Current Affairs 15 June 2021 – IAS Current Affairs

Current Affairs 15 June 2021 focuses on Prelims-Mains perspective. Major events are :

1. India and Pakistan Basmati Rice Issue
2. New Shephard Rocket System Designed
3. Tulu Language : Demand For Official Status
4. UN High-Level Dialogue on Desertification Land degradation and Drought

Prelims

1. Jardalu Mango

India and Pakistan Basmati Rice Issue

Source : Indian Express
GS II : Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights

Why in News ?

India is the world’s largest exporter of basmati rice. It has applied for protected geographical indication (PGI) status from the European Union’s Council on Quality Schemes for Agricultural Products and Foodstuffs.

Key Facts

• This would give it sole ownership of the basmati title in the EU.
• Pakistan, which is the only other basmati rice exporter in the world.
  • It has opposed this move as it would adversely impact its own exports, especially as the EU is a major market for its basmati.

Basmati Production in India 

• In modern India, this region is spread over Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir.

Basmati GI Issue Within India

• Madhya Pradesh government has been lobbying the central government for its basmati rice varieties to be granted the GI status, even taking the matter to the Supreme Court.
• The All India Rice Exporters’ Association (AIREA) is opposed to this on the basis that it compromises basmati’s integrity.
• Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) itself had stated that GI status is strongly linked to a particular geographical region.

Pakistan’s Basmati Production

• Basmati has also been grown for centuries in the Kalar tract, which lies between the Ravi and Chenab rivers in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

Protected Geographical Indication (PGI)

• Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) is a status awarded by the European Commission.
• Protects and promotes named regional food products that have a reputation or noted characteristics specific to that area.

What is Geographical Indication or GI ?

• Sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin.
• Possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.
  • It provides legal protection to Indian Geographical Indications thus preventing unauthorized use of the registered GIs by others.
• Geographical Indications are part of the intellectual property rights that comes under the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
• It comes under Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act of 1999.
  • Registration of GIs began in the financial year 2004-05 after the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection) Act, 1999 came into effect from September 2003.

New Shephard Rocket System Designed

Source : Indian Express
GS III : Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights

Why in News ?

Space company called Blue Origin concluded the online auction for the first seat on New Shephard a rocket system meant to take tourists to space.

Key Facts

• Over 7,600 people registered from 159 countries to bid for this seat, which ultimately went for a winning bid of $28 million.
• New Shephard completed its seventh test launch successfully in October 2020 when it took off from Texas.

Blue Origin

• One of the ten companies selected by NASA to conduct studies and advance technologies to collect, process and use space-based resources for missions to the Moon and Mars.
• In 2019, both signed an agreement that gives Blue Origin permission to use NASA’s historic test stand, as a part of a growing number of partnerships between the space agency and the commercial space industry.

New Shephard a Rocket System

• Named after astronaut Alan Shephard the first American to go to space and offers flights to space over 100 km above the Earth and accommodation for payloads.

  

• It is a rocket system that has been designed to take astronauts and research payloads past the Karman line the internationally recognized boundary of space.
• The idea is to provide easier and more cost-effective access to space meant for purposes such as academic research, corporate technology development and entrepreneurial ventures among others.
• Apart from its academic and research-oriented goal, New Shephard will also allow space tourists to experience microgravity by taking them 100 km above the Earth.

Space Tourism Concept

• To go to space for recreational, leisure or business purposes.
• The idea is to make space more accessible to those individuals who are not astronauts and want to go to space for non-scientific purposes.

Tulu Language : Demand For Official Status

Source : Indian Express
GS II : Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate

Why in News ?

Various organisations initiated a Twitter campaign demanding official language status to Tulu in Karnataka and Kerala.

• It received an overwhelming response with More than 2.5 lakh people tweeted in support of the campaign

About Tulu Language

• Tulu is a Dravidian language spoken mainly in two coastal districts Dakshina Kannada and Udupi of Karnataka and Kasaragod district of Kerala.
• As per the 2011 Census report there are 18,46,427 Tulu-speaking people in India.
• Some scholars suggest Tulu is among the earliest Dravidian languages with a history of 2000 years.
• Robert Caldwell (1814-1891), in his book A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages, called Tulu one of the most highly developed languages of the Dravidian family.
• Tulu has a rich oral literature tradition with folk-song forms like paddana, and traditional folk theatre yakshagana.

Key Facts

• Tulu speakers, mainly in Karnataka and Kerala, have been requesting the governments to give it official language status.
• People who speak Tulu are confined to the above-mentioned regions of Karnataka and Kerala, informally known as Tulu Nadu.
• Efforts are being made to include Tulu in the eighth schedule of the Constitution and if included in the eighth schedule, Tulu would get recognition from the Sahitya Akademi.
• Karnataka government introduced Tulu as a language in schools a few years ago.
• Jai Tulunad conducted an online campaign demanding to include Tulu in the new National Education Policy (NEP).

Official Language

• Official language status include it in the eighth schedule to the Constitution.
• 22 languages presently in the eighth schedule to the Constitution
  • Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Bodo, Santhali, Maithili and Dogri.
• Of these languages,14 were initially included in the Constitution.

UN High-Level Dialogue on Desertification Land degradation and Drought

Source : PIB
GS II : Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate
GS III : Environment Conservation

Why in News ?

PM’s keynote address at the UN ‘High-Level Dialogue on Desertification, Land degradation and Drought’

Key Facts

• Opened as the President of the 14th Session of the Conference of Parties of United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
• Land as the fundamental building block for supporting all lives and livelihoods India called for called for reduction of the tremendous pressure on land and its resources. 
• It is mankind’s collective responsibility to reverse the damage to land caused by human activity.
• It is sacred duty to leave a healthy planet for our future generations.

Need for High Level action

• Globally one fifth of Earth’s land area more than 2 billion hectares is degraded.
• It including more than half of all agricultural land.
• Each year more than 12 million hectares of land are lost to desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD).
• The world loses 24 billion tons of fertile soil annually due to dryland degradation with significant negative impacts on food production and economic activity.

India against Desertification

• India has taken the lead to highlight land degradation issues at international forums.
• Delhi Declaration of 2019 called for better access and stewardship over land, and emphasised gender-sensitive transformative projects.
• In India over the last 10 years around 3 million hectares of forest cover has been added.
• This has enhanced the combined forest cover to almost one-fourth of the country’s total area.
• India is on track to achieve its national commitment of Land degradation neutrality.
• India also working towards restoring 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030 would contribute to India’s commitment to achieve an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
• Banni region in Rann of Kutch in Gujarat start a virtuous cycle of good soil health, increased land productivity, food security and improved livelihoods.
  • Banni region, land restoration was done by developing grasslands, which helped in achieving land degradation neutrality.
  • Also supports pastoral activities and livelihood by promoting animal husbandry.
• South-South cooperation
  • India is assisting fellow developing countries to develop land restoration strategies.
  • A Centre of Excellence is being set up in India to promote a scientific approach towards land degradation issues.

PRELIMS

Jardalu Mango

• Jardalu or Zardalu mango is a unique variety of mango grown in Bhagalpur in Bihar.
• It received the GI tag in 2018.
• GI Certified Jardalu Mangoes First Commercial Consignment Exported From Bihar to UK.

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