Current Affairs for IAS Exams -14 February 2023

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 14 February 2023

::NATIONAL::

Aadi Mahotsav

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will inaugurate the national Aadi Mahotsav on at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, New Delhi.

About:

It is an annual Tribal Festival that was started in the year 2017.
It is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India & Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED).
It aimed to familiarise the people with the rich and diverse craft, and the culture of the tribal communities, in one place.
Theme: “A Celebration of the Spirit of Tribal Crafts, Culture and Commerce”, which represents the basic ethos of tribal life.

Key facts About TRIFED

TRIFED was established in 1987 under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, of 1984.
It is a national-level apex organization functioning under the administrative control of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
Objectives of the Organisation: Socio-economic development of tribal people in the country by way of marketing development of tribal products.
The organisation assists tribal people in exploring and creating opportunities to market the developed products in national and international markets on a sustainable basis.
Under the TRIBES Indiabrand, the sourced handcrafted products from the tribal people are sold.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL CURRENT AFFAIRS (Only for Course Members)

Indian Council of Historical Research

Union Education Minister recently said that in Lok Sabha, the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) has not launched any project to rewrite Indian history and is only “filling gaps.”

About

Established as an autonomous organization ICHR comes under the Ministry of Education, Government of India.
It was established in 1972 by an Administrative Order.
ICHR was registered under the Societies Registration Act (Act XXI of 1860) as a literary and charitable society.
The ICHR is based in Delhi, with regional centersinBengaluru (Karnataka), Pune(Maharashtra),and Guwahati (Assam).
The ICHR receives grants-in-aid from the Department of Higher Education, grants-in-aid from various Indian states, private donations, and the proceeds of revenues from the sale of publications of the ICHR.
ICHR disburses funds for carrying out research to Indian as well as foreign scholars on their applications for fellowships, grants, and symposia, made to the ICHR or through the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Key objectives:

To bring historians together and provide a forum for exchange of views between them;
To give a national direction to an objective and scientific writing of history and to have rational presentation and interpretation of history;
To promote, accelerate and coordinate research in history with special emphasis on areas which have not received adequate attention so far;
To promote and coordinated a balanced distribution of research effort over different areas;
To elicit support and recognition for historical research from all concerned and ensure the necessary dissemination and use of results.

JOIN Full Online Course for UPSC PRE Exam

UPSC IAS Exam Complete Study Materials

::INTERNATIONAL::

Marburg Disease

The World Health Organization says that Equatorial Guinea has confirmed its first-ever outbreak of Marburg disease, saying the Ebola-related virus is responsible for at least nine deaths in the tiny Western African country.

About:

Marburg virus disease (MVD) is a rare but severe hemorrhagic fever which affects both people and non-human primates. MVD is caused by the Marburg virus, a genetically unique zoonotic (or, animal-borne) RNA virus of the filovirus family. The six species of Ebola virus are the only other known members of the filovirus family.
Marburg virus was first recognized in 1967, when outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever occurred simultaneously in laboratories in Marburg and Frankfurt, Germany and in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia).
The reservoir host of Marburg virus is the African fruit bat, Rousettus aegyptiacus.
Fruit bats infected with Marburg virus do not show obvious signs of illness.
Primates (including people) can become infected with Marburg virus, and may develop serious disease with high mortality.
The average MVD case fatality rate is around 50%.

Treatment:

There is no specific treatment for Marburg virus disease.
Supportive therapy, such as intravenous fluids, electrolyte replacement, supplemental oxygen, as well as blood and blood products replacement, improves survival.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL CURRENT AFFAIRS (Only for Course Members)

Indonesian curbs on palm oil stokes inflation concerns

International palm oil prices turned volatile a day after Indonesia, the world’s largest exporter of the commodity.

About:

Indonesia, world’s biggest producer,exporter, and consumer of palm oil, isplanning to suspend some export permits toreduce domestic cooking oil prices.
Palm oil is edible vegetable oil produced frompalm fruit of ElaeisGuineensis (African oil Palm) or Elaeis Oleifera (indigenous to Southand Central America).
It is rich in Vitamin A and E with no transfatty acids.
Used in Detergent, lipstick, shampoo,chocolate, bread, ice cream and bio diesel.
Indonesia and Malaysia together accountfor almost 90% of global palm oilproduction.
Other major palm oil producersinclude Thailand, Colombia and Nigeria.
India is the biggest importer of palm oil,which makes up 40% of its vegetable oilconsumption.
India’s major palm oil growing states are Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala account for 98% of total production.

::Economy::

SEBI proposed tightening responsibilities of mutual funds trustees

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) recently proposed to review the role and accountability of trustees of mutual funds with an aim to protect unitholders’ interests.
Besides, the regulators also put forward some recommendations to enhance the accountability of the board of asset management companies (AMC).

Role of Trustees:

Mutual funds in India have a three-tiered structure – mutual fund, the trustees and the AMC.
Board of trustees or trustee company holds the property of the mutual fund in trust for the benefit of the unit holders.
They appoint an AMC to float schemes for the mutual fund and manage the funds mobilised under various schemes.
They are also expected to exercise supervisory oversight over AMC and its activities so as to ensure that AMC acts in the interest of the unitholders.

What has SEBI proposed?

Sebi has recommended that the trustees will be responsible for taking steps so that there are system-level checks in place to prevent fraudulent transactions.
Sebi has proposed that the trustees should take help of audit, legal firms and merchant bankers for carrying out due diligence on their behalf.
Sebi has also recommended amending certain regulations for AMC and also include additional clauses to enhance the role, responsibility and accountability of the board of AMC.
The markets regulator also proposed the constitution of a ‘Unit Holder Protection Committee’ (UHPC) by board of AMC.
This will help in an independent review mechanism for the decisions of AMC from the perspective of the unit holders’ interest, across all products and services.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL CURRENT AFFAIRS (Only for Course Members)

::SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY::

micro-LED

Recently various electronic companies are showing their interest in MicroLED (mLED or µLED) display technology.

About:

microLED displays comprise several microscopic LEDs, which self-illuminate per display pixel- just like an OLED (Organic LED) panel does.
mLED is as small as cutting a centimetre of hair into 200 smaller pieces.
Each of these mLEDs are semiconductors that receive electric signals.
Once these mLEDs are gathered, they form a module. Several modules arethen combined to form screens.

Benefits of mLED:

Self-emissive and have better colour reproduction and provide better viewing angles.
Limitless scalability, as they are resolution-free, bezel-free, ratio-free, and even size-free.
More efficient and bright, more durable and with higher colour gamut against LCD and OLED.

Challenges: