IMPORTANT TOPICS FOR TODAY
http://dailycurrentaffairs-sumit.blogspot.comBY SUMIT BHARDWAJ  4th August 2019
1.Tigers in India face lurking threat from virus (GS-3)
- CONTEXT: There is heightened risk of disease transfer from dogs to tigers, leopards in Ranthambhore National Park
- The Prime Minister’s announcement that tiger numbers have increased in the country may be good news. But the loss of habitat, a decline of prey and poaching continues to be a threat to tigers’ survival. Along with these, a potential virus — Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) — that can be transmitted from CDV-infected dogs living in and around wildlife sanctuaries has started to raise concern among wildlife biologists.
- Ranthambhore National Park:
- Ranthambore National Park is a vast wildlife reserve near the town of Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan, northern India. It is a former royal hunting ground and home to tigers, leopards and marsh crocodiles. Its landmarks include the imposing 10th-century Ranthambore Fort, on a hilltop, and the Ganesh Mandir temple. Also in the park, Padam Talao Lake is known for its abundance of water lilies.
- Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) :
- Canine distemper is a viral disease that affects a wide variety of animal families, including domestic and wild species of dogs, coyotes, foxes, pandas, wolves, ferrets, skunks, raccoons, and large cats, as well as pinnipeds, some primates, and a variety of other species.
2.Indian universities get free access to Urkund software (GS-2,3)
- CONTEXT:Swedish software was chosen through a global tender process.
- All universities in India, public and private, have been given trial access to anti-plagiarism software Urkund August 2.
- Final subscription to access the Swedish software will begin from September 1, 2019, according to a notice from the University Grants Commission (UGC).
- “Plagiarism and data manipulation are issues of great concern, which damage the credibility of research emanating from our institutions. Institutions must take the responsibility for ensuring academic standards and for emphasising, to both students and faculty, the importance of maintaining the highest standards of integrity in academic research,”
- University Grants Commission (UGC).:
- The University Grants Commission of India is a statutory body set up by the Indian Union government in accordance to the UGC Act 1956 under Ministry of Human Resource Development, and is charged with coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of higher education.
3.Odisha attempts to improve work participation under MGNREGS (GS-2)
- CONTEXT: ODHISA State govt. to form Shramik Sanghs to ensure 65 days of employment annually
- In light of drought-like conditions in many districts of western Odisha and distress migration of labourers appearing imminent, the government is trying to improve the average number of days of employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) — from 38 to 65 days.
- The government has decided to mobilise all active job-card holders to form informal groups, which will be called ‘Shramik Sangh’. There will be one such group for every 50 beneficiaries in each revenue village.
- National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005:
- National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (or, NREGA No 42, later renamed as the "Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act", MGNREGA), is an Indian labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the 'right to work'.
- It aims to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
- The act was first proposed in 1991 by P.V. Narasimha Rao. It was finally accepted in the parliament and commenced implementation in 625 districts of India. Based on this pilot experience, NREGA was scoped up to cover all the districts of India from 1 April 2008.The statute is hailed by the government as "the largest and most ambitious social security and public works programme in the world". In its World Development Report 2014, the World Bank termed it a "stellar example of rural development".
- The MGNREGA was initiated with the objective of "enhancing livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year, to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work".Another aim of MGNREGA is to create durable assets (such as roads, canals, ponds and wells). Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant's residence, and minimum wages are to be paid. If work is not provided within 15 days of applying, applicants are entitled to an unemployment allowance. Thus, employment under MGNREGA is a legal entitlement.
- MGNREGA is to be implemented mainly by gram panchayats (GPs). The involvement of contractors is banned. Labour-intensive tasks like creating infrastructure for water harvesting, drought relief and flood control are preferred.
- Apart from providing economic security and creating rural assets, NREGA can help in protecting the environment, empowering rural women, reducing rural-urban migration and fostering social equity, among others."
- The law provides many safeguards to promote its effective management and implementation. The act explicitly mentions the principles and agencies for implementation, list of allowed works, financing pattern, monitoring and evaluation, and most importantly the detailed measures to ensure transparency and accountability
4.Activists in Assam slam NGT for ‘nod’ to 2,000 MW dam (GS-1,3)
- CONTEXT:Anti-dam organisations in Assam have slammed the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for virtually paving the way for a mega dam that was left incomplete in 2011.
- The NGT had earlier this week dismissed petitions seeking reconstitution of a six-member expert committee that they claimed was biased towards environment-threatening big dams.
- NHPC:
- NHPC(National Hydro Power Corporation Limited) is an Indian Hydropower generation company that was incorporated in the year 1975 with an authorised capital of Rs. 2000 million and with an objective to plan, promote and organise an integrated and efficient development of hydroelectric power in all aspects
- Subansiri Lower Dam:
- The Subansiri Lower Dam, officially named Subansiri Lower Hydroelectric Project, is an under construction gravity dam on the Subansiri River in NorthEastern India. It is located 2.3 km upstream of Gerukamukh village in Dhemaji District and Lower Subansiri District on the border of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh
- Subansiri River :
- The Subansiri River is a tributary of the Brahmaputra River in the Indian states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. The Subansiri is 442 kilometres long, with a drainage basin 32,640 square kilometres large. The Subansiri is the largest tributary of the Brahmaputra.
5.‘Govt. for modernisation of armed forces’
(GS-3)- CONTEXT:The government is committed to modernisation of armed forces and most of it will be done through indigenously developed weapons systems. Only when there is dire need will import be resorted to, said Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday. Participating in the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) at Kanchanbagh, Mr. Singh lauded the public sector unit for producing close to one lakh missiles for the armed forces in the last few decades. “The government is committed to indigenous development of weapons systems for self reliance and also to tackle unemployment and promote entrepreneurship. So there will be more orders coming to BDL,”
- Indian defence architecture and principles were based on “restraint, balance and then get offensive”
- MissileS---- Prithvi, Agni, Nag
- BDL Chairman and Managing Director Commodore Siddharth Mishra, disclosed that the firm was working on ‘Amogha’ missile with own R&D on a small scale. It also makes Prithvi and Akash as part of Missile Development Programme in partnership with 1,500 vendors
- Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) is one of India's manufacturers of ammunitions and missile systems. It was founded in 1970 in Hyderabad, Telangana. BDL was established in the year 1970 to be a manufacturing base for guided weapon systems. Begun with a pool of engineers drawn from Indian Ordnance Factories, DRDO and aerospace industries, BDL began by producing a first generation anti-tank guided missile - the French SS11B1. This product was a culmination of a licence agreement the Government of India entered into with Aerospatiale. BDL has three manufacturing units, located at Kanchanbagh, Hyderabad, Telangana; Bhanur, Medak district, Telangana and Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
6.Sudden increase in water level hampers relief in Godavari districts (GS-1,3)
- A sudden increase in the water levels hampered relief and rescue operations in about 70 villages in East and West Godavari districts that have been marooned by waters of the Godavari on Saturday
- Godavari RIVER:
- The Godavari is India's second longest river after the Ganga. Its source is in Triambakeshwar, Maharashtra.It flows east for 1,465 kilometres (910 mi), draining the states of Maharashtra (48.6%), Telangana (18.8%), Andhra Pradesh (4.5%), Chhattisgarh (10.9%), Odisha (5.7%),ultimately emptying into the Bay of Bengal through its extensive network of tributaries.Measuring up to 312,812 km2 (120,777 sq mi), it forms one of the largest river basins in the Indian subcontinent, with only the Ganga and Indus rivers having a larger drainage basin. In terms of length, catchment area and discharge, the Godavari is the largest in peninsular India, and had been dubbed as the Vridha Ganga.
- The river has been revered in Hindu scriptures for many millennia and continues to harbour and nourish a rich cultural heritage. In the past few decades, the river has been barricaded by a number of barrages and dams, restricting its flow. The river delta supports 729 persons/km2 – nearly twice the density average for the nation, and has been categorized as having substantial to greater risk of flooding with rising sea levels
7.Odisha delta site is 3,600 years old
(GS-1)- The Archaeological Survey of India, which had discovered ancient artefacts and grain during excavations at Bharati Huda in Jallarpur village in Odisha’s Cuttack district last year, said a rural settlement had thrived at the site about 3600 years ago.
- The age of the settlement was arrived at after radiocarbon dating of charcoal samples found at the site by the Inter University Accelerator Centre (IUAC) in New Delhi using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS).
- The IUAC report says the charcoal samples found in Layer three of the excavation dated backed to 1072 BCE, Layer 4 to 1099 BCE, Layer 5 to 1269 BCE and Layer 7 to 1404 BCE. Radiocarbon ages were calibrated using Oxcal software and median ages are utilized in this report. Scientific study of two more layers could push the age back by another 100 years.
- On the basis of this evidence, we believe the antiquity of Sun worship dated back to 1099 BCE in the Prachi valley. Devotees from different parts of Odisha as well as the neighbouring States congregated at Chandrabhaga on the shore of the Bay of Bengal on the occasion of Magha Saptami to pay homage to Sun God,”
- The world famous Sun temple of Konark, located some 30 kilometres from the excavation, was built in the 13th century CE. The tradition of Sun worship seems to have evolved with human settlements in the region, Mr. Garnayak suggested.
- Archaeological Survey of India:
- The Archaeological Survey of India is an Indian government agency attached to the Ministry of Culture that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexander Cunningham who also became its first Director-General.
- Founder: Alexander Cunningham
- Founded: 1861
- Headquarters: New Delhi
- Inter University Accelerator Centre (IUAC):
- The basic objective of Inter-University Accelerator Centre (IUAC) is to provide front ranking accelerator based research facilities to create possibilities for internationally competitive research within the university system. The Centre has been playing a very special role of a research institute within the University system where the scientific and technical staff have dual responsibilities of facilitating research for a large user community as well conducting their own research. Emphasis is put on encouraging group activities and sharing of the facilities at the Centre in synergy with those existing elsewhere. The Centre has established sophisticated accelerator systems and experimental facilities in project mode involving several universities for internationally competitive research in the areas of Nuclear Physics, Materials Science, Atomic Physics, Radiation Biology, Radiation Physics and Accelerator Mass Spectrometry.
- Prachi valley:
- The Prachi River is considered the holiest river in the Orissa region and originates from the river Kuakhai which is a tributary of river Mahanadi. It flows through Puri, Khurda, Cuttack and Jagatsinghpur districts, and this region is called the Prachi Valley. Archaeological evidence shows the Prachi Valley Civilisation predates both Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, Prachi Valley is believed to be the birth place of Vaishnavism in Odisha. The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage has launched a project to document the monuments of Prachi Valley in Odisha, where a civilisation believed to be earlier than that of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, flourished on the banks of a river.
- Sun temple of Konark:
- Konark Sun Temple is a 13th-century CE sun temple at Konark about 35 kilometres northeast from Puri on the coastline of Odisha, India. The temple is attributed to king Narasingha deva I of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty about 1250 CE
8.U.S. bans Air India’s ground handling
(GS-2)- CONTEXT:The United States has banned Air India from carrying out ground handling operations on its own at all five airports in the country connected by the airline. The decision is not expected to affect the national carrier’s operations.
- ground handling :
- In aviation, aircraft ground handling defines the servicing of an aircraft while it is on the ground and (usually) parked at a terminal gate of an airport.
- These regulations however, disregarded the Air Service Agreement signed between the two countries in 2005. As per the agreement, “each designated airline shall have the right to perform its own ground-handling in the territory of the other Party (self-handling), or, at its option, select among competing agents for such services in whole or in part. The right shall be subject only to physical constraints resulting from considerations of airport safety.”

SOURCE:THE HINDU
9.India protests over UN chief’s report
(GS-2)- CONTEXT:In the “Annual Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict”, released on Tuesday, Mr. Guterres said children continued to be affected by incidents of violence between armed groups and the government “particularly in Jammu and Kashmir and in the context of the Naxalite insurgency”.
- India has strongly expressed its disappointment over UN chief Antonio Guterres for including in a recent report situations in India that are neither armed conflicts nor a threat to international security, and said such attempts to expand mandate in a selective manner to certain situations only politicises the agenda.
- The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization tasked with maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations, achieving international co-operation, and being a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations.
- The United Nations General Assembly is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, the only one in which all member nations have equal representation, and the main deliberative, policy-making, and representative organ of the UN
10.NPR data to be collected in a year
(GS-2)- CONTEXT:The next round of recording biometric and family tree details of Indian citizens under the National Population Register (NPR) will be conducted in September 2020, a government notification said.
- The exercise is different from the decennial Census and is not linked to the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The objective of the NPR is to create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country. The database would contain demographic as well as biometric particulars
- National Population Register (NPR) :
- The National Population Register (NPR) is a file of the identities of all Indian populations. The data for the formation of the NPR was gathered in the General Census carried out between April and September 2010. The record is upheld by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. The Indian government is also making a National Register of Indian Citizens, a subsection of the National Population Register.
- The aim for NPR is nearly the similar as for Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which issues Aadhaar cards. It is to increase the implementation of the economic policies and various programs of government.
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