Centre begins process of delimitation of assembly seats in J&K

News:The Central Government has begun the process of delimitation of Assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir.

Facts:

About Delimitation:

• Delimitation is the act of redrawing boundaries of Lok Sabha and state Assembly seats to represent changes in population. 
• The main objective of delimitation is to provide equal representation to equal segments of a population. 

Process of Delimitation:

• Under Article 82, the Parliament enacts a Delimitation Act after every Census.
• Once the Act is in force,the Union government sets up a Delimitation Commission.
• The Delimitation commission has been constituted at least four times in India in 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002 under their respective Acts.
• However, there was no delimitation after the 1981 and 1991 Censuses.

About Delimitation commission:

• The Delimitation Commission is appointed by the President of India and works in collaboration with the Election Commission of India.
• The commission is made up of a retired Supreme Court judge, the Chief Election Commissioner and the respective State Election Commissioners.
• The commission is mandated to a) determine the number and boundaries of constituencies to make the population of all constituencies nearly equal and b) identify seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, wherever their population is relatively large.
• The constitution mandates that the orders of commission are final and cannot be questioned before any court as it would hold up an election indefinitely.

Worldwide Education for the Future Index 2019

News:The Economist Intelligence Unit has released the Worldwide Educating for the Future Index (WEFFI) 2019.

Facts:

About the Index:

• The index assesses countries based on their abilities to equip students with skill-based education.
• It has ranked countries based on three pillars namely environment, teaching environment and overall socio-economic environment.
• The theme of the index is “From Policy to Practice”.

Key takeaways from the index:

• Finland has been ranked at the top of the index.It was followed by Sweden at second position and New Zealand at third position.
• India has been ranked 35th on the overall index in 2019 with a total score of 53.In 2018,it was ranked at 40th position.
• The bottom three nations in the index were Kenya (48th), Nigeria (49th) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (50th).

Pakistan to continue in FATF Grey List 

News:The International Co-operation Review Group(ICRG) of the Financial Action Task Force(FATF) has recommended that Pakistan be retained on the Grey List given its failure to completely implement the 27-point action plan to check terror financing.

Facts:

FATF and Pakistan:

• In 2018,Pakistan was placed on the grey list by the FATF and was given a 27-point action plan to implement by February 2020 or face the risk of being placed on the black list with Iran and North Korea.
• Currently,the FATF has said that Pakistan has made substantial progress in the implementation of 14 of the 27 recommendations.
• However,it has asked Pakistan to further tighten its laws to bring individuals involved in money laundering and terror financing to task.

About FATF:

• The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 during the G7 Summit in Paris.
• Its Secretariat is located at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) headquarters in Paris.
• The objectives of the FATF are to (a) set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures (b) for combating money laundering (c)terrorist financing and (d) other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
• Currently,the FATF comprises 37 member jurisdiction and 2 regional organisations representing most major financial centres in all parts of the globe.

Listing by FATF:

• Grey List: Countries that are considered safe haven for supporting terror funding and money laundering are put in the grey list.This inclusion serves as a warning to the country that it may enter the blacklist.
• Black List: Countries known as Non-Cooperative are put in the blacklist. These countries support terror funding and money laundering activities. The FATF revises the blacklist regularly adding or deleting entries.

11 Indian universities in top 100 for emerging economies 

News:Times Higher Education’s (THE) Emerging Economies University Rankings 2020 has been released.

Facts:

About the rankings:

• The Emerging University Rankings is based on the same 13 performance indicators used for the World University Rankings.
• These 13 indicators measure an institution’s performance across teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.
• However, the weightings are different to reflect the development priorities of universities in emerging economies.

Key takeaways from the ranking:

• The Tsinghua University from China has topped the Emerging University Rankings.
• Indian universities had also performed well as 11 universities made it to the top 100 emerging universities of the world.Only China has more universities than India in the top 100 at 30.
• The Indian Institute of Science(IISc), ranked 16th is India’s top-ranked institution.The other universities included are IIT Kharagpur at 32nd, IIT Delhi at 38th and IIT Madras at 63rd.
• A total of 56 Indian universities appear in the full ranking of a total of 533 universities from 47 emerging economies of the world.

Mukurthi National Park

News:Tamil Nadu government are constructing fire lines’ or ‘fire breaks’, in the Mukurthi National Park(MNP) ahead of summer and peak fire season.

Facts:

About Mukurthi National Park:

• Location: It is located in the northwest corner of Tamil Nadu in the Western Ghats mountain range.It is also a part of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.
• Type:It is characterised by montane grasslands and shrublands interspersed with sholas in a high altitude area of high rainfall, near-freezing temperatures and high winds.
• Keystone Species:Themain reason behind establishing a national park in the place was to protect the Nilgiri Tahr which is a Keystone species.
• The park also has the distinction of being a UNESCO World Heritage Site because it is part of the Western Ghats. 

Additional information:

About Fire Line:

• It is an artificially formed break in foliage or forest cover to control the spread of wildfires by limiting the amount of combustible vegetation available.

About Keystone Species:

• keystone species is a species that plays an essential role in the structure, functioning or productivity of a habitat or ecosystem at a defined level (habitat, soil, seed dispersal, etc).
• Disappearance of such species may lead to significant ecosystem change or dysfunction which may have knock on effects on a broader scale.

KALA KUMBH – Handicrafts Exhibitions for promotion of GI Crafts

News:The Ministry of Textiles is organising the Kala Kumbh – Handicrafts Thematic Exhibition in various parts of the country.

Facts:

About Kala Kumbh:

• It is an exhibition to promote GI (Geographical Indication) crafts and heritage of India. 
• It is being organized through the Office of Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) under the Ministry of Textiles.
• It is sponsored by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts(EPCH).

About GI tag:

• A geographical indication(GI) is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.
• The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 provides registration and also protection of GI goods in India.
• The act is administered by the Controller General of Patents, Designs and trademarks under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• As of August 2019, 178 GI handicraft products are registered from all over India.

About EPCH:

• Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts(EPCH) was established as a non-profit organisation under Companies Act in 1986-87.
• It aims to promote, support, protect, maintain and increase the export of handicrafts.

E-MASIHA App

News:Recently, the Ministry of Minority Affairs has informed that India has become the first country in the world which has made the entire Haj 2020 process 100% digital..

Facts:

About the E-MASIHA App:

• E-Masiha stands for E-Medical Assistance System for Indian Pilgrims Abroad.
• It is an online system to create and maintain the complete health database of pilgrims along with doctors’ prescriptions as well as medicine disbursals to deal with any emergency in Makkah-Madinah.

About HAJ APP:

• Indian Haj Information System (Haj App) has been developed to receive grievance from Hajis and feedback to improve the service.
• The app connects the pilgrims to Haj service coordinators known as Qadimul Hajjaj of their respective states.
• Qadimul Hajjaj are government employees who are deputed to assist pilgrims during Hajj season.

ECI awarded ‘Silver’ in re-engineering process for digital transformation

News:The Election Commission of India has been awarded Silver for Excellence in Government Process re-engineering for digital transformation for the year 2019-20.

Facts:

About the award:

• The award was presented during the 23rd National Conference on e-Governance by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances(DARPG).
• Aim:Torecognize the projects that involved analysis and re-design of workflow which resulted in improvement in outcomes related to efficiency, the effectiveness of the process, cost, quality, service delivery or a combination of these.

Additional information:

About ERONET:

• ERONET is a web portal setup by Election commission of India.It is a common database for all States and UTs with data of 91 crore electors.
• It provides bedrock of electoral roll in providing various web services to Conduct of Elections applications of Election Commission of India.
• It automates the process of electoral roll management starting from elector registration, field verification of electors, decision support system for Electoral registration officers and for providing extensive integrated value-added services.

Pakistan successfully tests air-launched cruise missile Ra’ad-II 

News:Pakistan has conducted a successful flight test of the air launched cruise missile Ra’ad-II.

Facts:

About the Ra’ad-II missile:

• The cruise missile has a range of around 600 km which significantly enhances air delivered strategic standoff capability on land and at sea.
• It is equipped with state of the art guidance and navigation systems ensuring engagement of targets with high precision.
• Further,Indian experts believe that the missile is Pakistan’s answer to India’s Nirbhay cruise missile.

Additional information:

About Nirbhay:

• Nirbhay is a long range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile designed and developed in India by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
• It is a two-stage missile powered by a Solid rocket motor booster with an operational range of 1000 km.
• The missile can be launched from multiple platforms and is capable of carrying conventional and nuclear warheads of up to 300kg at a speed of 0.6 to 0.7 Mach(subsonic).

IDSA renamed Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses

News: The Union government has decided to rename the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) as ‘Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses’.

Facts:

Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA)

• Established in 1965, it is a non-partisan, autonomous body dedicated to objective research and policy-relevant studies on all aspects of defence and security.
• It is funded by the Ministry of Defence. It functions autonomously.
• The Defence Minister chairs the executive committee of the institute’s society.

World’s largest’ subterranean fish

News: Scientists have discovered the world’s largest known subterranean fish in a cave in Meghalaya. The fish is yet to be named.

Facts:

• It is nearly five times the mean length (8.5 cm)  for all known subterranean fish to date.
• It is closely related to a surface-dwelling fish known as the golden mahseer.
• The cavefish lack pigmentation and their eyes are poorly developed or even non-existent.

Soil Health Card Day

News: The Soil Health Card Day is observed on 19th February 

Facts:

Soil Health Card Scheme

• Launched on 19th February 2015, by the Department of Agriculture & Co-operation under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.
• It provides for the analysis of soil composition by the State Governments once every two years.

 Soil Health Card (SHC):

• It is a printed report of nutritional status of the soil that a farmer is given for each of his holdings
• It contains the status of his soil with respect to 12 parameters: N, P, K (Macro-nutrients); S (Secondary- nutrient); Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn, Bo (Micronutrients); and pH, EC, OC (Physical parameters).
• Based on this, the SHC indicates fertilizer recommendations and soil amendments required for the farm.

Ministry of Human Resource Development to Celebrate Matribhasha Diwas

News: The Ministry of Human Resource Development will celebrate Matribhasha Diwas on 21st February

Facts:

Objectives of Matribhasha Diwas:

• Highlight the linguistic diversity of India;
• Encourage usage, not only of the respective mother tongue but other Indian languages as well.
• To understand and draw attention to the diversity of cultures in India and the consequent forums of literature, craft, performing arts, scripts and other forms of creative expression.
• To encourage the learning of languages other than one’s own mother tongue.

2020 Theme: Celebrating our Multilingual Heritage’ 

Additional Information:

International Mother Language Day

• It was first announced by UNESCO in 1999 and formally recognized by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 2008.
• It seeks to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and to promote multilingualism.

Note: In Bangladesh, 21 February is the anniversary of the day when Bangladeshis fought for recognition for the Bangla language.

Reserves of lithium, critical for EV batteries, found near Bengaluru: Report

News: Researchers at the Atomic Minerals Directorate, a unit of India’s Atomic Energy Commission, have estimated lithium reserves of 14,100 tonnes in a patch of land surveyed in Mandya, located 100 km from Bengaluru, Karnataka.

Facts:

• Lithium is an alkali metal. It has the lowest density of all metals.
• The most important use of lithium is in rechargeable batteries for mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras and electric vehicles.

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