PRELIMS NEWS
1.
Indo-Pak War of 1971
The issue in news
MoD invites Logo Designs to commemorate the victory of the Indian Armed Forces in the 1971 Indo – Pak war.
Main points:
- In December 1971, the Indian Armed Forces achieved a stellar victory over Pakistan which led to the creation of Bangladesh.
- 16 December 2021 marks the 50th year of the famous victory and the year 2021 is being celebrated as the Swarnim Vijay Varsh.
- The Ministry of Defence proposes to commission a distinct logo that will uniquely identify all events connected to the Swarnim Vijay Varsh celebrations.
- To this end, the Ministry has invited logo designs from citizens, and the winner would be given a cash prize of Rs.50000.
- Gandhian Young Technological Awards
The issue in news
Union Health Minister gave away the Gandhian Young Technological Awards.
Main points
- The awards were given in two categories: o SITARE-GYTI: Students Innovations for Advancement of Research Explorations – Gandhian Young Technological Innovation [Under Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), Department of Biotechnology (DBT)]
SRISTI-GYTI:
- Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technological Innovations – Gandhian Young Technological Innovation [by SRISTI]
- The awards and appreciations are given under these two categories to encourage technology students to move towards setting up biotech and other start-ups.
- Fourteen awards and eleven appreciations under SITARE-GYTI; seven awards and sixteen appreciations under SRISTI-GYTI were presented.
- Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (GYTI) Awards celebrate the spirit of student innovation in all the fields of engineering, science, technology and design through extremely affordable/frugal solution or the ones pushing the technological edge.
- EPHEMERAL MESSAGING
The issue in news
‘Ephemeral messaging’ has made its way to WhatsApp. The Facebook-owned messaging app has officially announced a new feature — ‘disappearing messages’ — to the platform, which will start rolling out to all users globally by this month.
Main points
- Ephemeral messaging or Disappearing messages is the mobile-to-mobile transmission of multimedia messages that automatically disappear from the recipient’s screen after the message has been viewed. The word “ephemeral” describes something that only lasts for a short period of time.
- The idea of ‘ephemeral’ messages is not new, and WhatsApp is not the first app to offer this. Other encrypted messaging apps like Telegram, Signal, Wire already offer such an option.
- WhatsApp says this will bring a new level of privacy to the app. By turning on disappearing messages, users will get some more control over which chats are getting saved.
Important Info :
How is WhatsApp’s disappearing message feature different?
- Apps like Telegram, Wire, Signal typically offer an option where users can set a preferred time for their messages to disappear — this can range from a few seconds to a day to even a week.
- WhatsApp is not giving this kind of customisation, it has decided the time limit of all users, which is fixed at seven days.
- Academic Freedom in India
The issue in news
India has scored considerably low in the international Academic Freedom Index (AFI) with a score of 0.352.
Academic freedom, in general, refers to a scholar’s freedom to express ideas without risk of official interference or professional disadvantage.
Main points
AFI Report is the result of a collaborative effort between researchers at:
- Friedrich Alexander University (FAU)
- V-Dem Institute
- Risk Network
- Global Public Policy Institute.
- AFi data can provide a basis for international academic freedom monitoring mechanisms.
- Higher education policy-makers must respond to declining AFi scores.
- Higher education authorities should use AFi data to assess the trajectory of their own work by reviewing AFi indicators over time .
- AFi can help diplomats to understand and react to changing levels and violations of academic freedom.
- The AFI used eight components to evaluate the scores: freedom to research and teach, freedom of academic exchange and dissemination, institutional autonomy, campus integrity, freedom of academic and cultural expression, constitutional protection of academic freedom, international legal commitment to academic freedom under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and existence of universities. The scores are scaled 0-1.
These determinants capture key elements in the de facto realization of academic freedom:
- Freedom to research and teach
- Freedom of academic exchange and dissemination
- Institutional autonomy
- Campus integrity
- Freedom of academic and cultural expression.
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