Black carbon levels spike at Himalayan glaciers

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: According to a study by scientists at the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), Black carbon concentrations near the Gangotri glacier rose 400 times in summer due to forest fires and stubble burning from agricultural waste, and triggered glacial melt.

More on the Topic:

• Black carbon results from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass. The fine particles absorb light and about a million times more energy than carbon dioxide.
• It is said to be the second largest contributor to climate change after CO2. But unlike CO2, which can stay in the atmosphere for years together, black carbon is short-lived and remains in the atmosphere only for days to weeks before it descends as rain or snow.

India is the second largest emitter of black carbon in the world, with emissions expected to increase dramatically in the coming decades, with the Indo Gangetic plains said to be the largest contributor. Black carbon absorbs solar energy and warms the atmosphere. When it falls to earth with precipitation, it darkens the surface of snow and ice, reducing their albedo (the reflecting power of a surface), warming the snow, and hastening melting.

Source: Hindu

Government Schemes: Women Empowerment

Topic: Government Schemes

In News: Based on Indian express article. (Helpful-Essay writing)https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/beti-bachao-beti-padhao-girl-child-education-women-empowerment-6297784/

More on the Topic:

• Swachh Bharat Mission: Due to the Swachh Bharat Mission, 14,67,679 schools now have a functioning girls toilet, an increase of 4.17 percentage points in comparison to 2013-14. The impact of the mission has resulted in an increase in enrolment of girls by 25 percentage points in 2018-19 from 2013 -14.
• Beti Bachao Beti Padhao: Gross enrolment ratio of girls across all levels of education is now higher than boys. At the elementary level it is 94.32 per cent as against 89.28 per cent for boys, at the secondary level it is 81.32 per cent as compared to 78 per cent and at the higher secondary level girls have achieved a level of 59.7 per cent compared to only 57.54 per cent.
• Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas: To increase equality of access and opportunity for girls, the MHRD has sanctioned 5,930 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas, which are residential schools for girls and have an enrolment of 6.18 lakh girls.
• National Scheme of Incentives to Girls for Secondary Education: The scheme provides Rs 3,000 which is deposited in the name of eligible unmarried girls below 16 years of age and entitles them to withdraw it along with interest on reaching 18 years of age and after passing Class X.
• To increase the participation of women in STEM education, supernumerary seats have been created in the IITs and NITs. As a result, the number of girls in NITs has grown from 14.11 per cent in 201718 to 17.53 per cent in 2019-20 and in IITs from 8 per cent of the total student body in 2016 to 18 per cent in 2019-20 for B.Tech programmes.

Way Ahead:

• In conjunction with the celebration of progress obtained by India in improving gender equality in the education system, there is a need for a much larger collective effort to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of eliminating “gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations”.

Source: Indian Express

Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Topic: Health

In News: New cases of confirmed coronavirus infection in Delhi, Hyderabad and Jaipur have led to a series of precautionary measures by government and private authorities.

More on the topic:

What test is done for coronavirus?

• The first test that samples of all suspected patients are sent for is the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. If that is positive, the sample is sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune, which is the only government laboratory currently doing genome sequencing, for final confirmation.

Coronavirus in India: Are hand sanitisers effective?

• They are, provided they are alcohol-based and the alcohol content is more than 60%. The US Centers for Disease Control “recommends washing hands with soap and water whenever possible because handwashing reduces the amounts of all types of germs and chemicals on hands. But if soap and water are not available, using a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol can help you avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others. Hand-washing, though, remains the first and best step, preferably with warm water.

How prepared is the government to tackle coronavirus?

• So far, the government has not been challenged by the detection of any case of local transmission. However, if and when that happens, and the contact tracing process gets more and more complicated as the net widens, the health systems will be tested hugely.
• The government has already introduced travel restrictions and suspended visas from affected countries. A detailed containment plan has been shared with states.
• States have been asked to identify possible isolation areas in hospitals that can accommodate larger numbers. They have been asked to augment existing isolation wards and include facilities of the Labour Department, armed forces, paramilitary forces, medical colleges and PSUs within their jurisdiction.

Source: Indian Express

Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order, 2020 (CARO, 2020)

Topic: Economy

In News: The corporate affairs ministry has notified the Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order, 2020 (CARO, 2020).

More on the Topic:

• It would be applicable for audit of financial statements of eligible companies for the financial years commencing on or after April 1, 2019.
• A specific format has been prescribed for auditors to report the period and the amount of default by the company in repayment of loans or other borrowings or in the payment of interest thereon to any lender.
• The new guidelines are intended to ensure that such actions are not “prejudicial to the interests of the company”.
• The amount of cash losses incurred in the financial year and in the immediately preceding financial year have to be reported.
• The ministry noted that the latest CARO is expected to significantly improve the overall quality of reporting by auditors on the financial statements of the companies.
• An auditor has to consider whistle-blower complaints received during a year by the company in the audit as well as report whether the company has conducted any non-banking financial or housing finance activities without a valid certificate of registration from the Reserve Bank of India.
• Among other requirements, an auditor has to report whether a company is a declared wilful defaulter and whether term loans were diverted for any purpose other than for which the amount was raised.
• Details of proceedings against a company for holding benami property also need to be disclosed in the CARO.
• Discrepancies of 10 per cent or more in the aggregate of each class of inventory noticed during physical verification of inventory would have to be reported.

·         The CARO 2020 restricts itself to enhancing the information available to both investors and financial institutions. ·         It should be considered to be a major step forward for transparency in accounts. ·         It is important that audit companies implement the rules in both letter and spirit. ·         The 2020 CARO has now sought to transfer greater responsibility for providing complete information to its auditors. ·         Auditors have essentially been forced to demand more information, in what will be a net positive for shareholders and other stakeholders. ·         It is true that the paperwork burden will significantly increase. ·         The 2020 CARO requires auditors to comment on 50 matters, including sub-clauses, where 2016 CARO required comment on only 21 matters. ·         This is a significant expansion in scope and it remains to be seen how much it adds to transaction cost and delays in practice.

 Source: PIB

 Suposhit Maa Abhiyan

Topic: Government Schemes

In News: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla recently launched a national campaign Suposhit Maa Abhiyan to create malnutrition-free India.

More on the Topic:

• The Campaign will support adolescent girls and pregnant women in the country.
• Suposhit Maa Abhiyan will include one pregnant woman from a family. The Suposhit Maa Abhiyan will also ensure new born’s health.
• Nutrition kit will be given per month for 9 months. It will include wheat, gram, maize, and millet flour, jaggery, oatmeal, lentils, large soybean, ghee, groundnut, roasted gram, dates, and rice.
• Simultaneously, the scheme would ensure the child’s health through medical exams, blood tests, medicine provisions, delivery, etc.

Source: PIB

New Heritage Sites

Topic: Culture

In News: Government of India has submitted two nomination dossiers namely ‘Dholavira: A Harappan City’ and ‘Monuments and Forts of Deccan Sultanate’ for inclusion in the World Heritage List for the year 2020.

More on the Topic:

• Dholavira: is an archaeological sitein the state of Gujarat. Also known locally as Kotada timba, the site contains ruins of an ancient Indus Valley Civilization/Harappan city.
• Dholavira’s location is on the Tropic of Cancer. It is one of the five largest Harappan sites and most prominent archaeological sites in India belonging to the Indus Valley Civilization.
• It is also considered as having been the grandest of cities of its time. It is located on Khadir bet island in the Kutch Desert Wildlife Sanctuary in the Great Rann of Kutch.
• The other major Harappan sites discovered so far are Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, Ganeriwala, Rakhigarhi, Kalibangan, Rupnagar and Lothal.
• Monuments and Forts of Deccan Sultanate: The Deccan sultanates were five dynasties that ruled late medieval kingdoms, namely, Bijapur, Golkonda, Ahmadnagar, Bidar, and Berar in south-western India.
• The Deccan sultanates were located on the Deccan Plateau. Their architecture was a regional variant of Indo-Islamic architecture, heavily influenced by the styles of the Delhi Sultanate and later Mughal architecture, but sometimes also directly from Persia and Central Asia.
• The rulers of five Deccan sultanates had a number of cultural contributions to their credit in the fields of art, music, literature and architecture.
• Deccan sultanates have constructed many grand and impregnable forts. Bidar and Golconda forts are classic example of military planning of Deccan sultanates. Apart from forts, they have constructed many tombs, mosques and madrasas. Gol Gumbaz (tomb of Mohammed Adil Shah, was the second largest dome in the world.

Source: Hindu

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY).

Topic: Government Policies

In News: The National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR) will soon undertake real-time assessment of government’s flagship youth employment scheme the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY).

More on the Topic:

• The institute has developed an enterprise resource planning platform called ‘Kaushal Bharath,’ to enable states to capture data on projects under DDU-GKY and for the information to be collated in one system.
• This will enhance data security and data analytics and help generate quality analytical reports and scheme improvement.
• Kaushal Bharath can be accessed by mobile devices and is integrated to other MoRD systems and can enable avoiding data entry errors from manual data entry. Its usage is free which means states will not have to pay any charges.

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY):

• There are several challenges preventing India’s rural poor from competing in the modern market, such as the lack of formal education and marketable skills. DDU-GKY bridges this gap by funding training projects benchmarked to global standards, with an emphasis on placement, retention, career progression and foreign placement.

Features of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana:

• Enable Poor and Marginalized to Access Benefits: Demand led skill training at no cost to the rural poor
• Inclusive Program Design: Mandatory coverage of socially disadvantaged groups (SC/ST 50%; Minority 15%; Women 33%)
• Shifting Emphasis from Training to Career Progression: Pioneers in providing incentives for job retention, career progression and foreign placements, Greater Support for Placed Candidates, Post-placement support, migration support and alumni network.
• Proactive Approach to Build Placement Partnerships
• Guaranteed Placement for at least 75% trained candidates
• Enhancing the Capacity of Implementation Partners
• Nurturing new training service providers and developing their skills
• Regional Focus: Greater emphasis on projects for poor rural youth in Jammu and Kashmir (HIMAYAT), The North-East region and 27 Left-Wing Extremist (LWE) districts (ROSHINI)
• Standards-led Delivery: All program activities are subject to Standard Operating Procedures that are not open to interpretation by local inspectors. All inspections are supported by geo-tagged, time stamped videos/photographs.

Source: The Hindu