Democracy Index 2019
Context :
The Democracy Index 2019 is released and prepared by a UK-based company Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). It is the research and analysis division of The Economist Group. It measures the state of democracy in 167 countries.
Report Highlights :
- The index is based on the functioning of government, electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, political participation, and political culture.
- The report A year of democratic setbacks and popular protest was prepared by The Economist Intelligence Unit.
- It provided a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide in 165 independent states and two territories.
- Norway topped EIU’s index with a score of 9.87
- North Korea ranked last of the global rankings, with a score of 1.08.
- China ranked 153rd with a score of 2.26.
- The report described the year 2019 as a tumultuous year for Asian countries.
- Three countries namely Chile, France, and Portugal were from the flawed democracy category to the full democracy category.
- Malta fell out of the full democracy category to the flawed democracy category.
India :
- India’s scored an overall of 6.90 in 2019 on a scale of 0-10. It fell from 7.23 in 2018 among other countries where there were regressions.
- In the Asia and Australia region, India ranked 8th after countries namely Timor-Leste, Malaysia, and Taiwan.
- The index referred to the changes in Jammu & Kashmir and the controversial implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam as the democratic regression caused in India.
- India was graded with 8.67 in electoral process and pluralism, 6.79 in government functioning, 6.67 in political participation, 5.63 in political culture and 6.76 in civil liberties.
Bottom 5 countries :
163) Chad with 1.61
164) Syria with 1.43
165) The Central African Republic with 1.32
166) The Republic of Congo with 1.13
167) North Korea with 1.08
Democracy Index :
The Democracy Index is prepared by a UK-based company Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). It is the research and analysis division of The Economist Group. It measures the state of democracy in 167 countries.
ISRO to send half humanoid Vyommitra as a trial to space ahead of Gaganyaan mission
Context :
The Indian Space Agency Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) unveiled Vyommitra, a prototype of half humanoid. ISRO has decided to send Vyommitra as a trial to space before Gaganyaan which has aimed at sending astronauts to space in an orbital spacecraft.
Vyommitra will be sent ahead of the first unmanned mission under Gaganyaan. It has been designed in a way that it will simulate most of the human body functions. The half humanoid has no legs. It will try to simulate a human and report back to ISRO.
- vyommitra
Space Astronauts training :
- ISRO has selected 4 Indian astronauts for India’s first human space mission. The training of the Indian astronauts will take place in Russia.
- The astronauts shortlisted for the mission will receive training for 11 months. The 4 selected astronauts for the mission are male candidates. Their identity has not been revealed yet.
- The astronauts will receive module-specific training in India.
- They will be trained in crew and service modules designed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), learn to operate it, work around it and do simulations.
- Bahubali GSLV Mark-III, India’s heaviest launch vehicle, is expected to carry astronauts to space.
- The Union Cabinet chaired by PM Narendra Modi approved Rs.10,000 crores for the Gaganyaan project.
- Gaganyaan is the first human space mission that is conceived and developed in India.
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Jayanti
Context :
Subhas Chandra Bose was born on 23rd January 1897, in Cuttack, Orissa Division, Bengal Province, to Prabhavati Dutt Bose and Janakinath Bose.
Subhash Chandra Bose :
- Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose (23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945) is one of the most celebrated freedom fighters of India.
- In 1942, he earned the title ‘Netaji’, in Germany by the Indian soldiers of the Azad Hind Fauj.
- Bose is credited with the very famous slogan, “Give me blood, and I shall give you freedom!” as well as “Jai Hind”.
- He is also credited to be the first man to call Mahatma Gandhi “Father of the Nation”, in his address from Singapore.
Timeline :
- In 1919, Bose headed to London to give the Indian Civil Services (ICS) examination and he was selected. Bose, however, resigned from Civil Services as he believed he could not side with the British.
- In 1921, Bose worked under Chittaranjan Das, a powerful politician in Bengal. He worked as the editor for Das’s newspaper, Forward, and later started his own newspaper, Swaraj.
- In 1923, Bose was elected the President of the All India Youth Congress and also the Secretary of Bengal State Congress.
- During the mid-1930s Bose travelled in Europe. He researched and wrote the first part of his book, The Indian Struggle, which covered the country’s independence movement in the years 1920–1934.
- After his return, Bose took over as the elected President of Indian National Congress in 1938 (Haripur) and stood for unqualified Swaraj (self-governance) and the use of force against the British which then combated against Mahatma Gandhi and his views.
- Bose was re-elected in 1939 (Tripuri) but soon resigned from the presidency and formed the All India Forward Bloc, a faction within the Congress which aimed at consolidating the political left.
- In 1943, he travelled to Japan and took leadership of the Indian Independence Movement in East Asia. With Japanese aid and influence, he took the leadership of a trained army of about 40,000 troops in Japanese-occupied Southeast Asia known as the Indian National Army.
- The INA was first formed under Mohan Singh and Japanese Major Iwaichi Fujiwara and comprised Indian prisoners of war of the British-Indian Army captured by Japan in the Malayan (present-day Malaysia) campaign and at Singapore.
- The troops of the INA were under the aegis of a provisional government, the Azad Hind Government, which came to produce its own currency, postage stamps, court and civil code, and was recognised by nine Axis states.
- In 1945, the British Indian Army retaliated to the capture of Manipur, Kohima and Imphal by INA and killed almost half of the Japanese forces and the entire participating INA contingent.
- Bose escaped to Manchuria seeking a future in the Soviet Union.
- He is said to have died in 1945 when his plane crashed in Taiwan. However, there are still many conspiracy theories regarding his death.
Koala: Bushfires in Australia
Context :
Australia is in the grips of a nationwide bushfire emergency which has severely affected wildlife. Koalas are among the first animals to perish in wildfires because the slow-moving creatures can’t outrun the flames.
Key Points :
- Koala is (Phascolarctos cinereus) an arboreal (lives in trees) marsupial.
- Marsupial: A marsupial is born in a very incomplete state. They are minute, hairless and with hind limbs only partially formed. Around 2/3rd of them live in Australia. The other third live mostly in South America.
- Instead of the placenta, the mother’s milk nourishes the young and allows it to grow and develop.
- Although the word ‘marsupial’ comes from the Latin word ‘marsupium’, which means ‘pouch’, not all marsupials have pouches.
- They are endemic to Australia.
- Due to the low nutrient levels of the Eucalyptus leaves they feed on, the koala can sleep up to 18 hours each day.
- IUCN status: Vulnerable
- Threats: Habitat destruction, climate change & severe weather (Droughts, extreme temperatures).
EAO (East Asian Observatory)
Context :
India is in preliminary discussions to be a part of the East Asian Observatories Consortium of eight countries committed to build large telescopes and pool resources.
About EAO (East Asian Observatory):
Formed by EACOA (East Asian Core Observatories Association) for the purpose of pursuing joint projects in astronomy within the East Asian region.
- The intention of EAO is to build and operate facilities, which will enhance and leverage existing and planned regional facilities.
- It will also raise funding and to build an observatory staff, separate from that of the EACOA institutions.
- The EAO is chartered as a non-profit Hawaii corporation.
- Its first task is to assume the operation of the James Clerk Maxwell Submillimetre Telescope (JCMT) on the summit of Maunakea, Hawai`i.
- It consists of China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea as full members and Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia as ‘observers’.
Implications for India:
Having India join the group could mean the establishment of new kinds of telescopes — one proposed being in Tibet — that could aid the observation of new black holes and throw light on cosmic phenomena.
Sources: the Hindu.