Daily Current Affairs - 24-06-2021

United Nations Public Service Day is observed on June 23, to recognise value and virtue of public service to community.

Key Points

Background

United Nations Public Service Day is celebrated on June 23 every year. The day was designated by United Nations General Assembly’s resolution to “celebrate the value and virtue of public service to community”.

United Nations Public Service Awards

On the occasion, United Nations Economic & Social Council established the United Nations Public Service Awards in 2003. This award programme was updated in 2016 to accord with 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This award is bestowed on Public Service Day for contribution made towards enhancing role, prestige and visibility of public service.

Significance of the day

This day also marks anniversary of date when International Labour Organization adopted the Convention on Labour Relations (Public Service), 1978 (ILO convention no. 151). This Convention determines the working conditions of all civil servants worldwide.

Theme of the day

This day was observed under the theme “Innovating the Future Public Service: New Government Models for a New Era to Reach Sustainable Development Goals” in 2021.

India and Bhutan have jointly launched the “Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB)” on June 23, 2021.

Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB)

Aim of TIWB

TIWB programme aims to strengthen tax administrations among developing countries by transferring technical know-how and skills to their tax auditors and by sharing general audit practices & dissemination of knowledge products with them.

India-Bhutan TIWB

Significance of the programme

This programme is another step ahead in continued cooperation between India and Bhutan and India’s active support for South-South cooperation.

India has decided to make CoWIN platform an open source for other countries in order to enable them to use this technology to run their own vaccination drives.

Which countries to join?

Countries including Vietnam, Iraq, Peru, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Panama, Nigeria, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates and Uganda have expressed their interest in learning about CoWIN technology to run their vaccination programmes.

Co-WIN App

Co-WIN is a digital platform that helped in implementation of nationwide COVID-19 vaccination programme in India. It is also called as Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network. This cloud-based IT platform is supposed to handle minute details with respect to India’s Covid-19 immunisation programme. It provides for registration of beneficiaries, allocation of vaccination centres, sending text messages with name of their vaccinator and live monitoring of vials stored in cold storage.

Who developed the platform?

Co-WIN platform is owned by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.  Earlier, this platform was used to conduct Pulse Polio and other crucial immunisation programmes in India. Ministry of Electronics & IT and National Informatics Centre are backend supporters

Recently, UN body has endorsed a multinational project called “Committee on Earth Observation Satellites Coastal Observations, Applications, Services, and Tools (CEOS COAST)”.

About CEOS COAST

About National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is an American scientific agency working under the United States Department of Commerce. It focuses on conditions of oceans, major waterways, and atmosphere. It warns about the dangerous weather, charts seas and guides on use & protection of ocean & coastal resources. It also conducts research to provide understanding and improve stewardship of environment.

World Health Organisation has warned that; Delta variant, which is significantly more transmissible strain of COVID-19, is expected to become a dominant lineage if current trends continue. Warming came after WHO reported in 85 countries & continues to be detected at more places worldwide.

Highlights

Concerns with Delta Variant

Delta variant has been reported in 85 countries worldwide so far and continues to be reported in new countries. 11 countries reported in past two weeks. Delta variant is significantly more transmissible than Alpha variant. As a result, it is expected to become a dominant lineage.

New covid cases in India

As per WHO, India reported highest numbers of new COVID-19 cases, in between June 14-20, 2021. Cases were 30 per cent lesser than past week. Highest numbers of new deaths were reported in India accounting for 1.2 new deaths per 100,000.  Death rate has also decreased by 31 per cent for the same period. South-East Asia Region reported about 600,000 new cases and 19,000 new deaths highlighting the decreasing trend. Decreasing trends in weekly case and death in region are associated with decreasing cases in India.

International Widows Day is observed on June 23 to bring attention to the voices of widows and highlight the problems they face.

Background

International Widows Day was established by The Loomba Foundation to raise awareness regarding the issue of widowhood. It is a United Nations ratified day of action. It addresses “poverty and injustice faced by millions of widows and their dependents across the countries.

Why it is celebrated on June 23?

June 23 was chosen to mark the day because on this day, Shrimati Pushpa Wati Loomba, mother of Lord Loomba, became a widow in 1954.

History

First International Widows Day was observed in 2005. It was launched by Lord Loomba and Cherie Blair who are foundation’s president. Later on, December 21, 2010, the day was formally adopted as International Widows Day by United Nations. In 2010, it was the sixth edition. After the sixth edition, the events are being held in other countries like Sri Lanka, United States, UK, Syria, Nepal, India, Kenya, and Bangladesh.

Significance of the day

This day provides an opportunity for action to achieve full rights and recognition for widows. It also talks about providing widows with information regarding the access to fair share of their inheritance, land, productive resources, social protection, decent work, equal pay, and pensions.

Number of widows

There are about 258 million widows across the world. Out of them, one in ten windows live in extreme poverty.

Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has launched a centralized web-based workflow-based IT platform called “e-PGS”.

Why this platform was launched?

Significance of e-PGS

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC)

LIC is an Indian government owned insurance and investment corporation. It works under the ownership of Ministry of Finance. It was established on September 1, 1956 by Life Insurance of India Act.

G20 Labour & Employment Ministers’ Meeting was hosted in blended mode by Italy.

Highlights

India-G20

India has a great importance for collaboration between G20 countries in the areas of vocational education and training.

G20 countries

G20 grouping invites its members, invited countries, international partner organizations and some groups to dialogue & build consensus so as to promote public policies which can solve challenges being faced by humanity. G20 member countries include- Germany, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Brazil, France, India, South Korea, United States, Italy, Japan, Indonesia, Mexico, United Kingdom, Russia, South Africa, Turkey and European Union.

G20 education ministers’ meeting was held on recently in which ministers reiterated commitment to ensure continuity of quality education amid the ongoing covid-19 pandemic.

Key Points

About G20

G20 is an intergovernmental forum of 19 countries and European Union (EU). It addresses major issues related to global economy like international financial stability, sustainable development and climate change mitigation. G20 is comprise of most of world’s largest industrialized and developing nations. It accounts for 90 percent of gross world product (GWP), two-thirds of world’s population and half of world’s land area. Grouping was founded in 1999 to look after world economic crises.

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has launched a ‘Centre for Research on Start-Ups and Risk Financing’ (CREST) which will provide academic & thought leadership in innovation, entrepreneurship and risk capital.

About CREST

Vision of CREST

CREST mission has been launched with the vision to be globally recognized as leading centre of research in the fields of creation, development, and financing of innovation, start-ups, and entrepreneurship. It also seeks to establish a system of cross-country collaborative research which will help in use of unique data sets on start-ups and venture capital. It will carry evidence synthesis on start-up & innovation ecosystem to inform policymakers and practitioners.

NASA’s experimental Mars helicopter called Ingenuity undertook its 8th flight on Red Planet.

Highlights

What is Ingenuity?

Ingenuity is a small robotic helicopter which is operating on Mars under NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. It successfully completed first powered controlled flight by an aircraft on a planet besides Earth on April 19, 2021. As of June 22, it has successfully completed eight flights. A solar-charged battery-powered coaxial drone rotorcraft is serving as a technology and operations demonstration which will help in flying probes on future missions to Mars. Ingenuity was built by Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of NASA. It travelled to Mars attached to underside of Perseverance rover.

Perseverance rover

It is a car-sized Mars rover, to explore Jezero crater on Mars under NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. It was manufactured by Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Rover was launched on July 30, 2020 and was landed to Mars on February 18, 2021. Perseverance has been active on Mars for 122 sols or 125 Earth days since its landing, as of June 2021.

As per recent study, Colombia is home to world’s largest variety of butterflies. It accounts for 20% of all known species.

Key points

About Colombia

Colombia is a country having great diversity of natural habitats. It is having a complex and heterogeneous geography. It is located in a privileged location of extreme northeast of South America. It is bounded by Caribbean Sea, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Brazil, and Pacific Ocean. It’s rich cultural heritage is highly influenced by various Amerindian civilizations, European settlement, forced African labour, and immigration from Europe & Middle East.

Biodiversity in Colombia

Colombia is one among megadiverse countries. It ranks first in bird species. It has around 40,000 and 45,000 plant species accounting for 10 to 20% of total global species. It is second most biodiverse country of the world, following Brazil. Country has 10% of world’s mammals species, 14% of amphibian species and 18% of bird species.

Union government has approved PMGKY 4.0 to allocate additional food grain for another period of five months from July 2021 to November 2021.

Key Points

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY)

PMGKAY was launched under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) to help poor fight against Covid-19. It was launched by the Ministry of Finance. Initially the scheme was announced for a three-month period that is April, May & June 2020. It covered 80 crore ration cardholders. Later, it was extended till November 2020. The scheme was restarted in April 2021 after second wave of covid-19 pandemic.

Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) in association with the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Ltd (NHSRCL) has launched world’s first exclusive Green rating system for High-Speed Rail.

About NHSRCL

Indian Green Building Council (IGBC)

IGBC is a green building which uses less water, optimises energy efficiency, generates less waste, conserves natural resources and provides healthier spaces for occupants as opposed to conventional building. It is the leading green building movement of India. It was established by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in 2001. It is based in CII-Sohrabji Green Business Centre, Hyderabad which is 1st Platinum rated green building of India. IGBC seeks to enable a ‘Sustainable built environment for all’ by 2025.

Green building council (GBC)

GBC is a national non-profit, non-government organization which is part of global network recognized by World Green Building Council. It’s goal is to promote transformation of sustainable built environment.

National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL)

NHSRCL was established on February 12, 2016 under Companies Act, 2013 with the objective of financing, constructing, maintaining and managing High Speed Rail Corridor in India. Company is modelled as ‘Special Purpose Vehicle’ in joint sector with equity participation by Ministry of Railways and Government of Gujarat & Government of Maharashtra.

Cochin International Airport (CIAL) won Airport Council International (ACI) Director General’s Roll of Excellence honour in Airport Service Quality.

Key Points

Why Cochin International Airport won?

Cochin International Airport has consistently delivered excellence in customer service by winning multiple awards for five years in past 10 years. It is one among six airports across the world that will receive recognition in 2021.

Service quality programme

ACI’s service quality programmes have been helping airport officials in ensuring international standards in airport management. Roll of Excellence honour is a gesture from global organisation recognising CIAL’s commitment to the passengers.

Airports Council International (ACI)

ACI is a global trade representative of world’s airport authorities. It was established in the year 1991. It represents interests of airport with governments & international organizations, develops standards and recommended practices for airports. It provides information and training opportunities to raise standards worldwide. It seeks to provide public a safe, secure, efficient, and environmentally responsible air transport system. ACI is governed by ACI Governing Board. It is located in Montreal, Canada.