(FREE) UPSC Current Affairs 2024 PDF

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 23 December 2020

::NATIONAL::

The ‘India Workplace Equality Index’, touted as the country’s first comprehensive benchmarking tool for employers to measure their progress on LGBT+ inclusion at the workplace, was launched.
With its first report virtually announcing winners from among 65 companies which shared data on their diversity and inclusion practices.
The IWEI comes two years after the Supreme Court’s landmark reading down of Section 377.
Hotelier-activist Keshav Suri through his non-profit Keshav Suri Foundation, partnered with Pride Circle, Stonewall UK and FICCI, to bring the IWEI to India Inc.
The index measures nine areas: policies and benefits, employee lifecycle, employee network group, allies and role models, senior leadership, monitoring, procurement, community engagement and additional work.
Twenty-one firms won under the gold category, while 18 were placed under silver and 13 got bronze.

India’s leopard population increased to 12,852 in 2018 from around 8,000 in 2014.
The Union Environment Minister was releasing the ‘Status of Leopards in India 2018’ report.
The minister asserted that the rise in leopards’ numbers, coming on the heels of similar reports on tigers and lions, shows that the country is protecting its ecology and biodiversity well.

Key highlights of the report:

The leopard population has been estimated using camera trapping method.
There are 12,852 leopards in India as of 2018, an increase of 60% since 2014.
The highest concentration of the leopard in India is estimated to be in Madhya Pradesh (3,421) followed by Karnataka (1,783) and Maharashtra (1,690).
Recent meta-analyses of leopard status and distribution suggest 48–67% range loss for the species in Africa and 83–87% in Asia.
In India, leopards have experienced a possibly human-induced 75-90% population decline in the last ~120-200 years.
In Indian subcontinent poaching, habitat loss, depletion of natural prey and conflict are major threats to leopard populations.
All these have resulted in changing the species status from ‘Near Threatened’ to ‘Vulnerable’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
As for region-wise distribution, the highest number of 8,071 leopards were found in central India and eastern ghats, which include the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
In the western ghat region, which comprises Karnataka, Tamil Nadi, Goa and Kerala, there are 3,387 leopards.
There are 1,253 leopards in Shivalik and Gangetic Plains which includes Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Bihar.
In the northeast hills, there are just 141 leopards.

India and Vietnam have signed agreements in varied areas such as defence, scientific research, renewable energy, nuclear energy, petro-chemicals, and cancer treatment.
While adopting the joint vision statement, both the leaders welcomed the signing of the plan of action for the period of 2021-2023 which identify concrete follow up actions.
They said the agreements would further boost bilateral cooperation in a range of areas.
Vietnam is an important pillar of India’s Act East Policy and a prominent partner in the country’s Indo-Pacific Vision.
India takes a long-term and strategic view of its relationship with Vietnam.
It adding that both countries wanted to maintain peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and could productively collaborate for the same.

HelpAge India has been presented the UN Population Award for 2020 (institutional category), as per a release issued by the UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund).
It was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1981, the United Nations Population Award recognises contributions in the fields of population and reproductive health.
The Committee for the United Nations Population Award, which made the selections, is chaired by Ion Jinga, Permanent Representative of Romania to the United Nations, and is composed of representatives of nine other UN Member States.

About:

For the first time in the history of the UN Population Award, the honour is being conferred on an Indian institution.
The last time the Award came to an Indian was 28 years ago, back in 1992, when it was awarded to Mr. J.R.D. Tata as an individual laureate.
HelpAge India, which has been working for ‘the cause and care of disadvantaged older persons to improve their quality of life’ for over four decades, is the first Indian institution to receive this award.

Egypt is offering incentives for Indian pharma companies to invest in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone).
SCZone is located around the main international maritime route, Suez Canal Passageway, which is consideredthe international trunk route that connects Europe and East North America via the Suez Canal with Asia.
Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean and the Red seas.

It is a new model of minor irrigation (supported by IIT Delhi) to benefit farmers with small land holdings invillages of Thar desert.
A Sub-Surface Porous Vessels is made of location-specific clay and sawdust, mixed in a proportion to suit desert sand, press-formedto frustum shape and baked at a temperature of 750-800 degree Celsius with addition of a carbon layer in itsstructure.
Experiments have indicated a higher yield of farm produce and improvement in the nutrient value of soilafter the installation of SSPV.

Breakdancing became an official Olympic sport on Monday.
The International Olympic Committee’s pursuit of urban events to lure a younger audience saw street dance battles officially added to the medal events program at the 2024 Paris Games.
Also confirmed for Paris by the International Olympic Committee executive board were skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing.