12 JULY 2022 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS | UPSC CDS CAPF AFCAT NDA SSB

1. BIRD STRIKES AND AVIATION SAFETY

Following two back-to-back bird strikes incidents, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation in a directive to all airport operators has asked all airports to “review their wildlife hazard management plans” for “within and outside the airfield”.

About:

An analysis of 62,416 verified records by the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) Bird Strike Information System showed that most bird hits were in or near airports during the take-off and approach phases of flight.
About 60% occurred at or below 30 metres or around 100 feet.
A report says that in India in 2021, DGCA data has recorded over 1,400 suspected and confirmed wildlife incidents (for 20.5 lakh aircraft movements), up from nearly 840 cases in 2016 (for 22.9 lakh aircraft movements). Most of the incidents were reported from Delhi and Mumbai airports.
In India’s National Aviation Safety Plan (2018-2022), one of the key safety priorities is looking at “wildlife and bird strikes”.
Under Safety Performance Indicators of “Number of reported bird strikes at all Indian airports per 10,000 movements”, it lists a Safety Performance Target of 4.26 for the year 2022.

Source : The Hindu

2. CRITICAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE

The Government of India has declared the IT resources of ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and UPI managing entity National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) as ‘critical information infrastructure,’ according to an official notification.

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The Information Technology Act of 2000 defines “Critical Information Infrastructure” as a “computer resource, the incapacitation or destruction of which shall have debilitating impact on national security, economy, public health or safety”.
The government, under the Act, has the power to declare any data, database, IT network or communications infrastructure as CII to protect that digital asset.
Any person who secures access or attempts to secure access to a protected system in violation of the law can be punished with a jail term of up to 10 years.
Created in January 2014, the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) is the nodal agency for taking all measures to protect the nation’s critical information infrastructure.

Source : The Hindu

3. AMRIT SAROVAR MISSION

In a move that could expedite the implementation of railway and highway projects across the country, the Centre has asked the Ministry of Railways and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to use the soil or silt excavated from ponds and tanks in all districts under the Amrit Sarovar mission for their infrastructure projects.

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The water conservation mission launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 24 aims at developing and rejuvenating 75 waterbodies in each district in all States as part of the celebrations of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.
At least 50,000 waterbodies are expected to be rejuvenated during the nationwide programme that would culminate on August 15, 2023.
Since the project would involve excavation of several thousands of tonnes of earth in the form of soil or silt, the Ministry of Rural Development has told the Ministry of Railways and the NHAI to map its infrastructure projects with the Amrit Sarovar sites in all States and UTs.

Source : The Hindu

4. B. CHAUKULENSIS

Dragonfly enthusiasts have recorded the presence of a rare dragonfly that was hitherto unseen in Kerala.

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They spotted the Spiny Horntail, Burmagomphus chaukulensis Joshi, Ogale & Sawant, 2022 (or B. chaukulensis), during a recent expedition to the Kottiyoor forests of Kannur.
The species that is known to be endemic to the Western Ghats was discovered in Maharashtra earlier this year.
Prior to their finding, the dragonfly genus Burmagomphus was represented by three species – B. cauvericus, B. pyramidalis and B. laidlawi.
While B. laidlawi is found throughout the Western Ghats, B. cauvericus is more restricted in its distribution. B. pyramidalis is found in the Western Ghats as well as in Peninsular India.
All other species of the genus are found in the Western and Eastern Himalayas.
The new species can be separated from its congeners by the markings on the lateral thorax and peculiar shape of anal appendages, said Mr. Nair.

Source : The Hindu

5. ANTI-DEFECTION LAW

In light of the events in Maharashtra, with the Uddhav Thackeray government facing internal dissent from a block of 22 MLAs led by Eknath Shinde, the anti-defection law has again come into the spotlight.

About:

The anti-defection law was included in the Constitution as the Tenth Schedule in 1985 to combat the “evil of political defections”. The main purpose was to preserve the stability of governments and insulate them from defections of legislators from the treasury benches.
The law stated that any Member of Parliament (MP) or that of a State legislature (MLA) would be disqualified from their office if they voted on any motion contrary to the directions issued by their party.
The provision was not limited to confidence motions or money bills (which are quasi-confidence motions). It applies to all votes in the House, on every Bill and every other issue. It even applies to the Rajya Sabha and Legislative Councils, which have no say in the stability of the government.
Therefore, an MP (or MLA) has absolutely no freedom to vote their judgement on any issue. They have to blindly follow the direction of the party. This provision goes against the concept of representative democracy.

Source : The Hindu

6. TALAQ-E-HASAN

A public interest litigation (PIL) seeking to invalidate Talaq-e-Hasan, the prescribed Islamic way of divorce, has been filed in the Supreme Court.

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In instant triple talaq a man pronounces multiple divorce in one go. It has no scope for reconciliation and often ends a marriage instantly. Unlike instant triple talaq, Talaq-e-Hasan is pronounced with a gap of at least one month or one menstrual cycle.
Talaq-e-Hasan enjoys legal validity in almost all Muslim countries while instant triple talaq has been banned in many Muslim countries, including Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, Malaysia etc.
A petition filed by Benazir Hina, a Ghaziabad-based woman, seeks to make the prescribed Islamic way of divorce Talaq-e-Hasan unconstitutional as it is violative of Articles 14, 15 21 and 25 of the Constitution.

Source : The Hindu

7. CURRENT ACCOUNT DEFICIT (CAD)

India recorded a current account deficit (CAD) of 1.2% of GDP in 2021-22 against a surplus of 0.9% in 2020-21 as the trade deficit widened to $189.5 billion from $102.2 billion a year earlier, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India.

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Net Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows at $38.6 billion in 2021-22 were lower than $44 billion in 2020-21. Net Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) recorded an outflow of $16.8 billion in 2021-22 as against an inflow of $36.1 billion a year earlier.
For the January-March 2022 quarter, the CAD narrowed on a sequential basis to $13.4 billion, or 1.5% of GDP, against $22.2 billion, or 2.6% of GDP, in the December 2021 quarter.
On a year-on-year basis, although gold imports halved, and the services trade surplus rose, this improvement was dwarfed by the widening of the merchandise trade deficit led by imports of commodity inputs such as crude oil, coal and fertilisers, as well as electronic goods.

Source : The Hindu

8. SANTHAL TRIBE

The Santhal community is in the spotlight after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) nominated one of its leaders, Droupadi Murmu, for the election to President of India. There are high chances of for Ms. Murmu to become the first tribal person to become the President.

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Size: Santhal is the third largest Scheduled Tribe community in the country after Gond and Bhil.
Distribution: The Santhal population is mostly distributed in Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Ms. Murmu’s home district, Mayurbhanj, has one of the largest concentrations of the tribe. In Odisha, Santhals are found in Keonjhar and Balasore, other than in Mayurbhanj district.
Language: Santhals speak Santhali which has its own script called Ol Chiki invented by Pundit Raghunath Murmu. Santhali in the Ol Chiki script has been included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. Ol-Chiki is the medium of instruction in many schools across the State. Santhal is a subject for postgraduate study.
Origin of world: According to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Research and Training Institute (SCSTRTI), Bhubaneswar, the word Santhal is derived from two words: santha meaning calm and peaceful and ala meaning man.
Background: The institute says that in the past, the Santhals had led a nomadic life. Gradually, they came to settle down on the Chhotanagpur plateau. Towards the end of the 18th century, they migrated to the Santhal Parganas of Bihar and then they came to Odisha.
Prominent people: Hemant Soren, a Santhal, is the Chief Minister of Jharkhand. Girish Chandra Murmu, the first Lieutenant-Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, is now Comptroller and Auditor-General of India.

Source : The Hindu

9. AZOOXANTHELLATE CORALS

Scientists have recorded four species of corals for the first time from Indian waters. These new species of azooxanthellate corals were found from the waters off the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

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All the four groups of corals are from the same family, Flabellidae.
Truncatoflabellum crassum (Milne Edwards and Haime, 1848), T. incrustatum (Cairns, 1989), T. aculeatum (Milne Edwards and Haime, 1848), and T. irregulare (Semper, 1872) under the family Flabellidae were previously found in Japan, the Philippines and Australian waters, while only T. crassum was reported with the range of Indo-West Pacific distribution.

Azooxanthellate Corals

The azooxanthellate corals are a group of corals that do not contain zooxanthellae and derive nourishment not from the sun but from capturing different forms of planktons.
They are deep-sea representatives with the majority of species being reported from depths between 200 metres and 1,000 metres. They are also reported from shallow waters unlike zooxanthellate corals that are restricted to shallow waters.
Azooxanthellate corals are a group of hard corals. Hard corals are the prime and intrinsic part of the coral reef ecosystem.

Source : The Hindu

10. MAJOR ECONOMIES FORUM ON ENERGY AND CLIMATE (MEF)

The Union Minister for Environment, Shri Bhupender Yadav, represented India at the virtual meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF), hosted by U.S. President Joseph Biden.

About:

The Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF) was launched on March 28, 2009.
The MEF meeting was aimed at galvanising actions that are to strengthen energy security and tackle the climate crisis thereby building momentum for COP27.
The meeting was attended by twenty three major economies across the world and the Secretary General of United Nations.

Initiatives by India on climate change

Shri Bhupender Yadav emphasised that India’s initiatives go beyond its borders, including the International Solar Alliance, and the Coalition for Disaster Resilience Infrastructure.
He mentioned that India has already installed 159 GW of non-fossil fuel based electricity generation capacity. And during the last 7.5 years, India’s installed solar energy capacity has increased over 18 times.
Shri Yadav highlighted that India’s annual per capita emissions are only a third of the global average and its cumulative GHG emissions are less than 4 percent.
He called upon the members of MEF to launch a global movement on LIFE i.e. Lifestyle for Environment as espoused by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi at the COP26 in Glasgow.

Source : PIB

12 JULY 2022 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS | UPSC CDS CAPF AFCAT NDA SSB

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