Current Affairs 15 September 2020 – IAS Current Affairs

Current Affairs 15 September 2020 focuses on Prelims-Mains perspective. Major events are :

1. Develop and Promote Buddhist sites in India
2. Mekedatu project Karnataka Seeks Nod
3. NIMHANS Develops Indian Brain Templates
4. Supplementary Demands for Grants
5. Graphene Mask Inactivates Coronaviruses
6. India CPI Retail Inflation August 2020

Develop and Promote Buddhist sites in India

Why in News?

Ministry of Tourism has undertaken development of tourism related infrastructure and facilities at various Buddhist Sites in the country under its flagships schemes of Swadesh Darshan & PRASHAD. Develop and Promote Buddhist sites in India will increase the experience of tourists.

Schemes of Swadesh Darshan & PRASHAD is promoting spiritual tourism.

Swadesh Darshan Scheme

• It is a scheme of Ministry of Tourism under Government of India a Central Sector Scheme.
• Various themes which are unique and specific to the area include beaches, culture, heritage, wildlife etc.
• Supports communities, provides employment and fosters social integration without comprising upon the environmental concerns.
• Besides it improve experience of the tourist.
• Buddhist sites has been identified as one of the 15 thematic circuits under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme.
• A total number of 5 projects for an amount of Rs. 353.73 crore have been sanctioned for the development of Buddhist Sites under the Swadesh Darsha Scheme.
• Till date the total sanctioned amount is 5895 crore.

PRASHAD Scheme

• National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD) giving focus on development of tourism infrastructure and facilities.
• To rejuvenation and spiritual augmentation of important national/ global pilgrimage and heritage sites.
• Integrated tourism development of heritage city, local arts, culture, handicrafts, cuisine, etc., and to generate livelihood.
• It also strengthen the tourism infrastructure and local economy.
• 41 religious cities/sites in 25 States have been identified for development.
• A total number of 30 projects for an amount of Rs.918.92 crore have been sanctioned under the PRASHAD Scheme.

Promotion of Tourism in India

• Ministry of Tourism is promoting adventure tourism, religious tourism and eco-tourism as part of Incredible India 2.0 Campaign in domestic and overseas markets.
• Also releasing specific media campaigns for promoting tourism destinations in North East States.
  • These destinations and niche tourism products are also being promoted on regular basis by India tourism offices in exhibitions and fairs held in India and abroad.

Source : PIB

Topic

Prelims : About Swadesh Darshan Scheme, PRASHAD Scheme

GS I : Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times

GS II : Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation

Mekedatu project Karnataka Seeks Nod

Why in News ?

The Karnataka government is likely to take a delegation, headed by Chief Minister to bring pressure on the Centre to approve the construction of the Mekedatu. Mekedatu project Karnataka Seeks Nod for balancing reservoir that has been proposed to store water for drinking purposes.

About Mekedatu

• It is a deep gorge situated at the confluence of the rivers Cauvery and its tributary Arkavathi.
• It is the midst of the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary.

About the Mekedatu Project

• The Rs. 9,000 crore project, approved by the State government in 2017, has received approval from the Union Water Resources Ministry for the detailed project report and is awaiting approval from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF).
  • 5,051 hectares of forests would be submerged and they included 3,181 hectares in the sanctuary and 1,870 hectares in the reserve forest.
  • The approval from MOEF is crucial since 63% of the forest area that will be submerged is in the sanctuary.
• Need for the project?
  • Around 400 megawatts (MW) of power is proposed to be generated through the project.
  • Water could be drawn from the reservoir to partially meet the needs of Bengaluru

What is the Dispute ?

• Tamil Nadu has approached the Supreme Court against the project.
• Why Tamil Nadu is against the project ?
  • Karnataka had not sought prior permission for the project.
  • Project would affect the flow of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.
  • decisions of the Supreme Court and the Cauvery Tribunal are violated due to the construction of the reservoir.
• Supreme Court View
  • Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) and the SC : No state can claim exclusive ownership or assert rights to deprive other states of the waters of inter-state rivers.
  • Existing storage facilities available in the Cauvery basin were adequate for storing and distributing water.
  • Since the reservoir is not just for drinking water alone, but to increase the extent of irrigation which is in clear violation of the Cauvery Water Disputes Award.
• 4.75 tmcft of water could be drawn from the reservoir to partially meet the needs of Bengaluru and that it would not affect the flow of water to Tamil Nadu.

Source : The Hindu

Topic

GS II : Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges therein.

NIMHANS Develops Indian Brain Templates

Why in News ?

Neurologists, neurosurgeons and psychiatrists in India can map the brain structure of their patients and make an accurate assessment using Indian Brain Templates (IBT) and a brain atlas developed by a team of neuroscientists from NIMHANS. NIMHANS Develops Indian Brain Templates.

What is it ?

• Brain Templates and atlas are used to provide more precise reference maps of individual patients with neurological disorders like strokes, brain tumours, and dementia.
• Also help pool information more usefully in group studies of the human brain and psychological functions, aiding our understanding of psychiatric illnesses like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), autism, substance dependence, schizophrenia, and mood disorders
• Currently we are using Montreal Neurological Index (MNI) template which is based on Caucasian brains.
  • MNI template was made by averaging 152 healthy brain scans from just a small slice of the city’s population in North America.
  • But Caucasian brains are different from Asian brains.
  • When most brain scans (MRI) are taken, they need to be compared to a standard brain template a model or standard for making comparisons from a group of individual brain scans.
  • This helps researchers identify parts of the brain.
  • A challenge for researchers is that brain size and shape differs across ages, and across regions and ethnicity and even greatly within any population.
• Some countries have their own scale to measure the brain.

NIMHANS Brain Template

• National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences have developed now is a scale that will measure an Indian brain.
• These new population and age specific Indian brain templates will allow more reliable tracking of brain development and ageing. 
• Validation experiments and comparisons with existing international templates found that using the NIMHANS IBTs for Indian brains significantly improved the accuracy of alignment.
• Also noticeably reducing distortions, errors or biases in final reports of brain structure and function.

Source : The Hindu

Topic

GS III : Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology

Supplementary Demands for Grants

Why in News ?

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the first batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for this financial year in the Lok Sabha.

What is Supplementary Demands for Grant ?

• Supplementary demand for grants is needed for government expenditure over and above the amount for which Parliamentary approval was already obtained during the Budget session.
  • The additional grant required to meet the required expenditure of the government is called Supplementary Grants.
  • When grants, authorised by the Parliament, fall short of the required expenditure, an estimate is presented before the Parliament for Supplementary or Additional grants.
  • These grants are presented and passed by the Parliament before the end of the financial year.
• Public Accounts Committee examines these excesses and gives recommendations to the Parliament.

Various Grant

• Additional Grant : When excess amount of grant is needed in the financial year for any additional expenditure for any service.
• Token Grant : This is similar to additional grant but the only difference is it is only available after the re-appropriation.
• Excess Grant : Same as the word excess mean. When money has been spent on any service during a financial year in excess of the amount granted for that service in the budget for that year.
• Exceptional Grant : It is granted for a special purpose and forms no part of the current service of any financial year.
• Vote of Credit : To meet an unexpected demand upon resources of India.
• Votes on Account : To make any grant in advance in respect to the estimated expenditure.

Recent gross additional expenditure

• Out of the Rs. 2.35 lakh crore gross additional expenditure, the proposals involving net cash outgo add up to almost Rs. 1.67 lakh crore.
• Where the fund is going to allocate?
  • State governments : including Rs. 44,340 crore in post-devolution revenue deficit grants, and Rs. 2,262 crore as grants-in-aid for the State Disaster Response Funds
  • Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme allocations of Rs. 40,000 crore additional funding promised.
  • Aatmanirbhar package to get Rs. 1 lakh crore.
  • Recapitalisation of public sector banks through issue of government securities at Rs. 20,000 crore.
    • In fact this was no in this year’s budget but the extra ordinary situation required the infusion.
  • Health Ministry included demands worth Rs. 6,852 crore for containment of the pandemic.

Source : The Hindu

Topic

Prelims : Supplementary Demands for Grant and other grant

GS II :

• Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
• Parliament and State Legislatures – structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these

Graphene Mask Inactivates Coronaviruses

Why in News ?

Researchers from the City University of Hong Kong have produced graphene masks with an anti-bacterial efficiency of 80 per cent, which they say can be raised to almost 100 per cent with exposure to sunlight for 10 minutes.

What are the properties of Graphene ?

• Graphene is known for anti-bacterial properties.
• The researchers created a laser-induced form of graphene and tested it on E-coli.
  • It showed anti-bacterial efficiency of about 82 per cent.
  • Most of the E coli were dead after 8 hours.
• The laser-induced graphene also showed a superior anti-bacterial capacity for aerosolised bacteria.
• Test on Human Corona Virus
  • Initial tests on two human coronavirus species showed the graphene inactivated over 90 per cent of the virus in five minutes
  • Almost 100 per cent in 10 minutes under sunlight.
• The graphene masks are easily produced at low cost, and can help to resolve the problems of sourcing raw materials and disposing of non-biodegradable masks.
  • The production of laser-induced graphene as a green technique.
• All carbon-containing materials, such as cellulose or paper, can be converted into graphene using this technique.
  • The conversion can be carried out under ambient conditions without using chemicals other than the raw materials, nor causing pollution.
  • Laser-induced graphene masks are reusable.
  • If biomaterials are used for producing graphene, it can help to resolve the problem of sourcing raw material for masks
• Exact mechanism of graphene’s bacteria-killing property is yet to be identified. Primary evidence shows
  • Damage of bacterial cell membranes by graphene’s sharp edge
  • The bacteria may be killed by dehydration induced by the water-repelling property of graphene.

Source : Indian Express

Topic

GS III : Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life

India CPI Retail Inflation August 2020

Why in News ?

India CPI Retail Inflation August 2020 growth across the country drops to 6.69 per cent in the month of August. The data released by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI).

What is Consumer Price Index (CPI) ?

• A measure for weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services such as transportation, food, and medical care.
• It is calculated by taking price changes for each item in the predetermined basket of goods and averaging them.
  • They are used for assessing the cost of living.
• Four consumer price index numbers, which are calculated and these are as follows
  • CPI for Industrial Workers (IW)
  • CPI for Agricultural Labourers (AL)
  • CPI for Rural Labourers (RL)
  • CPI for Urban Non-Manual Employees (UNME).
• Currently the base year for India’s CPI is 2012.

What is Retail Inflation ?

• The retail inflation is measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
• In short retail inflation means the increase in prices of certain products or commodities compared to a base price.
  • Retail inflation is linked to Consumer Price Index(CPI) which is managed by Ministry of Statistics.

What is Wholesale Price Index ?

• The WPI measures the price of a representative basket of wholesale goods. Measures and tracks the changes in the price of goods before they reach consumers.
• The total costs of the goods being considered in one year are then compared with the total costs of goods in the base year.

About the News

• Retail inflation growth dipped to 6.69% in the month of August against 6.73% in July 2020.
• Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation rose to 0.16% in August from a 0.58% contraction in July.

Source : Indian Express

Topic

GS II : Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment. 

Current Affairs 15 September 2020 : Our major Sources for the Current Affairs are The Hindu, Indian Express, PIB. For more queries and mentor-ship please contact us.