About:
- The National Youth Parliament Festival (NYPF) is organised to hear the voice of the youth, who will join various careers in coming years, including public services.
- NYPF is based on the idea given by the Prime Minister in his Mann Ki Baat Address on 31st December, 2017.
- Taking inspiration from the idea, the 1st edition of NYPF was organised from 12th January to 27th February, 2019 with the theme “Be the Voice of New India and Find solutions and Contribute to Policy”.
- 2nd edition of NYPF was organized from 23rd December, 2020 to 12th January, 2022 with the theme “YUVAAH- Utsah Naye Bharat Ka” through virtual mode.
- 3rd edition of NYPF was launched on 14th February 2022 at District level through virtual mode.
About:
- The project envisages construction of 900-km roads to provide all-weather connectivity to four holy towns — Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath — in Uttarakhand.
- A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant accepted the resignation of Professor Ravi Chopra as Chairperson of the Committee after he wrote a letter in January wishing to relinquish his post.
- Chopra had earlier opposed the Centre’s demand for a 10-metre carriage way and insisted that it be limited to 5.5 metre keeping in mind environmental concerns.
- He also sought to link the broadening of the roads with last year’s flash floods on Dhauliganga river, which damaged Tapovan hydro project and led to loss of lives.
About:
- Sahitya Akademi president DR. Chandrashekhar Kambar gave away the awards to them and handed a cheque of one lakh rupees, a shawl and memento to each of them.
- Those awarded with the Sahitya Akademi Awards are- Eminent Assamese novelist Anuradha sarma for her novel- Iyat Ekhan Aronya Asil, Bengali writer Bratya Basu, Bodo Poet Dr. Devakanta Ramchiary, Dogri Fiction writer Raj Rahi, English writer Namita Gokhale, Gujrati Poet Yagnesh Dave, Hindi playwright Daya Prakash Sinha and many more.
- The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 24 major Indian languages recognised by it.
- It was established in 1954.
About:
- The functionality will provide important nudge to Elected Representatives and will help in timely implementation of the Scheme.
- SVAMITVA scheme uses the combination of Survey Grade Drones and CORS (Continuously Operated Reference Stations) network to accurately survey large areas in a very short span of time.
- The maps generated through the drone survey are of very high accuracy i.e. up to 5 cms which the conventional methodology does not provide.
About:
- The Ministers agreed to formally re-launch the negotiations for India-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and also consider an Interim Agreement or Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA) that could bring early commercial gains to both the countries.
- The Interim Agreement would include high level commitments in goods, services, rules of origin, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, and dispute settlement, and may also cover any other areas mutually agreed upon.
- Canada also agreed to examine expeditiously the request for Conformity Verification Body (CVB) status to APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority) for facilitating Indian organic export products.
- India-Canada Bilateral Center will be set up for dedicated science and technology activities between the two countries. India has already established such bilateral centres in countries like US, Germany and France.
About:
- The scheme will extend support required to existing pharma clusters and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises across the country.
- The objective of the scheme to improve productivity, quality and sustainability of the pharma industries with a total financial outlay of five hundred crore rupees for the period from financial year 2021-22 to 2025-26.
- The scheme will establish the country a global leader in pharma sector by providing financial assistance to pharma clusters for creation of common facilities. This will not only improve the quality but also ensure the sustainable growth of clusters.
- In order to upgrade the production facilities of industries, interest subvention or capital subsidy on their capital loans will be provided.
- Pharmaceutical Technology Upgradation Assistance Scheme component of the scheme will facilitate pharma industries of proven track record to meet national and international regulatory standards.
Make-1 category
- Under the Make-1 category, 14 projects have been identified for Research and Development purpose. They include Hypersonic Glide Vehicle, Directed Energy Weapons, Naval Ship Borne Unmanned Aerial System, Light Weight Tank and Plug and Play’ Housing and Infrastructure for soldiers posted at extreme altitudes.
- Under the Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020, ‘Make’ Category aims to achieve self-reliance by involving greater participation of Indian industries.
- For Projects under Make-I sub-category, the Ministry of Defence will provide financial support up to 70 per cent of total cost of prototype development.
Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) Model category
- Under Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) Model category, two platforms namely Long Range Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Indian Multi Role Helicopters have been identified.
- Under this category, private industries will be encouraged to take up design and development of military platforms and equipment in collaboration with the Defence Research and Development Organisation and other organizations.
Make-II category
- Under Make-II category, which is funded by industry with assured procurement, Anti-jamming Systems for Multiple Platforms has been identified.
- The indigenous development of these projects will help harness the design capabilities of domestic defence industries and position India as a design leader in these technologies.
About:
- Rashtriya Raksha University- an institution of National Importance is established by the Indian Parliament Act. The University aims to become an academic-research-training ecosystem for national security and police.
- Its endeavors focus on highly professional national security, police education, research, and training through its qualified civilian and security faculty.
- A total 1090 students will receive their degrees; out of which 13 students will get their honorary doctorate degrees, as well as 38 students, will be awarded Gold Medal.
Do you know?
- Prime Minister Modi also inaugurated the 11th Khel Mahakumbh, a state-level sports programme at Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad this evening.
What is manual scavenging?
- Manual scavenging is the practice of removing human excreta by hand from sewers or septic tanks.
- India banned the practice under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 (PEMSR). The Act bans the use of any individual for manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of or otherwise handling in any manner, human excreta till its disposal.
- In 2013, the definition of manual scavengers was also broadened to include people employed to clean septic tanks, ditches, or railway tracks.
Present status
- Even though manual scavenging is banned in India, the practice is still prevalent in many parts of the country.
- Last year, activist Bezwada Wilson from the Safai Karmachari Andolan, said on Twitter that 472 deaths due to manual scavenging had been recorded from 2016 to 2020.
Why is it still prevalent in India?
- The lack of enforcement of the Act and exploitation of unskilled labourers are the reasons why the practice is still prevalent in India.
- The Mumbai civic body charges anywhere between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000 to clean septic tanks. The unskilled labourers, meanwhile, are much cheaper to hire and contractors illegally employ them at a daily wage of Rs 300-500.
Do India and Pakistan have to inform each other about such tests?
- Under the pre-notification of flight testing of ballistic missiles agreement signed in 2005, each country must provide the other an advance notification on flight test it intends to take for any land or sea launched, suface-to-surface ballistic missile.
- Before the test, the country must issue Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) or Navigational Warning (NAVAREA) to alert aviation pilots and seafarers, respectively.
- Also, the testing country must ensure that the launch site is not within 40 km, and the planned impact area is not within 75 km of either the International Boundary (IB) or the Line of Control (LoC).
- The planned trajectory should not cross the IB or the LoC and must maintain a horizontal distance of at least 40 km from the border.