Current Affairs 20 Sep 2023
Today’s News
Three Hoysala Temples Declared World Heritage Sites
(Current Affairs 20 Sep 2023 | Relevant for Prelims)
- The Hoysala temples at Belur, Halebid, and Somanathapur in Karnataka were declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites on Monday in a move that will bring global recognition with prospects of increase in international tourism to these places.
- The Chennakeshava temple at Belur and the Hoysaleshwara temple at Halebid — both in Hassan district — have been on the UNESCO’s tentative list since 2014
- The Keshava temple at Somanathapur in Mysuru district was appended to the other two monuments under the tentative list and all three were officially nominated by the Centre as India’s entry for 202223 in February 2022.
- The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) said the coming together of creative genius, architectural eclecticism, and symbolism into this outstanding sacred architecture makes these Hoysalas temples a true work of art and their inscription is an honour for India and the entire world heritage community.
- An expert from the International Commission on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) concluded the site visits covering all three temples in September last year and the monuments were officially inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites during the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
WHO releases report on global impact of high BP
(Current Affairs 20 Sep 2023 | Relevant for Prelims)
- Approximately four of every five people with hypertension are not adequately treated, but if countries can scale up coverage, 76 million deaths could be averted between 2023 and 2050, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its first ever report on the global impact of high blood pressure.
- Hypertension is the most important risk factor for death and disability in India, according to a paper in The Lancet, regional health (Southeast Asia), published late last year.
- The Lancet paper says the 2019-20 National Family Health Survey (NFHS5) reported a hypertension prevalence of 24% in men and 21% among women, an increase from 19% and 17%, respectively, from the previous round (2015-16).
- The India Hypertension Control Initiative, a large scale hypertension intervention under the National Health Mission, has been recognised for its positive work done within the primary healthcare system.
- The WHO report states that hypertension affects one in three adults worldwide. This common, deadly condition leads to stroke, heart attack, heart failure, kidney damage and many other health problems. The number of people living with hypertension (blood pressure of 140/90 mmHg or higher or taking medication for hypertension) doubled between 1990 and 2019, from 650 million to 1.3 billion.
- Nearly half the people with hypertension globally are currently unaware of their condition. More than three quarters of adults with hypertension live in low and middle income.
Global Impact of Lead Exposure on Cardiovascular Health
(Current Affairs 20 Sep 2023 |Relevant for prelims)
- A recent study published in The Lancet Planetary Health journal reveals that lead exposure had a significant role in causing cardiovascular deaths worldwide.
- In 2019, approximately 5.5 million people succumbed to cardiovascular diseases linked to lead exposure, comprising 30% of all global cardiovascular deaths.
- Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) bore the brunt of lead exposure-related health impacts, with about 95% of the affected population residing in these regions.
- Despite the elimination of leaded petrol, LMICs witnessed six times more deaths from cardiovascular diseases than high-income countries.
- Nations with the highest lead exposure burdens include Iran, Afghanistan, Yemen, Peru, Vietnam, the Philippines, and parts of Central Africa.
- Apart from cardiovascular disease, lead exposure is associated with chronic kidney disease and developmental intellectual disabilities.
- Lead exposure resulted in the loss of 765 million Intelligence quotient (IQ) points among children under five, with an 80% higher loss in LMICs compared to previous estimates.
- The economic costs of lead exposure, including IQ loss in children and cardiovascular disease deaths, amounted to USD 6 trillion globally in 2019, or 7% of the global GDP.
Operation Sajag
(Current Affairs 20 Sep 2023 |Relevant for Prelims)
- ‘Operation Sajag’ was conducted on September 18, 2023, by the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) along the west coast.
- ‘Operation Sajag’ is a monthly, day-long drill that serves as a continuous feedback loop. The drill’s primary goals are to revalidate coastal security mechanisms and raise awareness among sea-going fishermen.
- The drill involved extensive document verification and crew pass checks for all fishing boats, barges, and crafts at sea.
- ICG was established in August 1978 by the Coast Guard Act, 1978 as an independent armed force of India.
- ICG is the fourth largest Coast Guard in the world; it has played a significant role in securing the Indian coasts and enforcing regulations in the maritime zones of India.
- To fortify coastal security, the ICG has introduced various measures, including the issuance of biometric cards for fishermen, implementation of colour coding for fishing boats based on state, coastal mapping, and training of marine police personnel.
Facilitating degrees within a degree
(Current Affairs 20 Sep 2023 |Relevant for GS paper-2)
- Even though the movement to specify frameworks for higher education qualifications had gained momentum across the world in the late 1990s, India remained without a National Higher Education Qualifications Framework (NHEQF) until recently.
- The idea was deliberated at the 60th meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education in 2012, which assigned the responsibility to the University Grants Commission (UGC).
- Globally, higher education qualification frameworks include details of the definition and requirements of credits. The UGC has chosen to prescribe two separate frameworks — the NHEQF and the National Credit Framework.
- Higher educational institutions are separately required to implement the Academic Bank of Credits as a mandated modality for recognising, accepting, and transferring credits across courses and institutions.
- Additionally, there are many other regulations that impinge on higher education qualifications. All of these could have been integrated into the NHEQF.
- By definition, a national higher education qualification must encompass all disciplines and must clearly provide for the eligibility conditions for the entry into, and completion of, all programmes of studies.
- The NHEQF does provide exit requirements, but eligibility conditions and pathways through which a student can enter a programme at a particular level are alluded to vaguely.
- Considering that India proactively seeks to obliterate all traces of its colonial past, it is strange that this document draws copiously from the Bologna process that led to the European Qualifications Framework and the Dublin descriptors.
- The process of formulating the NHEQF should have duly recognised the sheer size of the higher education system and the variations in it, as well as the federal structure, constitutional provisions that put education on the Concurrent List, and the fact that States spend a lot more on education than the Centre.
- The Indian higher education system could have benefited from those experiences and processes, but those outcomes may not be easy to replicate in this country.
- At a practical level, there might be some serious difficulties in implementing the NHEQF. The document places all higher education qualifications on a continuum of 4.5 to 10.
- The framework equates postgraduate diplomas with four year undergraduate programmes. This poses a problem in determining the level of such undergraduate degrees that are pursued after another undergraduate degree, like B.Ed.
- The credit framework document of the UGC mandates that each semester must have a minimum of 20 credits. This document suggests that one credit must comprise 15 hours of direct and 30 hours of indirect teaching.
- The mystery of the learning outcomes borrowed liberally from the Dublin descriptors remains unaddressed.
Serious allegations: India and Canada stare at a downturn in ties after Trudeau’s charges
(Current Affairs 20 Sep 2023 |Relevant for GS Paper-2)
- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s startling allegation, tying the killing of Canadian Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June, to “agents of the Government of India”, marks a new low in their unravelling ties. Mr. Trudeau’s accusation — he said evidence had been shared with India and also raised in a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi last weekend — has set off a chain of events.
- The External Affairs Ministry has also accused Canadian diplomats of “Anti India” activities, indicating that more diplomats may be under scrutiny, while the Canadian government has spoken about the violation of the internationa-l rule of law, and of Canadian “sovereignty”, which could invoke other areas of confrontation.
- Given the support Mr.Trudeau received from his political rivals in Parliament, remarks critical of India by leaders such as Pierre Poilievre and Jagmeet Singh, it is also likely that the chill will outlast this government, if voted out in elections due in 2025.
- Unlike with Pakistan, where such allegations, name calling and public confrontation have become routine, it is worth remembering that Canada is a part of the western NATO alliance, and home to Indians and Indian origin Canadians, and the impact of the rupture will be felt wider.
- India’s assertions over Canadian safe havens for anti India, separatist violent Khalistani groups have already been proven by many incidents, beginning from the early 1980s to more recent targeting of Indian diplomats and Indian community centres.
- That Nijjar, chief of the “Khalistan Tiger Force” — he was wanted in India, accused of being behind terror operations in Punjab in the 1990s, and had an Interpol red corner notice — was a Canadian citizen speaks for itself. New Delhi must also consider how it wishes to proceed on its ties with Canada.
- After the acrimonious Trudeau Modi meeting on the sidelines of the G20, and the latest allegations by Mr. Trudeau, diplomatic niceties are clearly at an end, while the FTA talks have been put on pause.
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