UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Prelim Bits 08-06-2020

NAIMISHA 2020

• The National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), New Delhi will organize online NAIMISHA 2020- Summer Art Program from 8th June 2020 to 3rd July 2020, to reach its audiences during the Covid-19 outbreak.
• It is an initiative to provide a chance to participants and art enthusiasts to create and learn from practicing artists.
• The programme includes online workshops sessions on painting, sculpture, printmaking and indrajaal (an interdisciplinary creative workshop).
• The exhibition of selected artworks from the program will be displayed on So’ham, the cultural media platform of NGMA.

So’ham

• It is the first cultural media platform of India, under the banner of NGMA.
• The platform aims to develop a dialogue between NGMA, artists and art enthusiasts.
• It is inspired by the Vedic philosophy of So’ham, which stands for one's identity and its connection to the universe.

National Gallery of Modern Art

• NGMA was established in 1954, at the Jaipur House, New Delhi.
• It is run and administered as a subordinate office to the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.
• The NGMA has two branches, one at Mumbai and the other at Bengaluru.
• One of its objectives is to acquire and preserve works of modern art from the 1850s onward.

World Oceans Day

• The United Nations celebrates World Oceans Day every year on 8 June.
• Oceans Day was first declared as June 8th 1992 in Rio de Janeiro at the Global Forum, a parallel event at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) which provided an opportunity for non-government organizations (NGOs) and civil society to express their views on environmental issues.
• In 2008, the United Nations General Assembly decided that, as of 2009, 8 June would be designated by the United Nations as “World Oceans Day”.
• The Ocean Conference was convened to support the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.

Advisory on Import of Exotic Animals

• The term exotic does not have a set definition but it usually refers to a wild animal or one that is more unusual and rare than normal domesticated pets like cats or dogs.
• These are those species which are not usually native to an area and are introduced to an area by humans.
• Recently, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has issued an advisory to streamline and formalize the process of importing live exotic animals.
• Many exotic species of birds, reptiles and amphibians are imported into India for commercial purposes.
• The major reason for issuing the advisory is to regulate trade because the issue of zoonotic diseases is linked to wildlife.
• With this advisory, it will be known how many such exotic animals are there in the country.
• The advisory has defined them as those that are mentioned under the Appendices of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) but not under the Schedules of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
• According to the advisory

1. A person trying to import a live exotic animal will have to submit an application for grant of a license to the Director-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
2. Earlier, these imports were happening though the DGFT but they were beyond the purview of the forest departments and the chief wildlife wardens were not aware of them.
3. The importer will also have to attach a No Objection Certificate (NOC) of the chief wildlife warden of the state concerned along with the application.
4. For those people who have already imported exotic animals, a declaration will have to be made within six months.
5. However, if the declaration is made after six months, documents related to the provenance of the animal will have to be submitted.

• Being an advisory, it does not have the force of law and can potentially incentivize illegal trade by offering a long amnesty period.

Non-Permanent Member of UNSC

• Recently, India has released a campaign brochure ahead of the vote for the non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in 2021-22.
• This will be the eighth time India will occupy a non-permanent UNSC seat, with its last term in 2011-2012.
• India also seeks for a permanent membership in the UNSC.
• India along with other countries of G4 grouping (Japan, Brazil and Germany) is asking for a spot for permanent membership in UNSC.
• P5 members of UNSC are - China, France, the Russian Federation, the UK and the USA.
• India is guaranteed a place as it is the sole candidate for Asia-Pacific but needs two-thirds of the 193-member General Assembly to vote in its favour in a secret ballot scheduled for 17th June, 2020 in New York (USA).

Selection of Non-permanent Members of Security Council

• Each year, the General Assembly elects five non-permanent members (out of ten in total) for a two-year term. The ten non-permanent seats are distributed on a regional basis:

1. Five for African and Asian countries.
2. One for Eastern European countries.
3. Two for Latin American and Caribbean countries.
4. Two for Western European and other countries.

• Article 23 of the UN Charter concerns the composition of the Security Council.

N.O.R.M.S - New Orientation for a Reformed Multilateral System

• India’s objective in UNSC will be the achievement of N.O.R.M.S: a New Orientation for a Reformed Multilateral System.
• Under this India's approach at the United Nations Security Council will be guided by the tenets of

1. Samman -  Honor
2. Samvad - Conversation
3.  Sahyog - Co-operation
4. Shanti -  Peace
5. Samriddhi - Prosperity

• India will highlight international terrorism, United Nations reforms and Security Council expansion, streamlining the peacekeeping operations and technology initiatives during its upcoming tenure.

Environment Performance Index

• Environment Performance Index is a biennial index released by Yale University.
• The global index considered 32 indicators of environmental performance, giving a snapshot of the 10-year trends in environmental performance at the national and global levels.
• India secured 168 rank in the 12th edition of the biennial (EPI Index 2020) out of of 180 countries, the country scored 27.6 out of 100 in the 2020 index.
• India’s rank was 177 (with a score of 30.57 out of 100) in 2018.
• India needs to re-double national sustainability efforts on all fronts, according to the index.
• The country needs to focus on a wide spectrum of sustainability issues, with a high-priority to critical issues such as air and water quality, biodiversity and climate change.
• All South Asian countries, except Afghanistan, were ahead of India in the ranking. 
• India’s rank on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) among the South Asian countries was low, according to State of India’s Environment 2020.
• India scored below the regional average score on all five key parameters on environmental health, including air quality, sanitation and drinking water, heavy metals and waste management.
• Among South Asian countries, India was at second position (rank 106) after Pakistan on ‘climate change’.
• A ten-year comparison progress report in the index showed that India slipped on climate-related parameters.
• The performance on climate change was assessed based on eight indicators, adjusted emission growth rates; composed of growth rates of four greenhouse gases and one pollutant; growth rate in carbon dioxide emissions from land cover; greenhouse gas intensity growth rate; and greenhouse gas emissions per capita.
• The report indicated that black carbon, carbon dioxide emissions and greenhouse emissions per capita increased in 10 years.
• Its overall score under climate change has dipped 2.9 points. 

Magneto-caloric material

• The magneto caloric materials are certain materials in which application and removal of a magnetic field causes the materials to become warmer or cooler.
• Scientists at the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), an autonomous R&D Centre of Department of Science and Technology (DST) has developed a rare-earth-based magneto caloric material that can be effectively used for cancer treatment.
• The magneto caloric material developed by ARCI are being tested at Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology (SCTIMST).
• Advancements in magnetic materials led to the development of magnetic hyperthermia to try to address the issues of side effects of cancer treatment like chemotherapy.
• In magnetic hyperthermia, magnetic nanoparticles are subjected to alternating magnetic fields of few Gauss, which produce heat due to magnetic relaxation losses.
• Usually, the temperature required to kill the tumor cells is between 40 and 45°C.
• However, the drawback in magnetic hyperthermia is the lack of control of temperature, which may damage the healthy cells in the body and also have side effects like increased blood pressure etc.
• These problems can be avoided by using magnetocaloric materials, as it can provide controlled heating.
• The advantage of magnetocaloric materials which heat up or cool down with the application and removal of the magnetic field, respectively is that as soon as the magnetic field is removed, cooling effect is generated, unlike in magnetic nanoparticles where overheating persists, even after removal of the magnetic field.

Source: PIB, News on Air,DTE