Goaltide Daily Current Affairs 2020
Current Affair 1:
Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas’ (SVAMITVA) scheme
How to start to learn any scheme? Introduction.
Why Land is important? Why we need proper survey?
The scheme is for surveying the land parcels in rural inhabited area using Drone technology. The survey shall be done across the country in a phase wise manner over the period of four years (2020 -2024). The scheme is proposed as a Central Sector scheme with a projected outlay of Rs 79.65 crores for the pilot phase (FY 2020 -21).
Objectives:
- To bring financial stability to the citizens in rural India by enabling them to use their property as a financial asset for taking loans and other financial benefits.
- Creation of accurate land records for rural planning.
- Determination of property tax, which would accrue to the GPs directly in States where it is devolved or else, add to the State exchequer.
- Creation of survey infrastructure and GIS maps that can be leveraged by any department for their use.
- To support in preparation of better-quality Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) by making use of GIS maps.
- To reduce property related disputes and legal cases
Don’t study anything more.
Current Affair 2:
World Bank “Beaten or Broken? Informality and COVID-19 in South Asia” report:
The World Bank has recently released its biennial South Asia Economic Focus report. The fall 2020 edition is titled “Beaten or Broken? Informality and Covid-19”.
If we write anything related to this report, there will be no use. You will never remember. So, few important charts we have taken from report.
South Asian countries have been compared and finally India’s projection has been estimated. Now see below: Don’t make any notes. Just see how COVID-19 Pandemic has changed indicators and how indicators improving now.
The pandemic may cause up to 5.5 million students to drop out from the education system. The impact on learning is equally enormous. Children have been out of school for approximately 5 months. Being out of school for that long means that children not only stop learning new things, they also forget some of what they have learned. The projected learning loss for the region is 0.5 years of learning-adjusted years of schooling (LAYS), falling from 6.5 LAYS to 6.0 LAYS, an enormous setback from recent advances in schooling.
What is the ‘Learning Adjusted Year of Schooling” (LAYS) concept?
Introduced by the World Bank, it seeks to combine access and learning outcomes into a single measure. It combines quantity (years of schooling) and quality (how much kids know at a given grade level) into a single summary measure of human capital in a society.
Tourism sector.
The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an unprecedented crisis in South Asia’s tourism economy. The estimated losses to amount to over USD 50 billion in the travel and tourism sector and that about 47.7 million jobs—many held by women and vulnerable groups working in the informal sector—are at risk due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In India, electricity consumption is strongly related to overall economic activity. Electricity is an input to activities throughout the economy, from industrial production to commerce and household activity, and changes in its consumption thus reveal information about these activities. See data of India below:
Fiscal indicators:
Finally, it conclude for India as:
Current Affair 3:
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV)
Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is a viral respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, or MERS?CoV) that was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that can cause diseases ranging from the common cold to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
Although most of human cases of MERS-CoV infections have been attributed to human-to-human infections in health care settings, current scientific evidence suggests that dromedary camels are a major reservoir host for MERS-CoV and an animal source of MERS infection in humans.
Non-human to human transmission.
No vaccine or specific treatment is currently available, however several MERS-CoV specific vaccines and treatments are in development. Treatment is supportive and based on the patient’s clinical condition.
Latest 20th Livestock Census
Being a desert state, Rajasthan has the highest number of camels in India. In 2012, the figure was 3.26 lakh, which has declined to 2.13 lakh as of 2019. Other major states for camels have also registered a decline in their population, with their number decreasing from 30,000 to 28,000 in Gujarat, from 19,000 to 5,000 in Haryana and from 8,000 to just 2,000 in Uttar Pradesh.
Overall, the camel population in India has declined from 4 lakh in 2012 to just 2.5 lakh in 2019. While overall, the livestock population has grown in the country by 4.63 per cent, it has declined in Rajasthan by 1.66 per cent, from 57.7 million in 2012 to 56.8 million in 2019.
India is at the eastern end of the distribution range of the one-humped camel (Camelus Dromedarius). As they have adapted to dry environments, camels do not thrive further east than the Aravalli Hills. Thus, their distribution in India is restricted to Rajasthan (where about 80 per cent of the camel population is at home), Gujarat and Haryana.
See 2019 Prelims Question: second statement.
Current Affair 4:
Three contenders for national butterfly status
Krishna Peacock (Papilio krishna), Indian Jezebel (Delias eucharis), and Orange Oakleaf (Kallima inachus), the frontrunners, have unique features such as ability to camouflage as a dead leaf, exhibit iridescence to stave off predators, and aid farmers in getting rid of pests.
Three contenders for the National Butterfly:
Krishna Peacock (Papilio Krishna): It is a flagship species for biodiversity and conservation, is generally found in large numbers in the Himalayas.
Indian Jezebel (Delias eucharis)
- It has a vibrant colour pattern, including vermilion (haldi – Kumkum)
- It is known to deter its predators with its flashy wing colours.
- It is Widely distributed, the species can be spotted in gardens and other lightly wooded areas.
Orange Oakleaf (Kallima inachus)
- It is commonly known as ‘dead leaf’ for its ability to camouflage as a dry autumn leaf while striking a stationary pose with its wings closed.
- It enables the species to prevent it from being devoured by birds in the moist forests of northern Western Ghats, central, northern and north-eastern parts of India where they are generally found.
If you remember 2020 question:
|
With reference to India’s biodiversity, Ceylon frogmouth, Coppersmith barbet, Graychinned minivet and White-throated redstart are (a) Birds (b) Primates (c) Reptiles (d) Amphibians |
Current Affair 5:
Events of ‘very heavy’ & ‘extremely heavy’ rainfall events increased by more than 70% in the last 3 years
Recently, the city of Hyderabad received extremely heavy rainfall within a week resulting in flooding in many parts of the city. Government data indicates that the events of ‘very heavy’ & ‘extremely heavy’ rainfall events increased by more than 70% in the last 3 years.
We will see here recent developments and role various agencies and assistance provided to fight disaster.
As per the recent Home Minister data:
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, floods, and heavy rains during the south west monsoon this year have claimed over 1503 lives as of 10 September 2020. In addition to this, over 7842 cattle were lost, and more than 2.75 lakh households were damaged. Crops in 20.75 lakh hectares were also devastated by the rains. West Bengal reported the greatest number of deaths, while the houses damaged in Odisha was the highest.
Frequency of cyclones and heavy rainfall events has increased
Flood Management Programme
The Flood Management Programme under the Ministry of Water Resources was launched by the Central government during the XI five-year plan under which flood prone states are provided with financial assistance for flood management activities and anti-erosion works. The programme had a budget outlay of Rs. 10,000 crores during the XII plan and has been extended up to March 2021 as a component under Flood Management and Border Areas Programme (FMBAP).
State wise funds released under Flood Management Programme:
Role of Central Water Commission:
- The Central Water Commission (CWC) has established a flood forecasting network across the country and issues flood forecasts at 328 locations (198 Level Forecast for Villages/Town on the bank of the rivers and 130 Inflow Forecast Stations for Dams and Barrages) in various parts of the country.
- CWC collects hydrological and meteorological data based on which alerts are sent to states for taking adequate mitigation measures. Similarly, the Indian Meteorological Department also provides forecasts for cyclones and rainfall.
State governments have the primary responsibility of disaster response and management
The State governments have the primary responsibility of disaster response and management. State Disaster Management Authorities consisting of the Chief Minister as the chairperson draws up the state disaster management plans and is responsible for the implementation of the plan.
The state governments will have to assess losses and provide relief measures according to the severity of the ground situation through the State Disaster Response Fund. The State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) constituted under Section 48 (1) (a) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, is the primary fund available with State Governments for responses to notified disasters. The Central Government contributes 75% of SDRF allocation for general category States/UTs and 90% for special category States/UTs (NE States, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir).
Disaster management fund of Rs.11000 crores has been released by the Centre
For the year 2020-21, the Centre has already released its share of Disaster Management Fund of Rs.11,565.92 Crore, in advance, to all the State Governments to fight COVID. Further assistance is provided by the National Disaster Response Fund if the calamity is severe. At the national level, the National Disaster Management Authority under the Prime Minister’s Office is responsible for the execution of the plans. Relief and rescue measures are implemented by the National Disaster Response Force.
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