19 OCTOBER 2021 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS | UPSC CDS CAPF AFCAT NDA SSB

1. EARTHSHOT PRIZE

Dubbed as the “Eco Oscars”, The Earthshot Prize is an award set up by Prince William and the Royal Foundation, the charity founded by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and historian David Attenborough to honour five finalists between 2021 and 2030 for developing solutions to fight the climate crisis.

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The inaugural edition remains special for India as Vidyut Mohan’s technology that recycles agricultural waste to create fuel was named among the winners of the coveted prize.
Established in 2020, 2021 was the first year when awards were handed out to finalists for their contributions towards the five UN Sustainable Development Goals — restoration and protection of nature, air cleanliness, ocean revival, waste-free living and climate action.
Inspired by former US President John F Kennedy’s Moonshot — when the president had set a goal of reaching the Moon in less than a decade — the Earthshot Prize hopes to encourage and support the development of solutions for Earth’s environmental problems.
Five individuals or organisations that have come up with impactful solutions to problems plaguing the planet will be awarded one million euros. Each year five winners will be selected, one for each of the UN SDG goal categories, with a total of 50 million euros being awarded by 2030.
The winners will be chosen by the Earthshot Prize Council which comprises global spokespersons who are striving to bring impactful action in various capabilities.

Source : Indian Express

2. ALLIUM NEGIANUM

A plant discovered in Uttarakhand in 2019 has been newly confirmed as a new species of Allium — the genus that includes many staple foods such as onion and garlic, among 1,100 species worldwide. The new species is described in journal PhytoKeys.

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In 2019, Dr Anjula Pandey, Principal Scientist at ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources in New Delhi, together with scientists Drs K Madhav Rai, Pavan Kumar Malav and S Rajkumar, came across plants of this onion species, which they have named Allium negianum, in the border area of Malari village, in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand.
It grows at 3,000 to 4,800 m above sea level and can be found along open grassy meadows, sandy soils along rivers, and streams forming in snow pasture lands along alpine meadows, where the melting snow helps carry its seeds to more favourable areas.
With a narrow distribution, this newly described species is restricted to the region of western Himalayas and hasn’t yet been reported from anywhere else in the world.
The scientific name Allium negianum honours the late Dr Kuldeep Singh Negi, an explorer and Allium collector.
Although new to science, this species has long been known under domestic cultivation to local communities. So far only known from the western Himalaya region, Allium negianum might be under pressure from people looking to taste it.

Source : Indian Express

3. ARCTIC ICE

According to a new study, If carbon emissions continue at current levels, summer ice will disappear by 2100 — and, along with it, creatures such as seals and polar bears.

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In winter, most of the Arctic Ocean surface freezes, and scientists expect this to continue for the foreseeable future, even as climate warms.
In summer, when some of the ice melts, winds and currents carry it for great distances — some of it into the North Atlantic, but much of it into the Arctic’s farthest-north coasts, along Greenland and the Canadian islands.
This results in a rich marine ecosystem. On the Arctic ice, algae bloom. These feed tiny animals, which in turn feed fish, which in turn feed seals, which feed polar bears at the top of the chain.
The irregular topography also helps create lairs for seals, and ice caves for polar bears during the winter.
But with a warming climate, summer sea ice has been shrinking fast, and now consistently spans less than half the area it did in the early 1980s.

Source : Indian Express

4. NATIONAL RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

Commodore Amit Rastogi (Retd), after an illustrious career of 34 years in Indian Navy has taken over as Chairman & Managing Director of National Research Development Corporation on 18 October, 2021.

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NRDC is an enterprise of Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India.
It engages in the development, promotion and transfer of technologies emanating from various national R&D institutions.

Source : PIB

5. INTERNATIONAL SOLAR ALLIANCE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The fourth general assembly of The International Solar Alliance (ISA), is to be held virtually between October 18th and October 21st, 2021, and will be presided over by Shri R.K. Singh, Minister for Power, New and Renewable Energy, Government of India and the President of the ISA Assembly.

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The ISA Secretariat has planned a series of technical sessions on various strategic initiatives of the ISA on October 18th, 2021, and technical sessions on various emergent issues in the solar and clean energy sector in partnership with partner and other organizations on October 20th and 21st, 2021.
The Fourth Assembly of the ISA will deliberate on the key initiatives around the operationalisation of the OSOWOG initiative, the $1 trillion Solar Investment Roadmap for 2030, and approval of a Blended Financial Risk Mitigation Facility.
World leaders of ISA member countries will also discuss the strategic plan of the ISA for the next five years encompassing a Country Partnership Framework, Strategy for Private Sector Engagement, and initiatives such as Viability Gap Financing scheme to facilitate affordable finance for solar energy projects across ISA’s membership.
The ISA will also discuss the partnership with Global Energy Alliance (GEA) to scale up technical and financial support to LDCs and SIDS.
The Assembly is the apex decision-making body of ISA, in which each member country is represented.

Source : PIB

6. GEOSPATIAL ENERGY MAP OF INDIA

Geospatial Energy Map of India was launched by Dr Rajiv Kumar (Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog), Dr V K Saraswat (Member, NITI Aayog), and Shri Amitabh Kant (CEO, NITI Aayog) on 18 October 2021.

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NITI Aayog in collaboration with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has developed a comprehensive Geographic Information System (GIS) Energy Map of India with the support of Energy Ministries of Government of India.
The GIS map provides a holistic picture of all energy resources of the country which enables visualisation of energy installations such as conventional power plants, oil and gas wells, petroleum refineries, coal fields and coal blocks, district-wise data on renewable energy power plants and renewable energy resource potential, etc through 27 thematic layers.
The map attempts to identify and locate all primary and secondary sources of energy and their transportation/transmission networks to provide a comprehensive view of energy production and distribution in a country.

Source : PIB

7. GEN-NEXT DEMOCRATIC NETWORK

Chairman of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) Dr Vinay Sahasrabuddhe has said that as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, India will host young leaders from 75 democracies under the initiative Gen-Next Democratic Network.

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Young leaders below the age of 35 from the ruling party, opposition party and other key parties are being invited and the first batch will include leaders from Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Japan, Indonesia, Chile and Zambia.
He said, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will inaugurate the event on 25th November.
The objective behind the event is to give the young leaders a comprehensive idea about India's rich democratic culture.

Source : All India Radio

8. MUMBAI GREEN COVER

Mumbai lost 81% of its open land (barren spaces without any vegetation), 40% green cover (forests & scrublands) and approximately 30% of its water bodies (lakes, ponds, floodplains) between 1991 and 2018, while the built-up area (areas developed upon) rose by 66% in the same period, says a recent study.

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It concludes that the city witnessed a 2-degree Celsius average temperature rise across 27 years.
With this pace of urbanisation and landscape transformation, it is expected that the Urban Heat Island intensity will further increase in the city.
The extreme heat that one experiences while strolling through any urban landscape is caused by the Urban Heat Island effect, a micro-climatic phenomenon. This is due to a number of causes, the most prominent being the usage of materials such as concrete
This will not only deteriorate the urban thermal environment but also increase the serious risks to health for city dwellers. This rise in heat intensity in Mumbai is linked to the declining green cover in the city, which is the result of the large-scale transformation of the green cover into built-up land for the infrastructural development in the city.

Source : The Hindu

9. INFORMAL WORKERS

The Supreme Court has held that part-time employees are not entitled to seek regularisation as they are not working against any sanctioned post in the Government.

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A Bench of Justices M.R. Shah and A.S. Bopanna clarified in a recent judgment that there cannot be any permanent continuance of part-time temporary employees.
It is further observed that mere continuance every year of seasonal work during the period when work was available does not constitute a permanent status.
It was a settled proposition of law, that regularisation could be only as per the policy declared by the State/Government and “nobody can claim the regularisation as a matter of right”.

Source : The Hindu

10. TIBETOLOGY

With a view to orienting its officers and men posted along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Tibetan culture and also preparing them to better understand the information warfare, the Army has begun a course in Tibetology in a tie-up with the Central Institute of Himalayan Cultural Studies in Arunachal Pradesh.

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The first batch of 15 participants was trained from March to May this year.
Understanding Tibetan traditions, cultural peculiarities, democracy and political influence and so on empowers our men and officers to understand where we are going and where we are operating,” said a senior Army officer.
The Army’s Training Command, ARTRAC, has identified seven institutes for Tibetology across the country, two of which are in the northeast. The other one is the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology in Sikkim.
During the 42 days of the preliminary course, Tibetan history, geopolitics and current political dynamics were covered in the form of lectures and case studies, the officer added. Lamas who were proficient in Tibetan issues were hired from the Bomdila Monastery to teach the course.

Source : The Hindu

19 OCTOBER 2021 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS | UPSC CDS CAPF AFCAT NDA SSB

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18 OCTOBER 2021 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS | UPSC CDS CAPF AFCAT NDA SSB

20 OCTOBER 2021 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS | UPSC CDS CAPF AFCAT NDA SSB

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