Today News Diary on 15 March 2021

1. LIC is not being privatized, Government informs Lok Sabha
2. 27 Lakh teachers trained during COVID pandemic, says Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank
3.  KVIC rolls out project RE-HAB to prevent Elephant – Human conflict using Honey Bees
4. India working on compensation, re-employment and re - skilling of Indians abroad with partner governments, says External Affairs Minister
5. China wants WHO approved vaccines to apply for approval as the debate over the
6.  Inter Parliamentary Union President on a week long visit to India
7. US Democrats push to make COVID-19 relief bill aid to the poor permanent
8. No proposal to bring oil and gas under GST
9. 63rd Grammy Awards: Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish bag top honours
10. Digital process for tracking Coronavirus
11. CSIR-NIO Expedition to Indian Ocean to map genetic diversity of organisms, micronutrients & trace metals
12. Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu continue to report a spike in Daily New Cases
13. Veteran Kathakali artist Chemancheri Kunhiraman Nair passes away
14.  Oscar Nominations complete list: Priyanka Chopra’s The White Tiger gets a nod, Mank scores big
15.  CA, CS, ICWA qualifications equivalent to postgraduate degree: UGC
16. SC notice to Centre, EC on plea to nullify election result if maximum votes for NOTA

News in Detail

1. LIC is not being privatized, Government informs Lok Sabha

The Government today said that Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has not been privatized.Replying to a supplementary question during the Question Hour in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance, Anurag Thakur said, the government is bringing in the IPO to usher in transparency and valuation.  He said, the IPO will increase the investment in LIC. He said the decision on percentage for share holders will be taken later. Mr. Thakur said, IPO will benefit the country and shareholders as well.

2.  27 Lakh teachers trained during COVID pandemic, says Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank

The Government today said that 27 lakh teachers were trained during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Replying to a supplementary question in Lok Sabha during the Question Hour, Education Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said around 30 lakh teachers had registered for the training programme.
To another supplementary question, Mr. Nishank said that the Government has received complaints about falling standards of B.Ed. He said that to address the issue, the Government is taking action against those colleges which do not fulfil the criteria.
The Education Minister said, in recent years, more than 1 Crore 60 Lakh teachers have been trained and the Government disbursed 2,500 crore rupees for the programme.

3. KVIC rolls out project RE-HAB to prevent Elephant – Human conflict using Honey Bees

Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), on Monday, launched a unique project of creating “bee-fences” to mitigate human – elephant conflicts in the country.

The objective of Project RE-HAB (Reducing Elephant – Human Attacks using Bees) is to thwart elephant attacks in human habitations using honey bees and thus reducing loss of lives of both, humans as well as elephants.

The pilot project was launched at four locations around village Chelur in Kodagu district of Karnataka on 15th March, 2021 by KVIC Chairman Shri Vinai Kumar Saxena.

These spots are located on the periphery of Nagarhole National Park and Tiger Reserve and prone to human-elephant conflicts. The total cost of the RE-HAB project is just Rs. 15 lakh.

Project RE-HAB is a sub-mission under KVIC’s National Honey Mission. While the Honey Mission is a programme to increase the bee population, honey production and beekeepers’ income by setting up apiaries, Project RE-HAB uses bee boxes as a fence to prevent the attack of elephants.

KVIC has set up 15-20 interspersed bee boxes at each of the four locations in the passage ways of elephant-human conflict zones to block the entrance of elephants to human habitations.

The boxes are connected with a string so that when elephants attempt to pass through, a tug or pull causes the bees to swarm the elephant herds and dissuade them from progressing further.

Bee boxes have been placed on the ground as well as hung from the trees to block the passage of elephants. High resolution, night vision cameras have been installed at strategic points to record the impact of bees on elephants and their behavior in these zones.

KVIC Chairman Shri Saxena called it a unique initiative and as a sustainable resolution to the human-elephant conflicts that are common in several parts of the country.

He said that “it has been scientifically recorded that elephants are annoyed and even frightened of honey bees. Elephants fear that the bee swarms can bite their sensitive inner side of the trunk and eyes.

The collective buzz of the bees is annoying to elephants and it forces them to return. Elephants, who are the most intelligent animal and carry their memories for long, avoid returning to the place where they have encountered honey bees”. Shri Saxena also mentioned that “the biggest advantage of Project RE-HAB is that it dissuades elephants without causing any harm to them.

Besides, it is extremely cost-effective as compared to various other measures like digging trenches or erecting fences”.

Nearly 500 people die every year due to elephant attacks in India. This is nearly 10 times more than the fatalities caused by big cats across the country. From 2015 to 2020, nearly 2500 people have lost their lives in elephant attacks.

Out of this, nearly 170 human fatalities have been reported in Karnataka alone. On the contrary, nearly one-fifth of this number, i.e. around 500 elephants have also died in retaliation by humans in the last 5 years.

Earlier, Central Bee Research and Training Institute, Pune, which is a unit of KVIC, had conducted field trials of creating “bee-fences” in Maharashtra to mitigate elephant attacks. However, this is for the first time, KVIC has launched this project in totality. KVIC has roped in the College of Forestry under the University of Agriculture and Horticultural Sciences, Ponnampet, for impact assessment of the project.

KVIC Chief Advisor (Strategy & Sustainable Development) Dr R Sudarshana and Dr CG Kushalappa, Dean of the College of Forestry, were present on the occasion.

Human Deaths Due to Elephants   

Year                          Deaths

2014-15                    418

2015-16                    469

2016-17                    516

2017-18                    506

2018-19                   452

____________________

Total                        2361

State-wise Deaths of Humans (2014-15 to 2018-19)

States                                Deaths

West Bengal                      403

Orissa                               397

Jharkhand                         349

Assam                               332

Chhattisgarh                    289

Karnataka                        170

4. India working on compensation, re-employment and re - skilling of Indians abroad with partner governments, says External Affairs Minister

India working on compensation, re-employment and re - skilling of Indians abroad with partner governments, says External Affairs Minister

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today made a statement on the COVID-19 situation and the impact on Indians abroad. The Minister said, that the Prime Minister had ordered Vande Bharat flights that facilitated return of over 45 lakh persons.

Kerala received the highest number of returnees followed by Delhi, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Highlighting the success of diplomacy of the current government, Dr Jaishankar said that repatriation would not have been possible without the cooperation of partner governments and various agencies. He said, that the government has spent Rs. 33.5 crore from the Indian Community welfare fund.

The Foreign Minister said, India has concluded air bubbles with 27 nations so far, as people and students are returning back. He said, that to help out our citizens sympathetically the Government is also urging partner governments to look at their employment.

He also said that, under the directions from PM, he had interacted with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman.

 Jaishankar also mentioned India's effort of providing food items and medicines in the Gulf region. He said, core of our agenda of all these efforts is to restore the employment of repatriated Indian citizens.

The Foreign Minister said, Seafarers are also a category that requires special attention. He said that crew change rules pose a challenge but even the issues with crew on the Chinese ports have been successfully resolved.

5. China wants WHO approved vaccines to apply for approval as the debate over the "vaccine passport" rages

As China is slowly opening its borders for international travel conditionally, it asked WHO approved vaccines to make application to competent Chinese authorities if they want to be considered for inclusion in China’s plans for visa facilitation.

China has relaxed visa norms for some countries on the condition of inoculations by Chinese made vaccines at present. China does not consider inoculations by even WHO approved vaccines.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson told media in Beijing that China will work with other countries to promote mutual recognition of vaccination, but did not mention the details of it, neither the countries with which it is negotiating.

Experts say mutual recognition of vaccines will be important for the ‘vaccine passport’ system, but data transparency related to vaccines could stand in the way of achieving mutual recognition of vaccines before allowing international travel. Experts added, even though China wants to understand about the foreign vaccines and want them to apply for approval, its own vaccines have been repeatedly urged to share more data related to phase three clinical trials and they are still in the process of approval by WHO. Other countries would also like to understand the data about Chinese vaccines.

For a mutual recognition of vaccines, two countries would have to “share information on the vaccine and its effects”. It is not yet clear whether Chinese vaccine companies will also apply in other countries to be considered for a vaccine passport.

China is signaling that it will open its borders for international travel ahead of its hosting of the Winter Olympic Games in February 2022. After closing its borders to almost all foreign visitors for over a year, Chinese embassies in few countries including Japan, Israel, Thailand, Pakistan, and Federated States of Micronesia announced visa application procedure for foreigners who have been inoculated with China-produced vaccines starting from Monday. Requirements for Quarantine on arrival, negative NAT results, serum antibody tests are still there. The spokesperson said, China will have different measures in different countries.

As per reports, Israel has already agreed with Greece, Cyprus, and the Seychelles to allow vaccinated citizens to visit, partly because they had all used the same vaccine, developed by Pfizer-BioNTech. Data about other vaccines rolled out elsewhere in the world – by Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Sputnik – have been published in journals, but only the Pfizer-BioNTech product is going through the approval process in China.

6.  Inter Parliamentary Union President on a week long visit to India

Inter Parliamentary Union President Duarte Pacheco to attend  felicitation ceremony and address Members under the auspices of the Indian Parliamentary Group (IPG) in Central Hall of Parliament House on 16 March.

Pacheco is on a week long visit to India on the invitation of Indian Parliament. Pacheco called on Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and witnessed the proceedings of the Upper House.

Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) formed in 1889, is one of the oldest and largest international Parliamentary body consisting of more than 179 Members. IPU espouses for the cause of promoting democracy across the world and take up issues of international importance, such as, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Climate Change, Gender Equality, etc.

India, since its independence, has always been an active Member of Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU).
In the past, G.S. Dhilon, the then Speaker of Lok Sabha and Dr. Smt. Najma Heptulla, the then Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha had served as the Presidents of IPU.

India has been contributing to the deliberations and outcomes of IPU by being on various Standing Committees, Forums and Advisory.
In this regard, it may be recalled that Lok Sabha Speaker had held a virtual meeting with Mr. Pacheco on 25 August 2020.

7. US Democrats push to make COVID-19 relief bill aid to the poor permanent

U.S. Senate Democrats will push to make permanent two provisions of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 relief bill that provide emergency enhanced benefits for the poor through food assistance and child tax credits, two leading lawmakers said on Sunday.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that making enhanced child tax credits permanent is an important goal for Democrats, as they seek to move forward with bold new initiatives that also include legislation to upgrade U.S. infrastructure.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Schumer’s fellow New York Democrat, called separately for enhancements for a nutrition program aimed at women, infants and children in the $1.9 trillion bill to be extended indefinitely.

Biden’s legislation temporarily increased the value of the program’s cash vouchers for fruits and vegetables from $9 per month for children and $11 for women to $35 per month for both.

The bill also expands the U.S. federal child tax credit for one year from a partially refundable $2,000 per child to a fully refundable $3,600 credit for children under 6 and $3,000 for children aged 6 to 17, a move that experts say will significantly decrease child poverty in the United States.

“That’s one of the most important things we can do. We can change America, if we make them permanent,” Schumer told MSNBC. “It will be so good for these kids, their families, but for all of America and our economy.”

Nearly 11 million, or one in seven, U.S. children live in poverty, the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank, estimates.

Making the provisions permanent could prove difficult, with many Republicans opposed to any expansion in U.S. welfare services that is not accompanied by work requirements for benefit recipients.

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives can pass legislation on a simple majority and has begun to move bills that reflect party priorities such as police reform, gun control and measures to enhance voter participation. But the 100-seat Senate, which is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, requires 60 votes for most legislation.

Schumer said Democrats would try to work with Republicans to enact “bold change” but warned that his caucus would consider other means, including possible changes to Senate rules, if Republicans continue to oppose Democratic legislation.

“But if we can’t, if they vote ‘no’ on everything in terms of the kinds of change that America needs, then our caucus will have to get together and figure out how to get it done,” Schumer said. “Everything will be on the table and failure is not an option.”

Biden’s COVID-19 bill passed the House and Senate without support from a single Republican.

8.  No proposal to bring oil and gas under GST

The government today said that there is no proposal right now to bring crude petroleum, petrol, diesel, aviation turbine fuel, natural gas under the Goods and Service Tax.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the GST council has not made any recommendation for inclusion of these goods under GST. She said, the council may consider the issue of inclusion of these petroleum products at an appropriate time keeping in view the relevant factors including revenue implication.

Replying to  supplementaries, MoS Finance Anurag Thakur said, the Centre and States should work together to check the price rise of diesel and petrol. He urged the State Governments to reduce the tax on the petroleum products adding that the Centre will also take decisions following the State governments reduction of price. 

9. 63rd Grammy Awards: Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish bag top honours

At the 63rd Grammy Awards, Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish won the top prizes  while Beyonce became the most awarded female artist in Grammy history with her 28th win.

Taylor Swift was awarded album of the year for her lockdown album 'Folklore', while Billie Eilish’s “Everything I Wanted” won record of the year.

Swift is the first female artist ever to win album of the year three times. She has won the award previously for her album 'Fearless' in 2010 and the pop opus '1989' in 2016. Only three other artists - Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder - have ever won the album of the year prize three times.

Beyoncé and her nine-year-old daughter Blue Ivy Carter won the best music video award for "Brown Skin Girl" making Carter one of the youngest Grammy winners in history. Rapper Megan Thee Stallion and Beyoncé made history as the first pair of women to ever win best rap performance with the remix of Megan Thee Stallion's "Savage." The pair also won an award for best rap song for the same tune.

Beyoncé broke the record for all-time wins by a woman with 28 Grammys when she won the best R&B performance for "Black Parade." She surpassed the previous record set by bluegrass singer Alison Krauss. Beyonce has now equalled super-producer Qunicy Jones' total of 28 Grammys. Only classical conductor Sir Georg Solti has more, with 31 wins.

British singer Dua Lipa won best pop vocal album for her dance-y “Future Nostalgia.” The writers of “I Can’t Breathe” by R&B artist H.E.R won song of the year.

Hosted by Trevor Noah, the hybrid ceremony was packed with pre-recorded and live performances by the likes of Lipa, Taylor Swift, Post Malone, Cardi B, DaBaby, Black Pumas and Mickey Guyton.

10. Digital process for tracking Coronavirus

Government has taken a number of steps for tracing / tracking of patients with corona and other infectious diseases in the country, as given below :-

Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme(IDSP) :-  Under IDSP, Surveillance units have been established in all States and District Headquarters and are reporting weekly data on epidemic prone diseases.  The data is collected to monitor disease trends and to detect and respond to outbreaks in early rising phase through trained Rapid Response Teams (RRTs). The IDSP has also been geared up in connection with Covid-19 to track and follow up passengers coming from various countries like China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, etc.

AarogyaSetu App is an app developed by Ministry of Electronics and IT for Covid-19 contact tracing, symptoms mapping and self-assessment. It also helpsin identification of Covid-19 clusters.

COWIN App is a digital platform developed by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to help agencies keep a track of Covid-19 vaccination programme and allowing Indian citizens to apply for a Covid-19 vaccine shot.

Covid-India Portal& Testing Portaldeveloped by Ministry of Health & FW for collecting state specific data pertaining to various aspects of Covid-19 management such as number of cases, infrastructure availability testing, etc.

The IDSP is implemented under the National Health Mission in allStates/UTs with the objective to detect and respond todisease outbreaks due to epidemic prone diseases. Toprevent the spread of such outbreaks, under IDSPStates/UTs are provided with additional manpower,training of identified Rapid Response Team (RRT)members for outbreak investigations, strengthening oflaboratories for detection of epidemic prone diseases, ITequipment for data entry, analysis and data transfer.

11.  CSIR-NIO Expedition to Indian Ocean to map genetic diversity of organisms, micronutrients & trace metals

CSIR-NIO has launched a 90 days Expedition to Indian Ocean to conduct genome and proteome mapping of microorganisms present in the seawater and sediments.

The team of researchers is led by Dr. Samir R. Damare from CSIR-NIO consisting of 23 participants from NIO that includes 6 women scientists as well left Vishakhapatnam shore on Sunday. 

The group will be cruising through Indian Ocean for nearly 3 months, collecting huge amount of samples to unravel the mysteries in Indian Ocean.

The expedition will be starting from Visakhapatnam Port, going to the mouth of Hooghly, Brahmaputra and going southwards right up to 30oS latitude along 90oE.

With a fuel refill at Mauritius, the team will continue the return journey northwards coming up to EEZ of Pakistan and back to Goa. The expedition will cover approximately 10,000 Nautical miles.

The team will be cruising through CSIR-NIOs Research Vessel Sindhu Sadhana.

One of the key objectives of the mission is to identify and characterise the genes and proteins in the ocean to understand the cellular level processes occurring in the microorganisms is response.

Proteins act as markers and catalysts for the biochemical reactions occurring in the organisms existing in the various conditions in the ocean. By studying proteomics, one can understand the various cellular biochemical changes and their response to the climate change, nutrient stress, increasing pollution.

By studying proteomics,  the researchers will be able to   identify the physiological responses of the organisms under varying ocean conditions.

This will allow the scientists  to understand cellular biochemistry and the response of ocean to the climate change, nutrient stress and  pollution.

The large pool of RNA, DNA library of the oceans will be utilised for future bio-prospecting in the Indian Ocean. Rapid advances in sequencing technologies and bioinformatics have enabled exploration of the ocean genome.

12. Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu continue to report a spike in Daily New Cases

Five States of Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu continue to report a surge in the COVID daily new cases.

They cumulatively account for 78.41% of the new cases reported in the past 24 hours. 26,291 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours.
Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 16,620 (accounting for 63.21% of the daily new cases). It is followed by Kerala with 1,792 while Punjab reported 1,492 new cases.

13. Veteran Kathakali artist Chemancheri Kunhiraman Nair passes away

Noted Kathakali artist Chemancheri Kunhiraman Nair passed away in Kozhikode, Kerala Monday morning.
The 105-year old had won the hearts of Kathakali lovers for several decades for his mudras, charm and grace. The nation had awarded him with Padma Shri in 2017 for his contributions to the dance form of Kathakali.

14.  The contenders for the 93rd Academy Awards were announced

Oscar Nominations 2021: The contenders for the 93rd Academy Awards were announced by real-life couple and artistes Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Nick Jonas. Here is the complete list of nominations.

The Oscar nominations are finally out in a year hit by the pandemic, with most awards taking the virtual route. The nominations for the 93rd Academy Awards were announced on Monday by actor-producer Priyanka Chopra Jonas and singer-songwriter-actor Nick Jonas. The nominations were announced in a total of 23 categories.

“The Father,” “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “Mank,” “Minari,” “Nomadland,” “Promising Young Woman,” “Sound of Metal” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7″ are competing in the Best Picture category. In the Best Director nominations, Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”) and Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”) will compete against Thomas Vinterberg (“Another Round”), David Fincher (“Mank”) and Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”). Interestingly, this is also one of those rare times when two female directors have been nominated for the Best Director category — Chloe Zhao for Nomadland and Emerald Fennell for Promising Young Woman.

Meanwhile, David Fincher movie Mank scored maximum nods, a total of ten. Sound of Metal, Minari, Judas and the Black Messiah, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Nomadland and The Father tied on six nominations.

The Oscars, which were supposed to be held in February this year, got delayed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The main event, which is going to be held on April 25 GMT will be an in-person event. The awards ceremony will reportedly be streamed live from the famous Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles along with multiple other locations.

15.  CA, CS, ICWA qualifications equivalent to postgraduate degree: UGC

The company secretary degree holder will now get an opportunity to pursue Ph.D. in commerce and allied disciplines. According to ICSI, the course content has been designed to keep pace with the changing dynamics of global governance framework

16. SC notice to Centre, EC on plea to nullify election result if maximum votes for NOTA

The top court was hearing a plea filed by advocate and BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay which also sought a direction to the Election Commission to restrict those candidates and political parties, whose election has been nullified, from taking part in the fresh polls.

The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from the Centre and the Election Commission on a plea seeking to direct the poll panel to nullify an election result and conducting “a fresh poll” if the maximum votes are for NOTA in a particular constituency.

A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian issued notices to the Ministry of Law and Justice and the Election Commission of India while seeking their replies on the plea.

Senior advocate Maneka Guruswamy appeared for the petitioner. The top court was hearing a plea filed by advocate and BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay which also sought a direction to the Election Commission to restrict those candidates and political parties, whose election has been nullified, from taking part in the fresh polls.

“The right to reject and elect a new candidate will give power to the people to express their discontent. If voters are dissatisfied with the background or performance of the contesting candidate, they will opt for NOTA (none of the above) to reject such candidate and elect a new candidate,” the petition said.