VISION

Saturday, April 17, 2021

Daily Current Affairs, 17th April 2021

aditya 15:30

1) World Hemophilia Day: 17 April

•World Hemophilia Day observed globally on 17 April every year. This day is observed to raise awareness for hemophilia and other bleeding disorders. The date was chosen in honour of the World Federation of Hemophilia founder Frank Schnabel birthday. This year is the 30th edition of World Haemophilia Day.

•The theme for 2021 World Hemophilia Day is “Adapting to Change: Sustaining care in a new world”. The day is being held since 1989, which marks the birthday of Frank Schnabel, founder of the World Federation of Hemophilia.

2) 8th Indo-Kyrgyz Special Forces Exercise ‘Khanjar’ Flags off

•The 8th Indo-Kyrgyz Joint Special Forces Exercise “Khanjar” was inaugurated at the Special Forces Brigade of National Guards of the Kyrgyz Republic in Bishkek, the capital of the host Kyrgyzstan. Initiated first in 2011, the two-week-long special operations exercise focusses on high-altitude warfare, mountain warfare and counter-extremism exercises.

•The Indian contingent for the exercise and felicitated their role as a bridge in promoting the shared mountain and nomadic heritage of both nations. A ceremonial parade graced the occasion along with a display of equipment’s and weapons and a visit to the training arena and barracks.

3) PM Modi released 4 books related to Babasaheb Ambedkar

•PM Narendra Modi has paid tribute to India’s first law minister and the architect of the Indian Constitution Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar on his birth anniversary and released four books based on his life. PM Modi has addressed the 95th Annual Meet and National Seminar of Vice-Chancellors of the Association of Indian Universities via video conferencing and launched four books related to Dr BR Ambedkar, written by Kishor Makwana.

4) RBL Bank Mastercard partner to offer first-of its-kind payment functionality

•RBL Bank and Mastercard have announced their partnership to launch a mobile-based consumer-friendly payment solution ‘Pay by Bank App’, a first-of-its-kind payment functionality in India. RBL Bank account holders can now enjoy contactless transactions across the world through their mobile banking application both in-store and online. This functionality will be available at all Mastercard accepting merchants, worldwide that accept contactless and online payments.

Daily Current Affairs, 16th April 2021

vision ias current affairs

aditya 15:24

1) World Voice Day: 16 April

•The World Voice Day (WVD) is celebrated globally on April 16 every year to demonstrate the enormous importance of the voice in the daily lives of all people. The Day is a global annual event dedicated to recognizing the boundless limits of the human voice. The mission is to share the excitement of the voice phenomenon with people, scientists, and other funding bodies.

•The theme of 2021 is ONE WORLD|MANY VOICES.

2) NITI Aayog launches ‘Poshan Gyan’, a digital repository on health, nutrition

•NITI Aayog, in partnership with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Centre for Social and Behaviour Change, Ashoka University launched called “Poshan Gyan”, a national digital repository on health and nutrition. The website can be accessed through eh following link: https://poshangyan.niti.gov.in/

3) India sign MoU with France for cooperation on Gaganyaan Mission

•The Indian space agency, ISRO has signed an agreement with the space agency of France CNES for cooperation in its first human space mission, Gaganyaan. CNES will train Indian flight physicians and CAPCOM mission control teams at French facilities. The Gaganyaan orbital spacecraft project was kicked off in August 2018. It originally intended to send astronauts from Indian soil to mark the 75th anniversary of India’s independence in 2022.

4) India ranks 49th in Inclusive Internet Index 2021

•The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), in partnership with Facebook, has released the Inclusive Internet Index 2021. India has been ranked at 49th spot globally. It shares its rank with Thailand. This index measures the extent to which the internet is available and affordable by region, and highlights additional insight into how people around the world are using the web.

Top 5 Countries:

1.Sweden

2.United States

3.Spain

4.Australia

5.Hong Kong

5) ‘Aahaar Kranti’ mission launched by Health Ministry

•Union Health Minister, Dr Harsh Vardhan has launched Aahaar Kranti, a mission dedicated to spreading awareness about nutrition. It is designed to address the peculiar problem of hunger and diseases in abundance, being faced by India and the world. Studies show that India produces as much as two times the amount of calories it consumes.

•However, many in the country are still malnourished. The root cause of this strange phenomenon is a lack of nutritional awareness. Keeping this in mind, Aahaar Kranti has been launched with the motto of Uttam Aahaar- Uttam Vichaar or Good Diet-Good Cognition.

•The movement proposes to address the problem by working to rouse the people to the values and richness of India’s traditional diet, to the healing powers of local fruits and vegetables and to the miracles of a balanced diet. Vijnana Bharati, Global Indian Scientists and Technocrats Forum, Vigyan Prasar, and Pravasi Bharatiya Academic and Scientific Sampark have come together to launch this mission.

6) Piyush Goyal Launches “e-SANTA”, an Electronic Marketplace For Aqua Farmers

•Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal has inaugurated e-SANTA, an electronic marketplace, to provide a platform for connecting aqua farmers and buyers. e-SANTA aims to raise income, lifestyle, self-reliance, quality levels, traceability, of aqua farmers.

7) RBI to set up Regulations Review Authority for one year

•The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will be set up a new Regulations Review Authority (RRA 2.0) from May 1, 2021, to review the regulations, circulars, reporting systems and compliance procedures of the central bank for streamlining them and making them more effective. The RRA will be set up for a period of one year unless the timeline is extended by the RBI.

8) Prime Minister of Haiti Joseph Jouthe Resigns

•Prime Minister of Haiti, Joseph Jouthe has resigned following a situation of unrest in the country due to an increase in killing and kidnapping cases over the past few days. Joseph Jouthe served as the Prime Minister of Haiti from March 4, 2020, until April 14, 2021. President Jovenel Moise has nominated Claude Joseph as the new prime minister of Haiti.

The HINDU Notes – 17th April 2021

the hindu notes

aditya 13:49

📰 Adolescent girls grappled with increased pressure to get married, more gender-based violence during pandemic: Study

‘COVID In Her Voice: A Girl-led and Centred Participatory Research Study also found girls spent longer hours on household chores and lacked tools to continue school education online.

•Twenty five girls from seven cities set out to interview their peers to record the impact of COVID-19 on their lives and found that adolescent girls were grappling with an increased pressure to get married, spent longer hours on household chores, lacked tools to continue school education online, and reported an increase in gender-based violence.

•The study titled ‘COVID In Her Voice: A Girl-led and Centred Participatory Research Study’ was released on April 13. It was conducted by girls aged 13-24 years from Ahmedabad, Alwar, Bareily, Delhi, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune within their communities. It adopted a unique methodology where girls were trained as researchers to conduct interviews with a total of 153 girls from their respective communities. The study was supported by the U.K. government and conducted by EMpower, a global philanthropy focused on at-risk youth in emerging markets.

•Among the biggest challenges girls faced was the inability to attend online school. This was a result of nearly 80% respondents reporting an increase in household chores, which meant that 64% of girls and young women felt they did not have the space or get the time to study online. Lack of access to resources and technology was also a challenge — nearly 28% of those surveyed didn’t have the tools such as mobile phones or Internet access to learn online.

•With households from marginalised communities facing financial stress due to the economic impact of COVID-19, girls believed that the pressure to get married had increased, with nearly 42% reporting this.

•Almost 90% of girls reported experiencing mental distress and despair without any access to information about coping mechanisms. Their mental distress was exacerbated because of barriers in communicating with friends and teachers.

•26% respondents believe there was an increase in gender-based violence and felt that fears and threats of violence intensified restrictions on their freedom.

•On concluding the field research, seven girl leaders finalised a list of priority recommendations which include establishing girl-friendly spaces within the community such as skills training centres and violence-free spaces. They also seek well-maintained, safe and free toilets in close proximity to communities, as well as digital hubs in the community with charging stations and WiFi access, especially in the smaller cities.

📰 U.S. Treasury keeps India on currency watch list

The HINDU Notes – 16th April 2021

the hindu notes

aditya 13:37

📰 Centre eases guidelines for OCI cardholders

Registration also to be simplified: official

•The Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) will not be required to register for a fresh OCI card every time a new passport is issued in their name, the Home Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

•The Ministry stated that at present, the OCI card is required to be reissued each time a new passport is issued up to 20 years of age and once after completing 50 “in view of biological changes in the face of the applicant”.

‘Reissue only once’

•“With a view to facilitate the OCI cardholders, it has now been decided by the Government of India to dispense with this requirement. A person who has got registration as OCI cardholder prior to attaining the age of 20 years will have to get the OCI card reissued only once when a new passport is issued after his/her completing 20 years of age, so as to capture his/her facial features on attaining adulthood. If a person has obtained registration as OCI cardholder after attaining the age of 20 years, there will be no requirement of reissue of the OCI card,” the Ministry said.

•It added that the details of the new passports obtained by the OCI cardholder can be uploaded online within three months of receiving the passport.

•“It has been decided that he/she shall upload a copy of the new passport containing his/her photo and also a latest photo on the online OCI portal, each time a new passport is issued up to 20 years of age and once after completing 50 years of age,” it said.

•The Ministry added that foreign spouses registered as OCIs will be required to upload a copy of the new passport and also a latest photo, along with a “declaration that their marriage is still subsisting, each time a new passport is issued”. The documents will have to be uploaded within three months of receipt of new passport.

•“The details will be updated on the systemand an auto acknowledgement through e-mail will be sent to the OCI cardholder informing that the updated details have been taken on record. There will be no restriction on the OCI cardholder to travel to/ from India during the period from the date of issue of new passport till the date of final acknowledgement of his/ her documents in the web-based system,” the Ministry stated.

•A government official said a decision had been taken to simplify the registration for OCIs and the portal would be announced soon.

•OCI citizens are of Indian origin but they are foreign passport holders and are not citizens of India. India does not allow dual citizenship but provides them certain benefits under Section 7B(I) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 to the OCIs.

•As per norms, a foreigner of Indian origin or a foreign spouse of an Indian citizen or foreign spouse of an OCI can be registered as an OCI. OCI card is a life-long visa for OCIs to stay in India. In March, the Ministry issued a notification specifying that OCIs require special permission for “missionary, Tabligh, mountaineering or journalistic activities.”

•The MHA had said that OCI card holders can lay claim to “only NRI quota seats” in educational institutions based on all-India entrance tests such as the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), the Joint Entrance Examination (Mains), Joint Entrance Examination (Advanced) or other such all India character tests.

•So far about 37.72 lakh OCI cards have been issued by the Government of India.

📰 Centre offers to decide on High Court appointments in three months

Supreme Court Collegium recommendations pending for six months.

•The Union government on Thursday offered to decide in three months the Supreme Court Collegium recommendations for appointment of judges in the High Courts pending with it for over half a year.

•Appearing before a Special Bench of Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde and Justices S.K. Kaul and Surya Kant, Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal made a statement that the High Courts continued to have 220 vacancies because their collegiums had not forwarded any names.

•Mr. Venugopal said those collegiums should be put on a clock to forward their recommendations.

‘Share timeline’

•Chief Justice Bobde shot back saying it would be helpful if the government shared its own timeline at each stage in the appointment process.

•“There are two timelines. One for the government and another for the HCs. The Chief Justice says he will deal with the High Court timelines. As regards the timeline for the government, you tell us on the next date... We are only asking you to tell us the timeline within which the government and the judiciary will cooperate,” Justice Kaul intervened.

•Mr. Venugopal said the Memorandum of Procedure guided the government and the judiciary through the appointment process. The procedure did not insist on a deadline but only loosely says the process should be completed within a reasonable time.

•On March 23, the Bench had asked the government to come clear on the status of 55 recommendations made by the collegium for judicial appointments to various High Courts six months to nearly a year-and-a-half ago.

•Forty-four of the pending recommendations were made to fill up vacancies in Calcutta, Madhya Pradesh, Gauhati, Rajasthan and Punjab High Courts. Every one of these recommendations had been pending with the government for over seven months to a year.

•Recommendations of names made by the Collegium to the Delhi High Court had been pending for seven months.

•“This is a matter of grave concern ... When do you propose to take a decision?” the Bench had addressed Mr. Venugopal.

•In the previous hearing, the court had asked Mr. Venugopal to enquire with the Union Ministry of Law and Justice and make a statement on April 8 about their status.