News In Short-25-09-2024

Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Birth Anniversary 

Syllabus:GS 1/History, Famous Personalities 

In News

• The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi paid tributes to Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya on his birth anniversary.

About Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya 

• Early life : He was born on September 25, 1916, in Dhankia, Rajasthan. He lost both his parents at a young age and was raised by his maternal uncle.
  •  He excelled in studies, winning several prizes and scholarships. 
• Political and Organizational Work: He joined Sanatan Dharma College, Kanpur, where he also became part of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
  • He founded the magazines “Rashtra Dharma,” “Panchajanya,” and the newspaper “Swadesh.” When Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Deendayal became its first General Secretary for the U.P. branch and later, All India General Secretary.

• Philosophy: Deendayal Upadhyaya was a deep thinker who developed the philosophy of “Integral Humanism,” which combined material and spiritual values. He envisioned a decentralized polity, self-reliant economy, and a village-centric development model.
• Tragic Death: Deendayal was found dead on February 1, 1968, while traveling on a train, but his vision and dedication to the nation continue to inspire many.
• Legacy: His call to serve the entire nation, expressed at the historic Calicut session, continues to resonate with his followers

Source : PIB 

Mankidia Tribe

Syllabus:GS 1/Society 

In News 

• Rama Mankirdia from Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district received habitat rights for the local forest under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006.

About Mankidia Tribe:

•  Mankidia is a semi-nomadic Austro-Asiatic community.
• They are known for their traditional skills in rope making, monkey trapping, and food gathering.
• They reside in temporary settlements in forests and speak a Munda language.
• Mankidia are employed by villagers to control monkey populations that damage crops and fruits.
• The Mankidia are the second PVTG in Odisha to receive habitat rights, with similar recognition for other PVTGs pending approval.
  • First PVTG to Get Habitat Rights in Odisha: Paudi Bhuyan of Deogarh district was the first to receive habitat rights on March 7, 2024, covering 32 villages.

Do you know ?

• The Forest Rights Act, 2006, is hailed as landmark legislation that grants forest-dependent communities rights over forest land, including individual and community rights, and the management of Community Forest Resources (CFR).
• The FRA strengthens indigenous knowledge and traditional forest management systems, ensuring tribal rights and promoting biodiversity conservation.
• According to the FRA, a “habitat” refers to the customary habitat areas of PVTGs, including reserved and protected forests.
• Odisha has granted habitat rights to six PVTGs, the highest number among all Indian states
• Odisha is home to 13 PVTGs, with 1,79,742 households spread across 1,683 villages in 14 districts.

Source : DTE

Pact for the Future

Syllabus: GS2/ International Relations

Context

• The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has adopted the Pact for the Future.

Pact for the Future

• The Pact along with its annexes, the Global Digital Compact and the Declaration on Future Generations, was adopted by consensus
• UN Member States pledged to:
  • Turbocharge the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on climate change, two landmark 2015 agreements that have seen halting progress and missed milestones;
  • Listen to young people and include them in decision-making, at the national and global levels;
  • Build stronger partnerships with civil society, the private sector, local and regional authorities and more;
  • Redouble efforts to build and sustain peaceful, inclusive and just societies and address the root causes of conflicts;
  • Protect all civilians in armed conflict;
  • Accelerate the implementation of commitments on women, peace and security.

Global Digital Compact

• It is an agreement on the international regulation of artificial intelligence (AI).
• It outlines commitments to ensure that digital technologies contribute to sustainable development and human rights, while addressing risks like digital divides, cybersecurity, and misuse of technology.

Declaration on Future Generations

• The Declaration focuses on securing the well-being of future generations by protecting the environment, promoting intergenerational equity, and ensuring that long-term consequences of today’s actions are considered.

Source: UN

Body Roundness Index (BRI)

Syllabus: GS2/ Health

Context

• The body mass index has long been criticized as a flawed indicator of health and a replacement has been gaining support: the body roundness index.

What is Body Roundness Index (BRI)?

• BRI was developed by Diana Thomas in 2013. 
• Instead of looking at height and weight, BRI mathematically quantifies body fat levels by looking at height and waist circumference. 
• The scores usually range from 1 to 15, with those having very high scores or very low scores (of over 6.9 or under 3.41) considered at the most risk for illnesses.

Body Mass Index (BMI) and its limitations – BMI is a ratio of height to weight, the formula developed nearly 200 years ago by Adolphe Quetelet. – A BMI of 18 to 24.9 is considered normal; 25 to 29.9 is termed overweight and 30 and above is classified as obese. – However, BMI has significant limitations, particularly for children and young people (whose body fat levels change as they grow), athletic people (who have high levels of muscle mass) and people from ethnic minority groups (who may develop health problems at lower body fat levels).

Source: TH

Surge in Dengue Cases

Syllabus: GS2/Health

Context

• Data from the WHO show the surge in dengue cases year-on-year due to factors like urbanization, climate change, and the movement of people and goods.

About Dengue

• Dengue is a viral infection which is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
  • Dengue Virus is a pathogenic arthropod-borne flavivirus (arbovirus) belonging to the family Flaviviridae.
• Symptoms: Fever, severe headache, muscle and joint pains, nausea and vomiting, pain behind the eyes, and rashes.
  • In severe cases, the infection can lead to internal bleeding, and if not managed properly, even death.

• Treatment: There is no specific treatment for dengue. Early detection of disease progression with proper medical care lowers fatality rates of severe dengue to below 1%.

Source: IE

Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE)

Syllabus:GS 3/Economy 

In News 

• Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) has approved Rs 1 lakh crore guarantees in 172 days .

About CGTMSE 

• The Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) was jointly established by the Ministry of MSME and SIDBI to promote institutional credit flow to Micro & Small Enterprises (MSEs).
• Credit Guarantee Scheme (CGS) was introduced to strengthen credit delivery to MSEs, providing finance access to underserved and unprivileged entrepreneurs, without collateral or third-party guarantees.
• MSEs can avail collateral-free loans up to ₹500 lakh from April 1, 2023, under the Credit Guarantee Scheme by CGTMSE.
• The scheme provides guarantee coverage of up to 85% for loans extended to MSEs.
• Importance : CGTMSE plays an enabler role in fostering entrepreneurship across India, contributing to the country’s goal of achieving a USD 5 trillion economy.

Source :FE

Retractions

Syllabus: GS3/ S&T

Context

• According to the ‘Retraction Watch’ database, Paper retractions are becoming more common worldwide even as the research misconduct problem is worsening in India.

What are retractions?

• A retraction is a mechanism that kicks in when a scientific paper published in an academic journal is found to be so flawed as to merit being removed from scientific literature. 
• Between 2020 and 2022, 2.5 times more papers were retracted than they were between 2017 and 2019. 
• The reasons for retraction include plagiarism, editorial conflicts, image manipulation, and the use of paper mills.

What is the retraction index?

• A journal’s retraction index is the the number of retractions in a given time period multiplied by 1,000 and divided by the total number of published articles.
• The ‘Impact’ refers to the impact factor, the average number of times a paper was cited in the last two years.

Source: TH

Barak Bhuban Wildlife Sanctuary 

Syllabus: GS3/Environment and Biodiversity

Context

• The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered a stay on construction of a road inside the Barak Bhuban Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam.

About Barak Bhuban Wildlife Sanctuary

• It is located between the Barak and Sonai Rivers in Assam’s Cachar district. It was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 2022.
• The sanctuary is also known to be a vital habitat for the king cobra.
• The Barak Valley also houses the Borail Wildlife Sanctuary.

Barak Valley

• The Barak Valley is the southernmost region and administrative division of Assam. 
• It is named after the Barak river.
• The valley is bordered by Mizoram and Tripura to the south, Bangladesh and Meghalaya to the west and Manipur to the east respectively.

Source: HT