TNPSC Current Affairs August 29, 2020

www.tnpsc.academy – TNPSC Current Affairs August 29, 2020 (29/08/2020)

Topic: Welfare Oriented Govt Schemes and their Utilities

National Mission for Financial Inclusion

Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) – National Mission for Financial Inclusion, completed its six years of successful implementation.

Key facts:

While launching the programme on 28th August 2014, the Prime Minister had described the occasion as a festival to celebrate the liberation of the poor from a vicious cycle of poverty.

A key initiative towards commitment of financial inclusion is the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY).

Financial inclusion may be defined as the process of ensuring access to financial services and timely and adequate credit where needed by vulnerable groups such as weaker sections and low-income groups at an affordable cost.

Financial Inclusion is a national priority of the Government as it is an enabler for inclusive growth.

It is important as it provides an avenue to the poor for bringing their savings into the formal financial system, an avenue to remit money to their families in villages besides taking them out of the clutches of the usurious money lenders.

Topic: International Events

Africa declared free of wild polio

Africa has been declared free from wild polio by the independent body, the Africa Regional Certification Commission. Now only the vaccine-derived polio virus remains in Africa.

When a country is certified as free of wild polio?

A region is certified as free of wild polio after three years have passed without the virus being detected in any of its countries. Nigeria is the last African country to be declared free from wild polio.

Where wild polio is still present?

Wild polio is still present in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

What is a vaccine-derived poliovirus?

It is a strain of the weakened poliovirus that was initially included in oral polio vaccine (OPV) and that has changed over time and behaves more like the wild or naturally occurring virus. This means it can be spread more easily to people who are unvaccinated against polio and who come in contact with the stool or respiratory secretions, such as from a sneeze, of an infected person. These viruses may cause illness, including paralysis.

How is it spread?

Oral polio vaccine (OPV) contains an attenuated (weakened) vaccine-virus, activating an immune response in the body. When a child is immunized with OPV, the weakened vaccine-virus replicates in the intestine for a limited period, thereby developing immunity by building up antibodies.

During this time, the vaccine-virus is also excreted. In areas of inadequate sanitation, this excreted vaccine-virus can spread in the immediate community (and this can offer protection to other children through ‘passive’ immunization), before eventually dying out.

Topic: Political System in India

SC Decision on UGC Guidelines on Conduct of Examinations

The Supreme Court ruled that the states are empowered under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 (DM Act) to override University Grants Commission (UGC) exam guidelines in order to protect human lives amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, it held that universities and other institutions of higher education will have to conduct the final-year exams and cannot promote students on the basis of internal assessment or other criteria.

Key facts:

Background: The UGC had directed that final year examinations of Universities must be conducted by September-end in online or offline mode. However, the Maharashtra and Delhi governments employed the DM Act, 2005 to cancel the examinations due to Covid-19 to which the UGC objected.

Judgement:

In case of a disaster, the priority of all authorities under the DM Act is to immediately combat the disaster and contain it to save human life. Saving the life of human beings is given paramount importance.

However, the powers of the States under the DM Act do not extend to promoting students on the sole basis of their internal assessment without taking exams.

In future, if any State found it impossible to conduct the exams by the deadline given by UGC and wanted to postpone them, it could apply to the UGC, which would consider the request and decide at the earliest.

Also, the States and universities cannot dismiss UGC guidelines as being merely advisory. They were necessary for the determination of standards in institutions of higher education and were obligatory for universities.

The UGC (Minimum Standards of Instruction for the Grant of the Master’s Degree through Formal Education) Regulations, 2003, categorically requires universities to adopt the guidelines.

The court also rejected the argument that compelling attendance by holding physical examination is a violation of the ‘Right to Life’ under Article 21.

It pointed out that the revised guidelines take into consideration the fact that the number of Covid cases are rising.

They were based on the recommendations of the R.C. Kuhad Expert Committee. They provided three modes of examination – pen and paper, online and blended (both physical and online). A “special chance” was also given to students unable to take the exams.

The R.C. Kuhad Expert Committee recommended that exams should be held for Terminal Semester Students while the Intermediate Semester Students should be graded based on internal assessment of the present and previous semester. It also suggested the constitution of a Covid-19 cell in every university.

Way Forward:

The performance in examinations contributes to merit, lifelong credibility, wider global acceptability and better future prospects to the student. However, the digital divide that exists in the country must be taken into account while going for online conduct of examinations.

The Ministry of Education must proactively intervene in the appointments of final year students who have not been able to appear for the examination and come out with policies to defer the requirement of degree certificates for job appointments.

Topic: Latest Diary of Events

Foundation Day of AREAS

On the 6th Foundation Day (27th August 2020) of the Association of Renewable Energy Agencies of States (AREAS), the government has launched a website and telephone directory for AREAS.

Key facts:

Agenda Behind AREAS: State Nodal Agencies (SNAs) for Renewable Energy (RE) interact and learn from each other’s experiences and also share their best practices and knowledge regarding technologies and schemes/programmes.

Formation: It got registered under Society Registration Act, 1860 on 27th August 2014.

Topic: Latest Diary of Events

Mahatma Ayyankali

The Prime Minister of India paid tribute to social reformer Mahatma Ayyankali on his 157th birth anniversary.

Ayyankali born in Kerala, was a leader of the lower castes and Dalits. With his efforts, Dalits got the freedom to walk on public roads, and Dalit children were allowed to join schools. He formed Sadhu Jana Paripalana Sangham (SJPS) to work for low castes.

Efforts to organise the “depressed classes” and particularly the untouchable castes predated the nationalist movement, having begun in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Topic: India and its Foreign Policy

14th India-Singapore Defence Policy Dialogue

The India-Singapore Defence Policy Dialogue was held in video conference. The countries agreed to discuss number of issues of bilateral defence engagements. They agreed to enhance the security partnership.

Defence Cooperation:

India and Singapore began their annual naval combat exercise called the SIMBEX in 1994. In 2003, the countries signed an agreement that allowed the Singapore army to conduct training on Indian soil.

In 2015, the countries signed agreement for strategic relationship in security, military, intelligence cooperation, political exchanges, cooperation in multilateral forums, and to improve air connectivity.