Daily UPSC current affairs

India moves up five ranks to become 52nd most innovative country

The Global Innovation Index 2019 was launched by Commerce and Industry Minister in New Delhi.

This is for the first time that the GII was launched in an emerging economy.

The theme this year is Creating Healthy Lives - The Future of Medical Innovation, which aims to explore the role of medical innovation as it shapes the future of healthcare.

Highlights of the Index

Switzerland is the world’s most-innovative country followed by Sweden, the United States of America (U.S.), the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (U.K.)

India improved its rank in the Global Innovation Index to 52nd, in 2019, making a significant jump of 5 places in a year.

It was at 57th position in 2018.

Related Information

Global Innovation Index (GII)

The GII global ranking is published by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) – a specialized agency of the United Nations in association with Cornell University and graduate business school INSEAD.

It published annually since 2007 and is considered leading benchmarking tool for business executives, policymakers and others seeking insight into the state of innovation around the world.

The Index ranks innovative performances of 129 economies around the world on 80 indicators including political environment, education, infrastructure and business sophistication.

India’s Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is one of the knowledge partners which assist the GII team in bringing out the annual ranking.

Topic- GS Paper 3 –Economic Development

Source- AIR

     2. Pradhan Mantri Laghu Vyapari Maan-Dhan Yojana 2019: A pension scheme for small traders

The Centre’s pension scheme for small traders has been notified and is being introduced on a trial basis according to Union Labour and Employment Ministry.

The scheme, which is an extension of the PM Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan Yojana, will make all beneficiaries eligible for a monthly pension of Rs 3000 after the age of 60 at a minuscule monthly contribution. 

Eligibility

Under the scheme, those who are self-employed and working as shop-owners, traders, rice mill owners, oil mill owners, commission agents, real estate brokers, small hotel owners and other small traders will be eligible for a pension.

All shopkeepers and self-employed persons, as well as retail traders with GST turnover below Rs 1.5 crore and aged between 18-40 years, can enrol for the scheme.

The government will establish a pension fund to run the scheme which is managed by Life Insurance Corporation of India.

Topic- GS Paper 3 –Important Scheme

Source- PIB

     3. National Miners' health body merged with the National Institute of Occupational Health Institute

The Union Cabinet has approved to dissolve National Institute of Miners' Health and merge/amalgamate with ICMR-National Institute of Occupational Health National.

Institute of Miners' Health (NIMH) is an autonomous Institute under Ministry of Mines (MoM) and  ICMR-National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) is working under the   Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoH&FW).

Impact: 

The merger/amalgamation of NIMH with NIOH will prove beneficial to both the Institutes in term of enhanced expertise in the field of occupational health besides the efficient management of public money.

Related Information

National Institute of Miners' Health

It was set up by Government of India in 1990 and registered as a Society under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act, 1960.

The Institute conducts applied research in occupational health and hygiene and specializes in providing technical support services to mining and mineral-based industry with special reference to a metalliferous sector.

The focus areas of NIOH include a vast array of areas related to occupational health which also includes occupational medicine and occupational hygiene.

Topic- GS Paper 2 –Governance

Source- AIR

     4. Ocean snail is the first animal to be officially endangered by deep-sea mining

A rare snail called Chrysomallon squamiferum is found at only three spots in the Indian Ocean has become the first species to be officially declared threatened due to deep-sea mining.

The scaly-foot snail is found at three hydrothermal vents in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar.

Two of the vents where the snail is found could be mined in the near future for precious minerals

It was added by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to its updated Red List of Endangered Species on July 18, 2019.

About hydrothermal vent

It is ‘a fissure on the seafloor from which geothermally heated water issues’.

When this happens, the hot water mixes with the cold seawater, in turn, depositing minerals such as copper and manganese on the ocean floor.

Topic- GS Paper 3 –Environment and Biodiversity

Source- Down to Earth

     5. ISRO now looks to solar mission Aditya-L1

ISRO has planned to launch the solar mission "Aditya-L1" during the first half of 2020.

Aditya-L1 is meant to observe the Sun’s corona.

It will image and study the sun from the First Lagrange point also known as L1 Lagrange point.

L1 point is 1.5 million kilometres away from the Earth.

Aditya-L1 is a fully indigenous effort with the participation of national institutions.

Lagrangian points

In celestial mechanics, the Lagrange points mark positions where the combined gravitational pull of the two large masses provides precisely the centripetal force required to orbit with them.

There are five such points, labelled L1 to L5, all in the orbital plane of the two large bodies.

The first three are on the line connecting the two large bodies; the last two, L4 and L5, each form an equilateral triangle with the two large bodies.

The two latter points are stable, which implies that objects can orbit around them in a rotating coordinate system tied to the two large bodies.

Atmosphere of the Sun

Above the surface of the sun is its atmosphere, which consists of three parts-

Photosphere- The innermost part of the sun's atmosphere and the only part we can see.

Chromosphere- The area between the photosphere and the corona. It is hotter than the photosphere.

Corona- The extremely hot outermost layer, extending outward several million miles from the chromosphere.

Topic- GS Paper 3 –Science & Technology

Source- The Hindu

     6. What is Tiangong-2?

Tiangong-2 was a manned Chinese space station that was destroyed upon its controlled re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean on July 19.

Tiangong-2 was retired from service after it had completed its experiments in space.

It was launched in 2016 and hosted two Chinese astronauts for 30 days in what was China’s longest manned space mission so far.

The recently decommissioned space lab followed the Tiangong-1, China’s first space station, which crashed into the southern Pacific Ocean on April 1, 2018, after Chinese scientists lost control of the spacecraft in March 2016.

Recently China expects to complete its space station, Tianhe, which will be able to host three astronauts for long durations, around 2022.

Topic- GS Paper 3 –Science and Technology

Source- Indian Express

     7. India’s first dragon blood-oozing tree

Researchers discover Dracaena Cambodian in West Karbi Anglong district of Assam which is first time reported in India.

Dracaena cambodiana is an important medicinal plant as well as an ornamental tree.

The plant that yields dragon’s blood — a bright red resin used since ancient times as a medicine, body oil, varnish, incense and dye.

It is a major source of dragon’s blood, a precious traditional medicine in China.

Several antifungal and antibacterial compounds, antioxidants, flavonoids, etc., have been extracted from various parts of the plant.

Topic- GS Paper 3 –Environment ad Biodiversity

Source- The Hindu