UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Prelim Bits 11-02-2021

Cap on TFA

• Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has amended its rules to put a cap on Trans Fatty Acids (TFAs) in food products.
• Food products with edible oils and fats will not contain industrial TFAs more than 2% by mass of the total oils/fats present in the product, on and from 1^st January, 2022.
• Previously, it had capped TFAs in oils and fats from the current levels of 5% to 3% by 2021 and 2% by 2022.
• The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called for the elimination of industrially-produced TFAs from the global food supply by 2023.

Trans Fatty Acids

• They are created in an industrial process that adds hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to make them more solid, increase shelf life of food items and for use as an adulterant as they are cheap.
• They are present in baked, fried and processed foods as well as adulterated ghee which becomes solid at room temperature.
• They are the most harmful form of fats as they clog arteries and cause hypertension, heart attacks and other cardiovascular diseases.

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Residential Schools

• Ministry of Education has decided to rename the residential schools and hostels funded under the Samagra Shiksha Scheme as "Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose residential schools".
• These residential schools and hostels follow the same norms as followed by Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV).
• In addition to the regular school curriculum, intervention for all-round development of children such as the Specific Skill Training, physical self-defence, community participation, etc are also available to children here.
• These residential schools and hostels are found in hilly terrain, small and sparsely populated areas for children without adult protection who are in need of shelter and care, in addition to the provision of regular schools.
• The facilities are provided to child labour rescued, child who belong to poor family, children without protection, internally displaced persons, and children from the areas of conflict and natural calamities.
• Preference is given to Educationally Backward Blocks (EBB), Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected districts, Special Focus Districts (SFD), and the Aspirational districts identified by NITI Ayog.

Samagra Shiksha Scheme

• It is a centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) that subsumes 3 erstwhile CSS schemes such as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE).
• It is an integrated Scheme for school education extending support to States from pre-school to senior secondary levels for the first time.
• It is an overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to class XII.
• It aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels of school education.
• It envisages the ‘school’ as a continuum from pre-school, primary, upper primary, secondary to senior secondary levels.

Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga Project

• A natural gas pipeline between Dobhi (Bihar) and Durgapur (West Bengal) will be laid under the Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga Project.
• Launched in 2016, Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga is National Gas Grid Project under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
• It is also known as Jagdishpur-Haldia & Bokaro-Dhamra Natural Gas Pipeline (JHBDPL) project.
• It envisaged laying gas pipeline in five states including UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha.
• It aims to provide piped LPG gas to residents of the eastern region of the country and CNG gas for the vehicles.
• It is being implemented by Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL).

Information Technology Act

• Twitter had restored more than 250 accounts that were suspended earlier on the order of the government.
• The Information Technology Act, 2000, as amended from time to time, governs all activities related to the use of computer resources.
• It covers all ‘intermediaries’ who play a role in the use of computer resources and electronic records.
• ‘Intermediaries’ includes providers of telecom service, network service, Internet service and web hosting, besides search engines, online payment and auction sites, online markets and cyber cafes.
• It includes any person who, on behalf of another, “receives, stores or transmits” any electronic record.
• Social media platforms fall under the definition of ‘intermediaries’.
• As per the Section 69 of the Act, the Central and State governments can issue directions to intercept, monitor or decrypt any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer resource.
• The grounds on which these powers may be exercised are:
  1. In the interest of the sovereignty or integrity of India, defence of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, or
  2. For preventing incitement to the commission of any cognisable offence relating to these, or
  3. For investigating any offence.

• Section 79 of the Act says that an intermediary shall not be liable for any third-party information, data, or communication link made by him.

National Digital Education Architecture

• Union Budget 2021-22 has announced setting up of a National Digital Educational Architecture (NDEAR) within the context of a Digital First Mindset.
• NDEAR is being envisioned to be a digital infrastructure for Education.
• Digital Architecture will support teaching and learning activities as well as educational planning, governance administrative activities of the Centre and the States/ Union Territories.
• It will provide education eco-system architecture for development of digital infrastructure, a federated but interoperable system that will ensure autonomy of all stakeholders, especially States and UTs.
• The institutional structure, governance framework, technology and data of NDEAR will benefit the entire student and teacher community.

Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code

• NITI Aayog has constituted a sub-group to prepare a National Action Plan for Migrant Workers.
• In order to safeguard the interest of the migrant workers, the Government had enacted the Inter-state Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979.
• This Act has now been subsumed in the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, commonly known as OSH Code.
• The OSH Code provides for decent working conditions, grievances redressal mechanisms, minimum wages, protection from abuse and exploitation etc.,
• It also provides for enhancement of the skills and social security to all categories of organised and unorganised workers including Migrant workers.
• The relevant provisions of the Code are applicable to every establishment in which 10 or more inter-state migrant workers are employed or were employed on any day of the preceding 12 months.

Source: PIB, The Hindu, Live Mint, Economic Times, Times of India