INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY & COVID VACCINE EMERGENCY USE AUTHORISATION (EUA) ( CURRENT AFFAIRS 2 DEC 2020)

 INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY

International Day for the Abolition of Slavery is being observed on 2 December.

About:

• The Day marks the date of the adoption, by the UN General Assembly, of the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others (resolution 317(IV) of 2 December 1949).
  
  
• According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) more than 40 million people worldwide are victims of modern slavery.
  
  
• Although modern slavery is not defined in law, it is used as an umbrella term covering practices such as forced labour, debt bondage, forced marriage, and human trafficking.
  
  
• Essentially, it refers to situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, and/or abuse of power.
  
  
• In addition, more than 150 million children are subject to child labour, accounting for almost one in ten children around the world.
  
  
• ILO has adopted a new legally binding Protocol designed to strengthen global efforts to eliminate forced labour, which entered into force in November 2016.
  

XP100

Indian Oil launched a new premium grade petrol – Octane 100.

About:

• Branded as XP100, the premium grade petrol was launched across ten cities by Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
  
  
• The technology for India’s first octane petrol has been indigenously created by Indian Oil Research and Development.
  
  
• The availability of XP100 puts India in an elite group of countries, having access to such high-quality oil. The petrol will provide high quality and power to the engine.
  
  
• Indian Oil plans to roll-out XP100 premium grade petrol in 15 identified cities across the country in two phases.

RAMAYAN CRUISE TOUR

Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways announced that ‘Ramayan Cruise Tour’ on the Saryu river in Ayodhya will be launched soon.

About:

• It will be the first-ever luxury Cruise service on the Saryu river (Ghagra/National Waterways-40) in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh.
  
  
• It aims to give mesmerizing experience to devotees with one-of-its-kind spiritual journeys while cruising through the famous ghats of the holy river Saryu.
  
  
• Tourists will be taken on the ‘Ramcharitmanas Tour’, of 1-1.5 hour duration, featuring an exclusively made video film of 45-60 minutes duration, based on Ramcharitmanas by Goswami Tulsidas, covering the period from the birth of Lord Ram to his Rajyabhishek.
  

AADI MAHOTSAV

Union Minister for Tribal Affairs, launched the virtual edition of Aadi Mahotsav- Madhya Pradesh. The 10-day long festival, commencing on December 1, 2020, is being hosted on the Tribes India website. The main focus is on the tribal craft and culture of Madhya Pradesh.

About:

• Aadi Mahotsav is a national tribal festival and a joint initiative of Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India & Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED).
  
  
• The Aadi Mahotsav – A Celebration of the Spirit of Tribal Culture, Crafts, Cuisine and Commerce – is a successful initiative that was commenced in 2017.
  
  
• The festival showcases traditional art and handicrafts and cultural heritage of the country. It is an attempt to familiarise the people with the rich and diverse craft, culture of the tribal communities across the country, in one place.

NAGALAND

Nagaland celebrated its 58th Statehood day. It became the 16th State of the Union of India on 1st December 1963.

About:

• Nagaland is a state in north-eastern India.
  
  
• It is bordered by the state of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south and the Sagaing Region of Myanmar to the east.
  
  
• Nagaland's capital city is Kohima and its largest city is Dimapur.
  

‘CHILD-FRIENDLY’ POLICE STATION LAUNCHED IN PUNE

A "child-friendly" police station set up in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the National Commissioner for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) was launched in Pune.

About:

• Pune police have worked with Hope for Children Foundation to set up this.
  
  
• Child-friendly police station is an innovative concept in the direction of preventing juvenile crimes and children reforms.
  
  
• This police station will work towards character building among children and will also work in changing the notion that police are not enemies but friends of people.
  
  
• The child friendly police station houses books and toys and will also work towards character building among children.

CYCLONIC STORM ‘BUREVI’

The Deep Depression over southwest Bay of Bengal moved west-north westwards with a speed of 09 kmph during past six hours, intensified into Cyclonic Storm ‘Burevi’.

About:

• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) announced that a cyclone brewing in the Bay of Bengal is likely to affect Tamil Nadu and Kerala, less than a week after cyclone Nivar wreaked havoc in the southern states.
  
  
• The cyclone will cross the Sri Lanka coast on December 2 and bring heavy rain over Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

ROSHNI ACT

The Jammu & Kashmir administration has recently released a series of lists of alleged beneficiaries of the Roshni Act of 2001, now scrapped, which gave ownership rights to the unauthorised occupants of state land against payment of a premium.

About:

• Following a recent order by the Jammu & Kashmir High Court, the administration has annulled the Act (it was earlier repealed prospectively) and decided to retrieve land transferred under the Roshni scheme.
  
  
• Formally the Jammu and Kashmir State Land (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act, 2001, Roshni Act was passed by the then National Conference government to give ownership to people in possession of state land, with a cut-off of 1990, and against a payment as determined by the government.
  
  
• Since the aim was to generate resources for hydroelectric power projects, it was called Roshni (Light) Act.
  
  
• In its 2014 report, the CAG termed the scheme a Rs-25,000-crore scam. In October 2018, then Governor Satya Pal Malik repealed the Roshni Act prospectively.
  

HONEY MISSION

Responding to the Prime Minister’s call for Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) engaged hundreds of migrant workers in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and engaged them with its flagship scheme like Honey Mission.

About:

• The distressed migrant workers who were engaged with KVIC’s Honey Mission in Uttar Pradesh in the month of August, have reaped their first honey harvest and are awaiting a bumper yield in the months from December to March.
  
  
• The Honey Mission launched by KVIC 3 years ago aims at creating employment for farmers, Adivasis, women and unemployed youth by roping them with beekeeping and increasing India’s honey production.
  
  
• Under the Honey Mission, KVIC provides training and 10 bee boxes with live colonies to beneficiaries including farmers, beekeepers and unemployed youth. KVIC also runs beekeeping training programmes and courses

EMERGENCY USE AUTHORISATION (EUA)

US drugmaker Moderna said it was applying for emergency use authorisation for its Covid-19 vaccine. In India, Serum Institute of India, which is trialling a version of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, has said it expects to seek emergency use authorisation within the next two weeks.

About:

• Vaccines and medicines, and even diagnostic tests and medical devices, require the approval of a regulatory authority before they can be administered. In India, the regulatory authority is the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).
  
  
• For vaccines and medicines, approval is granted after an assessment of their safety and effectiveness, based on data from trials. This is a long process, designed to ensure that a medicine or vaccine is absolutely safe and effective.
  
  
• In emergency situations, like the current one, regulatory authorities around the world have developed mechanisms to grant interim approvals if there is sufficient evidence to suggest a medical product is safe and effective.
  
  
• Final approval is granted only after completion of the trials and analysis of full data; until then, emergency use authorisation (EUA) allows the medicine or the vaccine to be used on the public.