Insights Daily Current Affairs + PIB: 14 October 2019

insightsonindia.com/2019/10/14/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-14-october-2019

October 14,
2019

Insights Daily Current Affairs + PIB: 14 October 2019

Table of contents:

GS Paper 1:

1. Chalukya dynasty.

GS Paper 2:

1. UNSC Reforms.
2. Asian Development Bank (ADB).
3. G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance on Technology Governance.

GS Paper 3:

1. C40 Clean Air Cities Declaration.

2. International Day for Disaster Reduction.

Facts for prelims:

1. Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav.

2. SARAS Aajeevika Mela.
3. Hagibis Typhoon.

GS Paper 1:

Topics Covered:

1. Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and
Architecture from ancient to modern times.

Chalukya dynasty

What to study?

For Prelims: Recent findings and their significance, Chalukya- spread, ruling, key features and
cultural contributions.

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Context: Inscriptions found on an ancient temple at Huligemmana Kolla near
Pattadakalu in Karnataka indicate that the place may have once been the royal burial
site of the Chalukya dynasty.

Background:

There are eleven temples with lingas and a tower developed during the Chalukya
dynasty and another linga without the tower, which has an inscription on it stating that
it served as the funerary casket-bearing shrine of Vikramaditya-II. This inscription claims
the spot served as a royal burial site.

Popular belief was that these temples are a depiction of the holy Jyotirlinga. It is now
found that these temples are nothing but the graves of the Chalukyan royal family.

Who are Chalukyas?

Ancient dynasty who ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th
and the 12th centuries.

During this period, they ruled as three related yet individual dynasties:

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 1. The
earliest
dynasty,
known
as the
“Badami

Chalukyas”, ruled from Vatapi (modern Badami) from the middle of the 6th
century.
2. After the death of Pulakeshin II, the Eastern Chalukyas became an independent
kingdom in the eastern Deccan. They ruled from Vengi until about the 11th
century.
3. The Western Chalukyas, of 10th century ruled from Kalyani (modern Basavakalyan)
until the end of the 12th century.

Art and Architecture:

They built cave temples depicting both religious and secular themes. The temples had
beautiful mural paintings also.

1. The temples under the Chalukyas are a good example of the Vesara style of
architecture. This is also called the Deccan style or Karnataka Dravida or
Chalukyan style. It is a combination of Dravida and Nagara styles.

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 2. Pattadakkal: is a UNESCO World Heritage site. There are ten temples here – 4 in
Nagara style and 6 in Dravida style. Virupaksha temple and Sangameshwara
Temple are in Dravida style. Papanatha temple is in Nagara style.

Facts for prelims:

1. Pattadakal is a complex of 7th and 8th century CE Hindu and Jain temples in
northern Karnataka.
2. Located on the west bank of the Malaprabha
3. The monument is a protected site under Indian law and is managed by
the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
4. Other names this place was known by were Kisuvolal meaning “valley of red soil”,
Raktapura meaning “city of red”, and Pattada-Kisuvolal meaning “red soil valley for
coronation”.

Sources: the Hindu.

GS Paper 2:

Topics Covered:

1. Important International institutions, agencies and fora, their structure, mandate.

UN Security Council

What to study?

For Prelims: About UNSC- composition, objectives and functions.

For Mains: Role and significance of UNSC, need for UNSC reforms, why India should be given
permanent membership?

Context: India and Sierra Leone seek to expand bilateral ties and push for UNSC
reforms.

Reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) encompasses the following key
issues:

1. Categories of membership.
2. Question of the veto held by the five permanent members.
3. Regional representation.
4. Size of an enlarged Council and its working methods.
5. Security Council-General Assembly relationship.
6. Admit more permanent members.

Why reforms are necessary?

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 1. European and western bias in UNSC P-5. G-4 wants to expand the permanent seats
in the UNSC to 10 to include 6 new members G-4 nations apart from one seat to
Africa and one seat to Arabs.
2. It has been 72 years since the foundation of UNSC. The geopolitical realities have
changed drastically, but the Council has changed very little.
3. Veto power is grossly misused by the permanent members in their own national
interest.

Why India should be given a permanent seat in the council?

1. India was among the founding members of United Nations.

2. It is the second largest and a one of the largest constant contributor of troops to
United Nations Peacekeeping missions.
3. Today, India has over 8,500 peacekeepers in the field, more than twice as many as
the UN’s five big powers combined.
4. India, since long time, has been demanding expansion of UNSC and its inclusion as
permanent member in it. It has been a member of UNSC for 7 terms and a
member of G-77 and G-4, so permanent membership is a logical extension.

Sources: pib.

Mains Question: Do you think, looking at recent developments, India is close to achieve
its goal of becoming the permanent member of the United Nations Security Council?
Discuss.

Topics Covered:

1. Important International institutions, agencies and fora, their structure, mandate.

Asian Development Bank (ADB)

What to study?

For Prelims and mains: ADB- role, mandate, funding and significance.

Context: GoI has signed a 190 million USD loan with the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
to upgrade road transport in the state of Rajasthan.

About ADB:

It is a regional development bank

established on 19 December 1966.
headquartered — Manila, Philippines.
official United Nations Observer.

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The bank admits the members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission
for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP, formerly the Economic Commission for Asia and the
Far East or ECAFE) and non-regional developed countries.

Voting rights:

It is modeled closely on the World Bank, and has a similar weighted voting system
where votes are distributed in proportion with members’ capital subscriptions.

Roles and functions:

1. ADB defines itself as a social development organization that is dedicated to

reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth,
environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration.
2. This is carried out through investments – in the form of loans, grants and
information sharing – in infrastructure, health care services, financial and public
administration systems, helping nations prepare for the impact of climate change
or better manage their natural resources, as well as other areas.

Sources: the Hindu.

Topics Covered:

1. Important International institutions, agencies and fora, their structure, mandate.

G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance on Technology Governance

What to study?

For Prelims: About the Alliance and it’s objectives.

For Mains: Need for and significance of the alliance.

Context: India has joined the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) G20 Global Smart Cities
Alliance on Technology Governance.

Significance:

India’s joining the league is a critical first step towards accelerating global best practices,
fostering greater openness and public trust as well as mitigating risks regarding the
collection of data in public spaces.

What is it?

It is a league of 15 of world’s leading city networks and technology governance

organisations that will work towards advancing responsible and ethical use of
smart city technologies.
Established in June 2019, in conjunction with G20 Summit held in Osaka, Japan.
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 It seeks to create global norms and policy standards for the use of connected
devices in public spaces.
The aim of the alliance is to promote the responsible and ethical use of smart city
technologies by establishing global norms and policy standards for the use of
connected devices in public spaces.

The Global Smart Cities Alliance’s founding set of institutional partners include the
presidents and host nations of the Group of 20 (G20) in 2019 and 2020; Japan and the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; the Smart City Mission of India; Cities for All; Cities Today
Institute; Commonwealth Local Government Forum; Commonwealth Sustainable Cities
Network among others.

Towards a global policy:

The Alliance has committed to co-design and roll out a first-of-its-kind global policy
framework on smart city technologies in advance of the 2020 G20 Summit in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia. It is currently accepting nominations from cities interested in piloting and
contributing to global policy standards.

Need for and significance of the alliance:

Smart city technologies can help cut decrease traffic congestions, combat crime,
improve resilience during natural disasters and reduce greenhouse emissions.
Without the proper governance, these technologies pose significant risk, notably to
privacy and security.
To ensure data collected in public places is used safely and ethically, the Alliance
will develop, pilot collectively implement new global policy standards.

Sources: the Hindu.

GS Paper 3:

Topics Covered:

1. Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact

assessment.

C40 Clean Air Cities Declaration

What to study?

For Prelims: About Athe declaration, it’s features and significance.

For Mains: Why cooperation at global level is necessary? Challenges and ways to address
them.

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Context: ‘Clean Air Cities Declaration’ was unveiled at the C40 World Mayors Summit in
Copenhagen, an event that occurs once every three years and is designed to
implement “substantive clean air policies by 2025”.

About C40 Clean Air Cities Declaration:

Through this Declaration, mayors commit to using their power and influence to reduce
air pollution and work towards meeting the World Health Organization’s Air Quality
Guidelines.

This means cities will continually reduce their local emissions, and advocate for
reductions in regional emissions, resulting in continuous declines in air pollution levels
that move towards the WHO guidelines.

Signatories of the declaration pledge to:

1. Set ambitious pollution reduction targets within two years that meet or exceed
national commitments, putting them on a path towards meeting World Health
Organization guidelines;
2. Implement substantive clean air policies by 2025 that address the unique causes of
pollution in their cities; and
3. Publicly report progress on achieving these goals.

Expected outcomes:

1. If the 35 signatories reduce annual average PM2.5 levels to WHO guidelines (10
ug/m3) it could avoid 40,000 deaths each year.
2. C40 research shows that if all C40 cities cleaned their transport, buildings and
industry this would reduce GHG emissions by 87%, PM2.5 by nearly 50% and would
avoid over 220,000 premature deaths per year.

Sources: the Hindu.

Topic:

1. Disaster and disaster management.

International Day for Disaster Reduction

What to study?

For Prelims: About the International Day for Disaster Reduction- theme, significance.

For Mains: All about Sendai framework and its significance.

Context: International Day for Disaster Reduction was observed on October 13th.

Theme: Reduce disaster damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic services.
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Background:

In 1989, the UN General Assembly through a resolution had designated the second
Wednesday of October as International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction.
Later on December 21, 2009, the Assembly adopted a new resolution on in which it
designated 13 October as the date to commemorate the Day and it also changed
the day’s name to International Day for Disaster Reduction.
The main objective of the observance is to raise awareness of how people are
taking action to reduce their risk to disasters.

About Sendai Framework:

The “Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030” was adopted during the
Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held in Sendai, Japan in March,
2015.

Key features of the Sendai framework:

1. It is the first major agreement of the post-2015 development agenda, with seven
targets and four priorities for action.
2. It was endorsed by the UN General Assembly following the 2015 Third UN World
Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR).
3. The Framework is for 15-year. It is a voluntary and non-binding agreement which
recognizes that the State has the primary role to reduce disaster risk but that
responsibility should be shared with other stakeholders including local
government, the private sector and other stakeholders.
4. The new Framework is the successor instrument to the Hyogo Framework for
Action (HFA) 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to
Disasters.

Implementation:

The implementation of the Sendai Framework involves adopting integrated and inclusive
institutional measures so as to work towards preventing vulnerability to disaster,
increase preparedness for response and recovery and strengthen resilience.

Sources: the Hindu.

Facts for prelims:

Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav:

Context: 10th Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav is being held in Jabalpur, MP.

Organised by Ministry of Culture under the Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat initiative.

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Background: Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav was conceived in the year 2015. It is organised
with an intent to showcase the rich cultural heritage of the country in all its rich and
varied dimensions, viz, Handicrafts, Cuisine, Painting, Sculpture and Performing Arts-Folk,
Tribal, Classical and Contemporary- all in one place.

The Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat programme was launched by the Prime Minister on
October 31, 2016 to promote engagement amongst the people of different States and
UTs so as to enhance mutual understanding and bonding between people of diverse
cultures, thereby securing stronger unity and integrity of India.

SARAS Aajeevika Mela:

It is an initiative under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods

Mission (DAY – NRLM).

The objective of the initiative is to bring the rural women SHGs – Self Help Groups under
one platform.

Significance: This is to help them show – case their skills, sell their products and build
linkages with buyers. Through the initiative the women will get exposure to understand
the demand of urban customers.

Hagibis Typhoon:

It is the latest typhoon and is said to be Japan’s worst storm in decades.

What’s the difference between hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons?

Hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons are all tropical storms. They are all the same
thing but are given different names depending on where they appear. When they
reach populated areas they usually bring very strong wind and rain which can
cause a lot of damage.
Hurricanes are tropical storms that form over the North Atlantic Ocean and
Northeast Pacific. Cyclones are formed over the South Pacific and Indian Ocean.
Typhoons are formed over the Northwest Pacific Ocean.

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