1) Poshan maah:
- September month is observed as nutrition month every year since 2018
- It includes month-long activities focus on antenatal care, optimal breastfeeding, anaemia, growth monitoring, girls education, diet, right age of marriage, hygiene and sanitation and healthy eating habits.
- That focus on Social and Behavioral Change Communication (SBCC)and are based on Jan Andolan guidelines
- Unique kind of Nutrition Park has been created at Statue of Unity Gujarat where one can witness nutrition related education along with fun.
Poshan abhiyaan - Also called National Nutrition Mission Government of India’s flagship programme to improve nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
- Poshan implies Prime Minister overarching scheme for Holistic nutrition.
- It was launched by Prime Minister on the occasion of international Women’s Day on 8 march 2018 from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan
- Ministry of women and child development is the nodal agency for implementation of this program.
Aims:
- To reduce stunting, underweight and low birth weight each by 2% per year
- And anaemia among young children, adolescents and each by 3% per year until 2022
- The minimum target to reduce stunting is 2% every year but the mission will strive to bring it down from 38.4% in 2016 to 25% by 2022.
2) Indo China dispute:
Context: Two-and-a-half months after the violent clash at Galwan Valley, India and China are facing off at a new area on the border, after Chinese troops intruded into the southern bank of Pangong Tso on 30 August.
- The Indian Army said that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army “carried out provocative military movements to change the status quo” on the night of August 29-30.
- “Indian troops pre-empted this PLA activity on the southern Bank of Pangong Tso Lake, undertook measures to strengthen our positions and thwart Chinese intentions to unilaterally change facts on ground,”
Thakung, marked with a star, is the site of the latest standoff between Indian and Chinese soldiers along the Line of Actual Control near Pangong Tso in Ladakh. Points in blue are on the Indian side of the LAC, points in red on the Chinese side.
The “provocative actions” were in violation of the “previous consensus arrived at during military and diplomatic engagements during the ongoing standoff in Eastern Ladakh.
Brigade commander level flag meeting
- Between Indian Army and China at chushul, to discuss PLA troops provocative at a military movements
- PLA troops violated the previous consensus arrived during military and diplomatic engagement during the ongoing stand of in Eastern Ladakh
- Chinese troops carried out provocative a military movements to change the status quo in the intervening Night of 29th August and 30th August
- Indian troops preempted this activity on Southern Bank of Pangong tso Lake
- Chushul is village in leh Ladakh district Ladakh India
Border personal meeting point
Border personal meeting points are locations along the disputed Sino-Indian border where the armies of both countries hold ceremonial and practical meetings to resolve border issues and improve relations
- Daulat Beg Old in Ladakh
- Chushul in Leh
- Nathula in Sikkim
- Bum La Pass in Arunachal Pradesh
3) Falling GDP:
- This is the worst contraction seen in decades
- The data GDP has shrunk record 23.9 percent in this quarter April to June as per the data released by National statistical office
- Contraction reflects impact of covid-19 lock-down which hit most economic activity as well as the slowdown trend of the economy even before pre covid-19
- Economists expect this to contribute to a contraction in annual GDP which maybe worst in history of independent India.
- The economy is in a deeply vicious cycle where demand is contracting so heavily while the capacity to neutralize this contraction has also contracted equally because of the tax revenue contraction
- Experts say annual GDP may contract 5% to 7% in 2020-21. noting the last contraction of the economy occurred in 1979-80 when GDP strike 5.2 %, , there have been four instances of minor contraction between 1965-68 and 1972-73 but this year is likely to be the worse since independence
- Agriculture was the only sector which recorded a modest growth of 3.4 % in year on year terms
- All other sectors saw contraction with the steepest fall of 50% in construction and the trade, hotels, transport and communication services categories drinking 47%.
- Manufacturing shrank more than 39 % while mining and quarrying dropped 23%
- On the expenditure side private consumption fell 26.7 % while investments as reflected by gross fixed capital formation plunged 47% and exports contracted almost 20%
- The government has so far focus on supply side only but unless they are willing to spend to spur demand-side the next year will also be a fall.
- Economists agree that government need to step up its own expenditure expecting people to draw down their savings in definitely won’t be enough as much as the poor and Middle Class may have already wiped out their savings.
4) Chola era Inscription unearthed:
Context: Rare inscription dating back to the Renati Chola era has been unearthed in a remote village of Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh.
- Inscription morality says “ the people who safeguard this inscription for future generations will acquire the status of conducting Aswamedha Yaga, and those destroying it, will incurs in equivalent to causing a death in Varanasi”
- written in archaic Telugu
- It was assigned to the 8th Century A.D., when the region was under the rule of the Chola Maharaja of Renadu.
- The inscription seems to throw light on the record of a gift of six marttus (a measuring unit) of land gifted to a person Sidyamayu, one of the Brahmins serving the temple at Pidukula village,”
5) HALO:
Context: Recently NASA’s Hubble Telescope for the first time ever signalled the presence of a giant halo of gas found surrounding the Milky Way’s closest galactic neighbour – the Andromeda galaxy.
- Halo is nothing but a huge scattering of gas which is usually found surrounding the celestial bodies.
- Also known as M31, the Andromeda galaxy is a majestic spiral of around 1 trillion stars and comparable in size to our Milky Way galaxy.
- A group of astronomers from Yale University in their study found that the scale of Halo stretches 1.3 million light-years away from Andromeda bumping into the gas halo that surrounds our own Milky Way galaxy.
- Though, 2.5 million light-years away from our galaxy the Andromeda galaxy is predicted to collide with our Milky Way galaxy in about 4.5 billion years. And the resulting galaxy from the collision has been nicknamed either Milkomeda or Milkdromeda.
- This exploration may give us a glimpse of the future, answering questions of its inception. However, currently, such level of exploration can be only done with the Andromeda galaxy and not with other galaxies.
6) Solidarity Movement:
Context: Marking 40th anniversary of the creation of Solidarity movement, Embassy of Poland and Polish Institute in Delhi illuminated Qutub Minar in Poland’s national flag colours, white and red.
About the solidarity movement
- In the year 1970 Poland’s government raised food prices though the wages were stagnant. In stability in the country several social groups began to form secretly underground.
- Finally in the year 1980 under the leadership of Lech Walesa who was elected president the non-violence movement started in August-September in the year 1980, at the Lenin Shipyard, Poland.
- It is a trade union movement which was anti-bureaucratic and opposing the Polish government’s trade policies.
- After several talks and discussions between the government and Solidarity-led opposition, they settled to semi-free elections in 1989. And finally, by the end of August, a Solidarity-led coalition government was formed
- The year 2020, which marks the 40th anniversary of the creation of Solidarity, was celebrated by Embassy of Poland and Polish Institute in New Delhi.
7) Etikoppaka dolls
- From Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh
- Etikoppaka is famous for its turned wood Lacquer craft locally known Etikoppaka bommalu.
- In 2017 these toys acquired a GI tag
8) United Nations guidelines on access to Social justice for people with disabilities:
United Nations has released its first ever guidelines on access to Social justice for people with disabilities (PwD) to make it easier for them to access justice systems around the world
The guidelines outlined a set of 10 principles and detail the steps for implementation
UN definition of person with disability
- The UN convention on the rights of persons with disability which was adopted in 2006 defines persons with disabilities as those who have long-term physical mental intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others
- India ratified the convention in 2007
- The Parliament enacted the rights of persons with disabilities act 2016 to fulfill the obligations under the UNCRPD.