Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 13 October 2021

::NATIONAL::

Dr.Teejan Bai, a Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan awardee, addressed the Mentees and Mentors of the Going Online as Leaders (GOAL) program on 9th October 2021 as part of the Inspiration Masterclass on GOAL Program.

About:

The celebrated Pandavani folk singer talked about stories from her childhood, her struggles of growing up and becoming one of India’s most renowned folk artists.
Dr.Teejan Bai also spoke extensively on women empowerment, and reflected on her childhood experience of defying gender roles and shared her guidance with mentees of the GOAL Program.
GOAL Program was launched (in 2020) by Ministry ofTribal Affairs (MoTA) and Facebook to digitally skill and empower 5000 youth from tribal communities over five years.
It aims to identify and mobilise 2500 renowned people from the industry known for their achievements in their respective domains, to personally mentor tribal youth across India.
Nine-month program targets core areas of digital literacy, life skills, leadership & entrepreneurship and sector-specific skills.
The GOAL Program organizes Fortnightly Inspiration Masterclasses through which inspiring personalities who can share their experiences on this platform and enable learnings for the program’s mentees are invited.

Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister inaugurated a training programme on the Sandalwood Farming and Management of its health via video conferencing.
It was inaugurated in association with the Institute of Wood Science and Technology (IWST), Bengaluru.

About:

The programme is structured around the basics and benefits of Indian sandalwood, seed handling, nursery techniques and managing the health of the plant.
It will help attract the youth towards sandalwood farming, revive this declining art and help reposition India as a market leader in the trade.
Sandalwood has been long associated with the Indian heritage and culture, as the country contributed 85 per cent of the world’ sandalwood trade erstwhile. However, off late this has been declining at a fast rate.
With anti-bacterial, anti-biotic and anti-cancer benefits amongst others, sandalwood finds its uses in pharmaceuticals, personal care and furniture.
Globally, India and Australia are the largest growers of sandalwood, while the biggest markets lie in the United States, China, Japan and the Indian domestic market.
The world sandalwood market stood at 300 million US dollar in the last year, the World Trade Research pegs the market size at 3 billion US dollar by 2040.

International Energy Agency (IEA) has invited India, the world’s third-largest energy consumer, to become its full-time member - a proposal if accepted will require New Delhi to raise strategic oil reserves to 90 days requirement.

About:

India, in March 2017, became an associate member of the Paris-based body which advises industrialised nations on energy policies.
In January this year, IEA members and India agreed to enter into a strategic partnership, strengthening their collaboration across a range of vital areas including energy security and clean energy transition.
IEA is made up of 30 member countries and eight associate nations. Four countries are seeking accession to full membership - Chile, Colombia, Israel and Lithuania.
India’s current strategic oil reserves equal 9.5 days of its requirement.
Also, a member of IEA has to show “a demand restraint programme to reduce national oil consumption by up to 10%.

Talks between senior military commanders of India and China to find a solution to the 17-month long standoff in the mountains of eastern Ladakh have run into rough weather, with the two sides blaming each other for the deadlock.

About:

The 13th round of talks, held on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on Sunday, were aimed at discussing disengagement of troops at Hot Springs area of eastern Ladakh.
However, the two sides blamed each other for the impasse, with Beijing saying that the Indian side made unreasonable demands and New Delhi saying that the Chinese delegation made no constructive proposals.
The deadlock means that Indian soldiers are will spend a second winter in the icy heights of the Ladakh mountains where temperatures plummet to minus 30 degree Celsius according to various estimates.
It also means that the chill in India-China ties, that set in after New Delhi noticed intrusions into Indian territory in May last year, is set to deepen given Beijing’s refusal to move its troops back from their current positions.

Indian Railways has successfully operated two long haul freight trains “Trishul” and “Garuda” for the first time over South Central Railway(SCR).

Key highlights:

Long haul trains, which are twice or multiple times longer than the normal composition of freight trains, provide a very effective solution to the problem of capacity constraints in critical sections.
Trishul is SCR’s first long haul comprising of three freight trains, i.e., 177 wagons. This train was started on 07.10.2021 from Kondapalli station of Vijayawada division to Khurda division of East Coast Railway.
SCR followed it up with running of yet another similar one named Garuda on 08.10.2021 from Raichur of Guntakal division to Manuguru of Secunderabad division.
In both the cases the long haul trains comprised of empty open wagons for loading of coal meant for predominantly thermal power stations.
SCR is a one of the five major freight loading railways on IR.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) decisively upheld the Linear No-Threshold model to prescribe radiation safety standards, ending the protracted controversy on the topic.
Radiation protection specialists worldwide were eagerly awaiting the NRC’s decision.

The model:

The LNT model states that biological effects such as cancer and hereditary effects due to exposure to ionising radiation increase as a linear function of dose, without threshold.
The LNT model helps the agencies to regulate radiation exposures to diverse categories of licensees, from commercial nuclear power plants to individual industrial radiographers and nuclear medical practices.

Controversy:

In 2015 three petitions requested the NRC, “to amend its regulations based on what they assert is new science and evidence that contradicts the linear no-threshold (LNT) dose-effect model that serves as the basis for the NRC’s radiation protection regulations.”
The petitioners support “radiation hormesis,” a concept that posits that low doses of ionising radiation protect against the deleterious effects of high doses of radiation and result in beneficial effects to humans.
The NRC denied the three petitions because they failed to present an adequate basis supporting the request to discontinue use of the LNT model.
The NRC has determined that the LNT model continues to provide a sound regulatory basis for minimizing the risk of unnecessary radiation exposure to both members of the public and radiation workers.
Therefore, the NRC will maintain the current dose limit requirements,” the NRC declared recently.