Goaltide Daily Current Affairs 2020
Current Affair 1:
Global E-waste Monitor 2020 report
Ok, from such reports, they won’t ask you ever data of anything. These reports are just to have rough idea what is going around E-waste. If we will give you write-ups for this topic, you will never remember, neither you will read. So, see few diagrams given below. Try to remember these images roughly. It will help you. See below images.
Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) is very complex. Up to 69 elements from the periodic table can be found in EEE, including precious metals (e.g. gold, silver, copper, platinum, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium, iridium, and osmium), Critical Raw Materials (CRM)(e.g. cobalt, palladium, indium, germanium, bismuth, and antimony), and noncritical metals, such as Aluminium and iron. Iron, aluminum, and copper represent the majority of the total weight of raw waste materials that can be found in e-waste in 2019.
We have already covered E-waste Management Rules under Daily Current Affairs section. Click here to read.
Current Affair 2:
Why do Indigenous Communities Continue to Practice Shifting Cultivation?
In the uplands of northeast India—Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura—shifting cultivation, locally known as jhum, continues to be a dominant mode of food production and the economic mainstay of many rural households.
In northeast India, a 2018 report released by the Indian government revealed that an area of 8500 square kilometres is still being used to practice shifting cultivation (SC) – an agricultural system practiced for centuries.
The process consists of cultivating land temporarily and then abandoning it – usually for a period of one to two decades so the soil recuperates its fertility and reverts to its natural state. Because it involves the felling of trees for temporary cultivation, it is blamed for deforestation, soil erosion and loss of biodiversity, all contributors to global climate change.
Shifting Cultivation never got proper recognition:
A report was released by NITI Aayog in 2018 about shifting cultivation. According to the report, the fundamental characteristic of shifting cultivation—two different types of land use on the same piece of land—has never been considered while formulating policies on managing shifting cultivation. The oversight has led to the present policy incoherence and contradictions in the management of shifting cultivation.
Attempts have been made in past to regulate shifting cultivation:
Why After regulation, still it is practiced?
Shifting Cultivation needs smooth transition:
Shifting cultivation fallows must be legally perceived and categorized as ‘regenerating fallows’, which may, if given sufficient time, regenerate into secondary forests. The government has to realize that the practice of shifting cultivation could increase forest cover through the regenerating fallows. This fact must be duly recognised and due credit accorded to the practice.
Few approached can help in transformation of Shifting Cultivation. You can you these five points given below in many places. Read them complete.
Recently, the government has announced shifting cultivation may soon receive legal backing.
NCERTs Points:
Latest data on Shifting Cultivation: Remember here that area has been decreased. See below.
Nowhere you will get such comprehensive notes. Please read. We are providing news only what is important to you. The more irrelevant you read now, the less you revise in end and you don’t succeed. Please follow our restrictions. We assure you of success.
Current Affair 3:
National Food Security Act, 2013
Very important topic. This topic comes daily in news. Every year it troubles student. But from this year it won’t if you read entire document we have given now.
The National Food Security Act, 2013 was notified on 10th September, 2013 with the objective to provide for food and nutritional security in human life cycle approach, by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices to people to live a life with dignity.
- Priority households are entitled to 5 kgs of food grains per person per month, and Antyodaya households to 35 kgs per household per month. The combined coverage of Priority and Antyodaya households (called “eligible households”) shall extend “up to 75% of the rural population and up to 50% of the urban population”.
- For children in the age group of 6 months to 6 years, the Bill guarantees an age-appropriate meal, free of charge, through the local anganwadi. For children aged 6-14 years, one free mid-day meal shall be provided every day (except on school holidays) in all schools run by local bodies, government and government aided schools, up to Class VIII. For children below six months, “exclusive breastfeeding shall be promoted”.
- Every pregnant and lactating mother is entitled to a free meal at the local anganwadi (during pregnancy and six months after childbirth) as well as maternity benefits of Rs 6,000, in instalments.
- The Central Government is to determine the state-wise coverage of the PDS, in terms of proportion of the rural/urban population. Then numbers of eligible persons will be calculated from Census population figures.
- The identification of eligible households is left to state governments, subject to the scheme’s guidelines for Antyodaya, and subject to guidelines to be “specified” by the state government for Priority households.
- The Bill provides for the creation of State Food Commissions. Each Commission shall consist of a chairperson, five other members and a member-secretary (including at least two women and one member each from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes).
The main function of the State Commission is to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the act, give advice to the states governments and their agencies, and inquire into violations of entitlements (either suo motu or on receipt of a complaint, and with “all the powers of a civil court while trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure 1908”). State Commissions also have to hear appeals against orders of the District Grievance Redressal Officer and prepare annual reports to be laid before the state legislature.
- The Centre should provide all possible resource and funds to prevent scarcity.
- Obligation of Local Authorities:
- Food security to people living in hilly areas:
- The Act has three schedules. Schedule 1 prescribes issue prices for the PDS.
- Schedule 2 prescribes “nutritional standards” for midday meals, take-home rations and related entitlements. For instance, take-home rations for children aged 6 months to 3 years should provide at least 500 calories and 12-15 grams of protein.
- Schedule 3 lists various “provisions for advancing food security”, under three broad headings:
Current Affair 4:
Sulphur dioxide concentrations drop over India during COVID-19
Concentrations of sulfur dioxide in polluted areas in India have decreased by around 40% between April 2019 and April 2020. Using data from the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite, from the European Union Copernicus program, scientists have produced new maps which show the drop in concentrations across the country in times of COVID-19.
In a report by Greenpeace last year, India was named the world's largest emitter of anthropogenic sulfur dioxide—a significant contributor to air pollution. Sulfur dioxide causes many health-related problems, can harm sensitive ecosystems and is also a precursor to acid rain.
While some atmospheric sulfur dioxide is produced from natural processes, such as volcanoes, a substantial amount is produced by human activities—predominantly from power plants burning fossil fuels.
In India, emissions of sulfur dioxide have strongly increased over the last ten years, exacerbating haze problems over large parts of the country. However, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, human and industrial activity dropped considerably since the beginning of its lockdown on 25 March 2020.
Sulfur dioxide concentrations have dropped significantly compared to the previous year, notably over New Delhi, over many large coal-fired powers plants as well as other industrial areas. Some large plants in the northeast states of Odisha, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh have maintained a substantial level of activity, while others appear to have ceased entirely.
Current Affair 5:
Compulsory Licencing of Remdesivir
Recently, Recently, the CPI (Marxist) party has suggested that the government shall issue compulsory licences for the manufacturing of a generic version of Remdesivir which is being used to treat Covid-19 patients. News is not very important, but two topics are important:
- Remdesivir
- Compulsory Licensing
Remdesivir is developed to treat Ebola and related viruses. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the drug helps to prevent Covid-19 viral replication. It has the best potential and can be used in high doses without causing toxicities. Thus, the party has suggested the government invoking Clause 92 of the Patent Act (1970) that allows it to issue compulsory licences.
What is compulsory licensing?
Compulsory licensing is when a government allows someone else to produce a patented product or process without the consent of the patent owner or plans to use the patent-protected invention itself. It is one of the flexibilities in the field of patent protection included in the WTO’s agreement on intellectual property — the TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement.
This concept is recognised at both national as well as international levels, with express mention in both (Indian) Patent Act, 1970 and TRIPS Agreement. There are certain pre-requisite conditions, given under sections 84-92, which need to be fulfilled if a compulsory license is to be granted in favour of someone.
As per Section 84, any person, regardless of whether he is the holder of the license of that Patent, can make a request to the Controller for grant of compulsory license on expiry of three years, when any of the following conditions is fulfilled –
- the reasonable requirements of the public with respect to the patented invention have not been satisfied
- the patented invention is not available to the public at a reasonably affordable price
- the patented invention is not worked in the territory of India.
Further, compulsory licenses can also be issued suo motu by the Controller under section 92, pursuant to a notification issued by the Central Government if there is either a "national emergency" or "extreme urgency" or in cases of "public non-commercial use".
The Controller takes into account some more factors like the nature of the invention, the capability of the applicant to use the product for public benefit and the reasonability, but the ultimate discretion lies with him to grant the compulsory license. Even after a compulsory license is granted to a third party, the patent owner still has rights over the patent, including a right to be paid for copies of the products made under the compulsory licence.
Have India applied for Compulsory License?
India's first ever compulsory license was granted by the Patent Office on March 9, 2012, to Natco Pharma for the generic production of Bayer Corporation's Nexavar, a life saving medicine used for treating Liver and Kidney Cancer.
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