Daily Current Affairs – 17th and 18th January 2016
1) The Union Petroleum ministry has launched a month long petroleum awareness programme ‘Saksham – 2017′.
On the occasion, the Ministry also distributed awards such as visit to Japan, laptops & cash prizes to National school winners of essay and painting competitions in order to encourage them for continuing their efforts and enhancing their knowledge on energy conservation.
The programme will be organized by PCRA (Petroleum Conservation Research Association) and other Oil & Gas PSUs under the aegis of Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Saksham – 2017 is also named as Sanrakshan Kshamta Mahotsav.
It is aimed at creating awareness amongst the masses towards judicious utilization and conservation of petroleum products along with efficient use of energy capable appliances and switching to cleaner fuels.
During this one-month long programme, various workshops will be held for drivers of commercial vehicles, housewives and cooks on adopting simple fuel saving measures.
It will educate the public on various steps for fuel conservation through activities like Saksham Asian Cycling Championship, Quiz Show, Walkathons, concerts and other activities across the country.It will organise training program for LPG Delivery Boys for educating them about the usage of LPG, its safety and conservation tips. The delivery boys will disseminate the same information to the customers while delivering the cylinders.
It will create mass awareness on Petroleum Conservation through Kisan Call Centre. It will also publicise about the energy conservation through Mobile Van and will penetrate to the remote areas of every state specifically in the Rural and Agricultural Sector.
2) India has became an Associate Member State of European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).
As an Associate member of CERN, India will have full access to all data generated at CERN. Moreover, it can now participate in all the experiments conducted at CERN by paying additional charges. Indian industry will also be entitled to bid for CERN contracts.
Earlier in November 2016, India signed an agreement with the organisation in this regard. The agreement was signed by Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission Sekhar Basu and CERN Director General Fabiola Gianotti in Mumbai.
India-CERN relations date back to 1991 when both the sides signed a Cooperation Agreement setting priorities for scientific and technical cooperation, followed by the signature of several Protocols.
India’s Tata Institute of Fundamental Research had already been working with CERN since the 1960s. The physicists of the institute were actively participating in experiments at CERN. These physicists were later joined by scientists from the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology in the 1990s.
All these developments by Indian scientists paved the way for the Indian AEC (Atomic Energy Commission) to take part in the construction of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and to contribute to the CMS and ALICE experiments in 1996.
Indian scientists were also involved in ISOLDE, a high-tech particle detector and electronics research and n-TOF experiments of CERN.
3) The Union Government has empowered Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) to enforce the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to tackle air pollution in Delhi-NCR.
As per a notification, GRAP can be implemented if the air pollution stays above the emergency level for 48-hours. In such cases, the odd-even scheme may be enforced and construction work can be halted in the national capital.
First of its kind, the ambitious Graded Response Action Plan envisages to roll out a host of emergency measures like the closure of power plants and schools. It will also issue advisories asking people to avoid polluted areas and restrict outdoor movement.
Earlier on 12 January 2017, the Environment Ministry in its notification assigned the task to implement the plan to EPCA under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.The notification was issued in the backdrop of air pollution in Delhi and NCR, which is a serious concern and require urgent action.
Implementation of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in the national capital is a big step to manage the pollution and to prevent emergency situation which may rise due to an increase in pollution level.
4) Twenty five children, 12 girls and 13 boys, have been selected for the national bravery awards 2016.
These winners of the national award will participate in the parade of republic day, that is, on 26 January 2017. Later, the President Pranab Mukherjee will host a reception in their honour.
The coveted Bharat award will be conferred on 8-year-old late Kumari Tarh Peju of Arunachal Pradesh, who sacrificed her life while saving two of her friends from drowning.
Every winner of the award will receive their awards from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 23 January 2017.
Geeta Chopra Award will be conferred on Tejasweeta Pradhan, (18-year-old) and Shivani Gond (17-year-old) both from West Bengal. They displayed immense courage in helping the police and the NGO in uncovering an International sex racket leading to the arrest of the mastermind in Delhi.
Sanjay Chopra Award will be conferred on Master Sumit Mamgain (15-year-old) of Uttarakhand who displayed outstanding bravery in fighting a leopard to save his cousin.
Bapu Gaidhani Award will be conferred on Late Km. Roluahpuii, (13-year-old) of Mizoram, Master Tushar Verma (15-year-old) of Chhattisgarh and Late Km. H Lalhriatpuii (14-year-old) of Mizoram. Roluahpuii sacrificed her life in her bold and selfless act of saving two girls from drowning. Tushar Verma, risked his life and extinguished a fire in his neighbour’s shed and saved many cattle. Lalhriatpuii sacrificed her life in an effort to save her cousin in a car accident.
5) The Government of Telangana has announced a series of welfare measures for army personnel and their families living in the State.
The welfare measures were announced by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao in the State Legislative Assembly in Hyderabad.
A Special Army Welfare Fund will be constituted. The State Government will provide Rs 80 crore annually for the welfare of the Army personnel and their families. All the ministers of the State, including the Chief Minister, will contribute 25 thousand rupees per annum.
Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) from the state will contribute 10 thousand rupees each per annum. The employees of the State Government will also contribute a day’s salary to the Special Army Welfare Fund.
As per the announcement, the Param Vir Chakra and Ashok Chakra awardees will get Rs 2.25 crore cash reward.The Mahavir Chakra and Kirti Chakra awardees will get Rs 1.25 crore. Cash incentives were also announced for other gallantry award winners.
The Chief Minister further announced that uniform rule will be applied in paying compensation to the army personnel who lay their lives in the war front and those who lost lives for other reasons such as accidents and illness.
The monthly pension of the army personnel who served in World War-II was increased to Rs 6000. Previously, the State government provided Rs 3000 as the compensation.
6) India was ranked 92nd among 118 countries in the 2017 Global index of talent competitiveness (GTI) list.
The index is produced by global business school INSEAD in partnership with Adecco Group and Human Capital Leadership Institute (HCLI) of Singapore. The index measures ability of countries to compete for talent i.e. how countries grow, attract and retain talent.
In this edition of the list, India slipped by 3 places compared to 89th rank in 2016 GTI. India stood on a relatively solid in pool of global knowledge skills compared with other emerging markets. But in terms of retaining and attracting talent indices, India ranked lowly 104th and 114th, respectively.
India has been able to create a stable pool of global knowledge skills, but still experiences a brain drain. India’s ranking will improve only if it improves in its regulatory (94th) and market (99th) landscapes.
Top 10 Countries of GTI list are Switzerland (1st), Singapore (2nd), United Kingdom (3rd), United States (4th), Sweden (5th), Australia (6th), Luxembourg (7th), Denmark (8th), Finland (9th) and Norway (10th).
2017 edition of GTI also released the first-ever global ranking of cities on the basis of their reputation and growing footprint in attracting, growing, and retaining global talent.
7) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cut India’s growth rate for the fiscal year 2016–17 to 6.6% from its previous estimate of 7.6%.
India’s growth rate was cut due to the temporary negative consumption shock of demonetisation. It has dampen India’s growth by 1% point in the FY2017 and 0.4% point in FY2018, compared with IMF’s earlier projections.
Global economic activity will pick up pace in FY17 and FY18, especially in emerging markets and developing economies. Global growth is forecast at 3.4% in FY17 against 3.1% in FY16. There is marginal upward shift in prospects for the US and China until 2018 but India, Mexico and Brazil are among the large economies that have had their projections revised downwards.
The recent election of Donald Trump as US President could have a positive impact on US economy, but extent of it could not be gauged immediately. The stimulus policies expected and already underway in US and China will hold world economy from further slowdown and result in rise of global growth.
India’s Demonetisation move led to shortage of currency causing a slump in demand and widespread job losses dampening growth. Other Asian countries such as Thailand and Indonesia will also face headwinds in medium term.
8) Timothy Gonsalves Committee has recommended reservation for girl students in IITs.
The recommendation of the committee will be taken up in the meeting of the Joint Admission Board (JAB) for a final decision, which will decide whether the reservation will come in effect from 2017 or from 2018.
The committee has suggested creating up to 20% supernumerary seats for girls out of the total number of seats. But only candidates who have already qualified in JEE-Advanced will be considered. The reservation for girl students will not affect the number of seats for male candidates. It will help IITs achieve the one lakh target by 2020.
In 2016, there was a 2% dip in the number of girls who cleared the JEE-Advanced, as compared to the previous one. Over 1,000 girls had cracked the examination (roughly 10% of total 10,000 seats) in 2015, only 840 female students (coming up to 8%) made it to institutes in 2016-17. None of the selected girls made it to top 100.
9) India has ranked 60th among the 79 developing countries in 2017 Inclusive Development Index (IDI) released in World Economic Forum’s (WEF) ‘Inclusive Growth and Development Report’.
The index is based on 12 performance indicators and countries are ranked on IDI scores based on a scale of 1-7. It has three pillars Growth and Development, Inclusion and Intergenerational Equity, and Sustainability in order to provide a more complete measure of economic development than GDP growth alone.
Top 10 developing economies in 2017 IDI are Lithuania (1st), Azerbaijan (2nd), Hungary (3rd), Poland (4th), Romania (5th), Uruguay (6th), Latvia (7th), Panama (8th), Costa Rica (9th) and Chile (10th).
India’s many of the neighbouring nations are ahead in the rankings. China (15th), Nepal (27th), Bangladesh (36th) and Pakistan (52nd). India, with a score of only 3.38, ranks low among 79 developing economies, despite its growth in GDP per capita is among the top 10 and labour productivity growth has been strong.
India’s debt-to-GDP ratio is high, that raises some questions about the sustainability of government spending. India’s labour force participation rate is low, informal economy is large and many workers are vulnerable to employment situations with little room for social mobility.
India needs more progressive tax system to raise capital for expenditures in infrastructure, health care, basic services and education.
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