Daily Current Affairs for 21th Jan 2022

GS PAPER II NEWS

Global Leader Approval Rating

Why in News

• • The Prime Minister is the most popular leader in the world. His name tops the list of favorite leaders with a rating of about 71 percent.

Key point

• • Leaders like US President Joe Biden, Canadian President Justin Trudeau and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson are also behind him in terms of popularity.
  • In this list of 13 world leaders, US President Joe Biden is at 6th position with 43 percent rating.
  • President Joe Biden is followed by Canadian President Justin Trudeau, he also got 43 percent rating. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has got a rating of 14 percent.
  • In this list, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was second with a rating of 66 percent, while Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi was third (60 percent rating).
  • British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is ranked 13th and last with a rating of 26 percent. Let us tell you that in this list of popular global leaders, Prime Minister Modi had also topped in the month of November.
• look at these countries
  • Morning Consult Political Intelligence currently monitors approved ratings of government leaders and country leaders in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, the UK and the US.
  • This website also gave the highest rating to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2020. At that time, he was given 84 percent rating, which came down to 63 percent in May 2021, a year later. The number of people surveyed varies from country to country.
  • US President Joe Biden is at the sixth place in the list of Global Leader Approval Rating and his rating is 43 percent.
  • Next in the list are Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (43 percent), Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison (41 percent), Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (40 percent), South Korean President Moon Jae-in (38 percent), Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro (37 percent), French President Emmanuel Macron (34 percent) and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (26 percent).

GS PAPER II

National Commission for Safai Karamcharis

Why in News

• • The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister has today approved the extension of the tenure of National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) by three years beyond 31.3.2022.
  • The total expenditure for expansion for three years will be around Rs 43.68 crore.

Effect:

• • With the extension of the tenure of National Commission for Safai Karamcharis by 3 years after March 31, 2022, mainly the Safai Karamcharis of the country and the identified manual scavengers will be the beneficiaries.
  • M / s. The number of manual scavengers identified under the ACT survey is 58,098.

Description:

• • The National Commission for Safai Karamcharis was established in the year 1993 as per the provisions of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis Act, 1993 initially for a period up to 31st March, 1997.
  • Later the validity of the Act was extended initially till 31st March, 2002 and thereafter till 29th February, 2004. The National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) Act ceased to be effective from February 29, 2004.
  • Thereafter the tenure of NCSK as a non-statutory body has been extended through resolutions from time to time. The tenure of the present commission is till 31st March, 2022.

Background:

• • NCSK makes its recommendations to the Government regarding specific programs for the welfare of Safai Karamcharis, studies and evaluates the existing welfare programs for Safai Karamcharis and also investigates cases of special complaints etc.
  • • As per the provisions of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Rehabilitation Act, 2013, NCSK is mandated to oversee the implementation of the Act, to advise the Central and State Governments for its effective implementation and regarding violation/non-implementation of the provisions of the Act. tasked with investigating complaints.
  • The government has taken many steps for the upliftment of the Safai Karamcharis, but their condition of being deprived from socio-economic and educational point of view has still not been removed. Although the practice of manual scavenging has almost been abolished, sporadic instances still occur.
  • Hazardous cleaning of sewers/septic tanks continues to be an area of ​​top priority for the Government. The Government, therefore, feels that there is a need to monitor various activities and initiatives of the Government for the welfare of the Safai Karamcharis and achieve the goal of full machine cleaning of sewers/septic tanks and rehabilitation of manual scavengers in the country. The need remains.

GS PAPER III

Mauritius Social Housing Unit Project

Why in News

• • Indian Prime Minister and Mauritius Prime Minister Shri Pravind Kumar Jugnauth jointly inaugurated the Social Housing Unit project in Mauritius.

Key point

• • The project has been implemented under the Vibrant Development Partnership between India and Mauritius.
  • The Prime Ministers of both the countries also participated in the Virtual Foundation Stone Laying Ceremony of two other projects on the occasion which include the construction of a state-of-the-art Civil Service College and an 8 MW Solar PV Farm.
  • These are also to be manufactured under India’s development cooperation. The event was organized through video-conference.
  • The event in Mauritius was held at the PMO Complex in Mauritius in the presence of dignitaries including Cabinet Ministers and senior officials of the Government of Mauritius.
  • The Prime Minister, Shri Modi recalled the ‘One Sun One World One Grid (OSODW Sir OG)’ initiative that he had put forward at the first meeting of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) in October 2018.
  • Prime Minister Shri Modi said that the 8 MW Solar PV Farm Project will help in mitigating the climate challenges facing Mauritius by successfully averting 13,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
  • The Government of India had in May 2016 given a grant of US$ 353 million to the Government of Mauritius as a Special Economic Package (SEP) to complete the five priority projects identified by the Government of Mauritius.
  • These projects were: Metro Express Project, Supreme Court Building, New ENT Hospital, Supply of Digital Tablets to Primary School Children and Social Housing Project.
  • With the inauguration of the Social Housing Project, all the important projects under SEP have been implemented.
  • This will help Mauritius in mitigating the effects of climate change.
  • The event included the exchange of two major bilateral agreements: the Government of India’s line of credit of US$ 190 million for Metro Express and other infrastructure related projects and Small Development Memorandum of Understanding related to the implementation of the projects.

Background

• • Under the MoU signed in 2017 during the visit of Prime Minister of Mauritius Mr. Pravind Jugnauth, the Civil Service College project in Reduit is being financed through grant-in-aid of $4.74 million.
  • After construction, it will provide fully prepared and functional facilities to the Mauritian authorities to undertake various training and skill development programmes. This will further strengthen the institutional ties with India.
  • 25,000 PV cells have been installed under the 8 MW Solar PV Farm Project to generate about 14 GWh of green energy annually.
  • The project will supply electricity to about 10,000 Mauritian households and reduce CO emissions by 13,000 tonnes per year.
  • Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, India-Mauritius Development Partnership projects have made rapid progress.
  • In the year 2019, Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Jugnauth jointly inaugurated the Metro Express project and the new ENT Hospital in Mauritius in virtual mode.
  • Similarly, in July 2020, the new building of the Supreme Court of Mauritius was also inaugurated by both the Prime Ministers through virtual medium.
  • India and Mauritius share close ties through shared history, genealogy, culture and language.
  • This relationship is reflected in the privileged development partnership between our two countries.
  • Mauritius is a major development partner of India in the Indian Ocean region. This program is another milestone in this successful and time-tested partnership in line with the spirit of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas’.

GS PAPER III

E-Vehicle Charging Station

Why in News

• • TCIL, a Mini Ratna Category-I Category-I company under the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, in association with SDMC has launched the first e-Vehicle Charging Station at South Extension Part-I of South Delhi Region.

Key point

• • This charging station was inaugurated by the Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture Smt. Meenakshi Lekhi in the presence of Shri Sanjeev Kumar, CMD, TCIL and other dignitaries of the area.
  • This e-vehicle charging station is the first in a series of 65 e-charging stations to be set up in a phased manner by TCIL in the South Delhi region over the next four months, within easy reach of the citizens of Delhi. Each charging station can charge 6 two/three/four wheelers at a time.
  • These charging stations are equipped with CCTV surveillance and Wi-Fi facility for the use of general public. It also has a solar panel of 6 kW.
  • These e-vehicle charging stations will prove to be helpful in reducing pollution and popularizing the use of e-vehicles in the metropolis of Delhi.

GS PAPER III

BrahMos supersonic cruise missile

Why in New

• • A test-fire of the indigenously manufactured BrahMos supersonic cruise missile with superior capability performance was successfully completed from the Integrated Test Range off the Chandipur coast of Odisha.

Key point

• • The test was conducted by BrahMos Aerospace in collaboration with teams from Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO).
  • During this missile test, BrahMos followed the predicted trajectory fulfilling all the mission objectives.
  • The success of the test has set a major milestone in the advancement of the BrahMos missile programme. Highly efficient to reach its peak, the missile flew at supersonic speed and met all the mission objectives set for the test.
  • The missile is equipped with advanced indigenous technologies and followed a modified optimum trajectory for increased efficiency and better performance.
  • BrahMos missile with modified control system has been further upgraded to achieve better capability.
  • The test was monitored by all sensors of the range instrumentation including telemetry, radar and electro-optical tracking systems deployed on the east coast and down range ships.
  • Teams from DRDO and NPOM organization of Russia participated in the test. BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture between DRDO and Russia’s NPOM, is continuously upgrading the powerful and multi-capable BrahMos to enhance its effectiveness and lethal capability on targets set at sea and above land.
  • BrahMos is a powerful missile weapon system, which has already been inducted into the armed forces.