 2018. Since then, it has decelerated every consecutive quarter.
Source: Indian Express
THE GUJARAT CONTROL OF TERRORISM AND ORGANISED CRIME (GCTOC) ACT
Part of GS-3 Defence and Security
Why in news?
The Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime (GCTOC) Act, which received President Ram Nath Kovind’s assent on November 5, 16 years after the Assembly passed the first version of the Bill, comes into effect on December 1.
Highlights:
The anti-terrorism law, which three Presidents before Kovind had returned to the state, draws heavily from The Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), 1999
with two significant differences: the checks on interception of communication that are part of the Maharashtra law are missing in the Gujarat law; and
the definition of “terrorist act” in the GCTOCA also covers “intention to disturb public order”.
These differences make the Gujarat law tougher and broader in scope than MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act).
Source: Indian Express
PROMOTION OF E-AGRICULTURE
Part of GS-3 Economy
Why in news?
Union Minister of Agriculture informed Rajya Sabha about the various initiatives for promotion of technology in agriculture sector.
Highlights:
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has established a network of 715 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) in the country mandated with Technology Assessment and Demonstration for its Application and Capacity Development (TADA–CD).
KVKs organize demonstrations, training programs and skill development programs for the benefit of farmers and farm women, rural youth and in-service extension personnel.
To update the knowledge and skills on modern agricultural technologies, 47,000 training courses on various technologies were organized benefitting as many as 13.51 lakh farmers and farm women. 139.67 lakh farmers participated in various extension activities.
Agro-advisories are given to the farmers through various service providers and the mKisan portal.
mKisan portal is a platform which provides web-based mobile advisory to farmers with the technological backstopping from Research Institutes and Agricultural Universities supporting farmers. Information on weather, market, various farm operations, outbreak of pest and disease incidence and their control measures are given to farmers through Short Message Service (SMS).
About 5.3 crore farmers are linked with mKisan Portal for sending SMS messages on various aspects of agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandry, weather forecast, and pest and disease control.
Further, Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) provides a suitable platform for converging all activities for inclusive growth of agricultural mechanization by providing a ‘single window’ approach for implementation with a special focus on small & marginal farmers.
Government is also using satellite data and GIS Technology for Crop Production Estimation, Horticultural Inventory, Site Suitability Analysis for crop expansion and Drought Assessment.
Government is also implementing National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) scheme for transparent price discovery for remunerative prices for the farmers for their produce through competitive online bidding system.
Under Marketing Research & Information Network (MRIN) Scheme, support is provided to the States towards setting up and maintaining connectivity with Agmarknet portal for collection and dissemination of market information on arrivals and prices of agri-commodities.
Source: PIB
HALLMARKING OF GOLD JEWELRY & ARTIFACTS
Part of GS-3 Economy
Why in news:
The Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Shri Ram Vilas Paswan announced that Gold Hallmarking will be made mandatory across the nation from 15th January, 2020, giving one year time period for implementation.
Highlights:
The BIS (Bureau of Indian standards) Act 2016 has enabling provisions under Section 14 & Section 16 for making hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts mandatory by the Central Government. This will make it compulsory for all the jewellers selling gold jewellery and artefacts to register with BIS and sell only hallmarked Gold jewellery and artefacts.
The draft Quality Control Order for mandatory hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts has been hosted on WTO website on 10th October 2019 for comments for a period of 60 days.
The BIS Act 2016 has been implemented with effect from 12th October 2017 and BIS Hallmarking Regulations 2018 notified with effect from 14-6-2018.
BIS has been running a hallmarking scheme for gold jewellery since April 2000.
As on 31st October 2019 there are 877 Assaying and hallmarking centres spread in 234 district locations across the country and so far 26,019 jewellers have taken BIS registration.
Source: PIB
CLOWNFISH
Part of GS-3 Environment and Ecology
Why in news:
The clownfish, made so popular by the animated film Finding Nemo and its sequel Finding Dory, cannot be expected to be able to adapt to a rapidly changing environment, a new study has concluded. It does not have the genetic capacity to do so, scientists report in the journal Ecology Letters.
Highlights:
Habitat under threat:
While clownfish are found in various parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, including the Great Barrier Reef, only some species are widespread and most of the others have restricted distributions.
Clownfish typically live at the bottom of shallow seas in sheltered reefs or in shallow lagoons.
It is this habitat that is under threat.
Clownfish breed only in sea anemones, sharing a symbiotic bond.
“Clownfish shelter in the anemone and are the only fish that do not get stung by the nematocysts of the anemone. The anemone benefits because clownfish can defend the anemone from fish that might eat it. They never live anywhere but in the anemone.
And now the anemones, like coral reefs in general, are under direct threat from the impacts of climate change.
It works like this: The anemones share another symbiotic bond, with algae.
Under stress in warming waters, the algae leave the anemones. If the algae stay away too long, the anemone starve to death. Which leaves the clownfish without a home.
Source: Indian Express
GLOBAL MIGRATION REPORT 2020
Part of GS- 2 IR
Why in news:
The Global Migration Report 2020, newly released by the UN-affiliated International Organization for Migration (IOM) reiterates the key trend of the International Migrant Stock 2019 dataset released by the UN Population Division in September - of the 272 international migrants worldwide (3.5% of the global population), India accounts for the highest share with 17.5 million Indians living outside the country (The Indian Express, November 29).
Highlights:
India is followed by Mexico (11.8 million) and China (10.7 million). According to the IOM report, roughly two-thirds of international migrants are labour migrants.
International remittances in 2018 (2020 report) reached $689 billion, out of which India received $78.6 billion from the 17.5 million living abroad. Remittances received by India have consistently increased between the 2005 and 2020 reports, sharply from $22.13 billion in 2005 to $53.48 billion in 2010 and then gradually to $68.91 billion in 2015 and $78.6 billion in the latest report.
India is currently followed by China ($67.4 billion), Mexico ($35.7 billion), Philippines ($33.8 billion), Egypt ($28.9 billion) and France ($26.4 billion). The United States was the top remittance-issuer, at $68 billion, followed by the United Arab Emirates ($44.4 billion) and Saudi Arabia ($36.1 billion).
The top destinations for international migrants is the US where, as of September 2019, there were 50.7 million international migrants. The US is followed by Germany, Saudi Arabia, Russian Federation and the UK.
The top migration corridors for Indians are the United Arab Emirates, the US and Saudi Arabia.
The highest number of migrants entering India come from Bangladesh.
Oceania is the region with the highest proportion of international migrants and the UAE is the country with the highest proportion of international migrants.
More than half of all international migrants (141 million) live in Europe and North America.
Source: Indian Express
ELECTORAL LITERACY CLUBS (ELCs)
Part of GS- 2 Polity and Governance
Why in news:
Election commission of India (ECI) organized Orientation Programme for Civil Society Organizations on Electoral Literacy Clubs (ELCs).
Highlights:
ECI, under its flagship programme ‘Systematic Voters’ Education & Electoral Participation’ (SVEEP), has introduced the project for Mainstreaming of Electoral Literacy through Educational Institutions/ Organizations.
This project envisages setting up of Electoral Literacy Club in every educational institution and Chunav Pathshala at every booth to cover those outside the formal education system.
Launched on 8th National Voters’ Day on 25th January, 2018, ELCs shall serve as a vibrant hub of Electoral Literacy for developing and strengthening the culture of electoral participation through hands on experience.
Till now 5,80,620 ELCs have been established across the country.
Source : PIB, ECI
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