DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS 04 December 2021
Dr Rajendra Prasad Remembered on His Jayanthi
- Rajendra Prasad (3 December 1884 – 28 February 1963) was an Indian independence activist, lawyer, scholar and subsequently, the first president of India, in office from 1950 to 1962.
- He was an Indian political leader and lawyer by training. Prasad joined the Indian National Congress during the Indian Independence Movement and became a major leader from the region of Bihar, Maharashtra.
- A supporter of Mahatma Gandhi, Prasad was imprisoned by British authorities during the Salt Satyagraha of 1931 and the Quit India movement of 1942. After the constituent assembly 1946 elections, Prasad served as Minister of Food and Agriculture in the central government.
- Upon independence in 1947, Prasad was elected as President of the Constituent Assembly of India, which prepared the Constitution of India and served as its provisional parliament.
International Day of Persons with Disabilities
- International Day of Persons with Disabilities (December 3) is an international observance promoted by the United Nations since 1992.
- It has been observed with varying degrees of success around the planet. The observance of the Day aims to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights, and well-being of persons with disabilities.
- It also seeks to increase awareness of gains to be derived from the integration of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic, and cultural life.
- It was originally called “International Day of Disabled Persons” until 2007. Each year the day focuses on a different issue.
- Theme 2021: “Leadership and participation of persons with disabilities toward an inclusive, accessible and sustainable post-COVID-19 world”
Worldwide Cost of Living Report
- The Worldwide Cost of Living report has been released highlighting that Tel Aviv (Israel’s capital) is the world’s most expensive city to live in.
- The report is compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). It compares the cost-of-living indices in different cities.
- Most Expensive City: The Israeli city of Tel Aviv topped the rankings for the first time, overtaking last year’s leader Paris, which is now at second place along with Singapore.
- Paris and Singapore came joint second, followed by Zurich and Hong Kong. New York was in sixth, with Geneva in seventh.
‘Puneet Sagar Abhiyan’
- National Cadet Corps (NCC) is carrying out a nationwide campaign to free seashores/beaches from plastic & other waste materials and increase awareness about importance of keeping these clean. The aim of the month-long Campaign is to propagate the message of ‘Importance of Clean Seashores/Beaches’ amongst the local population and future generation beginning December 01, 2021.
- The Key objectives of the campaign are to clean the plastic waste along the seashores in coastal areas, to generate awareness and educate target population about the measures for conservation and impact of plastic pollution along the sea beaches and to sensitize and mobilize support of local population towards prevention of pollution.
- A total of 3.40 lakh cadets from 127 coastal Area NCC Units will participate in the month-long activity. The NCC units at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mumbai, IIT Chennai, National Institute of Technology (NIT) Kozhikode and NIT Puducherry will also be incorporated for suggesting clean technologies for recycle/disposal of the plastic waste to the civil administration through the respective State directorates.
National Strategy on Blockchain Launched
- Celebrating Azadi Ka Digital Mahotsav, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology & Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, released the National Strategy on Blockchain on 3rd December 2021.
- The strategy document aims at creating trusted digital platforms through shared Blockchain infrastructure; promoting research and development, innovation, technology, and application development; and facilitating state of the art, transparent, secure, and trusted digital service delivery to citizens and businesses, thus making India a global leader in Blockchain Technology.
- Blockchain is an apt technology for e-Governance solutions and other domains, leading towards enabling trust in digital platforms. Blockchain provides the required security and privacy and allows only trusted entities with privileges to record and access details in an accountable manner.
- National Strategy on Blockchain has been formulated by Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India with the vision to create trusted digital platforms through shared Blockchain infrastructure; promoting research and development, innovation, technology and application development; and facilitating state of the art, transparent, secure and trusted digital service delivery to citizens and businesses.
- This strategy document lays out overall vision towards development and implementation strategies for a National Blockchain Platform covering the technology stack, legal and regulatory framework, standards development, collaboration, human resource development and potential use cases. It is envisaged that this strategy document would provide the necessary guidance and support for realizing the vision and creating a nationwide ecosystem for creating the National Blockchain Platform and development of relevant applications using this platform in various domains.
- The Minister also launched India’s first indigenous Server— RUDRA developed by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) under National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) supported by MeitY and DST.
- This is a step-in direction towards achieving the goals of attaining self-reliance in Supercomputing moving towards Government of India National initiative of AatmanirbharBharat.
- Rudra Server, an outcome of NSM Phase-3 deliverable which aims at Design and Manufacturing of Supercomputers in India, is Secure, Reliable, Dual Socket based on current generation of Intel Xcon scalable processor technology and supports accelerated computing. It is a dense form factor server with centralized power supply in half width 1U and 2 U form factors with compute power ranging from 3.6 T1 to 34 IT. It is poised to demonstrate India’s competency to design, develop, build, and deliver as per nation’s multidisciplinary computing needs, and has critical strategic and national importance.
DRI to celebrate 64th Founding Day
- The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) is the premier intelligence and enforcement agency of the Government of India on anti-smuggling matters. Over the past six decades, DRI has earned a formidable reputation in protecting the country’s economic frontiers and countering the menace of smuggling, tax evasion, commercial fraud, fake Indian currency, and trade-based money laundering. DRI has also been at the forefront in international Customs collaboration through Customs Mutual Assistance Agreements of CBIC with over 60 other countries, where thrust is on information exchange and learning from the best practices of other Customs administrations.
- DRI takes the opportunity of its founding day to also organise a Regional Customs Enforcement Meeting for effectively engaging with partner Customs organisations and International agencies where representatives of 12 Customs administrations covering the Asia-Pacific region will attend the meeting virtually whereas representatives of 6 Customs administrations will be attending, physically. Further, officials from 3 international organisations, viz. World Customs Organisation, Interpol, and Regional Intelligence Liaison Office – Asia Pacific (RILO AP) will attend the meeting virtually and an official from UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) will attend the meeting physically.
Centenary Celebrations of PACs
- The Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament is going to celebrate 100th year of its establishment from tomorrow. PAC Chairman Adhir Ranjan Choudhury in a press conference said that President Ram Nath Kovind will inaugurate the two-day Centenary Celebrations tomorrow in the Central Hall of Parliament. Mr. Choudhury said, the celebrations include four thematic sessions on Functioning of PACs in Present Times, Challenges and Way Forward; Realigning the PAC’s Approach; Collecting information from Non-Governmental Sources and Assessing Outcome Programmes, Schemes, and Projects; Implementation of Recommendations of PAC Adherence to Timelines and Mechanisms for strict compliance.
- During the inaugural, the President will also release a special souvenir depicting the 100 glorious years of PAC’s journey and 67 special articles including 15 from Commonwealth countries. Mr. Choudhury also said, with milestone moments of PAC from 1921 to 2021 an exhibition will also be inaugurated as part of the celebrations. He said, in the centenary celebrations of PAC, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla along with Speakers of all State Assemblies and Chairpersons of State PACs will also participate.
- Public Accounts Committee was introduced in 1921 after its first mention in the Government of India Act, 1919 also called Montford Reforms.
- The financial committee has 22 members. All the members are taken from the Indian Parliament. Out of 22 members, 15 are elected from Lok Sabha (Lower House) and 7 members are elected from Rajya Sabha (Upper House.)
REVIEW QUESTIONS
- Which of the following statement is wrong with regard to Parliamentary Committee?
- Parliamentary Committee is appointed/elected by the speaker/chairman
- Works under the guidance of speaker/chairman
- Has a secretariat provided by the president of India
- Submits its reports to house or speaker/chairman
ANSWER: C
- Which of the following statement is not correct?
- Mainly Parliamentary Committees are of two types
- Ad hoc committees are of permanent nature
- Parliamentary Committees are mentioned in the Indian constitution
- Indian Constitution does not mention any time period for the Parliamentary Committees
ANSWER: B
- Which of the following committee is NOT made for day to day business of the house?
- Business Advisory Committee
- Committee of private member’s bill
- Rules committee
- Ad hoc committee
ANSWER: D
- How many members are in Public Account Committee?
- 22
- 15
- 7
- 10
ANSWER: A
- Which of the following statement is not correct about Public Account Committee?
- Public Account Committee is made as per the provision of Government of India Act, 1919
- This Committee consists of members from both the house of the Parliament
- Term of the members of the Committee is 5 year
- A minister cannot be member of the Committee
ANSWER: C
- Which of the following committee regulates the programme and time table of the house of Parliament?
- Committee on public understanding
- Public Account Committee
- Estimates Committee
- Business advisory committee
ANSWER: D
- Which of the following committee enforces code of conduct of members of Parliament?
- Ethics committee
- House committee
- Committee of privileges
- Ad-hoc committee
ANSWER: A
- The function of _______ committee is to examine the estimates included in the budget and suggests economies in public expenditure.
- Public Accounts Committee
- Rules Committee
- Estimate Committee
- Ethics Committee
ANSWER: C
- Which among the following is not a standing committee?
- Public accounts committee
- Ethics committee
- Railway convention committee
- Business advisory committee
ANSWER: C
- Committee on Government Assurances was constituted in
- 1953
- 1956
- 1958
- 1960
ANSWER: A
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