POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

Higher Education Bill in winter session

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Context :

Government is likely to introduce the Higher Education Commission of India(HECI) Bill in the winter session of Parliament.

Key Highlights of the Bill :

The bill aims to create a Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) replacing the University Grants Commission(UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education(AICTE).
The bill proposes to bring almost all areas of higher education including technical, architectural and legal courses except medical education under the ambit of a HECI.
The HECI will maintain academic standards in higher education by
- specifying learning outcomes for courses
- specifying eligibility criteria for Vice Chancellors and
- ordering closure of higher educational institutions which fail to adhere to minimum standards.
The bill says that person appointed as Chairperson, Vice Chairperson and Members shall hold office for a term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office or upto 70 years of age.
Further, the bill provides for a new autonomous body which will be created to supervise the doling out of funds to higher education institutions.

Source :- The Hindu

SC seeks govt response on social media usage guidelines in 3 weeks

GS PAPER - 02 POLITY - Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential;

Context :

Recently, the Supreme Court of India has asked the Central government to frame guidelines on social media to control the spread of fake news.
- The directive came in the wake of growing incidents of violence fuelled by online rumours and fake videos.
- The observations by the court came during the hearing of a transfer petition moved by Facebook.

Key Highlights :

Social media companies such as WhatsApp, Facebook, among others expressing inability in tracing the origin of morphed photos, pornographic content, or terror messages was a serious concern which the government must look at, the two-judge Bench said.
The apex court also said that neither it nor the high courts in the country were competent enough to decide on the issue and that it was for the legislative to come up with rules on prevention of social media misuse.

Source :- Business Standard

Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare launches ‘TB Harega Desh Jeetega’ Campaign

GS PAPER - 02 POLITY - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Context :

Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare has launched the ‘TB Harega Desh Jeetega Campaign’ along with the National TB Prevalence Survey.

Harega Desh Jeetega Campaign:

Campaign aims to improve and expand the reach of TB care services across the country, by 2022.
Three pillars of the campaign- clinical approach, public health component and active community participation.
Supporting aspects of the campaign – patient support, private sector engagement, political and administrative commitment at all levels.
The government will ensure that all patients, at private or public hospitals, receive free-of-cost and high-quality TB care.

National TB Prevalence Survey:

Union Health Minister has also flagged off a van for the National TB Prevalence Survey.
In all,25 such vans will be part of the prevalence survey, which will go to 625 clusters of the country and check for TB. This sample survey is to be completed by 2020.
This shall present national and state level data which will be used as a policy tool for further interventions.

Source :- PIB

HIV-associated tuberculosis on the rise: India TB Report

GS PAPER - 02 POLITY - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Context :

Government has released the India Tuberculosis(TB) Report 2019.

Key Highlights of the Report :

The report claims that the notification of TB cases has gone up by 16 per cent points as compared to the last report.
- The 2019 report said 21.5 lakh cases were notified, as compared to 18.3 lakh reflected in last year's cases.
TB is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among People Living with HIV (PLHIV).
- This group is 21 times more likely to develop TB than persons without the virus. TB-HIV co-infection results in higher mortality rates.
- Nearly 25 per cent of all deaths among PLHIV are estimated to be due to TB, the 2019 report says.
It is the third-highest HIV burden country in the world, with an adult prevalence of 0.22 per cent.
HIV co-infection or co-morbidity with TB in India was nearly 50,000 out of a total 2,155,894 cases, according to the 2019 report, amounting to a TB HIV confection rate of 3.4 per cent.
- In the 2018 report, this figure was 3 per cent, with 43,253 cases out of 1,444,175 notified ones being co-morbid.
India ranks second in the world as far as TB-related mortality is concerned. About nine per cent of the global burden of HIV-associated TB is borne by India. Every year, 11,000 Indians die of HIV-associated TB.
The highest percentage of patients who tested positive for TB and were also infected with HIV came from
- Nagaland (15.6 per cent),
- followed by Karnataka (10 per cent),
- Chandigarh (9.1 per cent) and Manipur (8.9 per cent).
The treatment success rate of newly registered TB-HIV patients also dipped by 9 per cent points. The India TB Report 2018 said it was 79 per cent as compared to 70 per cent according to this year’s report.
The report says that more than 5 lakh cases of TB can be attributed to diabetes. “Diabetes increases the risk of developing TB by nearly two-three times.

State wise discrepancy :

Overall, the TB burden in India is highest in Uttar Pradesh. India’s largest state, accounting for 17 per cent the country’s population, contributed 20 per cent of total TB notified patients.
- Around 4.2 lakh cases out of an all-India figure of 21.5 lakh came from Uttar Pradesh. The same state had shown the highest contribution in the last report too.
Uttar Pradesh, this year, is followed by Maharashtra (10 per cent) and Rajasthan (7 per cent).
Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat reported the same proportion of cases as Rajasthan.
Tamil Nadu, Bihar and West Bengal contributed 5 per cent cases each.

Source :- Down To Earth

Social media platforms to follow ‘code of ethics’ in all future elections: EC

GS PAPER - 02 POLITY - Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.

Context :

Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp have agreed to follow the “voluntary code of ethics” in all future elections.

Voluntary Code of Ethics :

Social Media platforms will voluntarily undertake information, education and communication campaigns to build awareness including electoral laws and other related instructions.
Social Media platforms have created a high priority dedicated grievance redressal channel for taking expeditions action on the cases reported by the Election Commission of India(ECI).
Social Media Platforms and ECI have also developed a notification mechanism by this ECI can notify the relevant platforms of potential violations of Section 126 of the R.P. Act, 1951 and other electoral laws.
Platforms will ensure that all political advertisements on their platforms are pre-certified from the Media Certification and Monitoring Committees as per the directions of the Supreme Court.
Participating platforms are committed to facilitate transparency in paid political advertisements, including utilising their pre-existing labels or disclosure technology for such advertisements.

Source :- The Hindu

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

PM Modi hosts Caribbean leaders, announces $14-million grant to CARICOM

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests

Context :

Indian Prime minister has met with the leaders of the CARICOM group of countries on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

CARICOM:

The Caribbean Community(CARICOM) is an organisation of fifteen Caribbean nations.
The organisation was established in 1973.The headquarters is in Georgetown,Guyana.
The organisation is an economic and political community that works jointly to shape policies for the region and encourages economic growth and trade.
The major activities include
- coordinating economic policies and development planning
- devising and instituting special projects for the less-developed countries within its jurisdiction
- operating as a regional single market for many of its members and
- handling regional trade disputes.
CARICOM is also an official United Nations Observer.

Source :- The Hindu

ECONOMY

Energy Conservation Guidelines for MSMEs released and Knowledge Management Portal “SIDHIEE”

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context :

Union Minister for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises has launched Knowledge Management Portal “SIDHIEE”.
- The portal was launched at the National Conclave on Enhancing Energy Efficiency.
- This Conclave was organized by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency(BEE).

SIDHIEE Portal :

The portal was launched under the Bureau of Energy Efficiency Micro Small and Medium Enterprises(BEE’s MSME) Programme.
The portal will host useful information including fifty videos of multimedia tutorials for MSMEs for early adoption of energy-efficient technologies.

Source :- PIB

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

ISRO initiates ‘Project NETRA’

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Achievement of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.

Context :

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has initiated the ‘Project NETRA - an early warning system in space to detect debris and other hazards to Indian satellites.

Project NETRA :

NETRA stands for Network for Space Object Tracking and Analysis.
It is an early warning system in space to detect space debris and to safeguard India’s functional satellites in low-earth orbits.
Under NETRA,ISRO plans to put up many observational facilities such as connected radars, telescopes, data processing units and a Space Situational Awareness Control Centre.
These facilities can spot, track and catalogue objects as small as 10 cm, up to a range of 3,400 km and equal to a space orbit of around 2,000 km.

Significance :

This will improve India’s space situational awareness and allow it to become self-dependent.
This will ensure that India will no longer have to depend on data from the North America Aerospace Defence Command(NORAD).
NORAD is an initiative of the U.S. and Canada that shares selective space debris data with many countries.

Source :- The Hindu

SECURITY

India calls for global action to counter use of internet for radicalisation

GS PAPER - 03 SECURITY - social networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security

Context :

The Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) will now become an independent organization led by an Executive Director.

Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) :

Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism(GIFCT) was formally established in July 2017.
The forum was led by a rotating chair drawn from the founding four companies—Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube.
The main aim of the forum is to prevent terrorists and violent extremists from exploiting digital platforms.

Objective :

Improve the capacity of a broad range of technology companies, independently and collectively, to prevent and respond to abuse of their digital platforms by terrorists and violent extremists
Enable multi-stakeholder engagement around terrorist and violent extremist misuse of the internet and encourage stakeholders to meet key commitments consistent with the GIFCT mission
Encourage those dedicated to online civil dialogue and empower efforts to direct positive alternatives to the messages of terrorists and violent extremists
Advance broad understanding of terrorist and violent extremist operations and their evolution, including the intersection of online and offline activities.

Structure :

The GIFCT will be restructured as an independent membership organization led by an Executive Director and supported by dedicated staff.
The funding for the core operations of the forum will be drawn from industry contributions.

Source :- Indian Express

MISCELLANEOUS

Sardar Patel National Unity Award

GS PAPER - 03 AWARD AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Context :

The government has instituted a new civilian award in the name of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

More about the award :

The award has been instituted in the name of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
It will be the highest civilian award in India in the field of contribution to the unity and integrity of India.
The Award seeks to recognize notable and inspiring contributions to promote the cause of national unity and integrity and to reinforce the value of a strong and united India.
The award will be announced on the occasion of the National Unity Day, i.e. the birth anniversary of Sardar Patel on 31st October.
An award committee would be constituted by the Prime Minister which would include the Cabinet Secretary, Principal Secretary to the PM, Secretary to the President, Home Secretary as Members and three-four eminent persons.
The Award would consist of a medal and a citation.No monetary grant or cash award would be attached to this Award.
Further, not more than three Awards would be given in a year.It would also not be conferred posthumously except in very rare and highly deserving cases.

Source :- Indian Express

NATIONAL WATER MISSION AWARDS- 2019

GS PAPER - 03 AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Context :

Union Minister for Jal Shakti has presented the National Water Mission Awards- 2019.

National Water Mission Award :

The water mission awards is an initiative of National Water Mission (NWM), Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti.
The award seeks to recognize excellence in water conservation, efficient water use and sustainable water management practices.
‘National Water Mission Awards’ to recognize excellence in water conservation, efficient water use and sustainable water management practices.
The awards are given in ten categories defined under five goals of NWM.

National Water mission :

The National water mission is one of the eight missions launched under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) for combating the threats of global warming.
The main objective of the Water Mission is conservation of water, minimizing wastage and ensuring its more equitable distribution both across and within States through integrated water resources development and management.
The National Water Mission envisages the following five goals :
- Comprehensive water data base in public domain and assessment of the impact of climate change on water resources,
- Promotion of citizen and state actions for water conservation, augmentation and preservation
- Focused attention to vulnerable areas including over-exploited areas
- Increasing water use efficiency by 20%
- Promotion of basin level integrated water resources management.

27th SEPTEMBER 2019 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

Higher Education Bill in winter session

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Context :

Government is likely to introduce the Higher Education Commission of India(HECI) Bill in the winter session of Parliament.

Key Highlights of the Bill :

The bill aims to create a Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) replacing the University Grants Commission(UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education(AICTE).

The bill proposes to bring almost all areas of higher education including technical, architectural and legal courses except medical education under the ambit of a HECI.

The HECI will maintain academic standards in higher education by

specifying learning outcomes for courses

specifying eligibility criteria for Vice Chancellors and

ordering closure of higher educational institutions which fail to adhere to minimum standards.

The bill says that person appointed as Chairperson, Vice Chairperson and Members shall hold office for a term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office or upto 70 years of age.

Further, the bill provides for a new autonomous body which will be created to supervise the doling out of funds to higher education institutions.

Source :- The Hindu

SC seeks govt response on social media usage guidelines in 3 weeks

GS PAPER - 02 POLITY - Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential;

Context :

Recently, the Supreme Court of India has asked the Central government to frame guidelines on social media to control the spread of fake news.

The directive came in the wake of growing incidents of violence fuelled by online rumours and fake videos.

The observations by the court came during the hearing of a transfer petition moved by Facebook.

Key Highlights :

Social media companies such as WhatsApp, Facebook, among others expressing inability in tracing the origin of morphed photos, pornographic content, or terror messages was a serious concern which the government must look at, the two-judge Bench said.

The apex court also said that neither it nor the high courts in the country were competent enough to decide on the issue and that it was for the legislative to come up with rules on prevention of social media misuse.

Source :- Business Standard

Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare launches ‘TB Harega Desh Jeetega’ Campaign

GS PAPER - 02 POLITY - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Context :

Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare has launched the ‘TB Harega Desh Jeetega Campaign’ along with the National TB Prevalence Survey.

Harega Desh Jeetega Campaign:

Campaign aims to improve and expand the reach of TB care services across the country, by 2022.

Three pillars of the campaign- clinical approach, public health component and active community participation.

Supporting aspects of the campaign – patient support, private sector engagement, political and administrative commitment at all levels.

The government will ensure that all patients, at private or public hospitals, receive free-of-cost and high-quality TB care.

National TB Prevalence Survey:

Union Health Minister has also flagged off a van for the National TB Prevalence Survey.

In all,25 such vans will be part of the prevalence survey, which will go to 625 clusters of the country and check for TB. This sample survey is to be completed by 2020.

This shall present national and state level data which will be used as a policy tool for further interventions.

Source :- PIB

HIV-associated tuberculosis on the rise: India TB Report

GS PAPER - 02 POLITY - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Context :

Government has released the India Tuberculosis(TB) Report 2019.

Key Highlights of the Report :

The report claims that the notification of TB cases has gone up by 16 per cent points as compared to the last report.

The 2019 report said 21.5 lakh cases were notified, as compared to 18.3 lakh reflected in last year's cases.

TB is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among People Living with HIV (PLHIV).

This group is 21 times more likely to develop TB than persons without the virus. TB-HIV co-infection results in higher mortality rates.

Nearly 25 per cent of all deaths among PLHIV are estimated to be due to TB, the 2019 report says.

It is the third-highest HIV burden country in the world, with an adult prevalence of 0.22 per cent.

HIV co-infection or co-morbidity with TB in India was nearly 50,000 out of a total 2,155,894 cases, according to the 2019 report, amounting to a TB HIV confection rate of 3.4 per cent.

In the 2018 report, this figure was 3 per cent, with 43,253 cases out of 1,444,175 notified ones being co-morbid.

India ranks second in the world as far as TB-related mortality is concerned. About nine per cent of the global burden of HIV-associated TB is borne by India. Every year, 11,000 Indians die of HIV-associated TB.

The highest percentage of patients who tested positive for TB and were also infected with HIV came from

Nagaland (15.6 per cent),

followed by Karnataka (10 per cent),

Chandigarh (9.1 per cent) and Manipur (8.9 per cent).

The treatment success rate of newly registered TB-HIV patients also dipped by 9 per cent points. The India TB Report 2018 said it was 79 per cent as compared to 70 per cent according to this year’s report.

The report says that more than 5 lakh cases of TB can be attributed to diabetes. “Diabetes increases the risk of developing TB by nearly two-three times.

State wise discrepancy :

Overall, the TB burden in India is highest in Uttar Pradesh. India’s largest state, accounting for 17 per cent the country’s population, contributed 20 per cent of total TB notified patients.

Around 4.2 lakh cases out of an all-India figure of 21.5 lakh came from Uttar Pradesh. The same state had shown the highest contribution in the last report too.

Uttar Pradesh, this year, is followed by Maharashtra (10 per cent) and Rajasthan (7 per cent).

Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat reported the same proportion of cases as Rajasthan.

Tamil Nadu, Bihar and West Bengal contributed 5 per cent cases each.

Source :- Down To Earth

Social media platforms to follow ‘code of ethics’ in all future elections: EC

GS PAPER - 02 POLITY - Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.

Context :

Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp have agreed to follow the “voluntary code of ethics” in all future elections.

Voluntary Code of Ethics :

Social Media platforms will voluntarily undertake information, education and communication campaigns to build awareness including electoral laws and other related instructions.

Social Media platforms have created a high priority dedicated grievance redressal channel for taking expeditions action on the cases reported by the Election Commission of India(ECI).

Social Media Platforms and ECI have also developed a notification mechanism by this ECI can notify the relevant platforms of potential violations of Section 126 of the R.P. Act, 1951 and other electoral laws.

Platforms will ensure that all political advertisements on their platforms are pre-certified from the Media Certification and Monitoring Committees as per the directions of the Supreme Court.

Participating platforms are committed to facilitate transparency in paid political advertisements, including utilising their pre-existing labels or disclosure technology for such advertisements.

Source :- The Hindu

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

PM Modi hosts Caribbean leaders, announces $14-million grant to CARICOM

27^th SEPTEMBER 2019 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS