Daily Current Affairs for UPSC, IAS, UPPSC/UPPCS, BPSC, MPPSC, RPSC and All State PCS Examinations

India Report on Digital Education

Why in NEWS?

• Union Minister for HRD Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ on 28th July 2020, virtually launched India Report on Digital Education, 2020.

About

• The report elaborates on the innovative methods adopted by Education Departments of States and Union Territories for ensuring accessible and inclusive education to children at home and reducing learning gaps.
• The HRD Ministry has initiated projects to assist teachers, scholars and students in their pursuit of learning like DIKSHA platform, Swayam Prabha TV Channel, On Air – Shiksha Vani, DAISY by NIOS for differently-abled to name a few.

Digital initiatives

• Some of the major digital initiatives by State Governments are SMILE (Social Media Interface for Learning Engagement) in Rajasthan, Project Home Classes in Jammu, Padhai Tunhar duvaar (Education at your doorstep) in Chhattisgarh, Unnayan Initiatives in Bihar through portal and mobile application, Mission Buniyaad in NCT of Delhi among others.
• For ex- Madhya Pradesh has launched Top Parent App, a free mobile app that empowers parents of young children to help them meaningfully engage with their children.

Inclusive learning

• To ensure inclusive learning in remote areas where internet connectivity and electricity is poor and sporadic, States and UTs have also distributed textbooks at children’s doorsteps.
• Many States have had to be creative with low tech forms of teaching and instruction delivery with low or nil requirements of the internet.
• Primary class students are receiving radio talks in their mother tongue through All India Radio, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh.
• Some of the states that have taken this initiative to reach students are Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

World Hepatitis Day 2020

Why in NEWS?

• On the occasion of ‘World Hepatitis Day ‘, that is 28th July 2020, 2nd empathy e-conclave was organised.

About

• The event was organised for creating awareness among the parliamentarians.
• It was organised by Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) in collaboration with Airport Authority of India (AAI).
• ‘’Keep your Liver Safe in COVID times’’ is the theme for this year’s e-conclave event.
• Mortality due to COVID-19 is approximately 2-3 % and most cases are largely asymptomatic cases thus it becomes important to create awareness about the higher risk of both morbidity and mortality faced by people with co-morbidities like diabetes, obesity and fatty liver, chronic liver diseases.

HEPATITIS

• Hepatitis is an inflammatory condition of the liver.
• It imbalances the normal functioning of bile production, excretion of drugs and hormones, metabolism of fats, proteins, synthesis of proteins and enzyme activation.
• There are five main types of hepatitis viruses: A, B, C, D and E, all cause liver disease but vary in important ways.
• According to WHO estimates, viral hepatitis caused 1.34 million deaths globally in 2015, a number comparable to deaths due to tuberculosis, worldwide.
• In India, around 4 crore people suffering from Hepatitis B and 0.6-1.2 crore people suffering from Hepatitis C.

STEPS BY GOVERNMENT of INDIA

• Inclusion of Hepatitis B vaccination under the expanded Universal Immunization Programme.
• Launch of the National Viral Hepatitis Control Programme in July 2018 under National Health Mission by the Health Ministry.
• The aim of the programme is to combat hepatitis and achieve countrywide elimination of Hepatitis C by 2030.

WORLD HEPATITIS DAY

• It is commemorated each year on 28th July to enhance awareness of viral hepatitis.
• This year’s theme is “Hepatitis-free future-WHO”, with a strong focus on preventing hepatitis B among mothers and newborns.
• WHO Member States, aims to reduce new hepatitis infections by 90% and deaths by 65% between 2016 and 2030.

5th Annual Meeting of the board of governors of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

IN NEWS

• Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman attended the 5th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) through video conference in New Delhi.
• Theme-“Connecting for Tomorrow”.

ABOUT

• The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a multilateral development bank that aims to support the building of infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region.
• It is headquartered in Beijing and began its operations in January 2016.
• The bank currently has now grown to 103 approved members worldwide.
• It received the highest credit ratings from the three biggest rating agencies in the world, and is seen as a potential rival to the World Bank and IMF.

FINANCIAL RESOURCES OF AIIB

• The AIIB's initial total capital is USD 100 billion divided into 1 million shares of 100 000 dollars each, with 20% paid-in and 80% callable.
• Paid-Up Share Capital: It is the amount of money that has already been paid by investors in exchange for shares of stock.
• Called-Up Share Capital: Some companies may issue shares to investors with the understanding they will be paid at a later date.
• This allows for more flexible investment terms and may entice investors to contribute more share capital than if they had to provide funds up front.
• China is the largest contributor to the Bank, contributing USD 50 billion, half of the initial subscribed capital.
• India is the second-largest shareholder in AIIB, contributing USD 8.4 billion.

VOTING RIGHTS

• China is the largest shareholder with 26.61 % voting shares in the bank followed by India (7.6%), Russia (6.01%) and Germany (4.2 %).
• The regional members hold 75% of the total voting power in the Bank.

Union Environment Minister releases Detailed Report of Tiger Census

IN NEWS

• Union Environment Minister, Shri Prakash Javadekar released the detailed report of Tiger Census on the eve of Global Tiger Day (29th July 2020) in New Delhi.
• LIDAR survey technology to be used for the first time for effective fodder and water augmentation in forest area.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

• India has 70 percent of world’s tiger population. By virtue of this, tiger is not only a conservation icon but also acts as an umbrella species for majority of eco-regions in the Indian subcontinent.
• The Project Tiger, that was initiated in 1973 aimed to harness the functional role of the tiger and its charisma to garner resources and public support for conserving representative ecosystems.
• For this census LIDAR based survey technology will be used for the first time. LIDAR is a method for measuring distances by illuminating the target with laser light and measuring the reflection with a sensor.
• According to the population estimation of tigers in reserves for 2018-19, Corbett has 231 tigers followed by Nagarhole and Bandipore reserves in Karnataka with 127 and 126 tigers respectively.
• The fourth cycle of National tiger status assessment of 2018-19 covered 381,400 km of forested habitats in 20 states of India.
• The overall tiger population in India was estimated at 2,461.
• Tigers were observed to be increasing at a rate of per annum in India when consistently 6% sampled areas were compared from 2006 to 2018.

The detailed report of the 4th All India Tiger Estimation is unique in the following ways;

• Abundance index of co-predators and other species has been carried out which hitherto was restricted only to occupancy.
• Sex ratio of tigers in all camera trap sites has been carried out for the first time.
• Anthropogenic effects on tiger population have been elaborated in a detailed manner.
• Tiger abundance within pockets in tiger reserves has been demonstrated for the first time.

CONCLUSION

• Tiger is an incredible part of the nature and the increased number of the big cats in India reflects equilibrium in the nature.
• The Heads of the Governments of Tiger Range countries at St. Petersburg, Russia, had resolved to double tiger numbers across their global range by 2022 by signing the St. Petersburg declaration on tiger conservation.
• Efforts would be made to provide water and fodder to animals in the forest itself to deal with the challenge of human-animal conflict which is causing deaths of animals