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Current Affairs for IAS Exams -23 January 2023

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 23 January 2023

::NATIONAL::

Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar

President of India confer the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar, 2023 to 11 children at an Award ceremony in Delhi today.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar awardees on the 24th of January.
Minister of Women and Child Development will also interact with the children and congratulate them for their exemplary performances in their respective categories on the same day.

About Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar:

It is given under two categories.
Bal Shakti Puraskar: This award is given by the Government of India every year to recognize exceptional achievements of children in various fields namely innovation, scholastic achievements, social service, arts & culture, sports and bravery.

1.   Eligibility criteria: A child who is an Indian Citizenand residing in India and is between 5-18 years of age.
2.   Award: The award consists of a medal, a cash prize of Rs. 1,00,000, book vouchers worth Rs.10,000, a certificate and a citation.
3.   It was started in 1996 as the National Child Award for Exceptional Achievement, and renamed in 2018 as Bal Shakti Puraskar.

Bal Kalyan Puraskar: This is given as recognition to Individuals and Institutions, who have made an outstanding contribution towards service for children in the field of child development, child protection and child welfare.
Eligibility criteria: An individual who is an Indian Citizen residing in India and should have attained the age of 18 years or above (as of 31st August of the respective year). S/he should have worked for the cause of children for not less than 7 years.

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Supreme Court declines to entertain petitions against caste-based census in Bihar

The Bihar government had recently initiated the caste survey which aims tocompile data on each family digitally through a mobile application from thepanchayat to the district level.
However, pleas were submitted to quash the notification on the ground thatthe caste-based census “violated the basic structure of the Constitution”.
The apex court refused to entertain the petitions and asked the petitioners to approachthe high court.

About Caste Census

Caste Census is the caste-wise tabulation of population in the censusexercise.
Caste was included as a parameter in Census data only during the 1931 Census.
Ever since independence, the Census had only the data related to SC and ST populations.
Caste Census is under the administrative control of Ministry of Home Affairs.
Earlier in 2011 attempt was made towards Caste Census by conducting the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC).
Rohini Commission was another attempt by categorization within OBCs for better targeted service delivery.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Nepal says it’s making efforts to activate SAARC

Recently, Nepal said that it was making efforts to activate the eight-member regional grouping SAARC, which has not been very effective since 2016.
The Nepal Government Official further said that, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) could not be made effective due to the lack of consensus among all member states.

About:

The last biennial summit took place inKathmandu in 2014.
The 2016 SAARC Summit was to be held inPakistan.
But after the terrorist attack on an IndianArmy camp in Uri in 2016, India did not participate.
The summit was called off afterBangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistanalso declined to participate.

Importance of revival of SAARC:

Reviving SAARC is crucial to countering thecommon socio-economic challengesprevalent in South Asia.
India’s most potent countermeasure indealing with the challenge from China.
There is no real alternative as BIMSTECcannot replace SAARC for reasons such aslack of a common identity and history amongall BIMSTEC members.
Critical for Regional cooperation in SouthAsia as it is one of the least integrated regions in the world in terms of trade andpeople-to-people contact.
SAARC can help in the creation of mutualtrust and peace within the region.

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New NASA Nuclear Rocket Plan Aims to Get to Mars in Just 45 Days

As part of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program for 2023, NASA selected a nuclear concept for Phase I development. This new class of bimodal nuclear propulsion system uses a "wave rotor topping cycle" and could reduce transit times to Mars to just 45 days.

About Bimodal nuclear propulsion:

Bimodal nuclear propulsion is a two-part system that includes; Nuclear Thermal and Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NTP /NEP).
It uses a wave rotor topping cycle.

How will nuclear propulsion work?

The Nuclear Thermal system includes a nuclear reactor that will heat liquid hydrogen (LH2) propellant and turn it into ionised hydrogen gas (plasma) that will then be channelled through a nozzle to generate thrust.
Nuclear Electric Propulsion depends on a nuclear reactor to provide electricity to a Hall-Effect thruster (ion engine), which will generate an electromagnetic field that will ionise and accelerate an inert gas to create thrust.

Advantages:

Fuel efficiency,
a higher specific impulse,
rating and unlimited energy density.

::Economy::

Bombay HC quashes write-off of Yes Bank’s AT1 bonds

The Bombay High Court on Friday quashed a decision taken by the Yes Bank Administrator on March 14, 2020 to write off Additional Tier 1 (AT-1) bonds noting the Administrator did not have the authority to take such a decision.
Yes Bank had written off AT-1 bonds worth Rs 8,415 crore as part of the bailout in March 2020.

About AT1 Bonds

AT1 bonds are a type of perpetual bonds having maturity of 100 years and offerrelatively higher rates.
They are considered quasi-equity instruments with a larger risk of investment.
They were introduced under Basel accord and banks issue them to shore up their core capital base to meet the Basel-III norms.
In India, banks must maintain capital at a minimum ratio of 11.5% of their risk-weighted asset.
Of this, 9.5% needs to be in Tier-1 capital and 2% in Tier-2.
If the capital ratios of the issuer fall below a certain percentage or in the event of an institutional failure, the rules allow the issuerto stop paying interest or even write down these bonds, as happened in the Yes Bank case.

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::SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY::

Planet Parade

Venus and Saturn will come very close to each other and the beautiful scene will be visible through a binocular or even to the naked eye.

About:

The phenomenon that is known as ‘planet parade’ wherein the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn was visible to the naked eye from Earth.
The planetary meet up, also known as a conjunction, makes the two planets appear close together or even touching in the Earth’s night sky.
Despite being millions of kilometers apart, the planets seem to occupy the same space in the night sky because of their alignment.
Just after sunset in the west, a conjunction of Venus and Saturn were 0.4 degrees apart as seen from earth.

Current Affairs for IAS Exams -23 January 2023