Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 26 December 2022

::NATIONAL::

Govt To Provide Free Foodgrains To 81.35 Crore Beneficiaries Under NFSA

• The Central government will provide free foodgrains to about 81.35 crore beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) for one year from January 1, 2023.

About:

• The government has discontinued thePradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan AnnaYojana (PMGKAY).
• It provides additional 5 kg of free foodgrains per month to NFSAbeneficiaries.

Impact:

• Lower food grain stock: The combined food grain stock in 2022 stood at 305.69 Lakh Metric Tonne(LMT), lower than 2021 (591.56LMT).
• Increased economic cost for rice: Economic Cost consists of Acquisition Cost (MSP+ Procurement IncidentalCost) and Distribution Cost.

Significance:

• Ensure nationwide uniformity and effective implementation of NFSA.
• Remove financial burden from the poorest of poor beneficiaries.
• NFSA 2013, provides food and nutritional security to beneficiary households,divided under two categories.

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Union Government launches right to repair portal

• Food and Consumer Affairs Minister launched a host of new initiatives, including the right to repair portal and an NTH mobile app and opened new premises of National Consumer Helpline centre in the national capital.
• A memorandum of understanding was also signed between the Consumer Affairs Department and IIT (BHU), Varanasi as well launched a capacity building programme of consumer commissions.

Key highlights: 

• On the portal, manufacturers would share manual of product details with customers sothat they could either repair by self, by third parties, rather than depend on originalmanufacturers.
• Initially, mobile phones, electronics, consumer durables, automobile and farmingequipments would be covered.
• Right to Repair movement calls for companies to make spare parts, tools and informationon how to repair devices available to customers and repair shops to increase lifespan ofproducts and to keep them from ending up in landfills.
• Right to Repair has been recognised in many countries including US, UK and European Union.

Significance of developing a framework on right to repair in India:

• Empower consumers and product buyers in the local market.
• Address issue of ‘planned obsolescence’i.e., devices are designed specifically to last a limited amount of time and to be replaced.
• Harmonize trade between original equipment manufacturers and the third-party buyers and sellers.
• Developing sustainable consumption of products and reduction in e-waste.
• Catalysing employment generation through Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) by allowing third-party repairs.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Bomb Cyclone

• In US Bomb cyclone continues to batter as death toll mounts to 34.
• Storms can form when a mass of low-pressure air meets a high-pressure mass. The air flows from high pressure to low, creating winds. 

About:

• What defines a bomb cyclone is how rapidly the pressure drops in the low-pressure mass — by at least 24 millibars in 24 hours. 
• This quickly increases the pressure difference, or gradient, between the two air masses, making the winds stronger. This process of rapid intensification has a name: bombogenesis.
• As the winds blow, the rotation of the Earth creates a cyclonic effect. The direction is counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere.

Formation:

• A bomb cyclone is formed when the air of different air masses (cold, dry) comes together.
• As the warm air rises, it creates a cloud system lowering air pressure and forming into a storm circulating counterclockwise around the low-pressure area.

Characteristics:

• The bomb cyclone will be characterised by cold winds, which are also expected to pick up, and wind chill temperatures could drop to dangerous lows far below zero — enough to cause frostbite within minutes.
• The dangerous storm is expected to hit everyone east of the Rockies — around two-thirds of the country.

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Tel Tsaf

• Recently, nearly 5200 BCE, or 7,200 years old cotton fibres, dyed in blue and other colours, werefound in Tel Tsaf (Israel).

About:

• In the Indus Valley, the ancient known evidence for cotton fibre are threads used to string copperbeads in 6000-5500 BCE in Mehrgarh.
• Situated in Jordan Valley, Tel Tsaf was a Late Neolithic Settlement.

A number of other discoveries are also made at Tel Tsaf such as:

• Grain Silo for ritual food storage; social beer drinking; 
• beads from modern-day Anatolia,
• Romania, Egypt, and other parts of Africa; 
• pottery from Iraq, Syria, and Armenia; 
• the earliestcopper and metal in the Middle East.

::Economy::

Self-reliance in edible oils need of hour, GM mustard to pave way

• Self-reliance or ‘Atma Nirbharta’ in edible oils is the need of the hour for India and it is in the public interest for the welfare of farmers and consumers that the decision to approve Genetically Modified mustard is taken to a logical conclusion.

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About:

• GM technology is a disruptive technologythat involves inserting DNA into thegenome of an organism, giving it new ordifferent characteristics.
• Purpose: To bring targeted change withinthe crop variety like change in growth or
• resistance to a particular disease.
• GM Mustard DMH 11 is made throughBarnase-Barstar System, a hybrid seedproduction system used in self-pollinatedcrops, increasing the crop yield and itsadaptation - also known as hybridvigourorheterosis.
• This system has been successfully deployed incountries like Canada, Australia andAmerica for many decades.
• The toxicity, allergenicity, compositionalanalysis, field trials, and environmentalsafety studies show that it is safe forcultivation, for food and feed use.
• GM Mustard DMH 11 has been developed bythe Centre for Genetic Manipulation of CropPlants (CGMCP) at Delhi University.

Significance:

• To increase domestic production andproductivity (approximately 28% higheryield),Reduce import of edible oils in the country.
• In 2021-22, India imported 14.1 milliontonnes of edible oils (around 2/3rd ofIndia’s consumption).

::SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY::

Dark Patterns

• Recently, it is been found that some Internet ¬based firms have been tricking users into agreeing to certain conditions or clicking a few links.

About Dark Patterns:

• It is a user interface that has been crafted to trick or manipulate users into making choices that are detrimental to their interests.
• The term ‘Dark Patterns’ was coined by user experience designer Harry Brignull in 2010.
• Dark patterns endanger the experience of internet users and make them more vulnerable to financial and data exploitation by BigTech firms.
• Dark patterns confuse users, introduce online obstacles, make simple tasks time-consuming, have users sign up for unwanted services or products and force them to pay more money or share more personal information than they intended.
• In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken note of dark patterns and the risks they pose. In a report released in September, 2022, the regulatory body listed over 30 dark patterns.
• The FTC report outlined its legal action against Amazon in 2014, for a supposedly free children’s app that fooled its young users into making in-app purchases that their parents had to pay later for.

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