SOCIAL ISSUES

Global Hunger Index 2019

GS PAPER - 01 SOCIAL ISSUES - Issues relating to poverty and hunger.

Context :

Global Hunger Index 2019 has been released.

Key Highlights :

17 countries with 2019 GHI scores of less than 5 have not been assigned individual ranks, but rather have been collectively ranked 1–17 as differences between their scores are minimal. Some of the countries include Uruguay, Ukraine, Turkey, Cuba, etc.
Central African Republic has been ranked the worst (117th) followed by Yemen and Chad.
At the regional level, South Asia and Africa South of the Sahara have the highest 2019 GHI scores in the world, at 29.3 and 28.4, respectively, indicating serious levels of hunger.
Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, Latin America and the Caribbean, East and Southeast Asia, and the Near East and North Africa range from 6.6 to 13.3, indicating low or moderate hunger levels.
Nine countries of concern were omitted due to lack of data, including Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Libya, Somalia, South Sudan and Syria.
The report has warned that the progress towards a 2030 zero hunger target (SDG 2) that was agreed upon by leaders across the words was “under threat”.

India Specific Findings :

India has been ranked 102nd out of 117 qualifying countries. With a score of 30.3, India suffers from a level of hunger that is serious. India’s ranking in 2018 was 103rd out of 119 countries.
The child wasting rate in India stands at 20.8% which, according to the index, is the highest wasting rate of any country studied for the GHI report.
The child stunting rate, at 37.9%, has also been termed as very high.
Further, when it comes to infants aged six months to 23 months, only 9.6 percent of them in India are fed a “minimum acceptable diet”.
Neighbouring countries like Nepal (73rd), Sri Lanka (66th), Bangladesh (88th), Myanmar (69th) and Pakistan (94th), although all in the ‘serious’ hunger category, have performed better than India. China (25th) has moved to a ‘low’ severity category.

Global Hunger Index :

It is a peer-reviewed annual report, jointly published by Ireland’s Concern Worldwide and Germany’s Welthungerhilfe. It calculates the levels of hunger and under nutrition worldwide.
The index was first published in 2006. It was initially published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Welthungerhilfe.
The four indicators for the index are
- Undernourishment,
- Child stunting (the share of children under five years who have a low height for their age),
- Child wasting (the share of children under five years who have a low weight for their age) and
- Child mortality rate under 5 years of age.
GHI scores countries on a 100-point “severity scale”, where zero is the best score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst.
Values less than 10 reflect low hunger, values from 20 to 34 .9 indicate serious hunger; values from 35 to 49.9 are alarming; and values of 50 or more are extremely alarming.
The focus of GHI 2019 is Climate Change and hunger which seeks to explore the impact of extreme weather on food production, nutrition and food security. In 2019, 117 countries have been assessed.

Source :- The Hindu

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

Controller General of Accounts

GS PAPER - 02 POLITY - Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies

Context :

J.P.S. Chawla assumes charge as new the Controller General of Accounts.

Controller General of Accounts (CGA):

Controller General of Accounts (CGA), in the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, is the Principal Accounting Adviser to Government of India
CAG is responsible for establishing and maintaining a technically sound Management Accounting System.
The Office of CGA prepares monthly and annual analysis of expenditure, revenues, borrowings and various fiscal indicators for the Union Government.
Controller General of Accounts (CGA) in Ministry of Finance heads the organisation and is responsible for administering this system.
The goal is to provide reliable information that brings transparency in the use and reporting of public funds through an integrated government-wide financial information system.

Source :- PIB

Food Safety Mitra (FSM) Scheme

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Welfare schemes

Context :

The Union Health Minister launched the Food Safety Mitra (FSM) scheme for strengthening and scaling up the ‘Eat Right India’ movement.
He also launched the ‘Eat Right Jacket’ and ‘Eat Right Jhola’ on World Food Day 2019 (16th October).

Food Safety Mitra (FSM) scheme:

The ‘Food Safety Mitra (FSM)’ scheme will support small and medium scale food businesses to comply with food safety laws and facilitate licensing and registration, hygiene ratings and training.
Apart from strengthening food safety, this scheme would also create new employment opportunities for youth, particularly with food and nutrition background.
An FSM is an individual professional certified by FSSAI who assists in compliances related to FSS Act, Rules & Regulations with three avatars – Digital Mitra, Trainer Mitra and Hygiene Mitra depending upon their respective roles and responsibilities.
The FSMs would undergo training and certification by FSSAI to do their work and get paid by food businesses for their services.

‘Eat Right Jacket’ scheme:

These jackets will be given to the FSSAI field staff to ensure transparent inspection.
They are embedded with RFID tags and QR codes. It is linked to software to capture entry of inspection staff into premise for monitoring.

‘Eat Right Jhola’ scheme:

The ‘Eat Right Jhola’ is a reusable, washable and bio-degradable bag.
These shall replace plastic bags for grocery shopping in various retail chains. Since on repeated use, bags are often contaminated with microorganisms and bacteria, proper and regular washing of cloth bags is essential to ensure safety and hygiene.
These cloth bags are being provided on a rental basis through a private textile rental service company.

‘Eat Right India’ Movement:

The campaign was launched in 2018.
The campaign is led by FSSAI.
It is a Pan-India cycle movement aimed to create consumer awareness about eating safe and nutritious food.
It aims to engage, excite and enable citizens to improve their health and wellbeing.
‘Eat Right India’, is built on two broad pillars of ‘Eat Healthy’ and ‘Eat Safe’.
It is a collective effort to make both the demand and supply-side interventions through the engagement of key stakeholders.

Source :- PIB

GOAL (Going Online as Leaders) Initiative

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

Context :

The Union Minister of Tribal Affairs announced the second phase of GOAL (Going Online as Leaders).

GOAL (Going Online as Leaders) :

It is a Facebook program aimed at inspiring, guiding and encouraging tribal girls from across India to become village-level digital young leaders for their communities.
It was launched in March 2019.
It connects underprivileged young tribal women with senior expert mentors in the areas of business, fashion and arts to learn digital and life skills.
In the second phase of the program, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Facebook together will digitally mentor 5000 young women in India’s tribal-dominated districts.
The program will include weekly one-to-one mentoring sessions, focused on a range of skills such as digital literacy, entrepreneurship and online safety.
In total, more than 200,000 hours of guidance will be provided using Facebook family of apps including WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
Following the program, the participants will graduate to the GOAL alumni and will continue to receive support and guidance from the Ministry and Facebook.
The Ministry will also work with district administration and other government agencies to help secure qualified participants with a fellowship, so they can put their newly learned skills to work.

Source :- PIB

ECONOMY

SEPC Launches India IP Guide at Cannes in MIPCOM 2019

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - Awareness and issues relating to intellectual property rights.

Context :

Services Exports Promotion Council (SEPC), set-up by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, has brought out the India Intellectual Property (IP) Guide at Cannes in MIPCOM 2019, for the Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry.

India Intellectual Property (IP) Guide:

The guide features a catalogue of over 60 Indian IPs, popular in over 160 countries.
It tries to comprehensively break the narrative of only low-end work being done in India.
IP is the most important asset for its creators in the media and entertainment sector.
Intellectual Property (IP) is vital to a large number of SEPC’s stakeholders. Creation, protection and expansion of IP products alone will bring huge benefits to the sector.
SEPC will also be setting up a committee to help small and medium entertainment companies to navigate critical aspects of IP creation.
The aim is to assist companies and content creators to maximise the value that IPs can provide.

MIPCOM:

MIPCOM stands for Marché International des Programmes de Communication (French). In English, it can be translated as the International Market of Communications Programmes.
It is a trade show held annually primarily geared towards the television/entertainment industry. It is held in Cannes, France.
It is the world’s largest exhibition of studios and distributors, and also the top showcase for content across all platforms and genres.
- Many important personalities from the global entertainment industry participate in the 4-day event.
It also serves as a global premier for highly anticipated programmes.
A spinoff event called the MIPJunior also takes place prior to MIPCOM, which is targeted towards the children’s television industry.
MIPCOM 2019 is being attended by some of the top renowned Indian media and entertainment companies.
The Indian exhibitors and visiting companies are participating to buy, sell, serve and partner with companies present at MIPCOM from over 111 countries across the world.
The India Pavilion is the one-stop place to meet content creators, audiovisual service providers in animation, VFX, AR/VR, gaming, new media services, film production services and much more.
Many of the Indian companies are at Cannes with their completed IPs or pitch for their in-production properties.

Services Export Promotion Council (SEPC):

SEPC is an Export Promotion Council set up by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, in 2006.
It is an apex trade body which facilitates service exporters of India.
As an advisory body, it actively contributes to the formulation of policies of the Government and acts as an interface between the Services Industry and the Government.
SEPC has been instrumental in promoting the efforts of the Indian service exporting community, and in projecting India’s image abroad as a reliable supplier of high-quality services.
It organizes a large number of promotional activities such as buyer-seller meets (BSM) – both in India and abroad, overseas trade fairs/exhibitions, and India pavilion/information booths in selected overseas exhibitions to demonstrate the capabilities of the Indian Services Industry.
It currently has a membership base of over 3000 companies from 14 service sectors including accounting/auditing/bookkeeping, advertising, architectural, consultancy, distribution, educational, entertainment, environmental, healthcare, hotel and tourism, legal, maritime, market research/management, printing and publishing services.

Source :- PIB

Facebook officially launches its cryptocurrency Libra

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - basics of cyber security; money-laundering and its prevention.

Context :

Facebook has officially launched its cryptocurrency Libra,despite several high-profile defections from the project and intense criticism from US regulators and politicians.

Libra :

Libra is a virtual currency where users can buy and store in a digital wallet.It can be used for transactions on a decentralized network that is not controlled by one bank or a government.
It is powered by a technology called blockchain which functions like an open ledger that gets updated in real time.
Libra will also have a digital wallet called Calibra which will handle its crypto dealings.
Libra will be controlled by a non-profit Libra Association.It will be a Geneva-based entity that has 21 members including Uber,Vodafone group among others.
Originally the Libra Association had 27 potential members but several companies dropped out including Visa, Mastercard and PayPal.

Concern :

The global community has expressed concerns that Libra can disrupt the entire global payment system.
There is also an issue of privacy and security as Cambridge Analytica scandal had exposed the Facebook’s lapses of data privacy and security.
Libra could also stifle competition among other providers and even threaten financial stability if users suddenly suffer a loss of confidence in the digital currency.
It could also globally weakens the government’s control over monetary and banking policies.

India and Libra:

The Current regulations do not permit the use of cryptocurrency for currency transactions.
The Draft Banning of Cryptocurrency & Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2019’ has proposed that private cryptocurrencies should be banned completely in India.
The draft has also said that anybody who mine, hold, transact or deal with cryptocurrencies in any form whether directly or indirectly through an exchange or trading should attract a jail term of one to 10 years.

Source :- Livemint

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

Van Dhan Internship Programme

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

Context :

The Union Minister of Tribal Affairs launched the “Van Dhan Internship Programme” organised by TRIFED under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

Van Dhan Internship Programme :

18 interns (to be called Minister’s interns) from some of the reputed Institutes of Rural Management/Management Institutions/Institutes of Social Work/Social Services of the country are participating in the “Van Dhan Internship Programme”.
These interns have been selected to go and work on Van Dhan programme in the field. These interns have an inclination towards involving in matters related to tribal livelihood.
After their selection through the walk-in-interview, these interns are undergoing a one-week training programme. The period of internship is 6 months (extendable developing upon the need of the organisation and mutual sustainability).
These interns will work with the team of TRIFED in various states and districts in tribal areas in development of tribal welfare and inclusive growth (a dissertation has to be submitted on the conclusion of the internship).
They will support the TRIFED activities on livelihood promotion, value addition of NTFTs, marketing and credit linkages.
They will develop tools and techniques on institutional development including mechanism for determination of a just price or producer price of Minor Forest Products.

TRIFED :

TRIFED stands for Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited.
It was formed in 1987 is a national-level apex organization functioning under the administrative control of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GOI.
The ultimate objective of the cooperative is socio-economic development of tribal people in India by way of marketing and development of the tribal products on which the lives of tribals depend heavily on.

Van Dhan Yojana:

Van Dhan Yojana was launched in 2018, in Chhattisgarh. A Van Dhan Vikas Kendra was set up under the program.
The Van Dhan Vikas Kendra will cater to ten Self Help Groups of thirty tribal gatherers each.
The selection of the tribal beneficiaries and formation of the SHGs has been undertaken by TRIFED.
The Van Dhan Vikas Kendras will boost the economic development of tribals involved in the collection of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) and provide a sustainable MFP-based livelihood in MFP-rich districts.

Source :- PIB

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17th OCTOBER 2019 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

SOCIAL ISSUES

Global Hunger Index 2019

GS PAPER - 01 SOCIAL ISSUES - Issues relating to poverty and hunger.

Context :

Global Hunger Index 2019 has been released.

Key Highlights :

17 countries with 2019 GHI scores of less than 5 have not been assigned individual ranks, but rather have been collectively ranked 1–17 as differences between their scores are minimal. Some of the countries include Uruguay, Ukraine, Turkey, Cuba, etc.

Central African Republic has been ranked the worst (117th) followed by Yemen and Chad.

At the regional level, South Asia and Africa South of the Sahara have the highest 2019 GHI scores in the world, at 29.3 and 28.4, respectively, indicating serious levels of hunger.

Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, Latin America and the Caribbean, East and Southeast Asia, and the Near East and North Africa range from 6.6 to 13.3, indicating low or moderate hunger levels.

Nine countries of concern were omitted due to lack of data, including Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Libya, Somalia, South Sudan and Syria.

The report has warned that the progress towards a 2030 zero hunger target (SDG 2) that was agreed upon by leaders across the words was “under threat”.

India Specific Findings :

India has been ranked 102nd out of 117 qualifying countries. With a score of 30.3, India suffers from a level of hunger that is serious. India’s ranking in 2018 was 103rd out of 119 countries.

The child wasting rate in India stands at 20.8% which, according to the index, is the highest wasting rate of any country studied for the GHI report.

The child stunting rate, at 37.9%, has also been termed as very high.

Further, when it comes to infants aged six months to 23 months, only 9.6 percent of them in India are fed a “minimum acceptable diet”.

Neighbouring countries like Nepal (73rd), Sri Lanka (66th), Bangladesh (88th), Myanmar (69th) and Pakistan (94th), although all in the ‘serious’ hunger category, have performed better than India. China (25th) has moved to a ‘low’ severity category.

Global Hunger Index :

It is a peer-reviewed annual report, jointly published by Ireland’s Concern Worldwide and Germany’s Welthungerhilfe. It calculates the levels of hunger and under nutrition worldwide.

The index was first published in 2006. It was initially published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Welthungerhilfe.

The four indicators for the index are

Undernourishment,

Child stunting (the share of children under five years who have a low height for their age),

Child wasting (the share of children under five years who have a low weight for their age) and

Child mortality rate under 5 years of age.

GHI scores countries on a 100-point “severity scale”, where zero is the best score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst.

Values less than 10 reflect low hunger, values from 20 to 34 .9 indicate serious hunger; values from 35 to 49.9 are alarming; and values of 50 or more are extremely alarming.

The focus of GHI 2019 is Climate Change and hunger which seeks to explore the impact of extreme weather on food production, nutrition and food security. In 2019, 117 countries have been assessed.

Source :- The Hindu

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

Controller General of Accounts

GS PAPER - 02 POLITY - Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies

Context :

J.P.S. Chawla assumes charge as new the Controller General of Accounts.

Controller General of Accounts (CGA):

Controller General of Accounts (CGA), in the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, is the Principal Accounting Adviser to Government of India

CAG is responsible for establishing and maintaining a technically sound Management Accounting System.

The Office of CGA prepares monthly and annual analysis of expenditure, revenues, borrowings and various fiscal indicators for the Union Government.

Controller General of Accounts (CGA) in Ministry of Finance heads the organisation and is responsible for administering this system.

The goal is to provide reliable information that brings transparency in the use and reporting of public funds through an integrated government-wide financial information system.

Source :- PIB

Food Safety Mitra (FSM) Scheme

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Welfare schemes

Context :

The Union Health Minister launched the Food Safety Mitra (FSM) scheme for strengthening and scaling up the ‘Eat Right India’ movement.

He also launched the ‘Eat Right Jacket’ and ‘Eat Right Jhola’ on World Food Day 2019 (16th October).

Food Safety Mitra (FSM) scheme:

The ‘Food Safety Mitra (FSM)’ scheme will support small and medium scale food businesses to comply with food safety laws and facilitate licensing and registration, hygiene ratings and training.

Apart from strengthening food safety, this scheme would also create new employment opportunities for youth, particularly with food and nutrition background.

An FSM is an individual professional certified by FSSAI who assists in compliances related to FSS Act, Rules & Regulations with three avatars – Digital Mitra, Trainer Mitra and Hygiene Mitra depending upon their respective roles and responsibilities.

The FSMs would undergo training and certification by FSSAI to do their work and get paid by food businesses for their services.

‘Eat Right Jacket’ scheme:

These jackets will be given to the FSSAI field staff to ensure transparent inspection.

They are embedded with RFID tags and QR codes. It is linked to software to capture entry of inspection staff into premise for monitoring.

‘Eat Right Jhola’ scheme:

The ‘Eat Right Jhola’ is a reusable, washable and bio-degradable bag.

These shall replace plastic bags for grocery shopping in various retail chains. Since on repeated use, bags are often contaminated with microorganisms and bacteria, proper and regular washing of cloth bags is essential to ensure safety and hygiene.

These cloth bags are being provided on a rental basis through a private textile rental service company.

‘Eat Right India’ Movement:

The campaign was launched in 2018.

The campaign is led by FSSAI.

It is a Pan-India cycle movement aimed to create consumer awareness about eating safe and nutritious food.

It aims to engage, excite and enable citizens to improve their health and wellbeing.

‘Eat Right India’, is built on two broad pillars of ‘Eat Healthy’ and ‘Eat Safe’.

It is a collective effort to make both the demand and supply-side interventions through the engagement of key stakeholders.

Source :- PIB

GOAL (Going Online as Leaders) Initiative

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

Context :

The Union Minister of Tribal Affairs announced the second phase of GOAL (Going Online as Leaders).

GOAL (Going Online as Leaders) :

It is a Facebook program aimed at inspiring, guiding and encouraging tribal girls from across India to become village-level digital young leaders for their communities.

It was launched in March 2019.

It connects underprivileged young tribal women with senior expert mentors in the areas of business, fashion and arts to learn digital and life skills.

In the second phase of the program, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Facebook together will digitally mentor 5000 young women in India’s tribal-dominated districts.

The program will include weekly one-to-one mentoring sessions, focused on a range of skills such as digital literacy, entrepreneurship and online safety.

In total, more than 200,000 hours of guidance will be provided using Facebook family of apps including WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

Following the program, the participants will graduate to the GOAL alumni and will continue to receive support and guidance from the Ministry and Facebook.

17^th OCTOBER 2019 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS