Goaltide Daily Current Affairs 2022

Aug 12, 2022

Current Affair 1:
Smart Cities Mission

 

Smart Cities Mission was launched by the Hon’ Prime Minister on 25 June, 2015.

The main objective of the Mission is

  1. to promote cities that provide core infrastructure, clean and sustainable environment and give a decent quality of life to their citizens through the application of ‘smart solutions’.
  2. The Mission aims to drive economic growth and improve quality of life through comprehensive work on social, economic, physical and institutional pillars of the city.
  3. The focus is on sustainable and inclusive development by creation of replicable models which act as lighthouses to other aspiring cities.

100 cities have been selected to be developed as Smart Cities through a two-stage competition.

Funding:

The Mission is operated as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. Central Government will give financial support to the extent of Rs. 48,000 crores over 5 years i.e., on an average Rs.100 crore per city per year.  An equal amount on a matching basis is to be provided by the State/ULBAdditional resources are to be raised through convergence, from ULBs’ own funds, grants under Finance Commission, innovative finance mechanisms such as Municipal Bonds, other government programs and borrowings.

Emphasis has been given on the participation of private sector through Public Private Partnerships (PPP).

There is no standard definition or template of a smart city.  In the context of our country, the six fundamental principles on which the concept of Smart Cities is based are:

Implementation:

The implementation of the Mission at the City level will be done by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) created for the purpose. The SPV. will plan, appraise, approve, release funds, implement, manage, operate, monitor and evaluate the Smart City development projects. Each Smart City will have a SPV which will be headed by a full time CEO and have nominees of Central Government, State Government and ULB on its Board.

Strategy

Area-based development will transform existing areas (retrofit and redevelop), including slums, into better planned ones, thereby improving liveability of the whole City. New areas (greenfield) will be developed around cities in order to accommodate the expanding population in urban areas.

Retrofitting will introduce planning in an existing built-up area to achieve Smart City objectives, along with other objectives, to make the existing area more efficient and liveable.

Redevelopment will affect a replacement of the existing built-up environment and enable co-creation of a new layout with enhanced infrastructure using mixed land use and increased density.

Greenfield development will introduce most of the Smart Solutions in a previously vacant area (more than 250 acres) using innovative planning, plan financing and plan implementation tools (e.g., land pooling/ land reconstitution) with provision for affordable housing, especially for the poor. Greenfield developments are required around cities in order to address the needs of the expanding population. One well known example is the GIFT City in Gujarat.

 

Current Affair 2:
Fundamental Duties Statutes

 

Basics.

It was by the 42nd amendment in 1976 that the 'Fundamental Duties' part was incorporated in our Constitution. The concept of fundamental duties was taken from the 1936 USSR Constitution, following the recommendations of the Swaran Singh Committee.

The new Part IV-A consisted of a single Article i.e., 51-A and laid down ten fundamental duties for citizens. Later, by the 86th Constitutional amendment of 2002, an eleventh duty was added.

Now,

As already mentioned, the constitution itself does not prescribe a legal sanction against the breach or the non-performance of a Fundamental Duty in Part IV-A of the constitution. It doesn't even ask the state to make laws in conformity of the fundamental duties.

Under the Constitution, neither is there a provision that enforces fundamental duties nor is there any specific prohibition to their enforcement. Nevertheless, the legislature has incorporated some fundamental duties in certain statutes. These statutes lay down frameworks for enforcement of duties and set sanctions in the event of a failure to adhere with the prescription of the law.

A table of some fundamental duties which are backed by statutory frameworks is given here under:

 

 

Current Affair 3:
National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)

 

National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) recently relaxed the eligibility criteria for accreditation of higher educational institutions.

About:

The NATIONAL ASSESSMENT AND ACCREDITATION COUNCIL (NAAC) conducts assessment and accreditation of Higher Educational Institutions (HEI) such as colleges, universities or other recognised institutions to derive an understanding of the ‘Quality Status’ of the institution.

NAAC evaluates the institutions for its conformance to the standards of quality in terms of its performance related to the educational processes and outcomes, curriculum coverage, teaching-learning processes, faculty, research, infrastructure, learning resources, organisation, governance, financial wellbeing and student services.

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), with a record of at least two batches of students graduated, or been in existence for six years, whichever is earlier, are eligible to apply for the process of Assessment and Accreditation (A&A) of NAAC.

NAAC has identified a set of seven criteria to serve as the basis of its assessment procedures. NAAC has categorized the Higher Educational Institutions into three major types (University, Autonomous College, and Affiliated/Constituent College) and assigned different weightages to these criteria under different key aspects based on the functioning and organizational focus of the three types of HEIs.

  1. Curricular Aspects
  2. Teaching-Learning and Evaluation
  3. Research, Innovations and Extension
  4. Infrastructure and Learning Resources
  5. Student Support and Progression
  6. Governance, Leadership and Management
  7. Institutional Values and Best Practices

Current Affair 4:
Ultra-processed foods

 

Ultra-processed foods are industrial formulations made entirely or mostly from substances extracted from foods (oils, fats, sugar, starch, and proteins), derived from food constituents (hydrogenated fats and modified starch), or synthesized in laboratories from food substrates or other organic sources (flavour enhancers, color, and several food additives used to make the product hyper-palatable). Manufacturing techniques include extrusion, moulding and pre-processing by frying.

Ultra-processed food products include many soft drinks, biscuits, processed meats, instant noodles, frozen meals, flavoured yoghurts and bread products. Consumption of ultra-processed food has been linked to health and environmental harms.

 

 

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