Daily Current Affairs

Men in India capture 82% of labour income, while women earn just 18%, according to the first-ever estimates of the gender inequality in global earnings presented in the World Inequality Report 2022 released.

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The female share of the total labour income is the national aggregate labour income earned by women relative to the total aggregate of labour income within a country. In a country with perfect equality between women and men, the female labour income share would be 50%.

But the report finds that it is below 50% around the world, with significant variations across countries, ranging from below 10% to 45%. The report covered 180 countries between 1991 to 2019.

Female labour income in India of 18.3% is lower than the average for Asia, which was at 27% in 2019.

Eleven countries in the region have values above 30%. Among the neighbours that performed worse than India were Bhutan (17.5%), Bangladesh (16.9%), Pakistan (7.4%), and Afghanistan (4.2%); and those with a higher share were Nepal (23.2%), Sri Lanka (23.3%) and China (33.4%).

After the pandemic, there was a worsening of female labour participation rate, which fell to 16.1% during the July-September 2020 quarter, according to the Ministry of Statistics.

Eastern Europe has the highest female labour income shares, with the average female share near 41%. Moldova has the highest female labour income in the world at 45%.

Overall, the share of women in total incomes from work neared 30% in 1990 and stands at 34% today.

Between 2018 and 2020, about 2,054 cases were registered for killing or illegal trafficking of wild animals in India, Central Government statistics say.

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In the three years, about 3,836 accused were arrested for the crime.

The number of cases registered in the year 2018 was 648 and 1,099 persons were arrested; followed by 805 cases and 1,506 arrests in 2019; and 601 cases and 1,231 arrests in 2020.

The data was made available on the basis of cases registered by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and State Forest and Police Authorities in the past three years.

The details were made public by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in response to a question in the Lok Sabha.

The reply on November 29 also pointed out that Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) has been created for control of wildlife crime at the Central Government level.

Operations by WCCB

The WCCB had launched operation “Save Kurma” from to December 2016 to January 2017 to focus on the poaching, transportation and illegal trade of live turtles and tortoises.

Another operation “Operation Turtshield- I” from December 2019 to January 2020 and Operation Turtshield-II” (December 2020 to February 2021) was taken up to tackle the illegal trade of live turtles, resulting in the seizure of 4,601 live/dead turtles and arrest of 45 accused in the first operation.

“Operation Softgold” was undertaken from October, 2018 to March, 2019 to tackle illegal trade in Shahtoosh shawls (made from Chiru wool). During the operation, 350 shawls were found.

Saudi Arabia government has banned the Tablighi Jamaat calling it one of the gates of terrorism.

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Saudi Islamic Affairs Ministry has directed the mosques to warn people during Friday sermon against the Tablighi Jamaat. Government has also warned people against associating with the Tablighi Jamaat which has been banned in Saudi Arabia.

What is it? Tablighi Jamaat, which literally means a society for spreading the faith, is a Sunni Islamic missionary movement.

Objective: The proselytising movement aims to reach out to ordinary Muslims and revive their faith, particularly in matters of ritual, dress, and personal behaviour.

Background: It was launched by Deoband cleric and prominet Islamic scholar Maulana Muhammad Ilyas Khandhalaw in 1927 in Mewat to bring back Meo peasants (mostly Muslims who were largely practicing Hindu traditions) into the fold of traditional Islam.

How wide is its reach? In two decades after its launch, the Tablighi Jamaat had spread beyond the Mewat region. It has a significant base in Pakistan, Bangladesh, United States, Britian, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.

The International Mountain Day is celebrated on 11th of December every year.

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The day aims to encourage sustainable development in mountains and spread awareness about protecting the mountain biodiversity as these delicate ecosystems are under tremendous pressure from climate change, overexploitation and pollution.

Mountains are home to 15 per cent of the world's population and host about half of the world's biodiversity hotspots. They provide fresh water for everyday life to half of humanity.

The increasing attention to the importance of mountains led the UN to declare 2002 the UN International Year of Mountains. The International Day was celebrated for the first time the following year, 2003.

The theme of this year’s International Mountain Day is 'Sustainable mountain tourism'.

Sustainable tourism in mountains can contribute to creating additional and alternative livelihood options and promoting poverty alleviation, social inclusion, as well as landscape and biodiversity conservation.

Indian-origin Gautam Raghavan has been elevated to Head of the White House personnel office.

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He replaces Catherine Russel who has been appointed Executive Director of Unicef. Raghavan was Russel's Deputy at the White House Office of Presidential Personnel.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Air Force (IAF) flight-tested the indigenously designed and developed Helicopter launched Stand-off Anti-tank (SANT) Missile from Pokhran ranges on December 11, 2021.

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The flight-test was successful in meeting all its mission objectives.

The missile is equipped with a state-of-the-art MMW seeker which provides high precision strike capability from a safe distance. The weapon can neutralise targets in a range up to 10 kms.

The SANT missile has been designed and developed by Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad in coordination with other DRDO labs and participation from industries.

This is the third in the series of indigenous stand-off weapons to be tested in recent times after long range bomb and smart anti airfield weapon for strengthening the arsenal of IAF.

Successful tests of Pinaka Extended Range (Pinaka-ER), Area Denial Munitions (ADM) and indigenously developed fuzes have been carried out at various test ranges.

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The Pinaka-ER Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher System was successfully tested at Pokharan range.

The system is jointly designed by laboratories of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) - Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE), Pune and High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL), Pune.

The DRDO, after establishing the performance efficacy of the enhanced range Pinaka, transferred the technology of the system to the industry.

The Pinaka-ER is the upgraded version of earlier Pinaka version which has been in service with the Indian Army for the last decade. The system has been designed in the light of emerging requirements with advanced technologies enhancing the range.

The Area Denial Munition (ADM) variants of munition designed by the ARDE, Pune for Pinaka and manufactured by the industry partners under technology transfer were successfully carried out at Pokhran Field Firing Ranges.

The indigenously-developed proximity fuzes for Pinaka rockets have also been tested.

The 50th Meeting of the General Council of the V.V. Giri National Labour Institute (VVGNLI) was held under the Chairpersonship of Shri Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister for Labour & Employment and President of the General Council, at Ministry of Labour & Employment, in New Delhi on 10th December, 2021.

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V.Giri National Labour Institute, under the Ministry of Labour of Government of India, is an autonomous civil service training institute.

It was formed in 1974.

HQ; Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

It is dedicated to the research in the field of labour and training of civil servants which includes labour administrators, trade unions, public sector managers and other government functionaries concerned with labour.

Previously called National Labour Institute till 1995, it was renamed to its present name in the honour of former President of India V.V. Giri who was a well-known union leader in his early days.

Ministry of Tourism under its Dekho Apna Desh Initiative organised a webinar on ‘Jyotirlingam Temples of Maharashtra’.

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Maharashtra boasts of a large number of popular and revered religious and spiritual places that attracts large number of tourists.

Trimbakeshwar (Tryambakeshwara), Bhimashankar, Parali Vaijnath, Grishneswar and Aundh Nagnath are the prominent Jyotirlingas in the state of Maharashtra.

Tryambakeshwar/ Trimbakeshwar Jyotirlingam is located about 28 km South West of Nashik and it is also one of four places where Sinhastha Fair (Kumbh Mela) is held which draws people from all over India.

Jyotirlingas

These shrines enshrining Shiva in the form of a Jyotirlingam and have been revered since time immemorial in the Indian system of beliefs.

Out of 12 Jyotirlingas, the southernmost of these is located at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu while the northernmost is located in the Himalayas at Kedarnath in Uttarkhand.

These temples are closely linked with legends from the puranas and are rich in history and tradition.

Gwalior Drone Mela was organised jointly by Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) at Madhav Institute of Technology & Science (MITS), Gwalior.

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Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M. Scindia announced Five Drone Schools to be set-up in Madhya Pradesh (MP).

The programme was the biggest congregation of drone manufacturers, service providers, drone enthusiasts and user communities, especially students, farmers and common man of the city.

Programme included drone exhibition, demonstration, drone spardha, industry – user interactions and launches.

Participants witnessed –
Launch of SpiceXpress Drone Airlines program

Inauguration of Centre of Excellence for Drone Technology

Exchanging MoU between FICCI & MITS on strengthening industry academia collaboration