UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Prelim Bits 17-10-2020

Bio-Fortified varieties

• Union government has introduced bio-fortified varieties of eight crops on World Food Day.
• 17 varieties of these crops has been recently developed by utilizing the local landraces and farmer’s varieties.
• These varieties will transform the normal Indian thali into nutri-thali.
• Few important crop varieties of the recent introduction are as follows

1. High zinc rice of Assam
2. Rice collected from Garo hills
3. Finger millets from Dang district, Gujarat

Nutri-Sensitive Agricultural Resources and Innovations (NARI)

• Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has started Nutri-Sensitive Agricultural Resources and Innovations (NARI) programme.
• Its objective is to promote family farming linking agriculture to nutrition, nutri-smart villages for enhancing nutritional security.
• Under it, location specific nutrition garden models are being developed and promoted by KVKs to ensure access to locally available, healthy and diversified diet with adequate macro and micronutrients.

World Food Day

• World Food Day is an international day celebrated every year worldwide on 16 October.
• It commemorate the date of the founding of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in 1945.
• The day is celebrated widely by many other organizations concerned with hunger and food security, including the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
• Recently WFP received the Nobel Prize in Peace for 2020 for their efforts to combat hunger.

Chapter Proceedings

• Chapter proceedings are preventive actions taken by the police if they fear that a particular person is likely to create trouble and disrupt the peace in society.
• Chapter proceedings is not a legal term.
• According to officers, since all the sections related to preventing of crime fall under a single chapter, it was colloquially called “chapter proceedings” and has since been used to refer to actions of this nature.
• These proceedings are unlike punitive action taken in case of an FIR with an intention to punish.
• Here, the police can issue notices under sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure to ensure that the person is aware that creating nuisance could result in action against him.
• This includes paying a fine, in the absence of which, he could be put behind bars.
• Procedures involved are as follows

1. Generally a notice is issued to a person under section 111 of the CrPC.
2. Whereby he is asked to present himself before the Executive Magistrate an ACP-rank officer in a Commissionerate of a deputy collector in rural areas who has issued the notice.

• Recently Chapter proceedings against Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami has begun by Mumbai city police.

Kala Sanskriti Vikas Yojana

• Kala Sanskriti Vikas Yojana (KSVY) is an umbrella scheme under Ministry of Culture for the promotion of art and culture in the country.
• KSVY has the following sub-schemes through which financial assistance is provided to cultural organizations:

1. Scheme of Financial Assistance for Promotion of Art and Culture.
2. Scheme of Financial Assistance for Creation of Cultural Infrastructure.
3. Scheme for Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

• Recently Culture Ministry has issued guidelines for holding cultural events under various scheme components of Central Sector Scheme ‘Kala Sanskriti Vikas Yojana’ (KSVY).
• The guidelines will enable artists to avail benefits under these schemes in virtual mode also and will ensure continued financial assistance to tide over the present crisis.

Trans Fat Free India

• Trans fats, or trans-fatty acids, are a form of unsaturated fat.
• They come in both natural and artificial forms.
• Natural, or ruminant, Trans fats occur in the meat and dairy from ruminant animals, such as cattle, sheep, and goats.
• They form naturally when bacteria in these animals’ stomachs digest grass.
• However, artificial Trans fats otherwise known as industrial trans fats or partially hydrogenated fats are hazardous to your health.
• These fats occur when vegetable oils are chemically altered to stay solid at room temperature, which gives them a much longer shelf life.
• Artificial Trans fats may increase your risk of heart disease.
• In 2018 the World Health Organization launched a plan to eliminate trans-fat from the global food supply.
• Recently union government proposed to make India Trans Fat free by 2022, a year ahead of target set by World Health Organization.

ASEAN PhD Fellowship Programme

• The ASEAN PhD (APFP) Fellowship Programme was announced on in 2018 by Indian administration.
• Under the APFP, one thousand fellowships will be provided exclusively to the ASEAN citizens.
• APFP is the largest capacity development programme undertaken by the Government of India for foreign beneficiaries.
• Under the program students of the ASEAN member states have got the opportunity to study in the IITs, which are among the best global institutions.
• APFP will open many doors to synergies in the field of technology and research for the academicians, researchers and the scientists from India and ASEAN.

ASEAN

• The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is a regional intergovernmental organization comprising ten countries in Southeast Asia.
• It promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, military, educational, and sociocultural integration among its members and other countries in Asia.
• ASEAN also regularly engages other countries in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

Source: PIB, AIR News, Indian Express