Facts in News

Facts in News

‘Al-Mohed Al – Hindi’ Exercise

• Recently, the sea phase of the three days long maiden bilateral exercise ‘Al-Mohed Al – Hindi’ between the Indian Navy and Royal Saudi Naval Force commenced off the coast of Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia.
• The two navies undertake co-ordinated action against:
  • Asymmetric threat
  • Replenishment at sea procedures
  • Anti-piracy and boarding operations.
  • Complex and collaborative exercises including weapon targeting drills beyond the horizon were also conducted to enhance synergy and interoperability between the two navies.

Swachh Survekshan 2021

• The Government announced Indore as the First Water Plus city under the Swachh Survekshan 2021. 

What is Swachh Survekshan?

• It is an annual survey of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation in cities and towns in India. 
  • It is the world’s largest urban sanitation and cleanliness survey.
• It was launched as a part of the Swachh Bharat Mission. 
• It has been conducted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs since 2016.
• It has been instrumental in fostering a spirit of healthy competition among towns and cities to improve their service delivery to citizens and towards creating cleaner cities.

Objectives: 

• To encourage large scale citizen participation, ensure the sustainability of initiatives taken towards garbage-free and open defecation free cities
• To create awareness amongst all sections of society.

What is a Water Plus city?

• As per the protocols of the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, a city can be declared as Water Plus provided, all wastewater released from households, commercial establishments etc. is treated to a satisfactory level before releasing the treated wastewater to the environment.
• Eligibility 
  • It must be ensured that the dirty water from the city does not go into any river or drain. 
  • All public toilets in the city must be connected to sewer lines and must be cleaned.
  • Finally, 30 per cent of the city’s sewer water has to be recycled and reused.
• A Water Plus city certificate is allocated to a city for maintaining cleanliness in rivers and drains under its administration.

Khudiram Bose

• Recently, the death anniversary of Khudiram Bose was observed.

Key Points 

• Born in 1889 in a small village in the Midnapore district.
• He showed an inclination towards revolutionary activities after getting inspired by the public lectures of Sri Aurobindo and Sister Nivedita (Swami Vivekananda’s disciple) in Midnapore in the early 1900s.
• He joined a group named ‘Anushilan Samiti’.
  • An early 20th-century organisation that propounded revolutionary activities in Bengal.
• He became a volunteer at the age of 15 and was arrested for distributing pamphlets against British rule in India.
• He had learnt how to make bombs.
• He actively participated in protests against the British in 1905 during the partition of Bengal.

Revolutionary activities:

• He is known for the attempt to assassinate the district magistrate of Muzaffarpur, Douglas Kingsford. 
  • At the age of 18, Bose, and his friend Prafulla Chaki devised a plan to assassinate the judge.
  • They threw a bomb at a carriage which they suspected was carrying him, however, they erroneously killed two women instead. The district magistrate escaped.
  • The Britishers set out to nab Bose and Chaki after the attempt. 
  • However, Chaki shot himself before they could get to him.
  • Khudiram Bose was executed on August 11, 1908.

                                    Image Courtesy: DH

Fan Tokens

• Recently, Lionel Messi’s signing on the fee at Paris St Germain includes some of the French club’s cryptocurrency “fan tokens”, in the latest big-name endorsement of new digital assets.

Fan Tokens

• They are a type of NFT (non-fungible token) that is a digital-only asset.
• The PSG fan token is a form of cryptocurrency that allows people to be involved in decisions surrounding the club like ownership of a voting right.
• The fan tokens are volatile assets and their value can drastically change overnight similar to Bitcoin and other digital currencies.
• Like Bitcoin and other digital currencies, fan tokens can be traded on exchanges. 
• The fan tokens are created by a crypto platform called Socios.

Prime Minister’s Shram Awards

• The Government of India announced the Prime Minister’s Shram Awards (PMSA) for the year 2018

About Prime Minister’s Shram Awards

• The awards were instituted in the year 1985 under the Ministry of Labour & Employment.
• They are given in three categories namely Shram Bhushan Awards, Shram Vir/Shram Veerangana Awards and Shram Shree/Shram Devi Awards.
• The award will be presented to the workmen as defined in the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.
• It is awarded to workers employed in the Departmental Undertakings & Public Sector Undertakings of the Central and State Governments and Private Sector Units employing 500 or more workers.
• It is given for recognition of their distinguished performance, innovative abilities, outstanding contribution in the field of productivity and exhibition of exceptional courage and presence of mind.
  • The workmen solely engaged in routine service duties would not be eligible.

Census

• Owing to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, Census 2021 and other Census-related field activities have been postponed.
• The forthcoming Census is to be the first digital Census.

About

• In the Census, data is collected on demographic and various socio-economic parameters like education, SC/ST, religion, language, marriage, fertility, disability, occupation and migration of the individuals.

Background

• The Census was first started under British Viceroy Lord Mayo in 1872. It helped in framing new policies, government programs to uplift areas of improvement in the community.
• The first synchronous census in India was held in 1881. Since then, censuses have been undertaken uninterruptedly once every ten years.
• The responsibility of conducting the decennial Census rests with the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.
• The individual data collected in Census under the Census Act, 1948, are not made public as per the provisions contained in the Act. 

Historical Significance

• The earliest literature ‘Rig-Veda’ reveals that some kind of population count was maintained during 800-600 BC in India.
• The celebrated ‘Arthashastra’ by ‘Kautilya’ written in the 3rd Century BC prescribed the collection of population statistics as a measure of state policy for taxation. 
• During the regime of the Mughal king Akbar, the administrative report ‘Ain-e-Akbari’ included comprehensive data pertaining to population, industry, wealth and many other characteristics.