10 PM Current Affairs Quiz: March 16, 2020

The ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover mission by European Space Agency will not launch in 2020 due to a lack of time to test and qualify problematic parachutes and electronics vital to the spacecraft. The Rosalind Franklin rover is a second ExoMars mission to search for signs of life at depths up to two meters below the martian surface. It consists of a Russian-led surface platform and the European-led rover, to be launched on a Russian Proton rocket from Baikonur. The ExoMars rover mission was initially scheduled to launch in 2018, but was delayed to 2020 due to delays in European and Russian industrial activities. When the Rosalind Franklin rover arrives at Mars it will join the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, which has been in orbit around the Red Planet since October 2016. TGO will act as a relay station for the mission while continuing its own science mission. NASA pulled out of the mission in 2012 due to budget cuts, having committed to the mission with ESA in 2009.

The Centre has notified the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Rules, 2020 which enables implementation of recent amendments to the Act under which provisions of punishment for child abuse has been made more stringent. Some of the significant additions in the new rules include provision of mandatory police verification of staff in schools and care homes, procedures to report sexual abuse material (pornography), imparting age-appropriate child rights education among others. For crackdown on child pornography, the rules state that any person who has received any pornographic material involving a child or any information regarding such pornographic material being stored, possessed, distributed, circulated, transmitted, facilitated, propagated or displayed, or is likely to be distributed, facilitated or transmitted in any manner shall report the contents to the Special Juvenile Police Unit (SJPU) or police, or the cybercrime portal. Under the rules, the State Governments have been asked to formulate a child protection policy based on the principle of zero-tolerance to violence against children, which shall be adopted by all institutions, organizations, or any other agency working with, or coming in contact with children. It empowers the Special Court to pass an order for interim compensation to meet the needs of the child for relief or rehabilitation at any stage after registration of the First Information Report.

Recently, it has been observed that India is witnessing a phenomenal rise in women entrepreneurship. The successful presence of women in almost every field has a great impact on women entrepreneurship. More and more women at different levels of education, social background and age group are thinking of self-employment because of government policies. The new policies are quite friendly to pursue entrepreneurship as one of the lucrative career options among the ambitious women. Udyam Sakhi is the project which is designed to give such women to feel comfortable by getting the right information to go for self-employment on one single portal. It is an initiative of the Ministry of Micro,Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME).

The National Biopharma Mission (NBM) is an industry-Academia Collaborative Mission for accelerating biopharmaceutical development in the country. Under this Mission the Government has launched Innovate in India (i3) programme to create an enabling ecosystem to promote entrepreneurship and indigenous manufacturing in the sector. The mission will be implemented by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC). The mission was approved in 2017 at a total cost of Rs 1500 crore and is 50% co-funded by World Bank loan. It is managed through a dedicated Program Management Unit (PMU) at BIRAC. Together with National and International experts, the most promising projects are selected in response to open Request for Applications issued by the PMU. The oversight to the mission activities is provided by the inter-ministerial Steering Committee chaired by the Secretary-DBT. The program is promoting entrepreneurship by supporting small and medium enterprises for indigenous product development (Novel Cell lines, indigenously developed Biologics, devices and Raw materials for Biologics manufacturing) and through establishment of shared facilities and Technology Transfer Offices.

Scotland may become the first country in the world to end ‘period poverty’. The Scottish Parliament passed the Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Bill that aims to make sanitary products free for women of all age groups. The Bill has only passed the first hurdle to become a law. It still needs to be considered by a parliamentary committee, following which it will require approval from the parliament. It will finally need the Royal Assent of the Queen. ‘Period poverty Scotland’ website mentions some circumstances that make menstruation a “difficult experience” for women. These include homelessness, coercive, controlling and violent relationships and health conditions such as endometriosis. “Some trans people may also experience difficulties in accessing sanitary products,” it says. As of now, in Scotland, the provision of free sanitary products is already available in schools, universities and colleges.