Daily Current Affairs :  01-12-2020

Table of Contents :

1. Organisation of Islamic Cooperation(OIC)
2. Climate emergency
3. Reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) Technology
4. Artificial Intelligence and Robotic Technology park (ARTPARK)
5. GITA - Global Innovation and Technology Alliance
6. Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS)
7. NEOM-The city of the  Prince
8. Guru Nanak Jayanti
9. World Trade Report (WTR) Report released by World Trade Organization (WTO)
10. World Trade Organization (WTO) 

1.Organisation of Islamic Cooperation(OIC)

• India recently 'strongly rejected the criticism of its Kashmir policy by the OIC.
• OIC, established in 1969 Is an inter-governmental organization consisting of 57 member states, with an aim to safeguard the interests of Muslims all over the world.
• It has 11observers which include the United Nations, European Union, Cyprus, Thailand, Bosnia, Russia, etc.
• It is the second-largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations.
• India is neither an observer nor a member to OIC.

Source: The Hindu

2.Climate emergency

• Greenpeace New Zealand is urging the New Zealand government to declare a climate emergency due to catastrophic loss of life and people facing more extreme weather events due to climate change.
• Oxford defines a Climate emergency as a situation in which urgent action is required to reduce/halt climate change and avoid potentially irreversible environmental damage resulting from it.
• Recently the Japanese lawmakers declared a climate emergency. Under the climate emergency, they have framed a timetable for net-zero emissions.

Source: The Hindu

3.Reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) Technology

• LAMP technology has been recently validated by the Indian Council of Medical Research with sensitivity 98.7% and specificity 100%.
• It is a new technology for detecting COVID-19 involving one-step nucleic acid amplification on a method to multiply specific sequences of RNA of the coronavirus.
• LAMP technology has an advantage over RT-PCR technology.
• RT-PCR test needs different temperatures in one cycle while RT-LAMP technology is done at 65 degrees Celsius, where the DNA amplification is done at a constant temperature (isothermal}.

Source: The Hindu

4. Artificial Intelligence and Robotic Technology park (ARTPARK)

• It was recently set up in Bengaluru.
• It is a unique not-for-profit foundation established by the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru with support from Al Foundry in a public-private model.
• It aims to leverage Al & Robotics to bring a better quality of life by lowering the cost of living with Al and robotics and improving access to Al awareness, education, and enablement.
• It receives seed funding from the Department of Science and Technology under the National Mission on Inter-disciplinary  Cyber-PhysicalSystems.

Source: The Hindu

5.GITA - Global Innovation and Technology Alliance

• 9th Foundation Day of GITA was celebrated with the theme 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' (Self-Reliant India)
• It is a joint venture between the Confederation of Indian Industry (Cll) and the Technology Development Board (TDB) of the Department of Science & Technology (DST).
• GITA platform encourages industrial investments in innovative technology solutions by Mapping technology gaps; Facilitating techno-strategic collaborative partnerships appropriate for the Indian economy; Providing soft funding for technology development, etc.

Source: The Hindu

6.Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS)

• Recently, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports added eight para-athletes to TOPS.
• TOPS is a flagship program that attempts to provide assistance to India's top athletes by giving a premium to the preparations of these athletes so that they can win Olympic medals in the 2020 and 2024 Olympics.
• Under the Scheme, the Department of Sports identifies athletes who are potential medal winners in2020 I 2024 Olympics.

Source: The Hindu

7.NEOM-The city of the  Prince

• Neom is the futuristic megacity of Saudi Arabia.
• The city opens into the red sea.
• Once completed the city will be completely powered with green hydrogen fuel.
• World's largest green hydrogen power is being established in the city.

Source: The Hindu

8.Guru Nanak Jayanti

• He is the first of 1o Sikh Gurus and the founder of Sikhism.
• He advocated 'Nirguna' (devotion to and worship of formless divine) form of bhakti.
• He gave the basic mantra of 'Ek Onkar'to his followers and insisted on treating all human beings equally, without discriminating on the basis of caste, creed and gender.

Source: The Hindu

9.World Trade Report (WTR) Report released by the World Trade Organization (WTO)

• WTR is an annual publication that aims to deepen understanding of trends in trade, trade policy issues, and the multilateral trading system.
• WTR 2020 looks at the role of innovation and technology policies in an increasingly digitalized world economy and explains the role of the WTO in this changing context.

Key Highlights of Report

• In the digital age, a growing number of governments are adopting policies aimed at boosting growth through innovation and technological upgrading.
• In India, the 'Digital India 'initiative aims to vastly expand the digital infrastructure and digitally empower the citizens.
• Report warns the transition towards the digital economy can have positive spillovers & negative spillovers.
• Positive spillovers: generating growth, creating new markets, and encouraging technology diffusion.
• 77 Negative spillovers: distorting trade, diverting investment, or promoting unfair competition with the winner-takes-all characteristics of certain digital industries.
• COVI0- 19 pandemic is likely to accelerate the shift to digital platforms and technologies sign defiantly.
• Recommendation: WTR recommends new policies such as collaborative research and development support, knowledge diffusion through agglomeration, technological hubs, data policies, etc., instead of the more conventional policies focused on tariffs, investment, and tax incentives.

Source: The Hindu

10.World Trade Organization (WTO) 

• At Geneva, WTO members are seeking to reach an agreement on prohibiting 'harmful' fisheries subsidies estimated at $14billion-$20.Billion annually that lead to overfishing and depletion of fish stocks worldwide.
• Negotiations' objective is to discipline subsidies and have sustainable fishing to curb IUU (illegal, unreported, and unregulated) fishing.
• Negotiations were first launched in 2001 at the Doha Ministerial Conference.
• However, the deadlock has occurred over the issue of special and differential treatment {S&DT) concessions for developing countries on fisheries subsidies.
• S&DT provides several flexibilities for developing countries, such as longer time periods for implementing agreements and commitments, lower levels of commitment and measures to increase trading opportunities.
• Developed countries argue S&DT should not be provided to all developing countries and least developed countries (LDCs) but should be allowed following a needs-based approach.
• Developing countries including India stated that as per UN Sustainable Development Goals, effective S&DT is an integral part of WTO fisheries subsidies negotiation.
• Earlier, India had proposed that developing countries with gross national incomes below $5,000 per annum should be exempted from the need to take on commitments for fishery subsidy cuts.

Source: The Hindu

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