Table of Contents
”UPSC News Diary For Today” is every day published in the evening between 6-7 PM and contains all current affairs articles from the day on a single platform. ”UPSC News Diary For Today” covers various topics from UPSC Syllabus and is very helpful and time managing for UPSC Aspirants. The framing of this daily current affairs compilation article is easy to read and understandable also.
In the ”UPSC News Diary For Today” article, we focus on both UPSC Preliminary and Mains exam-oriented current affairs & prepare a gist of daily important news articles from leading National Newspapers, PIB, and other various official sources.
”Talaq-e-Hasan”
What is Talaq-e-Hasan?
- Talaq-e-Hasan is a form of ‘triple talaq’ by which a Muslim man can divorce his wife by pronouncing ‘talaq’ at three separate intervals — the gap being at least one month or one menstrual cycle.
Is Talaq-e-Hasan against law?
Talaq-e-Hasan notice is not only “arbitrary, illegal and an abuse of law” but also a unilateral extrajudicial act, which directly infringes upon Articles 14, 15, 21, and 25 of the Constitution.
Does Muslim Marriages Act, 1939 Protect Women from Bigamy?
- The Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939, does not protect Muslim Women from bigamy, which has been statutorily secured for other Indian women belonging to other religions.
- Bigamous marriage has been made punishable among Christians by Christian Marriage Act, 1872, amongst Parsis by Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936, and amongst Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains by Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
- But the legislature(Muslim Marriages Act, 1939) has failed to ensure the dignity and equality of women in general and Muslim women in particular when it concerns matters of marriage, divorce and succession.
”Wimbledon”
Know about Wimbledon
- Since the first Championships in 1877, Wimbledon has grown from its roots as a garden-party tournament to a Grand Slam tournament with a following of millions around the world.
- The Wimbledon Championship is one of the four major Grand Slam tournaments in tennis, US Open, Australian Open and French Open being the other three.
- Amidst the four, Wimbledon is the only one which is played in traditional grass courts while the other three take place on hard and clay surfaces.
- The event takes place over a span of two weeks, beginning in late June and early July. Following traditions, all competitors must be dressed in suitable attire which is almost entirely white.
”Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D)”
Key Points
- The Ministry of Education’s Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) for 2019 released on June 27, 2022, studied 83 indicators grouped in six categories.
- These categories are outcomes, effective classroom transaction, infrastructure facilities and student’s entitlements, school safety and child protection, digital learning and governance process.
Rajasthan Topped!
- Rajasthan’s Sikar is the top performer, followed by Jhunjhunu and Jaipur in the Union government’s index for performance of school education system at the district level.
- The three districts have figured in the ‘Utkarsh’ category (scoring 81-90% on a scale of 100) with Jhunjhunu scoring the maximum (236 out of 290) in learning outcomes.
- Also, in the second grade ‘Ati-uttam’, Rajasthan is significantly ahead of the second and third top States with 24 of its districts in this category.
What are different PGI-D grades?
- The PGI-D grades the districts into 10 grades with the highest achievable grade being ‘Daksh’, which is for districts scoring more than 90% of the total points in that category or overall.
- ‘Utkarsh’ category is for districts with score between 81-90%, followed by ‘Ati-Uttam’ (71-80%), ‘Uttam’ (61-70%), ‘Prachesta-I’ (51-60%), ‘Prachesta-II’ (41-50%) and ‘Pracheshta III’ (31-40%).
- The lowest grade in PGI-D is called ‘Akanshi-3’ which is for scores up to 10% of the total points.
”National Highway Excellence Awards” 2021
About NHEA
- With a view to strengthen and augment the road infrastructure in the country, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) initiated “National Highways Excellence Awards”(NHEA) in 2018 in order to incentivize stakeholders in the highway construction and maintenance process and to create a spirit of healthy competitiveness amongst them.
- The idea is to recognize and award companies for the best-performing road assets and toll plazas across the country.
- Acknowledging companies which are performing exceptionally and delivering the finest quality services during construction, operations & maintenance, innovation, greenery, tolling stages of highway development as well as in the arena of road safety.
- The aim of the award is to create world-class road infrastructure, highways, toll plazas, expressways, bridges, tunnels every day through new and innovative construction processes along with a strong focus on environmental sustainability and cleanliness factor.
- For the 2021 cycle of awards, the categories are as follows:
-
- Excellence in Project Management
- Excellence in Highway Safety
- Excellence in Operation and Maintenance
- Excellence in Toll Management
- Innovation
- Green Highway
- Bridge Construction
- Tunnel Construction
Swachh Certification Protocols
Relevance
- GS 2: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Swachh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0: Context
- Recently, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has launched the Revised Swachh Certification Protocols for ODF, ODF+, ODF++, and Water+ certifications under Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0.
Swachh Certification Protocols : Key points
The revamped revised protocol is aligned with SBM-2.0 objectives and is designed to ensure:
- No untreated used water or faecal sludge is discharged into the environment and all used water (including sewerage and septage, grey water and black water) is safely contained, transported, and treated in all cities with less than 1 lakh population.
- To sustain open defecation free status in all statutory towns.
Swachh Certification Protocols
- Swachh Certification Protocols emphasises on the need for certification processes to constantly evolve to become more comprehensive.
- The Revised Swachh Certification Protocols is more functionality-oriented and has been simplified for officials and citizens to understand it better.
- The purpose of the protocol is not only to improve rankings of cities but to motivate cities to achieve the spirit of the Mission.
Key interventions against each certification
- ODF – Robust monitoring mechanism ensured by increasing the number of survey sample size and location types.
- ODF+ – Focus on functionality of CT/PT and innovative O&M business model for their sustainability in long run.
- ODF++ – Emphasis on mechanized cleaning of septic tanks and sewers. Safe collection & treatment of used water as well as safe management of faecal sludge.
- Water+ – The focus is on collection, transportation, treatment, and reuse of both used water and faecal sludge to prevent environmental pollution.
Objective of SBM 2.0
- All statutory towns will become at least ODF+; and all cities with <1 lakh population ODF++.
- Systems and processes will be in place so that all waste water is safely treated and optimally reused and no untreated wastewater pollutes water bodies.
- Regarding the Solid Waste Management, it is expected that all cities will achieve at least 3-star Garbage Free certification under SBM-U 2.0.
SBM Achievement
- SBM has achieved sustainable sanitation in over 3,300 cities and over 950 cities have been certified ODF+ and ODF++ respectively.
- Also, 9 cities have been certified Water+, which entails treatment of wastewater and its optimum reuse.
- The thrust on scientific waste management is evident with waste processing in India going up by over four times from 18% in 2014 to 70% today.
- This has been aided through 100% door-to-door waste collection in 97% wards and source segregation of waste being practised by citizens in letter and spirit across 85% wards.
- The active participation of 20 crore citizens (comprising over 50% of India’s urban population) in the program has successfully transformed the Mission into a people’s movement, a true Jan Andolan.
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Performance Grading Index for Districts
Relevance
- GS 2: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
Performance Grading Index: Context
- Recently, Ministry of Education has releases first ever report on Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) for the year 2018-19 and 2019-20.
PGI-D: Key points
- The index assesses the performance of school education system at the district level by creating an index for comprehensive analysis.
- Based on the success of State PGI, 83-indicator based PGI for District (PGI-D) has been designed to grade the performance of all districts in school education.
- The PGI-D is expected to help the state education departments to identify gaps at the district level and improve their performance in a decentralized manner.
- The indicator-wise PGI score shows the areas where a district needs to improve.
- The PGI-D will reflect the relative performance of all the districts in a uniform scale which encourages them to perform better.
- The PGI-D 2020-21 is presently under compilation. PGI-D 2018-19 and 2019-20 provides insight into intra State comparison of progress of School education.
About Performance Grading Index for Districts
- The PGI-D structure comprises of total weight age of 600 points across 83 indicators.
- These indicators are grouped under 6 categories, Outcomes, Effective Classroom Transaction, Infrastructure Facilities & Student’s Entitlements, School Safety & Child Protection, Digital Learning and Governance Process.
- These categories are further divided into 12 domains.
PGI-D indicators
- PGI-D grades the districts into ten grades, Highest achievable Grade is Daksh, which is for Districts scoring more than 90% of the total points in that category or overall.
- The lowest grade in PGI-D is called Akanshi-3 which is for scores upto10% of the total points.
- Ultimate objective of PGI-D is to help the districts to priorities areas for intervention in school education and thus improve to reach the highest grade.
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BRICS Summit 2022
Relevance for UPSC Exam
BRICS Summit 2022: 14th BRICS Summit was recently held virtually under the chairmanship of Chinese President. BRICS is an important grouping from India’s perspective. BRICS grouping will come under UPSC Mains GS Paper 2 (International Relations- Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.)
BRICS Summit 2022 in News
- Recently, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi led India’s participation at the 14thBRICS Summit 2022.
14th BRICS Summit 2022
- About: BRICS Summit 2022 was convened under the Chairmanship of President Xi Jinping of China on 23-24 June 2022, in a virtual format.
- Participation: Along with Indian Prime Minister, President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, President Vladimir Putin of Russia, and President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa also participated in BRICS 2022 Summit.
- Guest Countries: Algeria, Argentina, Cambodia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Fiji, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Senegal, Thailand and Uzbekistan also participated as guest countries in the BRICS 2022 Summit.
- BRICS 2022 theme: XIV BRICS Summit was held under the theme “Foster High-quality BRICS Partnership, Usher in a New Era for Global Development”.
12th BRICS Agriculture Ministers Meeting 2022
BRICS Summit 2022 Outcome- Beijing Declaration
- On Russia-Ukraine Crisis: BRICS Beijing declaration supported resolution of Russia-Ukraine Conflict through peaceful diplomatic mechanisms.
- In this context, BRICS showed its willingness to support the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)’s efforts to deliver humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
- On Afghanistan Issue: BRICS countries showed their concerns about deteriorating situation in the Taliban-led Afghanistan.
- On Terrorism: BRICS countries condemned any form of terrorism and reiterated that only UN Security Council has the authority for imposing sanctions of any organization.
India at BRICS Summit 2022
- India called for strengthening of the BRICS Identity and proposed establishment of Online Database for BRICS documents, BRICS Railways Research Network, and strengthening cooperation between MSMEs.
- India will be organizing BRICS Startup event this year to strengthen connection between Startups in BRICS countries.
- Prime Minister highlighted-
- India’s development partnership with Africa, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and from Pacific to Caribbean;
- India’s focus on a free, open, inclusive, and rules-based maritime space;
- Respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations from the Indian Ocean Region to Pacific Ocean; and
- Reform of multilateral system as large parts of Asia and all of Africa and Latin America have no voice in global decision-making.
- India noted the importance of circular economy and invited citizens of participating countries to join Lifestyle for Environment (LIFE) campaign.
About BRICS Grouping
- About: BRICS is an acronym for the grouping of the world’s leading emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
- Background: In 2001, Goldman Sachs’ Jim O’Neill authored a paper called “Building Better Global Economic BRICs”, pointing out that future GDP growth in the world would come from China, India, Russia, and Brazil.
- Though the paper did not recommend any formal grouping, it said that BRIC economies combined would outstrip the western dominated world order before 2039.
- BRICS Formation: In 2006, leaders of the BRIC countries met on the margins of a G-8 (now called G-7) summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, and BRIC was formalized that year.
- Shortly afterward, in September 2006, the group was formalized as BRIC during the 1st BRIC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, which met on the sidelines of the General Debate of the UN Assembly in New York City.
- First formal summit: took place in 2009 in the Russian Federation and focused on issues such as reform of the global financial architecture.
- South Africa was invited to join BRIC in December 2010, after which the group adopted the acronym BRICS.
- South Africa subsequently attended the Third BRICS Summit in Sanya, China, in 2011.
- BRICS Headquarters: BRICS doesn’t have any headquarter rather all the countries of BRICS have offices dedicated to BRICS in their own nation.
- BRICS Structure: BRICS does not exist in the form of organization, but it is an annual summit between the supreme leaders of five nations.
- BRICS Presidency: The Chairmanship of the forum is rotated annually among the members, in accordance with the acronym B-R-I-C-S.
- India had the BRICS Presidency from January 2021.
- Currently, China has the BRICS Presidency.
- BRICS Significance: BRICS Member Countries together represent-
- 41% of the Global Population
- 24% of the Global GDP and
- 16% of the Global Trade
Gig and Platform Economy in India
Relevance
- GS 3: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.
Gig economy in India: Context
- Recently, NITI Aayog has launched a report titled ‘India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy’ on the gig–platform economy in India.
NITI Aayog report on gig economy: Key points
- The report is a first-of-its-kind study that presents comprehensive perspectives and recommendations on the gig–platform economy in India.
- The report provides a scientific methodological approach to estimate the current size and job-generation potential of the sector.
- It highlights the opportunities and challenges of this emerging sector and presents global best practices on initiatives for social security and delineates strategies for skill development and job creation for different categories of workers in the sector.
What is gig economy?
- Gig workers are those workers who are engaged in livelihoods outside the traditional employer-employee arrangement.
- They can be broadly classified into platform and non- platform-based workers.
- Platform workers are those whose work is based on online software apps or digital platforms.
- While, non-platform gig workers are generally casual wage workers and own-account workers in the conventional sectors, working part-time or full time.
Gig economy in India
- It is estimated that there were 68 lakh (8 million) gig workers in 2019-20.
- The gig workforce is expected to expand to 2.35 crore workers by 2029-30.
- The gig workers are expected to form 6.7% of the non-agricultural workforce or 4.1% of the total livelihood in India by 2029-30.
- The employment elasticity to GDP growth for gig workers was above one throughout the period 2011-12 to 2019-20, and was always above the overall employment elasticity.
- The higher employment elasticity for gig workers indicates the nature of economic growth, which created greater demand for gig workers while not generating commensurate demand for non-gig workers.
- At present about 47% of the gig work is in medium skilled jobs, about 22% in high skilled, and about 31% in low skilled jobs.
Recommendations for gig economy in India
To harness the potential of the gig-platform sector, the report recommends
- Accelerating access to finance through products specifically designed for platform workers.
- Linking self-employed individuals engaged in the business of selling regional and rural cuisine, street food, etc., with platforms to enable them to sell their produce to wider markets in towns and cities.
- The report puts forth suggestions for platform-led transformational and outcome-based skilling.
- Enhancing social inclusion through gender sensitization and accessibility awareness programmes for workers and their families.
- Extending social security measures in partnership mode as envisaged in the Code on Social Security 2020.
- Undertaking a separate enumeration exercise to estimate the size of the gig and platform workforce and collecting information during official enumerations ( Periodic Labour Force Survey) to identify gig workers.
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UN Ocean Conference 2022
Relevance for UPSC Exam
UN Ocean Conference: UN Ocean Conference 2022 is being held to ensure global cooperation towards protection and sustenance of the Ocean ecosystem of the world. UN Ocean Conference 2022 will come under UPSC Mains GS Paper 2 (International Relations- Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate) and GS Paper 3 (Environment- Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation).
UN Ocean Conference 2022 in News
- UN Ocean Conference 2022 is being held for five days with participation of over 130 countries from across the world.
- Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh is leading the Indian delegation at UN Ocean Conference.
UN Ocean Conference 2022
- About: The UN Ocean Conference is a unique opportunity to boost collective efforts and find science-based solutions to effectively address the challenges that the ocean is now facing.
- Host Countries: UN Ocean Conference 2022 is being co-hosted by Portugal and Kenya.
- Liu Zhenmin, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, will serve as the Secretary-General of the UN Ocean Conference 2022.
- Participation: Heads of Government and State together with leaders from the private sector, the scientific community and other partners will gather at the UN Ocean Conference.
- They are expected to chart a new pathway that would ensure the protection and conservation of the ocean and its resources.
- Mandate: UN Ocean Conference aims to find an international agreement on protecting the world’s oceans, seas and marine resources.
- It aims at scaling up Ocean Action Based on Science and Innovation for the Implementation of SDG 14 (Life Below Water): Stocktaking, Partnerships and Solutions.
- Significance: To mobilize action towards achievement of SDG 14, the Ocean Conference will seek to propel much needed science-based innovative solutions aimed at starting a new chapter of global ocean action.
- Sustainable Ocean Ecology: Solutions for a sustainably managed ocean involve green technology and innovative uses of marine resources. They also include-
- Addressing the threats to health, ecology, economy and
- Governance of the ocean – acidification, marine litter and pollution, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and the loss of habitats and biodiversity.
UN Glasgow Climate Change Conference (COP 26)
India’s Actions Towards Ensuring Sustainable Ocean Ecosystem
- India has taken up several initiatives, programmes and policy interventions to protect the marine and coastal ecosystems, mangroves and coral reefs
- India has already taken a big lead in Green Technology. India’s 2030 goal is to reduce India’s emissions by 45 percent by adding 500 gigawatts of renewable energy generators to the country’s power kitty.
- It will result in reducing almost one billion tonne of India’s CO2 emissions.
- India recently undertook a nationwide awareness campaign to clean plastic and other waste from coastal areas and this mission will soon become a Jan Andolan.
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14- Life Under Water
- About SDGs: Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) were adopted in 2015 as an integral aspect of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- SDGs are a set of 17 transformative goals towards ensuring a sustainable development, and sustainable future.
- SDG 14: Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14- Life Under Water, stresses the need to conserve and sustainably use the world’s oceans, seas and marine resources.
- Key Objectives: Advancement of Goal 14 is guided by specific targets that focus on an array of ocean issues, including-
- Reducing marine pollution,
- Protecting marine and coastal ecosystems,
- Minimizing acidification,
- Ending illegal and over-fishing,
- Increasing investment in scientific knowledge and marine technology, and
- Respecting international law that calls for the safe and sustainable use of the ocean and its resources.
The Editorial Analysis: Higher education in India
Relevance
- GS 2: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
Education in India: Context
- In the Union Budget 2022-23, higher education policy planners and regulators emphasised on giving shape to the digital university.
About digital university
- Digital university is expected to offer any number, kind, and type of course without limits on intake, in a hybrid or ‘physical plus digital’ mode.
- It proclaims to provide equitable access to quality higher education and employability-enhancing skill development programmes to all.
Government steps for higher education
- University Grants Commission has relaxed the norms and standards for setting up open universities. Particularly, land requirement has been reduced from 40 acres to just five acres.
- More universities are being enabled to offer courses in the distance, open and online mode, mostly in collaboration with EdTech start-ups and unicorns.
- Students are also made to complete a certain portion of their course requirements through Massive Open Online Courses.
- Additionally, they can accumulate credits at will and deposit them in their Academic Bank of Credit to be exchanged for a degree at a later stage.
Role of teachers in education
- Technology can be effectively leveraged as a quality-enhancement tool. It would, however, be a blunder to regard technology-mediated teaching-learning as an alternative to face-to-face education.
- Technology can supplement and not substitute teachers.
- No world-class universities, including those with a high degree of technology integration in their teaching and learning processes, are planning to cut down their faculty cost or their number any time soon.
- Higher education is a lot more than borrowing content and delivering them online or outsourcing content.
- We must, instead, be focussed on exploiting our full potential to emerge as a producer of knowledge and providers of the global workforce.
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