POLITY AND GOVERNANCE                                                        

1. Launches the new rotavirus vaccine - ROTAVAC5D®                        

2. ‘International Day of Persons with Disabilities’                                    

3. Political Parties Registration Tracking Management System (PPRTMS)                                                                                                       

ECONOMY                                                                                          

1. Commerce & Industry Minister to Inaugurate National Public Procurement Conclave                                                                     

2. Ratna Status to CPSEs                                                                    

3. Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana(MKSP)                                  

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY                                                

1. Climate Emergency CoP 25: Global mean sea level highest-ever in 2019                                                                                               

2. India tests Swedish technology to reduce stubble burning                  

SECURITY                                                                                         

1. India-Nepal Joint Military Exercise  Surya Kiran – XIV                      

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

Launches the new rotavirus vaccine - ROTAVAC5D®

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

Context :

• Vice President launched the new rotavirus vaccine – ROTAVAC5D®.

More in the news :

• ROTAVAC5D® was designed and developed by Bharat Biotech.

• The vaccine would be a great help in tackling the spread of Rotavirus that causes nearly 8,72,000 hospitalizations, over 32 lakh outpatient visits and an estimated 78 thousand deaths annually in India.

                                                                                                                                                               Source :- PIB

‘International Day of Persons with Disabilities’

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

Context :

• The Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu today said that ‘International Day of Persons with Disabilities’ must be renamed as ‘International Day of Persons with Special Abilities’.

  • To reflect the enormous potential and capabilities that differently-abled people posses and to dispel the stigma that society attaches to disability.

International Day of Persons with Disabilities :

• 3rd December is observed as the International Day of Persons with Disabilities every year.

• This annual observance was initiated by the UN in 1992.

• It aims to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in all spheres of society and development, and to increase awareness of the situation of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life.

• 2019 Theme: Promoting the participation of persons with disabilities and their leadership: taking action on the 2030 Development Agenda.

  • This year it focuses on the empowerment of persons with disabilities for inclusive, equitable and sustainable development as anticipated in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which pledges to ‘leave no one behind’ and recognizes disability as a cross-cutting issues, to be considered in the implementation of its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

                                                                                                                                                                     Source :- PIB

Political Parties Registration Tracking Management System (PPRTMS)

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Salient features of the Representation of People's Act; Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential

Context :

• Election Commission of India to implement “Political Parties Registration Tracking Management System” (PPRTMS).

Political Parties Registration Tracking Management System (PPRTMS) :

• PPRTMS will be implemented from January 2020.

• Accordingly, the “Political Parties Registration Tracking Management System” (PPRTMS) will be implemented through an online portal, to facilitate tracking of status of application by applicants.

• The salient feature in the Political Parties Registration Tracking Management System is that the applicant (who is applying for party registration from 1st January, 2020 onwards) will be able to track the progress of his / her application and will get status update through SMS and email.

Registration of political parties:

• The Registration of Political Parties is governed by the provisions of section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

• A party seeking registration under the said section with the Commission has to submit an application to the Commission within a period of 30 days following the date of its formation in the prescribed format.

                                                                                                                               Source :- PIB

ECONOMY

Commerce & Industry Minister to Inaugurate National Public Procurement Conclave

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

Context :

• The 3rd edition of National Public Procurement Conclave (NPPC) is being organised by Government e-Marketplace (GeM) in association with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in December 2019 in New Delhi.

National Public Procurement Conclave (NPPC) :

• The conclave will provide an opportunity for industry, academia and Government organizations to interact and also serve as a platform for sellers on GeM to showcase their products and services.

• The key features of the conclave are panel discussions on role of MSMEs, Startups and women in public procurement.

• A special session on services on GeM – hospitality, travel and accommodation bookings is also scheduled during the two-day event.

• A Live GeM “clinic” to resolve queries on the spot and facilitate Registration of Buyer and Sellers on GeM will be set up at the Conclave.

• Award and recognition to the top buyers and sellers on GeM will be announced during the Conclave.           

                                                                                                                               Source :- PIB

Ratna Status to CPSEs

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context :

• The criteria laid down by the Government for grant of Maharatna, Navratna and Miniratna status to Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs)

Criteria for grant of Maharatna status to CPSEs:

• Having Navratna status

• Listed on Indian stock exchange with minimum prescribed public shareholding under SEBI regulations

• An average annual turnover of more than Rs. 25,000 crore during the last 3 years

• An average annual net worth of more than Rs. 15,000 crore during the last 3 years

• An average annual net profit after tax of more than Rs. 5,000 crore during the last 3 years

• Should have significant global presence/international operations.

Criteria for grant of Navratna status to CPSEs:

• The CPSEs which are Miniratna I, Schedule ‘A’ and have obtained ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’ MOU rating in three of the last five years and having composite score of 60 or above in following six selected performance indicators are eligible to be considered for grant of Navratna status.

1. Net Profit to Net worth: 25

2. Manpower Cost to total Cost of Production or Cost of Services: 15

3. PBDIT to Capital employed: 15

4. PBIT to Turnover: 15

5. Earning Per Share: 10

6. Inter Sectoral Performance: 20

Criteria for grant of Miniratna status to CPSEs:

• Miniratna Category-I status: – The CPSEs which have made profit in the last three years continuously, pre-tax profit is Rs.30 crores or more in at least one of the three years and have a positive net worth are eligible to be considered for grant of Miniratna-I status.

• Miniratna Category-II status: – The CPSEs which have made profit for the last three years continuously and have a positive net worth are eligible to be considered for grant of Miniratna-II status.

                                                                                                                                                                         Source :- PIB

Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana(MKSP)

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes

Context :

• Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers has informed Lok Sabha about the Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana(MKSP).

Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana(MKSP) :

• Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) is a sub component of the National Rural Livelihood Mission(NRLM).

• The primary objective of the scheme is to empower women in agriculture by making systematic investments to enhance their participation and productivity, as also create and sustain agriculture based livelihoods of rural women.

• The Department of Rural Development, Ministry of Rural Development is implementing the scheme.

Objective :

• To enhance the productive participation of women in agriculture;

• To create sustainable agricultural livelihood opportunities for women in agriculture;

• To improve the skills and capabilities of women in agriculture to support farm and non-farm-based activities;

• To ensure food and nutrition security at the household and the community level;

• To enable women to have better access to inputs and services of the government and other agencies;

• To enhance the managerial capacities of women in agriculture for better management of biodiversity;

• To improve the capacities of women in agriculture to access the resources of other institutions and schemes within a convergence framework.

                                                                                                                                Source :- PIB

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY 

Climate Emergency CoP 25: Global mean sea level highest-ever in 2019

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

• World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) released provisional State of Global Climate Report 2019 at the Conference of Parties 25 (CoP 25) in Madrid on December 3, 2019.

  • The final Statement on the State of the Climate with complete 2019 data will be published in March 2020.

Key Highlights :

• The global average temperature in 2019 (January to October) was about 1.1 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial period. 2019 is expected to be the second or third warmest year on record. 2016 remains the warmest year.

• Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere hit a record level of 407.8 parts per million in 2018 and continued to rise in 2019.

• In October 2019, the global mean sea level reached its highest value since the beginning of the high-precision altimetry record (January 1993).

  • This is because of the melting of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica.

                                                                                                                                                 Source :- Down To Earth

India tests Swedish technology to reduce stubble burning

GS PAPER  - 03 ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY -  Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

• The pollution from stubble burning in winter is a major factor for the sharp decline in air quality in Delhi. To overcome this issue, India is testing Swedish technology — torrefaction that can convert rice stubble into ‘bio-coal’.

Torrefaction Technology  :

• It is a thermal process used to produce high-grade solid biofuels from various streams of woody biomass or agro residues.

• The end product is a stable, homogeneous, high quality solid biofuel with far greater energy density and calorific value than the original feedstock, providing significant benefits in logistics, handling and storage, as well as opening up a wide range of potential uses.

Working :

• Biomass torrefaction involves heating the biomass to temperatures between 250 and 300 degrees Celsius in a low-oxygen atmosphere.

• When biomass is heated at such temperatures, the moisture evaporates and various low-calorific components (volatiles) contained in the biomass are driven out.

• During this process the hemi-cellulose in the biomass decomposes, which transforms the biomass from a fibrous low quality fuel into a product with excellent fuel characteristics.

Advantage :

• The project has a capacity of converting 150-200 kilograms of paddy straw to bio-coal every hour and reduce CO2 emissions by 95%.

• Torrefied biomass is more brittle, making grinding easier and less energy-intensive.

• Compared to fresh biomass, storage of the torrefied material can be substantially simplified since biological degradation and water uptake is minimized.

• The torrefied pellets are ideal for coal replacement because it has lower shipping and transport costs, lower sulfur and ash content (compared with coal), etc.

                                                                                                                       Source :- The Hindu

SECURITY

India-Nepal Joint Military Exercise  Surya Kiran – XIV

GS PAPER - 03 SECURITY - India and its neighborhood- relations. Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests

Context :

• The 14th edition of the bilateral annual military exercise SURYA KIRAN-XIV between Indian and Nepal Army commenced in Nepal.

SURYA KIRAN :

• The aim of this exercise is to conduct a battalion level combined training between Indian Army and Nepal Army with a scope to enhance interoperability at military level in jungle warfare, counter terrorist operations in mountainous terrain, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief operations, medical and environmental conservation including aviation aspects.

• As part of the exercise, important lectures, demonstrations and drills related to counter insurgency and counter terrorism operations in jungle and mountainous terrain will be conducted.

• Both the Armies will also share their valuable experiences in countering such situations and also refine drills and procedures for joint operations wherever the need arises.

• The 13th edition was held in Uttarakhand in 2018.

                                                                                                                      Source :- PIB

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