Daily Current Affairs for UPSC IAS: 25th March 2022

Swachh Bharat Mission: Achievements

According to the parliamentary standing committee report on water resources:

• Only 12% of the villages that were supposed to get infrastructure for liquid waste management this year have achieved their goal under the second phase of the Swacch Bharat Mission.
• The implementation of solid waste management infrastructure also lagged behind, with only 22% of target villages covered during 2021-22 until February 7.
• In its first phase, the Swacch Bharat Mission aimed to provide a toilet in every rural household and claimed to have achieved its goal in 2019.

Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 (SBM-U):

• To make all cities 100% ‘garbage free’ from current 70%.
• Ensure grey and black water management in all cities other than those covered under AMRUT.
• Make all urban local bodies as ODF+ and those with a population of less than 1 lakh as ODF++.
• Focus on source segregation of solid waste by utilizing the principles of 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle).
• Scientific processing of all types of municipal solid waste and remediation of legacy dumpsites for effective solid waste management.

Abel Prize 2022:

It has been awarded to Professor Dennis Parnell Sullivan.

• He was awarded the prize “For his groundbreaking contributions to topology in its broadest sense, and in particular its algebraic, geometric and dynamical aspects.”
• The Abel Prize is awarded annually to outstanding mathematicians.
• It was established by the Norwegian Government in 2002, and is managed by The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
• The first Abel Prize, awarded in 2003, went to French mathematician Jean-Pierre Serre.
• The only person of Indian origin to have won this prize is Srinivasa S.R. Varadhan. He is at the Courant Institute, New York University, and won it in 2007.
• So far, the prize has gone to only one woman mathematician, Karen Keskulla Uhlenbeck of University of Texas, U.S.A.

World Meteorological Day 2022 : Theme

World Meteorological Day is celebrated globally on 23rd March.

• Earlier in October, 2021, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released the State of Climate Services report 2021.
• The day is celebrated to commemorate the establishment of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which was created in 1950.
• Being celebrated since 1961, the day is also observed to make people aware of their role in protecting Earth’s atmosphere.

Theme for 2022:

• Early warning and early action – it emphasises the critical necessity of hydrometeorological and climate information for disaster risk reduction.
• A disaster related to a weather, climate or water hazard occurred every day on average over the past 50 years – killing 115 people and causing USD 202 million in losses daily.
• According to the WMO Atlas of Mortality and Economic Losses from Weather, Climate and Water Extremes (1970 – 2019), there were more than 11, 000 reported disasters attributed to these hazards globally.
• The number of disasters has increased by a factor of five over the 50-year period, driven by climate change, more extreme weather and improved reporting.
• The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events is set to rise due to more and more greenhouse gases being added to the atmosphere every year, resulting in warming.
• India: The number of severe cyclones over the Arabian Sea has risen by 1 per decade and maximum temperature has increased by 0.99 degree C since 1901 in India – small numbers that are big when it comes to weather.
• There is a significant rise in heavy rainfall events also over India.

Testing Of NASA’s Artemis Program:

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) rolled out its Artemis I moon mission to the launchpad for testing at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, United States.

• NASA’s Artemis mission is touted as the next generation of lunar exploration, and is named after the twin sister of Apollo from Greek mythology.
• Artemis is also the goddess of the moon.
• It is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration to the Moon and Mars.
• With the Artemis programme, NASA aims to land humans on the moon by 2024, and it also plans to land the first woman and first person of colour on the moon.
• NASA will establish an Artemis Base Camp on the surface and a gateway (the lunar outpost around the Moon) in lunar orbit to aid exploration by robots and astronauts.
• The gateway is a critical component of NASA’s sustainable lunar operations and will serve as a multi-purpose outpost orbiting the moon.
• Other space agencies are also involved in the Artemis programme.
• Canadian Space Agency has committed to providing advanced robotics for the gateway,
• The European Space Agency will provide the International Habitat and the ESPRIT module, which will deliver additional communications capabilities among other things.
• The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency plans to contribute habitation components and logistics resupply.

World Tuberculosis Day 2022 : Theme

World Tuberculosis (TB) Day is observed on 24th March to spread awareness about the disastrous health, social, and economic consequences of TB and to take efforts to end the TB epidemic globally.

• Earlier in 2021, Centenary celebration was observed for the Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, which is presently the sole vaccine available for the prevention of TB.
• On this day in 1882, Dr. Robert Koch announced the discovery of a Mycobacterium tuberculosis that causes TB and his discovery opened the way towards diagnosing and curing this disease.
• Even today the TB is one of the world’s deadliest infectious killers.
• As per WHO (World Health Organisation), every day, over 4100 people lose their lives to TB and about 28,000 people fall ill with this disease.
• Deaths from tuberculosis have risen in 2020 for the first time in more than a decade.
• According to the WHO, in 2020, around 9,900,000 people fell ill with TB and died, around 1,500,000. Since the 2000 year, 66,000,000 lives have been saved by efforts taken globally to end TB.
• India accounts for around 26% of the total TB cases across the world.
• Therefore, World TB Day is observed to educate people around the world about the disease TB and its impact.

Theme for World TB Day 2022:

• The theme is “Invest to End TB. Save Lives.”
• The theme emphasises the critical need to invest resources to accelerate the fight against tuberculosis and meet the commitments made by leaders around the world to end tuberculosis.

Fifth Edition Of The Women Transforming India Awards:

WEP is an initiative by the NITI Aayog to promote and support aspiring as well as established women entrepreneurs in India, assisting them in their journey from starting up to scaling up and expanding their ventures.

• The idea of the Platform was first proposed by Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog who announced the WEP at the conclusion of the 8th Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in 2017, to help resolve the information asymmetry that exists in the ecosystem.
• The platform works to strengthen industry linkages and increase awareness of the women entrepreneurs regarding the existing programmes and services.
• Through its partnerships, services are provided in 6 main focus areas: Community and Networking, Funding and Financial Assistance, Incubation and Acceleration, Compliance and Tax Assistance, Entrepreneur Skilling and Mentorship and Marketing Assistance.
• Over 900 women entrepreneurs have benefitted through 77 programmes and events hosted on the platform.ITI Aayog’s Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) organized the fifth edition of the Women Transforming India Awards (WTI).
• The WTI Awards 2021 were conferred upon 75 women achievers to celebrate their contribution towards a ‘Sashakt Aur Samarth Bharat’.
• The Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) anthem titled ‘Nari Shakti’-written, composed and sung by Kailash Kher was presented at the event.
• The WTI Awards is NITI Aayog’s annual initiative to highlight the commendable and ground-breaking endeavours of India’s women leaders and change-makers.
• Since 2018, the Awards have been hosted under the aegis of NITI Aayog’s Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP), with a special focus on entrepreneurship.

Article 355:

Congress party in West Bengal has demanded that the law and order situation in West Bengal is completely broken and Article 355 should be invoked to ensure the State is governed as per the provisions of the Constitution.

• On 21st March 2022, there was a violent fight between two groups of the ruling party in Bogtui village in Birbhum district.
• The Deputy Pradhan, Shri Bhadu Sheikh was killed and in retaliation houses in the area were attacked and set on fire resulting in 12 deaths including that of women and children.
• All the members belong to the minority community.
• Article 355 refers to the provision in the Constitution that states that “It shall be the duty of the Union to protect every State against external aggression and internal disturbance and to ensure that the government of every State is carried on in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution”.
• There are several angles to the second part of this duty – to ensure that the Government of every State is carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.

12th Chief Minister Of Uttarakhand : Pushkar Singh Dhami

Pushkar Singh Dhami recently took took oath as the 12th chief minister of Uttarakhand.

• Since, according to the constitution, the chief minister is appointed by the governor, the swearing in is done before the governor of the state.
• The Chief Minister is appointed by the governor.
• 164 of the Constitution provides that there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Chief Minister at its hand to aid and advise the governor.
• After general election to the State Legislative Assembly, the party or coalition group which secures majority in this House, elects its leader and communicates his name to the Governor.
• The Governor then formally appoints him as the Chief Minister and asks him to form his Council of Ministers.
• When no party gets a clear majority in the State Legislative Assembly, the Governor normally asks the leader of the single largest party to form the government.
• Theoretically, the Chief Minister holds office during the pleasure of the Governor. However, in actual practice the Chief Minister remains in office so long as he continues to be the leader of the majority in the State Legislative Assembly.
• The Governor can dismiss him in case he loses his majority support.
• The State Legislative Assembly can also remove him by passing a vote of no-confidence against him.

Demand For Restarting Mid-Day Meals In Schools:

Congress President Sonia Gandhi Wednesday made a strong demand for restarting mid-day meals in schools as they open after the long closure due to the Covid pandemic.

• The mid-day meal scheme was stopped when schools were shut down due to the Covid pandemic.
• Children were given dry rations during the pandemic and food grains were also provided under the National Food Security Act. But for children, dry ration is no substitute for hot cooked meals.
• The scheme guarantees one meal to all children in government and aided schools and madarsas supported under Samagra Shiksha.
• Students up to Class VIII are guaranteed one nutritional cooked meal at least 200 days in a year.
• The Scheme comes under the Ministry of HRD.
• It was launched in the year 1995 as the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP – NSPE), a centrally sponsored scheme.
• In 2004, the scheme was relaunched as the Mid Day Meal Scheme.
• The Scheme is also covered by the National Food Security Act, 2013.

Objective:

• Address hunger and malnutrition, increase enrolment and attendance in school, improve socialisation among castes, provide employment at grassroot level especially to women.
• The MDM rules 2015, provide that:
  • The place of serving meals to the children shall be school only.
  • If the Mid-Day Meal is not provided in school on any school day due to non-availability of food grains or any other reason, the State Government shall pay food security allowance by 15th of the succeeding month.
  • The School Management Committee mandated under the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 shall also monitor implementation of the Mid-day meal Scheme.