Daily Current Affairs :  27-11-2020

Table of Contents :

1. Several  Verdicts  raise concern of judicial overreach: Vice  President
2. United  Nations (UN) launched  sanitation and hygiene fund (SHF)
3. Geospatial   Practices for   Sustainable Development goals (SDG)
4. PRAGATI  
5. Nyaya Bandhu
6. NIIF
7. National Portal for Transgender Persons
8. NMPB
9. eVIN 
10. Bioluminescence

1.Several  Verdicts  raise concern of judicial overreach: Vice  President

• Vice President further underlined that none of the three organs of the States legislature, the executive, and the judiciary can claim to be supreme as only the Constitution is paramount. Instances of judicial overreach referred here included:
• banning Diwali fireworks,
• the banning of the use of vehicles of certain make after 10 or 15 years,
• monitoring police investigations, denying executive a role in the appointment of judges through the collegiums, and invalidating National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act.
• Judicial overreach refers to an extreme form of judicial activism where arbitrary, unreasonable, and frequent interventions are made by the judiciary  Into the legislature's domain, often with the intention of disrupting the balance of powers between the executive, legislature, and judiciary.
• Here, the court encroaches upon the role of the legislature by making laws.
• However, there is a thin 1i. no between activism and overreach.
• While judicial activism is considered positive to supplement the failings of the executive, but the overreach into the executive's domain is
• considered an intrusion into the proper functioning of democracy.
• Judicial Activism enjoins judge s to use their powers to correct injustices, especially when the other branches of government do not act to do so.

2.United  Nations (UN) launched  sanitation and hygiene fund (SHF)

• SHF is a global financing mechanism that will provide accelerated funding to countries with the heaviest burden of diseases stemming from lack of sanitation services and the least able to respond.
• It aims to raise $2 billion over the next five years to support the efforts.
•  It is hosted by the UN Office for Project Services.
• Objective of SHF
• expanding household sanitation;
• ensuring menstrual health and hygiene;
•  providing sanitation and hygiene in schools and healthcare facilities;
• supporting innovative sanitation solutions.
• Need for such fund
• WHO has identified a lack of sanitation and hygiene in healthcare facilities as one of the 13 emerging health threats of the next decade.
• Sanitation is central to preventing the spread of many infectious diseases including COVID, Ebola, and Polio.
• UNICEF report found that there were huge gaps in the quality of services prov·ided in
• universal access to Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH).
• Earlier, WHO's WASH Strategy 2018-2025 was adopted which describes how WHO will increase its impact through the introduction of transformational approaches, and tackling new results areas likewise in health care facilities.

3.Geospatial   Practices for   Sustainable Development goals (SDG)

• Geospatial   Practices for   Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific 2020 report was released by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).
• Report highlights
• Importance of the growing usage of Geospatial data by the ESCAP Member States. Asia -Pacific Plan of Action on Space Applications for Sustainable Development (2018- 2030) was adopted to capitalize on the technological and geospatial innovations in the region.
• Six priority thematic areas followed by a Plan of
• Action  supporting the implementation of SOG includes:
• disaster risk management (SOG 2,11,13)
• natural resource management (SOG 6,9,11,12,14,15)
• connectivity (SDG 3,4,9,10,11) social development (SDG 1,3,11)
• energy (SOG 13)
• climate change (SDG 7)
• The report praises India on 'BH UVAN; India's national geo·portal developed by ISRO that helped in combating COVID·19.
• Water Resource Information System {WRIS) led by ISRO.
• Usage of  GIS  embedded data for urban planning.

4.PRAGATI  

• Recently, Prime Minister chaired 33rd PRAGATI  meeting.
• PRAGATI is aimed at addressing common many grievances and simultaneously monitoring and reviewing important programs and projects of Central and state governments.
• PRAGATI platform uniquely bundles three technologies:
• Digital data management,
• video-conferencing,
• geo-spatial technology.
• It is a three-tier system of Prime Minister Office, Union Government Secretaries, and Chief Secretaries of the States.

5.Nyaya Bandhu

• Department of Justice would be launching their ISO version of the Nyaya Bandhu Application and its onboarding on the UMANG platform (MeiTY), on 26th Nov 2020.
• Nyaya Bandhu was launched in 2017 to establish a framework for dispensation of pro bono legal services across the country.
• It connects practicing advocates interested in pro bono work with eligible marginalized and vulnerable beneficiaries, through Mobile Application.

6.NIIF

• The government has proposed to provide equity capital of   6,000 crores to the debt platform sponsored by NllF in the next 2 years.
• NllF is the first sovereign wealth fund (by Govt of India) that seeks to create long-term value for domestic and international investors seeking investment in Greenfield, Brownfield, and Stalled infrastructure projects.
• I t is registered with SEBI as a Category IIAlternative Investment Fund with a planned corpus of Rs.40,000 crore.

7.National Portal for Transgender Persons

• Recently, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) launched the 'National Portal for Transgender Persons'.
• Portal is for issuing I-cards to transgender without physical Interface and without having to visit any office.
• Portal will help the community get transgender Certificate and Identity Cards as per their self-perceived identity
• which is an important provision of The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act,2019.
• MoSJE also e-inaugurated Garima Greh which is a shelter home to provide shelter to Transgender persons, with basic amenities like shelter, food, medical care, and support capacity-building.

8.NMPB

• Recently, NMPB completed its two decades of its establishment.
• NMPB was set up in 2000 to promote medicinal plants sector and currently the board is located in the Ministry of AYUSH.
• NMPB's main objective is the development of  medicinal plants sector through developing strong coordination between the stakeholders i.e., farmers, traders, and manufacturers benefiting each of them.
• It aims to increase the income and livelihood of the farmers and tribes.
• It would facilitate backward integration with the industry/  manufacturers through post-harvest management.

9.eVIN 

• Recently, Prime Minister informed that the government is using eVIN in association with United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to identify primary beneficiaries and vaccine distribution networks.
• eVIN Is an indigenously developed technology that digitizes vaccine stocks and monitors the temperature of the cold chain through a smartphone application.
• It also supports the central government's Universal Immunization Programme by providing real-time information.
• It is being implemented under the National Health Mission {NHM) by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

10.Bioluminescence

• Recently, the blue tide was spotted along Maharashtra's shoreline which was produced due to a fluorescent blue hue from the process called bioluminescence.
• Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism.
• The blue light was characterized by the emission of light produced by phytoplankton (microscopic marine plants), commonly known as dinoflagellates.
• The light is produced through a series of chemical reactions due to luciferase (oxidative ve enzymes) protein.

Jai Hind!

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