Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 09 July 2021

::NATIONAL::

Cooperation Ministry

The government announced the formation of a separate Union Ministry of Cooperation, a subject that till date was looked after by the Ministry of Agriculture. In the Cabinet reshuffle of July 7, Home Minister Amit Shah was given charge of the new Ministry.

What will be the new Ministry’s objectives?

A media release from the Press Information Bureau said the Ministry of Cooperation will provide a separate administrative legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country.
“It will help deepen Co-operatives as a true people based movement reaching upto the grassroots.
In our country, a Co-operative based economic development model is very relevant where each member works with a spirit of responsibility.
The Ministry will work to streamline processes for ‘Ease of doing business’ for co-operatives and enable development of Multi-State Co-operatives (MSCS),” it said.

What is the cooperative movement?

By definition, cooperatives are organisations formed at the grassroots level by people to harness the power of collective bargaining towards a common goal.
There are also cooperative marketing societies in rural areas and cooperative housing societies in urban areas.

What laws govern cooperative societies?

Like agriculture, cooperation is in the concurrent list, which means both the central and state governments can govern them. A majority of the cooperative societies are governed by laws in their respective states, with a Cooperation Commissioner and the Registrar of Societies as their governing office.
In 2002, the Centre passed a MultiState Cooperative Societies Act that allowed for registration of societies with operations in more than one state.
These are mostly banks, dairies and sugar mills whose area of operation spreads across states.
The Central Registrar of Societies is their controlling authority, but on the ground the State Registrar takes actions on his behalf.

India COVID 19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Package: Phase II

The Union Cabinet chaired by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved a new scheme ‘India COVID-19 Emergency Response & Health System Preparedness Package: Phase-II’ amounting to Rs. 23,123 crore for FY 2021-22.

Key objectives:

This scheme aims to accelerate health system preparedness for immediate responsiveness for early prevention, detection and management, with the focus on health infrastructure development including for Paediatric Care and with measurable outcomes.
The Phase-II of the Package has Central Sector (CS) and Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) components.

Under the Central Sector components,

National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) would be strengthened by providing Genome Sequencing machines, besides sanctioning Scientific Control room, Epidemic Intelligence Services (EIS) and INSACOG Secretariat support.
Support would be provided for implementation of Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) in all the District Hospitals of the Country (presently, it is implemented only in 310 DHs).
Support would also be provided for expanding the National Architecture of eSanjeevani Tele-consultation platform to provide upto 5 lakhs tele-consultations per day from the present 50,000 Tele-consultations per day. This includes support to the States/UTs to enable tele-consultations with the COVID patients at the COVID Care Centres (CCCs) by strengthening Hubs for eSanjeevani Tele-consultation in all the districts of the country.
Support would also be provided for IT interventions, including strengthening the Central War room at DoHFW, strengthening Country’s COVID-19 Portal, 1075 COVID help lines and COWIN platform.
Under the CSS components, the States/UTs would be supported to:
Create Paediatric units in all 736 districts and also, to establish Paediatric Centre of Excellence (PaediatricCoE) in each State/UT, (either in Medical Colleges, State Govt. Hospitals or Central Hospitals such as AIIMS, INIs, etc) for providing Tele-ICU services, mentoring and technical hand-holding to the District Paediatric units.
Augment 20,000 ICU beds in public healthcare system out of which 20% will be Pediatric ICU beds.
Install 1050 numbers of Liquid Medical Oxygen Storage Tanks with Medical Gas Pipeline System (MGPS), with an aim to support at least one such unit per district.
Augment the existing feet of ambulances - 8,800 ambulances will be added under the package.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Maitree Power project

Secretary (Power) Govt of India met Secretary (Power) Govt of Bangladesh today through video conferencing for the issues related to 1320 MW Maitree Power project.

About:

The project is an environmentally friendly supercritical technology based thermal power plant.
The first unit of this project would be commissioned in December 2021 i.e., coinciding with Golden Jubilee celebration of Victory Day of Bangladesh and Unit#2 is expected to be commissioned matching with the implementation of associated transmission system.

Don't return to the era of 'your terrorists' and 'my terrorists

India has cautioned that 20 years after the 9/11 terror attacks, there are attempts again to divide terrorism into different terminologies such as violent nationalism and right wing extremism, asserting that the world should not return to the era of “your terrorists” and “my terrorists” but fight the scourge collectively.

About:

Participating in the UN General Assembly debate on adoption of resolution on 7th Review of Global Counter Terrorism Strategy (GCTS), India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador T S Tirumurti said that the international community has acknowledged that the threat of terrorism is grave and universal, and can only be defeated by collective efforts of all UN member states, without any exception.
“It is only after 9/11 that we accepted that terrorism in one part of the world can directly impact another part of the world and we all came together to fight terrorism collectively,” he said.
The envoy said the international community should not forget that before the 9/11 terror attacks, the world was divided into “your terrorists” or “my terrorists”.

Global Counter Terrorism Strategy:

According to the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy is a “unique global instrument to enhance national, regional and international efforts to counter terrorism.
Through its adoption by consensus in 2006, all UN Member States agreed the first time to a common strategic and operational approach to fighting terrorism”.
The UN General Assembly reviews the Strategy every two years, making it a living document attuned to member states’ counter-terrorism priorities.
The General Assembly reviews the Strategy and considers the adoption of a resolution on this occasion, the UN agency said.
Tirumurti said the Global Counter Terrorism Strategy was adopted by consensus 15 years ago and was a major step forward in maintaining and achieving international peace and security.

::ECONOMY::

Mishri variety of Cherries

A first commercial shipment of Mishri variety of cherries from Kashmir valley has been exported to Dubai from Srinagar.

About:

Mishri variety of Cherries are not only taste delicious but also contain vitamins, minerals and plant compound with health benefits.
The union territory of Jammu and Kashmir produces more than 95% of the total country’s production of commercial varieties of cherries in the country. It produces four varieties of cherry — Double, Makhmali, Mishri and Italy.
APEDA-National Referral Laboratory at National Research Centre for Grapes, Pune provided support for ensuring food safety and quality in the shipment, which would help create brand for cherries especially in the middle east countries.

::SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY::

Discrete auroras

The UAE’s Hope spacecraft, has captured images of glowing atmospheric lights in the Red Planet’s night sky, known as discrete auroras.

About:

The UAE Space Agency said on its website that the data gathered by the oribter “include far and extreme ultraviolet auroral emissions which have never been imaged before at Mars.”
Unlike auroras on Earth, which are seen only near the north and south poles, discrete auroras on Mars are seen all around the planet at night time.

What causes an aurora on Earth?

Auroras are caused when charged particles ejected from the Sun’s surface — called the solar wind — enter the Earth’s atmosphere.
These particles are harmful, and our planet is protected by the geomagnetic field, which preserves life by shielding us from the solar wind.
However, at the north and south poles, some of these solar wind particles are able to continuously stream down, and interact with different gases in the atmosphere to cause a display of light in the night sky.
This display, known as an aurora, is seen from the Earth’s high latitude regions (called the auroral oval), and is active all year round.

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