boldias

Menu
Menu

Current Affairs 5/2/24

/ Uncategorized / By
  1. Indian Heritage
  • Culture

AZADI KA AMRIT MAHOTSAV

Under Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM) about 2.00 lakh events/ programmes have been organised in last two years. The entire country has participated in these events. The main events/programes organised under AKAM including honouring freedom fighters are as under:

1.     The Ministry of Culture organized the 217th Pazhassi Veerahuthi Raja Day on November 30th, 2022 and celebrated the contributions of Pazhassi Raja in Valliyoorkavu Temple ground, Mananthadavy.

2.      Har Ghar Tiranga –    The Hon’ble Prime Minister announced the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign on 22nd July 2022, encouraging people to bring home the National Flag to mark the 75th year of independence. More than 20 crore households hoisted the flag from 13th to 15th August 2022 and in the year 2023, more than 10 crore people uploaded their selfies with Tiranga  on harghartiranga.com.

3.     Rani Durgavati Commemoration: Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi performed ‘bhoomi poojan’ of ‘Veerangana Rani Durgavati Smarak aur Udyaan’ in Jabalpur in line with the 500th birth centenary celebrations of Rani Durgavati.

4.     SWASTI Zonal Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav was organized from 29th September – 2nd October 2023 at Central Park, Connaught Place. Hon’ble Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah graced the occasion on 2nd October with his presence.

5.      To mark the 125th Birth Anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, on September 8, 2022, PM unveiled Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s 28-ft jet black granite statue near India Gate. Govt. of India also declared 23rd January as Parakram Divas.

6.       On the special occasion of 150th Birth Anniversary of Sri Aurobindo, Hon’ble Prime Minister released a commemorative stamp and coin in honour of Sri Aurobindo’s memory.

  • Modern Indian history
  • The Freedom Struggle
  • Post-independence
  • Indian Society

A. population and associated issues

B. poverty and developmental issues

C.urbanization

   7. Geographical features

8.Indian Constitution

9. Polity

In continuation of its earlier directives to parties and candidates to address plummeting levels of campaign discourse and to maintain respectful discourse towards Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), the Election Commission of India has issued strict directives regarding use of children in any election-related activities. Political Parties have been advised not to use children in election campaigns in any form whatsoever including distribution of posters/pamphlets or to participate in slogan shouting, campaign rallies, election meetings, etc. The Commission has conveyed ‘Zero Tolerance’ towards use of children in any manner during the electoral process by parties and candidates.

The following have been emphasised in the instructions:

  1. Prohibition of Child Participation in election related activities: Political parties are explicitly directed not to engage children in any form of election campaign, including rallies, slogan shouting, distribution of posters or pamphlets, or any other election-related activity. Political leaders and candidates should not use children for campaign activities in any manner including holding a child in their arms, carrying a child in a vehicle or in rallies.
  2. This prohibition extends to the use of children to create the semblance of a political campaign in any manner including use through poem, songs, spoken words, display of insignia of political party/candidate, exhibiting ideology of political party, promoting achievements of a political party or criticizing the opponent political parties/candidates

However, the mere presence of a child accompanied by their parent or guardian in proximity of a political leader and who is not involved in any election campaigning activity by the political party, will not be construed as a violation of the guidelines.

  • Legal Compliance: All political parties and candidates are required to ensure strict compliance with the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, as amended by the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016. The Commission directives also highlighted the Hon’ble Bombay High Court in its Order dated 4th August, 2014 in PIL No. 127 of 2012 (Chetan Ramlal Bhutada Vs. State of Maharashtra and others) which had stressed the need to ensure that political parties do not allow participation of minor children in any election related activities.

10. Governance

A. institutions

B. regulatory

C. Government policies

D. role of NGOs

E. measures

11. Social Justice

A. Welfare schemes

B Health

National Dental Commission

The National Dental Commission Is A Statutory Body Formed To Govern Dental Education And The Practice Of Dentistry Throughout India. It Is Funded By Grant-In-Aid From The Indian Government Through The Ministry Of Health & Family Welfare (Department Of Health).

A Bill That Has Been Submitted To The Indian Parliament Proposes The Dissolution Of The Dental Council Of India, Along With Other Regulatory Bodies Like The Medical Council Of India, The Nursing Council Of India, And The Pharmacy Council Of India. The Dental Council Of India Would Have Been Replaced By The National Dental Commission Under The Draft National Dental Commission Bill, Which Was Made Public In January 2020 By The Union Ministry Of Health And Family Welfare.

The National Dental Commission’s Mission Is To Promote Impartial And Worldwide Oral Healthcare Which Encourages A Public Health Perspective And Tends To Make Medical Professionals’ Facilities Available To All Citizens. It Also Aims To Increase Access To Excellent Dental Education, Ensure The Availability Of Enough And High-Quality Dental Healthcare Professionals Across The Nation, And Ensure That Dental Care Is Provided To All Citizens.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)

Highlights of the Food Safety and Standard Act, 2006

  • Various central Acts like Prevention of Food Adulteration Act,1954,Fruit Products Order , 1955, Meat Food Products Order,1973,
  • Vegetable Oil Products (Control) Order, 1947,Edible Oils Packaging (Regulation)Order 1988, Solvent Extracted Oil, De- Oiled Meal and Edible Flour (Control) Order, 1967, Milk and Milk Products Order, 1992 etc will be repealed after commencement of FSS Act, 2006.

The Act also aims to establish a single reference point for all matters relating to food safety and standards, by moving from multi- level, multi- departmental control to a single line of command. To this effect, the Act establishes an independent statutory Authority – the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India with head office at Delhi. Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the State Food Safety Authorities shall enforce various provisions of the Act.

Establishment of the Authority

Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India is the Administrative Ministry for the implementation of FSSAI. The Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) have already been appointed by Government of India. The Chairperson is in the rank of Secretary to Government of India.

FSSAI has been mandated by the FSS Act, 2006 for performing the following functions:

  • Framing of Regulations to lay down the Standards and guidelines in relation to articles of food and specifying appropriate system of enforcing various standards thus notified.
  • Laying down mechanisms and guidelines for accreditation of certification bodies engaged in certification of food safety management system for food businesses.
  • Laying down procedure and guidelines for accreditation of laboratories and notification of the accredited laboratories.
  • To provide scientific advice and technical support to Central Government and State Governments in the matters of framing the policy and rules in areas which have a direct or indirect bearing of food safety and nutrition.
  • Collect and collate data regarding food consumption, incidence and prevalence of biological risk, contaminants in food, residues of various, contaminants in foods products, identification of emerging risks and introduction of rapid alert system.
  • Creating an information network across the country so that the public, consumers, Panchayats etc receive rapid, reliable and objective information about food safety and issues of concern.
  • Provide training programmes for persons who are involved or intend to get involved in food businesses.
  • Contribute to the development of international technical standards for food, sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards.
  • Promote general awareness about food safety and food standards.

C. Education

D. Human Resources

Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme

An announcement on two futureDESIGN semiconductor fabless companies under the Semicon India Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme was made by Minister of State for Electronics & IT, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and Jal Shakti, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar during the launch of “Digital India FutureLABS” at IIIT Delhi. The Digital India FutureLABS Summit 2024 also witnessed announcement of 20 MoUs with Industry for implementation of the futureLABS in 6 verticals – Automotive, Compute, Communication, Strategic Electronics, Industrial Electronics/ IoT and Design & innovation.

E. poverty and hunger

12. International relations

A. India and its neighbourhood

B. groupings and agreements

C.Indian diaspora

13. Economic Development

A. Government Budgeting

B. industrial

National Action Plan on Toys (NAPT) 

Indian toy makers, who participated in the five-day international toy fair in Nuremberg, Germany, held from January 30, 2024 to February 3, 2024 have received huge orders worth more than 10 million USD as they had showcased high-quality products, exporters say. The Indian toy industry highlighted that the Government Initiatives like mandatory quality norms, increase in custom duty and a National Action Plan on Toys (NAPT) have helped in the manufacture of high-quality products which have garnered appreciation at the international platform. The Indian toy sector is growing at a healthy rate and competing with global players. Among the most popular categories at the fair were those pertaining to wooden toys and educational learning toys. 

According to the toy exporters, buyers from countries such as the US, UK, South Africa, and Germany showed interest in their products and placed a good number of orders. There were more than 55 participants from India this year. 

The Indian manufacturers at the Nuremberg Toy Show stated that a considerable shift in the buyers’ approach and behavior has been witnessed. India is now being recognized as a lucrative alternative sourcing destination due to the Honorable Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi’s clarion call of Toyeconomy. 

The Indian toy makers also expressed that the prestigious platform opened the doors for international joint ventures with Indian manufacturing ecosystem gaining global acceptance. The interest of global players in partnering with the Indian industry has provided an impetus to the domestic manufacturers to enhance their manufacturing capacity for catering both, to the growing international and national market.

The emerging international recognition of ‘Made in India’ toys, is expected to contribute to the increase in exports. A substantial decrease of 52% in overall import of toys from USD 332.55 million in Financial Year 2014-15 to USD 158.7 million in Financial Year 2022-23 and increase of 239% in the exports of toys from USD 96.17 million in Financial Year 2014-15 to USD 325.72 million in Financial Year 2022-23 has already been recorded. 

E.issues

14. Technology

15. Environment

Schemes for Restoration of Mangrove Forests

Mangrove forests have more capacity to store carbon, provide breeding grounds for marine biodiversity and support global fish populations. The Government has taken a number of steps to protect and enhance mangrove forests in coastal States/Union Territories through promotional as well as regulatory measures. The promotional measures are being implemented through a Central Sector Scheme namely ‘Conservation and Management of Mangroves and Coral Reefs’ under National Coastal Mission Programme of the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change.

Regulatory measures are implemented through Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification (2019) under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986; the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972; the Indian Forest Act, 1927; the Biological Diversity Act, 2002; and rules under these acts as amended from time to time.

Union Budget 2023-24 announced ‘Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes (MISHTI)’ to promote and conserve mangroves as unique, natural eco-system having very high biological productivity and carbon sequestration potential, besides working as a bio shield. Accordingly, MISHTI was launched by Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change on the occasion of World Environment Day i.e., 5th June 2023. Further, Operational Guidelines for implementation of MISHTI activities have been prepared and circulated to the States for preparation of plans. MISHTI envisages restoration/reforestation of Mangroves covering approximately 540 km2, spreading across 9 States and 3 Union Territories for a period of five years commencing 2023-24 onwards. The States have also been encouraged to take activities under MISHTI through convergence with the existing schemes/programs. Overall, the mangrove cover of the country witnessed an increase of 252 km2 between 2015 to 2021.

Closure of Pollution emitting Industries

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has devised a ‘Standard Protocol for Conducting Inspections, Report Preparation and Action’. The action against violators is taken based on the guidelines prescribed in this protocol.

In general, for minor non-compliances, show-cause notice is issued to unit, in line with the principles of Natural Justice and to give an opportunity to the unit, before issuance of closure directions under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. However, closure directions under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 are issued directly to the unit if it is found grossly non-complying with regard to prescribed environmental standards and other shortcomings which have potential to cause grave injury to the environment. Some of such gross non-compliances include the following:

  1. Any bypass discharge of partially treated or untreated effluent and emission observed.
  2. Injection of treated or untreated water or both into ground water (reverse boring).
  3. Operating unit having defunct Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) or Air Pollution Control Device (APCD) and/or operating without installation of ETP or APCD.
  4. Unauthorized disposal or dumping of hazardous waste likely to cause grave injury to the Environment.

National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) launched National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in January, 2019 with an aim to improve air quality in 131 cities (non-attainment cities and Million Plus Cities) in 24 States/UTs by engaging all stakeholders. The programme envisages to achieve reductions up to 40% or achievement of National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter10 (PM 10) concentrations by 2025-26.

82 cities under NCAP have been provided annual target of 3-15% reduction of PM10 levels to achieve overall reduction of air quality up to 40% PM10 levels, and 49 cities under XVth Finance Commission air quality grant, have been given an annual target of 15% reduction in annual average Particulate Matter10 (PM10) concentrations and improvement of good air quality days (Air Quality Index less than 200).Details of achievement by annual target by cities for FY 2021-22 are provided at Annexure-I for 82 cities and Annexure-II for 49 cities, respectively.

Black-necked Crane

The Wildlife Institute of India and the Zoological Survey of India have been carrying out assessment of the black-necked cranes. As per the survey conducted by Wildlife Institute of India in 2016-2017 in Ladakh region, the population size of black necked crane was around 66-69 individuals.In Arunachal Pradesh, a small population of approximately 11 individuals arrives during winter months.

The important steps taken to protect bird species include:

  1. The Black-necked Crane (Grus nigricollis) is listed in Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, thereby according them the highest degree of protection.
  2. The species is also listed in Appendix I of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora and the Convention on conservation of Migratory Species.
  3. The important habitats of Black-necked Crane have been notified as a Protected Areas, for example, Changthang Sanctuary, Ladakh.
  4. The Tso Kar Wetlands Complex, an important foraging and breeding ground for Black-necked Crane has been designated as a Ramsar Site in December 2020.
  5. The National Wildlife Action Plan (2017-2031) released by the Ministry in October 2017 provides for specific Chapters and priority actions on various aspects of wildlife conservation like,  conservation of threatened species, mitigating human wildlife conflict, conservation of inland and coastal and marine ecosystems, landscape level conservation, etc.
  6. The Central Government provides financial assistance to State/Union Territory Governments under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes ‘Development of Wildlife Habitats’ for management of wildlife and its habitat in the country.
  7. In accordance with provisions contained under Section 33 of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, the Ministry has issued guidelines for the process of management planning for Protected Areas.
  8. The Government of India has initiated Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) programme, that aims to generate public awareness about the environment, and conservation.
  9. Important days such as World Wildlife Day,  Wetlands Day, Migratory Bird Day, etc. and  Wildlife Week are celebrated to bring in more awareness on wildlife and biodiversity among the public.

28th Session of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28)

An Inter-Ministerial delegation from India had attended the 28th Session of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 28) held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from 30th November 2023 to 13th December 2023.

 The subjects discussed at COP 28 included the First Global Stocktake, Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), Loss and Damage Fund, Operationalisation of work programme on Just Transition pathways, Santiago Network for Loss and Damage and matters related to Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

The First Global Stocktake (GST) decision calls on Parties to contribute in a nationally determined manner, taking into account the Paris Agreement and their different national circumstances, pathways and approaches to, inter alia, transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating efforts towards the phase-down of unabated coal power, accelerating efforts globally towards net zero emission energy systems, utilizing zero- and low-carbon fuels well before or by around mid-century and to triple renewable energy capacity globally and double the global average annual rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030. The decision commits to accelerate action on the basis of the best available science, reflecting equity and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities in the light of different national circumstances. The decision recognises the need to peak global emissions by 2025, and that time frames for peaking may be shaped by sustainable development, poverty eradication needs and equity and in line with different national circumstances. The decision stressed that Global Carbon budget is now small and rapidly depleting, and historical cumulative net carbon dioxide emissions already account for about four-fifths of the total carbon budget. The First GST also decided that any Unilateral measure should not constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination or a disguised restriction on international trade. Developed countries have been asked to provide financial resources to the Developing countries for their climate actions. They have also been urged to fulfil the commitment of USD 100 billion per year through 2025.

16. Security

‘ABHYAS’ from Integrated Test Range

Four flight trials of High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) – ABHYAS were successfully carried out by Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) from the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur in Odisha during January 30 to February 02, 2024. The trials were conducted with four different mission objectives in a revised robust configuration using a single booster designed by Advanced Systems Laboratory, Hyderabad to provide reduced launch acceleration. The objectives like safe release of booster, launcher clearance and attaining the required end of launch velocity were achieved. During the flight trials, various parameters like required endurance, speed, manoeuvrability, altitude and range were successfully validated.

Designed by DRDO’s Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), ABHYASoffers a realistic threat scenario for practice of weapon systems. It is designed for autonomous flying with the help of an auto pilot indigenously made by the ADE. It has Radar Cross Section, Visual and Infrared augmentation system required for weapon practice. It has a laptop-based Ground Control System with which the aircraft can be integrated and pre-flight checks, data recording during the flight, replay after the flight and post-flight analysis can be carried out. ABHYAS requires minimum logistics and is cost effective compared to imported equivalents.

The systems tested recently were realised through Production Agencies – Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Defence. With identified production agencies, ABHYAS is ready for production. The system has export potential and can be offered to friendly countries.

17. Disaster Management