IAS Special Daily 5/11/20

Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC)

Sea lines of communication (SLOC) is a term describing the primary maritime routes between ports, used for trade, logistics and naval forces.
It is generally used in reference to naval operations to ensure that SLOCs are open, or in times of war, to close them.
Sea lines of communication comprise the umbilical cord of a state's economy and the arteries of a region's economic health.
During times of peace, they serve as commercial trade routes but during war, these routes are considered strategic pathways to keep the war machine fully oiled

On World Cities Day, UN-Habitat has released the World’s Cities Report 2020: The Value of Sustainable Urbanization.

The report aims to show the intrinsic value of sustainable urbanization and how it should be harnessed for the wellbeing of all.

World Cities Day

It was designated by the United Nations General Assembly on 31st October with the aim to promote the international community’s interest in addressing challenges of urbanization.
Theme of 2020 is “Valuing Our Communities and Cities“.

Urban October

It was launched by UN-Habitat in 2014 to emphasize the world’s urban challenges and engage the international community towards the New Urban Agenda.

Sustainable Development Goal 11

It formulates the ambition to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable – underlying the relevance of UN-Habitat’s mission.

World Cities Day Global Observance

It was hosted virtually in Kenya under the general theme “Better City, Better Life” with a sub-theme focused on “Valuing our Communities and Cities”.

United Nations Human Settlements Programme(UN-Habitat)

It was established in 1978 as United Nations agency for human settlements and sustainable urban development.Headquarters:Nairobi,Kenya.

13th Urban Mobility India Conference 2020 Union Housing and Affairs Minister has inaugurated the 13th Urban Mobility India Conference 2020.

The conference is being organized by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
Aim is To disseminate information to the cities whose officials attend the conference to help them keep up-to-date with the latest and best urban transport practices globally.
Theme is “Emerging Trends in Urban Mobility” .

Union Minister of Earth Sciences has released the National Councilo of Applied Economic Research(NCAER) report titled “Estimating the economic benefits of Investment in Monsoon Mission and High Performance Computing facilities”.

Aim To use a holistic approach to estimate the incremental economic and social benefits subsequent to setting up of the “Monsoon Mission” and investments made in “High-Performance Computing systems”.

For every rupee spent by the government on the National Monsoon Mission and High-performance Computing programs, the country would gain economic benefits worth fifty rupees which is 50 times more benefit on the investment over the next five years period.
76% of the livestock owners are using weather information for making decisions on modification of shelter; vaccination against seasonal disease; and fodder management. 82% of fishermen reported using Ocean State Forecast (OSF) advisories every time before venturing into sea.

National Monsoon Mission
It was launched by the Ministry of Earth Sciences(MoES) in 2012 with an aim to develop a state-of-the-art, dynamic monsoon prediction system for short, medium and long-range forecasts.

Implementation by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM),Pune.

High Performance Computing(HPC) facilities at MoES institutes has brought in a paradigm shift in weather and climate modelling activity for operational weather forecasts.The HPC facilities established at two of the MoES institutes are:

“Pratyush” at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology(IITM),Pune with computing capacity of 4 peta-flops and
“Mihir” at National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast (NCMRWF), Noida with a computing capacity of 2.8 peta-flops.

Agro-climatic zones

It refers to a geographical area with similar soil type, rainfall, temperature and water availability.India is divided into 15 major agro-climatic zones.

Mallakhamb

Mallakhamb is one of the few ancient games that is played against gravity.
The origin of this ancient Indian sport can be traced to earlier part of the 12th century.
A mention of wrestlers exercising on wooden poles is found in the Manasholas, written by Chalukya, in 1153 AD.
It was revived late in the 19th century by Balambhatta Dada Deodhar, physical instructor to Bajirao Peshwa II.
The word malla means a wrestler or an athlete in Sanskrit and can also indicate a verb, such as strong or good.
Khamb or kham, in spoken Marathi, means a pole.
Therefore, Mallakhamb has come to be known as wrestling against a pole.
It functions on a synergy of mind and body, employing every muscle in a way that enables a person to develop speed, stamina and better health.
In recent times Mallakhamb has developed an identity that is separate from wrestling or kushti.
There are two other Mallakhamb styles such as ‘rope mallakhamb’ and ‘hanging mallakhamb’.
PM has recently mentioned about this game in his “Mann Ki Baat” Program.

Water supply was affected in parts of Delhi after a spike in Ammonia levels in the river Yamuna led to a temporary closure of two water treatment plants.

Ammonia(NH3) is a colourless gas and is used as an industrial chemical in the production of fertilisers, plastics, synthetic fibres, dyes and other products.
It occurs naturally in the environment from the breakdown of organic waste matter and may also find its way to ground and surface water sources through industrial effluents, contamination by sewage or through agricultural runoff.
The acceptable maximum limit of ammonia in drinking water as per the Bureau of Indian Standards is 0.5 ppm.
If the concentration of ammonia in water is above 1 ppm it is toxic to fishes. In humans, long term ingestion of water having ammonia levels of 1 ppm or above may cause damage to internal organs.

Treatment

Mixing of freshwater with ammonia polluted water.
Stringent implementation of guidelines against dumping harmful waste into the river.
Making sure untreated sewage does not enter the water.
Maintaining a sustainable minimum flow, called the ecological flow.
- Ecological flow is the minimum amount of water that should flow throughout the river at all times to sustain underwater and estuarine ecosystems and human livelihoods and for self regulation.

Yamuna River

Union Minister for Food & Consumer Affairs has said that Fifteen States have been identified for implementing Pilot Scheme on Fortification of Rice & its distribution through Public Distribution System(PDS).

Pilot Scheme on Fortification of Rice is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme which aims to address anaemia and micronutrients’ deficiency amongst beneficiaries consuming rice supplied under PDS.
The Scheme has been approved for a period of three years beginning 2019-2020.
15 State Governments have identified their respective districts (1 district per state) for implementing the Scheme.
- Already 5 states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh have started the distribution of fortified rice in their respective identified districts.

Food Fortification

It is the deliberate addition of one or more micronutrients to food so as to correct or prevent a deficiency and provide a health benefit.

Biofortification

It is the process by which the nutritional quality of food crops is improved through agronomic practices, conventional plant breeding or modern biotechnology.

Difference between Biofortification and Food Fortification

Biofortification differs from conventional fortification as biofortification aims to increase nutrient levels in crops during plant growth rather than through manual means during processing of the crops.

Kerala has launched a state-of-the-art Accelerator for Electronics Technologies(ACE) to boost startups.

It is a joint initiative of Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing(CDAC).
Objective is To develop itself as a leading accelerator in the country”s electronics technologies.It also aims to nurture the development of high-tech startups in electronics and allied disciplines.

C-DAC

It is an autonomous scientific society created in 1987 under the operational control Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.It primarily carries out Research and development(R&D) in IT, Electronics and associated areas.

Government has said that Integrated Government Online training ’-iGOT platform has issued more than 15 lakh online trainees certificates.

iGOT is an E-learning platform launched by the Department of Personnel and Training to promote capacity building among the frontline workers to handle CoVID-19 pandemic.
Doctors, Nurses, Central & State Govt. Officers, Civil Defence Officials, Police Organisations, National Cadet Corps (NCC), Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS), Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) and other volunteers.
The platform is being hosted on the DIKSHA platform.

DIKSHA

It is an initiative of National Council of Educational Research and Training(NCERT), Ministry of Education.It offers engaging learning material relevant to the prescribed school curriculum to teachers, students and parents.

Rise in PMI

Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) is an indicator of business activity - both in the manufacturing and services sectors.
It is calculated separately for the manufacturing and services sectors and then a composite index is also constructed.
The PMI summarizes whether market conditions as viewed by purchasing managers are expanding, neutral, or contracting.
PMI Data means the following
The headline PMI is a number from 0 to 100.
PMI above 50 represents an expansion when compared to the previous month;
PMI under 50 represents a contraction, and
A reading at 50 indicates no change.
The PMI is usually released at the start of every month.
Recently India’s PMI rose from 56.8 in September to 58.9 in October 2020.
PMI is compiled by IHS Markit for more than 40 economies worldwide.
IHS Markit is a global leader in information, analytics and solutions for the major industries and markets that drive economies worldwide.

Nomura India Business Resumption Index

Nomura India Business Resumption Index (NIBRI) is Japanese brokerage’s weekly tracker of the pace of normalisation of economic activity.
Recently India’s NIBRI improved to 82.4 in October, a rise of 2.1 points from 80.3 in September and 73.6 in August.

IAS SPECIAL