29-Sep-2023-Daily-Current-Affairs

FATHER OF GREEN REVOLUTION

GS 3 (INDIAN ECONOMY)-AGRICULTURE-SOURCE-THE HINDU

 Context: S Swaminathan, hailed as the father of India’s Green Revolution, passed away

•  Swaminathan was instrumental in developing high-yielding varieties of paddy that helped ensure India’s low-income farmers produce more yield.
• Awards won by him: Swaminathan has been conferred with the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and the Padma Vibhushan.
• He is also the recipient of the H K Firodia award, the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award and the Indira Gandhi Prize, apart from several international awards including the Ramon Magsaysay Award (1971) and the Albert Einstein World Science Award (1986).
• What is Green Revolution?
• In India, the Green Revolution was mainly led by M.S. Swaminathan.
• The Green Revolution resulted in a great increase in production of food grains (especially wheat and rice) due to the introduction into developing countries of new, high-yielding variety seeds, beginning in the mid-20th century.

Objectives of Green Revolution

• Short Term: The revolution was launched to address India’s hunger crisis during the second Five Year Plan.
• Long Term: The long-term objectives included overall agriculture modernization based on rural development, industrial development; infrastructure, raw material etc.
• Employment: To provide employment to both agricultural and industrial workers.
• Scientific Studies: Producing stronger plants which could withstand extreme climates and diseases.
• Globalization of the Agricultural World: By spreading technology to non-industrialized nations and setting up many corporations in major agricultural areas.

Important Crops in the Revolution:

• Main crops were Wheat, Rice, Jowar, Bajra and Maize.
• Non-food grains were excluded from the ambit of the new strategy.
• Wheat remained the mainstay of the Green Revolution for years.

 A DICTIONARY TO PREVENT LANGAUGE FROM VANISHING

GS 1(INDIAN HISTORY)-ART AND CULTURE-SOURCE -THE HINDU

Context: A language spoken by barely 1,600 people living in parts of West Bengal bordering Bhutan is ​to get a dictionary

• Toto is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the tribal Toto people and is written in the Bengali script.
• The dictionary is a step in the direction of preserving the language, alive so far only orally, by putting its vocabulary in print
• Every decade, India is losing languages and knowledge.

 ‘FIVE EYES’ INTELLIGENCE ALLIANCE

GS 2 (INDIAN POLITY AND GOVERNANCE)-INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SOURCE-THE HINDU

 Context: Spotlight on the intelligence-sharing alliance ‘Five Eyes’ (or FVEY), which is believed to have provided the information that “helped” Canada related to allegation of killing Khalistani.

  Who are the ‘Five Eyes’?

• The ‘Five Eyes’ is a multilateral intelligence-sharing network shared by over 20 different agencies of five English-speaking countries — Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
• It is both surveillance-based and signals intelligence (SIGINT).

 How did the alliance come into being?

• The alliance between the U.S. and the U.K. evolved around the Second World War to counter the Cold War Soviet threat.
• The two countries, which had successfully deciphered German and Japanese codes during the World War
• In the aftermath of the war in 1946, the alliance was formalized through an agreement for cooperation in signals intelligence.
• Though the intelligence alliance came together in the 1940s, it remained a top secret for long.

How does the ‘Five Eyes’ network work?

• The goalpost of the Five Eyes, however, has shifted following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of new global challenges like terrorism and the growing influence of China.
• The Five Eyes have become involved in ocean and maritime surveillance, scientific and defence intelligence analysis, medical intelligence, geospatial intelligence, counterintelligence, counterterrorism, and the continuous sharing of intelligence products via a secret collective database known as ‘Stone Ghost’,

 MGNREGA SOCIAL AUDIT STATUS

GS 3 (POLITY AND CONSTITUTION)- SOCIAL JUSTICE-SOURCE-THE HINDU

 Context: An oft-repeated criticism against the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme is its alleged high rate of corruption.

•  As per the statistics available with the Union Rural Development Ministry in the ongoing financial year, less than 14% of the amount flagged by the auditors has been recovered so far.
• To take stock of the situation, the Ministry held a day-long seminar on Tuesday inviting the social audit units from States, MGNREGA commissioners, civil society, and other stakeholders.
• A dismal recovery rate threatens the credibility of the audit process, since it makes the entire exercise futile
• But the Ministry, which directly funds the social audit units so that they are able to maintain their independence from the States, is not getting funds to them in time
• There are other States such as Telangana, where an active social audit unit has flagged several cases, but the recovery rate remains low
• ABOUT MGNREGA

MGNREGA stand for the” Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005.”

• Law enacted in line with Article 41:To secure the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disability.
• Article 43:The State shall endeavour to secure to all workers a living wage and a decent standard of life.

• It guarantees the “right to work” to rural citizens of India.
• Under this, the government assures a minimum of 100 days of unskilled manual work to an adult member of an eligible rural household.
• The main objective of the MGNREGA is to provide employment to rural citizens and improve their socio-economic conditions.
• Unemployment Allowance: If work is not assigned within 15 days, the applicant is entitled to receive an unemployment allowance.
• the National Mobile Monitoring Software (NMMS) App was made mandatory in January 2023. It is for online attendance from employees

 Challenges with  MGNREGA include

1)Corruption.

2)low level jobs

3)lack of timely payments

4)most of the works for development purpose

5)ghost benefeciries

6)Bureaucratic delays

7)recent reduction in budget

 CURRENT ACCOUNT DEFICIT

GS 3 (INDIAN ECONOMY)-SOURCE-THE HINDU

 Context: Current account deficit widens QoQ to $9.2 billion on higher trade deficit.

 What is Current Account Deficit?

• Current account deficit (CAD) is when the value of a country’s imports of goods and services is greater than its exports.
• CAD and fiscal deficit together make up twin deficits that can impact the stock market and investors.
• Fiscal Deficit is the gap between the government’s expenditure requirements and its receipts.

Today in news?

• India’s current account deficit (CAD) widened, as exports of goods shrank even as imports rose and net receipts from services also declined quarter-on-quarter.
• The widening of CAD on a quarter-on-quarter basis was primarily on account of a higher trade deficit coupled with a lower surplus in net services and decline in private transfer receipts
• The fall in remittances, both on-quarter and on-year, is worrisome
• In the financial account, net foreign direct investment declined

RUSSIA’S DEFENSE SPENDING

GS 2 (INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS)-SOURCE-THE HINDU

 Context: Russia to hike its defense spending by 70% in 2024

•  Since the conflict began last year, Russia has ramped up arms manufacturing and pumped massive funds into its military machine, despite persistently high inflation and a weaker ruble.
• Defence spending is set to total around three times more than education, environmental protection and healthcare spending combined in 2024.

 KERALA’S NIPAH OUTBREAK-MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES

GS 3(SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY)-SOURCE-THE HINDU

 Context: Last week, India reached out to Australia to procure monoclonal antibody doses to combat the Nipah virus outbreak in Kerala

 Both Hendra and Nipah viruses are bat-borne Paramyxoviridae – a family of viruses that contain a single-strand RNA of negative-sense genome, similar to the ones that cause diseases like measles, influenza etc., and replicate within infected cells.

 What is a monoclonal antibody?

• Monoclonal antibodies are laboratory-made proteins that mimic the behaviour of antibodies produced by the immune system to protect against diseases and foreign substances.
• An antibody attaches itself to an antigen – a foreign substance, usually a disease-causing molecule – and helps the immune system eliminate it from the body.
• Monoclonal antibodies are specifically designed to target certain antigens.

 What is m102.4?

• 4 is a “potent, fully human” monoclonal antibody that neutralises Hendra and Nipah viruses, both outside and inside of living organisms.
• As of now, the drug is used on a ‘compassionate use’ basis — a treatment option that allows the use of an unauthorised medicine under strict conditions among people where no other alternative and/or satisfactory authorised treatment is known to be possible
• and where patients cannot enter clinical trials for various reasons.

How Monoclonal Antibodies works?

For example:

TRADITIONAL MEDICINE GLOBAL SUMMIT

GS 3 (POLITY AND GOVERNANCE)-HEALTH-SOURCE-PIB

 Context: The Ministry of Ayush has been adopting and propagating eco-friendly methods to reduce carbon emissions and environmental pollution, aligned with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

• The recently concluded WHO Traditional Medicine Global Summit held at Gandhinagar, Gujarat hosted by WHO and co-hosted by Ministry of Ayush clearly demonstrated it.
• This effort led to reduction of approximately 72,960 Kg of CO2 equivalent emission.
• It is estimated that more than 50 thousand plastic bottles & 30,000 single use plastic cutleries were avoided.
• Summit was completely paperless and had strong online presence, thereby reducing transport emission as much as possible.
• Instead of plastic; badges were made of biodegradable material and in exhibition zone only reusable materials were used.
• The summit witnessed a unique initiative, where delegates and participants’ badges were biodegradable and ready to be planted – seed papers (marigolds)