Daily Current Affairs MCQ - January 30, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

Prime Minister Modi will address the 125th anniversary celebrations of ‘Prabuddha Bharata’, on 31st January, 2021. The event is being organized by Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati.

• ‘Prabuddha Bharata’ is a monthly journal of the Ramakrishna Order, started by Swami Vivekananda in 1896.

• The journal ‘Prabuddha Bharata’ has been an important medium for spreading the message of India’s ancient spiritual wisdom.

• Its publication was started from Chennai (erstwhile Madras), where it continued to be published for two years, after which it was published from Almora.

• Later, in April 1899, the place of publication of the Journal was shifted to Advaita Ashrama and it has been continuously published from there since then.

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), the premier research organization of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has evolved a design for the first PPP Research Reactor for production of Nuclear Medicines.

• In the proposed partnership, the private entities will get exclusive rights to process and market the isotopes produced in the research reactor, in lieu of investing in the reactor and processing facilities.

• In May 2020, Union Finance Minister announced establishment of a Research Reactor in PPP mode for production of medical isotopes as a part of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat initiatives for DAE.

• This project will be a major step towards making India self-reliant in key radio isotopes used in medical and industrial applications.

• Globally, nuclear medicine is a USD 6 Billion market and is expected to grow rapidly to reach USD 30 Billion by 2030. India produces all major isotopes in the country under the aegis of BARC.

Indian Naval Fast Attack Craft (IN FAC) T-81 of the Super Dvora MK II class, was decommissioned on 28 January 2021 at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai after having served the nation for more than 20 years.

• The 25 meters long vessel with 60 tonnes displacement was built at Goa Shipyard Ltd in collaboration with M/s Ramta of Israel. She was commissioned into the Indian Navy in 1999.

• The ship, specially designed for shallow waters, could achieve speeds up to 45 knots and had the capability of day/night surveillance and reconnaissance, Search & Rescue, beach insertion, extraction of Marine Commandos and high speed interception of intruder craft.

Agreement for the financial support of the implementation of Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States (STARS) project of Ministry of Education (MOE) was signed between Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) and World Bank along with Ministry of Education.

• Earlier Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of STARS project in October 2020.

• The Program envisions improving the overall monitoring and measurement activities in the Indian school education system through interventions in 6 States viz Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Odisha.

Implementation Mechanism:

• STARS project would be implemented as a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme under Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), MOE.

• DoSEL, MoE is the main implementing agency at the national level. At the State level, the project will be implemented through the integrated State Implementation Society (SIS) for Samagra Shiksha.

Financing:

• The total project cost of STARS project is Rs 5718 crore with the financial support of World Bank amounting to US $ 500 million (approximately Rs. 3700 crore) and rest coming as State share from the participating States, over a period of 5 years.

• The proposed World Bank support under STARS is primarily in the form of a results-based financing instrument called Program for Results (PforR). A State Incentive Grant (SIG) will be used to encourage States to meet desired project outcomes.

Ahead of the upcoming Legislative Assembly elections in West Bengal, the ruling All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) is engaged in Bengal sub-nationalism with its use of the slogan ‘Joy Bangla’.

• Joy Bangla is a salutation, slogan and war cry used by some Peoples in Bangladesh and Bengali dominated parts of India i.e. West Bengal, Tripura, Barak Valley and Manbhum District.

• it is used to indicate nationalism towards the geopolitical, cultural and historical region of Bengal and Bangamata (or Mother Bengal).

• It translates roughly to "Victory to Bengal" or "Hail Bengal". The name of the slogan Joy Bangla comes from a poem named "Purna Abhinandan" (1922) by Kazi Nazrul Islam.

• Joy Bangla was the slogan and war cry of the Mukti Bahini that fought for the independence of Bangladesh during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. In March 2020, the Bangladesh High Court declared ‘Joy Bangla’ as the national slogan of the country.

The Economic Survey 2020-21 has strongly recommended an increase in public spending on healthcare services from 1 percent to 2.5-3 percent of GDP, as envisaged in the National Health Policy 2017.

• It notes that this can significantly reduce the Out-of-Pocket-Expenditure (OOPE) from 65 per cent to 35 per cent of the overall healthcare spend.

• The Survey has recommended that the National Health mission (NHM) should be continued in conjunction to with Ayushman Bharat Yojana.

• Drawing from the lessons learned during the ongoing global pandemic of COVID-19, the Economic Survey makes a strong case for complete adoption of telemedicine for meeting the last-mile challenges of healthcare delivery in the country.

The Economic Survey 2020-21 states that online schooling took off in a big way during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The percentage of enrolled children from government and private schools owning a smartphone increased enormously from 36.5 per cent in 2018 to 61.8 per cent in 2020 in rural India.

• PM eVIDYA which is a comprehensive initiative to unify all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education to enable multi-mode and equitable access to education for students and teachers.

• Around 92 courses have started and 1.5 crore students are enrolled under Swayam MOOCs which are online courses relating to NIOS.

• PRAGYATA guidelines on digital education have been developed with a focus on online/blended/digital education for students who are presently at home due to closure of schools.

• The MANODARPAN initiative for psychological support has been included in Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.

• India has attained a literacy level of almost 96 per cent at the elementary school level. As per National Sample Survey (NSS), the literacy rate of persons of age 7 years and above at the All India level stood at 77.7 per cent.

The Economic Survey 2020-21 states that only 2.4 per cent of the workforce of age 15-59 years have received formal vocational / technical training and another 8.9 per cent of the workforce received training through informal sources.

• Out of the 8.9 per cent workforce who received non-formal training, the largest chunk is contributed by on-the-job training (3.3 per cent), followed by self-learning (2.5 per cent) and hereditary sources (2.1 per cent) and other sources (1 per cent).

• Among those who received formal training, the most opted training course is IT-ITeS among both males and females.

• The Unified Skill Regulator- National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET) was operationalized recently.

• Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 3.0 was rolled out in 2020-21 with a tentative target to skill 8 lakh candidates including migrants.

The Agriculture and Allied activities clocked a growth of 3.4 per cent at constant prices during 2020-21 (first advance estimate) says the Economic Survey 2020-21.

• As per the Provisional Estimates of National Income released by CSO on 29th May, 2020, the share of Agriculture and Allied Sectors in Gross Value Added (GVA) of the country at current prices is 17.8 per cent for the year 2019-20.

• In the Agriculture year 2019-20 (as per Fourth Advance Estimates), total food grain production in the country is estimated at record 296.65 million tonnes which is higher by 11.44 million tonnes than the production of food grain of 285.21 million tonnes achieved during 2018-19.

• In 2019-20, the major agricultural and allied export destinations were USA, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Nepal and Bangladesh.

• The top agriculture and related products exported from India were marine products, basmati rice, buffalo meat, spices, non-basmati rice, cotton raw, oil meals, sugar, castor oil and tea.

• The contribution of livestock in total agriculture and allied sector GVA (at Constant Prices) has increased from 24.32 per cent (2014-15) to 28.63 per cent (2018-19). Livestock sector contributed 4.19 per cent of total GVA in 2018-19.

• During the last 5 years ending 2018-19, Food Processing Industries (FPI) sector has been growing at an Average Annual Growth Rate (AAGR) of around 9.99 per cent as compared to around 3.12 per cent in Agriculture and 8.25 per cent in Manufacturing at 2011-12 prices.

Economic Survey 2020-21 constructs a Bare Necessities Index (BNI) at the rural, urban and all India level.

• The BNI summarises 26 indicators on five dimensions viz., water, sanitation, housing, micro-environment, and other facilities.

• The BNI has been created for all States for 2012 and 2018 using data from two NSO rounds viz., 69th and 76th on Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing Condition in India.

• In most of the States the access to the Bare Necessities for the household in 2018 is significantly better compared to 2012.

• Access to drinking water to households in most of the States has improved in 2018 compared to 2012 in rural as well as urban areas.

• Regional disparity in access to sanitation has declined as the States having low access to sanitation in 2012 have gained more.

• Survey observes improvement in Housing Index also indicating improvement in access to housing and reduction in inter-States disparities with disproportionate benefits for the lowest income group in 2018 vis-à-vis 2012.

• The economic Survey also notes improvement in micro environment for all States in 2018 except for Assam in rural and Odisha and Assam in urban areas as compared to 2012.

• Survey also points to a positive correlation between access to bare necessities and better health and education outcome. It observes improvement in child survival, decline in still births, malnutrition, and infant mortality with improved access to sanitation and clean drinking water.