India's life expectancy improves
India has seen an improvement in overall life expectancy at birth to 69 years, with women expected to live for 70.4 years and men for 67.8 years, according to the latest Sample Registration Survey (SRS) for 2013-17.
Read More: http://www.ksgindia.com/index.php/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21431-india-s-life-expectancy-improves
#India #expectancy #SRS #Uttarakhand #LifeReport

India looks at Indo-Pacific region
India looks at an open, inclusive and balanced region connected by secure seas, integrated by trade and investment, underpinned by the rule of law, External Affairs Minister S Jaishanakar said in singapore on 9 September 2019, as he sought Singapore's support in addressing the challenges posed by the changing world.
Read More: http://www.ksgindia.com/index.php/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21430-india-looks-at-indo-pacific-region
#India #IndoPacific #SJaishanakar #ASEAN #SMEs #China

India's first trade centre for women
Kerala will set up India’s first international women’s trade centre (iWTC), in consonance with the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs), in Kozhikode.
Read More: http://www.ksgindia.com/index.php/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21429-india-s-first-trade-centre-for-women
#women #iWTC #India #SDGs #Kerala #Vision2020

Ravish Kumar received Ramon Magsaysay Award
Senior Journalist Ravish Kumar on 9 September 2019 received the Ramon Magsaysay award 2019, regarded as the Asian version of the Nobel Prize, in Manila, Philippines.
Read More: http://www.ksgindia.com/index.php/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21428-ravish-kumar-received-ramon-magsaysay-award
#RavishKumar #NDTV #PIU #NobelPrize #RamonMagsaysayAward

Zonal committees of land resources department
Ministry of rural development has set up four zonal monitoring committees, headed by a joint secretary level officer, to undertake comprehensive monitoring and impact assessment of key programmes of department of land resources under the ministry as progress under the schemes remains slow.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21970-zonal-committees-of-land-resources-department.html
#DILRMP #MinistryofRuralDevelopment #PMKSY #NCT #Uttarakhand #UT

Brown to Green Report 2019
Extreme weather events led to around 16,000 deaths and economic losses of $142 billion in G20 nations on average every year during 1998-2017 with India reporting the highest number of deaths among them and figuring in the list of top five countries in terms of economic losses during the period, said a global report that analysed the climate action track records of the global economic power group.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21969-brown-to-green-report-2019.html
#GreenReport2019 #G20 #NDC #CO2 #NGOs

Panel for Dal Lake
The Jammu and Kashmir government has set up a ten-member committee to declare Srinagar's famous Dal Lake and its surrounding areas as an eco-sensitive zone (ESZ), following concerns over its shrinking size.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21968-panel-for-dal-lake.html
#DalLake #DCI #ESZ #SMC #MoEFCC #WildlifeSanctuaries #Srinagar

IOA rejects draft National Sports Code
India will incur the International Olympic Committee’s wrath and may even be suspended if it goes ahead with administrative reforms suggested in the draft National Sports Code 2017, the Indian Olympic Association has warned, rejecting the proposed document completely.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21967-ioa-rejects-draft-national-sports-code.html
#IOA #NationalSportsCode #KirenRijiju #GOI #MYAS #NSFs #CEOs

SpaceX launches 60 more mini satellites
SpaceX launched 60 mini satellites, the second batch of an orbiting network meant to provide global internet coverage. The Falcon rocket blasted into the morning sky, marking the unprecedented fourth flight of a booster for SpaceX.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21966-spacex-launches-60-more-mini-satellites.html
#SpaceXlaunches60 #satellites #Starlink #ElonMusk #orbit


How old is Nile river
The Nile river flowing through Egypt could be six times as old as previously thought, according to a study which estimated it to have originated at least 30 million years ago.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21965-how-old-is-nile-river.html
#Nileriver #UT #Earth #NatureGeoscience #Yangtze

X-ray burst detected
NASA’s Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER)telescope on the International Space Station (ISS) has detected the brightest X-ray burst so far that was caused by a massive thermonuclear flash on the surface of a pulsar.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/21964-x-ray-burst-detected.html
#Xray #NICER #ISS #NASA #J1808 #NeutronStar

Uttarakhand’s summer capital
Uttarakhand Governor Baby Rani Maurya on 8 June 2020 gave her assent to declaring Gairsain as the new summer capital of the state.
https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/23906-uttarakhand-s-summer-capital.html
#gairsain #uttarakhand #capital

Additionally, activists from the community say that this will come at a loss for Dalit, Bahujan and Adivasi transgender persons, as they will have to make a choice between availing reservation either based on caste and tribal identity or gender identity.

“This is in violation of the Constitution. SC, ST persons should be able to avail internal reservation in their categories. If trans persons from these categories do not have the choice to do that, they will be forced into two corners. Either compete with cis-gendered SC, ST persons. Or under OBC, compete with other savarna transgender persons, and cis-gendered persons from OBC communities,” said Kanmani, a trans woman and lawyer, to The Indian Express.

What has happened so far on horizontal reservations?

Since the NALSA judgment, there has been no direction from the Central government on delivering on the right to reservation for trans persons.

In 2015, Rajya Sabha DMK MP Tiruchi Siva presented the Rights of Transgender Persons Bill. Prepared with inputs from the trans community, this Private Member’s Bill, in line with the NALSA judgment, had provisions for reservation for trans persons — in the public and private sector. After being passed in the Rajya Sabha, the Bill was rejected in the Lok Sabha. Instead, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016 was introduced by the Centre. It had no provision for reservations.

In 2018, a parliamentary standing committee under the Ministry of Social Justice was set up. It was headed by BJP MP Ramesh Bais, now Governor of Maharashtra. The committee, again in line with the NALSA judgment, recommended reservations for transgender persons. Yet, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 did not have any mention of reservation — vertical or horizontal.

Alternatively, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, included in its purview the right of disabled persons to accrue horizontal reservation. Since this Act has been implemented, horizontal reservation for disabled people is now ensured under the Central government.

In 2015, the Tamil Nadu government decided to categorise “transgender or eunuch (thirunangai or aravani)”, that is, only transwomen under the Most Backward Classes (MBC) category. After Sangama v State of Karnataka, Karnataka became the first and only state to offer one per cent horizontal reservation to transgender persons in 2021. In April this year, transgender persons were included in the OBC category in Madhya Pradesh.

“The aspect of the implementation [of the NALSA judgment] has really not gone anywhere. Currently, the primary challenges are legislative. This lack of action needs to be legally challenged,” Bittu K R, a genderqueer trans man and Associate Professor of Biology and Psychology at Ashoka University, told The Indian Express.

Transgender persons have filed several petitions of late in the Delhi HC, Madras HC, Rajasthan HC, etc., asking for horizontal reservation in education and jobs.

#upsc #news #reservation #theindianexpress #transgendercommunity #bombay #highcourt #variouscommunities #nalsa #socialasymmetry #sc #st #obc #policies #national #human #rights #commission #violation #constitution #uttarakhand #bihar

Today's Headlines - 20 July 2023
NITI's Export Preparedness Index 2022
GS Paper - 3 (Economy)

Tamil Nadu has pipped Maharashtra and Gujarat to emerge as the top state in the Niti Aayog's Export Preparedness Index 2022. The index is aimed at assessing the readiness of the states in terms of their export potential and performance. Gujarat had topped the chart in the last two rankings.

More about the Index

Tamil Nadu with an overall score of 80.89 topped the third edition of rankings. Maharashtra with a score of 78.20 was second while Karnataka (76.36) was third.
Gujarat with a score of 73.22 was fourth, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal and Kerala in that order in the ranking of coastal states, according to the government think tank's report released on 17 July 2023.
Among hilly/Himalayan states, Uttarakhand (59.13) has ranked at the top position. It is followed by Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, Sikkim, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram in that order.
Haryana (63.65) topped the chart among the landlocked regions. It was followed by Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
In the category of union territories/small states, Goa (51.58) was ranked first. Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar and Ladakh were ranked second, third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

Flashback

The index can be used by the regions to benchmark their performance against their peers and analyse potential challenges to develop better policy mechanisms to foster export-led growth at the sub-national level.
The ranking is based on four main pillars: policy, business ecosystem, export ecosystem and export performance.
The index is also aimed at promoting competition among all states (coastal, landlocked, Himalayan and UTs) to bring about favourable policies, ease the regulatory framework, create necessary infrastructure and assist in identifying strategic recommendations for improving export competitiveness.

#upsc #news #nitis #economy #tamilnadu #maharashtra #gujarat #nitiaayog #performance #ranking #karnataka #andhrapradesh #coastalstates #uttarakhand #himachalpradesh #manipur #mizoram #arunachalpradesh #haryana #telangana #uttarpradesh #madhyapradesh #ecosystem #strategic #mechanisms