CURRENT AFFAIRS
TOPICS :
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NITI Aayog’s India Innovation Index
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India Antarctic Bill, 2022
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World Press Freedom Index
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National Flag adoption day
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National Film Awards
NITI Aayog’s India Innovation Index
Context:
NITI Aayog has released the NITI Aayog’s India Innovation Index 2021.
Highlights of the Innovation Index 2021:
- It is the third edition of innovation Index. As per the report top performers are,
- In major states category Karnataka has occupied the top position. It has been the top performer of previous editions as well in this category. Karnataka is followed by Telangana, Haryana, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
- In North east and Hilly states category Manipur is in leading position. Uttarakhand and Meghalaya secured the next two ranks.
- And Chandigarh is the top performer in the ‘Union Territories and City States
- Bottom of the Index: Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar and Gujarat states have occupied the bottom place of the Index.
Issues mentioned in the report:
- India’s average Innovation: The report mentioned that with respect to the ambitious target to be included among the top 25 countries in the Global Innovation Index, India’s average innovation score is arguably insufficient.
- GDRED spending: The report also pointed out that the countries whose spending less on Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D (GDERD) fail to retain their human capital in the long run and the ability to innovate is dependent on the quality of human capital.
- India’s GDRED stood at about 7% of GDP.
- The report also stated that innovation is skewed against the manufacturing sector due to the problems pertaining to and the missing middle.
Recommendations by the report:
- The NITI Aayog’s report has made some recommendations to improve in innovation towards achieving the target. They are mainly measures like increasing Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D (GDERD), promoting private sector participation in R&D.
- It also recommended reduction of gap between the industry demand and the education systems.
- It also emphasized the need of private sector picking up pace in R&D with global examples like South Korea, USA and Germany in which the presence of private players is quite evident.
India Innovation Index:
- India Innovation Index is a comprehensive tool for the evaluation and development of the country’s innovation ecosystem.
- It ranks the states and the union territories based on their innovation performance to build healthy competition amongst them.
- In this edition the number of parameters has been raised from 36(in 2021 index) to 66 (2022 Index).
- There are seven key pillars which consists of 16 sub pillars. Under these pillars all the parameters (66) are distributed.
- Of the 7 key pillars, 5 “enabler” pillars measure the input whereas the other two “performance” pillars measures the output.
- The indicators in enabler pillars cover features crucial for promoting innovation within a state/union territory and the indicators under performance pillars represent a nation’s output in knowledge creation and competitiveness.
India Antarctic Bill, 2022
Context:
- Lok Sabha has passed the Indian Antarctic Bill, 2022 that seeks to extend the application of domestic laws to research centers set up by India in the Antarctic region.
- The introduction of the Bill has come 40 years after India signed the Antarctic Treaty.
- India has two active research stations in Antarctic namely Maitri and Bharati (in picture) where scientists are involved in research.
Indian Antarctic Bill:
- The bill was introduced in in Lok Sabha earlier in April, 2022
- The Bill seeks to give effect to the Antarctic Treaty, the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, and the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.
- Aim: to regulate the visits and activities to Antarctica and also set ground rules for potential disputes that may arise among those present on the continent. It also seeks to protect the Antarctic environment and regulate activities in the region.
- The applicability of the Bill extends to both citizens and foreigners as well.
- The bill contains provisions that lay down strict guidelines along with a system of permits. Without the permits, any expedition or individual will not be allowed to enter Antarctica.
- As per the Bill, the permits will be issued by the central committee (Committee on Antarctic Governance and Environmental Protection) appointed by the central government.
- The Bill has a comprehensive list of permitted activities on the continent along with the
Prohibited Activities:
- Mineral Resources: there is a prohibition on activities such as drilling, dredging, excavation or collection of mineral resources or even any activity related to identifying mineral resource’s location. These activities are only allowed for research with permit.
- Native species: there will be a strict prohibition on,
- damaging native plants;
- usage of firearms that could disturb the birds and animals;
- flying or landing helicopters or operating vessels that could disturb birds and seals;
- also, prohibition on removal of soil or any biological material native to Antarctica;
- engage in any activity that could adversely change the habitat of birds and animals, or harm them.
- Prohibition on non-native species: The Bill also prohibits the introduction of non-native animals, birds, plants and microorganisms.
The bill also contains penal provisions regarding the certain serious violations.
World Press Freedom Index
Context:
Center has informed parliament that it did not agree with the conclusions drawn by ‘Reporters Without Borders’ in the World Press Freedom Index.
World Press Freedom Index:
- It is published by RSF, which is an International NGO.
- RSF self-proclaimed defending and promoting media freedom as its aim.
- Aim of the Index: to compare the level of press freedom enjoyed by journalists and media in 180 countries and territories.
Methodology of ranking countries:
- In world press freedom Index, countries are ranked as per it’s score in 0-100. (100 marks the highest freedom and 0 represents worst freedom).
- Scoring contains two components; quantitative one (that considers the abuses against the journalists and media outlets.
- And a qualitative one, which involves the analysis based on the press freedom specialists’ responses to an RSF questionnaire.
- Evaluation of countries carried out on five contextual indicators they are,
Political context, legal framework, economic context, socio-cultural context and safety.
- For each indicator, subsidiary score of 0-100 is calculated, all the scores will be considered together for global score.
Highlights of world press freedom index 2022:
- As per the world Press freedom Index 2022, India ranked 150 out of 180
- In the world Press freedom Index 2022, Norway, Denmark, Sweden have occupied the top three spots in the list.
World press freedom index 2022 about India:
- The report said that the press freedom in India is in crisis.
- It described India as one of the world’s most dangerous countries for the media.
- It also highlighted that, “journalists in India are exposed to all kinds of physical violence, ambushes by political activists, and deadly reprisals by criminal groups or corrupt local officials”.
Center on world press freedom Index:
- Anurag Thakur Minister Of Information Broadcasting, did not agree with the conclusions drawn by the report.
- cited various reasons such as, very low sample size; little or no weightage to fundamentals of democracy, adoption of a methodology is questionable and non-transparent.
National Flag adoption day
Context:
- 75 years ago on this day July 22, in 1947, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted the National Flag. It was a red-letter day in our history.
- On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in “recalling the monumental courage and efforts of all those who dreamt of a flag for free India when we were fighting colonial rule”.
National Flag adoption:
- Our national flag was designed by Pingali Venkayya.
- In constituent assembly a proposal was made that the National Flag of India shall be horizontal tricolour of deep saffron, white and dark green in equal proportion.
- Also proposed that in the center of white band there shall be a wheel in navy blue to represent the charkha.
- Ratio of width to length of flag is decided to be in 2:3.
- About the Flag defined by the Resolution, Nehru said, “was adopted, not by a formal resolution, but by popular acclaim and usage, adopted much more by the sacrifice that surrounded it in the past few decades”, and that the Constituent Assembly was “in a sense only ratifying that popular adoption”.
- As per Nehru, the charkha symbolizes the India’s ancient culture. i.e., it is a symbol of many things that India had stood for through the ages.
Symbolism:
- Saffron colour symbolizes the courage and sacrifice,
- White colour symbolizes the truth, peace and purity,
- Green colour symbolizes the prosperity.
- Asoka chakra in the middle denotes the righteousness.
Kali bein
Context:
- Punjab Chief Minister Bhagawant Singh Mann admitted to Delhi’s Apollo Hospital, after he had drunk a glass of water directly from the Kali Bein, a holy rivulet in Sultanpur Lodhi.
- The Punjab CM drunk water from kali bein on the occasion of 22nd anniversary of its cleaning project.
Kali bein:
- Kali bein a holy 165km rivulet starts from the Hoshiarpur flows across 4 districts and meets the confluence of the rivers Beas and Sutlej in Kapurthala.
- Indusrial wastes and waste water flows into it and turns water into black, thus it got the name kali bein (Black rivulet).
Significance of Kali bein:
- Kali bein holds most significance to the Sikh religion and history as well.
- It is said that Guru Nanak Dev have got enlightenment here.
- While he was staying at Sulthanpur Lodhi along with his sister Bebe Nanki, he would bathe in the rivulet.
- It is believed that he had disappeared into waters one day, before emerging on the third day.
- “Mool mantra” of Sikh religion was the first the recited by Guru Nanak Dev.
National Film Awards
Context:
The 68th National Film Awards were announced on July 22nd for films that received in 2020.
Major Award winners:
- Tamil film Soorarai Pottru has won awards in five categories, that includes Best feature film, best actor, Best actress, best Music direction and Best Original Screenplay.
- Best actor award is shared between Suriya and Ajay Devgn (Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior).
National Film Awards:
- These awards were started in 1954, at that time they were called “state awards”.
- Aim: To encourage the production of films of aesthetic & technical excellence and social relevance.
- According to Directorate of Film Festivals under Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the awards also aim to increase appreciation of different cultures and communities across India, thereby promotes Unity and Integrity.
- Selection: According to the Directorate of film festivals, the awards are selected by jury. Jury comprises of “persons distinguished in the field of cinema, other allied arts and humanities”.
UPSC Civil Services Daily Current Affairs 23rd June 2022
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