Daily Current Affairs 2 January 2022

 Current Affairs of Today are

1) Padhe Bharat

• Union Education Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan launched a 100-day reading campaign 'Padhe Bharat' today.  The launch of the 100 Days Reading Campaign is in alignment with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020  which the Padhe Bharat campaign will focus on children studying in Balvatika to Grade 8. The reading campaign will be organized for 100 days (14 weeks) starting from 1st January 2022 to 10th April 2022. The reading campaign aims to have the participation of all stakeholders at the national and state level including children, teachers, parents, community, educational administrators, etc. One activity per week per group has been designed with the focus on making reading enjoyable and building a lifelong association with the joy of reading. This campaign has also been aligned with the vision and goals of the foundational Literacy and Numeracy mission.
• The 100 days reading campaign will also focus on Indian languages including mother tongue/local/regional languages. It is in this regard, 21st February which is celebrated as International Mother Tongue Day has also been integrated with this campaign. This day will be celebrated with the activity of KahaniPadhoApniBhasa Main (Reading story in own language) across the country by encouraging children to read in their mother tongue/local language. This will help in promoting the local language and culture of our society.
• Hence, 100 days Reading Campaign is envisaged to support and encourage students, along with their schools, teachers, parents, and communities, in every possible way and encourage children to read for a joyful learning experience. Department of School Education & Literacyinvites all stakeholders to participate wholeheartedly in this campaign to build a strong foundation for our children.

2) Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA)

Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) 2021 was released recently.

Atal Innovation Rankings 2021:

• ARIIA 2021 classifies participating institutions into two major categories; technical and non-technical. Further, these rankings have been divided into seven sub-categories.

Technical:

• Top 3: This is the third time that IIT Madras has secured the first rank. IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi were placed at the second and third ranks respectively.

Non-technical institutions:

• The top central universities under this category include Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Delhi, and the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Kozhikode.

The rankings have been prepared after evaluating the participating institutions under nine parameters:

• Developing an innovative and entrepreneurial mindset through a series of activities.
• Teaching and learning: Academic programs related to innovation and entrepreneurship (I & E) and IPR offered by the HEI.
• Dedicated infrastructure and facilities to promote innovation and entrepreneurship at HEI.
• Generation of innovations/ ideas with the support of HEI and recognition received.
• Ventures were established with the support of the HEI and recognitions were received.
• Angel and VC fund/investment mobilized to support innovation and startups incubated at HEI, Promotion of collaboration for and co-creation of I&E initiatives.
• Intellectual Property (IP), generation, and commercialization.
• The annual budget on promoting and supporting I&E activities: Total expenses towards I&E and IPR support activities, total revenue generated by HEI from incubation services to startups, and commercialization of IP and innovations.
• Participation of HEI in the I&E initiative of MOE.

About ARIIA:

• It is an initiative by the Ministry of Education.
• Implemented by AICTE and the Ministry’s Innovation Cell.
• Objective: To systematically rank all major higher educational institutions and universities in India.
• Significance:
• ARIIA ranking will inspire Indian institutions to reorient their mindset and build ecosystems to encourage high-quality research, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
• More than quantity, ARIIA will focus on the quality of innovations and will try to measure the real impact created by these innovations nationally and internationally.
• ARIIA rankings will also set the tone and direction for institutions for future development for making them globally competitive and in forefront of innovation.

3) China’s border law

• On December 30, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs said it had issued “standardized” names for 15 places in the Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh. The names are to be used henceforth on all official Chinese documents and maps, which show Arunachal as “south Tibet”. India responded to the move by saying that “assigning invented names” will not alter the facts on the ground or Arunachal Pradesh’s status as an integral part of India. The issuing of the names came ahead of a new land border law taking into effect on January 1, 2022, which India has also voiced concern about.
• In 2017, Chinese authorities first issued six “official” names for places in Arunachal Pradesh. That move was seen at the time as a retaliatory measure after the Dalai Lama visited the State. The new list is more extensive. It has 15 names, including eight towns, four mountains, two rivers, and one mountain pass, covering 11 districts in Arunachal from Tawang in the west to Anjaw in the east. Following the issuing of the names, all official Chinese maps will have to mark the locations using the Ministry of Civil Affairs list. The naming is a largely symbolic gesture that will not change facts on the ground. It is, however, indicative of a broader new Chinese approach to territorial disputes.
• The broader aim of the land border law, in the view of New Delhi, is to give legal cover and formalise the Chinese military’s transgressions across the LAC in 2020. The border law also appears to give fresh impetus to civilian agencies in China to continue carrying out the construction of infrastructure, including “frontier villages”, in border areas, including some in disputed territories along the border with India and Bhutan, the only two countries with which China has unsettled land boundaries. Under the border village construction plan, launched in 2017, China is building 628 “first line and second line villages” in border areas and moving residents, mainly herders, to live in the new dwellings along the borders with India, Bhutan and Nepal as well. 
• In November 2021, satellite images surfaced showing a second Chinese cluster of 60 newly built dwellings on what India sees as its territory in Arunachal Pradesh, around 100 km east of another village built in late 2020. The territory in question has been under Chinese control since 1959 and previously had Chinese military installations there, but the civilian constructions were seen as further bolstering Chinese claims and essentially a fait accompli with regard to land that is still disputed and under negotiation by the two sides. 
• In October 2021, India expressed concern over the new law, saying that “China’s unilateral decision to bring out a legislation which can have implications on our existing bilateral arrangements on border management… is of concern to us”.

4) Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA)

• Nagaland will continue to be a ‘disturbed area’ for another six months under the AFSPA as the condition of the state remained “dangerous,” a move which comes amid the growing clamor for withdrawal of the special powers to the armed forces, especially after the death of 14 civilians earlier this month in a case of mistaken identity.
• The state has been under the controversial AFSPA since 1958.
• The Centre had recently decided to constitute a committee to study the possibility of withdrawing the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) from the State.
• The committee would submit its report within 45 days.
• The withdrawal of the “disturbed area” notification and the AFSPA from Nagaland will be based on the recommendations of the committee.
• In simple terms, AFSPA gives armed forces the power to maintain public order in “disturbed areas”.
• Powers are given to armed force:
• They have the authority to prohibit a gathering of five or more persons in an area, can use force, or even open fire after giving due warning if they feel a person is in contravention of the law.
• If reasonable suspicion exists, the army can also arrest a person without a warrant; enter or search premises without a warrant; and ban the possession of firearms.
• Any person arrested or taken into custody may be handed over to the officer in charge of the nearest police station along with a report detailing the circumstances that led to the arrest.
• A disturbed area is declared by notification under Section 3 of the AFSPA. An area can be disturbed due to differences or disputes between members of different religious, racial, language, or regional groups or castes or communities.
• The Central Government or the Governor of the State or administrator of the Union Territory can declare the whole or part of the State or Union Territory as a disturbed area.
• On November 19, 2004, the Central government appointed a five-member committee headed by Justice BP Jeevan Reddy to review the provisions of the act in the northeastern states.
• The committee submitted its report in 2005, which included the following recommendations: (a) AFSPA should be repealed and appropriate provisions should be inserted in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967; (b) The Unlawful Activities Act should be modified to clearly specify the powers of the armed forces and paramilitary forces and (c) grievance cells should be set up in each district where the armed forces are deployed.
• The 5th report of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission on public order has also recommended the repeal of the AFSPA.
• The AFSPA gives the armed forces the license to kill. And when they carry out such shameful operations without keeping the local police in the loop, as has been the practice for long, it gives the message that the Centre just does not care about the peace process.
• Naga People’s Movement for Human Rights vs Union of India- SC’s 1997 verdict laid down guidelines for use of AFSPA:
• The 1997 judgment of a Constitution Bench held that the power under Section 4(a) of the AFSPA to use deadly force should be employed only under “certain circumstances”.
• The court noted that the “power to cause death is relatable to the maintenance of public order in a disturbed area and is to be exercised under definite circumstances”.
• These preconditions include a declaration by a high-level authority that an area is “disturbed”. The officer concerned decides to use deadly force on the opinion that it is “necessary” to maintain public order. But he has to give “due warning” first.
• The persons against whom the action was taken by the armed forces should have been “acting in contravention of any law or order for the time being in force in the disturbed area”.

5) Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

• The RCEP will come into effect on January 1, 2022, marking the formation of the world’s largest free-trade zone in terms of trade volume.
• It is a trade deal between the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.

Aims and Objectives of RCEP:

• To lower tariffs, open up trade in services, and promote investment to help emerging economies catch up with the rest of the world.
• To help reduce costs and time for companies by allowing them to export a product anywhere within the bloc without meeting separate requirements for each country.
• It also touches on intellectual property, but will not cover environmental protection and labor rights.

Significance:

• RCEP will cover about 30% of global gross domestic product (GDP), worth $26.2 trillion (€23.17 trillion), and nearly a third of the world’s population, some 2.2 billion people.
• Under RCEP, around 90% of trade tariffs within the bloc will eventually be eliminated.
• RCEP will also set common rules around trade, intellectual property, e-commerce, and competition.

Why did India not join?

• India withdrew from the RCEP largely because of concerns it would open it up to Chinese goods amid an already wide trade imbalance with China, and the failure of the agreement to adequately open up to services.

Need for India’s presence in RCEP:

• India had “a crucial role” to play in helping the region build an inclusive architecture at a time of increasing global instability.
• Such trade pacts will also give Indian companies a platform to showcase their strengths across even larger markets.
• Besides, Rising U.S.-China tensions were “deeply worrying” for the region with the pandemic resulting in “heightened tension”.

Challenges ahead:

• The lack of participation by the United States “allows Beijing to solidify its role as a driver of economic growth in the region.”
• Economic gains will take a long time to materialize.
• While the big Asian economies will enjoy most of the spoils, RCEP may leave smaller countries within ASEAN at a disadvantage, as the trade deal doesn’t cover their major industries.
• The least developed countries in Asia ― Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar ― currently benefit from inter-ASEAN trade, which could be “eroded” by RCEP trade.
• The smaller ASEAN countries may also lose some of their benefits from trade preference programs that allow them to export tariff-free products outside of ASEAN, including South Korea and Japan.

6) Tiangong Space Station

• China, which is growing its presence in space, has complained to the UN detailing two alleged space incidents involving its Tiangong Space Station and two Starlink satellites from Elon Musk-founded aerospace firm, SpaceX.
• Both the U.S. and China are parties to the Outer Space Treaty, which is formally known as the ‘Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies’.
• The multilateral treaty, adopted by the UN General Assembly, provides the basic framework for international space law.
• According to article VI of the treaty, nations will be responsible for national space activities whether carried out by governmental or non-governmental entities. That means the U.S. can be held responsible for the activities of the U.S.-based aerospace firm SpaceX founded by Elon Musk.
• Article VII states that nations will be liable for damage caused by their space objects, such as satellites.
• Article V of the treaty requires parties to immediately inform other parties or the UN Secretary-General of any phenomenon they discover in outer space, “which could constitute a danger to the life or health of astronauts”.
• The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs was created to service the ad hoc Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.
• The committee was established in 1958 shortly after the launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik-1.
• It has been serving as a focal point for international cooperation in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space.
• It came into force on October 10, 1967.
• The principles embodied in the treaty have facilitated the orderly conduct of activities in outer space.
• Space-related conflicts have occurred in the past and will most likely continue to happen in the future as well, considering the growing number of activities in the space, involving different parties.
• The International Space Station and China’s space station, Tiangong, which is under construction, operate in the LEO, where much of the space debris can be found.
• Besides, there are about 30,000 satellites and other pieces of debris in Earth’s orbit that can reach speeds of nearly 29,000 km/h, raising the possibility of international incidents in outer space.”

7) Quantum entanglement

• Scientists have identified the first ”quantum entangled” animal in history-frozen tardigrade, in a recent study.
• Frozen tardigrade is microscopic multicellular organisms known to tolerate extreme physiochemical conditions through a latent state of life known as cryptobiosis.

Cryptobiosis:

• Also known as anabiosis, it is a metabolic state of life entered by an organism in response to adverse environmental conditions such as desiccation, freezing, and oxygen deficiency.
• In the cryptobiotic state, all measurable metabolic processes stop, preventing reproduction, development, and repair.
• When environmental conditions return to being hospitable, the organism will return to its metabolic state of life as it was before the cryptobiosis.

About the study:

• The researchers managed the feat by placing frozen tardigrades between two capacitor plates of a superconductor circuit to form a qubit, the quantum equivalent of a bit.
• Upon contact, they say, the tardigrade changed the qubit’s frequency.
• They then placed this circuit in the vicinity of a second superconductor circuit. Lo and behold, the team observed that the frequency of both qubits and the tardigrade changed in tandem.

Quantum Entanglement:

• It is the physical phenomenon that occurs when a pair or group of particles is generated and they interact in such a way that the quantum state of each particle of the pair or group cannot be described independently of the state of the others.
• In this quantum mechanical phenomenon, the quantum states of two or more objects have to be described concerning each other, even though the individual objects may be spatially separated.
• This leads to correlations between observable physical properties of the systems.
• Albert Einstein dismissed this idea as a ‘spooky action’.

Significance:

• Quantum entanglement is one of the peculiarities of quantum mechanics, which makes phenomena such as quantum teleportation and super-dense coding possible.