Bal Sangam
Why in news?
- The Eleventh edition of Bal Sangam to be organised by the National School of Drama, NSD, will begin from the 9th of this month in the New Delhi.
About
- It is a confluence of folk and traditional art forms performed by children.
- The four-day festival will showcase enthralling folk and traditional performing arts and folk theatre dedicated to children.
- The festival also includes folk dance, martial arts, street play performances and magic shows. Besides, there will also be various types of art and craft workshops.
The Younger Dryas hypothesis
Why in news?
- Based on research at White Pond near Elgin, South Carolina, archaeologists present new evidence of a The Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis.
About:
- The Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis is controversial from the time it was presented in 2007.
- It proposes that an asteroid or comet hit the Earth about 12,800 years ago, causing a period of extreme cooling that contributed to extinctions of more than 35 species of megafauna including giant sloths, sabre-tooth cats, mastodons and mammoths.
- It also coincides with a serious decline in early human populations such as the Clovis culture and is believed to have caused massive wildfires that could have blocked sunlight, causing an ‘impact winter’ near the end of the Pleistocene Epoch.
Feni River
Why in news?
- The Union Cabinet gave an ex-post facto approval for the MoU between India and Bangladesh on withdrawal of 1.82 cusec of water from Feni River by India for drinking water supply scheme for Sabroom town in Tripura.
- A press note from the cabinet said, “As on date, there is no water-sharing agreement on Feni river between
India and Bangladesh. - The present supply of drinking water to Sabroom town is inadequate.
- The groundwater in this region has high iron content. Implementation of this scheme would benefit over 7000 population of Sabroom town.
Khadi gets separate HS code
Why in news?
- Khadi has been allocated a separate harmonised system code by the commerce and industry ministry, a move that is expected to boost its exports in the coming years.
Harmonised system:
- Harmonised system (HS) is a six-digit identification code developed by the World Customs Organization (WCO) and custom officers use this code to clear every commodity that enters or crosses any international border.
- Getting HS code as a result, all the data regarding export of this signature fabric used to come as a normal fabric under the textile head.
- It will be able to keep a constant eye not only on our export figures, but it will also help us in planning our export strategies.
About KVIC
- The KVIC comes under the administrative control of the MSME ministry.
- Khadi and Village Industries products are eco-friendly and natural, and are in great demand in the international markets.
Acute Respiratory Infections
Why in news?
- Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) accounted for 69.47% of morbidity last year which was the highest in the communicable disease category leading to 27.21% mortality.
News in detail:
- Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal reported a large number of patients and fatalities due to ARI as per the National Health Profile-2019, which was recently released by the Union Health Ministry.
- According to World Health Organisation, acute respiratory infection is a serious ailment that prevents normal breathing function and kills an estimated 2.6 million children annually every year worldwide.
- Indians face the double burden of heavy air pollution in addition to the high rate of ARI which hits children the hardest.
Causes of ARI:
- Doctors explained that the high level of air pollution would be an additional burden to the already high rate of ARI that the country is facing. “When you breathe in polluted air, particles and pollutants penetrate and inflame the linings of your bronchial tubes and lungs.
- This leads to respiratory illness such as chronic bronchitis, emphysema, heart disease, asthma, wheezing, coughing and difficulty in breathing. Children seem to be most vulnerable to the harmful effects of air pollution.
Shala Darpan portal
Why in news?
- Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD) launched Shaala Darpan portal for Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti.
About
- Shaala Darpan is an end to end E-Governance school automation and management system for Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS).
- This single integrated platform has been developed for information sharing and knowledge dissemination for the 22000 employees and over 2 lakh students across schools and offices of Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti. It will bring transparency in Navodaya Vidyalayas.
- The system has several pluggable components that can interact with each other. These are:
- School Information and Management System for complete school automation
- Bilingual Content Management Portal for information dissemination
- Employee ERP to manage the day to day activities of all employees
- Budget & Finance management system
- Inventory & Store management system
- Library management system