Daily Current Affairs: 27-08-2020

Table of Contents: News

1. Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)

2. One Sun, One World, One Grid

3. National Commission on Population

4. Boundary Working Group (BWG)

5. Chora Church

6. Jeevan Shakti Yojana

7. Kashmir Saffron

8. Africa free of polio

9. FASTag-Mandatory

10. Gangetic Dolphin

1. Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)

• Recently, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued an order that importers of 24 major food crops will have to mandatorily declare that the products are not genetically-modified and that they also have a non-GM origin.

Key Highlights of the Order

• The 24 food crops include apple, eggplant, maize, wheat, melon, pineapple, papaya, plum, potato, rice, soyabean, sugarbeet, sugarcane, tomato, sweet pepper, squash, flax seed, bean plum and chicory.

• The importers will need to declare that the product is ‘of non-GM origin, does not contain genetically modified organism, and is also not genetically modified’.

• It aims to ensure that only non-GM food crops are imported into India.

• The FSSAI needs to gear up by taking up widespread testing and also taking the assistance of alert citizens and by acting on complaints related to suspected GM for the implementation of the order.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)

• It is an autonomous body established under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India.

• It has been established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 which is a consolidating statute related to food safety and regulation in India.

• It is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the regulation and supervision of food safety.

• The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare is the Administrative Ministry of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India.

Source: Business Line

2. "One Sun, One World, One Grid" (OSOWOG)

Recently, the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has mentioned about the mega plan of "One Sun, One World, One Grid" (OSOWOG) in his independence speech.

About: One Sun, One World, One Grid

• It is a trans-national electricity grid which will be supplying solar power across the globe.

• The idea was first floated by the Prime Minister in 2018 during the first assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).

• The draft plan prepared by Ministry of New & Renewable Energy stated that the ambitious OSOWOG will connect 140 countries through a common grid that will be used to transfer solar power.

• The vision behind the OSOWOG mantra is that “the Sun never sets” and is a constant at some geographical location, globally, at any given point of time.

• India will be placed at the fulcrum and the solar spectrum can easily be divided into two broad zones i.e. far East which would include countries like Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Lao, Cambodia and far West which would cover the Middle East and the Africa Region.

• The plan is divided into three phases:

  • The first phase will connect the Indian grid with the Middle East, South Asia and South-East Asian grids.

  • The second phase will connect the first phase nations with the African pool of renewable sources.

  • The third phase will be the concluding step of global interconnection.

Source: Business Standard

3. National Commission on Population

Recently, the National Commission on Population, under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, has released the projection of the population in India.

Key Highlights of National Commission on Population Report

• It highlighted that India’s population is expected to be more feminine and hold better future for women after 15 years from now.

• The country’s sex ratio of the total population (females per 1000 males) is expected to increase from 943 in 2011 to 957 during 2036.

  • It is observed that in 2036 sex ratio in eighteen states, except Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat will increase as compared to 2011.

• The report said that the infant mortality rate (IMR) of the country, which is reported to be 46 in 2010 is expected to go down to 30 by the end of the period 2031-35.

  • The IMR is expected to decline in all the states during 2011-35.

  • The IMR is expected to come down to 37 in Madhya Pradesh, followed by Uttar Pradesh (38) in 2031-35.

• The population of India is expected to increase from 121.1 crores to 151.8 crores during the period 2011-2036 which is an increase of 25% in 25 years at the rate of 1.0% annually.

• The report also said that the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is expected to decline from 2.34 during 2011-2015 to 1.72 during 2031- 35.

• The report has also highlighted that the youth population in the age- group 15-24 years is expected to increase from 23.3 crores in 2011 to 25.2 crores in 2021 and then continue to decrease to 22.7 crores in 2036.

Significance of increase in female population in India

• The projection on improved sex ratio by 2036 is an indicator of improvement in gender equality.

• The sustained decline in population size is an obvious outcome of educating and empowering women along with meeting their contraceptive needs and choices.

Challenges faced by Female Population in India

• The prevalence of sex selection in parts of India has been a consequence of strong son preference and subsequent daughter aversion prevalent in the country, driven by deeply entrenched socio-cultural biases.

• The UNFPA’s State of World Population (SWOP) 2020 stated that gender-biased sex selective practices in India account for about 40% of the estimated 1.2 million missing female births annually worldwide.

Source: LiveMint

4. Boundary Working Group (BWG).

Amid the growing tensions between India and Nepal, Kathmandu has given to proposal to India regarding meeting of Boundary Working Group (BWG).

About: Boundary Working Group (BWG)

• It is a joint agency constituted by the governments of India and Nepal in 2014.

• It is an important mechanism to review the boundary work.

• Its objective is to carry out works in the fields of construction, restoration and repair of boundary pillars including clearance of ‘no-man’s land’ and other technical tasks.

• The BWG is led by the Surveyor General of India and is different from the foreign secretaries meeting that is being sought to discuss the Kalapani border dispute.

Background of Boundary Working Group (BWG)

• In 2017, the two sides had finalised the comprehensive plan and modalities for execution and completion of boundary work in the next five years.

• The BWG’s inputs are critical as they are given to the governments on the basis of field-level survey.

Recent Issues between India and Nepal

• Nepal issued a map in May 2020 which depicted disputed regions of Kalapani, Limpiyadhura and Lipulekh as part of its own territory, which was rejected by India.

• India inaugurated a new road to Kailash Mansarovar passing through the Lipulekh region which provoked the Nepal government.

Way Forward

• India is also planning to start an air transport bubble with Nepal and other neighbouring countries since movement of people across the land borders continue to remain restricted.

  • Air travel bubbles are temporary arrangements between two countries aimed at restarting commercial passenger services when regular international flights are suspended.

• India and Nepal should begin a dialogue as all the issues can be peacefully resolved if sustained dialogue takes place.

Source: The Indian Express

5. Chora Church

Recently, the Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan reconverted the historic Chora church into a mosque after opening the famed Hagia Sophia to Muslim worship.

About Chora Church

• The medieval Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora is built near the ancient city walls of Constantinople in the 4th century.

• It contains 14th century Byzantine mosaics and frescoes showing scenes from biblical stories.

• It is one of the oldest religious monuments of the Byzantine era and of eastern Orthodox Christianity.

• Emperor Justinian I, who built Hagia Sophia during 532-537, reconstructed Chora after the chapel had been ruined by an earthquake.

• The Turkish word Kariye is derived from the ancient Greek word Chora meaning outside of the city (land).

Turkey

1. It is a large peninsula that bridges the continents of Europe and Asia.
2. It is surrounded on three sides by the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the Aegean Sea.
3. Turkey is bounded on the northeast by Georgia and Armenia, on the east by Azerbaijan and Iran, on the southeast by Iraq and Syria, and on the northwest by Greece and Bulgaria.

Source: The Indian Express

6. Jeevan Shakti Yojana.

Recently, in order to realize the Prime Minister's vision of self-reliant India, more than 10 lakh masks have been made so far by the women entrepreneurs of Madhya Pradesh under the Jeevan Shakti Yojana.

About Jeevan Shakti Yojana

• It is an initiative of Madhya Pradesh government.

• It has been started with an aim to provide low cost masks to the citizens and employment to women entrepreneurs.

• It has facilitated women of urban and rural areas to become self-reliant in the corona crisis.

• Under the scheme, women will make masks at home and the government will buy all masks at the rate of Rs 11.

Source: All India Radio

7. Kashmir Saffron

Recently, the Jammu & Kashmir's agriculture department has created an e-auction portal to promote trading of GI-tagged ‘Kashmir Saffron’.

About Kashmir Saffron

• It is cultivated and harvested in the Karewa (highlands) of Jammu & Kashmir.

• It is grown in Pulwama, Budgam, Kishtwar and Srinagar.

• It was accorded the Geographical Indication (GI) tag by the Geographical Indications Registry in May 2020.

• It rejuvenates health and is also used in cosmetics and for medicinal purposes.

• The unique characteristics of Kashmiri Saffron are its longer and thicker stigmas, natural deep-red colour, high aroma, bitter flavour, chemical free processing and high quantity of crocin (colouring strength), safranal (flavour) and picrocrocin (bitterness).

• It is the only saffron in the world which is grown at an altitude of 1600 to 1800 meters above mean sea level.

• There are three types of Saffron which are available in Kashmir such as:

  • Lachha Saffron – The stigmas are separated from the flowers and dried without further processing

  • Mongra Saffron – The stigmas are detached from the flower, dried in the sun and processed traditionally.

  • Guchhi Saffron – It is similar to Lachha Saffron but the stigmas of Guchhi Saffron are joined together in a bundle tied with a cloth thread.

• The Saffron cultivation in Kashmir was introduced by Central Asian immigrants around 1st Century BCE and in ancient literature, saffron is referred to as ‘bahukam’.

Source: All India Radio

8. Africa free of polio

Recently, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared Africa free of polio after an announcement from the Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) for Polio Eradication.

• The milestone comes four years after Nigeria, the last polio-endemic country in Africa recorded its final case of wild poliovirus.

About Poliovirus

• It is a disease caused by three different strains of poliovirus, which sometimes attacks nerve cells in the spinal cord and causes partial or complete paralysis.

• The person can be infected from poliovirus through contact with the feces of an infected person, or through contaminated food, water and objects that come in contact with the mouth.

• It is a rare form of the virus that mutates from the oral polio vaccine and can then spread to under-immunised communities.

In 2014, India and the entire WHO South-East Asia Region were officially declared as being polio-free.

India uses oral polio vaccine (OPV) in its immunisation programme.

Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)

It is a public-private partnership established in 1998.

It is led by national governments with six core partners i.e.

1. The World Health Organization (WHO),
2. Rotary International,
3. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
4. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF),
5. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and
6. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

Its goal is to eradicate polio worldwide.

It was described by the World Health Organization as the largest public health initiative in history.

About Nigeria

• It is located on the West Coast of Africa.
• It is bordered to the north by Niger, to the east by Chad and Cameroon, to the south by the Gulf of Guinea of the Atlantic Ocean, and to the west by Benin.

Source: All India Radio

9. FASTag-Mandatory

Recently, the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has made FASTag mandatory to allow users avail any discount at the highway toll plazas across the country.

About FASTag

• It is a device that employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for making toll payments directly from the prepaid account linked to it.

• It has a validity of 5 years.

• It offers near non-stop movement of vehicles through toll plazas.

• The Indian Highways Management Company Limited (IHMCL) and National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) are implementing this program with help from Toll Plaza Concessionaires.

Source: All India Radio

10. Gangetic Dolphin

Recently, a webinar was organised on “Exploring the impact of COVID-19 on the ecosystem health of rivers and its dolphin population: Present status and future strategy for conservation in India-Bangladesh-Myanmar-Nepal”.

• The webinar was organised by Inland Fisheries Society of India, ICAR – Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, National Mission for Clean Ganga, Professional Fisheries Graduates Forum (PFGF) and Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management Society.

About Gangetic Dolphin

• It was officially discovered in 1801 which once lived in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems of Nepal, India and Bangladesh.

• It is one of the four freshwater dolphin species in the world.

  • The other three are found in the Yangtze River in China (now extinct), the Indus River in Pakistan and the Amazon River in South America.

• It can only live in freshwater and is essentially blind but they hunt by emitting ultrasonic sounds, which bounce off of fish and other prey, enabling them to “see” an image in their mind.

• It is a reliable indicator of the health of the entire river ecosystem.

• The government of India declared it the National Aquatic Animal in 2009.

• It is listed as 'Endangered' under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

• It is protected under Schedule I of the Indian Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.

• Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary (VGDS) is India’s first observatory for the mammals in Bhagalpur district, Bihar.

• The Sunderban delta is an unique ecological space where Gangetic as well as Irrawaddy Dolphin are present, spread over India as well as Bangladesh.

Source: PIB

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