Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 08 September 2022

::NATIONAL::

The study was carried out jointly by the Union Ministry of Education and the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) between March 23-26.

Key highlights:

With a sample size of 86,000 students in 10,000 schools, the study — the largest ever in terms of scale at the foundational level.
It also assessed the literacy skills of students in 20 languages including English. While 15 per cent lacked “basic skills” in English, 30 per cent were found to have “limited skills”.
At national level, 11 per cent did not have the basic grade-level skills and 37 per cent had limited skills.
In numeracy, Tamil Nadu had the maximum number of students who could not complete most basic grade-level tasks, followedby Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat.
Foundation learning refers to basic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics. It is the ability to read and understand a basic textand perform simple mathematical calculations by end of grade 3.
Falling behind in foundation learning makes children more vulnerable as it negatively impacts their learning outcomes.

There has been an increasing trend of urbanflood disasters in India in recent years whereby major cities like Mumbai, Chennai,Delhi, Kolkata etc. have been severely affected.

Factors contributing to Urban Flooding

Meteorological: Heavy Rainfall, Cyclonicstorms, cloudbursts etc.
Hydrological: Synchronization of runoffsfrom various parts of watershed, Absence of over bank flow, channel network etc.
Anthropogenic related: Land use changes,Encroachment of the flood plain, Changing urban micro-climate etc.

Initiatives taken

Urban flooding termed as a separatedisaster, delinked from floods by NationalDisaster Management Authority (NDMA)along with separate guidelines for thesame.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister (of Bangladesh) Sheikh Hasina reviewed railway and rolling stock connectivity projects.

About:

These include the double track conversion of the Tongi-Akhaura line, supply of rolling stock, Kaunia-Lalmonirhat-Mogalhat-New Gitaldaha link and Hili-Birampur upgradation of track.
Similar works are also being carried out on the Benapole-Jashore and Burimari-Changrabandha lines.
These numerous railway projects will create a smooth flow of goods and people in Bangladesh and overcome infrastructure bottlenecks.
India and Bangladesh have held talks to build an Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Sirajganj, northwest of the capital Dhaka, and help transport bulk cargo.
Leaders "agreed to swiftly implement projects" to connect the power grids of both sides via the planned 765 kV high-capacity transmission line from Katihar in Bihar to Bornagar in Assam via Parbatipur in Bangladesh.
In another event, Ms. Hasina awarded the Mujib Scholarships to 200 descendants of Indian soldiers who were martyred or wounded in the 1971 War.

India and Bangladesh welcomed the establishment of a joint technical committee to study the use of Ganga waters in Bangladesh, a joint statement issued on the third day of the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said.

About:

The Ganga technical committee is one of the several initiatives, including several major connectivity and energy initiatives, that the two sides have announced.
The leaders welcomed the formation of a joint technical committee to conduct a study for optimum utilisation of water received by Bangladesh under the provisions of the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty, 1996.
The Ganga Water Sharing Treaty is a 30-year agreement which is expected to be reviewed or renewed in 2026.

The Finance Ministry was scheduled to meet with stakeholders including banks and the Ministries of External Affairs and Commerce to discuss ways to promote international trade in rupee instead of the United States dollar.

About:

On July 11 this year, the RBI issued a circular saying it had decided “to put in place an additional arrangement for invoicing, payment, and settlement of exports/ imports in INR”.
The idea, the RBI said, was to “promote growth of global trade with emphasis on exports from India and to support the increasing interest of global trading community in INR”.
While the move to allow trade settlements between India and other countries in rupees was seen to primarily benefit trading with Russia, it was also expected to help check dollar outflow and slow the depreciation of the rupee to a “very limited extent”.

Way it would work

To settle trade transactions with any country, banks in India would open Vostro accounts of correspondent bank/s of the partner country for trading. Indian importers can pay for their imports in INR into these accounts.

Bharat Biotech’s iNCOVACC, the world’s first intranasal vaccine for Covid-19 received approval foremergency use in India.

About:

It is a recombinant replication deficient adenovirus vectored vaccine with a pre- fusion stabilized spike protein.
It uses a modified chimpanzee adenovirus, which cannot replicate in body, to carry Covid spike protein to induce immunity.

Benefits

Enabling faster development of variant specific vaccines and easy nasal delivery.
Expected to cut down on the dependence on various trained personnel to administer the vaccine.