UPSC Prelims Bits For Today July 20, 2022 | Important Current Affairs in Brief Form For UPSC Prelims

Table of Contents

”UPSC Prelims Bits For Today” is every day published in the morning between 11:00 AM to 12:00 Noon and contains selective current affairs articles. ”UPSC Prelims Bits For Today” covers various topics from UPSC Prelims 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 Prelims Bits For Today” article, we focus on UPSC Preliminary exam-oriented current affairs covering various sections from leading National Newspapers, PIB, and other various official sources.

GOAL Programme (GOAL 2.0)

Why GOAL Programme (GOAL 2.0) is in News?

The second phase of the GOAL Programme (GOAL 2.0) was launched on 28^thJune, 2022 with an aim to digitally upskill tribal youth by promoting entrepreneurship and opening up opportunities for them using digital technology.

What is GOAL Programme (GOAL 2.0)?

GOAL (Going Online as Leaders) is a joint initiative of Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Meta (formerly Facebook), which aims at digital empowerment of tribal youth and women through concept of mentor and mentee.
The first phase of the GOAL programme was launched as a pilot project in May 2020 and it was completed by Dec 2021.
The mentees in the first-phase were provided with 40+ hours of training across three course pillars: (1) Communication & Life Skills; (2) Enabling Digital Presence, and (3) Leadership & Entrepreneurship. The programme is fully funded by Meta (Facebook India).
As part of the phase 1 of GOAL program, 176 tribal youth from 23 States across India were selected through an online application process. The mentees were also given a smart phone and Internet Connectivity by Facebook.

Sarnath Pillar

Why Sarnath pillar chosen as the national emblem?

As India won independence, the Constituent Assembly decided on the Sarnath pillar as the national emblem. It was felt that the pillar epitomised the power, courage and confidence of the free nation.
The emblem depicts a two-dimensional sculpture with the words Satyameva Jayate (truth alone triumphs) written below it, taken from the Mundaka Upanishad, written in Devanagari script.
On January 26, 1950, the Lion Capital of Asoka at Sarnath officially became the national emblem of India. The emblem represents the seal of the Republic of India.
Five students of renowned artist Nandalal Bose created the emblem. Among them were Jagdish Mittal, Kripal Singh Shekhawat, Gauri Bhanja and Dinanath Bhargava who was a young man in his 20s then.
He was advised by Bose to visit the Kolkata zoo to observe the lions closely so as to get the exact expression of the majestic animal. He is said to have travelled 200 kilometres to observe the lions from close quarters.
Incidentally, Bhargava has also designed the first 30 pages of the Constitution.

National Culture Fund

What is the aim of the National Culture Fund (NCF)?

The aim of the National Culture Fund (NCF) is to establish and nurture partnerships in the field of Culture and Heritage with private and public sectors, government, non-government agencies, private institutions and foundations and mobilize resources for the restoration, conservation, protection and development of India’s rich, natural, tangible and intangible heritage.
The major objectives of NCF is to administer and apply the Fund for conservation, maintenance, promotion, protection, preservation and up gradation of monuments protected or otherwise; for the training and development of a cadre of specialists and cultural administrators, for innovations and experiments in arts and for documentation of cultural expressions and forms that have lost their relevance in contemporary scenario and are either fading out or facing extinction.

About NCF

The government of India set up National Culture Fund (NCF) as a Trust on 28^th November 1996 under the Charitable Endowment Act, 1890.
NCF is managed by a (Governing) Council and an Executive Committee.
The Council is chaired by the Union Minister of Culture and has a strength of 21 including 15 non-official members representing various fields including corporate sector, private foundations and not-for-profit voluntary organizations.
The Executive Committee is chaired by Secretary (Culture) and has a strength of 9 including 4 non-official members from the Council.

CRISPR-Cas9

What is Genome Editing?

Genome editing (also called gene editing) is a group of technologies that give scientists the ability to change an organism’s DNA. These technologies allow genetic material to be added, removed, or altered at particular locations in the genome.

What is CRISPR-Cas9 Genome Editing technology?

Several approaches to genome editing have been developed. A well-known one is called CRISPR-Cas9, which is short for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and CRISPR-associated protein 9.
The CRISPR-Cas9 system has generated a lot of excitement in the scientific community because it is faster, cheaper, more accurate, and more efficient than other genome editing methods.
CRISPR-Cas9 was adapted from a naturally occurring genome editing system that bacteria use as an immune defence.
When infected with viruses, bacteria capture small pieces of the viruses’ DNA and insert them into their own DNA in a particular pattern to create segments known as CRISPR arrays.
The CRISPR arrays allow the bacteria to “remember” the viruses (or closely related ones).
If the viruses attack again, the bacteria produce RNA segments from the CRISPR arrays that recognize and attach to specific regions of the viruses’ DNA. The bacteria then use Cas9 or a similar enzyme to cut the DNA apart, which disables the virus.