Daily Current Affairs for UPSC IAS: 27th October 2022

Bestu Varas : Gujarati New Year

Gujarati New Year or Bestu Varsh is being celebrated on October 26, 2022

• In Gujarat, the New Year which is popularly known as Bestu Varsh is celebrated as part of the five-day Diwali Celebrations.
• Ideally, Gujarati New Year falls on Pratipada of Shukla Paksha in the Kartik month; therefore, it is generally celebrated on Govardhan Puja during Diwali.
• People begin their New Year by visiting temples in the morning.
• Homes are decorated with Asopalav torans and marigold flowers, and attractive Rangoli at the entrance to welcome guests on the New Year.

HAWK Air Defence Equipment:

The United States is considering sending older HAWK air defence equipment from storage to Ukraine to help it defend against Russian drone and cruise missile attacks.

• The HAWK interceptor missiles would be an upgrade to the Stinger missile systems a smaller, shorter-range air defence system – that the United States has already sent to blunt Russia’s invasion.
• HAWK :  ‘Homing All the Way Killer’, entered service with the US Army in 1959, during the Vietnam war.
• It underwent several upgrades, including a major one in 1971 that produced the so-called I-HAWK (or improved HAWK), with a kill probability of 85%.
• The HAWK system was the predecessor to the PATRIOT missile defence system.
• US forces largely stopped using HAWK from the early years of the new century.

Blue Flag Tag:

Two beaches in Lakshadweep received international eco-label “Blue Flag”.

• Minicoy Thundi Beach and Kadmat Beach in Lakshadweep recently entered into the coveted list of Blue Beaches.
• These two beaches have a dedicated staff to maintain cleanliness and provide safety and security for swimmers.
• With these new entrants, India currently has 12 beaches with Blue Flag certification.
• Other beaches in the blue list are Shivrajpur (Gujarat), Ghoghla (Diu), Kasarkod and Padubidri (Karnataka), Kappad (Kerala), Rushikonda (Andhra Pradesh), Golden beach (Odisha), Radhanagar (Andaman and Nicobar Islands), Kovalam (Tamil Nadu) and Eden (Puducherry).
• Golden Beach in Puri was the first in Asia to receive Blue Flag certificate.
• In 2021, Kovalam beach in Tamil Nadu and Eden beach in Puducherry received the blue flag tag.
• A 30-km stretch of the Marina Beach in Chennai is currently being developed for receiving Blue Flag Beach certification. The government has allocated Rs.100 crore for the implementation of this project.

Blue Flag Certification:

• The Blue Flag Certification is an eco-label awarded by the non-profit Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE).
• It is obtained by a beach, marina or sustainable boating tourism operators in the FEE member countries after complying to 33 stringent environmental, educational, safety-related and access-related criteria.
• The blue flag certification is seen as an indicator for high environmental and quality standards of beaches, marinas and sustainable boating tourism.

Foundation for Environmental Education:

• The Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) is a non-governmental organization based in Denmark.
• Its objective is to promote sustainable development through environmental education.

Ethiopia- Tigray Conflict:

An Ethiopian government team and Tigray forces are going to have peace talks in South Africa.

• Since 1994, Ethiopia has had a federal system in which different ethnic groups control the affairs of 10 regions. Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) (the party in power in the Tigray region of Ethiopia)- was influential in setting up this system.
• However, the reforms started by Nobel Peace prize winner Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed (he ended a long-standing territorial dispute with neighbouring Eritrea) saw many of the top key Tigrayan government leaders being accused of corruption and being removed.
• Tigray’s leaders saw Mr Abiy’s reforms as an attempt to centralise power and destroy Ethiopia’s federal system and revolted.
• The conflict started, when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered a military offensive against regional forces in Tigray.

Ethiopia:

• It is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa, officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
• The country lies completely within the tropical latitudes and is relatively compact, with similar north-south and east-west dimensions.
• The capital is Addis Ababa.
• Ethiopia is one of the world’s oldest countries, its territorial extent having varied over the millennia of its existence.
• Ethiopia is located from Sudan in the southeast, Eritrea to the south, Djibouti and Somalia to the west, Kenya to the north, and South Sudan to the east.
• It is the most populous landlocked country in the world.

Lancet Countdown On Health And Climate Change:

A report was released titled Lancet countdown on health and climate change: health at the mercy of fossil fuels, showing that from 2000-2004 to 2017-2021, heat-related deaths increased by 55% in India.

• This report comes ahead of this year’s United Nations climate change conference (COP27), to be held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
• The report represents the work of 99 experts from 51 institutions, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Findings of the Report:

• Subsidies to fossil fuel consumption in many countries are causing global problems, including deterioration of air quality, decline in food output and increased risk of infectious disease linked to higher carbon emissions.
• In 2021, 80% of the countries reviewed provided some form of fossil fuel subsidy, totaling USD 400 billion.
• In 2019, India spent a net USD 34 billion on fossil fuel subsidies, accounting for 5% of total national health spending.
• Over 3,30,000 people died in India in 2020 as a result of exposure to fossil fuel pollutants.
• From 2012-2021, infants under one year old experienced an average of 72 million more person-days of heatwaves per year, compared to 1985-2005.
• Adults over the age of 65 in India experienced 301 million more person-days during the same time period.
• From 2000-2004 to 2017-2021, heat-related deaths increased by 55% in India.
• In 2021, Indians lost 167.2 billion potential labour hours due to heat exposure with income losses equivalent to about 5.4% of national GDP.
• From 1951-1960 to 2012-2021, the number of months suitable for dengue transmission by Aedes Aegypti rose by 1.69%, reaching 5.6 months each year.

First Indian-Origin British Prime Minister : Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak became the United Kingdom’s first Indian-origin British Prime Minister.

• He was previously appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer from 13 February 2020 to 5 July 2022.
• He was Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 24 July 2019 to 13 February 2020, and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government from 9 January 2018 to 24 July 2019.
• Since the Conservative party has a majority in the current U.K. parliament, the winner of the party leadership contest will automatically become prime minister.
• New Conservative leader selected Under usual circumstances, British prime ministers are chosen in a general election held every five years.
• Instead of voting for the nation’s leader directly, as is the case in presidential electoral systems, the public chooses between delegates of each party to represent their local area, known as a constituency.
• The party that wins the most constituencies wins the election, and the leader of that party typically becomes the prime minister.
• Party leaders are chosen by an internal process normally in advance of a general election, or in the case that a leader steps down or is forced out.
• To take part in the race, a Conservative member of parliament needs to be nominated by at least 20 colleagues.
• First, MPs whittle the candidates down in a series of secret ballots, whereby the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated at each round until two are remaining.
• In the second stage, card-carrying grassroots party members vote on the final two candidates.