DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

By admin: May 31, 2022

Prime Minister launches Care for Children scheme for children orphaned in Covid-19

Tags: National

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a special PM Care for Children scheme for children who lost their parents during the Corona epidemic.

• Highlight of the Scheme

• This initiative has been started to help the children who have lost their parents during the pandemic.

• Under the scheme, children between the age group of 18 to 23 years will get a fixed stipend and on attaining the age of 23, they will get ten lakh rupees.

• School going children will also get free education, textbooks and uniforms in the nearest government schools.

• It will help those who need education loans for vocational courses and higher education.

• Children who lost both their parents or primary caregiver between March 11, 2020 and February 28, 2022 are eligible for this scheme.

• Students of private schools can avail fee reimbursement under the norms of Right to Education Act, 2005.

• Students can also get free education in residential schools such as Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya.

• A scholarship of ₹20,000 per year will also be provided by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to students between class 1 and class 12.

• Beneficiaries can also get a health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh in public and private hospitals under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.

PARAM ANANTA Supercomputer commissioned at IIT, Gandhinagar

Tags: Science and Technology

A state-of-the-art supercomputer PARAM ANANTA under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM), was dedicated to the nation at IIT Gandhinagar.

• NSM is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Department of Science and Technology (DST).

• About PARAM ANANTA

• This high power supercomputer can process 838 lakh crore calculations per second.

• It is capable of offering peak performance of 838 teraflops.

• The facility has been set up under Phase 2 of the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM).

• A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between IIT Gandhinagar and Center for Development in Advanced Computing (C-DAC) on 12 October 2020 to set up this 838 teraflops supercomputing facility under NSM.

• It is equipped with a mix of CPU nodes, GPU nodes, High Memory nodes, High throughput storage and high performance Infiniband.

• It is based on direct contact liquid cooling technology to achieve high power utilization effectiveness and reduce operating costs.

• This facility will be of great benefit to IIT Gandhinagar to pursue Research and Development (R&D) activities in the multidisciplinary domain of Science and Technology.

• What are supercomputers?

• A supercomputer can perform high-level processing at a faster rate than a normal computer.

• They work together to perform complex operations that are not possible with normal computing systems.

• Fast speed and fast memory are the characteristics of supercomputers.

• The performance of a supercomputer is generally evaluated in petaflops.

• National Supercomputing Mission

• The National Supercomputing Mission was launched In 2015.

• The aim of the mission was to enhance the research capacities in the country to form a Supercomputing grid.

• It supports the government's vision of 'Digital India' and 'Make in India' initiatives.

• The mission is being jointly operated by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

• It is implemented by Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune and IISc, Bengaluru.

• Some important facts about supercomputer

• China has the maximum number of supercomputers followed by the US, Japan, France, Germany, Netherlands, Ireland and the United Kingdom..

• India’s first supercomputer - PARAM 8000

• first supercomputer assembled indigenously - PARAM Shivay, installed in IIT (BHU)

• PARAM Shakti, PARAM Brahma, PARAM Yukti, PARAM Sanganak are some name of india's supercomputers

• India's PARAM-Siddhi AI, has been ranked 63rd in the Top 500 list of most powerful supercomputers in the world.

10 Pacific Island Countries Reject China's Regional Security Pact

Tags: International News

China has suffered a major diplomatic humiliation in the Pacific. Ten island nations in the region rejected China's proposed security agreement.

• Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has returned empty handed on a very important visit to the Pacific countries.

• Why did the Pacific Nations reject the Pact?

• Pacific countries worry that the pact is designed to pull them towards Beijing’s orbit.

• The agreement was "abusive" and would "ensure Chinese influence in the governments of the Pacific" and China's "economic control" over key industries.

• Lack of regional consensus.

• Security issues with China

• China's full proposal has not been made public, but was leaked to the media.

• Features of the Pact

• China has offered to radically intensify its activities in the South Pacific, directly challenging the influence of the US and its allies in the strategically important region

• China is offering millions of dollars in financial aid.

• China had proposed a pact that would enable the country to-

1. To train Pacific island police

2. To become involved in cybersecurity

3. To expand political ties

4. To conduct sensitive marine mapping

5. To gain more access to natural resources on land and in the water

India-Pakistan 118th bilateral meeting on Indus Water Treaty

Tags: International Relations

A five-member delegation from Pakistan reached India via the Wagah border to attend the 118th bilateral meeting on the Indus Waters Treaty, in New Delhi on May 30.

• India is building 10 hydroelectric plant projects to reduce excess water in Pakistan.

• Both the countries will discuss the issue of advance flood information and the annual report of the Permanent Commission for Indus Waters (PCIW).

• The 1,000 MW Pakal Dul, 48 MW lower Kalnai and 624 MW Kiru hydroelectric projects on west-flowing rivers being built by India under the Indus Water Treaty will also be discussed during the meeting.

• What is the Indus Water Treaty?

• It is a water-sharing treaty between India and Pakistan.

• It was signed by Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistani President Ayub Khan in 1960.

• As per the treaty all the waters of three rivers- Ravi,Sutlej and Beas ( Eastern Rivers) were allocated to India for exclusive use.

• Whereas, the waters of the western rivers – Indus, Jhelum and Chenab – were allocated to Pakistan except for specified domestic, non-consumable and agricultural uses allowed for India.

• India has been given the right to generate hydroelectricity through Run of the River (ROR) projects on the western rivers.

• About Indus River System

• The Indus River System is one of the largest river basins in the world.

• It includes five rivers namely Indus River, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej.

• The basin is mainly shared by India and Pakistan, with China and Afghanistan sharing a small portion of it.

• Indus River

• It flows in a north-west direction from its source (Glaciers of Kailash Range – in Tibet near Lake Manasarovar) till the Nanga Parbat Range.

• length - about 2,900 km.

• Jhelum River

• Originates -  in spring at Verinag in the south-eastern part of the Kashmir Valley.

• Chenab River

• Originates - from near the BaraLacha Pass in the Lahaul-Spiti part of the Zaskar Range

• Ravi River

• Origin - in Kullu hills near the Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh.

• Beas River

• Originates - near Rohtang Pass, at a height of 4,062 m above sea level, on the southern end of the Pir Panjal Range

• Satluj River

• Originates - from the Manasarovar-Rakas Lakes in western Tibet.