May 21,2018

Current Affairs for Engineering Service Exam

 Topics list:

1. National and International Issues on
   1. Economic Development
   2. Social Development
   3. Industrial Development
2. Energy and Environment
   1. Energy
   2. Environment
3. Information and Communication Technology
   1. Technology
   2. Application

4. The Key Initiatives of Government

Topic 1:Social development

Census 2021

There are 2,231 villages that are likely to be declared new census towns for the upcoming census, says a recent study by the Centre for Policy Research (CPR).

Highlights:

• Census towns are settlements which are larger (at least 5,000 people) and denser (at least 400 people per sq. km) than most villages, with at least three-fourths of their male population not working in agriculture.
• They are still governed like villages by rural panchayats, unlike statutory towns which are governed by urban local bodies (ULBs).
• In May 2016, the Union Ministry of Urban Development had written to the States, recommending that they convert all identified census towns into statutory ULBs in order to promote planned urban develop- ment

Census of India :

• It has been conducted every 10 years, beginning in 1872, the first complete census was taken in the year 1881
• Post 1949, it has been conducted by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.
• The last census was held in 2011 and next census will held in 2021.

Read more at: The Hindu

Topic 1:Industrial development

Rythu Bandhu

Telangana government has launched Rythu Bandhu (friend of farmers) Scheme, an investment support scheme to support livelihood of farmers.It is first of its kind investment support scheme for farmers to be launched by any state in India.

Highlights:

• The farmers will directly get financial support twice every year to maximise agricultural production and productivity.
• They will get investment support of Rs 8,000 per acre every year (Rs. 4000 each for monsoon and Rabi season) as crop investment support.
• The scheme had empowered the farming community economically for taking up farm activities with more enthusiasm.

Read more at: The Hindu

Topic 2 : Environment

A high-tech tiger census

Andhra Pradesh, the third phase of the fourth All-India Tiger Estimation (AITE) is being taken up in full swing in the vast tiger landscape spread over 3,728 sq. km. in the mighty Nallamala hills.

Highlights:

• The authorities have for the first time used a new app Tigers – Intensive Protection and Ecological Status (M-StrIPES) to avoid human error in the traditional recording of the pugmarks and other signs during the carnivore sign survey.
• The department has engaged about 250 members of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) of Chenchus as trackers for protecting and monitoring the tigers.
• They have been trained to handle the GPS-fitted equipment while moving in different directions from the base camp to capture evidence such as pug marks, droppings etc.
• India is home to 70 percent of tigers in the world.
• India began its four-yearly tiger census in January 2018  amid expectations that new data, set to be released in January 2019, would show a rise in big cat population.
• The last all-India census occurred in 2014, when tiger numbers stood at 2,226 , up from 1,706 in 2010.
• Karnataka has the highest number of tigers in the age group of 1.5 years with more than 408 big cats

Read more at: The Hindu

Topic 3 : ICT

AI-driven wars

In an ambitious defence project, the government has started work on incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the operational preparedness of the armed forces in a significant way, which would include equipping them with unmanned tanks, vessels, aerial vehicles and robotic weaponry.

Highlights

• A broader policy initiative to prepare the Army, the Navy and the Air Force for next-generation warfare, comes amid rising Chinese investments in AI — an area of computer science devoted to creating intelligent machines — for its military.
• A high-powered task force headed by Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran was finalising the specifics and framework of the project, which would be implemented in a “partnership model” between the armed forces and the private sector.
• The application of AI in border surveillance could significantly ease the pressure on armed forces personnel guarding the sensitive frontiers with China and Pakistan.
• The state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) would be a major player in the project

Read more at: The Hindu

Topic 4: The Key Initiatives of Government

Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL)

• TKDL is an Indian initiative to prevent exploitation and to protect Indian traditional knowledge from wrongful patents mainly at International Patent Offices.
• TKDL contains Indian traditional medicine knowledge in a digitized format and is available in five international languages (English, French, zGerman, Spanish and Japanese).
• Indian traditional medicine knowledge in TKDL pertains to traditional books related to Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha
• CSIR is the implementing agency for TKDL

Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana

• It is to promote/incentivize employment generation
• Central Government will be paying the 8.33% EPS contribution of the employer for the new employment.
• All industries registered with Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) can apply for availing benefits under the scheme
• It is targeted for employees earning wages less than Rs. 15,000/- per month.
• The scheme will be in operation for a period of 3 years and GOI will continue to pay and all new eligible employees will be covered till 2019-20.

A Scheme for Promotion of Innovation, Rural Industry & Entrepreneurship (ASPIRE)

• The scheme is launched with an objective to set up a network of technology centers, incubation centres to accelerate entrepreneurship and also to promote start-ups for innovation and entrepreneurship in rural and agriculture based industry
• The planned outcomes of ASPIRE are setting up Technology Business Incubators (TBI), Livelihood Business Incubators (LBI) and creation of a Fund of Funds for such initiatives with SIDBI.