Abu Musa Island

ABU MUSA Island is a 12.8 square kilometer (4.9 sq mi) island in the eastern Persian Gulf near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. 

Due to the depth of sea, oil tankers and big ships have to pass between Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunbs, this makes these islands some of the most strategic points in the Persian Gulf.

The island is administered by Iran as part of its province of Hormozgan but is also claimed by the United Arab Emirates as a territory of the emirate of Sharjah

International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is observed every
year on February 6 to raise awareness of the practice of FGM and work towards its elimination. It is
sponsored by UN,

2017 Theme: “Building a solid and interactive bridge between Africa and the world to accelerate ending FGM by 2030”.

What is FGM?

FGM is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women. It
comprises all procedures that involve altering or injuring the female genitalia for non-medical
reasons. Globally, it is estimated that at least 200 million girls and women alive today have
undergone some form of FGM. It cause severe bleeding and health issues including infections, cysts,
infertility as well as complications in childbirth increased risk of newborn deaths. It reflects deeprooted gender inequality and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women and girls. The practice also violates their rights to health, physical integrity, security and their right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and right to life. The 2015 Sustainable
Development Goals (SDG) calls for an end to FGM by 2030 under Goal 5 on Gender Equality,
Target 5.3 Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital
mutilation

NASA’s Juno spacecraft completes fourth flyby of Jupiter

NASA’s Juno spacecraft completes fourth flyby of Jupiter

NASA’s solar-powered Juno spacecraft completed closest flyby of Jupiter mysterious cloud tops for
the fourth time. All eight of Juno’s science instruments were switched on during the flyby.

During its closest approach it was roughly 4,300 km above Jupiter’s cloud tops and travelled at a
speed of about 208,000 kmph. Currently, Juno is locked in a 53-day orbit around Jupiter.

It is expected to perform three dozen flybys over the next one and a half years. During its flybys, Juno probes beneath the cloud cover of Jupiter and studies Jupiter’s auroras to learn more about its
origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere


About Juno spacecraft

Juno was launched in August 2011 to study Jupiter’s composition and evolution. It’s the first
solar power spacecraft to orbit Jupiter and second after Galileo.

The unmanned spacecraft had successfully entered Jupiter’s orbit in July 2016 after a five year
journey and traversing distance of nearly 2 billion miles.

The primary goals of the mission are to find out whether Jupiter has a solid core, how its
atmosphere and magnetosphere formed, and whether there is water in the gas cloud
shrouding the planet.

The information gathered from it will provide vital clues to how the planet formed and
evolved, but also to how the solar system we live in came into existence.

The spacecraft has been named after the Roman goddess Juno, the wife of Jupiter who is
considered as the god of the sky in ancient Greco-Roman mythology.

SAARC programming committee meeting held in Kathmandu

SAARC programming committee meeting held in Kathmandu

The two-day meeting of SAARC Programming Committee was held in Kathmandu, capital of Nepal.
All eight members participated in the meeting.

This was the first senior level meeting of Association since postponement of 19th SAARC Summit in
November 2016 after four nations Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh and India had requested for it
following escalation of tension between India and Pakistan over the issue of terrorism.

Key Facts

The Programming Committee is the lowest level mechanism in SAARC after the SAARC
Standing Committee, which is held at the foreign secretary level, and SAARC Council of
Ministers held at foreign minister level.

This meeting was originally scheduled ahead of the November 2016 Islamabad SAARC
summit which could not be convened following its postponement.

In Kathmandu meeting, the committee had discussed various administrative and financial
issues related to SAARC Secretariat and its bodies.

It also had discussed issues related to budget of the SAARC Secretariat and five regional
centres of SAARC, among others.


About the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

SAARC is regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union in South Asia. It
promotes development of economical and regional integration.

As of 2015, SAARC member countries compromise of 3% of the world’s area, 21% of the
world’s population and 9.12% of the global economy.

SAARC Secretariat: Kathmandu (Nepal)

Member Countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and
Afghanistan (joined in 2007).

Nine observer states: Australia, China, European Union, Japan, Iran, Mauritius, Myanmar,
South Korea, and United States.

Formation History: The idea for the SAARC was proposed by Ziaur Rahman, the then
President of Bangladesh on May 2, 1980.

The seven founding countries had met for first time in April 1981 and then in 1985, they
created SAARC Charter. The first SAARC summit was held in Dhaka (Bangladesh) in
December 1985.

Concept of Universal Basic Income (UBI) in India

The Economic Survey 2016-17 tabled in Parliament has advocated for the concept of Universal
Basic Income (UBI) as an alternative to the various social welfare schemes in an effort to reduce
poverty.

It suggests that a more efficient way to help the poor will be to provide them resources directly,
through a UBI. It will be an efficient substitute for a plethora of existing welfare schemes and
subsidies.

What is Universal Basic Income (UBI)?

A basic income is a form of social security in which all citizens of a country regularly receive an
unconditional sum of money, either from a government in addition to any income received from
elsewhere. It is based on the principles of universality and unconditionality. However, it forfeits
other government aided benefits. Recently, government of Finland announced the introduction of a
trial for UBI involving 2,000 unemployed people. In June 2016, Swiss voters in referendum had
overwhelmingly rejected proposal to introduce basic income for all.

Survey’s justification for introduction of UBI

Promoting social justice, reducing poverty, unconditional cash transfer that lets the
beneficiary decide how she uses the money, employment generation by promoting labour
flexibility.
It will bring in administrative efficiency as a direct cash transfer through JAM (Jan Dhan-
Aadhar-Mobile) platform.
It will be more efficient as compared to the “existing welfare schemes which are riddled with
misallocation, leakages and exclusion of the poor.
It can help to achieve considerable gains in terms of bureaucratic costs and time by replacing
many of these with a UBI.