Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

• The Group of Twenty (G20) is the premier international forum for global economic cooperation.
• Formed in 1999, the G-20 has the mandate to promote global economic growth, international trade, and regulation of financial markets.
• The members of the G20 are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and the European Union.
• Because the G-20 is a forum, not a legislative body, its agreements and decisions have no legal impact, but they do influence countries' policies and global cooperation.
• It does not have any permanent secretariat or headquarters.
• The G-20's ranks include all members of the Group of Seven (G-7), a forum of the seven countries with the world's largest developed economies: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

Objectives

• Policy coordination between its members in order to achieve global economic stability, sustainable growth.
• To promote financial regulations that reduce risks and prevent future financial crises.
• To create a new international financial architecture.

Significance

• G20 members account for 85 percent of the world economy, 75 percent of global trade, and two-thirds of the world's population, including more than half of the world's poor.

Explanation :

• The Yanomami are the largest relatively isolated tribe in South America. They live in the rain forests and mountains of northern Brazil and southern Venezuela.
• They can be classified as foraging horticulturalists, depending heavily on rain forest resources; they use slash-and-burn horticulture, grow bananas, gather fruit, and hunt animals and fish.
• They live in large, circular houses called yanos or shabonos.
• The Yanomami consider all people to be equal, and do not have a chief. Instead, all decisions are based on consensus after long discussions and debates.

Explanation :

• Article 23 prohibits trafficking in human beings and begar and other similar forms of forced labour and any contravention of this provision shall be an offence punishable in accordance with the law.
• Article 24 says that “No child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment.”
• Article 29 provides that any section of the citizens residing in any part of India having a distinct language, script or culture of its own, shall have the right to conserve the same.It grants protection to both religious minorities as well as linguistic minorities. However, the Supreme Court held that the scope of this Article is not necessarily restricted to minorities only, as use of the word ‘section of citizens’ in the Article that include minorities as well as majority.
• Article 30 of the Indian Constitution states the right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions. All minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.

Explanation :

• Qatar has brought about a change in its labour laws. The reforms, which were announced by the Emir of Qatar in October 2019, were signed into law recently.

Reforms Announced

• The first reform has abolished the unjustified ‘Kafala system’ or requirement for a “no objection certificate” that migrant workers needed to get from their employers before changing jobs. Now, workers will have to serve a one-month notice period if they have worked for less than two years and notice period of two months if they have worked longer.
• The second reform involves increasing the minimum wage by 25 percent to $274 or 1000 Qatari riyals and an additional 300 QAR for food and 500 QAR for accommodation in case not provided by the company. These reforms are now applicable to workers of all nationalities and in all sectors, including domestic workers who were previously excluded.

Need for Reform

• Qatar is hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup and in the run-up to the sporting event that is viewed by more than half of the global population, the country has faced flak for its labour laws, seen by many as being exploitative of migrant labourers.

About Kafala System

• It is a system that lays down obligations in the treatment and protection of foreign ‘guests’. Kafala means ‘to guarantee’ or ‘to take care of’ in Arabic.
• Under this, a migrant worker’s immigration status is legally bound to an individual employer or sponsor (‘kafeel’) during the contract period.
• The migrant worker cannot enter the country, transfer employment nor leave the country for any reason without first obtaining explicit written permission from the kafeel.

Origin

• The Kafala system began in the 1950s when several Middle East countries started hiring foreign workers to accelerate development following the discovery of oil.

Countries Practicing Kafala System

• It is being practiced in the Gulf Cooperation Council member countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and also in the Arab states of Jordan and Lebanon.

Explanation :

Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups on Andaman Islands

Great Andamanese Tribe

• These are a part of the Negrito tribes that inhabit isolated parts of Southeast Asia and the Andaman Islands.
• The tribe speaks Jeru dialect among themselves.

Jarwas

• Jarawa tribe is native to the South Andaman Nicobar Island.
• They are the tribes of African origin living in Andaman who settled 50 years back.

Shompens

• They are the only tribe in the region with Mongoloid features.
• The other PVTGs have Negroid features.

Onges

• The Little Andaman Island is home to Onges tribes, who are fewer than 100.

North Sentinelese

• North Sentinel Island is part of North Andaman region home to the Sentinelese tribe.

Explanation :

• Togo has become the first African country to eliminate sleeping sickness as a public health problem.
• According to the WHO, sleeping sickness is currently found in 36 sub-Saharan African countries.

Sleeping Sickness(African Trypanosomiasis)

• It is caused by infection with the protozoa Trypanosoma brucei.
• African trypanosomiasis is transmitted to humans by bites of tsetse fly (found only in rural Africa).
• Early symptoms include fever, headaches, joint pains and itching.
• Later stages may include behavioral changes, confusion and poor coordination.
• Treatment involves drugs to kill the parasites.

Togo

• Togo is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north.
• The country extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its capital Lome is located.
• It is a tropical, sub-Saharan nation, whose economy depends highly on agriculture, with a climate that provides good growing seasons.

Explanation :

• Channapatna toys are a particular form of wooden toys that are manufactured in the town of Channapatna, Ramanagara district of Karnataka.
• As a result of the popularity of these toys, Channapatna is known as Gombegala Ooru (toy-town) of Karnataka.
• The origin of these toys can be traced to the reign of Tipu Sultan who invited artisans from Persia to train the local artisans in the making of wooden toys.
• The major raw material used for the manufacturing of toys is the wood of the Wrightiatinctoria tree,colloquially called Aalemara (ivory-wood).
• However, the craft has diversified over time; in addition to the traditional ivory-wood, other woods—including rubber, sycamore, cedar, pine and teak—are now used as well.
• This traditional craft is protected as a geographical indication (GI)(2006) under the World Trade Organization, administered by the Government of Karnataka

Explanation :

• The Baltic Nations, also known as the Baltic countries, Baltic republics, Baltic kingdom, or simply the Baltics, is a geopolitical term, typically used to group the three sovereign states in Northern Europe on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
• The term is not used in the context of cultural areas, national identity, or language, because while the majority of people in Latvia and Lithuania are Baltic people, the majority in Estonia are Finnic.
• The three countries do not form an official union, but engage in intergovernmental and parliamentary cooperation.
• The most important areas of cooperation between the three countries are foreign and security policy, defence, energy, and transportation.
• All three countries are members of NATO, the Eurozone, the OECD, and the European Union.
• All three are classified as high-income economies by the World Bank and maintain a very high Human Development Index.
• For 2020-21, Estonia has been elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

Explanation :

• Teesta river is a tributary of the Brahmaputra (known as Jamuna in Bangladesh), flowing through India and Bangladesh.
• It originates in the Himalayas near Chunthang, Sikkim and flows to the south through West Bengal before entering Bangladesh.
• The literary meaning of the word ‘Teesta’ is Trishna (desire) which never ends. The legend of the Teesta River is mentioned in KalikaPurana.
• Among the other rivers of northern India, Teesta River is also called as younger daughter of Himalaya.
• Originally, the river continued southward to empty directly into the Padma River (main channel of Ganga in Bangladesh) but around 1787, the river changed its course to flow eastward to join the JamunaRiver.
• The river flows through the Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal before entering the territory of Bangladesh.

Explanation :

• The Kerala government is carrying out a unique programme called “Namath Basai” of teaching tribal children in their mother tongue.
• The programme, implemented by the SamagraSiksha Kerala (SSK), has succeeded in retaining hundreds of tribal children in their online classes by making them feel at home with the language of instruction.
• It offers pre-recorded classes through a YouTube channel in three tribal languages in Attappady valley in Palakkad District Kerala.
• These languages are Irula, Muduka and Kurumba.
• Namath Basai is being introduced in the tribal belts of Wayanad and Idukki as well. Classes are offered in the Oorali, Mutuvan and Paniya languages in Idukki.