VISION

 Insight IAS Prelims 2021 Textbook Test 25 with Solution PDF

1)  UP population draft bill proposes two-child policy

•Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has launched a population policy that aims to incentivise couples who do not have more than two babies. Stating that population control is related to awareness among masses and poverty, Adityanath said every community has been taken care of in Population Policy 2021-2030. The health minister Jai Pratap Singh said Uttar Pradesh is aiming for stability by 2050 and the government is trying to reduce the population growth rate to 2.1 per cent.

2)  Assam to create new department for indigenous faith and culture

•The Assam Cabinet has announced the creation of an independent department to protect and preserve the “faith, culture and traditions of tribes and indigenous communities” of the state. The new department would ensure that the state’s indigenous population gets to preserve their faith and traditions, while also providing requisite support to them.

•Indigenous tribes such as the Bodos, Rabhas, Mishings, along with others have their own religious beliefs and unique traditions, which so far have not received the support necessary for their preservation. The cabinet, during the meeting, agreed that financial and administrative reforms were necessary to ensure speedy implementation of various schemes floated by the government. It decided that departmental committees, headed by commissioners, will be entitled to give its nod for projects worth ₹ 2 crores and below.

3)  Rail Cargo movement between India and Nepal gets a big boost

•India and Nepal have signed a Letter of Exchange(LoE) to revise the 2004 India-Nepal Rail Services Agreement (RSA). The revised agreement allows all authorized cargo train operators to utilize the Indian railway network to carry Nepal’s container and other freight – both bilateral between Indian and Nepal or third countries from Indian ports to Nepal.

•The authorized cargo train operators include public and private container trains Operators, automobile freight train operators, special freight train operators, or any other operator authorized by Indian Railways.

4)  In a first, Himalayan yaks to be insured

•National Research Centre on Yak (NRCY) in West Kameng district, Arunachal Pradesh has tied up with the National Insurance Company Ltd. for insuring Himalayan Yak. The insurance policy would shield the yak owners against the risks posed by weather calamities, diseases, in-transit mishaps, surgical operations and strikes or riots. The owners of the Yaks would have to get their yaks ear-tagged and provide a proper description in order to get their animals insured.

5)  SAMVEDAN 2021: IIT Madras and Sony India team up to host

•IIT Madras Pravartak Technologies Foundation (IITM-PTF) and Sony India Software Centre Pvt Ltd have joined hands to organise a national-level hackathon named ‘SAMVEDAN 2021 – Sensing Solutions for Bharat’. With this hackathon, the foundation aims to inspire citizens to use IoT Sensor Board in order to solve India-specific problems of societal interest.

•It is based on the Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation’s SPRESENSE™ Board, which participants can use for this challenge. A team with a maximum of three members can register for the grand challenge, which will be held in three stages.

6)  A book titled “The Art of Conjuring Alternate Realities”

•A new book titled ‘The Art of Conjuring Alternate Realities: How Information Warfare Shapes Your World’, authored by Shivam Shankar Singh and Anand Venkatanarayanan. The Book is Published by HarperCollins.

•The Book deals with human history, societal control was determined by various hierarchies like military, colonialism, mega-corporations and now by information. This book widely talks about how information warfare is shaping your life and world. Parallelly it deals with the operations of political parties, cybercriminals, godmen, national states in manipulating the thoughts.

7)  The Struggle Within: A Memoir of the Emergency authored by Ashok Chakravarti

•A book titled “The Struggle Within: A Memoir of the Emergency” authored by Ashok Chakravarti. He is an economist who has been providing policy advice to countries, mainly in the African region, for the past forty years. He is currently Senior Economic Advisor to the Government of Zimbabwe, based in Harare.

•The Book is Published By Harpercollins India. The Struggle Within: A Memoir of the Emergency book deals with one of independent India’s darkest hours during the emergency period. The Emergency (1975-1977) was one of independent India’s darkest hours. In that period, Over 150,000 people were imprisoned without trial; as many as eleven million forcibly sterilized, and countless killed in police firings or otherwise eliminated.

8)  Euro 2020 Final: Italy beat England on penalties

•The European Championship final pits England and Italy against each other. Italy won 3-2 on penalties. Italy, one of the most decorated teams in the world, have ended a few years of trophy drought. England, on the other hand, we’re in uncharted territory. They haven’t even reached a final since 1966. Italy has already reached the final twice in recent years — in 2000 and 2012 — whereas England hasn’t got close until now. Italy’s Goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma named player of UEFA EURO 2020

9)  Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo wins Golden Boot in EURO 2020

•Portugal captain and modern-day great Cristiano Ronaldo won the Euro 2020 Golden Boot after finishing as the top-scorer in the tournament. Despite playing just four games, Ronaldo clinched the top honours as he scored five goals. Czech Republic’s Patrik Schick also ended the tournament with five goals but the award went to Ronaldo via the tie-breaker of assists.

10)  2022 Khelo India Youth Games to be held in Haryana

•The state government of Haryana will organise the Khelo India Youth Games 2021 in February 2022. Earlier the sports show was scheduled to be held from November 21 to December 5, 2021, but has been shifted due to the possible third wave of Covid-19 pandemic and keeping in mind that Khelo India Youth Games 2021 are to be held in the Under-18 category.

•Around 8,500 players will participate in the event of which 5,072 will be athletes, including 2,400 females and 2,672 males.

📰 Records of freedom fighters to be digitised to mark 75 years of Independence: Minister

 Why in news?

As part of the latest Cabinet reshuffle, the government announced the formation of a separate Union Ministry of Cooperation, a subject that was till date looked after by the Ministry of Agriculture.

What are the objectives?

• The Ministry of Cooperation is aimed at strengthening the cooperative movement in the country.
• It will provide a separate administrative legal and policy framework at this end.
• It will help deepen Co-operatives as a true people-based movement reaching up to the grassroots.
• The Ministry will work to streamline processes for ‘Ease of doing business’ for co-operatives.
• It will also enable development of Multi-State Co-operatives (MSCS).

What is the cooperative movement?

NEXT IAS Prelims 2021 Test 18 With Solutions PDF

Insight IAS Prelims 2021 Textbook Test 24 with Solution PDF

1)  World Population Day celebrated on 11th July

•World Population Day is observed globally on 11th July every year. This day is observed to raise awareness among people about the impact of a growing population and issues including gender equality, the importance of family planning, poverty, maternal health, human rights, etc.

•This year theme of World Population Day 2021: “the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on fertility”.

2)  World Malala Day: 12 July

•The United Nations has declared 12th July as World Malala Day to honour the young activist, Malala Yousafzai. Malala Day is commemorated, the birthday of Malala Yousafzai to honour women and children’s rights around the world.

•On October 9, 2012, Malala was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen after she publicly advocated for the education of girls. Despite the attack, Malala soon returned to the public eye, fiercer in her views than earlier and continued her advocacy for gender rights. She founded the Malala Fund, a non-profit organisation to help young girls go to school and also co-authored a book titled “I Am Malala”, an international bestseller.

3)  India’s first Cryptogamic Garden Inaugurated in Uttarakhand

•India’s first cryptogamic garden, with around 50 different species grown, has been inaugurated in Deoban area of Dehradun in Uttarakhand. The garden is situated at a height of 9,000 feet and is spread over an area of three acres. Located in the district’s Chakrata town, the garden was inaugurated by social activist Anoop Nautiyal.

4)  Nitin Gadkari inaugurates India’s first private LNG Facility plant at Nagpur

•The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, inaugurated India’s first private Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility plant at Nagpur in Maharashtra. The plant has been set up on Kamptee Road near Nagpur Jabalpur Highway, by Baidyanath Ayurvedic Group, the makers of Ayurvedic medicines.

•Once operational, this LNG filling station in Nagpur will be the first such facility to operate on a commercial basis. LNG is a clean, pollution-free and cost-effective liquid fuel, which is also easy to store and reduces logistics costs.

5)  PM Modi receives 1st copy of ‘The Ramayana of Shri Guru Gobind Singh’

•Prime Minister Narendra Modi has received the first copy of “The Ramayana of Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji” which is written by the late Baljit Kaur Tulsi—the mother of noted lawyer KTS Tulsi. The book is published by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts. Apart from this, the Prime Minister also shared the audio of the Gurbani Shabad recital by KTS Tulsi, the sitting Rajya Sabha MP of Congress from Chhattisgarh.

6)  Twitter appoints Vinay Prakash as resident grievance officer for India

•Twitter has named Vinay Prakash as the Resident Grievance Officer (RGO) for India, as per the information updated on its website. Users can contact Vinay Prakash using an email ID listed on the page. Earlier the US-based company had announced the appointment of California-based Jeremy Kessel as the new Grievance Officer for India.

•However, as per the new IT rules in India, social media platforms with over 50 lakh users are mandated to appoint three key personnel namely chief compliance officer, nodal officer and grievance officer, and all these three personnel have to be residents in India.

7)  Nirmala Sitharaman attends 3rd G20 finance ministers meeting

•Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman participated virtually in the Third G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) Meeting under the Italian Presidency. The two-day meeting saw discussions on a wide range of issues including global economic risks and health challenges, policies for recovery from the CoVID-19 pandemic, international taxation, sustainable finance and financial sector issues.

•The G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors reaffirmed their resolve to use all available policy tools for as long as required to address the adverse consequences of COVID-19. Smt. Sitharaman appreciated the Italian G20 Presidency for identifying three catalysts of resilient economic recovery from the pandemic as being Digitalization, Climate Action and Sustainable Infrastructure and shared the Indian experience of integrating technology with inclusive service delivery during the pandemic.

8)  Abiy Ahmed wins landslide victory in Ethiopian election

•Ethiopia’s ruling Prosperity Party was declared the winner of last month’s national election in a landslide, assuring a second five-year term for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The National Election Board of Ethiopia said the ruling party won 410 seats out of 436 contested in the federal parliament. Abiy Ahmed came to power in April 2018 after the former prime minister resigned.

9)  Syed Osman Azhar Maqsusi won Commonwealth Points of Light award

•Hyderabad’s hunger activist Syed Osman Azhar Maqsusi, who has been feeding thousands of people every day as part of his food drive ‘Hunger Has No Religion’ was awarded a top UK award recently. In order to honour Maqsusi’s efforts, he was conferred with the Commonwealth Points of Light award for his drive that helps to feed 1,500 people on a daily basis. The award is for those ‘outstanding individuals who are making a change in their community.

10)  Argentina beats Brazil to Lift Copa America 2021

•Lionel Messi-led Argentina beat Neymar’s Brazil 1-0 to win the Copa America final match, held at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. With this win, Lionel Messi has secured his first major international trophy. The 2021 Copa America was the 47th edition of the annual international men’s football championship organised by South America’s football ruling body CONMEBOL.

•Earlier the tournament was scheduled to be held in July 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the first time since 1991 that no guest nation took part in the tournament.

11)  BCCI forms 7-member working group for domestic cricket

•The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has formed a seven-member working group, to look into the compensation package for the domestic players and the other aspects of domestic cricket. The main focus of the group will be the remuneration of domestic players for the previous season wherein tournaments were cancelled, due to COVID-19.

📰 Cooperative spirit: On the new Union Ministry of Cooperation