Daily Current Affairs 26 December 2019

Current Affairs Of Today Are

1) Locust invasion in Gujarat

• Gujarat is under attack from hopper's new­born locusts that have flown across the international border. As the swarms mature, they have ravaged farms in north Gujarat, devastating farms in the three border districts Banaskantha, Patan, and Kutch. 
• The locusts, known as tiddis locally, have wreaked havoc on standing crops including castor, cumin, jatropha and cotton, and fodder grass in around 20 talukas
• Gujarat has not witnessed such an invasion of locusts since 1993-­94.
• The State administration has been caught napping despite an alert from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of a massive locust attack in South Asia, covering Pakistan and India. 
• The Locust Warning Organization (LWO) in Jodhpur had noticed the swarms and predicted their trajectory across the international border. However, preventive measures by the authorities were not taken. 
• The border districts, Banaskantha is the worst affected. The insects fly in during the day and settle on the farms at night, making it difficult to ward them off.

Steps were taken for the prevention of crops

LOCUST OR TIDDIES

• The farmers under siege are hiring workers and using age-old techniques like beating drums and vessels to scare the locusts away without much success
• Rather late in the day, the authorities have stepped in to combat the voracious invasion. The State administration along with the central teams has launched huge pesticide­spraying operation to kill the insects

Origin of Locust

• According to the Agriculture Ministry’s Locust Warning Organisation (LWO), locusts are flying in from Pakistan’s Sindh province and spreading in villages in Rajasthan and Gujarat where southwestern monsoon was prolonged this year. 
• Originally, the locusts emerged in February this year from Sudan and Eritrea on Africa’s Red Sea Coast and traveled through Saudi Arabia and Iran to enter Pakistan, where they invaded the Sindh province and from there they moved into Rajasthan and Gujarat. 

Government taking steps to curb damages

The government has now assured farmers that the administration will carry out a survey to assess the damages and will accordingly compensate farmers. However, farmers feel that the government’s efforts are too little, too late. 

2) History of the Growing burden of Cancer in India: From Antiquity to the 21st century.

• A study tracing the growing burden of cancer in India states that most of the increase in cancer incidences are attributable to its epidemiological transition and improvement in the use of cancer diagnostics.
• The country's cancer burden will continue to increase as a result of the ongoing aging of India and improving access to cancer diagnostics in rural India
• The paper was published in the Journal of Global Oncology which is promoted by the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The study has stated that while cancer­like diseases were documented since antiquity, recording of cancer in India began in the 19th century when the Western practices of biopsy and pathological examination came to India during the colonial British regime.
• Cancer is primarily a disease of older people, hence, as life expectancy went up, cancer incidences too went up
• Maximum increases will occur in the most populous and least developed States, where the facilities for cancer diagnostics and treatment are inadequate
• The study offers lessons for planning cancer care in States as well as other countries experiencing epidemiological transition. In India, the fastest epidemiological transition happened in Kerala, whereas Uttar Pradesh remained in the slowest group

Type of Cancer

• A direct comparison of the demographic and social variables, available health care facilities and leading causes of mortality in these two States shows how the low incidences of infectious diseases in Kerala have given rise to more cancer compared to U.P., which is still battling high mortality from communicable diseases
• The types of cancers in India are also undergoing a transition, similar to a report from Japan five decades ago. There has been a decline of cancers caused by infections, such as cervical, stomach, and penile cancer, and an increase in cancers associated with energy intake, physical activity imbalance, and aging, such as breast, colorectal and prostate cancers.
• Cancer transitions can influence the requirements for site­specialized cancer surgeons, the study says. For example, Kerala will need more breast oncologists and U.P. will need more gynecological oncologists

Evidence of cancer in Indus Valley sites

• Evidence of cancer in early humans were found in a review of 154 paleopathological studies dating back to 1.8 million years in historic Egyptian and German sites.
• No paleo­oncology reports of cancer have been recorded at the Indus Valley civilization or Deccan Chalcolithic sites except for the mention of some benign osteomas. Fewer samples and poor preservation were some of the limitations of these studies
• The study says, there are references to cancer­like symptoms in many ancient texts including the ‘Atharva Veda’ and two ancient medical systems, Ayurveda and Siddha, which have been in use for more than 2,500 years. These texts mention the use of surgery and herbal medications for these diseases. The ancient medical classics of India have devoted little attention to cancer­like illnesses, suggesting a low prevalence of cancer in those times perhaps

3) ‘Good Governance Index’ launched by MoS (PP) Dr. Jitendra Singh on ‘Good Governance Day’

The MoS (PP) Dr. Jitendra Singh launched the ‘Good Governance Index’ at an event organized by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, on the occasion of Good Governance Day

The Good Governance Day is observed on the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Good Governance Index has been scientifically designed on various parameters of governance.

About Good Governance Index

The Good Governance Index is a uniform tool across the States to assess the Status of Governance and the impact of various interventions taken up by the State Government and UTs. 

Significance

The objectives of GGI are to provide quantifiable data to compare the state of governance in all states and UTs, enable states and UTs to formulate and implement suitable strategies for improving governance and shift to result-oriented approaches and administration. Various principles have been kept in mind while selecting the indicators, i.e. it should be easy to understand & calculate, citizen-centric & result-driven, leading to improved results and applicable to all states and UTs, among others. Various consultation meetings were held with the stakeholders, including consultations with sector experts, ministries, states & UTs.

The GGI takes into consideration ten sectors

• 1). Agriculture and Allied Sectors, 2). Commerce & Industries, 3). Human Resource Development, 4). Public Health, 5). Public Infrastructure & Utilities, 6). Economic Governance, 7). Social Welfare & Development, 8). Judicial & Public Security, 9). Environment and 10). Citizen-Centric Governance.
• These ten Governance Sectors are measured on a total of 50 indicators. Difference indicators are given different weights under one Governance Sector to calculate the value. E.g. Under Agriculture & Allied Sector, there are 6 indicators with different weight, namely: Growth rate of agriculture and allied sector (0.4), growth rate of food grains production (0.1), growth rate of horticulture produce (0.1), growth rate of milk production (0.1), growth rate of meat production (0.1) and crop insurance (0.2).
• The states and UTs are divided into three groups: a). The Big States, b). North-East & Hill States and c). UTs. The states and UTs are ranked on all indicators separately, at the same time composite ranking is also calculated for these states and UTs under their respective groups based upon these indicators.

The Minister also launched the 15th edition of Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure (CSMOP)

About CSMOP

• The 1st CSMOP was published in 1955 and has been updated from time to time. The last edition (14th edition) was published in 2015. To meet the requirements of the digital environment, DARPG (Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances) has brought out the 15th edition of CSMOP which integrates conventional office practices with e-office.
• Presently, more than 90% of ministries have adopted e-office and 14,56,739 files are running in about 84 Ministries/Departments through e-office. In total. 57 ministries/departments have achieved the desired target of 80% and above in e-office. The draft CSMOP was circulated to all ministries/departments and their views were incorporated in it

The main features of the CSMOP, which enables the march towards the digital Secretariat, are as follows:

• A new chapter on e-Office digitization framework that provides guidelines for scanning, 
• entry and storage of data,  
• provision of Virtual Private Network for officers of the rank of DS and above following scrutiny safeguards, 
• provision for DSC to dealing officers and above rank officers, knowledge management provides the details regarding maintenance of Standing Guard Files, 
• Standing Note,
• Induction Material etc, which helps in smooth disposal of work and decision making chapter provides a list of various website and their links

4) Typhoon Phanfone

• Typhoon Phanfone pummelled the central Philippines on Christmas Day, bringing a wet, miserable and terrifying holiday to millions in the mainly Catholic nation.
• The typhoon leaped from one small island to another for the second day crumpling houses, toppling trees and blacking out cities and towns
• Though weaker, Phanfone was tracking a similar path to Super Typhoon Haiyan, the country’s deadliest cyclone on record which left more than 7,300 people dead or missing in 2013. More than 16,000 people spent the night in improvised shelters in schools, gyms and government buildings as the typhoon first made landfall
• More than 25,000 people remained stranded at ports on Christmas Day with ferry services still shut down
• Scores of flights to the region also remained canceled, though the populous capital Manila has so far been spared.

5) Free Wi­Fi to villages

• Telecom and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad promised free Wi­Fi to about 48,000 villages, which are connected through the government’s flagship Bharatnet project, for the next three months. To promote uptake of the Internet in rural areas
• With the BharatNet initiative, the Centre aims to connect all 2.5 lakh gram panchayats through an optical fiber. Till now, about 48,000 villages have been connected to WiFi using BharatNet.
• The government is aiming to convert at least 15% of the total villages to the digital village in the next 3­-4 years.

Digital Village

• Digital Village, which was conceptualized by the Common Service Centre (CSC) SPV under the Ministry of Electronics and IT, is a village where citizens can avail of various e­services of the central and the State governments, as well as of private players. These include banking, insurance, telemedicine, pension, and e­governance services. Such villages are also equipped with an LED bulb assembly unit, sanitary napkin unit, and rural-­Wifi infrastructure.
• Initially, the scheme was unveiled at five locations as a pilot. “Considering the success of the pilot, CSC SPV has been given the task of setting up 700 Digital Villages across the country, one in every district.”

6) NITI Aayog  bats for 2 GST slabs

• Government think­tank NITI Aayog Member Ramesh Chand made a case for only two slabs under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime as against the current multiple slabs, and said rates should be revised annually if required. 
• Currently, there are four GST rate slabs  5%, 12%, 18%, and 28%. Several items fall in the exempt or nil duty category. Besides, cess is also levied on five goods.
• The GST, which replaced almost all the indirect taxes, came into force on July 1, 2017, and the tax rates have been revised several times since then.
• When a large taxation reform such as GST is brought in, there are always ‘teething problems’ but soon they stabilize. Most of the countries took a long time for GST stabilization.
• It has become a tendency of every sector to ask for lower GST. I feel GST issues are much larger than asking for rates
• we should not fiddle with rates or change rates frequently... We should not have many rates. Have only two rates
• The focus should be on a steady increase in revenue collection from the new indirect tax regime rather than tinkering with rates. He prescribed that if at all rates needed to be changed, it should be done annually.
• On demands for lower GST on processed food such as dairy products, an agri­-economist, said the 5% GST on such products was “very, very reasonable.”
• While every sector was demanding a lower rate, they should also understand governments need revenue to spend on development works. 
• The agriculture sector alone, the Central government was providing a subsidy of ₹1.2 lakh crore and the States, put together, spend about ₹1 lakh crore. 

7) 10 GW solar capacity 

• State­-owned power giant NTPC is planning to add 10 GW of solar energy generation capacity by 2022, which entails an investment of around ₹50,000 crores, to be funded mainly by green bonds
• NTPC has installed renewable energy capacity of 920 MW, which constitutes mainly solar energy. It has formulated a long­term plan to become a 130 GW company by 2032 with 30% non­fossil fuel or renewable energy capacity.
• The company will complete tendering of 2,300 MW of solar energy capacity by the end of this fiscal. Thereafter, it has planned to add 4 GW each in 2020­-21 and 2021­-22
• The power major would also set up some of its solar energy projects under a scheme where it gets viability gap funding to keep the tariff below the ₹3­per­unit level.
• The company will also set up solar energy projects without  long­term (25 years) power purchase agreements as it aims to sell the electricity to industrial as well as commercial consumers and also at energy exchanges
• The Central Electricity Regulatory Authority has already approved the realtime power market, which is expected to kick in by April 1, 2020. There would be 48 sessions of half an hour each in a day, to allow consumers to get the desired power supply within an hour of buying at the exchanges. Power is now traded for two hours in a day from 10 a.m. to 12 a.m., where a consumer can schedule the delivery a day in advance.