Connect to Current -Daily Current Capsules - 27^th April 2019

Index/Report
Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) 2019

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about GTCI and India specific findings)

What's the NEWS

• The Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) 2019 has released by INSEAD, Adecco Group and Tata Communications recently.
• In the GTCI 2019 India ranks 80 while Singapore takes the lead in this region.
• This year's report has a special focus on entrepreneurial talent - how it is being encouraged, nurtured and developed throughout the world and how this affects the relative competitiveness of different economies.

 

Know! more about the GTCI report

• The report also reveals that cities rather than countries are developing stronger roles as talent hubs and will be crucial to reshaping the global talent scene.
• This growing importance of cities is due to their greater flexibility and ability to adapt to new trends and patterns - as nimble economic units where policy can be changed more swiftly, cities are thus more attractive for talent, especially entrepreneurial talent.
• The report measures levels of Global Talent Competitiveness by looking at 68 variables. The 2019 index covers 125 national economies and 114 cities (respectively 119 and 90 in 2018) across all groups of income and levels of development.
• In this sixth edition, Switzerland continues to lead the 2019 Global Talent Competitiveness index, while Singapore and the United States come in second and third respectively.
• The top three is followed by Scandinavian countries, Norway (4th), Denmark (5th), Finland (6th), and Sweden (7th).
• Yemen has finished at the bottom of this year's index at 125th, just below Congo (124th) and Burundi (123rd).
• India (80th) remains the laggard of this group. It performs better than its lower-income peers when it comes to growing (48th) talent, primarily by virtue of the possibilities for Lifelong Learning (38th) and Access to Growth Opportunities (41st).

 

Environment
Zoologists discovered two new bird species in Indonesia
Wakatobi white-eye and the Wangi-wangi white-eye
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the discoveries of new birds)

What's the NEWS

 

• Zoologists from Trinity College with partners from Halu Oleo University (UHO) and Operation Wallacea, have discovered two new bird species in the Wakatobi Archipelago of Sulawesi, Indonesia.
• Details of their discovery of the Wakatobi white-eye and the Wangi-wangi white-eye have been published on April 24, 2019 in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

 

Know! more about the Newly found birds

 

• The two new white-eye species found by Trinity and UHO; they are both found on the Wakatobi Islands, just off mainland South-east Sulawesi. However, the two species could not be more different.
• For sometime Wakatobi white-eye is under debate as researchers are looking for the answer how species changed from the early 20th century to the current day.
• Another bird, Wangi-wangi white-eye, remained unnoticed until the beginning of the 21st century when Professor Marples' research group visited the island from which it takes its name.
• These white eyed birds are adaptable and can have wide variety of fruits, flowers and insects.
• These birds have expertise in making island colonies, which is why so many different white-eye species have evolved so rapidly, as different island populations become isolated and split off from their source populations.
• The Wakatobi white-eye is found throughout the Wakatobi Islands and split from its mainland relatives in the last 800,000 years.
• Wangi-wangi white-eye is a much older species found on only one tiny island, with its closest relatives found more than 3,000 km away.

 

Know! about Sulawesi

 

• Sulawesi is a particularly peculiar island known for its weird and wonderful plants and animals.
• It lies in the middle of Indonesia, which sits at a geographic boundary between Asian and Australian species.
• Sulawesi has an unusually high number of endemic species (unique species found nowhere else), due to the deep ocean trenches that isolated it from other land masses, even during past ice ages, when ocean levels dropped.

 

Intellectual Property Rights
World Intellectual Property Day 2019
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about IPR day) + Mains ( GS III awareness in the field of IPR and issues related to IPR)

What's the NEWS

• The World Intellectual Property Day was observed across the world on April 26, 2019 to spread awareness about the role that intellectual property rights like patents, trademarks, industrial designs and copyright play in encouraging innovation and creativity.
• The theme of World Intellectual Property Day 2019 was "Reach for Gold: IP and Sports".

 

Know! more about it 

• On this day, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) works together with various government agencies, non-government organizations, community groups and individuals to hold different events and activities to promote the day.
• This year's theme dives into the world of sports. It explores how innovation, creativity and the IP rights support the development of sport and its enjoyment around the world.
• Sports businesses use patents and designs for development of new sports technologies, materials, training, and equipment. Business relationships built on IP rights help to secure the economic value of sports.

 

Know! more about World Intellectual Property Day

• In October 1999, the General Assembly of the WIPO approved the idea of declaring a particular day as a World Intellectual Property Day.
• In 2000, the WIPO designated 26 April as an annual World Intellectual Property Day to address the perceived gap between Intellectual Property as a business/legal concept and its relevance to people's lives.
• April 26 was specifically chosen as the Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, first entered into force in 1970 on this date.

 

 

International Organisations
India pushes African right to permanent membership in UNSC
Relevance IN - Prelims ( regarding UNSC reforms and the concerned supporting and opposing nations)

What's the NEWS

• India recently stressed upon Africa's right to representation among the ranks of the permanent members of the UN Security Council.
• The move aims to bring in a sense of urgency to the long-stalled reform process of the UNSC.
• India is stressing on Africa's right to permanent membership in the UNSC to break the decades-long blockade of the reform process by a small group of countries.
• The group led by Italy and which includes Pakistan will be made to directly confront African nations, who have demanded two permanent seats on a reformed Council and point to the historic injustices done to the continent.

 

 

Know! more about the demands of African Nations

• The 55 African nations, who are the single largest group at the UN making up more than a quarter of its membership, do not have a permanent member on the Council.
• Yet of the 13 UN peacekeeping operations mandated by the Council and overseen by it, seven are in Africa.
• When the UN was set up at the end World War II, the permanent seats were allocated to the nations on the winning side, which included the US, Soviet Union (now held by Russia), Britain, France and China.
• Breaking the blockade would allow India's claim to a permanent seat on a reformed Council to also move forward.

 

Know! about the demand of reforms in the UN

• India has been calling for the reform of the UN Security Council along with Brazil, Germany and Japan for long, emphasising that it rightly deserves a place at the UN high table as a permanent member.
• France, which assumed the Presidency of the United Nations Security Council for the month of March, reiterated its support for India as the permanent member of the powerful UN body. The nation also reiterated its support for Germany and Japan as permanent members of an expanded UNSC.
• In fact, both France and Germany together stressed on the need to have reforms, adding that the UNSC will lose its legitimacy if reforms are not brought on soon.
• India's bid for permanent membership of UNSC is now backed by four of the five permanent members, namely France, Russia, United Kingdom and the United States.

 

Space Awareness
NASA Insight Mars lander detects likely 'marsquake' on Red Planet
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about NASA's InSight Lander Mission ) + GS III ( awareness in the field of space)

What's the NEWS

• There are earthquakes and moonquakes, and now a NASA spacecraft has detected what's believed to be a "marsquake" on the Red Planet.
• NASA's InSight lander, which touched down on Mars in November after a seven-month journey, sensed the seismic signal on April 6, the space agency said Tuesday.
• Mission scientists are still working to confirm the source of the faint trembling, though it appears to have come not from the wind or movement of the lander's robotic arm but from below the Martian surface. If confirmed, it would be the first seismic activity ever detected on Mars.
• If scientists confirm it would become the first seismic activity ever detected on Mars.

 

 

Know! about NASA's InSight Lander Mission

• NASA's InSight stands for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport is a Mars lander aimed to undertake the first-ever thorough checkup since it formed 4.5 billion years ago.
• Insight Mission will also measure tectonic activity and meteorite impacts on Mars. NASA's Insight is the first outer space robotic explorer to study in-depth the "inner space" of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core.
• Studying these internal structures will aid in answering the early formation of rocky planets in our inner solar system - Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars - more than 4 billion years ago, as well as rocky exoplanets.

 

Agricultural Reforms
UK, India experts explore smart tech solution for Indian farmers
Relevance IN - Prelims (steps taken for agriculture reforms + Mains GS III agri reforms )

What's the NEWS

• India and the United Kingdom, harnessing smartphone technology could help Indian farmers make better business decisions and tackle the sustainable cooling challenges being faced by the country.

 

Know! more about the agreement 

• The potential of smart technology was highlighted in a new report, which was launched on April 24, 2019 by the University of Birmingham, which is working along with the Shakti
• Sustainable Energy Foundation and MP Ecosystems to uncover the cooling needs of farmers in the states of Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

 

Know! more about the report findings

• The findings of the report titled 'Promoting Clean and Energy Efficient Cold-Chains in India' suggest that using mobile apps and data analysis to manage harvesting and logistics could help reduce the amount of food wasted between farm gate and supermarket shelf, while boosting farmers' incomes and reducing the environmental impact of much-needed food cooling.
• The findings are a part of a four-point "roadmap" developed by the experts, which includes promoting new business models that involve communities taking charge of their own cooling needs and establishing ‘living labs' in rural communities where new technology can be tested among many other things.
• The researchers propose a radical new approach to cooling provision with recommendations combined with the government of India action to address needs from the first to last mile of the cold-chain as well as those of the broader rural community.

 

Know! about the Agricultural Problems in India

• One of the key problems in India's agricultural sector is that about 50 per cent of the food is lost post-harvest because of lack of cold chain.
• The new report highlights that only 4 per cent of produce that would benefit from a cold-chain actually does so, compared with around 70 per cent in a country like the UK.
• The report suggested effective refrigeration as a solution to preserve food and medicine. It underpins industries and economic growth, while air conditioning is key to sustainable urbanisation and human productivity and makes much of the world bearable or even safe to live in.
• As per experts, cold-chains enhance economic wealth, cash flow and security for farmers and improve food quality, safety and value to the customer, but they must be achieved with minimum environmental impact.

 

Know! about Clean Cooling Congress

 

• The report was launched at the two-day Clean Cooling Congress, which opened in London and hosted by University of Birmingham with the World Bank Group and the UK Department of Business Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Mission Innovation.
• The report's findings note that with population and income growing, urbanisation continuing and climate change causing rising temperatures, the world will need to provide far more cooling.

 

 

Prelims Practise Questions

Consider the following statements about The Global Talent Competitiveness Index

1. The Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) 2019 has released by INSEAD, Adecco Group and Tata Communications recently.
2. In the GTCI 2019 India ranks 80 while Singapore takes the lead in this region.
3. This year's report has a special focus on entrepreneurial talent - how it is being encouraged, nurtured and developed throughout the world and how this affects the relative competitiveness of different economies.

Find the correct statement from the option given below
a. 1 and 2
b. 2 and 3 
c. 1 2 and 3
d. None

Consider the following statements

1. The two new white-eye species found by Trinity and UHO; they are both found on the Wakatobi Islands, just off mainland South-east Sulawesi.
2. Scientists have discovered two new bird species in the Wakatobi Archipelago of Sulawesi, Malaysia
3. These birds have expertise in making island colonies, which is why so many different white-eye species have evolved so rapidly, as different island populations become isolated and split off from their source populations.

Find the correct statement from the option given below
a. 1 and 3
b. 2 and 3
c. 1 2 and 3
d. None

KEEP Learning KEEP Evolving 
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