Daily Current Affairs for UPSC, IAS, UPPSC/UPPCS, BPSC, MPPSC, RPSC and All State PCS Examinations (21 August 2020)

Fifth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament (5WCSP)

Why in NEWS ?

  • Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on 20 th August 2020, attended the inaugural ceremony of the Fifth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament (5WCSP) via video conferencing.

Fifth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament (5WCSP)

About

  • The two day Conference is being organized jointly by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Geneva and the Parliament of Austria with the support of the United Nations (UN).
  • This is the first time that an international Parliamentary Conference of such a magnitude is being organised in Virtual mode.
  • The theme of the Conference is ‘’Parliamentary leadership for more effective multilateralism’’ that delivers peace and sustainable development for the people and planet.
  • The conference was held with prime objective of strengthening multilateralism and international cooperation in order to rebuild a better world.

India’s Call at the Conference

  • India asks international community to isolate Pakistan.
  • India’s strong reply comes amid Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s continued attempts to call an OIC meeting on Kashmir despite being snubbed by the Saudi kingdom.
  • Pak is also believed to be aligning with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to form a new Islamic axis against India.
  • India’s reply came during the special event on ‘Countering Terrorism and violent Extremism: The perspective of victims’
  • Indian Parliament also highlighted that the UN Analytical Support Sanctions Monitoring Team mentions Pakistan as the leading exporter of terror with more than 6,000 nationals currently engaged in terrorism.

FIAPO and PETA to be Part of Survey Conducted by AWBI

IN NEWS

  • The Delhi High Court has today allowed the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organization (FIAPO) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animal (PETA) to be a part of the physical survey conducted as directed by the Delhi HC to Animal Welfare Board of India.

ABOUT

  • The petition has been filed by the Federation for Indian Animal Protection Organizations (FIAPO) seeking directions to rescue the animals in circuses amid the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and further challenging section 21- 27 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 alleging that they permit exhibition and training of animals with regards to circuses, seeking a ban on the use of animals in circuses.

PEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS (PETA)

  • People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia. The nonprofit corporation claims 6.5 million supporters. Its slogan is "Animals are not ours to experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way.
  • Founded in March 1980 by Ingrid Newkirk and fellow animal rights activist Alex Pacheco, the organization first caught the public's attention in the summer of 1981 during what became known as the Silver Spring monkeys case, a widely publicized dispute about experiments conducted on 17 macaque monkeys inside the Institute of Behavioral Research in Silver Spring, Maryland.

FEDERATION OF INDIAN ANIMAL PROTECTION ORGANISATIONS (FIAPO)

  • Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO) is a collective of animal protection organisations in India to help, represent, connect up, and inform, animal protection organisations and activists across India.
  • It also undertakes campaigns on which there is not significant work already going on in India and research on rights of animals. FIAPO was registered on November 25, 2010 under the Indian Trust Act 1882.

Indore Creates Record by Winning Title of Cleanest City Fourth Time in A Row

IN NEWS

  • For the fourth time in a row, Indore has been adjudged India's cleanest city in the government's cleanliness survey announced on August 20. The second and third positions in the category were secured by Surat and Navi Mumbai, respectively.

ABOUT

  • The Swachh Survekshan 2020 -- India's fifth annual cleanliness survey-- was released by Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri at a ceremony where 129 awards were given out in different categories.
  • Swachh Survekshan is an annual ranking exercise taken up by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) to assess urban areas of country on their levels of cleanliness and active implementation of Swachhta mission initiatives in a timely and innovative manner. The annual ranking of cities was started in 2016.

OUTCOME

  • Jharkhand was adjudged the 'Cleanest State' in the category of states with less than 100 ULBs, followed by Haryana, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Assam and Himachal Pradesh.
  • In the category of states with more than 100 urban local bodies (ULBs), Chhattisgarh has been given the 'Cleanest State' award, followed by Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
  • The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has bagged the first rank in the 'cleanest capital' city category. Greater Hyderabad has been declared the 'Best Mega City' in the 'Citizen Feedback' category. In the same category, Chandigarh has been awarded the 'Best Union Territory', while Gandhinagar has been ranked the 'Best State Capital in Innovation and Best Practices'.
  • The Jalandhar Cantonment Board had been ranked first while Delhi Cantonment Board and Meerut Cantonment Board have grabbed second and third positions respectively.

CONCLUSION

  • Over the years, digital innovations have always been at the forefront of the Mission enabling scaling up and better monitoring of outcomes along with increased citizen engagement.
  • Swachh Survekshan 2021 saw the introduction of a new performance category, the Prerak DAUUR Samman which has a total of five additional sub- categories -Divya (Platinum), Anupam (Gold), Ujjwal (Silver), Udit (Bronze), Aarohi (Aspiring).

Trifood Project

Why in news?

  • Union Tribal Affairs Minister Shri Arjun Munda e-launched the tertiary processing centres of “Trifood Project” of TRIFED, Ministry of Tribal Affairs in in Raigad, Maharashtra and Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh.

About TRIFOOD project

  • It is a joint initiative of Ministry of Food Processing Industry, Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED.
  • Under this scheme a tertiary value addition center has been set up in Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh and Raigad in Maharashtra at a cost of approximately Rs.11 crores.
  • This project is expected to help in encouraging the tribal entrepreneurship.
  • TRIFOOD seeks to improve the income of tribals with the help of better utilization of Minor Forest Produce (MFPs) collected by the tribal forest gatherers.
  • Two Minor Forest Produce (MFP) processing units will be set up in order to achieve the targets of the “Trifood Project”.
  • A highlight of this is the production of “Heritage Mahua” drink. The traditional Mahua tribal drink will be mainstreamed and marketed all over the Country under this project.
  • Bhil tribal in western Madhya Pradesh and tribals of North Maharashtra consider the Mahua tree and the Mahua drink as part of their cultural heritage.
  • The main ingredients used for making it are chhowa gud (granular molasses) and dried mahua flowers.
  • The unit in Raigad, Maharashtra that will be used for value addition to mahua, amla, custard apple and jamun and will produce mahua drink, amla juice, candy, jamun juice and custard apple pulp.
  • The multi-commodity processing centre in Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh will be used for the processing of commodities like mahua, amla, honey, cashew, tamarind, ginger, garlic and other fruits and vegetables.
  • These would be made into mahua drink, amla juice, candy, pure honey, ginger-garlic paste and fruit and vegetable pulp.

TRIFED

  • The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) came into existence in 1987.
  • It is a national-level apex organization functioning under the administrative control of Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
  • The ultimate objective of TRIFED is socio-economic development of tribal people in the country by way of marketing development of the tribal products such as metal craft, tribal textiles, pottery, tribal paintings and pottery on which the tribals depends heavily for major portion of their income.
  • TRIFED has its Head Office located in New Delhi and has a network of 13 Regional Offices located at various places in the country.