Monday, 4 September 2017

2 Sept 2017 Daily Current Affairs for UPSC Civil Service Exam

Platform for Block Chain Technology
  • The Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), an arm of the Reserve Bank of India, is developing a model platform for Block Chain technology.
  • A Block chain is a public distributed ledger or decentralised database that keeps records of digital transactions.
  • It is seen as the main technological innovation of bitcoin, since it stands as proof of all the transactions on the network.
  • Each node (computer) connected to the bitcoin network using a client gets a copy of the database, which gets downloaded automatically upon joining the bitcoin network and and shared by all nodes.
  • It removes the need for a third-party by directly connecting the customers and suppliers on the same platform.
Sunrise Industry
  • Sunrise Industry is a colloquial term for a sector or business that is in its early stage, but is growing at a rapid pace and expected to become important in the future.
  • It is often characterized by a high degree of innovation, and its rapid emergence may threaten the competing industry to decline state.
  • Usually dynamic sectors such as technology related industries are considered as sunrise industries. E.g. Telecom industry in the mid 1990’s
  • The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) wants sunrise sector status accorded to energy efficiency industries.
Swacch Vidyalaya Puraskar
  • Ministry of HRD instituted Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar in 2016-17 to recognize, inspire and celebrate excellence in water, sanitation and hygiene practices in schools.
  • For the first time, government schools in Central and State level have been ranked on the basis of Water, Sanitation, Operations and Maintenance, Behaviour Change and Capacity Building.
  • Winners of the competition will be given additional grants to be utilized for sanitation and hygiene related activities in schools.
  • Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan have been declared top three States with maximum number of schools accorded five and four Star ratings.
  • UNICEF and Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) were the technical and knowledge partners with Department of School Education and Literacy.
  • This year the competition will be open to Private Schools as well.
National Nutrition Week
  • The National Nutrition Week will be observed throughout the country from 1st to 7th September.
  • The basic objective of this annual event is to intensify awareness generation on the importance of nutrition for health.
  • The Food and Nutrition Board of Ministry of Women & Child Development will coordinate with concerned Department of the State/UT Governments, National Institutions, NGOs for awareness creation.
India – EFTA pact
  • Switzerland is pressing for early Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and European Free Trade Association (EFTA).
  • The agreement is expected to promote economic ties between the countries.
  • EFTA comprises of Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
  • It is officially negotiating a free trade pact known as Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA), with India since October 2008.
  • Under an FTA, trading partners give market access to each other with a view to promoting bilateral trade in goods and services, besides investments.
Prakriti Khoj
  • It is an environment awareness initiative by the Union Ministry of Environment.
  • Under the initiative, an online environmental quiz competition will be conducted at the national level on the occasion of Teachers’ Day.
  • The objective is to reach out to young minds to trigger their sensitivity towards environment protection and conservation.
  • Schools under the National Green Corps (NGC) programme will get an opportunity to participate in this environmental quiz.  
  • NGC was initiated by Environment Ministry in 2001-02 for creating environmental awareness among children by formulating “Eco-clubs” in schools across the country.

Source: The Hindu, PIB, Business Line

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