Daily Current Affairs 25 December 2020 With Video Lecture

Ladakh’s Tso Kar Wetland Complex now a Wetland of International Importance

India has added Tso Kar Wetland Complex in Ladakh as its 42nd Ramsar site.
It is a second one in the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh.
The Tso Kar Basin is a high-altitude wetland complex.
Consisting of two principal waterbodies, Startsapuk Tso, a freshwater lake of about 438 hectares to the south, and Tso Kar itself, a hypersaline lake of 1800 hectares to the north, situated in the Changthang region of Ladakh, India.
Because of the white salt efflorescence found on the margins due to the evaporation of highly saline water It is called Tso Kar, meaning white lake.
As per Bird Life International and a key staging site in the Central Asian Flyway the Tso Kar Basin is an A1 Category Important Bird Area (IBA).
One of the most important breeding areas of the Black-necked Crane (Grus nigricollis) in India.
The aim of the Ramsar list is “to develop and maintain an international network of wetlands which are important for the conservation of global biological diversity and for sustaining human life through the maintenance of their ecosystem components, processes and benefits”.

Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot Launches Mobile Application “Swachhata Abhiyan”

A Mobile Application “Swachhata Abhiyan” was launched by Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot.
It has been decided to seek the help of NGOs, Social Organisations and general public for collection and compilation of the data in the absence of any authentic data base regarding the location of insanitary latrines.
A mobile application “Swachhata Abhiyan” has been developed for this purpose.
To provide dignity of life to them a mobile application “Swachhata Abhiyan” has been developed to identify and geotag the data of insanitary latrines and manual scavengers so that the insanitary latrines can be replaced with sanitary latrines and rehabilitate all the manual scavengers.

24 December – National Consumer Rights Day 2020

Aims:

To highlight the importance of the consumer movement as well as the need to make them aware and informed of their rights and responsibilities.
In the year 1986, the Consumer Protection Act 1986 came into force after receiving the presidential assent.

Objective:

The Consumer Protection Act is to provide consumers with effective safeguards against various types of exploitation including defective goods, unsatisfactory services as well as unfair trade practices.
The Act is considered to be the ‘Magna Karta’ in the field of consumer protection to keep a check on the unfair trade practices. also helped empower consumers to a large extent.
The theme for National Consumer Day 2020: New features of Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

TRIFED signs MOU with MOFPI for upliftment of tribal lives through implementing PM- FME scheme

PM-FME scheme supports micro-level food entrepreneurs, FPOs, SHGs and co-operatives. An important component of this scheme is the tribal sub-plan.
A communique to define the Convergence mechanism in implementation of this scheme was signed by both.
It has been decided that MoFPI under PMFME scheme would also provide necessary funds to TRIFED to undertake training, capacity building of tribals engaged in food processing.
TRIFED will also provide handholding support to Tribal SHGs and Van Dhan SHG groups and their members in preparation of DPRs, application process, getting necessary technical training, etc. so as to enable them to benefit from various provisions under PMFME scheme including for capital investment.
With the successful implementation of this collaboration and many more upcoming convergences, TRIFED hopes to effect a complete transformation of tribal lives and livelihoods across the country.

Mandatory FASTag from 1^stJanuary 2021

Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and MSMEs Shri Nitin Gadkari announced it in a virtual function.
The FASTags were launched in the year 2016, and four banks together issued nearly a lakh of them. By 2017, their numbers went up to seven lakh. Over 34 lakh FASTags were issued in 2018.
As per Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, since 1st December 2017, the FASTag had been made mandatory for all registration of new four wheeled Vehicles and is being supplied by the Vehicle Manufacturer or their dealers.
It has also been mandated that a valid FASTag is mandatory while getting a new 3rd Party Insurance through an amendment in FORM 51 (certificate of Insurance), wherein the details of FASTag ID shall be captured. This shall be applicable w.e.f. 1 April 2021.

Malayalam poet-conservationist Sugathakumari dies at 86

Conservationist and women’s rights activist Sugathakumari, who was on life support for the past two days after testing positive for Covid-19 died.
She is also called as “Sugatha Teacher” by her admirers.
She is freedom fighter and writer Bodheswaran and well-known Sanskrit teacher Karthiyayaniamma in 1934.
Her first collection of poems, “Muthuchippi”, was published in 1961.
Her poems reflect a deep concern over the decline of values in life and the damage caused to nature by man’s greed.
Her poem “MarathinuStuthi” (Ode to a Tree) became a symbol for the protest and reverberated in all the Save the Silent Valley campaigns.
In 2006, she was bestowed the Padma Shri.

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