aditya
15:46
Yojana Magazines May 2021 Hindi PDF
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Friday, May 07, 2021
The HINDU Notes – 07th May 2021
aditya
15:29
📰 Supreme Court wants formula on oxygen supply ahead of third wave
It draws govt attention to reports that children may be affected in next wave
•The Supreme Court on Thursday highlighted the need for the Union government to start preparations for oxygen allocation to the States, its supply and distribution ahead of a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The court drew the attention of the government to reports that children may be affected in the next wave.
•A Bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah said the government needed to finalise a formula for allocation, supply and distribution of oxygen in a “scientific manner” ahead of the coming wave. It said the “rough-and-ready” formula devised presently on the “oxygen-for-bed” arrangement would hardly work. The current formula of allocating oxygen to Delhi, for example, on the basis of the number of ICU/non-ICU beds grossly underestimated need for oxygen in the National Capital.
•“Also, not everyone who went to a hospital required an oxygen bed and not everyone required ICU or ventilator. There are many who have been asked to stay at home and quarantine,” Justice Chandrachud picked the loopholes in the formula.
•The court said the formula for allocation and distribution of oxygen among the States should be based, among other things, on an “oxygen audit”, that is, to determine the actual need of oxygen in a State.
•“We need to reassess the basis for oxygen allocation. We are in stage two of the pandemic. Stage three might have very different parameters… But, if we prepare today, we will be able to handle stage three. It is about proper allocation of oxygen and working out the modalities, including proper distribution. A buffer stock has also to be created,” Justice Chandrachud pointed out.
Importance of vaccination
•The court underlined the importance of vaccination. “Children are going to be affected. They will be taken into hospitals. They will be accompanied by parents. Vaccination needs to be done,” it stated.
•Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, while informing the court that 730.7 MT (metric tonnes) of oxygen was received in Delhi on Wednesday as directed by the Bench, agreed that a “minimum fault prone formula” for oxygen supply, allocation and distribution was the need of the hour. The government agreed to revisit the formula.
•At one point, the court suggested incentivising young doctors who have completed their courses and young trained nurses to augment the fatigued healthcare professionals who are at the end of their tether. It said that offering them a few 1,000 rupees for their services would not incentivise them to pitch in. The Bench suggested giving them grace marks as a reward for their services in combating the pandemic.
•“Today, you have 1.5 lakh doctors who are waiting for NEET and have completed their courses. If you give them ₹5000, nobody will come serve… Likewise, 2.5 lakh nurses are trained and sitting at home,” the Bench noted.
•During the hearing, Justice Shah asked about the care given in rural areas of the nation.
•“At the moment we are only looking at Delhi. But what about the rural areas where most of the people are suffering? We have to consider a pan-India situation as well as the future situations,” Justice Shah asked the government.
•Justice Chandrachud said there was a rudimentary health infrastructure in rural areas. However, in Maharashtra, a task force of a dozen doctors was formed to communicate and advise hospitals on pandemic care in rural areas.
Supply to Delhi
•Senior advocate Rahul Mehra, for the Delhi government, questioned the Centre’s apprehension that giving 700 MT oxygen to Delhi may short-change the supply to other States. He said the Centre had said there was no no dearth of oxygen supply in Delhi and there was a reserve of 160000 MT. There was an 113% increase in Delhi’s demand for oxygen from 490 MT to 700 MT on April 28. The Centre was again making an attempt to reduce Delhi’s supply to less than 560 MT.
•Mr. Mehta countered, “We have to see that there is an equitable distribution of resources. We cannot start nitpicking and score debating points. I just do not want to see more people suffering”.
•But amicus curiae and senior advocate Jaideep Gupta persisted on the same line of argument, saying if 700 MT requirement of oxygen for Delhi was incorrect and the National Capital could make do with 490 MT, why was there a shortage at all.
•The submissions were referring to Mr. Mehta’s initial statements in the hearing that significant stocks of oxygen were available in Delhi hospitals and continued supply of oxygen to Delhi in excess would affect other States.
📰 What is Facebook’s Oversight Board?
Insights IAS Prelims 2021 Exclusive Polity PDF
aditya
08:18
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Yojana Magazines May 2021 English PDF
aditya
08:12
Yojana Magazines May 2021 English PDF
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Thursday, May 06, 2021
GS SCORE Geography Map Based Questions PDF
aditya
20:25
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Daily Current Affairs, 06th May 2021
aditya
20:12
1) International No Diet Day: 06 May
•International No Diet Day is observed on May 6, and its symbol is a light blue ribbon. It is an annual celebration of body acceptance, including fat acceptance and body shape diversity. It means recognising that your body is beautiful exactly as it is and worry less about your weight, body shape and more about being healthy and active.
•The day is dedicated to promoting a healthy lifestyle with a focus on health at any size and in raising awareness of the potential dangers of dieting and the unlikelihood of success.
2) Odisha announces Gopabandhu Sambadika Swasthya Bima Yojana
•Odisha government has announced Gopabandhu Sambadika Swasthya Bima Yojana for journalists. Odisha has declared the journalists as frontline Covid warriors. It will benet more than 6500 journalists of the state.
•Under the Gopabandhu Sambadika Swasthya Bima Yojana, a health insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh will be provided to each Journalist. Under the scheme, financial assistance of Rs 15 lakh will be provided to the families of journalists who died from COVID-19 while performing duty.
3) India, UK unveil 10 year roadmap for Bilateral Trade Partnership
•The Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Boris Johnson held a virtual Summit meeting. During the Summit meeting, both the leaders unveiled an ambitious 10-year road map to elevate the India-UK bilateral relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership. The UK prime minister Boris Johnson announced a new India-UK trade investment worth £1 billion.
4) Nation’s first ‘Drive in Vaccination Center’ unveiled in Mumbai
•The Nation’s first ‘Drive in Vaccination Center’ was inaugurated by MP Rahul Shewale in Mumbai. This center has been set up in the parking lot of Kohinoor Square Tower at Dadar. This first of its kind ‘Drive-in Vaccination Center’ facility has been made available to the citizens at a time when people with disabilities are facing difficulties in getting to the vaccination center.
•The center also provides transportation facilities to the citizens who do not have their own vehicles. The vaccination has been started and the facility is available for all sections of society. MP Rahul Shewale informed that this facility will be provided in other multi-parking lots in the city, after assessing the success of this first project.
5) The World’s Longest Pedestrian Bridge Opens in Portugal
•The world’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge named “Arouca” was opened in Portugal, according to a press release by UNESCO’s Arouca World Geopark. The Arouca Bridge offers a half-kilometre (almost 1,700-foot) walk across its span, along a metal walkway suspended from cables. Some 175 meters (574 feet) below, the Paiva River flows through a waterfall.
•The bridge hangs on steel cables strung between V-shaped concrete towers and connects the banks of the Paiva River. The record-breaking bridge took several years to build and was designed by Portuguese studio Itecons. It was constructed by Conduril and cost about $2.8 million (2.3 million euros).
6) RBI Announces Term Liquidity Facility of Rs. 50,000 Crore For Healthcare
•The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das has announced a Covid-19 healthcare package of Rs 50,000 crore, for lending to entities such as vaccine makers, medical equipment suppliers, hospitals and related sectors, besides the patients in need of funds for treatment.
7) S&P Revises India’s GDP Growth Forecast to 9.8% for FY22
•The US-based S&P Global Ratings has lowered the GDP growth forecast of the Indian economy to 9.8 per cent for the financial year 2021-22 (FY22). The US-based rating agency in March had an 11 per cent GDP growth forecast for India for April 2021-March 2022 fiscal. on account of a fast economic reopening and fiscal stimulus.
8) AICF launches Checkmate Covid Initiative
•The All India Chess Federation has launched the ‘Checkmate Covid Initiative’ to help the chess community affected by the pandemic. The initiative was launched at an online event in the presence of FIDE (World Chess Federation) president Arkady Dvorkovich, five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand, World Rapid Chess Champion Koneru Humpy, AICF president Sanjay Kapoor and secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan.
•The idea is to not just help the chess community affected by COVID through financial aid, but also have a team of doctors that works round-the-clock to provide the right assistance.
9) RM Sundaram appointed as Director of Indian Institute of Rice Research
•Raman Meenakshi Sundaram has been appointed as Director of the Indian Institute of Rice Research (IIRR), an arm of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Prior to this elevation, he was working as Principal Scientist (Biotechnology) at the institute crop Improvement Section.
•He is a scientist of global repute working in the area of rice biotechnology, molecular breeding, and genomics and has over 160 research papers in national and international journals of repute and has published several books, book chapters and popular articles.
•Sundaram’s research accomplishments include the development of one of the first biotechnology products in rice, Improved Samba Mahsuri, which is high yielding, is of fine-grain type, has a low glycaemic index and is highly resistant to bacterial blight, it said.
10) Vijay Goel takes over as CMD of THDCIL
•THDC India Ltd has announced that Vijay Goel assumed as chairman and managing director. His appointment will come into effect from May 1, 2021. He joined the company in 1990 as a senior personnel officer (SPO) from NHPC Ltd. He has more than 35 years of varied experience in the field of human resource management.
•During his tenure as general manager, he was also in charge of corporate communications, law and arbitration functions. His key areas of interventions are policy formation, manpower planning, establishment and estate functions, employee relations, compliance of labour laws and overall formulation and implementation of policies. He played a vital role in putting in place initial HR systems immediately after the establishment of the THDCIL.
The HINDU Notes – 06th May 2021
aditya
19:56
📰 Supreme Court declares Maratha quota law unconstitutional
A separate reservation for the Maratha community violates Articles 14 (right to equality) 21 (due process of law), says the top court.
•A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously declared a Maharashtra law which provides reservation benefits to the Maratha community, taking the quota limit in the State in excess of 50%, as unconstitutional.
•The Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan found there was no “exceptional circumstances” or “extraordinary situation” in Maharashtra which required the Maharashtra government to break the 50% ceiling limit to bestow quota benefits on the Maratha community.
•The Supreme Court struck down the findings of the Justice N.G. Gaikwad Commission which led to the enactment of Maratha quota law and set aside the Bombay High Court judgment which validated the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act of 2018.
•The High Court had, in June 2019, reduced the quantum of reservation for Marathas from the 16% recommended by the Gaikwad Commission to 12% in education and 13% in employment. The Supreme Court concluded that even the reduced percentages of reservation granted by the High Court were ultra vires.
•In fact the Supreme Court held that a separate reservation for the Maratha community violates Articles 14 (right to equality) and 21 (due process of law).
•Most importantly, the Supreme Court declined to re-visit the its 1992 Indira Sawhney judgment, which fixed the reservation limit at 50%.
•"We don't find any substance to revisit the Indira Sawhney judgment or referring it to a larger bench. The judgment has been upheld by at least four Constitution Benches," Justice Ashok Bhushan read from his lead opinion on the question of validity of the Maratha quota law.
•In 1992, a nine-judge Bench of the court had drawn the "Lakshman rekha" for reservation in jobs and education at 50%, except in "extraordinary circumstances". However, over the years, several States like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have crossed the rubicon and passed laws which allows reservation shooting over 60%. The five-judge Bench had decided not to confine the question of reservation spilling over 50% limit to just Maharashtra. The Bench had expanded the ambit of the case by making other States party and inviting them to make their stand clear on the question of whether reservation should continue to remain within the 50% boundary or not.
•The Indira Sawhney judgment had categorically said "50% shall be the rule, only in certain exceptional and extraordinary situations for bringing far-flung and remote areas population into mainstream said 50% rule can be relaxed".
•Justice Bhushan said that appointments made under the Maratha quota following the Bombay HC judgment endorsing the State law would hold, but they would get no further benefits. Students already admitted under the Maratha quota law would continue. Students admitted to postgraduate courses would not be affected since they were not given reservation.
•In the second part of the judgment on the validity of the 102nd Constitution Amendment, Justice S. Ravindra Bhat held a “different view” from the one held by Justices Bhushan and S. Abdul Nazeer.
•The Bench had looked into the question whether the Constitution (One Hundred Second Amendment) Act of 2018, which introduced the National Commission for Backward Classes, interfered with the authority of State Legislatures to provide benefit to the social and educationally backward communities in their own jurisdiction.
•The Constitution Amendment Act had introduced Articles 338B and 342A in the Constitution. Article 338B deals with the newly established National Commission for Backward Classes. Article 342A empowers the President to specify the socially and educationally backward communities in a State. It says that it is for the Parliament to include a community in the Central List for socially and backward classes for grant of reservation benefits. The court had delved into whether Article 342A stripped State Legislatures of their discretionary power to include their backward communities in the State Lists.
•Justice Bhat agreed that only the President could make changes to the Central List of socially and backward classes based on data given from various sources, including the National Commission for Backward Classes. The States could only make “suggestions”. The “final exercise” of including castes and communities was done by the President alone.
•Justices Bhushan and Nazeer however concluded that the Parliament did not intend to take away from the States its power to identify their backward classes. But they nevertheless upheld the validity of the Amendment Act.
📰 Average monthly income for workers fell by 17%
Wednesday, May 05, 2021
Daily Current Affairs, 05th May 2021
aditya
18:35
1) World Hand Hygiene Day: 05 May
•Every year, the World Hand Hygiene Day is observed on May 5. The day is organised by the World Health Organization (WHO) to raise awareness among people across the globe about the importance of hand hygiene in warding off many serious infections.
•The theme for 2021 is ‘Seconds Save Lives: Clean Your Hands’. The day recognizes hand washing as one of the most effective actions that can be taken to avoid a huge range of infections including the COVID-19 virus.
2) International Day of the Midwife: 05 May
•International Day of the Midwife is observed globally on 5 May every year since 1992. This day is celebrated to recognise the work of midwives and raise awareness about the status of midwives for the essential care they provide to mothers and their newborns.
•The theme for 2021 International Day of the Midwife is “Follow the Data: Invest in Midwives.”
3) Mamata Banerjee takes oath as West Bengal CM for the 3rd consecutive time
•Mamata Banerjee was sworn as West Bengal Chief Minister for the third time in the shadow of Covid and post-poll violence in parts of the state. The oath ceremony took place with Covid protocols in place at the “Throne Room” at the Raj Bhavan. The rest of the cabinet and the council of ministers will be sworn in on May 9, the birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore.
•Mamata Banerjee won a landslide victory in the Bengal election to secure a third straight term. The Trinamool won 213 of 292 seats while its strongest rival, BJP, finished second with 77 seats. Mamata Banerjee will head to her office Nabanna, where she will be given a guard of honour by the Kolkata Police.
4) Indian Army Launches First Solar Plant in North Sikkim
•The Indian Army recently launched the first Green Solar Energy harnessing plant in Sikkim. It was launched to benefit the troops of the Indian army. The plant uses Vanadium based battery technology. It was built at an altitude of 16,000 feet. The capacity of the plant is 56 KVA. It was completed in collaboration with IIT Mumbai.
5) Maria Ressa conferred UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize 2021
•Maria Ressa has been named as the 2021 laureate of the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. The $25,000 prize “recognizes outstanding contributions to the defence or promotion of press freedom especially in the face of danger,” according to UNESCO. The prize was named after Guillermo Cano Isaza, the Colombian journalist.
•UNESCO cited Ressa’s more than a 3-decade career as a journalist, including her work as CNN’s lead investigative reporter for Asia and as news chief of Philippine broadcast giant ABS-CBN. Recently, her citation added, Ressa “has been the target of online attacks and judicial processes” for her investigative work and her position as CEO of Rappler.
6) World’s largest aeroplane by Stratolaunch completes test flight
•The world’s largest aeroplane, designed to transport hypersonic vehicles and facilitate easy access to space, soared into clear skies over California’s Mojave Desert. The company Stratolaunch designed it to transport hypersonic vehicles and facilitate easy access to space.
•The aircraft named ‘Roc’ features a twin-fuselage design and the longest wingspan ever flown, at 385 feet (117 m), surpassing the Hughes H-4 Hercules flying boat of 321 feet (98 m). The Stratolaunch is intended to carry a 550,000-pound payload and will be able to launch rockets from high altitude.
7) Goldman Sachs lowers GDP growth forecast for India in FY22 to 11.1%
•Wall Street brokerage, Goldman Sachs has cut the GDP growth rate estimate for the Indian economy to 11.1 per cent in fiscal year FY22 (April 01, 2021, to March 31, 2022), due to increasing intensities of lockdowns by states to check the spread of coronavirus infections. Goldman Sachs has also revised the 2021 Calendar Year growth forecast to 9.7 per cent, from the previous estimate of 10.5 per cent.
8) Armed Forces Launches Op “CO-JEET” for Mental Health Of COVID Patients
•The armed forces have launched operation “CO-JEET” to aid anti-COVID-19 efforts, like strengthening the medical system in India and oxygen supply chains. Along with these, CO-JEET also take measures to ensure the mental wellbeing of people. Apart from medical therapy, patients necessitate the assurance that “they will be fine” and at times that is all they need to gain back self-confidence and courage.
•Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Medical) Kanitkar is the third woman to become a three-star general in the armed forces. Vice Admiral Dr. Punita Arora & Air Marshal Padmavathy Bandopadhyay are the 1st & 2nd.
•Under the CO-JEET plan, personnel of the three wings of the armed forces have been pressed into service to help restore oxygen supply chains, set up COVID beds and provide help to the civilian administration in its fight to control the outspread of the virus. The operation also attempts to provide additional beds across the country for mixed COVID-19 management.
9) Mark Selby becomes World Snooker Champion
•In Snooker, English professional player Mark Selby has become the World Snooker Champion for the fourth time. He won the Championship title after defeating fellow mate Shaun Murphy by 18-15 victory at a professional snooker tournament, that took place from 17 April to 3 May 2021 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. Prior to this, Selby won the Championship title in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2021.
