TNPSC Current Affairs October 10, 2020

Topic: Awards and Honours, Persons in News

Nobel Prize for Peace 2020

The 2020 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the World Food Programme (WFP), a United Nations (UN) agency, for its efforts to combat hunger, bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and preventing the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.

Other 2020 Nobel Prizes for Literature, Chemistry, Physics and Medicine have already been announced.

World Food Programme:

It was established in 1961 by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and became a full-fledged UN programme in 1965.

Headquarter: Rome, Italy.

Significance and Achievements:

Eradicating hunger is one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 2: Zero Hunger) to be achieved by 2030 and WFP is the UN’s primary agency that works towards this goal.

Currently, it is the world’s largest humanitarian agency combating hunger.

In 2019, it assisted 97 million people, the largest number since 2012, in 88 countries. The same year, it delivered about 4.4 million tonnes of food, purchased USD 1.7 billion worth of food from 91 countries, and USD 762 million worth of goods and services from 156 countries.

Data on Hunger:

According to the WFP, there are 690 million hungry people around the world and around 60% of them live in countries affected by conflict.

It highlights that people living in countries with long-running crises are more than twice as likely to be undernourished than people elsewhere (2.5 times as much).

The number of hungry people is expected to increase further due to Covid-19 pandemic, which has led to earnings losses, made food more expensive and has disrupted supply chains.

The WFP estimates suggest that by 2030, nearly half of the global poor will be living in fragile and conflict-affected situations.

WFP’s Role in India:

It has been working in India since 1963. It focuses on reforms in the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) and provides policy inputs, advocacy and technical assistance for improving access to food.

The WFP has proposed unique initiatives like Automatic Grain Dispensing Machine (Annapurti) and Mobile Storage Units for the effective implementation of TPDS. Annapurti allows beneficiaries to withdraw their foodgrain quota accurately and at a time of their choice through automatic grain dispensing machines.

WFP India has completed a pilot on rice fortification used in the government’s Mid-day Meals scheme. During the pandemic, WFP India worked with the central and state governments and has also prepared a guidance note for the reopening of schools.

For example, it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Uttar Pradesh State Rural Livelihood Mission (SRLM) to provide technical assistance for setting up supplementary nutrition production units.

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Topic: Latest Diary of Events

Kastoori Cotton

Union Minister for Textiles unveiled a brand and a logo for Indian cotton recently on the occasion of 2nd World Cotton Day on 7th October 2020.

The branding, Kasturi Cotton, would initially be applicable to long-staple cotton that is grown in India and meets prescribed standards.

World Cotton Day:

Theme for World Cotton Day, 2020: “Cotton: The Fibre that Moves Me”.

Launched: By World Trade Organisation in 2019 on the initiative of Cotton-4 (Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali).

In Collaboration with: United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC).

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Topic: Profile of States

Tree Transplantation Policy

Delhi Cabinet has given its nod for ‘Tree Transplantation Policy’. With this, Delhi has become the first State in India to pass this policy.

Key features:

Agencies concerned will have to transplant 80 per cent of the trees affected by their projects to a new location.

More importantly, 10 saplings will be planted in addition to the whole tree being dug up with the root intact and scientifically transplanted at another location instead of being felled.

A dedicated panel of government agencies with track record and experience of tree transplantation is being formed under the policy.

Payments for transplantation will be made after one year to ensure this, and if less than 80 per cent of the transplanted trees survive, payment will be deducted.

The government will also form local committees, which will include citizens, for checking, monitoring and certification of the tree transplantation exercise.

A dedicated Tree Transplantation Cell will also be formed by the Delhi government and local committees, which will include government officials, citizens to monitor the transplanted trees and to certify that the task has been done with due diligence.

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Topic: General Administration

National butterfly

A citizen poll to identify the national butterfly has concluded with three species garnering the highest number of votes. They are:

Krishna Peacock (Papilio krishna).

Indian Jezebel (Delias eucharis).

Orange Oakleaf (Kallima inachus).

All these have unique features such as ability to camouflage as a dead leaf, exhibit iridescence to stave off predators, and aid farmers in getting rid of pests.

Background: The nationwide poll was organized by the National Butterfly Campaign Consortium, a collective of 50 butterfly experts and enthusiasts.

What Next?

The organizers will submit the names of the top three to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. The onus is on the Centre to choose one among them to join the ranks of the Bengal Tiger, Indian Peacock, Indian Lotus, banyan tree, and mango as yet another national symbol.

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Topic: Discovery of Rare Species

Animal and Plant Discoveries 2019

Both the ZSI and BSI have been releasing ‘Animal Discoveries’ and ‘Plant Discoveries’ since 2007.

Animal Discoveries 2019 lists 368 faunal species as new to science and 116 species as being spotted for the first time in India.

Plant Discoveries 2019 lists 180 new plant species and 73 species spotted for the first time in the country.

Important species in the latest editions:

Rock-dwelling gecko, Cnemaspis anandani- endemic to the Western Ghats.

Sphaerotheca magadha, a burrowing frog discovered in the farm fields of Jharkhand.

Enoplotrupes tawangensis, a dung beetle from Tawang.

A wild ginger variety, Amomum nagamiense, discovered from the forest behind Kohina Zoo in Nagaland.

A wild fern, Pteris subiriana, found not just in Kerala but also Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

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Topic: International Events

India donates N95 masks to US

The Government of India has donated 1.8 million N95 masks to the state of Philadelphia in United States. The masks were donated based on the request made by the mayor of Philadelphia on October 5 2020. The masks are to be used by the Frontline health workers.

India has made the donation to the largest city of United States, the city of Pennsylvania located in Philadelphia. The step is being considered as an example of robust partnership between India and United States in the health sector.

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Topic: Profile of States, General Administration

India’s first animal bridges

The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will house India’s first animal bridges or animal overpasses to leave the wildlife section undisturbed.

A section of Ranthambore Wildlife Corridor comes up on the proposed expressway connecting Mukundra and Ranthambhore Wildlife Sanctuaries in Rajasthan.

The expressway will connect India’s National Capital (New Delhi) with its Commercial Capital (Mumbai).

The expressway will have 5 animal overpasses with a combined length of more than 2.5 km. The animals will get a passage at every 500-metre interval. It will also have a boundary wall of 8 metres with a sound barrier of 3-4 metres in the corridor.

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Topic: Latest Diary of Events

World Egg Day – October 09

The day is celebrated in order to raise awareness about the benefits of eggs and their importance in human nutrition.

The day was established at IEC (International Egg Commission) in Vienna in 1996 conference. On this day, it was decided that World Egg Day will be celebrated on second Friday in October every year. Theme of this year is Eat Your Egg Today and Every day.