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Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Daily Current Affairs, 22nd Febuary 2021

07:25

 


1)  World Thinking Day: 22 February

•World Thinking Day, originally known as Thinking Day, is celebrated annually on 22 February by all Girl Scouts, Girl Guides and other girl groups worldwide. The day is observed to think about fellow brothers and sisters around the world, address their concerns and understand the true meaning of guiding.


•The theme for World Thinking Day 2021 is peacebuilding. Peacebuilding is at the heart of Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting and is as vital and relevant today as for the last 100 years. By completing the steps in the Stand Together For Peace activity pack, Girl Guides and Girl Scouts will; Stand Strong, Stand up and Stand Together for peacebuilding.


2)  International Mother Language Day: 21 February

•The International Mother Language Day (IMLD) is observed annually on 21 February to raise awareness regarding linguistic and cultural diversity and to promote multilingualism. The theme of the Day this year, “Fostering multilingualism for inclusion in education and society”.


3)  Vice President releases ‘Maverick Messiah’, a political biography on NTR

•Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu has released “Maveric Messiah”, a political biography on former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao authored by senior journalist Ramesh Kandula. NTR was ranked among the top pioneers of ‘alternative politics’. His entry into politics and ‘dramatic’ success within about nine months of floating a regional party gave a new direction to national politics.


4)  India & Maldives sign 5 deals to boost infrastructure

•External Affairs Minister (EAM), S. Jaishankar was on a two-day official visit to the archipelago nation the Maldives to review bilateral ties and development cooperation. During this visit, Mr S Jaishankar handed over 1 lakh additional doses of the made-in-India COVID-19 vaccine to the Maldives. With this, the total Covid vaccine doses gifted by India for the Maldives reaches two lakh. Jaishankar also offered a $40-million line of credit (LoC) to support the development of sports infrastructure in the Maldives.


Apart from this, five pacts were signed between India and Maldives to boost infrastructure in the island nation. They included:


•Amendatory Agreement to repurpose an older EXIM Bank of India Line of Credit of USD 25 million for Road Devt.

•Letter of Intent between EXIM Bank and local authorities for financing a housing project of 2000 units in Hulhumale.

•MoU on grant funding USD 0.5 million for a fish processing plant in Kendhikulhudhoo in the northern Maldives.

•MoU on capacity building and exchange of content and expertise between Prasar Bharati and Public State Media, Maldives.

•MoU on sustainable urban development between MoHUA and Ministry of national planning, housing and infrastructure, Maldives.


5)  India & Ethiopia Sign Agreements On Visa Facilitation and Leather Technology

•India and Ethiopia signed two agreements related to visa facilitation and leather technology. The Ethiopia Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Demeke Mekonnen Hassen is on a 4-day visit to India to hold useful and productive discussions on a range of bilateral and regional issues.


•During the course of meetings, India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Ethiopian minister Hassen agreed to expand India and Ethiopia bilateral agenda especially defence, economic, S&T, digital and cultural cooperation.


6)  Indian And Indonesian Navies Conduct PASSEX Exercise

•The Indian Navy and the Indonesian Navy conducted the Passage Exercise (PASSEX) on February 18, 2021, in the Arabian Sea. The military exercise between the navies of both countries aims to enhance operational interoperability and overall cooperation among them. Indian naval ship INS Talwar and the Indonesian Navy’s multirole corvette KRI Bung Tomo participated in the exercise.


7)  Assam CM lays foundation of first skill university of eastern India

•The Chief Minister of Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal has laid the foundation of the first skill university of eastern India in Darrang district in Assam. The state-of-the-art skill university would be built with a financial outlay of Rs 1,000 crore. It will impart training to over 10,000 students in 12 disciplines. The university is expected to be completed by 2026. It will have “understandings” with countries like Germany, Taiwan, South Korea, Israel, Japan, England.


8)  Indian Oil signs pact with Greenstat Norway for hydrogen fuel

•Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) has signed a Statement of Intent with Greenstat Hydrogen India Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of Greenstat Norway, to set up a Centre of Excellence on Hydrogen. Under this association, a Center of Excellence on Hydrogen (CoE-H) including CCUS and Fuel Cells, would be developed for clean energy by IndianOil and M/s Greenstat in cooperation with Indo-Norwegian Hydrogen Cluster companies/organizations.


9)  United States officially re-joins Paris Climate Agreement

•The United States has officially rejoined the Paris Agreement, under the Presidency of US President Joe Biden. Earlier, in November 2020, the US had officially exited the agreement on the order of then-President Donald Trump.


•The landmark Paris climate agreement was signed in 2015, as per which countries are expected to enhance their commitments to curb greenhouse gas emissions every five years. The goals of the global pact are to limit global warming to well below 2°C and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.


10)  Prakash Javadekar inaugurates Atal Paryavaran Bhavan in Lakshadweep

•The Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar, inaugurated the Atal Paryavaran Bhavan at Lakshadweep. Prakash Javadekar is on a four-day official visit to Lakshadweep from February 19 to 22, 2021.


•During the visit, the minister attended high-level meetings with the Secretaries of various departments in the Lakshadweep administration, participated in various official programmes at Suheli, Kadmat and Bangaram islands. The minister will also evaluate the major innovative initiatives of the Union Territory’s Forest and Environment Department, so that Lakshadweep undergoes comprehensive development, without compromising it’s commitment to nature.


11)  S&P Global Ratings: India to be among fastest growing emerging economies in FY22

•The S&P Global Ratings has projected that India will be one of the fastest-growing emerging market economies in the fiscal year 2021-22, with a GDP growth rate of 10 per cent. The continuous good performance by the agriculture sector, flattening of COVID-19 infection curve, pickup in government spending and the recently released budget are some of the factors for the positive growth prospect of the country.


12)  L&T delivers 100th K9 Vajra howitzer to Indian Army

•Army Chief Gen Manoj Naravane has flagged off the 100th K9 Vajra tracked self-propelled howitzer built by Larsen & Toubro (L&T) at its armoured system complex at Hazira in Gujarat. L&T had completed the delivery of all the howitzers under the contract awarded in May 2017 ahead of schedule.


13)  Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka wins Australian Open 2021

•In tennis, Japan’s Naomi Osaka won her fourth Grand Slam title on February 20, 2021, after she beat American Jennifer Brady in the women’s singles game of the Australian Open final 2021. The four Grand Slam title for Osaka comes two Australian Open titles (2021 and 2019) and two US Open title (2018 and 2020). In Men’s singles final, Novak Djokovic claimed his ninth Australian Open crown and the 18th Major Grand Slam overall, as he defeated Daniil Medvedev.
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Monday, February 22, 2021

The HINDU Notes – 22nd Febuary 2021

22:13

 


📰 Why does India need conclusive land titling?

Does India need to change the land ownership process, and what are the hurdles in implementing it?

•The story so far: The Centre wants to reform the country’s land markets through a fundamental legal and procedural shift in how land titles are awarded. In 2020, even as laws for farm reform and labour code reform were being enacted, the government’s think tank, NITI Aayog, took steps to initiate land reforms. A Model Bill on Conclusive Land Titling was sent to States and Union Territories last June seeking their comments. In September, after many States failed to send in their feedback, the Centre warned that their agreement would be presumed.

How does the current system work and what will change in the new system?

•India currently follows a system of presumptive land titling. This means that land records are maintained, with information on possession, which is determined through details of past transactions. Ownership, then, is established on the basis of current possession. Registration of land is actually a registration of transactions, such as sale deeds, records of inheritance, mortgage and lease. Holding registration papers does not actually involve the government or the legal framework guaranteeing the ownership title of the land.

•On the other hand, under a conclusive land titling system, land records designate actual ownership. The title is granted by the government, which takes the responsibility for accuracy. Once a title is granted, any other claimant will have to settle disputes with the government, not the title holder. Further, under conclusive land titling, the government may provide compensation to claimants in case of disputes, but the title holder is not in any danger of losing ownership, says agricultural economist T. Haque, who chaired the Special Cell on Land Policy at NITI Aayog which recommended a shift to conclusive titling in a 2017 report.

Why is conclusive land titling needed?

•The main advantage is that a conclusive system will drastically lower litigation related to land. According to a 2007 World Bank study on ‘Land Policies for growth and poverty reduction’, land-related disputes accounted for two-thirds of all pending court cases in India. A NITI Aayog study on strengthening arbitration estimated that disputes on land or real estate take an average time of 20 years in the courts to be resolved.

•“Right now, because land titles are based on transactions, people have to keep the entire chain of transaction records, and a dispute on any link in that chain causes ambiguity in ownership,” says Dr. Haque.

•He says the potential impact is extensive. “Once conclusive titling is in place, investors who want to purchase land for business activities will be able to do so without facing the constant risk that their ownership may be questioned and their entire investment may go to waste,” he says, noting that the spectre of long-running court cases currently stifles the appetite for investment in many sectors of the economy. “The idea is to promote an active land market,” he adds.

•Land disputes and unclear titling also create hurdles for infrastructure development and housing construction, leading to costly delays and inefficiency. In cities, urban local bodies depend on property taxes that can be levied properly only if there is clear ownership data available. Ambiguity in ownership also results in a black market for land transactions, which deprives the government of taxes.

•In rural areas, the need is even more acute. Access to agricultural credit is dependent on the ability to use land as collateral. Without being able to prove their ownership of land and access formal credit from banks, small and marginal farmers are often left at the mercy of unscrupulous moneylenders, entrenching themselves in a mountain of debt.

What does the model Bill propose?

•The Bill circulated by the NITI Aayog in 2020 calls for Land Authorities to be set up by each State government, which will appoint a Title Registration Officer (TRO) to prepare and publish a draft list of land titles based on existing records and documents. This will be considered a valid notice to all potential claimants interested in the property, who will have to file their claims or objections within a set period of time.

•If disputing claims are received, the TRO will verify all the relevant documents and refer the case to a Land Dispute Resolution Officer (LDRO) for resolution. However, disputes which are already pending in courts cannot be resolved in this way.

•Having considered and resolved all the disputed claims, the Land Authority will publish a Record of Titles. Over a three-year period, these titles and the decisions of the TRO and the LDRO can be challenged before Land Titling Appellate Tribunals, which will be set up under the law. After a three-year period, entries in the Record of Titles will be considered conclusive proof of ownership. Further appeals can only be taken up in High Courts.

What are the difficulties?

•“The biggest challenge is that land records have not been updated for decades, especially in rural and semi-urban areas. Land records are often in the name of the grandparents of the current owner, with no proof of inheritance. Unless they are based on updated records, conclusive land titles could create even more problems,” says Dr. Haque. He says comprehensive village-level surveys with community involvement are a necessary precursor to the land titling process. Relying on current records or even satellite imagery will not provide the same accuracy as actual, on-the-ground, local surveys. However, local governments have not been provided with the resources or manpower to conduct such surveys, says Dr. Haque. If surveys are not conducted, the onus falls on village claimants, many of whom have no access to documentation, to proactively challenge the titling during the three-year period.

📰 Wettest place on Earth sees decreasing trend in rainfall

Researchers noted that the changes in the Indian Ocean temperature have a huge effect on the rainfall in the region

•The quiet, sleepy, yet mesmerising village of Mawsynram trounced Cherrapunji to become the wettest place in the world. Mawsynram receives over 10,000 millimetres of rain in a year.

Decreasing trend

•A recent study that looked at the rainfall pattern in the past 119 years found a decreasing trend at Cherrapunji and nearby areas. The team analysed daily rain gauge measurements during 1901–2019, and noted that the changes in the Indian Ocean temperature have a huge effect on the rainfall in the region. They also analysed satellite data and add that there was a reduction in the vegetation area in northeast India in the past two decades, implying that human influence also plays an important role in the changing rainfall patterns.

•“The traditional way of cultivation known as Jhum cultivation or shifting cultivation is now decreased and being replaced by other methods. Also, previous studies have noted there is sizable deforestation in the region. Our study also saw the decrease in vegetation cover and increase in the areas of cropland mainly from the year 2006 onwards,” says Jayanarayanan Kuttippurath from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. He is the lead author of the paper published last month in Environmental Research Letters.

Increase in cropland

•The analysis showed reductions in vegetation with 104.5 sqkm lost per year. On the other hand, there were significant increases in crop-land (182.1 sqkm per year) and urban and built-up lands (0.3 sqkm per year) during the period 2001–2018.

•The team noted that the annual mean rainfall for the period 1973–2019 showed decreasing trends of about 0.42 mm per decade. It was statistically significant along seven stations (Agartala, Cherrapunji, Guwahati, Kailashahar, Pasighat, Shillong and Silchar).

•But why study the northeast region? The team writes that since northeast India is mostly hilly and is an extension of the Indo-Gangetic Plains, the region is highly sensitive to changes in regional and global climate. “It has to be noted that the first signs of the effect of climate change will be evident for the extreme cases such as the rainfall at Cherrapunji,” adds the paper. “Northeast India has the highest vegetation cover in India and includes 18 biodiversity hotspots of the world, indicating the importance of the region in terms of its greenery and climate-change sensitivity.”

Rainfall patterns

•The team is currently looking at the changes in rainfall patterns across India. “We need to conserve the vegetation or forest area, biodiversity parks, the hills and valleys in the northeast. Also, solid water management strategies are inevitable to combat climate-induced changes of water bodies and ground water. Long-term plans are necessary,” adds Prof. Kuttippurath.

📰 An estimate of WASH across healthcare facilities in India

The issue of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) is related to infection prevention and control.

•The status of WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) in healthcare facilities is an important issue in development. In an article published recently in BMJ Global Health, researchers from Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy (CDDEP), Maryland, US, have estimated the cost of ensuring WASH and taking related steps for infection prevention and control for one year in healthcare facilities in all of India.

•They estimate that improving WASH across the pubic healthcare facilities in India and maintaining this for a year would cost $354 million (Rs 2567,00,00,000 approximately) in capital costs and $289 million (Rs 2095,00,00,000 approximately) in recurrent expenses.

•The study further finds that the most costly interventions were providing clean water, linen reprocessing and sanitation while the least expensive were hand hygiene, medical device reprocessing and environmental surface cleaning. A 2019 joint global baseline report by WHO and UNICEF had pointed out that globally, one in four healthcare facilities lacked basic water servicing and one in five had no sanitation service and 42% had no hygiene facilities at point of care.

Impact of WASH

•A WHO document on WASH in healthcare facilities points out that 8,27,000 people in low- and middle-income countries die as a result of inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene each year. Also, death of 2,97,000 children under five years can be prevented each year if better WASH could be provided.

•On a positive note, a 2012 WHO report had calculated that for every dollar invested in sanitation, there was $5.50 to be gained in lower health costs, more productivity and fewer premature deaths.

Worthy goal

•It is noteworthy that ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation to all is one of the 2030 sustainable development goals of the WHO.

•Given this context, the India study by CDDEP comes as a welcome first-level estimate.

•“The goal of our study was to gather estimates of unit costs for each intervention service unit from which we extrapolated facility wide costs,” says Katie K. Tseng of CDDEP, the first author of the study, in an email to The Hindu. “In our calculation of national cost estimates, the proportion of healthcare facilities requiring intervention were estimated primarily from literature and not from surveyed healthcare facilities,” she says.

•Inadequacies in proving WASH and also lack of infection prevention and control can lead to healthcare associated infections. Some of the pathogens to look out for are Acinetobacter baumannii, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Streptococcus pneumoniae and many more. “These pathogens are commonly implicated as causative agents of healthcare associated infections because of their ability to develop resistance to antibiotics. Common healthcare associated infections include central-line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, surgical site infections and ventilator-associated pneumonia,” says Dr. Tseng.

Antimicrobial resistance

•In the fight against the spread of antimicrobial resistance too, the importance of prevention of infections cannot be overemphasised. “This study was a part of a larger project to determine the cost-effectiveness of WASH interventions to reduce healthcare-associated infections among mother and neonates across the Indian healthcare system,” says Jyoti Joshi of CDDEP, another author of the paper.

•According to her, while this study forms the starting point for larger costing estimates, it also highlights the need for a concerted effort from local bodies, State and Central governments to sustainably address quality and inequality issues in WASH provision.

•“We believe our findings show that addressing gaps in WASH across the Indian healthcare system is not only within the realm of possibility in terms of affordability – when compared to other national health campaigns – but can also be combined with other national efforts to address health priorities such as antimicrobial resistance,” she says.

•“The intersection between WASH, infection prevention and control and antimicrobial resistance is unique in that it offers policy makers an opportunity to address multiple overlapping problems through interventions on WASH in healthcare facilities,” she adds.

📰 State achieves 100% tap water supply to schools, anganwadis
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THE HINDU NEWSPAPER IMPORTANT ARTICLES 22.02.2021

21:16
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Sunday, February 21, 2021

Vision IAS Weekly Focus Post Pandemic Economy: New destination, New path PDF

12:05

 Vision IAS Weekly Focus Post Pandemic Economy: New destination, New path PDF

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THE HINDU NEWSPAPER IMPORTANT ARTICLES 21.02.2021

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Saturday, February 20, 2021

Insight IAS Prelims 2021 Textbook Test 5 with Solution PDF

15:47

Insight IAS Prelims 2021 Textbook Test 5 with Solution PDF

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Daily Current Affairs, 20th Febuary 2021

15:30

 


1)  World Pangolin Day 2021: 20 February

•World Pangolin Day is celebrated on the “Third Saturday of February” every year. In 2021, the annual World Pangolin Day is being celebrated on 20 February 2020. It marks the 10th edition of the event. The day aims to raise awareness about these unique mammals and speed up conservation efforts. Pangolin numbers are rapidly declining in Asia and Africa.


2)  World Day of Social Justice observed globally on 20th February

•World Day of Social Justice is celebrated annually all over the world on 20 February. The International Labour Organization unanimously adopted the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization on 10 June 2008. This year theme of World Day of Social Justice is“A Call for Social Justice in the Digital Economy”.


3)  6th Soil Health Card Day Observed on 19 February 2021

•Every year India observes the Soil Health Card Day on 19 February to commemorate the launch of the Soil Health Card (SHC) Scheme, and create awareness about the benefits of the scheme. 2021 marks the sixth year of the launch of the SHC Scheme. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Soil Health Card (SHC) Scheme on 19th February 2015 at Suratgarh in Rajasthan.


•The scheme aims at issuing soil health cards to farmers every two years so as to provide a basis to address nutritional deficiencies in the soil. The scheme ensures additional income to farmers by an increase in yields and it also promotes sustainable farming.


4)  India-Australia circular Economy Hackathon (I-ACE)

•The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi addressed the valedictory function of the India Australia Circular Economy Hackathon (I-ACE) via videoconferencing. A circular economy implies reusing waste back into the production cycle to make new products instead of wasting such materials with embedded resources.


•The I-ACE was jointly organized by Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, Government of India and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia. More than 200 participants in 39 teams from India and 33 teams from Australia took part.


5)  Bhim Army’s Chandra Shekhar Azad named in TIME’s list

•Bhim Army Chief Chandra Shekhar Aazad and five Indian-origin personalities have been featured in the 2021 TIME100 Next. TIME100 Next 2021 is the second edition of the annual list of Time magazine’s 100 ‘emerging leaders who are shaping the future.’


About Bhim Army:


•Bhim Army is a Dalit rights organisation based in Uttar Pradesh to help Dalits escape poverty through education. It was founded by Satish Kumar, Vijay Ratan Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad in 2015.


The five Indian-origin persons in Time100 Next list are:


•Twitter lawyer: Vijaya Gadde

•UK’s Finance Minister: Rishi Sunak

•Instacart founder and CEO: Apoorva Mehta

•Get Us PPE executive director and doctor: Shikha Gupta

•Founder of nonprofit Upsolve’s: Rohan Pavuluri


6)  CSIR inks MoU with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to promote health research

•The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the development, conduct and promotion of health research in India. Gates Foundation and CSIR will work together to identify opportunities to initiate scientific and technological collaborations. These will focus on developing and testing new preventions, therapies and interventions that can help to solve major health concerns that affect India and other developing countries.


7)  Indian Navy Ship Pralaya Participates in NAVDEX 21 and IDEX 21

•Indian Naval Ship Pralaya reached Abu Dhabi in UAE to participate in the Naval Defence Exhibition (NAVDEX 21) and International Defence Exhibition (IDEX 21) from February 20 to 25, 2021. NAVDEX 21 and IDEX 21 is one of the leading international naval and defence exhibitions of the region. Participation of INS Pralaya will showcase the strengths of India’s indigenous shipbuilding, in line with the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of ‘AtmaNirbhar Bharat’.


8)  Manika Batra Wins Singles Title at 82nd National Table Tennis Championship

•India’s top-ranked table tennis player Manika Batra beat Reeth Rishya, 4-2, in the women’s singles final, to win the 82nd Senior National Table Tennis Championship, at the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchkula, Haryana. It was Manika’s second Nationals title. She won her maiden national title in 2015 in Hyderabad.
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The HINDU Notes – 20th Febuary 2021

15:10

 


📰 ‘New PSE policy envisages at most 4 strategic-sector firms’

The enterprises would be of holding nature: DPE Secretary

•The new public sector enterprises policy envisages that the strategic sectors have limited number of players restricting it to maximum four public sector enterprises of a holding nature, a top official said on Friday.

•Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) Secretary Sailesh said the remaining enterprises would be rationalised in terms of mergers, amalgamations and privatisation if feasible.

•As part of the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced that there would be a maximum of four public sector companies in strategic sectors, and state-owned firms in other segments would eventually be privatised.

•The DPE Secretary was addressing a webinar organised by PHDCCI.

•Mr. Sailesh said, “We need to build our capabilities and emphasise our domestic production for global and domestic outreach at a globally competitive cost.

•“We need to ensure that the desired results are achieved in the collaborative effect of the private sector to enhance wealth, improve R&D, and growth of the economy,” he added.

•The Secretary also said that with the announcements of the new PSU policy, the government wished to have a strong and impactful public sector in a strategic sector. “MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) have the potential in the sectors such as defence, infrastructure, manufacturing, power, petroleum, coal, mining, ports, airports, and many more, which will help to create better running of government assets,” he said.

📰 Sri Lanka’s northern Tamils sceptical ahead of ‘another Geneva session’
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