Daily Current Affairs 29 August 2020 | UPSC Current Affairs 2020

 Current Affairs Of Today Are

1) New Rules For J&K

• The Union Home Ministry notified new rules for administration in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir ( J&K) that specify the functions of the lieutenant governor (L­G) and the Council of Ministers
• According to the transaction of business rules, “police, public order, All India Services, and anti­corruption” will fall under the executive functions of the L­G, implying that the Chief Minister or the Council of Ministers will have no say in their functioning. 
• The proposals or matters which affect or are likely to affect peace and tranquillity or the interest of any minority community, the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, and the Backward Classes “shall essentially be submitted to the Lieutenant Governor through the Chief Secretary, under intimation to the Chief Minister, before issuing any orders”.
• The Council of Ministers, led by the CM, will decide service matters of non­All India Services officers, proposal to impose a new tax, land revenue, sale grant or lease of government property, reconstituting departments, or offices and draft legislation.
• However, in case of difference of opinion between the L­G and a Minister, when no agreement could be reached even after a month, the “decision of the Lieutenant Governor shall be deemed to have been accepted by the Council of Ministers”, the rules note. 
• Under the rules, there will be 39 departments in the UT, such as school education, agriculture, higher education, horticulture, election, general administration, home, mining, power, Public Works Department, tribal affairs, and transport.
• The rules say all communications received from the Centre, including those from the Prime Minister and other Ministers, other than those of a routine or unimportant character, shall, as soon as possible after their receipt, be submitted by the Secretary to the Chief Secretary, the Minister in charge, the Chief Minister and the L­G for information
• On August 6, 2019, Parliament read down Article 370 of the Constitution revoking the special status of J&K and bifurcated and downgraded the State into the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh, with the former having a Legislative Assembly

Source: The Hindu

2) “Chunauti”- Next Generation Start-up Challenge Contest

• Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad launched “Chunauti”- Next Generation Startup Challenge Contest to further boost startups and software products with special focus on Tier-II towns of India. The government has earmarked a budget of Rs. 95.03 Crore over three years for this program. It aims to identify around 300 startups working in identified areas and provide them seed fund of upto Rs. 25 Lakh and other facilities
• Under this challenge the Ministry of Electronics and IT will invite startups in the following areas of work:
• Edu-Tech, Agri-Tech & Fin-Tech Solutions for masses
• Supply Chain, Logistics & Transportation Management
• Infrastructure & Remote monitoring
• Medical Healthcare, Diagnostic, Preventive & Psychological Care
• Jobs & Skilling, Linguistic tools & technologies
• The startups selected through Chunauti will be provided various support from the Government through the Software Technology Parks of India centers across India. They will get incubation facilities, mentorship, security testing facilities, access to venture capitalist funding, industry connect as well as advisories in legal, Human Resource (HR), IPR, and Patent matters. Besides seed fund of upto Rs. 25 Lakh, the startups will also be provided cloud credits from leading cloud service providers. Start-ups who are in the ideation stage may be selected under the pre-incubation program & mentored for up-to six months to evolve their business plan & solution around the proposed idea. Each intern (start-up under pre-incubation) will be paid Rs. 10,000/- per month upto a period of 6 months.
• Union Minister also laid the foundation stone of the digital training and skilling center of the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) at Muzaffarpur in Bihar. This center will be developed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India for Rs. 9.17 Crore. The government of Bihar has allocated one acre of land for this institution. This center will be equipped with a state of the art training facility with a digital laboratory. Different courses such as O level, CCC, BCC, Programming, and multimedia training will be offered from this center.

Source: PIB

3) Sub-Classification of Reserved Classes

• A five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court held that States can sub-classify the list of Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs) to provide preferential treatment to the “weakest out of the weak”.
• The decision overruled a previous 2005 decision in E V Chinnaiah v State of Andhra Pradesh and Others, also by a five-judge Bench, that state governments had no power to create sub-categories of SCs for the purpose of reservation.
• Since a Bench of equal strength cannot overrule a previous decision, the court also referred it to a 7-judge Bench.
• The judgment was on the constitutional validity of Section 4(5) of the Punjab Scheduled Caste and Backward Classes (Reservation in Services) Act, 2006.
• The act allows 50% of the reserved Scheduled Castes seats in the State to be allotted to Balmikis and Mazhabi Sikhs.

Judgment:

• The reservation system has created inequalities within the reserved castes itself. There is a “caste struggle” within the reserved class as benefits of reservation are being usurped by a few.
• The reservation was not contemplated all the time by the framers of the Constitution.
• Article 334 of the Constitution had originally required the reservation of elected seats to cease in 1960, but it was extended by various amendments. The latest one being the 104th Amendment extending it to 2030.
• If sub-classification is denied, it would defeat the right to equality by treating unequal as equal.
• Article 14 guarantees everyone “equality before the law” and “equal protection of the law”. Equal protection of the laws means that amongst equals the law should be equal and treating unequal as equals will be a violation of the law.
• Among the SCs, some remain grossly under-represented despite reservation in comparison to other SCs. This inequality within the Scheduled Castes is underlined in several reports, and special quotas have been framed to address it.
• Justice Ramachandra Raju Commission, 1997 recommended sub-dividing the SCs into four groups and apportioning reservations separately for each. It also recommended that the Creamy layer of Scheduled Castes be excluded from receiving any reservation benefits in public appointments and admission to educational institutions.
• In Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and Bihar, special quotas were introduced for the most vulnerable Dalits. In 2007, Bihar set up the Mahadalit Commission to identify the castes within SCs that were left behind. In Tamil Nadu, a 3% quota within the SC quota is accorded to the Arundhatiyar caste.
• States have the competence to grant reservation benefits to SCs and STs in terms of Articles 15(4) and 16(4), and Articles 341(1) and 342(1).
• Article 16 (4) provides that the State can make any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts and in matters of promotion in favor of any backward class of citizens who, in the opinion of the state, are not adequately represented in the services under the State.
• Article 15(4) empowers the state to create special arrangements for promoting the interests and welfare of socially and educationally backward classes of the society such as SC and STs.
• As per the Articles 341(1) and 342(1), the President of India, after consultation with the Governor, may specify, the castes, races, tribes, or parts of groups within castes or races, which shall be deemed to be Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Background

• In the Indra Sawhney v. Union of India 1992 case, the Supreme Court held that it would be perfectly legal for the state to categorize backward classes as backward and more backward.
• It also upheld the concept of ‘creamy layer’ within OBC to those who have overcome their backwardness. However, the concept of creamy layer in SCs and STs has been in debate since then.
• In the E V Chinnaiah v State of Andhra Pradesh and Others 2005 case, the Supreme Court ruled that only the President has the power to notify the inclusion or exclusion of caste as a Scheduled Caste, and states cannot tinker with the list.
• In the M.Nagaraj & Others vs Union Of India, 2006 case, the Supreme Court said that the government had to collect quantifiable data showing backwardness of the class and inadequacy of representation of that class in public employment.
• However, in Jarnail Singh vs Lachhmi Narain Gupta, the 2018 Supreme Court held that the government need not collect quantifiable data to demonstrate the backwardness of public employees belonging to the SC/STs to provide reservations for them in promotions.
• It also observed that certain caste groups or subgroups have “come out of untouchability or backwardness by belonging to the creamy layer”.
• Recently, the Supreme Court has ruled that reservation in the matter of promotions in public posts is not a fundamental right, and a state cannot be compelled to offer the quota if it chooses not to.

Way Forward

• Dr. B.R. Ambedkar described the Indian society as a gradation of castes forming an ascending scale of reverence and a descending scale of contempt. As is the nature of any hierarchical structure, no two castes are equal. The ones at the bottom of the ladder, those who have been most severely ostracised and subjugated, have not yet received the benefits of reservations as a tool to ensure their representation in society and government. This judgment will help trickle down the benefits of reservation to the neediest and establishment of an equal society.

Source: Indian Express

4) World Urdu Conference 2020

• The World Urdu Conference 2020 is being organized by the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) from 27th-28th August 2020.
• Meaning: Literally, the word Urdu (originally Turkish) means the royal camp.

Historical Background:

• Urdu had developed and flourished in Delhi during the period of ‘Delhi Sultanate’ from the 12th to 16th century and then during the period of the ‘Mughal Empire’ in Delhi from the 16th century to the 19th century when several court poets used this language in their great poetry and writings.
• Its first major folk poet Amir Khusrau (1253-1325), composed dohas (couplets) and riddles in the newly-formed speech, then called Hindavi.
• Spread in South India: When Delhi Sultanate and then Mughal Empire spread in the Deccan, Urdu spread in southern states.
• The language derived even local words from the local languages of those states and developed as a ‘Dakhni’ language which was a bit distinctive of Urdu language in the North.
• The divide between Urdu and Hindi occurred under the colonial impact.
• Hindi and Urdu got split along religious lines with Hindi in Nagari script becoming identified with Hindus, and Urdu in Persian script identified with Muslims.

Contemporary Context: 

• Urdu is a major language of South Asia.
• It is spoken in countries including India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal.
• It has become the culture language and lingua franca of the South Asian Muslim diaspora outside the sub-continent, especially in the Gulf and the Middle East, Western Europe, Scandinavia, USA, and Canada.

Relation with Hindi:

• Both Urdu and Hindi belong to the new Indo-Aryan group sharing the same Indic base.
• Urdu and Hindi are taken together form the third largest speech community in the world today.

Status in India:

• Scheduled Language: Urdu is one of the languages mentioned in the 8th Schedule to the Constitution.
• The Constitutional provisions relating to the 8th Schedule are articles 344(1) and 351.
• Presently, 8th Schedule consists of the 22 languages namely (1) Assamese, (2) Bengali, (3) Gujarati, (4) Hindi, (5) Kannada, (6) Kashmiri, (7) Konkani, (8) Malayalam, (9) Manipuri, (10) Marathi, (11) Nepali, (12) Oriya, (13) Punjabi, (14) Sanskrit, (15) Sindhi, (16) Tamil, (17) Telugu, (18) Urdu (19) Bodo, (20) Santhali, (21) Maithili and (22) Dogri.
• Official Language of Different States: It is one of the official languages in states like Kashmir, Telangana, UP, Bihar, New Delhi, and West Bengal.
• Composite Culture: Urdu is a language of composite culture and interfaith bonds in India.
• Hindu-Muslim composite culture is a constructed concept of the 20th century that describes amalgams of Hindu and Islamic elements in South Asian culture.
• Article 51A(f) of the Constitution declares a solemn fundamental duty of every citizen to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture.
• Speaker Base: The Urdu speakers in India number almost 44 million. The largest numbers are in the state of Uttar Pradesh, followed by Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Karnataka.
• These states together account for 85% of the national Urdu-speaking population.
• Delhi is the major center of Urdu literature and publishing.

National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language

• NCPUL has become the biggest Urdu networking hub in the world.
• The National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language started functioning as an autonomous body in 1996. It comes under the Ministry of Education.
• It is the National Nodal Agency for Promotion of Urdu.
• NCPUL has also been assigned the responsibility for the promotion of Arabic and Persian.
• Major Objectives:
• To take action for making available in the Urdu language, the knowledge of scientific and technological development as well as knowledge of ideas evolved in the modern context.
• To advise the Government on issues connected with the Urdu language as may be referred to it.

Source: PIB

5) Hurricane Laura

• Hurricane Laura has made landfall in southwestern Louisiana (South Central United States) with wind speeds reaching up to 250 km (about 150 miles) an hour.
• Description: Hurricane Laura is a Category 4 storm.
• A Category 4 storm has wind speeds between 130-156 mph and can uproot trees and bring down power lines.
• The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale: Hurricanes are categorized on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, which rates them on a scale of 1 to 5 based on wind speed.
• Hurricanes that reach category three or higher are classified as major hurricanes.
• It is because of their potential to cause devastating damage to property and life.

Timings of Hurricane:

• Two seasons of hurricanes are observed in the Atlantic and Pacific regions:
• The Atlantic hurricane season runs from 1st June to 30th November.
• The Eastern Pacific hurricane season runs from 15th May to 30th November.
• Hurricane Hanna: It was the last storm which made landfall on the Texan coast reaching wind speeds of up to 90 mph, and was listed as a Category 1 storm.
• It was the first hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season.

Hurricane:

• Origin: Tropical cyclones or hurricanes use warm, moist air as fuel, and therefore form over warm Equatorial water.
• Mechanism:
• Low-Pressure Creation: When the warm, moist air rises upward from the surface of the ocean, it creates an area of low air pressure below.
• When this happens, the air from the surrounding areas rushes to fill this place, eventually rising when it becomes warm and moist too.
• An eye forms in the center. It is the calmest part of the cyclone. Before the wind reaches the center it gets warmed up and rises upwards.
• When the warm air rises and cools off, the moisture forms clouds. This system of clouds and winds continues to grow and spin.
• This disturbance is fuelled by the ocean’s heat and the water that evaporates from its surface.
• Such storm systems rotate faster and faster.
• Storms that form towards the north of the equator rotate counterclockwise, while those that form to the south spin clockwise because of the rotation of the Earth.

Worldwide Terminology of Tropical Cyclones

• Depending on where they occur, hurricanes may be called typhoons or cyclones. They are given many names in different regions of the world:
• Typhoons: tropical cyclones are known as Typhoons in the China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
• Hurricanes: In the West Indian islands in the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
• Tornados: In the Guinea lands of West Africa and southern USA.
• Willy-willies: In north-western Australia and
• Tropical Cyclones: In the Indian Ocean Region.

Source: Indian Express

6) Controlling Dengue Using Bacteria

• Researchers from the World Mosquito Program have used mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia bacteria to successfully control dengue in Yogyakarta city of Indonesia.
• The World Mosquito Program is an Australia-based not-for-profit initiative that exists to protect the global community from mosquito-borne diseases.

Wolbachia

• Wolbachia is natural bacteria present in up to 60% of insect species, including some mosquitoes.
• However, Wolbachia is not usually found in the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the primary species responsible for transmitting human viruses such as Zika, dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever.
• Wolbachia is safe for humans, animals, and the environment.

About

• The Aedes aegypti mosquito, that spreads Dengue and other diseases such as chikungunya, Zika, and yellow fever cannot do so when they are artificially infected with a bacterium, Wolbachia.
• The bacteria Wolbachia “inhibits” viral infection, that is, even if people encounter mosquito bite, they will not be infected. This happens because bacteria do not allow the virus to replicate in the mosquito thereby minimizing its number within the mosquito.

Method

The scientists infected some mosquitoes with Wolbachia and then released these in the city where they bred with local mosquitoes until nearly all mosquitoes in the area were carrying Wolbachia bacteria. This is called the Population Replacement Strategy.

Results

• At the end of 27 months, the researchers found that the incidence of dengue was 77% lower in areas where Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes had been released, as compared to areas without such deployments.
• This method does not only block the Dengue Virus but also many other viruses present in mosquitoes.

Mass Production:

• A French company InnovaFeed, which produces insects to feed livestock, is partnering with WMP to develop the first industrial-level production of Dengue- controlling mosquitoes.

Other Developments

•  Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) also has been working on a similar project developing a strain of Aedes aegypti containing Wolbachia, known as Puducherry Strain.
• The strain was developed at the Vector Control Research Centre (VCRC), Puducherry in collaboration with Monash University in Australia.

Dengue

• Dengue is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus (Genus Flavivirus), transmitted by several species of mosquito within the genus Aedes, principally Aedes aegypti.
• Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle, and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash.
• There are four strains from Type I-IV, of which Type-II and IV are considered more severe.
• The incidence of dengue has grown dramatically around the world in recent decades, with a vast majority of cases under-reported, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
• WHO estimates 39 crore dengue virus infections per year, of which 9.6 crore show symptoms.
• India registered over 1 lakh dengue cases in 2018 and over 1.5 lakh cases in 2019, according to the National Vector-Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP).
• NVBDCP is the central nodal agency for the prevention and control of six vector-borne diseases i.e. Malaria, Dengue, Lymphatic Filariasis, Kala-azar, Japanese Encephalitis, and Chikungunya in India. It works under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• The dengue vaccine CYD-TDV or Dengvaxia was approved by the US Food & Drug Administration in 2019, the first dengue vaccine to get the regulatory nod in the US.
• Dengvaxia is basically a live, attenuated dengue virus which has to be administered in people of ages 9 to 16 who have laboratory-confirmed previous dengue infection and who live in endemic areas.

Source: Indian Express

7) Amnesty International

• Amnesty International (AI) India has demanded an independent investigation into all allegations of human rights violations by the police during the north-east Delhi riots.
• On 23rd February 2020, riots broke out in Northeast Delhi between Anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, and pro-CAA protestors. The violence took a communal turn and led to deaths, injuries, and destruction of properties.
• Earlier, AI put forward its views on issues in J&K and the role of Foreigners Tribunals in Assam.

About

• Amnesty International (AI) is an international Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) founded in London (UK) in 1961.
• It seeks to publicize violations by governments and other entities of rights recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), especially freedom of speech and of conscience and the right against torture.
• In 1977, it was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.
• AI India is a part of the global human rights movement spearheaded by Amnesty International. It has its registered office in Bangalore (Karnataka).

Source: The Hindu