Daily Current Affairs for State Exams: 09 March 2022

Daily Current Affairs – 09-03-2022

Important News: World

Democracy Report 2022

Why in News

According to the latest report from the V-Dem Institute at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg, the level of democracy enjoyed by the average global citizen in 2021 is down to 1989 levels, with the democratic gains of the post-Cold War period eroding rapidly in the last few years.
The study is titled ‘Democracy Report 2022: Autocratisation Changing Nature?’

Key Points

The report classifies countries into four regime types based on their score in the Liberal Democratic Index (LDI): Liberal Democracy, Electoral Democracy, Electoral Autocracy, and Closed Autocracy.

Main findings of the report:

Sweden topped the LDI index, other Scandinavian countries such as Denmark and Norway, along with Costa Rica and New Zealand make up the top five in liberal democracy rankings.
Autocratisation is spreading rapidly, with a record of 33 countries autocratising.

India’s Performance:

India is part of a broader global trend of an anti-plural political party driving a country’s autocratisation.
Ranked 93rd in the LDI, India figures in the “bottom 50%” of countries.
It has slipped further down in the Electoral Democracy Index, to 100, and even lower in the Deliberative Component Index, at 102.
In South Asia, India is ranked below Sri Lanka (88), Nepal (71), and Bhutan (65) and above Pakistan (117) in the LDI.

Note: Earlier, the Global State of Democracy Report, 2021 was released by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.

Source: The Hindu

Important News: India

Brahmaputra (NW2) gets connected with Ganga (NW1)

Why in News

Recently, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and AYUSH, Sarbananda Sonowal received the maiden voyage of food-grains from Patna to Pandu via Bangladesh in Guwahati.

Key Points

Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI)is planning to run a fixed schedule sailing between Ganga (NW1) and Brahmaputra (NW2) heralding a new age of inland water transport for Assam & the Northeast India.
The sustained effort to rejuvenate the historical trade routes via Bangladesh got a fillip under PM Gati Shakti.
In line with the "Act East” policy of Prime Minister, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways (MoPSW), has taken up several infrastructure projects on National Waterways-1 (NW1), Indo-Bangladesh Protocol route, and NW2, through the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI).
These steps will improve the connectivity with the North Eastern Region (NER) through waterways.
The Government has undertaken the ambitious Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) with an investment of about Rs. 4600 crore for the capacity augmentation of NW-1 (River Ganga) for safe and sustainable movement of vessels upto 2000 tonnes.

Note:

India has about 14,500 km of navigable waterways which consist of rivers, canals, backwaters, creeks, etc.
As per the National Waterways Act 2016, 111 waterways have been declared as National Waterways (NWs).
NW-1: Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly River System (Prayagraj-Haldia) with length 1620 km is the longest National Waterway in India.
The Inland Vessels Bill, 2021, was also approved to regulate safety, security and registration of inland vessels.

Source: PIB

Ministry of Women And Child Development launches campaign ‘Kanya Shikhsa Pravesh Utsav’

Why in News

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD), in partnership with the Ministry of Education and UNICEF, launched a landmark campaign ‘Kanya Shikhsa Pravesh Utsav’ to bring back out of school adolescent girls in India to the formal education and/or skilling system.

Key Points

The campaign has been launched with the objective of enhancing enrolment and retention of girls between 11-14 years of age in school.
The initiative intends to build on the existing schemes and programmes like Schemes for Adolescent Girls (SAG), Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) and National Education Policy (NEP) to work on a comprehensive system for out of school girls.
The campaign will be rolled out under the umbrella of MoWCD’s BBBP initiative by targeting more than 400,000 out of school adolescent girls as primary beneficiaries.

About UNICEF:

UNICEF, also known as the United Nations Children's Fund, is a United Nations agency responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide.
Headquarters: New York, United States
Founded: 11 December 1946

Source: Indian Express

Special Entrepreneurship Promotion Drive for Women – “SAMARTH”

Why in News

On the occasion of International Women’s Day 2022, Union Minister for MSME, Narayan Rane launched a Special Entrepreneurship Promotion Drive for Women -"SAMARTH".

Key Points

Under the Samarth initiative of the MSME Ministry, following benefits will be available to aspiring and existing women entrepreneurs:

20% Seats in free Skill Development Programs organized under skill development schemes of the Ministry will be allocated for Women. More than 7500 women will be benefitted.
20%of MSME Business Delegations sent to domestic & international exhibitions under the schemes for Marketing Assistance implemented by the Ministry will be dedicated to women owned MSMEs.
20%Discount on annual processing fee on NSIC’s Commercial Schemes
Special Drive for registrationof women-owned MSMEs under Udyam Registration

Note: In the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index, India is one of the worst performers in South Asia, it is now ranked 140 among 156 countries in 2021.

Legislative Framework related to Women:

The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961
Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013

Source: PIB

NIESBUD signs an MoU with Ministry of Rural Development for implementing the Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme

Why in News

National Institute of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD) — an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) to develop a sustainable model for promoting entrepreneurship at the grass roots by initiating the Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP).

Key Points

SVEP is a sub-component of Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) of the Ministry of Rural Development.
It aims to support entrepreneurs in rural areas to set-up enterprises at the village-level in non-agricultural sectors.
Under the partnership rural entrepreneurs will be able to access banking systems for receiving financial support for starting their enterprises, including support from MUDRA bank.
The beneficiaries of the project are from the Self-Help Group (SHG) ecosystem of DAY-NRLM and the scheme not only supports existing enterprises but new enterprises as well.

Source: ET

Union Minister Bhupender Yadav presents Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar, National Safety Awards and National Safety Awards Mines

Why in News

Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister of Labour and Employment, Environment, Forest and Climate Change presented Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar (VRP), National Safety Awards (NSA) for the performance year 2018 and National Safety Awards (Mines) [NSA (Mines)] for the contest years 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

Key Points

The Ministry of Labour & Employment has been operating the "Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar (VRP)" and "National Safety Awards (NSA)" since 1965 and National Safety Awards (Mines) [NSA (Mines)] since 1983.
VRP and NSA are operated by the Directorate General Factory Advice Service & Labour Institutes (DGFASLI), Mumbai and NSA (Mines) is operated by Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS), Dhanbad.

Source: PIB

Important News: Science

Petascale Supercomputer “PARAM Ganga” established at IIT Roorkee under National Supercomputing Mission

Why in News

National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) has now deployed “PARAM Ganga”, a supercomputer at IIT Roorkee, with a supercomputing capacity of 1.66 Petaflops.
The system is designed and commissioned by C-DAC under Phase 2 of the build approach of the NSM.

Key Points

About National Supercomputing Mission (NSM):

The National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) which is being steered jointly by Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeiTY) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and implemented by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, has progressed significantly.
The four major pillars of the NSM, namely, Infrastructure, Applications, R&D, HRD, have been functioning efficiently to realize the goal of developing indigenous supercomputing eco system of the nation.
C-DAC has been entrusted the responsibility to design, development, deployment and commission the supercomputing systems under the build approach of Mission.
It has designed and developed a computer server “Rudra” and high-speed interconnect “Trinetra” which are the major sub-assemblies required for supercomputers.

Source: PIB

Important News: Sports

Mithali Raj becomes first woman cricketer to play in six World Cups

Why in News

India captain Mithali Raj became only the third cricketer and the first woman to appear in six World Cups, joining the iconic Sachin Tendulkar and Pakistani great Javed Miandad.

Key Points

Raj, a 39-year-old veteran of many memorable matches, had made her maiden World Cup appearance in 2000, before playing the event in 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017 and now in 2022.

Source: Indian Express

Jamshedpur FC wins first ISL Winner's Shield after beating ATK Mohun Bagan

Why in News

Jamshedpur FC won their first Indian Super League (ISL) Winner's Shield after a gritty 1-0 win over ATK Mohun Bagan at the PJN Stadium, Goa.

Key Points

Jamshedpur FC is an Indian professional football club based in Jamshedpur.

About Indian Super League (ISL):

The Indian Super League is the men's professional top tier football league in Indian football system.
It is organised by All India Football Federation and their commercial partners Football Sports Development Limited.
For sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp, it is officially called as Hero Indian Super League.

Source: newsonair