Daily Current Affairs for State Exams: 20th July 2021

By Avinash Kumar|Updated : July 20th, 2021

Current Affairs forms one of the most important sections of the syllabus of almost every government examination be it, state PCS or other subordinate exams. Hence, Catching up on current affairs on a daily basis is an invaluable part of your preparation. Here we will be sharing you with all the relevant current affairs which are highly important for your examination. Check the important highlights of the day!

Daily Current Affairs 20/07/2021

State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021 reportbyjusexamprep

Why in News

  • State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021 report presents the first global assessment of food insecurity and malnutrition for 2020 and offers some indication of what hunger might look like by 2030 in a scenario further complicated by the enduring effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • The report is an annual flagship report jointly prepared by FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development), UNICEF, WFP (World Food Programme) and WHO (World Health Organization).

Key Points

  • It informs on progress towards ending hunger, achieving food security and improving nutrition and to provide in depth analysis on key challenges for achieving this goal in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Findings of the report:

  • In terms of population, it is estimated that between 720 and 811 million people in the world faced hunger in 2020. Considering the middle of the projected range (768 million), 118 million more people were facing hunger in 2020 than in 2019, with estimates ranging from 70 to 161 million.
  • Of the total number of undernourished people in 2020 (768 million), more than half (418 million) live in Asia and more than one-third (282 million) in Africa, while Latin America and the Caribbean accounts for about 8 percent (60 million).
  • After remaining virtually unchanged from 2014 to 2019, the prevalence of undernourishment (PoU) increased from 8.4 percent to around 9.9 percent between 2019 and 2020, heightening the challenge of achieving the Zero Hunger target in 2030.
  • Moderate or severe food insecurity (based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale) at the global level has been slowly on the rise, from 22.6 percent in 2014 to 26.6 percent in 2019. Then in 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe, it rose nearly as much as in the previous five years combined, to 30.4 percent.
  • Thus, nearly one in three people in the world did not have access to adequate food in 2020 – an increase of 320 million people in just one year, from 2.05 to 2.37 billion.

Indian Scenario

Status of Malnutrition:

  • The prevalence of undernutrition among the total population in India was 15.3% during 2018-20.
  • The country has observed an increase in the prevalence of obesity among the adult population from 3% in 2012 to 3.9% in 2016.
  • The prevalence of anaemia among women of reproductive age has only marginally improved from 53.2%in 2012 to 53% in 2019.

Related Initiatives:

  • One Nation One Ration Card
  • PM Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana
  • Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana
  • Intensified Mission Indradhanush 3.0 Scheme
  • Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi

www.fao.org

Eight new routes launched to boost regional aerial connectivitybyjusexamprep

Why in News

  • Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya Scindia along with Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Chief Minister, Madhya Pradesh flagged off 8 new routes bolstering the aerial connectivity from Madhya Pradesh to Maharashtra & Gujarat.

Key Points

  • The airlines SpiceJet will commence operations on these 8 new routes: Gwalior-Mumbai-Gwalior, Gwalior-Pune-Gwalior, Jabalpur-Surat-Jabalpur, and Ahmedabad-Gwalior-Ahmedabad route.
  • Gwalior is one of the first airports of Madhya Pradesh to be connected with the UDAN route.
  • Inauguration of these routes achieves the aim of the Sab Uden Sab Juden initiative under the UDAN scheme to strengthen the established aerial network of the country. 

About UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) Scheme:

  • RCS-UDAN is a Government of India's flagship program which aims to provide affordable, economically viable and profitable air travel on regional routes.
  • RCS (Regional Connectivity Scheme) offers a unique opportunity to a common man to fly at an affordable price.
  • The UDAN Scheme is a key component of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP) which was released by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (India) on 15 June 2016.
  • Note: Earlier this month, under the UDAN scheme, Indigo airlines started another flight to connect Kolkata, West Bengal & Imphal, Manipur with Dibrugarh, Assam.
  • To date, 359 routes and 59 airports including 5 heliports and 2 Water Aerodromes have been operationalized under the UDAN scheme.

Source: PIB

AI-powered Grievance Management Applicationbyjusexamprep

Why in News

  • Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister launched an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered Grievance Management Application.
  • The web-based application has been jointly developed by the Ministry of Defence, DARPG (Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances) and IIT Kanpur.

Key Points

  • This project is the first of its kind initiative of the Government for using AI, data science and Machine Learning techniques in grievance redressal.
  • This AI-powered application will automatically handle and analyse the complaints of the people and would reduce human intervention, save time and bring more transparency in their disposal. 
  • It enables geographical analysis of complaints in a category including analysis of whether the complaint was adequately addressed or not by the concerned office.

Note:

  • Recently, the Chief Justice of India launched the Artificial Intelligence (AI) portal, Supreme Court Portal for Assistance in Court's Efficiency (SUPACE). SUPACE, designed to make research easier for judges, thereby easing their workload.
  • AI (Artificial intelligence)means the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions. 

Source: PIB

India’s first 'Grain ATM' in Haryanabyjusexamprep

Why in News

  • Haryana Government has recently set up its first ATM machine 'Annapurti' for dispensing food grains at Farrukhnagar in Gurugram, which will provide three types of grains — wheat, rice, and millet.
  • This machine is installed under the ''World Food Programme'' of the United Nations, and is called Automated, Multi Commodity, Grain Dispensing Machine.

Key Points

  • The purpose of this ATM is to make the distributions of grains at government-run ration shops easy and hassle-free.
  • Each machine can dispense up to 70 kg of grains within five to seven minutes, at a time.
  • It’s an automatic machine; hence the scope of error in the measurement of grains is negligible.
  • The machine has a biometric system with a touch-screen, where the beneficiaries have to enter their Aadhaar or ration card number to get their grains.

Source: TOI

Indian Institute of Heritagebyjusexamprep

Why in News

  • The central government has decided to set up the ‘Indian Institute of Heritage’ at Noida, Gautam Buddha Nagar (Uttar Pradesh).
  • Indian Institute of Heritage will be a world-class university that would focus on the conservation and research in India’s rich tangible heritage.

Key Points

About 'Indian Institute of Heritage':

  • The Institute is being set up as Deemed to be University.
  • Note: Presently, there are 38 World Heritage Sites located in India. India has the 6th largest number of sites in the world. Among these 38 UNESCO Heritage sites of India, the list includes 30 cultural sites, 7 natural sites, and 1 mixed site.
  • Presently, a total of 1,121 World Heritage Sites(869 cultural, 213 natural, and 39 mixed) exist across 167 countries. With 55 selected areas, China and Italy are the countries with the most sites on the list.

Source: PIB

Pulitzer Prize winning Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui passes awaybyjusexamprep

  • Pulitzer Prize winning Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was killed in a Taliban attack in Afghanistan while covering the conflict between the Afghan armed forces and the Taliban.
  • He was an Indian photo-journalist based in Mumbai, who used to head the national Reuters Multimedia team.
  • He received the Pulitzer Prize in 2018, as part of the Reuters team, for documenting the Rohingya Refugee Crisis.

Source: The Hindu

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