(FREE) UPSC Current Affairs 2024 PDF

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 16 December 2020

::NATIONAL::

NitiAayog proposes ‘surveillance information platform’ to boost public health

Niti Aayog proposed setting up a surveillance information platform to strengthen India’s public health surveillance system.
According to a report titled ‘Vision 2035: Public Health Surveillance in India: A White Paper’, which is jointly prepared by Niti Aayog and University of Manitoba.
India’s public health surveillance will be a predictive, responsive, integrated and tiered system of disease and health surveillance.
According to the Aayog, this is used in every clinical, laboratory, or pharmacy visit and for vertical disease control programmes.
The periodic surveys are positioned as additional complementary methods to reassess the incidence and prevalence of diseases or risk factors, to adjust and refine standard case definitions periodically, to define epidemic thresholds, and to refine response levels and measures, it said.
The Aayog also pitched for establishing mechanisms to streamline data sharing, capture, analysis and dissemination to include the use of situation-aware real-time signals from social media, mobile sensor networks and participatory surveillance systems for event based epidemic intelligence.
The Niti Aayog noted that, A Surveillance Information Platform will store, analyse, and auto-generate relevant reports for action.As well, this remains a repository for further analysis and research which will complement the available surveillance information.
It also suggested setting up an interdependent federated system of governance architecture between the Centre and states.
The Aayog also suggested allowing enhanced use of new data analytics, data science, artificial intelligence and machine learning to bridge gap areas in India’s Public Health Surveillance.

Central govt plans three power gear production zones

The government plans to set up three large manufacturing zones for power and clean energy equipment by offering companies incentives such as land and electricity at attractive prices.Building these zones is part of India’s campaign to encourage self-reliance and reduce dependence on Chinese power equipment.
A list of equipment has been drawn up that the government wants to be manufactured in these zones—one each to be set up in a coastal state, a hill state and a land-locked state.
The Centre has been urging companies and states to procure materials, equipment and technologies from within India, particularly in the strategic power sector, and for which India has sufficient domestic capacity.
These zones will have a minimum land area of 300 acres each and will be set up through a competitive challenge among states.
The states will be selected on the basis of parameters such as manufacturing incentives and the price of land and electricity offered by them.
The Centre will set up common facilities requiring an investment of ₹500 crore each for these zones that are in addition to the government’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.

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

JOIN Full Online Course for UPSC PRE Exam

UPSC IAS Exam Complete Study Materials

::INTERNATIONAL::

1st TWG meeting held

The first Trilateral Working Group (TWG) Meeting between India, Iran and Uzbekistan on the joint use of Chabahar Port was held virtually today.
TWG meeting was on the joint use of Chabahar Port.
Chabahar port in Iran was developed by India as part of tripartiteagreement signed by India, Afghanistan, and Iran.
India also constructed road connecting Zaranj to Delaram forfacilitating movement of goods and services to Afghanistan from Iranian border.
It provides connectivity with Europe when linked to InternationalNorth-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).
It helps India to bypass Pakistan to access Central Asia, Afghanistan.

UK plans big fines for online companies over harmful content

Social media and other internet companies face big fines in Britain if they don’t remove and limit the spread of harmful material such as child sexual abuse or terrorist content and protect users on their platforms.

About:

Under legislative proposals that the UK government plans to launch next year, tech companies that let people post their own material or talk to others online could be fined up to 18 million pounds ($24 million) or 10% of their annual global revenue, whichever is higher, for not complying with the rules.
The proposals, contained in the UK government’s Online Safety Bill, will have extra provisions for the biggest social media companies with “high-risk features,” expected to include Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and Twitter.
These companies will face special requirements to assess whether there’s a “reasonably foreseeable risk” that content or activity that they host will cause “significant physical or psychological harm to adults,” such as false information about coronavirus vaccines. They’ll have to clarify what is allowed and how they will handle it.
All companies will have to take extra measures to protect children using their platforms.
The new regulations will apply to any company whose online services are accessible in the UK and those that don’t comply could be blocked.
The UK government is also reserving the right to impose criminal sanctions on senior executives, with powers it could bring into force through additional legislation if companies don’t take the new rules seriously.

Economy

Govt will invite bids for green ammonia projects

Government plans to invite bids for setting up green ammonia projects to reduce import dependence.
Green ammonia refers to ammonia, which has been produced through a process that is 100% renewable andcarbon-free.
It uses renewable energy instead of natural gas or coal for producing hydrogen; hence, is an effective way toreduce greenhouse emissions.
Ammonia is a pungent gas that is widely used to make agricultural fertilisers. It is easier and cheaper to store,and transport.

Science and Technology

Geminids meteor shower

The Geminids meteor shower, believed to be the strongest of the year, is active from December 4-December 20, with December 13 and 14 considered to be the best nights for viewing these meteor showers.
Soon after the Geminids meteor shower, viewers in the northern hemisphere can expect to see the Ursids meteor shower, which will be active from December 17-December 26 and will peak right before Christmas on the night of December 21-December 22.
However, the rate of Ursids is much less than Geminids. Geminids viewers in the northern hemisphere can expect to see about 60 meteors per hour compared to Ursids, whose observers can typically see 5-10 meteors per hour.

What are meteor showers?

Meteors are bits of rock and ice that are ejected from comets as they manoeuvre around their orbits around the sun.
Meteor showers are witnessed when Earth passes through the trail of debris left behind by a comet or an asteroid.
When a meteor reaches the Earth, it is called a meteorite and a series of meteorites, when encountered at once, is termed a meteor shower.
According to NASA, over 30 meteor showers occur annually and are observable from the Earth.
As meteors fall towards the Earth, the resistance makes the space rocks extremely hot and, as meteorites pass through the atmosphere, they leave behind streaks of glowing gas that are visible to the observers and not the rock itself.
Meteors are best visible on a cloudless night and when the Moon is not extremely bright. Chances of a successful viewing are higher from locations far away from the lights of cities. Generally, pollution makes viewing meteor showers from India difficult to view.

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

Sports

FIDE online world rapid finals

India's young Grandmaster P Iniyan and V Pranav won gold medals in the under-18 and under-14 open categories respectively in the Asian Continental selection of the FIDE Online World Rapid Under-10 to 18 Chess Championship.
A total of 10 Indian players including Iniyan and Sankalp Gupta (who finished second in the under-18 section) across different age categories, have qualified for the finals of the FIDE Online World Cadets and Youth (Under-10, 12, 14, 16 and 18) Rapid Chess Championships, scheduled to begin on December 19.
Iniyan finished on top of the heap with 5.5 points from seven points in the online event and edged out compatriot Sankalp Gupta, who also finished with 5.5 points on the basis of a better tie-break score.
Tamil Nadu's Iniyan, with four wins and three draws, picked up 5.5 points while Sankalp Gupta ended with five wins, a draw and a defeat at the hands of Bangladesh's Subrota Biswas.
In the Under-14 event, Pranav took the first place ahead of top-seed and International Master Aditya Mittal and a few other talented young Indian players.