15th JUNE, 2022

NEWS TT DAY
NEWS DAY
FOURTH ANNUAL PERIODIC LABOUR FORCE SURVEY (PLFS) REPORT RELEASED BY NATIONAL

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STATISTICAL OFFICE (NSO) Definition of Key Indicators
The annual PLFS covers the period July 2020 to June 2021. LFPR is defined as the percentage of persons
LFPR
Key Findings of PLFS 2020-21 in labour force (i.e. working or seeking or
available for work) in the population.
All India Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR)

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WPR WPR is defined as the percentage of
increased to 41.6% (Rural-42.7%, Urban-38.9%; employed persons in the population
Male-57.5%, Female-25.1%) from 40.1% in 2019-20.

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UR UR is defined as the percentage of persons
The Worker Population Ratio (WPR) increased to 39.8% unemployed among the persons in the
(Rural-41.3%, Urban-36.3%; Male-54.9%, Female-24.2%) labour force.
from 38.2% in 2019-20. Activity Activity status of a person is determined on
The Unemployment Rate (UR) decreased to 4.2% Status the basis of the activities pursued by the
person during the specified reference
(Rural-6.1%, Urban-6.7%; Male-4.5%, Female-3.5%) from period (see image)

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4.8% in 2019-20.
Objective of PLFS is primarily twofold
To estimate the key employment and unemployment indicators (viz. Worker Population Ratio (WPR),
Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Unemployment Rate (UR)) in the short time interval of three
months for the urban areas only in the ‘Current Weekly Status’ (CWS).

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To estimate employment and unemployment indicators in both ‘Usual Status’ (principal activity
status + subsidiary economic activity status) and CWS in both rural and urban areas annually.

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PLFS categorises the workforce into self-employed (which includes own account workers, employers
and unpaid helpers in family enterprises); regular wage/salaried workers and casual labourers.
Own account workers run small enterprises without hiring any labour but may take help from family members, while employers
hire workers.
PLFS was launched in 2017.

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MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION (MOSPI) RELEASED

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‘MIGRATION IN INDIA 2020-2021’ REPORT
The report is based on first-time collection of additional data during the annual round of Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for
July 2020-June 2021 on migration aspects.
It separates the categories of ‘temporary visitors’ and ‘migrants’.

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Key findings
All-India migration rate was 28.9%, with 26.5% and 34.9% migration rate in rural and urban areas respectively.
Females recorded a higher share of migration rate (47.9%) as compared to males.
Among females, the highest level of migration rate was seen at 86.8% for marriage.
48.9% of ‘temporary visitors’ moved to meet family/relatives/friends.
Reverse migration during the pandemic led to higher rates of unemployment agglomeration in rural areas, which caused rural distress.
Conceptual Framework defined in report
Usual Place of Residence (UPR) It is the place (village/town) where the person has been staying continuously for at least six months; or found staying there during
the survey with intention to stay there continuously for six months or more.
Migrant A household member whose last usual place of residence, any time in the past, was different from the present place of
enumeration was considered as migrant member in a household.
Migration Rate Migration rate for any category of person (say, for rural or urban, male or female), is the percentage of migrants belonging to that
category of persons
Temporary Visitors Persons who arrived after March 2020 and stayed in the household continuously for a period of 15 days or more but less than 6
months.

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CENTRE CLEARS ‘AGNIPATH’ SCHEME FOR RECRUITMENT OF YOUTH IN ARMED
FORCES FOR FOUR YEARS
Agnipath is a recruitment scheme for the Indian youth who wish to join the Armed Forces.
Soldiers recruited under the scheme will be called Agniveers.
It aims to strengthen national security and provides an opportunity to youth to serve in armed forces.
Key highlights of scheme
The Agnipath model envisages the recruitment of personnel below officer rank (PBOR) in the army, air force and navy for four
years, including six months of training.

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Around 45,000 to 50,000 soldiers, between age of 17.5 to 21 years will be recruited annually.
Only 25% of total recruits will be allowed to continue for another 15 years under permanent commission.
Under the “Seva Nidhi” package (exempt from Income Tax), they will receive
₹11.71 lakh, including contribution and interest, on completion of service. (refer
infographic).

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Significance of scheme
Transformative reform of recruitment policy of Armed Forces.

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Reduce expenditure and age profile of defence forces from current 32 years
to 24-26 years.
Youthful and dynamic armed forces profile.
Provides adequate re-employment opportunities for those returning to
society and who could emerge as role models for youth.

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NEW MAP OF EARTH’S TECTONIC PLATES TO HELP
UNDERSTAND QUAKES, VOLCANOES BETTER
The study titled ‘New maps of global geological provinces and tectonic
plates’, delved into past construction of continents like first supercontinent, NEW ENTITY WITH WIDER

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Vaalbara.
Vaalbara fragmented to form other supercontinents over the years, last MANDATE TO REPLACE BANKS

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being Pangea, which existed 335-65 million years ago.
Pangea gave way to seven modern continents which make the earth’s land
BOARD BUREAU (BBB)
As reported, Centre is planning to introduce a
surface today.
new entity in place of BBB with a wider and
Plate tectonics is a scientific theory that explains how major landforms are more legally tenable mandate.
created as a result of Earth's subterranean movements.

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BBB is an Autonomous Body of Government
Tectonic plate model was updated in 2003. of India founded in 2016 based on the P.J.
Researchers combined three geological models to create new map Nayak Committee recommendation to

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Plate model based on existing knowledge of plate boundaries. select and appoint Board members for
Province model based on geology of Earth's surface. various financial institutions in the public
An orogeny model based on mountain formation process which is triggered sector.
when two tectonic plates collide. BBB was also entrusted with the task of

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New plate model includes several new microplates including Macquarie engaging with the board of directors of all
microplate which sits south of Tasmania and Capricorn microplate that PSBs to formulate appropriate strategies for
separates Indian and Australian plates. their growth and development.
Significance
The board was also consulted on the move
Provide better understanding of natural hazards like earthquakes and to merge ten PSBs to create four larger
volcanoes occurring along plate boundaries. entities.
Exploration of minerals and better understanding of earth evolution.
In 2021,the Delhi High Court set aside
appointments made by the BBB in public
sector general insurance companies for being
ultra vires of the Banking Companies
(Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings)
Act, 1980.

The Court set aside the circulars/Orders which

Boundary types allowed BBB to do so.
Spreading center
extension zone
subduction zone
collision zone
The proposed entity mandate will include
sinistral transform
dextral transform
insurance companies, i.e. it will recommend
uncertain
candidates for appointments to senior
management-level posts in state-run banks,
insurance companies and other financial
institutions.
ALSO IN NEWS
Union Cabinet has approved a memorandum of association (MoA) by India for the establishment of
BIMSTEC Technology Transfer Facility (TTF) in Colombo.
The MoA was signed by the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic
Cooperation member countries at the 5th BIMSTEC Summit held in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Objectives of TTF: To coordinate, facilitate and strengthen cooperation in technology transfer
BIMSTEC Technology among the BIMSTEC member states by promoting the transfer of technologies, sharing of
Transfer Facility (TTF) experiences and capacity building.
I2U2- short for India, Israel, UAE and US- will hold its first virtual Summit next month.
Earlier, in October 2021, the four countries had foreign ministers meeting under the new
framework.

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Also dubbed as New Quad or West Asian Quad, it is a new international economic forum to utilise
the ‘unique array of capabilities, knowledge and experience’ of each nation.
I2U2 Summit It is considered as an outcome of the Abraham Accords that paved the way for collaboration
between India, Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

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Union Cabinet approved an agreement between India and the United Nations on a ‘Way Finding
Application’ to be used in the Palais des Nations, United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG).

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In light of complexity of buildings and huge participation, there was a requirement of a
navigational application to help the visitors and other delegates in finding their way inside the
premises.
Way Finding application The project of development of ‘Way Finding Application’ has been conceptualized as donation
from the Government of India to UN on the occasion of its 75th anniversary in 2020.

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PARAKH, national assessment centre, was launched by Ministry of Education for all AICTE (All India
Council of Technical Education) approved institutes.
PARAKH survey will help colleges to identify learning gaps so that students can be industry ready.
It facilitates a platform for students for self-assessment of learning outcomes and 21st-century

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PARAKH (Performance life skills acquired by students.
Assessment, Review, and It helps to improve higher order thinking skills among students.

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Analysis of Knowledge for It was introduced under National Education Policy 2020.
Holistic Development)
Google engineer has believed that LaMDA has become a sentient program.
LaMDA is a machine-learning language model created by Google as a chatbot that is supposed
to mimic humans in conversation.

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Like BERT, GPT-3 and other language models, LaMDA is built on Transformer, a neural network
architecture that Google invented and open-sourced in 2017.

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LaMDA (Language Models It is designed to be able to engage in free-flowing conversations about virtually endless
for Dialog Applications) number of topics.

Maiden Service of Bharat Gaurav Train commenced under Bharat Gaurav Scheme from
Coimbatore North to Sainagar Shirdi.

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Bharat Gaurav Trains are theme-based trains launched by Indian Railways in November 2021.
Objective: To showcase India’s rich cultural heritage and magnificent historical places to the
people of India and the world.
Aim: Leverage the core strengths of the professionals of the tourism sector to run theme-based
Bharat Gaurav Train trains to tap India’s vast tourist potential.
Bharat Gaurav Scheme guidelines apply to already running tourist circuit trains by IRCTC as well such
as Buddhist Circuit Tourist Train.
Prime Minister participated in Dwishatabdi Mahotsav of Mumbai Samachar in Mumbai and
released a postal stamp to commemorate the occasion.
About Mumbai samachar (Formerly called Bombay Samachar):
The Gujarati newspaper (office located in Mumbai’s Fort area) was first published in 1822.
It was founded by a Parsi scholar Fardoonji Murazban.
Started as a weekly edition, primarily covering the movement of goods across the sea and other
Mumbai samachar business news.
The newspaper has been published continuously for 200 years.

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 Sant Tukaram (1608-1650)
He was a 17th-century Marathi poet and Hindu saint.
He was a devotee of God Vitthala or Vithoba, a form of Krishna.
His work is central to Warkari sect spread across Maharashtra.
His message about casteless society and his denial of rituals had led to a social movement.
He was credited with starting the Wari pilgrimage.
He was contemporary of Shivaji.
Personalities in News Famous for his devotional poetry known as abhang and spiritual songs known as kirtan.
Values- Poet, Bhakti Saint, social reformer.

Hans Island (Canada-Denmark)

Denmark and Canada have struck a deal to settle an almost
50-year old row over Hans Island.
Hans Island is a small, uninhabited island lying in the Nares

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Strait with 18 km distance from both Canada’s Ellesmere
Island and Greenland, an autonomous territory of
Denmark.
Nares Strait is a cold channel connecting Baffin Bay in the
Atlantic Ocean with Lincoln Sea in the Arctic Ocean.

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Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the
territorial limits of a nation are 12 nautical miles or approximately 22.22 km.

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Greenland and Canada have the longest maritime boundary of 2,697 km (1,676 miles).
Katchatheevu island
Katchatheevu is a small uninhabited island in Palk Strait, that connects the Bay of Bengal to the
Places in News Arabian Sea.
Katchatheevu island was formed due to volcanic eruptions in the 14th century.
It was jointly administered by India and Sri Lanka during British rule.

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The Kachchativu issue emerged when both the
countries signed four Maritime Boundary Katchatheevu
Agreements between 1974-76.
The island became part of Sri Lanka according
to India-Sri Lanka Agreements.

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However, the continuing dispute is over Sri

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Lanka repeatedly denying access to Indian
fishers to rest and dry their nets, as provided
under the 1974 Accord.

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