Daily Current Affairs 29 October 2020 | UPSC Current Affairs 2020

 Current Affairs Of Today Are

1) Annual State of Education Report (ASER) survey

• About 20% of rural children have no textbooks at home, according to the Annual State of Education Report (ASER) survey conducted in September, the sixth month
• of school closures due to COVID­-19 across the country. In Andhra Pradesh, less than 35% of children had textbooks, and only 60% had textbooks in Rajasthan. More than 98% had textbooks in West Bengal, Nagaland, and Assam.
• In the week of the survey, about one in three rural children had done no learning activity at all. About two in three had no learning material or activity given by their school that week, and only one in 10 had access to live online classes. 
• However, it’s not always about technology; in fact, levels of smartphone ownership have almost doubled from 2018, but a third of children with smartphone access still did not receive any learning materials. 
• Although the Centre has now permitted States to start reopening schools if they can follow COVID­-19 safety protocols, a majority of the country’s 25 crore students are still at home after seven straight months
• The ASER survey provides a glimpse into the levels of learning loss that students in rural India are suffering, with varying levels of access to technology, school, and family resources, resulting in a digital divide in education.
• ASER is a nationwide survey of rural education and learning outcomes in terms of reading and arithmetic skills that have been conducted by the NGO Pratham for the last 15 years. This year, the survey was conducted via phone calls, reaching 52,227 rural households with school-age children in 30 States and Union Territories.
• It found that 5.3% of rural children aged 6­10 years had not yet enrolled in school this year, in comparison to just 1.8% in 2018. This seems to indicate that due to the disruptions caused by the pandemic, families are waiting for the physical opening of schools to enroll their youngest children, with about 10% of six­year­olds not in school. Among 15­16­ year-­olds, however, enrolment levels are actually slightly higher than in 2018. Enrolment patterns also show a slight shift toward government schools, with private schools seeing a drop in enrolment in all age groups.
• In 2018, ASER surveyors found that about 36% of rural households with schoolgoing children had smartphones. By 2020, that figure had spiked to 62%. About 11% of families bought a new phone after the lockdown, of which 80% were smartphones. 
• This may indicate why WhatsApp was by far the most popular mode of transmitting learning materials to students, with 75% of students who got some input receiving it via the app. About a quarter of those who got input had personal contact with a teacher

Source: The Hindu

2) ISRO to launch satellite EOS­-01  

• India would launch its latest earth observation satellite EOS­-01 and nine international customer spacecraft onboard its Polar rocket PSLV-­C49 from the spaceport of Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on November 7
• This is the first launch by ISRO since the COVID­19 lockdown came into force in March.
• ISRO Chairman K. Sivan had said in June that ten space missions being prepared for launch this year had been ’disturbed’ due to the lockdown.
• EOS-­01 is intended for applications in agriculture, forestry, and disaster management support
• The customer satellites are being launched under a commercial agreement with New-Space India Limited (NSIL), Department of Space

Source: The Hindu

3) GIFT City

• The United Kingdom has entered into a strategic partnership to develop India’s fledgling international financial services center GIFT City and agreed to set up a new Fund of Funds to be managed by the State Bank of India (SBI) group to route the U.K.’s future capital investments into India
• India and the U.K. also signed off on a new infrastructure finance and policy partnership to help India execute its National Infrastructure Pipeline that envisages investments worth $1.4 trillion, at the 10th Economic and Financial Dialogue between the two countries steered by U.K. Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
• "We have been able to announce a series of ambitious initiatives across trade, infrastructure, sustainable finance and research [including]  a new strategic partnership to develop the GIFT city, an opportunity to drive international capital flow from London to India," Mr. Sunak added
• Bilateral trade between India and the U.K. stood at £24 billion in 2019. India is now the second-­largest project investment source for the U.K
• To help combat the pandemic, the U.K. and India announced a joint investment of £8 million for research to understand and address the factors leading to the severity of the novel coronavirus in South Asian populations in the U.K. and in India.

What Is IFSC?

• An IFSC enables bringing back to India the financial services and transactions that are currently carried out in offshore financial centers by Indian corporate entities and overseas branches/subsidiaries of financial institutions (FIs) by offering a business and regulatory environment that is comparable to other leading international financial centers in the world like London and Singapore.
• It would provide Indian corporates easier access to global financial markets. IFSC would also complement and promote further development of financial markets in India.
• The first IFSC in India has been set up at GIFT (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City) City, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

Need For Unified Regulator

• Currently, the banking, capital markets, and insurance sectors in IFSC are regulated by multiple regulators, i.e. RBI, SEBI, and IRDAI.
• The dynamic nature of business in the IFSCs necessitates a high degree of inter-regulatory coordination. The development of financial services and products in IFSCs would require focussed and dedicated regulatory interventions.
• It also requires regular clarifications and frequent amendments in the existing regulations governing financial activities in IFSCs.
• Further, this would also be essential from an ease of doing business perspective.
• This would also generate significant employment in the IFSCs in particular as well as the financial sector in India as a whole.
• Hence, a need is felt for having a unified financial regulator for IFSCs in India to provide a world-class regulatory environment to financial market participants.

Gujarat International Finance Tec-City

• Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) City is located on the banks of the Sabarmati River and is around 12 km (7.5 mi) from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport and is India's first operational smart city and international financial services center. It was promoted by the Government of Gujarat as a greenfield project. The city is designed for a walk to work concept and includes commercial and residential complexes.
• The city is connected through 4-6 lane State and National Highways. A double corridor metro system is being constructed to connect GIFT City to the nearby airport and various parts of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.
• The idea for GIFT was conceived during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investor Summit 2007 and the initial planning was done by East China Architectural Design & Research Institute (ECADI), which is credited with the planning much of modern-day Shanghai. The GIFT City’s plan is for the 359 hectares (886 acres) of land area to have approximately ~110 buildings with ~5,800,000 m2 (62,000,000 sq ft) of built-up area, of which around 67% is commercial, 22% is for residential and 11% is social facilities. Currently ~190,000 m2 (2,000,000 sq ft) of commercial space is operational, and another 280,000 m2 (3,000,000 sq ft) is under development. As of now an investment of Rs 10,500 crore has already been committed for GIFT City. The city has an integrated development model that has been spread out in three phases. Each phase is designed as integrated sustainable development, for example, the first phase itself includes the development of office space, residential, school, hotel, club, etc.
• Currently, approximately 225 units/companies are operational with more than 12000 professionals employed in the City.

Source: The Hindu

4) Electricity Access & Utility Benchmarking Report

• NITI Aayog, Ministry of Power, Rockefeller Foundation, and Smart Power India launched the ‘Electricity Access in India and Benchmarking Distribution Utilities’ report today.
• Based on a primary survey conducted across 10 states––representing about 65% of the total rural population of India and with a sample size of more than 25,000, including households, commercial enterprises, and institutions––the report assesses 25 distribution utilities.
• Aimed at capturing insights from both the demand (electricity customers) as well as supply-side (electricity distribution utilities), the report seeks to:
• Evaluate the status of electricity access in India across these states and distribution utilities along all dimensions that constitute meaningful access
• Benchmark utilities’ capacity to provide electricity access and identify the drivers of sustainable access
• Develop recommendations for enhancing sustainable electricity access

Key findings of the report:

• As much as 92% of customers reported the overall availability of electricity infrastructure within 50 meters of their premises; however, not all have connections, the primary reason being the distance of households from the nearest pole.
• Overall, 87% of the surveyed customers have access to grid-based electricity. The remaining 13% either use non-grid sources or don’t use any electricity at all.
• The hours of supply have improved significantly across the customer categories to nearly 17 hours per day.
• Nearly 85% of customers reported to have a metered electricity connection.
• Access to electricity is observed in 83% of household customers.
• A satisfaction index was created to assess the overall satisfaction level of customers with utility services. The study suggested that a total of 66% of those surveyed were satisfied––74% of customers in urban areas and 60% in rural areas. 
• The report underlines some best practices adopted by the better-performing electricity distribution utilities in India and provides key recommendations to enhance sustainable electricity access. The data from the survey provides evidence that the infrastructure of providing electricity across sectors has improved over time. It also shows that reforms undertaken by the Government have been appreciated by the stakeholders.

Source: PIB

5) Global Action for Reconciling Economic growth and Environment preservation initiative

• In the first funding for NTPC Ltd under Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC)’s GREEN or Global Action for Reconciling Economic growth and Environment preservation initiative, India’s largest power producer today entered into foreign currency loan agreement with Japanese Government’s financial institution for JPY 50 billion (approx. USD 482 million or Rs. 3,582 crore). JBIC will provide 60% of the facility amount and the balance will be given by commercial banks (viz., Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the Bank of Yokohama Ltd., the San-In Godo Bank Ltd., the Joyo Bank Ltd. and The Nanto Bank Ltd.), under JBIC guarantee.
• The facility is extended under JBIC’s outreach for projects, which ensure conservation of global environment. The loan proceeds will be utilized by NTPC Ltd, the PSU under Ministry of Power, for funding its capex for Flue Gas Desulphurization (FGD) & Renewable Energy projects. FGD, substantially reduces the SOx emission in the flue gases of thermal power plants and is a critical step towards environmental sustainability.

Source: PIB

6) Computation Analysis of Indian Genes

• Recently, the results from the computation analysis of the 1029 sequenced genomes from India were published in the scientific journal, Nucleic Acid Research.
• The analysis has found that out of 55,898,122 single nucleotide variants in India 18,016,257 (32.23%) variants are unique and found only in the samples sequenced from India.
• This emphasizes the need for an India centric population genomic initiative.
• The analysis was carried out by CSIR constituent labs, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi and Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad.

IndiGenomes Resource Database

• It encompasses the genomic data from over 1000 whole genome sequences sequenced from across India as part of the IndiGen programme and represents diverse geographies and ethnicities.
• The IndiGen Programme was launched in April 2019, under which genome sequencing of 1029 self-declared healthy Indians drawn from across the country has been completed.
• Its objective was to enable genetic epidemiology and develop public health technologies applications using population genome data.
• The resource provides access to over 55 million genetic variants representing the contemporary Indian population with an objective to classify variants involved in mendelian disorders and improve precision medicine outcomes.
• Mendelian disorder is a type of genetic disorder, resulting due to alterations in a gene or due to abnormalities in the genome.
• It enables the identification of markers for carrier screening, variations causing genetic diseases, prevention of adverse events and provides better diagnosis and optimal therapy through mining data.
• This resource can provide useful insights for clinicians and researchers in comprehending genetics not only at the population level but at the individual level.

Background

• Despite having this rich genetic diversity, India has been under-represented in global genome studies. Further, the population architecture of India has resulted in high prevalence of recessive alleles.
• In the absence of large-scale whole genome studies from India, the population-specific genetic variants are not adequately captured and catalogued in global medical literature.
• In order to fill the gap of whole genome sequences from different populations in India, CSIR initiated the IndiGen Programme.

Genome

• A genome is all the genetic matter in an organism. It is defined as an organism’s complete set of Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid (DNA), including all of its genes.
• Every organism’s genetic code is contained in its DNA, the building blocks of life.
• Each genome contains all of the information needed to build and maintain that organism.
• In humans, a copy of the entire genome contains more than 3 billion DNA base pairs.

Genome sequencing

• Genome sequencing is figuring out the order of DNA nucleotides, or bases, in a genome—the order of Adenine, Cytosine, Guanines, and Thymine that make up an organism's DNA.
• Application:
• Genome sequencing can play a crucial role for new advancements in medical science (like predictive diagnosis and precision medicine, genomic information) and in disease management.
• Through genome sequencing methodology, researchers and clinicians can easily detect the disease related to genetic disorder.
• Importance of Genome Sequencing:
• The study of entire genome sequences will help understand how the genome as a whole works—how genes work together to direct the growth, development and maintenance of an entire organism.
• The genes account for less than 25% of the DNA in the genome, and so knowing the entire genome sequence will help scientists study the parts of the genome outside the genes.

Source: PIB

7) Single Male Parent

• Male Government employees who are single parents will now be eligible for child care leave.
• Aim: Ease-of-living for government servants.
• Eligibility: Male government employees who were single parents.
• Single male parents, includes unmarried employees, widowers and divorcees, who may be expected to take up the responsibility of caring for a child single-handedly.
• Features: Child care leave can be granted at 100% of leave salary for the first 365 days and 80% of leave salary for the next 365 days.
• In case of a disabled child, the condition of availing child care leave up to the age of 22 years of the child has been removed and now child care leave can be availed by a government servant for a disabled child of any age.
• Child Care Leave: It is treated as earned leave and is generally granted to women employees.
• Women employees having minor children (children upto 18 years of age) may be granted child care leave for a maximum period of two years (i.e. 730 days) during their entire service for taking care of upto two minor children
• The child care leave is granted either for rearing children or to look after any of the needs of children like examination, sickness etc.

Source: Indian Express

8) The European Union

• France has encouraged EU allies to adopt measures against Turkey after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for a boycott of French goods.
• The EU Commission has now warned that Turkish membership of the European Union bloc is further away than ever in light of Erdogan’s remarks.

Background:

• Turkey applied to join the then European Economic Community in 1987 and began formal accession negotiations to the European Union in 2005, but the talks are seen as effectively frozen.

About the European Union:

• It is a group of 27 countries that operate as a cohesive economic and political block.
• The EU has often been described as a sui generis political entity (without precedent or comparison).

Origin of the European Union:

• Despite not being officially formed until 1993, the European Union’s foundations actually reach further back to 1957, when the European Economic Community was established.
• The EEC was formed out of a previous group called the European Coal and Steel Community – which had its own start in 1951.
• In 1993, the EEC morphed into the European Union following the new Maastricht Treaty (also known as the Treaty on European Union).
• Additionally, the Treaty of Lisbon, enacted in 2009, gave the European Union more broad powers that included being authorized to sign international treaties, increase border patrol, and other security and enforcement provisions.

Source: The Hindu

9) Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967

• Eighteen more individuals declared as terrorists under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
• Please note, the Central Government had amended the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 in August 2019, to include the provision of designating an individual as a terrorist.
• Prior to this amendment, only organizations could be designated as terrorist organizations.

About the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act:

• Passed in 1967, the law aims at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations in India.
• The Act assigns absolute power to the central government, by way of which if the Centre deems an activity as unlawful then it may, by way of an Official Gazette, declare it so.
• It has death penalty and life imprisonment as highest punishments.

Key points:

• Under UAPA, both Indian and foreign nationals can be charged.
• It will be applicable to the offenders in the same manner, even if crime is committed on a foreign land, outside India.
• Under the UAPA, the investigating agency can file a charge sheet in maximum 180 days after the arrests and the duration can be extended further after intimating the court.

As per amendments of 2019:

• The Act empowers the Director General of National Investigation Agency (NIA) to grant approval of seizure or attachment of property when the case is investigated by the said agency.
• The Act empowers the officers of the NIA, of the rank of Inspector or above, to investigate cases of terrorism in addition to those conducted by the DSP or ACP or above rank officer in the state.

Source: Indian Express