Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 22 April 2022

::NATIONAL::

Recently, a group of experts questioned the Health Star Ratings on packaged junk foods from FoodSafety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

Key highlights:

It is similar to BEE ratings for electronic appliances, FSSAI Health Star Rating System will rate packagedfood based on salt, sugar, and fat content.
Based on IIM-A study, ratings will be printed on the Front of Packaging Labelling (FoPL) ofpackaged and processed foods to:

1. Guide consumers to opt for healthy food, and
2. Reduce the burden of lifestyle diseases.

The study endorsed the HSR format as the best suited to Indians in helping to choose healthier packaged food items under a new policy on Front of Packaging Labelling (FoPL).

About:

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is a statutory body established under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India.
The FSSAI has been established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which is a consolidating statute related to food safety and regulation in India.
FSSAI is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the regulation and supervision of food safety.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) approved regulations where Indian and Foreign Higher Education Institutions can offer Joint Degree, Dual Degree, and Twinning Programmes) Regulations, 2022.

Key highlights of the provisions made:

It curbs the regulator’s supervisory role in facilitating such collaborations.
For both dual and jointdegree programmes,collaborating institutionsensure that the creditsearned by the students arenot from overlapping coursecontent or curriculum.
In case of a doctoral degreeor PhD programme,students will be provided supervision at eachinstitution, and they will haveto spend a minimum of onesemester in each of them.
Collaboratinginstitutions makeprovisions for exitpathways for studentswho are unable to completerequirements in the threeprogrammes.

Significance of this move:

This help Indian students to get quality education and exposure to foreigninstitutions, results in better campus placement.
To attract foreign students to Indian institutions and Cross-Cultural Exchangefor Foreign Universities.
The bridge the class divide and provide opportunities to lower sections ofsociety.

A recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) working paper suggests that $3.2 on PPP could be made an official poverty line since.

About:

India has almost eliminated extreme poverty at $1.9 PPP (defined by World Bank).
According to the IMF paper, number of people living in extreme poverty was 0.86 per cent of the population in 2020-21 up from0.76 per cent during 2019-20 (pandemic year).
Suggestion assumes significance since India does not have any official poverty line.
Last poverty estimates were released by erstwhile Planning Commission following the methodology recommended byTendulkar Committee for 2011-12.

Poverty estimation in India:

Planning Commission Expert Group (1962) formulated separate poverty lines for rural and urban areas (T20 and T25 per capita peryear respectively).
Dandekar Rath (1971) defined poverty line as expenditure adequate to provide 2250 calories per day in rural and urban areas.
Subsequently different committees - Alagh (1979), Lakdawala Committee (1993), Tendulkar Committee (2009) did the povertyestimation.

The total enrollments under Atal Pension Yojana (APY) Scheme have crossed 4.01 crore as on March 2022 out of which more than 99 lakh APY accounts were opened during FY 2021-22.

About:

Out of the total enrolments under APY as on 31st March 2022, nearly 80% subscribers have opted for Rs 1000 pension plan and 13% for Rs 5000 pension plan.
Out of the total APY subscribers 44 % are female subscribers while 56% are male subscribers. Further, out of the total APY subscribers, 45% are aged between 18 and 25 years.
Atal Pension Yojana is the guaranteed pension scheme of Government of India administered by PFRDA.
The scheme allows any Citizen of India between the age group of 18-40 years to join through the bank or post office branches where one has the savings bank account.
Under the scheme, a subscriber would receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs.1000 to Rs. 5000 per month from the age of 60 years, depending upon his contribution.

Researchers from ISRO and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have developed a way to make bricks ofcomplex shapes from Martian soil with the help of bacteria and urea.

About:

A slurry is first created by mixing Martian soil with guar gum, a bacterium called sporosarcina pasteurii, urea and nickel chloride (NiCl2).
This slurry can be poured into moulds of any desired shape, and over a few days the bacteria convert the urea into crystals of calcium carbonate.
These crystals, along with biopolymers secreted by the microbes, act as cement holding the soil particles together.
An advantage of this method is the reduced porosity of the bricks, which has been a problem with other methods used to consolidate Martian soil into bricks.