About:

• Background:
  • The move comes in the wake of sexual abuse of more than 30 girls in a shelter home in Muzaffarpur in Bihar. Subsequently, The Supreme Court asked the Centre to consider framing a national policy on protection of children.
    
    
  • This will be the first policy dedicated to the protection of children, an area that until now was only a part of the broader National Child Policy, 2013.
    
    
  
  
  
• Salient Provisions of the Policy:
  • The policy will apply to “all institutions, and organisations (including corporate and media houses), government or private sector”.
    
    
  • All organisations must have a code of conduct based on “zero tolerance of child abuse and exploitation”.
    
    
  • Organisations must lay down that employees don’t use language or behaviour that is “inappropriate, sexually provocative or culturally inappropriate”.
    
    
  • Institutions should also designate a staff member to ensure that procedures are in place to ensure the protection of children.
    
    
  • Any individual who suspects physical, sexual or emotional abuse must report it to the helpline number 1098, police or a child welfare committee.
    
    
  
  
  
• Areas not covered by draft policy: Unlike the National Child Policy, 2013, the draft policy doesn’t talk about –
  • children who may need additional protection measures: including those affected by migration, communal violence, begging or HIV/AIDS.
    
    
  • the role of the state for ensuring the protection of child rights or addressing local grievances.
    
    
  
  
  

About: 

• GFI India is looking for ₹50 crore-worth of funding to set up a lab at ICT by the end of 2019, and also build a greenfield facility for the research centre in the next two years. By early 2020, it expects to begin offering taste tests of meat grown in the lab from samples of animal tissue. 
  
  
• Timeline: 
  • Churchill’s prediction: “We shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing, by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium,” wrote Churchill, in his 1931 essay Fifty Years Hence. 
    
    
  • The first government-funded research on this kind of lab-grown meat began in the Netherlands in 2005, and culminated in 2013, when the first cell-cultured hamburger was cooked and tasted live in London. 
    
    
  • Mark Post, the Dutch pharmacologist behind the development of that burger, went on to co-found a company named Mosa Meat to develop commercial production methods to bring cell-based meat to the dining table at more affordable prices. 
    
    
  
  
  

Analysis: 

• Benefits: 
  • The meat is slaughter-free and aims to bypass the problems of modern factory-farming, whether the objections of cruelty to animals, infections of salmonella and e coli, or meat injected with multiple doses of antibiotics. 
    
    
  • Environmentally, it’s a far more efficient production process when it comes to land use and water use. 
    
    
  • The research centre can create products not only for the ₹20,000-crore Indian meat sector, but also the trillion-dollar international market. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Challenges: 
  • The science is still a work in progress, especially the effort to find a suitable serum and a cell culture medium which are stable, standardised and not dependent on live animal products. 
    
    
  • There needs to be a regulatory framework in place to test, regulate and label such foods. Initial discussions have been held with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. 
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• Background: Government of India formulated a scheme for awarding Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) at the National and State Levels in the year 2000-2001.
  
  
• Objective: The awards are given annually to motivate the AWWs and recognise their exemplary service in the field of child development and related areas under the ICDS Scheme. 
  
  
• Cash prize:
  • The Award at the National Level comprises of a cash prize of Rs. 50,000 and a citation.
    
    
  • State Level award comprises of a cash prize of Rs. 10,000 and a citation. 
    
    
  
  
  

Women’s reservation in Legislatures (India): 

• According to UN Women, the real, transformative progress can only be achieved if women are equal partners in decision making. 
  
  
• In November 2018, the Odisha Assembly passed a resolution for providing 33% reservation for women in Legislative Assemblies and Parliament. 
  
  
• The resolution chief minister’s move came at a time when the Women’s Reservation Bill or the Constitution (108th amendment) Bill is pending before the parliament. The Rajya Sabha had passed the bill in 2010. 
  
  
• Of the 543 legislators elected in the 2014 general elections, only 62 were women, according to PRS Legislative. This is marginally higher than the 58 women who were elected to the 15th Lok Sabha in 2009. 
  
  

About:

• AMF TCP is an international platform for co-operation among countries to promote cleaner and more energy efficient fuels & vehicle technologies.
  
  
• AMF TCP works under the framework of International Energy Agency (IEA) to which India has "Association" status since March, 2017.
  
  
• The activities of AMF TCP relate to R&D, deployment and dissemination of Advanced Motor Fuels and looks upon the transport fuel issues in a systemic way taking into account the production, distribution and end use related aspects.
  
  

India and AMF TCP:

• Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India joined AMF TCP as its 16^th member in May, 2018.
  
  
• The other member Countries of AMF TCP are USA, China, Japan, Canada, Chile, Israel, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Spain, Republic of Korea, Switzerland and Thailand.
  
  
• Benefits of its membership:
  • The primary goal of joining AMF TCP is to facilitate the market introduction of Advanced motor fuels/Alternate fuels with an aim to bring-down emissions and achieve higher fuel efficiency in transport sector.
    
    
  • AMF TCP also provides an opportunity for fuel analysis, identifying new/ alternate fuels for deployment in transport sector and allied R&D activities for reduction in emissions in fuel intensive sectors.
    
    
  
  
  

Note to readers: This topic was originally published in The Hindu on November 4, 2018. Since it was not covered in the News ‘Recitals’ of that day, so we are covering it today.

About:

• Under the ban, “reef-toxic” sunscreen — defined as containing one of 10 prohibited chemicals, a list that could grow later — can be confiscated from tourists when they enter the country, and retailers who sell it can be fined up to $1,000.
  
  
• The ban will take effect in
  
  
• Reason for ban:
  • An estimated 14,000 tonnes of sunscreen lotion ends up in the world’s oceans annually through sewer systems or washes off swimmers.
    
    
  • Chemicals in sunscreen can cause localized coral bleaching and can disrupt the reproduction of fish by interfering with their hormonal systems.
    
    
  • A 2015 study found that oxybenzone in sunscreen stunts coral growth and is toxic for the algae that live within reefs.
    
    
  • A major impetus for the ban was a 2017 report that found sunscreen products to be “widespread” in Jellyfish Lake, one of the country’s UNESCO World Heritage sites.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• Agencies involved: Jal Bachao, Video Banao, Puraskar Pao contest was launched by the Ministry of Water Resources in collaboration with the MyGov portal of the Government of India.
  
  
• Objective: Spreading awareness about water conservation.
  
  
• Programme Detail:
  • Any Indian citizen can participate in the contest.
    
    
  • He or she needs to shoot an ‘original video’ capturing the significant contributions and best practices in the field of Water Conservation.
    
    
  • Three winners will be chosen every fortnight till the 4th of November this year. The winners will be given prize amount of Rs 25,000/, Rs 15,000/- and Rs 10,000/- respectively.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• The Women Transforming India Awards were instituted to recognise and celebrate stories of exemplary women from across India.
  
  
• Theme for 2018: This year’s theme is “Women and Entrepreneurship”.
  
  
• List of awardees: 15 winners have been chosen from sectors such as Renewable Energy, Education, Sanitation, Art and Culture, Social Innovation and Impact to name a few. These are –
  
  

About:

• Parent Ministry:
  • CRS works under the administrative control of the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
    
    
  • It has been done so as to ensure that an independent authority not reporting to Ministry of Railways can inquiry in matter of Railway Safety.
    
    
  
  
  
• Mandate: It is the rail safety authority in India and performs the following key duties –
  • Inspects new railways to determine whether they are fit for operation
    
    
  • To make periodical inspections of any railway or of any rolling stock
    
    
  • To inquire under this Act into the cause of any accident on a Railway;
    
    
  
  
  
• Legal Backing: The Commission functions according to rules framed under the Railways Act, 1989 and executive instructions issued from time to time.
  
  
• HQ: Its head office is in the North-East Railway Compound in Lucknow.
  
  
• Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety (CCRS): The Commission is headed by a CCRS, who acts as Principal Technical Advisor to the Central Government in all matters pertaining to railway safety.
  
  

About:

• Rani Mistri is a skilled woman mason in Jharkhand.
  
  
• Over the last year, Jharkhand government has trained around 55,000 women masons to build toilets and bathrooms. This was done through the State’s 1.5 lakh women’s self-help groups (SHGs).
  
  
• In last one year, these trained women masons in Jharkhand have built over 15 lakh toilets and became a crucial part of the State’s achievement of Open Defecation Free (ODF) status under the Swachh Bharat Mission in November 2018.
  
  
• The rani mistri training drive was meant to solve a problem slowing the State’s progress in the Swachh Bharat Mission that aims to give toilet access to every household and eliminate open defecation by October 2019.
  
  

About:

• Timeline:
  • A new Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme for the Middle-Income Group (CLSS for MIG) was announced by Prime Minister in 2016.
    
    
  • It was launched originally for 12 months till 31.12.2017.
    
    
  • In 2017, the scheme was extended upto 31.03.2019 and now it has been extended by another 12 months i.e. till 31.03.2020.
    
    
  
  
  
• Salient features of scheme:
  • The scheme was announced to meet the aspirations of young professionals and entrepreneurs of Middle-Class Segment.
    
    
  • The scheme covers Beneficiaries of MIG seeking housing loans for acquisition/ construction of houses (including re-purchase) from Banks, Housing Finance Companies and other such notified institutions.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

In 2017, NITI Aayog set up 5 Working Groups (WGs) to prepare a roadmap for sustainable development in Himalayas which submitted their reports recently.

Other Recommendations:

• Set up a Himalayan Authority for holistic development of entire Himalayan region and
  
  
• Launch “Himalaya Calling”: An Awareness to Action Campaign as people’s movement.
  
  

About:

• The Kanchenjunga Landscape is a trans-boundary region spread across Nepal, India and Bhutan.
  
  
• The landscape stretches along the southern side of Mount Kanchenjunga covers an area of 25,080 sq km spread across parts of
  • Eastern Nepal (21%),
    
    
  • Sikkim and West Bengal (56%) and
    
    
  • western & South-western Bhutan (23%).
    
    
  
  
  

Recent development:

• The developments comes up after forest officials and representatives of NGOs of the three countries visited parts of the landscape and later held a meeting at Siliguri in north Bengal earlier this month.
  
  
• Setting up of a joint task force was a key requirement to achieve the objectives of free movement of wildlife and checking smuggling of wildlife.
  
  
• According to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), 1,118 sq km of riverine grassland and tree cover were lost in the landscape between 2000 and 2010. 74 % of the area was converted into rangeland and 26% to agricultural land.
  
  

Participle physics: Basics

• Elementary Particle: An elementary particle is a particle that is not made up of any smaller particles. All the other particles and matter in the universe are made up of elementary particles.
  
  
• There are two main categories of elementary particles: fermions (matter particles) and bosons (force-carrying particles).
  
  
• Fermions: Fermions are the matter particles. All matter is made up fermions. Fermions are divided into two types of particles: quarks and leptons.
  
  
• Quarks: Quarks are the basic building blocks for protons and neutrons. There are six types of quarks namely: up, down, charm, strange, top, and
  
  

Bottom Quarks:

• The bottom quark or b quark, also known as the beauty quark.
  
  
• It has exceptionally low rates of transition to lower-mass quarks.
  • It is a product in almost all top quark decays, and is a frequent decay product of the Higgs boson.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• The report on back series data on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been prepared by the Committee on Real Sector Statistics (chaired by Sudipto Mundle) which was constituted by the National Statistical Commission.
  
  
• Change in the base year to 2011-12 for calculation of national accounts made past data incomparable. That’s why the report compares growth rates between old series (2004-05) and new series based on 2011-12 prices.
  
  

Findings:

• The Indian economy recorded a 10.08% growth rate in 2006-07, the only instance of double digits growth since liberalisation of the economy in 1991.
  • As per the old series (2004-05), the economy grew at 9.57% during 2006-07.
    
    
  • As per the new series (2011-12), the economy grew at 10.08%.
    
    
  
  
  
• The highest ever growth rate since Independence was recorded at 10.2% in 1988-89 when Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister.
  
  
• The Indian economy grew at a faster rate during UPA govt. tenure (between 2004-05 and 2013-14) as compared to the first four years of the NDA govt.
  • The average economic growth rate was 8.87 % during the first term (2004-05 to 2008-09) of the UPA govt., which fell to 7.39 % during its second term (2009-10 to 2013-14).
    
    
  • In contrast, the average growth rate in first four years of the NDA govt. was recorded at 7.35 per cent (2014-15 to 2017-18).
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• National Energy Conservation Day is celebrated every year on 14^th December by Ministry of Power in association with Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE).
  
  
• In order to recognise the efforts of industry and other establishments towards promoting energy efficiency, on this Day, Ministry of Power organizes National Energy Conservation Awards event every year.
  
  
• On this occasion 26 industrial units from various sectors were given awards for their excellent performance in energy efficiency.
  
  

Appointment Procedure:

• Article 124(3) of the constitution mentions the following people as eligible to become a Supreme Court (SC) Judge:
  • A High Court (HC) judge who has held that post for 5 years or more.
    
    
  • An advocate who has practiced in the HC/SC for 10 years or more.
    
    
  • A distinguished Jurist (no judge appointed on this basis till date).
    
    
  
  
  
• Article 124(2) says that the President of India Shall appoint the judges after consultation with such number of Judges of the SC/HC as he deems necessary. For appointment of any Judge of SC (other than CJI), the CJI must be consulted.
  
  
• The three Judges case of 1981, 1993 & 1998 has formalised the collegium system for the purpose of consultation.
  • The collegium for appointing SC judge consists of the CJI and 4 senior-most judges of SC.
    
    
  • Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) was set up after the Third Judge Case of 1998 to provide the process of how the Collegium would recommend names to the Executive.
    
    
  
  
  
• The President of India can either accept the recommendation or send it back for reconsideration. The reconsidered advice must be accepted by the President.
  
  

About:

• National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR) has released a report titled “National Assessment of Shoreline Changes along Indian coast”.
  
  
• In this, it mapped the shoreline changes along the Indian coast for the last 26 years.
  
  
• Key findings:
  • The Indian mainland has lost about 234.25sq. km of land to the sea from 1990 to 2016. West Bengal lost maximum land of 99.05sq. km during the period
    
    
  • While 33% of the coast was under erosion, only 29% was accreting (growing) and 38% was in stable state.
    
    
  • Eastern coast underwent more erosion due to frequent cyclonic activities from Bay of Bengal in past 3 decades, compared to the western coast, which remained largely stable.
    
    
  • Coastlines of West Bengal (63%) and Puducherry (57%) are most-vulnerable to erosion, followed by Kerala and Tamil Nadu at 45% and 41%, respectively.
    
    
  • Odisha on the eastern coast is the only state where the coast witnessed expansion of more than 50%.
    
    
  
  
  
• Comment: Changing shorelines not only threaten the coastal infrastructure and cause potential loss to the economy, but could also impact the fishing industry.
  
  

About:

• Location: It is located at Morangi, Golaghat district, Assam along the NH-37.
  
  
• Ownership: The refinery is owned by Numaligarh Refinery Limited, a joint venture between Bharat Petroleum (61.65%), Oil India (26%) and Govt. of Assam (12.35%).
  
  
• Recent development:
  • The CCEA has decided to expand the capacity of Numaligarh Refinery to 9 Million Metric Tonne Per Annum (MMTPA) from 3 MMTPA.
    
    
  • It involves setting up of crude oil pipeline from Paradip to Numaligarh and petroleum product pipeline from Numaligarh to Siliguri at a cost of over Rs. 22,000 crore.
    
    
  • The project will be completed within a period of 48 months.
    
    
  • Benefits: This decision is a part of the Government's Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 for the North East.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

It discusses a range of provisions within all family laws, secular or personal, and suggests a number of changes to in the form of potential amendments and fresh enactments.

View of consultation paper on following areas:

• Uniform Civil Code (UCC):
  • UCC is neither necessary nor desirable at this stage. Cultural diversity cannot be compromised for achieving uniformity and on the name of secularism.
    
    
  • Instead of UCC, codify all personal laws so as to remove the prejudices in them.
    
    
  
  
  
• Age of Marriage: Fix the marriageable age for boys and girls at 18 years so that they marry as equals and to remove the stereotype that wives must be younger than their husbands.
  
  
• Divorce:
  • Introduce new grounds for ‘no fault’ divorce accompanied by corresponding changes to provisions on alimony and maintenance.
    
    
  • Upon divorce, a woman should get an equal part of the property gained after marriage.
    
    
  
  
  
• Under Muslim law the paper suggests the following:
  • Nikahnamas should make it clear that polygamy is a criminal offence and this should apply to “all communities.
    
    
  • Reform inheritance law by codifying Muslim law on inheritance, but ensuring that the codified law is gender just.
    
    
  
  
  
• Adoption: Expand the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2015, to make it into a robust secular law that can be accessed by individuals of all communities for adoption.
  
  

About:

• Full name: UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
  
  
• Type of Body: It is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN).
  
  
• Objective:
  • It seeks to build peace through international cooperation in Education, the Sciences and Culture.
    
    
  • UNESCO's programmes contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals defined in Agenda 2030, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015.
    
    
  
  
  
• Established in: It is the successor of the League of Nations' International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation.
  
  
• Membership: As of January 2019, UNESCO has 193-member states and 11 associate members. The United States and Israel left UNESCO on 31 December 2018.
  
  
• HQ:
  
  
• Present Directors-General of UNESCO: Audrey Azoulay (France). She was appointed in 2017, thus becoming the second female leader of the organization.
  
  
• UNESCO is a member of the United Nations Development Group.
  
  

Action Plan to Salvage Sunk Loans 
Capital adequacy ratio determines the quantum of loan a bank can disburse at a given level of capital (i.e, equity and free reserves). A bank has to live with a string of business restrictions if its capital adequacy slips below the floor set by the regulator.

“A lower risk weights on IBC companies should be an acceptable regulation — simply because initiating corporate insolvency is a step towards resolution of NPAs (non-performing assets),” said a senior banker

About:

• Objective: Improving the research ecosystem of India’s higher educational institutions by facilitating academic and research collaborations between Indian Institutions and the best institutions in the world.
  
  
• Timeline: The Union Government in August 2018 had sanctioned the SPARC at a total cost of Rs.418 Cr for implementation up to 31.3.2020.
  
  
• implementing agency: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur is the National Coordinating Institute to implement the SPARC programme.
  
  
• Working: Under this Scheme, 600 joint research proposals will be awarded for 2 years to facilitate strong research collaboration between Indian and global research groups in areas that are at the cutting edge of science or with direct social relevance to the mankind.
  
  
• Eligibility:
  • Only such Indian institutes can apply which are in top 100 NIRF ranking or top 100 NIRF subject ranking.
    
    
  • For foreign universities the benchmark is either top 500 of QS ranking or top 200 of QS subject ranking.
    
    
  
  
  
• Salient Features of SPARC are :
  • A set of 5 Thrust Areas (Fundamental Research, Emergent Areas of Impact, Convergence, Action-Oriented Research and Innovation-Driven) and sub-theme areas in each thrust area has been identified for collaboration
    
    
  • A set of 25 Nodal Institutions (NI), from India, for each participating foreign country has been identified. The role of a NI is to coordinate with willing Participating Indian (PI) Institutions to forge alliance with the foreign Institutions for research collaboration.
    
    
  
  
  

About:

• The ‘Model Guest House’ located near the foothill of the Indrakeeladri is being developed for setting up the Gaming Garage.
  
  
• Facilities provided: Any creative thinker could walk into the Garage to develop a game of choice. The government would provide them with “the necessary software and infrastructure free of cost”. It would also encourage them in commercialising their product.
  
  
• Bodies involved: Companies such as the Unity Technologies, Denmark/San Francisco would provide the software. The Kajaani University of Applied Sciences (KAMK) of Finland would be knowledge/operational partner.
  
  

Comment on Gaming Industry:

• The gaming became an industry with crores of rupees turnover with the rapid development of computers and smartphone technologies.
  
  
• The Cabinet in April gave its nod to animations and visual effects, gaming and comics policy to attract the best from the sector and an investment of about ₹6,400 crore by 2020.
  
  

About:

• O-SMART is an acronym for “Ocean services, technology, observations, resources modelling and Science”.
  
  
• Implementing ministry: Ministry of Earth Sciences.
  
  
• Implementation Period of scheme: 2017-18 to 2019-20 at an overall cost of Rs.1623 crore.
  
  
• Areas covered: 16 sub-projects addressing ocean development activities such as Services, Technology, Resources, Observations and Science.
  
  
• Target activities during the next 2 years:
  • Strengthening of Ocean Observations and Modelling,
    
    
  • Strengthening of Ocean Services for Fishermen,
    
    
  • Setting up Marine Coastal Observatories for monitoring marine pollution in 2018,
    
    
  • Setting up Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Plant (OTEC) in Kavaratti,
    
    
  • Acquisition of 2 Coastal Research Vessels for Coastal research,
    
    
  • Continuation of Ocean Survey and Exploration of Minerals and Living Resources,
    
    
  • Technology Development for Deep Ocean Mining and
    
    
  • Setting up Six Desalination Plants in Lakshadweep.
    
    
  
  
  
• Significance/Impact of technologies developed under O-smart:
  • Providing economic benefits to communities involved in the coastal and ocean sectors, namely, fisheries, offshore industry, coastal states, Defence, Shipping, Ports etc.
    
    
  • Addressing issues relating to Sustainable Development Goal-14, which aims to conserve use of oceans, marine resources for sustainable development.
    
    
  • Implementation of various aspects of Blue Economy (for efficient use of the vast ocean resources in a sustainable way).
    
    
  • Dealing with ocean disasters like Tsunami, storm surges (with the help of Early Warning Systems established under the O-SMART Scheme).
    
    
  • Harnessing the vast ocean resources of both living and non-living resources from the seas around India.