Daily Current Affairs MCQ - March 18, 2021 - UPSC MCQ

Prime Minister Modi addressed the opening ceremony of the International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure through video conference.

• The International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (ICDRI 2021) is an interactive virtual conference which follows International Workshops on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (IWDRI) held in 2018 and 2019.

• ICDRI is the annual international conference of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) in partnership with member countries, organizations and institutions to strengthen the global discourse on disaster and climate resilient infrastructure.

Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI)?

• The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) is a multi-stakeholder global partnership of national governments, UN agencies and programmes, multilateral development banks and financing mechanisms, the private sector, and academic and knowledge institutions.

• It addresses the challenges of building resilience into infrastructure systems and development associated with it.

• The Prime Minister of India launched CDRI during his speech at the UN Climate Action Summit on 23 September 2019.

• Is CDRI an intergovernmental organization? At present, it is not an intergovernmental organization, which are ordinarily treaty-based organizations.

• Where is the Secretariat of CDRI? The CDRI Secretariat is based in New Delhi, India.

First Virtual Trade Fair (VTF) organised by APEDA to boost exports potential of India’s agricultural and processed food products during COVID19 pandemic drew huge response from participants, exporters and buyers from countries.

• The VTF was organised during March 10-12, 2021.

• The fair with a theme ‘India Rice and Agro Commodity’, focussed on showcasing the exports potential of various agricultural commodities.

• Because of COVID19 related restrictions on physical travel and trade, APEDA has initiated the concept of VTF for sustaining India’s agricultural and processed food products exports and also exploring new markets for expanding export footprints.

• Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) is an Apex-Export Trade Promotion Active government body set up by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

• It was formed in 1986 under the Agriculture and Processed Food products Export Development Authority Act, 1985.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare has been appointed Chairman of the Stop TB Partnership Board.

• The Union Health Minister will serve a three year term, commencing July 2021, as the Chair of the Board of Stop TB Partnership.

• Established in the year 2000, the ‘Stop TB Partnership’ is mandated to eliminate Tuberculosis as a public health problem.

• The organization was conceived following the meeting of the First Session of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Tuberculosis Epidemic held in London in March 1998.

• In its inaugural year itself, the Stop TB Partnership through the Amsterdam Declaration gave a call for collaborative action from ministerial delegations from 20 countries that bear the highest burden of TB.

• It has 1500 partner organizations which include international, non-governmental and governmental organizations and patient groups.

• The Secretariat is based at Geneva, Switzerland.

• Dr. Harsh Vardhan addressing the 33rd Board Meeting of Stop TB, November, 2020, India has committed to eliminating TB in the country by 2025, five years ahead of the global deadline of 2030.

Ministry for Home Affairs informed Rajya Sabha about the Return of Kashmiri Pandits to Kashmir Valley.

• As per the report of Relief Office setup in 1990 by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, 44,167 Kashmiri Migrant families are registered who had to move from the valley since 1990 due to security concerns. Out of these, the count of registered Hindu Migrant families is 39,782.

• The Government has devised policies for Return and Rehabilitation of Kashmiri Migrants, under the Prime Minister’s Packages in 2008 and 2015 for Return and Rehabilitation of Kashmiri Migrants to Kashmir Valley.

• Various components of these policies are: Housing; Cash assistance; Employment and Construction of Transit Accommodation.

• A total of nearly 3800 migrant candidates have returned to Kashmir in the last few years to take up the PM package jobs.

• Post abrogation of Article 370, as many as 520 migrant candidates have returned to Kashmir for taking up the jobs that have been provided to them under the rehabilitation package.

The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir will be the common High Court for the Union Territories of Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir.

The expenditure in respect of salaries and allowances of the Judges of the common High Court shall be allocated amongst the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union territory of Ladakh on the basis of population ratio.

The ILO report titled ‘Global Wage Report 2020-21: Wages and minimum wages in the time of COVID-19’ was recently released.

• The Report inter-alia, comments on various issues including on Indian workers having low average wages, longer hours as well as that the workers in Asia and the Pacific enjoyed the highest real wage growth among all regions over the period 2006–19.

• Further, while comparing average wage, the report has taken into account the National Floor Level Minimum Wage which is Rs.176/- per day. However, actual wages are far higher.

• If the median of the minimum wages in different states is drawn, it would be Rs.269/- per day in the country.

• The Code on Wages, 2019 which has been notified on 8th August, 2019 universalises and creates a statutory right of minimum wages for all workers whether in organized or unorganised sector.

• A new concept of statutory floor wage has also been introduced in the Code on Wages.

• The Code also provides that the minimum wages are to be ordinarily reviewed and revised by the appropriate Governments in intervals not exceeding five years.

Minister of for Social Justice and Empowerment informed Rajya Sabha about initiatives for development of Nomadic Tribes.

• To promote the socio-economic development of De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities, the Development and Welfare Board for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities (DWBDNCs) has been constituted on 21.02.2019 for a period of three years extendable up to 5 years.

• In addition, the following schemes are being implemented by the Central Government through State Government/UT Administrations for the DNTs:-

  • Dr. Ambedkar Pre-Matric and Post-Matric Scholarship for DNT Boys and Girls.

  • Nanaji Deshmukh Scheme of Construction of Hostels for DNT Boys and Girls.

• As per the Cabinet decision, a Committee under the Chairmanship of Vice Chairman NITI Aayog is in place, which has taken up the task of identification of DNT communities which are yet to be formally classified.

• NITI Aayog has assigned the task of ethnographic survey of 62 tribes to the Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) to conduct the studies of these communities in different parts of the country.

The Lok Sabha cleared the Appropriation Bill 2021-22, allowing the Central government to draw funds from the Consolidated Fund of India for its operational requirements and implementation of various programmes.

• Under Article 114(3) of the Constitution, no amount can be withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund without the enactment of such a law by Parliament.

• After the Demands for Grants are voted by the Lok Sabha, Parliament's approval to the withdrawal from the Consolidated Fund of the amounts so voted and of the amount required to meet the expenditure charged on the Consolidated Fund is sought through the Appropriation Bill.

Guillotine

• The Bill was passed after Speaker Om Birla put it through guillotine, a legislative mechanism to approve the fast-tracking of the passage of outstanding demands for grants without discussion.

• While guillotine literally is a large, weighted blade used for executing a condemned person, in legislative parlance, to ''guillotine'' means to bunch together and fast-track the passage of financial business.

• It is a fairly common procedural exercise in Lok Sabha during the Budget Session.

Finance Bill

• The Lok Sabha will now discuss the Finance Bill, which essentially contains the government's tax proposals. Once the Finance Bill is passed, the budget exercise is complete.

• Both appropriation and finance bills are classified as money bills which do not require the explicit consent of the Rajya Sabha. The upper house only discusses them and returns the bills.

• After passing the Finance Bill, it enters the statute as the Finance Act. Thus, the final Budget gets approved.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta made a strong appeal to the Supreme Court to frame guidelines to rein in lawyers appointed as the court’s amici curiae in various cases, especially sensitive ones.

• An amicus curiae (literally, "friend of the court"; plural: amici curiae) is someone who is not a party to a case who assists a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case.

• The decision on whether to consider an amicus brief lies within the discretion of the court.

• The amicus curiae figure originates in Roman law. Starting in the 9th century, it was incorporated into English law, and it was later extended to most common law systems.

Govt. of India’s National Telemedicine Service – eSanjeevani has crossed another milestone by completing 3 million (30 lakh) consultations.

• Currently, the National Telemedicine Service is operational in 31 States/Union Territories and daily over 35,000 patients across the country are using this innovative digital medium – eSanjeevani, to seek health services.

• The National Telemedicine Service, set up by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare comprises of two variants of eSanjeevani namely –

  • doctor to doctor (eSanjeevani AB-HWC) telemedicine platform that is based on hub and spoke model and

  • patient to doctor telemedicine platform (eSanjeevani OPD) which provides outpatient services to the citizens in the confines of their homes.

• eSanjeevani AB-HWC is being implemented at Health & Wellness Centres under Ayushman Bharat Scheme, and by December 2022 it will be made operational at 1,55,000 Health & Wellness Centres across India.

• It was rolled out in November 2019 and Andhra Pradesh was the first State to roll out eSanjeevani AB-HWC services.

• eSanjeevani OPD was rolled out on 13th of April 2020 during the first lockdown in the country when all the OPDs were closed. So far, over 21,00,000 patients have been served through eSanjeevani OPD

Minister for Labour & Employment informed Rajya Sabha about initiatives for Safety of Inter-State Migrant Workers.

• To safeguard the interest of the migrant workers, the Central Government had enacted the Inter-state Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979.

  • This Act has now been subsumed in the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 and the Code has been notified on 29.09.2020.

  • This Code, provides for decent working conditions, minimum wages, grievances redressal mechanisms, protection from abuse and exploitation, enhancement of the skills and social security to all category of workers including Migrant workers.

• The Ministry of Labour and employment proposes to develop National Database of Unorganised Workers (NDUW), which will be a comprehensive data base of the Unorganised Workers including the Building and other Construction Workers and Migrant workers, seeded with Aadhaar.

• Schemes/programme implemented by Government for welfare of migrant labourers includes: Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan, Pradhan Mantri SVANIDHI Scheme, Aatm Nirbhar Bharat, Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, One Nation One Ration Card, financial assistance to Building and Other Construction workers etc.

• Labour Bureau, an attached office of the Ministry of Labour& Employment, has been entrusted with the task of conducting the All India Survey on Migrant Workers.

• An Expert Group has been constituted by the Government of India on 9th September, 2020 to examine and finalize the schedules, sampling design and other technical details of the aforesaid survey being conducted by the Labour Bureau.

The Ministry of Rural Development is the nodal Ministry for Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan .