Miscellanous Quiz: Revision |21 Mar, 2021

Global Gender Gap Report, 2020 by World Economic Forum benchmarks 153 countries on their progress towards gender parity across four thematic dimensions:

· Economic Participation and Opportunity

· Educational Attainment

· Health and Survival, and

· Political Empowerment.

India slipped four places to 112th rank and has closed two-thirds of its overall gender gap (score of 66.8%).

While India has improved in political empowerment, it has fallen in other three indicators.

India is the only country among the 153 countries studied where the economic gender gap is larger than the political one.

Source: ForumIAS factly

Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

· The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.

· A functional commission of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), it was established by ECOSOC resolution 11(II) of 21 June 1946.

· The CSW is instrumental in promoting women’s rights, documenting the reality of women’s lives throughout the world, and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women.

· In 1996, ECOSOC in resolution 1996/6 expanded the Commission’s mandate and decided that it should take a leading role in monitoring and reviewing progress and problems in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and in mainstreaming a gender perspective in UN activities.

Source: Laxmikanth

To deal with child sexual abuse cases, the Government has brought in a special law, namely, The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. The Act has come into force with effect from 14th November, 2012 along with the Rules framed there under.

Provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act:

· The Act defines a child as any person below eighteen years of age and regards the best interests and well-being of the child as being of paramount importance at every stage, to ensure the healthy physical, emotional, intellectual and social development of the child.

· It defines different forms of sexual abuse, including penetrative and non-penetrative assault, as well as sexual harassment and pornography, and deems a sexual assault to be “aggravated” under certain circumstances, such as when the abused child is mentally ill or when the abuse is committed by a person in a position of trust or authority vis-à-vis the child, like a family member, police officer, teacher, or doctor

· It also seeks to establish Special Courts for speedy trial of such offences. The Act stipulates that a case of Child Sexual Abuse must be disposed of within one year from the date the offence is reported.

· It also provides for relief and rehabilitation of the child, as soon as the complaint is made. The Special Juvenile Police Unit or the local police are also required to report the matter to the Child Welfare Committee within 24 hours of recording the complaint, for long term rehabilitation of the child.

· It is gender neutral law, wherein the law takes cognizance of sexual crimes committed against both girls and boys under the age of 18 years.

· It does not recognize consensual sexual acts among children or between a child and an adult. Prosecutes any person (including a child) for engaging in a sexual act with a child irrespective of whether the latter consented to it.

Source: ForumIAS factly

The Hague Convention protects children and their families against the risks of illegal, irregular, premature or ill-prepared adoptions abroad. To do this, the Hague Convention puts:

· safeguards in place to make sure that all inter-country adoptions are in the best interests of the child and respects their human rights,

· a system in place of cooperation among countries to guarantee that these safeguards are respected, and to prevent the abduction of, sale of, or traffic in children.

For Hague adoptions, the authorities in both countries must agree to go ahead with the adoption. For non-Hague adoptions, requirements may vary from one country to another.

The Hague Convention does not allow private adoptions in the child’s home country.

Source: The Hindu

NATIONAL LEGAL SERVICES AUTHORITY (NALSA) VS UNION OF INDIA case was filed by the NALSA to legally recognize persons who fall outside the male/female gender binary, including persons who identify as “third gender”.

· This was a landmark decision where the apex court legally recognised “third gender”/transgender persons for the first time and discussed “gender identity” at length.

· The Court recognised that third gender persons were entitled to fundamental rights under the Constitution and under International law.

· Further, it directed state governments to develop mechanisms to realise the rights of “third gender”/transgender persons.

Source: Laxmikanth

Bandicoot is a robotic system for manhole and sewer line cleaning aimed at the complete elimination of manual scavenging from the face of earth.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in 2019 procured a ‘Bandicoot’, which would help end the practice of manual scavenging.

Source: The Hindu

During frying, oil undergoes degradation due to their exposure to elevated temperatures which result in changes in the physico-chemical, nutritional and sensory properties of the oil.

· Polar compounds are formed during frying.

· The toxicity of these compounds is associated with several diseases such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, Alzhemeimer’s disease liver diseases etc.

· Therefore, it is essential to monitor the quality of vegetable oils during frying.

· In order to safeguard consumer health, FSSAI has fixed a limit for Total Polar Compounds at 25% beyond which the vegetable oil shall not be used. Therefore, Vegetable Oils should not be repeatedly used for frying.

· The estimation of Total Polar Compounds (TPC) is a widely accepted parameter to decide whether the oil is safe for further use or not.

· The TPC Value is considered a better indicator since it refers to all degraded products from the initial triglycerides present in the oil.

Source: The Hindu

The Pune-based National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) is all set to host the five-day annual International Pulsar Timing Array (IPTA) meet from June 17 to 21.

· The IPTA is a collaboration of radio astronomers from a dozen countries across the globe.

· It uses more than 12 radio telescopes all over the world with an aim to detect ultra-low frequency gravitational waves.

· More than 40 expert international astronomers and 30 international students are expected to participate in the event, besides several Indian participants.

· “The upgrade of the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) in Pune and the Ooty Radio Telescope (ORT) has helped us meet the parameters for being a full member of the IPTA.

· The current status of the quest for ultra-low frequency Gravitational Waves and the roadmap for future technical and scientific challenges is to be the main focus of the meeting.

· These waves are wrinkles in space-time produced by two massive black holes, each revolving around the other.

· Such black holes, which weigh billion times more than our Sun, are found in the centres of colliding galaxies.

· These waves affect radio pulses from 10km size stars called radio pulsars by changing ever so slightly the period of radio pulsation of these stars.

Source: Indian Express

A professional body under the aegis of Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) which ensures focused action on issues related to IPRs and addresses the 7 identified objectives of the policy.

· CIPAM assists in simplifying and streamlining of IP processes, apart from undertaking steps for furthering IPR awareness, commercialization and enforcement.

· Simplifying and streamlining of IP processes by formulating and implementing a focused strategy for each policy objective

· Coordination with State level agencies and Ministries/ Departments of the Government of India, industry bodies as well as international agencies; IP cells to be set up

· IPR awareness campaign across the country in schools,colleges/universities and the industry

· Training and sensitization porgrammes for enforcement agencies and Judiciary; coordination for effective enforcement of IPR rights.

· Study and facilitate implementation of best practices for promotion and commercialization of IP within the country

Source: ForumIAS factly

The Google Lunar XPRIZE (GLXP), sometimes referred to as Moon 2.0, was a 2007–2018 inducement prize space competition organized by the X Prize Foundation, and sponsored by Google.

The challenge called for privately funded teams to be the first to land a robotic spacecraft on the Moon, travel 500 meters, and transmit back to Earth high-definition video and images.

Source: The Hindu