30th JAN, 2024

World Health Organisation (WHO) awards countries for progress in eliminating industrially
produced trans fats for first time

WHO has awarded first-ever validation certificates to Denmark, Lithuania, Poland, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand in eliminating
industrially-produced trans-fatty acids (iTFA).
Total of 53 countries have now best practice policies in effect for tackling iTFA in food, improving food environment for
46% of world’s population.
To be validated for trans-fat elimination, countries should Steps taken to regulate TFA
demonstrate:
A best-practice for iTFA elimination policy is in effect in India
country; and Eat Right India Movement by Food Safety and Standards
Applicant country has adequate monitoring and Authority of India (FSSAI).
enforcement systems in place. FSSAI made mandatory to declare TFA content on nutrition
label.
WHO criteria for Best practices in iTFA elimination
Global
policies
REPLACE initiative by WHO.
Mandatory national limit of 2 grams of iTFA per 100
grams of total fat in all foods; ♦ REview dietary sources of industrially produced trans-fat.
♦ Promote replacement of industrially produced trans-fat.
Mandatory national ban on production or use of Partially
Hydrogenated Oils (PHO- major source of trans-fat) as ♦ Legislate to eliminate industrially produced trans-fat.
an ingredient in all foods. ♦ Assess trans-fat content in food supply.
Combination of PHO ban and iTFA 2% limit. ♦ Create awareness of negative health impact.
Trans-fats are unsaturated fats produced from vegetable ♦ Enforce compliance with policies.
oils.
There are two forms of trans-fat i.e. Naturally-occurring trans-fats (dairy and meat products), Industrially produced trans-
fat (packaged foods, cooking oils etc.).
They are source of non-communicable disease and associated with increased risk of heart attacks.

A report titled ‘The Indian Economy: A Review’ released by the Department of Economic Affairs
(Ministry of Finance)

This review takes stock of state of the Indian economy and its journey in last ten years and offers a brief sketch of outlook
for the economy in coming years.
In 10 years, India has moved from 10th largest economy of the world to 5th largest economy of the world.
Factors Making Indian Economy Resilient
Domestic Economy: Challenges Confronting the Indian Economy
♦ Economy is projected to grow over 7% and become Increased geoeconomic fragmentation and the slowdown of
third-largest globally in next three years, reaching a hyper-globalisation.
GDP of $5 trillion.
Trade-off between energy security and economic growth
♦ India's robust Digital Public Infrastructure has
versus energy transition.
transformed authentication ecosystem, reducing the
cost of conducting e-KYC from ₹1,000 to ₹5. Domestically, ensuring the availability of a talented and
Macroeconomic stability : appropriately skilled workforce to industry, age-appropriate
learning outcomes in schools at all levels.
♦ Price Stabilization Fund (PSF) set up in 2014-15 has
been effective in tackling price volatility. Advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Human Resources: Recently an IMF paper estimated that 40 % of global
♦ 13.5 crore Indians escaped multidimensional employment is exposed to AI
poverty between 2015-16 and 2019-21.
♦ Female Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) rose from 23.3% in 2017-18 to 37% in 2022-23.
India’s External Sector:
♦ India is the largest recipient of worker remittances in the world, receiving USD 125 billion in the year 2023.
♦ External debt as a ratio to GDP fell to 18.6% at the end of September 2023 from 22.4% in 2013.

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Framework for Voluntary Carbon Market in Agriculture Sector Launched by Ministry of
Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW)

About Carbon Market

A carbon market is a system where carbon credits are bought and sold to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
♦ A carbon credit represents the removal or avoidance of a tonne of carbon or greenhouse gas equivalent.
Two major types of carbon market
♦ Compliance markets: Regulated by governments or international bodies, and require certain industries or countries to
participate.
♦ Voluntary Carbon Markets (VCM): Carbon credits are traded voluntarily, without any legal obligation. Buyers and sellers
can be individuals, corporates or governments.
Need for Framework for VCM in Agriculture Sector
Significant Emission: Indian Agriculture accounts for nearly 15% of India’s greenhouse gas emission (GHG).
Vulnerability: About 50% of cultivated area rainfed, more than 80% of Indian farmers are small and marginal thus vulnerable
to climate change.
National Mission on Sustainable
Agriculture (2010): Promotes adaptation
measures like agroforestry, micro
irrigation, soil health management
etc that reduce emission and create
potential for carbon sequestration.
♦ By tapping these resources famers
can have additional source of income.
MoA&FW also launched Accreditation
Protocol of Agroforestry Nurseries.
It will strengthen institutional
arrangements for production and
certification of planting material.

'Maratha Military Landscapes' to be India's nomination for UNESCO World Heritage List for
2024-25
There are three categories of nomination- cultural , natural and mixed. Maratha Military landscapes (developed between 17th
and 19th centuries) are nominated in cultural category.
For inclusion in World Heritage List, a site must meet one of the ten selection criteria.
Maratha Military Landscapes of India included in Tentative List of World Heritage sites in 2021. They represent an
extraordinary fortification and military system envisioned by Maratha rulers.
Twelve component of this nomination are from Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu (Gingee Fort).
Except Gingee Fort, all are from Maharashtra.
India’s World Heritage sites (WHS)
These 12 forts are divided into
42 sites, out of which 34 are cultural sites, seven are natural
Hill forts (Salher, Shivneri, Lohgad, Raigad, Rajgad and
sites whereas one is mixed site.
Gingee); Hill-forest fort (Pratapgad); Hill-plateau fort
Other Maharashtra’s WHS
(Panhala); Coastal fort (Vijaydurg); and Island forts
(Khanderi, Suvarnadurg and Sindhudurg). Cultural (Ajanta Caves, Ellora Caves, Elephanta Caves,
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (formerly Victoria
About major forts Terminus), Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of
Mumbai).
Raigad: Coronation (Shivrajyaabhishek) of Chhatrapati
Shivaji Maharaj conducted. He made it his capital in Natural (Western Ghats of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa,
1674 AD. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala).

Shivneri: Birthplace of Shivaji but never ruled the fort.

Sindhudurg: Built on an island in Konkan region during Shivaji’s reign.
Pratapgarh: Encounter between Shivaji and Afzal Khan.

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During 'Pariksha Pe Charcha 2024' PM Crowd mismanagement at religious
Cautions Students against Excessive Screen gathering in Delhi led to injuries
Time
Crowd Management is a public security practice
Negative Impacts of Excessive Screen Time on Children involving planning, organizing and monitoring large
Cutting off Time for Physical Activities: This has gatherings of people to prevent the outbreak of crowd
been associated with health issues like obesity, sleep crushes, fights or riots and protect infrastructure.
disorders, and mental health conditions e.g. depression Causes of disasters associated with crowd
and anxiety.
Structural Failure: Collapse of barricades, railings of
Reduce Human Interactions: It negatively impacts bridge, absence of emergency exits, etc. Example:
children’s cognitive development, reduces social skill e.g. Bridge collapsed in Morbi town (Gujarat) in 2022.
Reading non-verbal emotional cues like empathy. Fire Outbreaks: Such disasters occurred due to lack
Exposure to illicit and Harmful Content: E.g. Pornography, of fire extinguishers, violation of fire code etc.
violent imagery, anonymous trolling, cyber frauds etc. Difficulty in managing Crowd Behaviour during rush
Value Development: Unsupervised screen time may lead hours, distribution of disaster relief supplies, last
to percolation of negative values like misogyny, bullying, minute change in platform for train etc.
self-harm etc. Poor coordination between stakeholders due to
Developmental Problems: Studies link excessive screen communication delays, lack of funds, coordination
time with developmental delay, speech disorder, learning gap between agencies such as Superintendent of
disability, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Police and District Magistrate; etc.
(ADHD) etc. Under deployment and inadequate briefing of
security personnel on crowd control, lack of CCTV
Positive Impacts of Limited Screen Time
surveillance of crowd, etc.
Improve Learning: Through e-books, play based learning
National Disaster Management Authority guidelines on
apps, educational content on social media.
crowd management
Enhance Creativity: Showcasing video editing skills,
Emergency Response Plan should be formulated
creating content like video clips, animations or comics
including alert mechanisms, resource mobilization
etc.
etc.
Way Forward Crowd management Strategies by making necessary
For Infants: WHO recommends no screen time for babies arrangements for arriving crowds for an event.
under 2 and no more than one hour of screen time a day Risk Analysis and Preparedness: Identification of
for those aged 2 to 4. foreseeable hazards (stampede) and risks associated
Parental Controls and Filters: To block access to products with them.
and content not suitable to children. Timely Information Management and Dissemination.

Also in News

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for

Chenab River
Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA)

Successful diversion of Chenab River achieved at Ratle Hydro UN officials urged countries to reconsider their decision to
Electric Project in Jammu & Kashmir. suspend the funding for UNRWA.
About Chenab River About UNRWA
Formed by two streams, Chandra and Bhaga, which join near Genesis: Established as a subsidiary organ of United Nations
Keylong in Himachal Pradesh. Hence, it is also known as General Assembly in 1949.
Chandrabhaga. Objective: To provide assistance and protection to Palestine
River flows for 1,180 km before entering into Pakistan. refugees registered with UNRWA.
Chenab is largest tributary of Indus. ♦ Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan,
♦ Indus river system comprises of main Indus River, Jhelum, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza Strip and West Bank, including
Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. East Jerusalem achieve their full human development
potential.
♦ 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (between India and Pakistan)
grants India exclusive use of three rivers- Ravi, Sutlej, Beas Funding: Funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions
(Eastern Rivers). from UN Member States.

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 Advocate-on-Record (AoR) National Chambal Sanctuary (NCS)

A committee headed by Chief Justice of India designated 56 Recently, Indian grey wolf was sighted in NCS, which is its first
lawyers and AoR as senior advocates, 11 of them women. confirmed sighting in the region in about two decades.
Supreme Court Rules, 2013 prescribe eligibility criteria for an About NCS
AoR. It is a tri-state protected area (Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh
AoR means an advocate who is entitled under these rules to and Uttar Pradesh).
act as well as to plead for a party in Court. It was set up in 1979 as a riverine sanctuary along Chambal
No advocate other than AoR for a party shall appear, plead River (tributary of Yamuna River).
and address the Court in a matter unless he is instructed by Listed as an Important Bird Area (IBA) and is a proposed
AoR or permitted by Court. Ramsar site.
Home to Gharial, red-crowned roof turtle (both critically
Government Amends Central Civil Services endangered) and Ganges river dolphin (endangered) -
(Pension) Rules, 2021 National Aquatic Animal.

Amendment allows female employees or pensioners to grant

family pension to their eligible child/children after their own Photonic Crystals (PCs)
demise, instead of their spouse.
Previously, family pension was granted to the spouse of a Photonic crystals are optical nanostructures in which the
deceased government servant or pensioner, while other family refractive index changes periodically.
members became eligible only after spouse's ineligibility or Refractive index is the measure of the bending of a ray of light
demise. when passing from one medium into another.
Earlier Steps Taken For Women Government Employees Photonic crystals occur in nature in the form of structural
Special Maternity Leave of 60 days in case of death of a child coloration and animal reflectors.
soon after birth / stillbirth. Examples found in nature include opal, butterfly wings,
peacock feathers, etc., exhibiting distinct iridescent colours.
Special Leave provision for an aggrieved female Government
Servant in matters of sexual harassment. Applications of Artificially Produced PCs
Child Care Leave etc. In Optical Communication Devices, Sensors and Detectors,
Quantum Information Processing, Solar Cells, etc.

Sariska Tiger Reserve C-bot

A tiger had strayed into a village in Haryana from Sariska Tiger Goa-based National Institute of Oceanography has launched an
Reserve. autonomous underwater vehicle called C-bot.
About Sariska Tiger Reserve C- bot is a robot with advanced features for increased surveillance
over coral reefs.
It is located in Aravali hills in Alwar district of Rajasthan.
It can travel to a depth of 200 metres underwater.
It was declared as a wildlife sanctuary and National Park.
It will help Indian Navy perform bathymetry studies (mapping
Forest Type: Northern tropical dry deciduous forest; Northern of sea floor) to help plot navigation channels.
Tropical Thorn forest.
It will help in finding the active hydrothermal vents where
Fauna: Rhesus macaque, sambhar, chital, wild boar, etc. geothermally heated water seeps up from deep below the
Attraction: Neelkanth temple, Kankwadi fort etc. ocean floor.

Field Marshal Kodandera Madappa Cariappa or KM Cariappa (28 January

Personality in news 1899- 15 May 1993)

125th birth anniversary of K.M. Cariappa was celebrated.

Contribution
Served as First Indian Commander-in-Chief of Indian Army from 1949- 1953.
He was instrumental in
♦ Integration of troops and turning an imperial army into a national army.
♦ Raised the Brigade of the Guards and Parachute Regiments on an all-India caste composition.
Awards:
♦ Order of the Chief Commander of the Legion Merit in 1949 by US President.
♦ Order of the British Empire for his role in Second World War.
Values: Courage, Compassion, Integrity etc.

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