Questions
Which of the following has the highest weightage in the Index of Eight Core Industries?
a) Electricity generation
b) Petroleum Refinery
c) Steel production
d) Crude Oil
Explanation :- The Eight Core Industries comprise 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). The industry-wise weights indicated in the ICI are Coal 10.33 %, Crude Oil production 8.98 %, Natural Gas 6.88%, Petroleum Refinery 28.04 %, Fertilizers 2.63 %, Steel 17.92 %, Cement production 5.37 % and Electricity generation 19.85%.
2) Consider the following statements regarding International Energy Agency:
1. World Energy Outlook (WEO) is the annual publication of IEA.
2. A candidate country for IEA membership must be a member of the OECD.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
a) 1 only
b) 2 only
c) Both 1 and 2
d) Neither 1 nor 2
3) Which of the following river is famous for “frozen river trek” in India?
a) Indus River
b) Satluj River
c) Brahmaputra River
d) Zanskar River
Prelims Specific Factual :-
1) Thamirabarani Civilization is 3200 years old :-
A carbon dating analysis of rice with soil, found in a burial urn at Sivakalai in Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu has yielded the date of 1155 BC, indicating that the Thamirabarani civilization dates back to 3,200 years.
About Thamirabarani River
- The Thamirabarani or Tamraparni or Porunai is a perennial river that originates from the Agastyarkoodam peak of the Pothigai hills of the Western Ghats.
- It flows through the Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts of the Tamil Nadu state of southern India into the Gulf of Mannar.
- It was called the Tamraparni River in the pre-classical period, a name it lent to the island of Sri Lanka.
- The old Tamil name of the river is Porunai.
Its history
- Its many name derivations of Tan Porunai include Tampraparani, Tamirabarni, Tamiravaruni.
- Tan Porunai nathi finds mention by classical Tamil poets in ancient Sangam Tamil literature Purananuru.
- Recognised as a holy river in Sanskrit literature Puranas, Mahabharata and Ramayana, the river was famed in the Early Pandyan Kingdom for its pearl and conch fisheries and trade.
2) India–Africa Defence Dialogue to be held alongside every DefExpo
India and Africa share a close and historical relationship. The foundation of India–Africa defence relations are based on the two guiding principles namely ‘SAGAR’, Security and Growth for All in the Region’ and ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, The World is One Family.
From Jawaharlal Nehru to Narendra Modi, India’s leaders have often evoked the phrase vasudhaiva kutumbakam (the world is one family), taken from the Maha Upanishad, to elucidate the country’s global outlook
Extra Notes
The first-ever India Africa Defence Ministers Conclave (IADMC) was held in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh in conjunction with DefExpo on February 06, 2020, co-organised by Ministry of Defence and Ministry of External Affairs. This was the first in the series of Pan Africa events at the Ministerial level in the run-up to India Africa Forum Summit IV.
A Joint Declaration, ‘Lucknow Declaration’ was adopted after conclusion of IADMC 2020 as an outcome document of the Conclave.
3) SVAMITVA Scheme :- SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages And Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas) Scheme was launched by the Prime Minister on National Panchayati Raj Day, 24th April 2020 with a resolve to enable economic progress of Rural India by providing “Record of Rights” to every rural household owner.
Aiming to demarcate inhabited (Abadi) land in rural areas through the latest surveying drone-technology, SVAMITVA Scheme is a collaborative effort of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, State Revenue Departments, State Panchayati Raj Departments and Survey of India.
The scheme covers multifarious aspects viz. facilitating monetisation of properties and enabling bank loan; reducing property related disputes; comprehensive village level planning, would be the stepping-stone towards achieving Gram Swaraj in true sense and making rural India Atmanirbhar (self-reliant).
4) Braving all odds for a trek to Siachen:-
Operation Blue Freedom: Team Of Special Forces Veterans, People With Disabilities To Scale Siachen Glacier :-
What is the News?
The government of India has accorded sanction to Team CLAW to lead a team of people with disabilities to scale Siachen Glacier. It will be a new world record for the largest team of people with disabilities. This expedition is being undertaken as part of ‘Operation Blue Freedom’.
About Operation Blue Freedom:
- Operation Blue Freedom was launched in 2019 by CLAW Global, a team of former Special Forces Operatives of the Indian Army and the Indian Navy.
- The Operation is a social impact venture aimed at rehabilitating people with disabilities through adaptive adventure sports.
- It aims to shatter the common perception of pity, charity, and inability associated with people with disabilities and recreate it to one of dignity, freedom, and ability.
- Moreover, their focus is also to ‘design and implement sustainable large-scale employment solutions’ for people with disabilities, especially in the ‘Environment conservation and Sustainability’ space.
About Siachen Glacier:
- Siachen Glacier is the longest glacier in the Karakoram and the second-longest in the world’s non-polar areas.
- Location: The glacier is located in the Eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas. It lies just northeast of Point NJ9842, where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends.
- The Siachen Glacier lies immediately south of the great drainage divide that separates the Eurasian Plate from the Indian subcontinent. It lies in the extensively glaciated portion of the Karakoram sometimes called the “Third Pole”.
- Significance: The Siachen has been an important bone of contention between India and Pakistan since 1984 when the Indian Army launched Operation Meghdoot to take control of the entire Siachen glacier.
- The glacier’s melting waters are the main source of the Nubra River in the Indian region of Ladakh which drains into the Shyok River. The Shyok in turn joins the Indus River, which flows through Pakistan.
5) Climate change could cause 216 million to migrate, World Bank warns :-
Name of the Report:- Groundswell
The World Bank’s updated Groundswell report released today finds that climate change, an increasingly potent driver of migration, could force 216 million people across six world regions to move within their countries by 2050.
The Washington-based development lender had released a report in 2018 covering climate change’s effects on migration in South Asia, Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, and projected 143 million people could move in those regions by 2050.
The latest report includes three new regions — Eastern Europe and Central Asia, North Africa and East Asia and the Pacific — to provide a “global estimate” of the scale of potential migration, said Juergen Voegele, the World Bank’s vice president for sustainable development.
“The Groundswell report is a stark reminder of the human toll of climate change, particularly on the world’s poorest—those who are contributing the least to its causes. It also clearly lays out a path for countries to address some of the key factors that are causing climate-driven migration,” said Juergen Voegele, Vice President of Sustainable Development, World Bank.
6) UNHRC (United Nations Human Rights Council )
News:- Pakistan re-elected to UN rights body:- Pakistan has been re-elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council despite opposition from activist groups over its abysmal human rights records.
What is the rule of membership:-Under the Human Rights Council’s rules, seats are allocated to regions to ensure geographical representation.
Except for the Asia-Pacific contest, the election of 15 members to the 47member Human Rights Council was all but decided in advance because all the other regional groups had uncontested slates.
What is UNHRC:- The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system made up of 47 States responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe.
It has the ability to discuss all thematic human rights issues and situations that require its attention throughout the year. It meets at the UN Office at Geneva.
History :- The Council was created by the United Nations General Assembly on 15 March 2006 by resolution 60/251. Its first session took place from 19 to 30 June 2006. One year later, the Council adopted its “Institution-building package” to guide its work and set up its procedures and mechanisms.
The Nelson Mandela Moot Court Competition, co-organized by the Human Rights Council Branch, is the only moot court competition for students from all around the world that is explicitly dedicated to human rights.
7) Israeli firm unveils armed robot to patrol borders :- The four wheel drive robot presented on Monday was developed by the stateowned Israel Aerospace Industries’ “REX MKII.”
The robot can gather intelligence for ground troops, carry injured soldiers and supplies in and out of battle, and strike nearby targets.
8) Bio-decomposer works on stubble, farmers happy :- THE BIO-DECOMPOSER created by scientists at Indian Agricultural Research Institute at Pusa has been successful in decomposing paddy stubble at a quick rate, and
is a viable option for farmers who usually set fire to paddy residue.
The decomposer is essentially a fungi – based liquid solution that can soften hard stubble to the extent that it can be easily mixed with soil in the field to act as compost.
Seven strains of fungi are packed into four capsules, which cost about Rs 20 per pack of four.
It has to be mixed into 25 litres of water mixed with 150 grams of jaggery, 50grams of gram flour to create the bio-decomposer.
We found a solution last year in the Pusa decomposer.
Editorial of the day
Editorial Lead : Returning to school 17 months later
Author First highlights that there are two types of teachers :-
Type 1 :- Teachers who stick to the syllabus no matter what happens in the outside world, like to identify themselves as teachers of this or that subject. They see their role purely in terms of the knowledge they enable children to acquire. They view the purpose of education in terms of success in examinations and, consequently, in life. With a sense of purpose so firmly held in their minds, such teachers stay clear of the personal life of children, especially its emotional aspect.
Type 2 :- Them there are teachers who know that their success as teachers depends on how they relate to children, no matter what subject they teach. For this reason, they worry about their children’s emotional well-being. When a child is not feeling well, such teachers ask what is wrong. For teachers of this kind, the long gap caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic in their daily routine interaction with children has made it problematic to resume teaching. They know that Pandemic has created deeper impacts on the minds of the people.
The term used by the Author for the loss of the school children is ” Learning Loss ” which was caused since students were not able to attend the classes and most of them especially the rural one had very little infra to be a part of the online clases.
Pressure of Performance:- pressure to perform is a factor of the ethos and the ethos does not distinguish between smaller and older children. From the day a child enters school, he or she comes under this pressure. A minority of teachers realise that it is unsuitable for growth in the primary years, but these teachers have little influence on others. The wider social culture and government norms relentlessly push the child from the first month at school towards higher levels of performance.
So joining the school after so long and this external added pressure will shape the mindset of the student and thus they might find it even more problematic.
Impact of Online Education :-
- Author says that Online Education with it adds an addictive behaviour in the students and thus when they go to physical education might find them off balance.
- Online Classes have very limited Reach since most students dont have enough infra.
- Online Education has little value especially in case of small children since their attention span is not much.
What Further Needs to be done :-
- Focus on Arts, music, sports and other co-curricular activities can be nourishing and refreshing.
- Let’s start from “where we left” approach of teachers won’t work, as they will wish to resume after 17 months from where they left. They need to revise the important topics from before and take doubts of students seriously, give them time to understand grasp the content and then resume.
