Daily Current Affairs

Hunar Haat program
Minister for Minority Affairs has decided to organise about 100 ‘Hunar Haat’ in the next five years across the country to provide employment to lakhs of craftsmen.

Key highlights

Hunar Haat is being organised across the country by the Ministry of Minority Affairs under a mission to provide a platform to master artisans and craftsmen to display as well sell their products.
More than 2 lakh 50 thousand master artisans, craftsmen and culinary experts have been provided employment opportunities in the last 3 years under the Hunar Haat programme.
The next Hunar Haat will be organised at North Central Zone Cultural Centre in Prayagraj from 1st to 10th of November 2019. All Hunar Haat, to be organised this year and next year will be based on the theme of ‘Ek Bharat Shresth Bharat’.

What’s the Kolpak rule?
South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis said a no-deal Brexit would be beneficial for the Proteas because it would close the Kolpak route, stopping the talent drain in the process.

Key highlights

The Kolpak ruling is a European Court of Justice ruling handed down in 2003 in favour of Maroš Kolpak, a Slovak handball player.
It declared that citizens of countries which have signed European Union Association Agreements have the same right to freedom of work and movement within the EU as EU citizens. Thus any restrictions placed on their right to work are deemed illegal under EU law.
A Kolpak player, or Kolpak, is a term used in the United Kingdom for players in the domestic leagues in cricket and both rugby codes from overseas, subject to the Kolpak ruling.
Implications for Cricket: the decision has allowed English county cricket clubs to employ the services of a multitude of overseas cricketers, especially from South Africa. Prior to the Kolpak ruling ECB rules had limited each county to one overseas (non-EU) professional.

Determinants the wealth of a nation
The Credit Suisse Group, a Switzerland-based multinational investment bank, has released the 10th edition of its annual Global Wealth Report.

About:

The report tracks both the growth and distribution of wealth – in terms of the numbers of millionaires and billionaires and the proportion of wealth that they hold – as well as the status of inequality around the world.
Wealth is defined in terms of “net worth” of an individual. This, in turn, is calculated by adding up the value of financial assets (such as money) and real assets (such as houses) and then subtracting any debts an individual may have.

Key findings of Credit Suisse’s Global Wealth Report 2019:

Just 47 million people – accounting for merely 0.9% of the world’s adult population – owned $158.3 trillion, which is almost 44% of the world’s total wealth.
At the other end of the spectrum are 2.88 billion people – accounting for almost 57% of the world’s adult population – who owned just $6.3 trillion or 1.8% of the world’s wealth.
China has overtaken the United States this year to become “the country with most people in the top 10% of global wealth distribution”.
The report singles out India, along with China and Vietnam as the best examples of how wealth can be increased by pushing for higher economic growth.

Grand Chord route
Indian Railways has installed the most advanced Electronic Interlocking System on the Grand Chord route.
The measure is expected to help Indian Railways speed up trains and achieve the objective of reducing the travel time between Delhi and Howrah to about 12 hours from the existing 17 to 19 hours.

Key highlights

Grand Chord is part of the Howrah-Gaya-Delhi line and Howrah-Allahabad-Mumbai line. It acts as a link between Sitarampur in West Bengal and Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction, Uttar Pradesh, and covers a stretch of 450 kilometres falling in North Central Railway Zone.
The new Electronic system has replaced outdated 65-year old mechanical signalling system at Tundla Junction in Uttar Pradesh on the route.
The work will go a long way in improving punctuality of trains on New Delhi-Howrah mainline and benefits will be manifold during the incoming foggy season through safe and detention free handling of trains at Tundla Junction.

NCRB report
As per the report, 3,59,849 cases of crime against women were reported in the country. Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 56,011 cases followed by Maharashtra with 31,979 cases and West Bengal 30,002.
“Majority of cases under crimes against women were registered under ‘Cruelty by Husband or his Relatives’ (27.9%) followed by ‘Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage her Modesty’ (21.7%), ‘Kidnapping and Abduction of Women’ (20.5%) and ‘Rape’ (7.0%).

Key highlights of the report

As per the report, 58,880 incidents of rioting were reported, of which the maximum incidents were reported from Bihar – 11,698, followed by Uttar Pradesh – 8,990 and Maharashtra – 7,743.
Of the total riots reported, communal and sectarian riots accounted for 723 and 183 incidents respectively. There were 805 riots due to caste conflict and 1909 riots occurred due to political reasons, the report said.
The incidents registered under the Scheduled Caste Prevention of Atrocities Act saw an increase from 5,082 incidents reported in 2016 to 5,775 in 2017. Incidents of crime related to Scheduled Tribes dipped from 844 in 2016 to 720 in 2017.
A total of 95,893 cases of kidnapping and abduction were registered during 2017, showing an increase of 9.0% over 2016 (88,008 cases).
A total of 63,349 children (20,555 male, 42,691 female and 103 transgender) were reported missing in 2017. During the year 2017, a total of 70,440 children (23,564 males, 46,798 females and 78 transgender) were recovered/traced.
The NCRB for the first time collected data on circulation of “false/fake news and rumours.”
Under the category, maximum incidents were reported from Madhya Pradesh (138), Uttar Pradesh (32) and Kerala (18).

Crime and prison statistics
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) released the report ‘Prison Statistics India 2017.

Key highlights of the report:

There are 1,361 prisons in the country consisting of 666 Sub jails, 405 District jails, 142 Central jails, 64 Open jails, 41 Special jails, 22 Woman jails, 19 Borstal School and 2 other jails.
Out of the total capacity 3,91,574 in 1,361 prisons in 2017, the Central jails of the country were having the highest capacity of inmates (1,74,412) followed by the District jails (capacity of 1,53,383 inmates) and the Sub jails (capacity of 44,577 inmates).
The number of prisoners lodged in various jails has increased from 4,33,003 in 2016 to 4,50,696 in 2017.
Out of 4,50,696 prisoners, the number of Convicts, undertrial inmates and detenues accounted for 30.9 per cent 68.5 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively. Other prisoners accounted for 0.2 per cent of total prisoners.
The number of deaths in prisons has increased marginally from 1,584 in 2015 to 1,671 in 2017, out of which 1,494 were natural and 133 unnatural.
A total of 378 prisoners escaped from lawful custody during the 2017.
Gujarat has the highest number of undertrial prisoners who are Pakistani nationals. The state has 59 Pakistani undertrial prisoners out of the total 101 overseas prisoners in the state. Jammu and Kashmir has the second-highest Pakistani national undertrials at 35.