To celebrate the spirit of India, the annual event Bharat Parv is being organised in Delhi this year too.
Special Secretary & Financial Adviser of Ministry of Tourism Shri Rajesh Kumar Chaturvedi will inaugurate the Bharat Parv tomorrow at Red fort ground in New Delhi.
Bharat Parv, 2020 is being celebrated from 26th to 31st January, 2020 in front of Red Fort at Gyan Path and Red Fort grounds.
The objective of Bharat Parv is to encourage Indians to visit different tourism places of India and to inculcate the spirit of ‘Dekho Apna Desh’.
The Central theme of this year’s Bharat Parv is ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ and ‘Celebrating 150 Years of Mahatma Gandhi’
The 10th National Voters’ Day (NVD) was celebrated across the country today. President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind presided over the national level event held at New Delhi. Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Law & Justice, Communications and Electronics and Information Technology also graced the event as the Guest of Honour. The Chief Election Commissioner Shri Sunil Arora, Election Commissioners Shri Ashok Lavasa and Shri Sushil Chandra, Secretary General Shri Umesh Sinha and Director General Shri Dharmendra Sharma received the dignitaries on the occasion.
The theme for NVD 2020 was ‘Electoral Literacy for Stronger Democracy’ reiterating the commitment of Election Commission of India (ECI) towards electoral literacy for all to ensure maximum participation and informed & ethical voting. This year marks an important milestone in the history of Indian democracy as Election Commission of India (ECI) completes 70 years of its journey.
The National Voters’ Day (NVD) is celebrated all over the country on January 25 every year since 2011 to mark the Foundation day of Election Commission of India, which was established on this day in the year 1950. This year, the celebrations were spread over three days to mark the 70 illustrious years of ECI establishment. On 23rd January, the Commission organized the first ever annual lecture series in memory of the first Chief Election Commissioner of India, Shri Sukumar Sen. Hon’ble former President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee, delivered the keynote lecture. On 24th January, an International Conference on “Strengthening Institutional Capacity” was organised.
The main purpose of the NVD celebration is to encourage, facilitate and maximize the enrollment, especially for the new voters. Dedicated to the voters of the country, the Day is utilized to spread awareness among voters for promoting informed participation in the electoral process.
What? National Girl Child Day (NGCD) was observed on 24th January with objectives of generating awareness on the issue of declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and create a positive environment around valuing the girl child.
The programme also observed anniversary of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme.
Background: National Girl Child Day was first initiated in 2008.
Objectives: To increase the consciousness of the people and offer new opportunities to the girl child in the society.
To remove all the inequalities faced by the girl child. To ensure that the girl child should get all their human rights, respect and value in the country. To work regarding gender discrimination, to educate people.
About BBBP: Launch and expansion: Launched in January, 2015 at Panipat in Haryana. All India Expansion of BBBP covering all 640 districts (as per Census 2011) was launched at Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan on 8th March 2018.
It is a tri-ministerial effort of Ministries of Women and Child Development, Health & Family Welfare and Human Resource Development.
Implementation: It is a Central Sector Scheme with 100% financial assistance for District level component and the fund are directly released to the DC/DM’s account for smooth operation of the Scheme.
Objectives: Main Objective of the scheme is to address the declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and related issues of empowerment of women over a life-cycle continuum. The specific objectives of the scheme include preventing gender biased sex selective elimination; ensuring survival and protection of the girl child and ensuring education and participation of the girl child.
Punjab has also demanded that suitable amendments be made to the proposed Inter State River Water Disputes Act to set up a new tribunal, to ensure that Punjab gets adequate water “in a just and equitable manner in keeping with its total demand and securing livelihood of the future generations.”
Meanwhile, Haryana has said that the Supreme Court decision on the Sutlej Yamuna link (SYL) canal issue will come soon because in the previous execution order, it was stated that the issue should be resolved amicably. What is the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal, and the controversy over it?
Historical background: The creation of Haryana from the old (undivided) Punjab in 1966threw up the problem of giving Haryana its share of river waters. Punjab was opposed to sharing waters of the Ravi and Beas with Haryana, citing riparian principles, and arguing that it had no water to spare.
However, Centre, in 1976, issued a notification allocating to Haryana 3.5 million acre feet (MAF) out of undivided Punjab’s 7.2 MAF. The Eradi Tribunalheaded by Supreme Court Judge V Balakrishna Eradi was set up to reassess availability and sharing of water. The Tribunal, in 1987, recommended an increase in the shares of Punjab and Haryana to 5 MAF and 3.83 MAF, respectively.
The canal: To enable Haryana to use its share of the waters of the Sutlej and its tributary Beas, a canal linking the Sutlej with the Yamuna, cutting across the state, was planned.
A tripartite agreement was also negotiated between Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan in this regard.
The Satluj Yamuna Link Canal is a proposed 214-kilometer long canal to connect the Sutlej and Yamuna rivers. However, the proposal met obstacles and was referred to the Supreme Court. It defines river water sharing between Punjab and Haryana.
Background: Haryana has been seeking the completion of the SYL canal to get its share of 3.5 million acre-feet of river waters. It has maintained that Punjab should comply with the 2002 and 2004 Supreme Court orders in this regard. Haryana is getting 1.62 million acre-feet of the Ravi-Beas waters.
What is a vaccine-derived poliovirus? It is a strain of the weakened poliovirus that was initially included in oral polio vaccine (OPV) and that has changed over time and behaves more like the wild or naturally occurring virus.
This means it can be spread more easily to people who are unvaccinated against polio and who come in contact with the stool or respiratory secretions, such as from a sneeze, of an infected person. These viruses may cause illness, including paralysis.
How is it spread? Oral polio vaccine (OPV) contains an attenuated (weakened) vaccine-virus, activating an immune response in the body. When a child is immunized with OPV, the weakened vaccine-virus replicates in the intestine for a limited period, thereby developing immunity by building up antibodies.
During this time, the vaccine-virus is also excreted. In areas of inadequate sanitation, this excreted vaccine-virus can spread in the immediate community (and this can offer protection to other children through ‘passive’ immunization), before eventually dying out.
What’s the issue here? A circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV) occur when routine or supplementary immunization activities (SIAs) are poorly conducted and a population is left susceptible to poliovirus, whether from vaccine-derived or wild poliovirus. Hence, the problem is not with the vaccine itself, but low vaccination coverage. If a population is fully immunized, they will be protected against both vaccine-derived and wild polioviruses.
Where does India stand? In January 2014, India was declared polio-free after three years on zero cases. In 2018, there was a brief scare when some vials of the polio vaccine were found contaminated with the polio 2 virus that had been eradicated from the country in 1999. However, WHO quickly issued a statement saying that all vaccines used in the government programme in India were safe.
The last case due to wild poliovirus in the country was detected on January 13, 2011.
How should India be prepared? It calls for heightened vigilance, in short. Some years ago, India introduced the injectable polio vaccine in the Universal Immunisation Programme. This was to reduce chances of vaccine-derived polio infection, which continues to happen in the country. If both wild and vaccine-derived polio infection are reduced to zero, it would mean there is no trace left of the virus anywhere in the world, except in controlled situations in laboratories for future contingencies.
What is Polio? It is a highly infectious viral disease, which mainly affects young children. The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (e.g. contaminated water or food) and multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and can cause paralysis.
The underlying objective is to facilitate the “gram panchayats” to promote development of villages by unlocking the value of such land and transfer it for industrial projects to the Industry department and the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC).
What is shamlat land? Three categories of common land in Punjab villages are: ‘Shamlat’ land is owned by the village panchayat. ‘Jumla mushtraka malkan’ is land in a common pool made with villagers’ personal contributions, and is managed by the panchayat.
‘Gau charan’, too belongs to the panchayat, and is for cattle grazing. Shamlat land is mainly used for cultivation, and is allotted for this through an open auction that is conducted by the Rural Development and Panchayat Department every year.
What’s the issue now? Various organisations in Punjab have been protesting against this revised land policy relating to ‘shamlat’ land. One-third of Punjab’s shamlat lands are reserved for Dalits. Around 25,000 to 26,000 families in the state, mostly Dalits, depend on this land for their livelihood.
The recent government move has sparked fears of unemployment.
About NISHTHA: NISHTHA is the world’s largest teachers’ training programme of its kind in the world.
It has been launched to improve Learning Outcomes at the Elementary level. The basic objective of this massive training programme is to motivate and equip teachers to encourage and foster critical thinking in students.
The initiative is first of its kind wherein standardized training modules are developed at national level for all States and UTs. However, States and UTs can contextualize the training modules and use their own material and resource persons also, keeping in view the core topics and expected outcomes of NISHTHA.
The prominent features of this integrated programme are: Activity based modules including educational games and quizzes, Social-emotional learning, motivational interactions, team building, preparation for school based assessment, in-built continuous feedback mechanism, online monitoring and support system, training need and impact analysis (Pre and Post training).
Expected outcomes: Teachers will get awareness and develop their skills on various aspects related to Learning Outcomes, Competency Based Learning and Testing, Learner-centered Pedagogy, School Safety and Security etc.
This integrated programme aims to build the capacities of around 42 lakh participants covering all teachers and Heads of Schools at the elementary level in all Government schools, faculty members of State Councils of Educational Research and Training (SCERTs), District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) as well as Block Resource Coordinators and Cluster Resource Coordinators in all States and UTs.
Need and necessity for such programmes: Teachers today are also expected to be aware of the provisions regarding Gender, The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The integrated programme therefore seeks to train all heads and teachers as first level counsellors to be alert and responsive to the needs of the students, in addition to promoting joyful learning and taking special care of the requirements of special children.
The policy is intended as a crackdown on what is known as “birth tourism“.
Present scenario: Currently, pregnant women can enter the US even up until birth, according to US Customs and Border Protection. But the prospective mother’s travel may be restricted if there is reason to believe she intends to remain in the US beyond the time allowed by her visa, or plans for US taxpayers to foot the bill for her childbirth.
Need for the new policy? Nearly all children born in the US gets automatic citizenship – a law US President Donald Trump has criticised. His administration says the new travel policy is necessary to safeguard US national security and public health.
What is the new rule? The new rule applies to visitors seeking B visas, which are issued to non-immigrants. Under the rule, pregnant women applying for US visitor visas may need to prove they have a specific reason for travel other than giving birth on US soil. It allows consular officials to deny a visa to any individual whose “primary purpose” in obtaining such documentation is to give birth there.
Significance: The rule addresses concerns about the attendant risks of this activity to national security and law enforcement, including criminal activity associated with the birth tourism industry, as reflected in federal prosecutions of individuals and entities involved in that industry.
How many children are born under ‘birth tourism’? There are no records of how many babies are born to US visitors each year, but various groups have issued estimates.
About 10,000 babies were born to a foreign resident in 2017, the latest year that data is available, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That number is up from about 7,800 in 2007.
They are a primitive group of microorganisms that thrive in extreme habitats such as hot springs, cold deserts and hypersaline lakes.
These slow-growing organisms are also present in the human gut, and have a potential relationship with human health.
They are known for producing antimicrobial molecules, and for anti-oxidant activity with applications in eco-friendly waste-water treatment.
Why in News? Scientists have reported a new archaeon (a kind of microorganism), which they discovered in Sambhar Salt Lake in Rajasthan.
It has been named Natrialba swarupiae, after Dr Renu Swarup, secretary, Department of Biotechnology.
It is a severe bacterial disease caused by certain strains.
The disease is also spread through contact with infected animals, contaminated clothing, equipment, and through ingestion or inhalation of the bacteria.
Primary symptoms include swishing tails, reduced cudding, undigested food in faeces and reduced milk yield.
Why in News? Around 40 buffaloes have died within four days due to suspected Sahana disease (hemorrhagic septicemia) in a number of villages located in the Garadapur block of Odisha’s Kendrapara.
It is the first-ever multi-stakeholder dialogue event in Nepal’s recent history, to be held in April.
It will be attended by many global figures apart from the leaders of the member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). It is expected to be the biggest diplomatic initiative.