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Insights Daily Current Events, 28 April 2015

Insights Daily Current Events, 28 April 2015

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U.S., Japan agree on new defence rules

The United States and Japan have unveiled new rules for defence cooperation that will give Japanese armedforces a more ambitious global role amid concerns over Chinas rising sway.

Details:

Under the revised guidelines, Japan could come to the aid of U.S forces. This agreement would expand thereach of Japans military now limited to its own defense allowing it to act when the United States orcountries American forces are defending are threatened.

Under the previous rules, Japanese forces could assist American troops only if they were operating in thedirect defence of Japan. This agreement replaces guidelines geared exclusively toward the defense ofJapan with new rules that eliminate any geographic restriction.

The agreement also reflects worries about North Korea and, especially, China, whose territorial claims in theSouth China Sea and growing military spending have upset its neighbors.

Sources: The Hindu.

China to integrate Mongolian, Russian initiatives with MSR

In tune with its effort to interface Indias Mausam and Spice Route projects with its Maritime Silk Road (MSR)initiative, China is making headway in integrating a Mongolian and a Russian initiative to develop another spur ofits ambitious Silk Road land corridor.

What China wants?

China wants to include Mongolias Steppe road initiative, and link up with the Moscow-driventranscontinental rail plan to develop the China-Mongolia-Russia (CMR) economic corridor.

The China-Mongolia-Russia (CMR) initiative is similar to two other undertaking initiated by China: the recentlyinaugurated Pakistan-China economic corridor, and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) corridor.

What is Project Mausam?

It is a Project under which the Government of India has proposed to establish cross cultural linkages and to revive

historic maritime cultural and economic ties with 39 Indian Ocean countries.

The 39 countries include Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Iraq, Mauritius, Singapore,Thailand, Yemen, South Africa, Philippines, Pakistan among others.

More details:

Project Mausam was launched in the 30th Session of World Heritage Committee meeting which washeld at Doha, Quatar in June, 2014 and since then it has received positive response from countries suchas China, UAE, Qatar, Myanmar, Iran and Vietnam.

It is a Ministry of Culture project with Archaeological Society of India (ASI) as the nodal agency and IndiraGandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) as its Research Unit.

The endeavour of Project Mausam is to position itself at two levels: at the macro level it aims to reconnectand re-establish communications between countries of the Indian Ocean world, which would lead to anenhanced understanding of cultural values and concerns; while at the micro level the focus is onunderstanding national cultures in their regional maritime milieu.

The central themes that hold Project Mausam together are those of cultural routes and maritimelandscapes that not only linked different parts of the Indian Ocean littoral, but also connected the coastalcentres to their hinterlands.

Sources: The Hindu, Wiki, PIB.

3 more NDRF teams leave for Kathmandu

Three teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) comprising 118 personnel, including doctors andnursing staff, have left for Nepal from India.

It has carried medical supplies, communication equipment and devices to rescue people trapped underdebris.

NDRF:

The Disaster Management Act has made statutory provisions for the constitution of National Disaster ResponseForce (NDRF) for the purpose of specialized response to natural and man-made disasters.

Why was it constituted?

Two national calamities in quick succession in the form of Orissa Super Cyclone (1999) and GujaratEarthquake (2001) brought about the realization of the need of having a specialist response mechanism atNational Level to effectively respond to disasters. This realization led to the enactment of the DM Act on 26Dec 2005.

NDRF has been proving its importance by highly skilled rescue and relief operations, regular and intensivetraining and re-training, capacity building & familiarization exercises within the area of responsibility,carrying out mock drills and joint exercises with the various stakeholders.

ROLE AND MANDATE OF NDRF:

Specialized response during disasters

Proactive deployment during impending disaster situations

Acquire and continually upgrade its own training and skills

Liaison, Reconnaissance, Rehearsals and Mock Drills

AMIT KANKARWAL

AMIT KANKARWAL

AMIT KANKARWAL

AMIT KANKARWAL

Impart basic and operational level training to State Response Forces (Police, Civil Defence and HomeGuards)

Community Capacity Building Programme

Public Awareness Campaign

Exhibitions : Posters, Pamphlets, literatures

Why it is said to be a UNIQUE Force?

It is the only dedicated disaster response force of the world.

The only agency with comprehensive response capabilities having multi-disciplinary and multi-skilled, high-tech, stand alone nature.

Experienced paramilitary personnel specially trained and equipped for disaster response.

Capabilities for undertaking disaster response, prevention, mitigation and capacity building.

Sources: PIB, ndrfandcd.gov.in.

Gender gap becoming a chasm in labour market

A new report from UN Women has found that South Asia has the worlds most skewed gender wage gap andis among the few regions where the gender labour force participation gap is both large and growing.

The report is titled The Progress of the Worlds Women 2015-2016. It comes 20 years after the landmarkFourth World Conference on Women in Beijing.

The report says that:

Since the Beijing Conference, significant advances have been made by many societies, particularly inadvancing womens legal rights. However, in an era of unprecedented global wealth, millions of women arestill consigned to work in low paid, poor quality jobs, denied even basic levels of health care, withoutaccess to clean water and decent sanitation.

Globally, only half of women participate in the labour force, compared to three quarters of men. In India onlya third of women are in the labour force.

In developing regions, up to 95% of womens employment is informal, in jobs that are unprotected bylabour laws and lack social protection. Simultaneously, women shoulder the bulk of the burden of unpaidcare work.

In India women do nearly six hours of unpaid care and housework every day as compared to half an hourfor men. While on average globally, women are paid 24% less than men, the gaps for women with childrenare even wider. In South Asia, the gender pay gap is% for women with children compared to 14% for thosewithout.

Sources: The Hindu.

Trifed Bags National Award in Training Innovation

Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED) functioning under Ministry ofTribal Affairs, has bagged the National Award for Excellence in Training for the Year 2015 in a contest organizedby the Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India.

TRIFED:

It is the only apex body of Govt. of India which is engaged in the development and marketing of traditionaltribal products including Metal craft, Paintings, Textiles, Jewellery, Natural/ Organic/ Herbal products etc.

It works under Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

Its objective is to improve the livelihood of the tribal communities by creating a sustainable market andcreate business opportunities for them based on their cultural knowledge and traditional skills whilstensuring fair and equitable remuneration for their products by organizing Tribal Crafts Mela.

TRIFED also focuses on trainings for skill up gradation and capacity building of tribal artisans and MinorForest Produce gatherers.

Sources: PIB.

PMNRF fund

The readers of the newspaper Dainik Savera Times have contributed rupees 2 Crore towards the Prime MinisterNation Relief Fund (PMNRF).

PMNRF:

In pursuance of an appeal by the then Prime Minister, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru in January, 1948, the Prime MinistersNational Relief Fund (PMNRF) was established with public contributions to assist displaced persons fromPakistan.

The resources of the PMNRF are now utilized primarily to render immediate relief to families of those killedin natural calamities like floods, cyclones and earthquakes, etc. and to the victims of the major accidentsand riots.

Assistance from PMNRF is also rendered, to partially defray the expenses for medical treatment like heartsurgeries, kidney transplantation, cancer treatment, etc.

Some facts:

The fund consists entirely of public contributions and does not get any budgetary support.

The corpus of the fund is invested with banks in fixed deposits.

Disbursements are made with the approval of the Prime Minister.

PMNRF has not been constituted by the Parliament.

The fund is recognized as a Trust under the Income Tax Act and the same is managed by Prime Minister ormultiple delegates for national causes.

PMNRF is exempt under Income Tax Act.

Prime Minister is the Chairman of PMNRF and is assisted by Officers/ Staff on honorary basis.

These contributions also qualify as CSR (corporate social responsibility) spend for companies, making itmore attractive in terms of tax exemptions.

Type of contributions accepted in PMNRF:

PMNRF accepts only voluntary donations by individuals and institutions.

Contributions flowing out of budgetary sources of Government or from the balance sheets of the publicsector undertakings are not accepted.

At the time of natural calamity of devastating scale, Prime Minister, makes an appeal for donation to thefund.

Revival:

In its effort to popularise the PMNRF, the PMO had in September 2014 asked the government departments topublicise the scheme of 100% tax exemption for contributions to the PMNRF, to encourage donations.

Sources: The Hindu, PMNRF.

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1 Keshav goel 2015/04/28 1:15 PM 6 100 %

2 nikhil 2015/04/28 1:20 PM 5 83.33 %

3 Mayuresh 2015/04/28 1:16 PM 4 66.67 %

4 Anitha 2015/04/28 1:14 PM 2 33.33 %

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2. Review

1. Question 1 of 6

1. Question

Consider the following statements with reference to the Prime Minister Nation Relief Fund (PMNRF):

1. The fund consists entirely of public contributions and does not get any budgetary support.

2. It has been constituted by the Parliament under the provisions of the Disaster Management Act.

3. PMNRF is exempt under the Income Tax Act.

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

Correct

Solution: c.

Explanation:

PMNRF has not been constituted by the Parliament.

Incorrect

Solution: c.

Explanation:

PMNRF has not been constituted by the Parliament.

2. Question 2 of 6

2. Question

Which of the following statements regarding National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is/are true?

1. It has been constituted under the provisions of Disaster Management Act.

2. It was created by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.

3. It was constituted for the purpose of specialized response to both natural and man-made disasters.

Choose the correct answer using the codes below:

Correct

Solution: d)

Incorrect

Solution: d)

3. Question 3 of 6

3. Question

Which of the following is/are correctly matched?

1. China: Maritime Silk Road (MSR) initiative

2. Japan: Silk Road Project

3. Indonesia: Project Mausam

4. Mongolia: Steppe Road Initiative

Choose the correct answer using the codes below:

Correct

Solution: b)

Incorrect

Solution: b)

4. Question 4 of 6

4. Question

With reference to the Kanhar dam project, consider the following statements:

1. The dam is constructed across Kanhar river, the tributary of Yamuna river

2. The river flows in three states: Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

Correct

Solution: b)

http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/fact-finding-report-sees-flaws-in-kanhar-dam-project-115042701077_1.html

Incorrect

Solution: b)

http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/fact-finding-report-sees-flaws-in-kanhar-dam-project-115042701077_1.html

5. Question 5 of 6

5. Question

Consider the following statements:

1. Hydrofluorocarbons adversely affect Ozone layer

2. Hydrofluorocarbons are banned under Montreal Protocol

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

Correct

Solution: b)

http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/india-commits-to-phasing-out-hfcs-115042700975_1.html

Incorrect

Solution: b)

http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/india-commits-to-phasing-out-hfcs-115042700975_1.html

6. Question 6 of 6

6. Question

With reference to water resources in India, consider the following statements:

1. In India, highest amount of groundwater is used for irrigation purpose alone

2. Per capita availability of freshwater in India is equal to worlds average, but is constantly decliningdue to rapid urbanization

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

Correct

Solution: a)

http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/97fuaF2aQkO9IjPiPAjMyL/Six-charts-that-explain-Indias-water-crisis.html

Incorrect

Solution: a)

http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/97fuaF2aQkO9IjPiPAjMyL/Six-charts-that-explain-Indias-water-crisis.html

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