Current Affairs 06-07-2020

Phobos

What is in news?

The Mars Colour Camera (MCC) onboard ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) has captured the image of Phobos.

About:

• Phobos is the closest and biggest moon of Mars.

• Phobos is nearing Mars at a rate of six feet every hundred years; at that rate, it will either crash into Mars in 50 million years or break up into a ring.

• Its most prominent feature is the 6-mile crater Stickney, its impact causing streak patterns across the moon's surface. Stickney, the largest crater on Phobos along with the other craters are also seen in the image captured by ISRO’s MOM.

• Phobos is largely believed to be made up of carbonaceous chondrites.

ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM)?

• In 2014, ISRO successfully placed the Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft in orbit around the red planet, in its very first attempt, thus breaking into an elite club.

• The mission also known as Mangalyaan was initially meant to last six months, but subsequently ISRO had said it had enough fuel for it to last "many years."

• The Mars Orbiter has five scientific instruments - Lyman Alpha Photometer (LAP), Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM), Mars Exospheric Neutral Composition Analyser (MENCA), Mars Colour Camera (MCC) and Thermal Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (TIS).

Miyawaki method

What is in news?

Union Environment Minister inaugurated a unique urban forest at the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in New Delhi.

About:

• This would be a dense urban forest with multiple tree layers including 12000 saplings of 59 indigenous species in another year or so.

• The Miyawaki method of forest creation is employed which could help in reducing the temperature by as much as 14 degree & increase the moisture by more than 40%.

• Recently on the occasion of World Environment Day, the government announced implementation of the Nagar van scheme to develop 200 Urban Forests across the country in next five years with a renewed focus on people’s participation and collaboration between Forest Department, Municipal bodies, NGOs, Corporates and local citizens.

Miyawaki method of forest creation?

• Miyawaki is a technique pioneered by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki (born 1928), that helps build dense, native forests. The approach is supposed to ensure that plant growth is 10 times faster and the resulting plantation is 30 times denser than usual.

• It involves planting dozens of native species in the same area, and becomes maintenance-free after the first three years.

Sanskrit saptahiki

What is in news?

All India Radio has started the broadcast of its first ever news magazine programme in Sanskrit.

Sanskrit Saptahiki:

• The programme titled, 'Sanskrit Saptahiki' will be of 20 minutes duration and can be heard at 7.10 A.M on every Saturday on All India Radio FM News Channel, 100.1 MHz frequency with a repeat broadcast at the same time on Sundays.

• The weekly programme will have elements from the prominent developments of the week, news from the world of Sanskrit, explaining the humane values enshrined in Sanskrit literature, philosophy, history, art, culture and tradition.

Vaartavali?

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently congratulated Sanskrit News Magazine ‘Vaartavali’ on completion of its five years of continuous broadcast on DD News.

Farmers’ Producer Organizations (FPOS)

What is in news?

Union Agriculture Minister announced that rural sector will be transformed by constitution of 10,000 new Farmers’ Producer Organizations (FPOs).

About:

• This is a produce cluster based scheme. The FPOs will be managed in such a way that these farmers get access to technological inputs, finances, and better markets and prices for their crops

• In the beginning, the minimum number of members in the FPOs will be 300 in the plains and 100 in the North-East and hilly areas. 15 % of the FPOs are to be constituted in aspirational districts, and will be formed on priority basis in scheduled tribal areas.

• All FPOs will be provided professional support and handholding for five years.

• This is a central scheme, whose total budget is Rs. 6,865 crores.

• It will be implemented through agencies like NABARD, SFAC and NCDC. There will be credit guarantee fund with NABARD and NCDC, under which suitable credit guarantee up to two crore rupees per FPO will be provided.

Background?

• In the Budget 2020-21, there is a proposal to adopt cluster approach for horticultural produce through “One district – One Product” scheme so as to give a fillip to value addition, marketing and exports.

Unlawful activities prevention act (UAPA)

What is in news?

The Union Home Ministry designated nine more individuals as “terrorists” under the amended anti-terror law that was passed by Parliament last year. The nine persons declared terrorists are linked to separatist Khalistani groups that seek to establish a separate country for the Sikhs.

About:

• The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) was enacted in 1967.

• The 2004 amendment was to ban organisations for terrorist activities, under which 34 outfits, including the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad, were banned.

• The 2019 amendment gave the Home Ministry the power to designate individuals as terrorists.

• Earlier, in September 2019, the four individuals to be first designated as terrorists were JeM chief Masood Azhar, LeT’s Hafiz Saeed, his deputy Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who planned and executed the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts.

• The Opposition parties had raised concerns in Parliament that the 2019 amendment could be misused against political opponents and civil society activists.

• However Home Minister had said in Rajya Sabha that “it was important to identify terrorists and not just organisations”. The designations are also in alignment with laws in European Union (EU) countries, the U.S.A., China, Israel and even Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

ARTICLE 164 (1A)

What is in news?

Congress Party has alleged that the strength of the Council of Ministers in Madhya Pradesh exceeds the prescribed limit and is in violation of the Constitution-prescribed strength.

About:

• It alleged that the BJP government had violated Article 164 (1A) of the Constitution that prescribed, “The total number of Ministers, including the Chief Minister, in the Council of Ministers in a State shall not exceed 15% of the total number of members of the Legislative Assembly of that State.”

• With an Assembly strength of 206, the strength of the Council of Ministers shouldn’t have exceeded 30. The appointment of 34 Ministers, including Mr. Chouhan, is in violation of Constitutional rules.

Private sector in railways

What is in news?

Indian Railways has launched the process of opening up train operations to private entities on 109 Origin Destination (OD) pairs of routes using 151 modern trains.

About:

• It has invited Request for Qualifications proposals, for scrutiny of vendor capabilities, from those who can bring modern trains for operations on existing rail infrastructure. The Railway Board has set a tentative schedule for private train operations, expected to begin in 2023 and in 12 clusters.

• The present invitation for private operators to submit qualification bids for 151 trains would be, in the assessment of the Railway Board, only for a fraction of the total train operations — 5% of the 2,800 Mail and Express services operated by Indian Railways.

Tejas trains

• Earlier, in 2019, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC), in which the government is the majority shareholder, was given pilot Tejas trains operations in the New Delhi-Lucknow, and Mumbai-Ahmedabad sectors. These were the first trains allowed to be run by a ‘non-Railway’ operator.

• The present move takes another step towards competing passenger train operations, bringing new-generation trains and attracting investments of an estimated ₹30,000 crore.

Bibek Debroy committee?

• In 2015, the expert panel chaired by Bibek Debroy constituted by the Ministry of Railways, recommended that the way forward for the railways was “liberalisation and not privatisation” in order to allow entry of new operators “to encourage growth and improve services.”

2017 International Comparison Program (ICP)

What is in news?

The World Bank has released new Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) for reference year 2017, under International Comparison Program (ICP), that adjust for differences in the cost of living across economies of the World. Globally 176 economies participated in 2017 cycle of ICP.

About:

• The International Comparison Program (ICP) is the largest worldwide data-collection initiative, under the guidance of UN Statistical Commission (UNSC), with the goal of producing PPPs which are vital for converting measures of economic activities to be comparable across economies.

• Along with the PPPs, the ICP also produces Price Level Indices (PLI) and other regionally comparable aggregates of GDP expenditure.

• India has participated in almost all ICP rounds since its inception in 1970. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation is National Implementing Agency (NIA) for India, which has the responsibility of planning, coordinating and implementing national ICP activities.

Worldwide Status of India:

• The Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) of Indian Rupee per US$ at Gross Domestic Product (GDP) level is now 20.65 in 2017 from 15.55 in 2011.

• The Exchange Rate of US Dollar to Indian Rupee is now 65.12 from 46.67 during same period.

• The Price Level Index (PLI) – the ratio of a PPP to its corresponding market exchange rate, which is used to compare the price levels of economies – improved to 47.55 in 2017 from 42.99 in 2011.

• In 2017, India retained its global position as the third largest economy, accounted for 6.7 % ($8,051 billion out of World total of $119,547 billion) of global GDP in terms of PPPs as against China (16.4 %) and United States (16.3 %), respectively.

• India is also third largest economy in terms of its PPP-based share in global Actual Individual Consumption and Global Gross Capital Formation.

Regional Status of India: Asia-Pacific Region :

• In 2017, India retained its regional position, as the second-largest economy, accounted for 20.83 % of the regional GDP in terms of PPPs where China was at 50.76 % (first) and Indonesia at 7.49 % (third).

• India is also the second-largest economy in terms of its PPP-based share in regional actual individual consumption and regional gross capital formation.