Daily Current Capsules - 12^th JUNE 2019

Government Schemes
Dr. Harsh Vardhan inaugurates first-ever World Food Safety Day
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about world food safety day) + Mains ( GS III agriculture and farmer welfare and role of regulatory bodies + food processing and related industries + GS I issues related to development and management of social sectors relating to health + issue relating to hunger )
What's the NEWS

• Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare inaugurated the first-ever World Food Safety Day being celebrated by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)
• The WFS day was facilitated by World Health Organisation(WHO) in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of United Nations (UN).
  
• This day was instituted by United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) by adopting a resolution for effect in December 2018 with an aim to highlight importance of safe food and to reduce problems related to it.
  
• The theme for this day was ‘food safety, everyone's business.

Know! more about food safety day (initiative taken by India)
State Food Safety Index (SFSI)

• The Union Health Minister felicitated seven leading States/UTs based on the ranking for the year 2018-2019 for their impressive performance.
• These were Chandigarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
• In an effort to galvanize states to work towards ensuring safe food for citizens, FSSAI has developed the first State Food Safety Index (SFSI) to measure the performance of States on five parameters of food safety.
• The categories included Human Resources and Institutional Arrangements, Compliance, Food Testing- Infrastructure and Surveillance, Training and Capacity Building and Consumer Empowerment. States such as Bihar, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh followed close behind.

Clean Street Food Hubs

• Following the certification of several ‘Clean Street Food Hubs' in several cities based on third-party audits and training of street food vendors, now Golden Temple Street, Amritsar has been also recognized as a ‘Clean Street Food Hub'.

Raman 1.0

• Dr. Harsh Vardhan launched a new-age, hand-held battery operated device called ‘Raman 1.0'.
• This device performs rapid detection (in less than 1 minute) of economically driven adulteration in edible oils, fats and ghee.
  
• The equipment tests more than 250 samples per battery charge, collects and stores data on the cloud using a smart device.
• This is the first of 19 such equipment and methods that have been provisionally approved by FSSAI for strengthening the food testing infrastructure in the country.

Food Safety Magic Box'

• An innovative solution to take food safety to schools, called the ‘Food Safety Magic Box' was also launched .
• This do-it-yourself food testing kit comprises a manual and equipment to check for food adulterants, which schoolchildren can use in their classroom laboratories.
• This kit is also useful for frontline health workers. Twenty kits were distributed to Primary Health Centres and Government schools in Delhi with the support of the Delhi Food Safety Department.

Eat Right Awards

• FSSAI has instituted the ‘Eat Right Awards' to recognize the contribution of food companies and individuals to empower citizens to choose safe and healthy food options, which would help improve their health and well-being.

Online Library of FSSAI

• A Web-resource online Library of FSSAI was also launched. This library hosts informative and interesting videos on topics such as food adulteration, eating a balanced diet, fortified foods etc. This can be accessed at www.fssai.gov.in/videolibrary

Economic Affairs
The G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting and associated events

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the G20 finance minsters and central bank governors meeting ) + Mains ( GS II international organisations and GS III economic developments and various economic events and issues)
What's the NEWS

• Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Government of India, participated in the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting and associated events during June 8-9, 2019 at Fukuoka, Japan.
  

Know! the issues raised by India

• Smt. Sitharaman noted the urgency to fix the issue of determining right nexus and profit allocation solution for taxing the profits made by digital economy companies.

The concept of significant economic presence

• The work on tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of economy is entering a critical phase with an update to the G20, due next year.
• In this respect, Smt. Sitharaman strongly supported the potential solution based on the concept of ‘significant economic presence' of businesses taking into account the evidence of their purposeful and sustained interaction with the economy of a country.
• This concept has been piloted by India and supported by large number of countries including the G-24.
• She expressed confidence that a consensus-based global solution, which should also be equitable and simple, would be reached by 2020.
  

Automatic exchange of financial account information (AEOI)

• Smt. Sitharaman welcomed the commencement of automatic exchange of financial account information (AEOI) on a global basis with almost 90 jurisdictions successfully exchanging information in 2018.
• This would ensure that tax evaders could no more hide their offshore financial accounts from the tax administration.
• She urged the G20/Global Forum to further expand the network of automatic exchanges by identifying jurisdictions including developing countries and financial centers that are relevant but have not yet committed to any timeline
• Smt. Sitharaman also raised the need for international cooperation on dealing with fugitive economic offenders who flee their countries to escape from the consequences of law.
• In another session on infrastructure investment, Smt. Sitharaman emphasised on the importance of making investments in cost-effective and disaster resilient infrastructure for growth and development.
• This meeting took place alongside with G20 Ministerial meet on Trade and Digital Economy (on 8-9 June 2019) at Tsukuba city

Know! about G20

• G20 (or Group of 20) was formed on 26 September 1999 as meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of member states in aftermath of Southeast Asian (Tiger economies) financial crisis.
• Since its inception group has played a key role in responding to global financial crisis situations.
• In 2008, 1^st G20 Leaders' Summit was held in Washington DC, United States.
• 19 countries and European Union (EU) which collectively representing two-third of world's population, 85% of global GDP and 80% of international
• The 19 countries are India, China, Japan, Russia, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Indonesia, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, US, South Africa and United Kingdom

Miscellaneous Factoids
ASI declares Chaukhandi Stupa as Monument of National Importance

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Chaukhandi stupa)
What's the NEWS

• According to a notification issued by Union Ministry of Culture, Chaukhandi Stupa, an ancient Buddhist site located in Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh (UP) has been declared as ‘protected area of national importance' by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
• For declaring the stupa as protected area government sought public feedback on 8 March 2019 for a period of two months.

Know! about Chaukhandi Stupa

• The Stupa is known as ‘Chaukhandi' because of its four armed plan.
• The stupa is an ancient Buddhist site which evolved from burial mounds and served as a shrine for a relic of Buddha. It appears to be in ruins and was originally constructed in 5^th Century AD.
• It also finds mention in account of Hiuen Tsang, celebrated Chinese traveller of 7^th century AD.
• It is widely believed that Stupa was originally built as a terraced temple during Gupta period (4^th-6^th centuries AD) to mark the site where Lord Buddha traveling from Bodh Gaya to Sarnath was reunited with panchavargiya bhikshus (Budhha's five companions) who had previously deserted him at Rajgir.
• After Gupta's the stupa's architecture was altered by Govardhan, son of Raja Todarmal, who modified stupa to its present shape by building an octagonal tower in commemoration of Humayun (Mughal ruler) visit.

Know! the current Structure

• Stupa is a high earthen mound covered with brickwork, to which stands atop a terraced rectangular plinth and it is capped by an octagonal Mughal tower. It is maintained, conserved and preserved by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
• Some images of Buddha, such as the image of buddha in dharmachakra pravartana mudra and other statues found during excavations at this Stupa are believed to be rare artefacts and classic examples of art from Gupta period.

Bilateral Relations
India to train 1,000 Maldives civil servants for next 5 years


Relevance IN - Prelims ( highlights of the MoU) + Mains (GS II bilateral relations)
What's the NEWS

• India's leading civil services training institution, National Center for Good Governance (NCGG) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Maldives Civil Services Commission for capacity building (training) of 1,000 civil servants of Maldives over next five years.
• This agreement was signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Male (Maldives capital).

Know! more about the MoU

• In April 2019, NCGG had trained 28 Maldives civil servants, thus this successful engagement encouraged two countries to enter into an agreement and take their capacity building collaboration forward.
• Other than Maldives, NCCG had also successfully conducted training programmes for civil servants of Bangladesh, Myanmar and Gambia.
• All expenses of training programme will be borne by Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
• As per the MoU, NCGG will be nodal institution for designing and implementation of customised training modules that will be undertaken during training, and it must take into account all requirements of Maldives Civil Services Commission.
• The training programme areas will include: public policy and governance, public administration, information technology (IT), e governance and service delivery, agro-based practices, best practices in coastal areas, urban development and planning, self-help group (SHG) initiatives, ethics in administration and challenges in implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Know! more about NCGG

• The National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG) is an autonomous institute under the aegis of Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Government of India. Its head office is at New Delhi and registered office at Mussoorie.
• The NCGG has been set up to assist in bringing about governance reforms through studies, training, knowledge sharing and promotion of good ideas.
• It seeks to carry out policy relevant research and prepare case studies; curate training courses for civil servants from India and other developing countries; provide a platform for sharing of existing knowledge and pro-actively seek out and develop ideas for their implementation in the government, both at the States and the Central level.
• The National Centre for Good Governance traces its origin to the National Institute of Administrative Research (NIAR).
• NIAR was set up in 1995 by the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA).During its 19 years of existence it provided research and training support to the Academy in areas of public administration.
•  NIAR was subsequently rechristened with an expanded mandate, as National Centre for Good Governance, which was inaugurated on February 24^th, 2014.

Its main objectives are:

• To be a think tank for governance & policy reforms, working across administrative, social, financial and political arenas.
• To initiate and participate in research and training on various aspects of regulatory and developmental administration, public policy, governance and public management.
• To provide a platform for policy development debates and discussions.
• To promote exchange of innovative ideas and best practices in Governance by organising, sponsoring and aiding seminars, workshops, study circles, working groups and conferences.
• To interact with national and international organisations, in and outside government, engaged in research and training in subject areas of mutual interest.
  
  

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