WHY IN THE NEWS?

Union Minister Piyush Goyal inaugurated India’s Pavilion at Dubai Expo 2020.

About:

• At the expo, India has deployed the largest number of participants.
• It has a state-of-the-art 8,750 square metre pavilion with the message that “India is out to grab the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in order to explore solutions to challenges that hamper its growth.

Showcasing Ancient and Future India

India Pavilion at Dubai Expo has been conceived as a hi-tech structure. It is a civilisational confluence of ancient India as well as future India. It is a massive four-floor structure that has been designed to attract anyone who walks in with the popular exports in India including yoga, literature, Ayurveda, heritage, arts, cuisine and space technology. Exterior of the pavilion is real showstopper.

Theme of Pavilion

Innovative facade comprises of 600 individual kinetic blocks. Each of the facade can turn on its own axis in order to construct a picture on the basis of multiple themes. Pavilion has been installed under the overarching theme of ‘India on the move’ and ‘India the diverse’. Facade on both the sides of the pavilion comprise of face of Mahatma Gandhi while metamorphosing front will showcase “constant change” and “timeless endurance” to mark the 75-year-old journey of India.

Primary Themes of the pavilion

Zones in the pavilion are identified on the basis of 11 primary themes namely, Climate & Biodiversity; Urban & Rural Development; Space; Tolerance & Inclusivity; Knowledge & Learning; Golden Jubilee; Travel & Connectivity; Health & Wellness; Global Goals; Food Agriculture & Livelihoods and Water.

Significance of India Pavilion

India pavilion is being viewed as long-term strategic investment. About 490 crore rupees has been invested on it. Pavilion design is so flexible that it can be used for offices and a space for trade or cultural event.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released its report called “Global Financial Stability Report”, highlighting how digital currency assets bring in financial stability challenges.

About:

• In its report, IMF notes that the rapid growing crypto ecosystem presents new opportunities to the world. However, these digital currency assets also pose several financial stability challenges.
• According to a report, Technological innovation is starting a new era of making payments and other financial services faster, cheaper, and more accessible. Such transactions also allow flow across borders swiftly.

Innovative services

In its report, IMF highlights that, crypto-asset technologies are a potential tool for faster and cheaper cross-border payments. Using these technologies, bank deposits can be transformed into a stable coin, allowing instant access to financial products from digital platforms. It also allows instant currency conversion. According to IMF, decentralised finance can become a platform for more inclusive innovative and transparent financial services.

Challenges with the cryptocurrencies

• According to IMF, rapid growth and increasing adoption of crypto assets pose financial stability challenges.
• Such decentralised currencies could also lead to instability as they are extremely volatile. They are much more volatile than the equities or commodities or exchange rates.
• Its transaction costs are fairly expensive as compared to digital money.
• As per report, such transaction destabilizes the capital flows. It also poses several operational and financial integrity risks from the provides of crypto asset.

What are cryptocurrencies?

Cryptocurrencies are digital or virtual currencies where encryption techniques are used for regulating the generation of units and verifying the transfer of funds. Such systems are operating independently of any central bank.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

The Indian men’s table tennis team has won a bronze medal at the Asian Table Tennis Championships being held in Doha, Qatar.

About:

• Indian team won bronze after losing to South Korea by 0-3 in the semi-finals.
• The team was assured of winning a medal after beating Iran by 3-1 in the quarterfinals on September 29.
• Both the semi-finalists won a bronze medal.
• Asian Table Tennis Championships

It is a biennial table tennis tournament and is regarded as continental championship by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). The tournament was organized by the Table Tennis Federation of Asia (TTFA) from 1952 to 1972. Asian Table Tennis Union (ATTU) started its own Asian Championships because of conflict between national table tennis associations in Asia.

International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF)

ITTF is the governing body of all the national table tennis associations. It looks after the rules & regulations and seeks technological improvement for table tennis. The body is responsible for organizing numerous international competitions such as World Table Tennis Championships.

World Table Tennis Championships

This tournament has been held since 1926. Since 1957, it is held biennially. Under the tournament, five individual events including men’s singles, women’s singles, women’s double, men’s doubles and mixed doubles, are held in odd numbered years.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

8th Edition of the “India Sri Lanka bilateral joint Exercise” called Mitra Shakti will be conducted from October 4 to October 15, 2021, at Combat Training School, Ampara in Sri Lanka.

About:

• In the joint exercise, all arms contingent of 120 personnel from the Indian Army will participate along with the battalion of the Sri Lankan Army.
• This exercise will be conducted with the aim of promoting close relations between the armies of India and Sri Lanka.
• It also seeks to enhance interoperability and share best practices to counter insurgency and terrorism operations.
• It will involve tactical level operations at the sub-unit level.
• Operations will be held in an international Counter Insurgency and Counter Terrorism environment.
• The exercise will act as the catalyst to bring synergy and cooperation at the grass-root level between the Indian army and Sri Lankan Army.

Background

7th Edition of Exercise Mitra Shakti was conducted in the year 2019 at Foreign Training Node (FTN), Pune, Maharashtra. It was conducted with the aim of building and promoting positive relations between armies of both the countries. It also incorporated the current dynamics of United Nations peacekeeping operations by means of practical & comprehensive discussions as well as tactical exercises.

India-Sri Lanka relations

Bilateral relations between India and Sri-Lanka are historic. Only 4% of Sri Lankans are having a negative view regarding India. Both the countries are also close on economic terms. India is the largest trading partner of Sri Lanka. Both the countries share a maritime border. India is separated by Sri Lanka, by the Palk Strait. They are republics within the Commonwealth of Nations

WHY IN THE NEWS?

American Space Agency, NASA, is set to send its first spacecraft to study Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids.

About:

• Spacecraft will be launched from “Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida” on October 16, 2021.
• This spacecraft would obtain new insights into the formation of solar system 4.5 billion years ago.
• The spacecraft has been named as Lucy. It was named after an ancient fossil which provided insights into the evolution of human species.

The objective of the mission

Mission Lucy will be launched with the objective of investigating the group of rocky bodies that are circling the Sun in two swarms- one preceding Jupiter and the other trailing behind it.

About the mission

Mission Lucy will go for a 12-year journey after receiving boosts from Earth’s gravity. 12-year journey will be completed across eight different asteroids including one in Main Belt between Mars & Jupiter and seven Trojans. Spacecraft will fly by its target objects within 400 kilometres of their surfaces. It will use onboard instruments and large antenna to investigate the geology of target objects. It will be the first solar-powered spacecraft at a distance of 400 kms. Total cost of the mission is $981 million.

What are Trojans?

Trojans are small celestial body or asteroids, sharing the orbit of larger one. They remain in a stable orbit, nearly 60° ahead or behind the main body. They can share the orbits of planets or large moons. Trojans are a type of co-orbital object. In Trojans, a star and a planet orbit around a common barycentre. Barycentre is close to the centre of the star as it is much more massive as compared to the orbiting planet. Most of the known trojans in solar system share the orbit of Jupiter. They are in a very small region of space but are physically different from one another. As of now, about 7000 trojans are known.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

India-based Dr Rukmini Banerji was awarded with the 2021 Yidan prize.

About:

• Award was presented to her by Yidan Prize Foundation.
• Apart from her, US-based Professor Eric Hanushek was also conferred with the prestigious Yidan Prize 2021.
• Both have been awarded the Yidan Prize for recognition of their ground-breaking work that addresses a crucial piece of education puzzle called “improving quality of education as well as outcomes for learners at scale”.
• Both of them will join nine laureates who have been awarded the Yidan Prize since 2016.

Cash Prize

Both the persons will receive HK$30 million which is equal to approximately US$3.9 million. The money includes HK$15 million cash prize and a project fund of HK$15 million, from the Foundation.

Dr Rukmini Banerji

He is the Chief Executive Officer of ‘Pratham Education Foundation’. She was awarded the 2021 Yidan Prize for Education Development. Award recognises her work in improving learning outcomes. He also pioneered the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) assessment approach, revealing literacy and numeracy gaps among children in India. To bridge these gaps, they started “Teaching at the Right Level” (TaRL) program which works with schools and local communities in order to provide basic reading and arithmetic skills. This programme ensures that no children are left behind.

About Yidan Prize

Yidan prize was established by Yidan prize Foundation in 2016. Yidan Prize Foundation is a global philanthropic education foundation, inspiring progress and change in education. It is is an education award, recognizing individuals, or up to three-member teams, who have contributed towards education research & development. It aims to progress learning by means of building a global community that is committed towards advancing ideas in education.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Digi Saksham Programme was launched by the Union Labour and Employment Minister Bhupender Yadav.

About:

• This digital skills programme was launched with the objective of enhance the employability of youth by improving their digital skills which has become an essential thing in increasingly technology driven era.
• Digi Saksham is a joint initiative of Microsoft India and Ministry of Labour and Employment.
• It is an extension of the government’s ongoing programmes of supporting youth from rural & semi-urban areas.
• Programme will be implemented in the field by “Aga Khan Rural Support Programme India (AKRSP-I)”.

Training to youth

Under the DigiSaksham initiative, free of cost training will be provided to more than 3 lakh youth, in digital skills including basic skills & advance computing, in the first year. This training programme can be accessed through the National Career Service (NCS) Portal. The initiative gives priority to the job-seekers from semi urban areas who belongs to disadvantaged communities as well as who have lost their jobs amidst ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Types of Training

Digi Saksham initiative comprises of three types of training viz.,

1. Digital Skills self-paced learning
2. VILT mode training (virtual instructor led) and
3. ILT mode training (instructor led)- ILT training is in person training and would be conducted for SCs & STs in India, at the Model Career Centres (MCCs) and National Career Service Centres (NCSC).

In what areas training would be provided?

Under the initiative, training would be provided in areas such as Java Script, Data Visualisation, Power Bi, Advance Excel, HTML, software development fundamentals, programming languages, introduction to coding etc.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) published its “UNCTAD Digital Economy Report 2021, recently.

About:

• In its report, UNCTAD noted the Philippines as one among six countries that allows free flow of data across borders. Free flow of data is required to boost the digital economy.
• Other five countries allowing free-flow of data across border include- Canada, Australia, Mexico, Singapore and the United States. These countries use “light-touch approach” for data flow.
• Light-touch approach

Light-touch approach is mostly favoured by countries having strong regulatory environments and sufficient regulatory resources in order to monitor compliance of domestic laws. As per report, Philippines’s use of light-touch approach is towards its “dependence” on the outsourcing industry, which is the major economic growth drivers in the country.

Counties following restrictive or Guarded approach

The “restrictive” or “guarded” approach for cross-border data flows is followed by countries like India, China, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Rwanda, Russian Federation, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.

UNCTAD recommendations

• UNCTAD recommends that the global community should enable free flow of digital data across the borders. It suggests to make an international framework in order to allow such activities. New approach should:

1. Facilitate “worldwide data sharing,
2. Develop global digital public goods,
3. Increase trust and
4. Reduce uncertainty in the digital economy.

• As per UNCTAD, no global framework would mean added burden in protecting the privacy for private sector as well as government use of data.
• Thus, a new regulatory framework is required that factors in both economic and non-economic dimensions.

WHY IN NEWS?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 (SBM-U 2.0) along with the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation 2.0 (AMRUT 2.0). These schemes were launched at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi.

About:

• Both the schemes, SBM-U 2.0 and AMRUT 2.0, are in line with the vision of PM Narendra Modi.
• These schemes are designed to realize the aspiration of making all cities Garbage Free and Water Secure.
• Both of the missions signify a step forward to effectively address the challenges of rapidly urbanizing India.
• It will also help in achieving Sustainable Development Goals 2030 targets.

Significance of the schemes

In the past 6-7 years, Swachh Bharat as well as AMRUT Missions have brought transformative changes in the lives of people. Both the missions have improved the urban landscape in India by adopting a scientific approach.

AMRUT 2.0 mission

AMRUT 2.0 mission will help in making cities self-reliant. It will ensure water security across the cities. This mission has been launched with the aim of providing 100 percent coverage of water supply to all households in 4,700 urban local bodies. This target will be achieved by providing 2.68 crore tap connections and 100% coverage of sewerage across 500 AMRUT cities. An outlay of Rs 2.87 lakh crore has been sanctioned for this mission.

SBM-U 2.0

SBM-U 2.0 mission seeks to make all cities ‘Garbage Free’. It also seeks to ensure grey and black water management across the cities that are not covered under AMRUT. Mission will focus on source segregation of solid waste by utilizing the principles of 3Rs that is “Reduce, reuse, recycle”. An outlay of Rs 1.41 lakh crore has been sanctioned for SBM-U 2.0.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

Union Minister for Panchayati Raj & Rural Development, Giriraj Singh, launched “People’s Plan Campaign 2021- Sabki Yojana Sabka Vikas” on September 30, 2021.

About:

• He also launched a Vibrant Gram Sabha Dashboard on the occasion.
• A booklet on People Plan Campaign-2021 was also released in order to prepare the plans for Financial Year 2022-23.
• Minister also launched the 10th issue of Gramoday Sankalp Magazine.

Need of accountable gram sabhas

According to the minister, there is an emergent need of meaningful & accountable Gram Sabhas as well as proper utilisation of funds. There is also a need of raising own source revenues by Panchayats, bridging digital divide in rural areas, use of innovation & technology, converging all the resources available under several Flagship Programmes by Panchayati Raj Institutions etc.

About People’s plan campaign

• People’s Plan Campaign 2021 will be conducted with better people’s participation.
• Under the campaign, each activity will promote a sense of camaraderie and commitment in the citizens towards a common goal of overall development of villages.
• Campaign will be undertaken on a large scale and special efforts will be made in order to ensure maximum participation of vulnerable sections of society such as SC/ST/Women.

Aim of Panchayat Development Plan

Panchayat Development plan aims to strengthen the role of elected representatives of Panchayats as well as SHG Women under the DAY-NRLM in Gram Sabha.

Creation of assets

On the occasion, minister also suggested that, Panchayats should create assets from the allocated funds in order to increase the income sources of Panchayats.

Vibrant Gram Sabha Dashboard

Vibrant Gram Sabha Dashboard was launched in order to help in increasing maximum participation by means of meeting of Gram Sabha, meeting of elected Panchayat Public Representatives and Standing Committee meeting of Gram Panchayat.