National Current Affairs – UPSC/KAS Exams- 8th December 2018
Brihadisvara temple
Topic: Art and Culture
IN NEWS: The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court has ordered an interim stay on a two-day event which was organised by a private body at the Brihadisvara temple in Tamil Nadu.
More on the Topic:
- Brihadishvara Temple, also called Rajarajesvaram or Peruvudaiyar Koyil, is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva located in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India.
- It is one of the largest South Indian temples and an exemplary example of a fully realized Dravidian architecture.
- It is called as Dhakshina Meru(Meru of south). Built by Raja Raja Chola I between 1003 and 1010 AD, the temple is a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the “Great Living Chola Temples”, along with the Chola dynasty era Gangaikonda Cholapuram temple and Airavatesvara temple.
Dravidian Architecture:
- Dravida style of temple architecture became popular in South India. Dravida style of temples was developed dynastically, however the major features of these temples remained common across the dynasties.
- Unlike the Nagara temple, the Dravida temple is enclosed within a compound wall.
- The front wall has an entrance gateway in its centre, which is known as a
- The shape of the main temple tower known as Vimana is like a stepped pyramid that rises up geometrically rather than the curving shikhara of North India.
- In the Dravida style temples, one will generally find sculptures of fierce dvarapalas or the door-keepers guarding the temple.
- It is common to find a large water reservoir, or a temple tank, enclosed within the complex.
- Subsidiary shrines are either incorporated within the main temple tower or located as distinct, separate small shrines beside the main temple.
- Examples – Shore temple (Mahabalipuram), Brihadesvara temple (Thanjavur), Meenakshi Temple (Madurai)
Source: The Hindu
Central Information Commission
Topic: Polity and Governance
IN NEWS: The Centre is all set to fill the vacancies in the Central Information Commission (CIC).
More on the Topic:
- The 11-member Commission, the highest appeal body available to applicants seeking information under the RTI Act, is currently operating with only three members in the wake of multiple retirements. The eight vacancies include the Chief Information Commissioner, who completed his tenure last month.
About Central Information Commission:
- The Central Information Commission (CIC) set up under the Right to Information Act is the authorised body, established in 2005 under the Government of India to act upon complaints from those individuals who have not been able to submit information requests to a Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer due to either the officer not have been appointed, or because the respective Central Assistant Public Information Officer or State Assistant Public Information Officer refused to receive the application for information under the RTI Act.
- The Commission includes 1 Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and not more than 10 Information Commissioners (IC) who are appointed by the President of India. The first Chief Information Commissioner of India was Wajahat Habibullah.
- CIC and members are appointed by the President of India on the recommendation of a committee consisting of—Prime Minister as Chairperson, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha; a Union Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the Prime Minister.
Source:The Hindu
Freight Village in Varanasi
Topic: Government Policies
In news: The Ministry of Shipping has approved the development of Rs. 156 crore freight village in Varanasi adjoining the Inland Waterways Terminal on River Ganga.The Varanasi freight village will be developed by the Inland Waterways Authority of India.
More on the Topic:
- Freight village will serve as a cargo hub, and a centre for aggregation and value addition.
- It will also provide support to stimulate development of a professional logistics industry in Varanasi.
- The intended main function is management and utilization of various modes of transport, synergizing them and decongesting the existing mode of transportation.
- A World Bank pre-feasibility study has found Varanasi to be a suitable site for the freight village.
- The traffic volume on inland waterway is expected to increase with the commissioning of the multi modal terminal being built under the Jal Marg Vikas project.
Jal Marg Vikas Project:
- An ambitious infrastructure project of the government and implemented by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), it envisages creation of an all-weather river transport facility capable of carrying 45 million tonnes of cargo along the 1,400-km stretch of the Ganga between Varanasi and Kolkata (National Waterway-1) by 2022.
Source: The Hindu
Cabinet approves Agriculture Export Policy, 2018
Topic: Indian Economy
In news: The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the Agriculture Export Policy, 2018. The Cabinet has also approved the proposal for establishment of Monitoring Framework at Centre with Commerce as the nodal Department with representation from various line Ministries/Departments and Agencies and representatives of concerned State Governments, to oversee the implementation of Agriculture Export Policy.
Objectives of the Policy:
- To double agricultural exports from present ~US$ 30+ Billion to ~US$ 60+ Billion by 2022 and reach US$ 100 Billion in the next few years thereafter, with a stable trade policy regime.
- To diversify our export basket, destinations and boost high value and value added agricultural exports including focus on perishables.
- To promote novel, indigenous, organic, ethnic, traditional and non-traditional Agri products exports.
- To provide an institutional mechanism for pursuing market access, tackling barriers and deal with sanitary and phyto-sanitary issues.
- To strive to double India’s share in world agri exports by integrating with global value chain at the earliest.
- Enable farmers to get benefit of export opportunities in overseas market.
Source: The Hindu
Hand-in-Hand Exercise-2018
Topic: International Relations
In news: Exercise Hand-in-Hand 2018, the joint military exercise between India and China 2018 will go a long way to further cement relationship between both the nations and will act as a catalyst in bringing bonhomie at grassroots levels between the armies of both countries.
More on the Topic:
- Exercise Hand-in-Hand is conducted annually as part of military diplomacy and interaction between armies of India and China.
- The exercise will involve tactical level operations in an International Counter Insurgency/Counter Terrorist environment under UN mandate.
- The conduct of Joint Military Exercises is also an important step to uphold the values of Peace, Prosperity and Stability in the region.
Source:The Hindu
Sahitya Akademi Award:
Topic: Awards and Honours
In news: Sahitya Academy has announced names of 24 poets and authors who will be conferred the prestigious 2018 Sahitya Akademi Award in 24 different Indian languages.
More on the Topic:
- It is literary honour that is conferred annually on Indian writers for their outstanding works of literary merit.It was established in 1954.
- It is conferred annually on writers of outstanding works in one of the twenty-four major Indian languages (22 Scheduled Languages+ English and Rajasthani).
- The award consists of a casket containing an engraved copper-plaque (designed by film-maker Satyajit Ray), a shawl and cheque of Rs.1 Lakh.
Source: The Hindu
Global Hackathon On Artificial Intelligence
Topic: Science and Technology
IN NEWS: NITI Aayog in partnership with Perlin – a Singapore-based AI start up will launch the ‘AI 4 All Global Hackathon’.
More on the Topic:
- With the vision to further expand the idea of‘Artificial Intelligence, AI for All’ articulated in the National AI Strategy, NITI Aayog organises hackathons to source sustainable, innovative and technologically-enabled solutions to address various challenges in the development space.
- The challenge question seeks to develop solutions in Distributed Computing and Privacy Preserving techniques, such as multi-party computation, in AI.
- The objective of this hackathon is to promote awareness and subsequently develop solutions that deliver the twin benefit of efficient computing to address the infrastructure challenges, while also not compromising on privacy of data for training AI algorithms.
- The AI for All Hackathon underscores the commitment of NITI Aayog to supporting meaningful social, economic and technological advancements directed at making people’s lives better.
- Winners will share in a prize pool worth USD $50,000 in both cash and non-cash rewards. Participants will also get mentorship and support from the hackathon co-sponsors, including the opportunity to scale and implement their AI applications.
- PIB
