04.03.22 Daily [Andhra Pradesh] APPSC Current Affairs

An action plan is being implemented by the power utilities ofAndhra Pradeshto meet the expected energy demand for this March-May quarter, which is forecasted at 20,143 million units. This translates to a 5.6 per cent increase compared to 19,066 MU for the same period in 2021.

According to state officials, the utilities are preparing a long-term action plan to meet the future demand of 240 MU per day by 2023. The utilities have laid a special focus on meeting the increasing electricity demand and providing uninterrupted, quality power to consumers of all categories.

Grid officials of APTransco said the actual energy demand in February 2022 was 5,574 MU and the peak demand was 11,342 MW. It is forecasted that the Average demand in April 2022 would be 222.8 MU per day, while the demand is expected to touch around 240 MU by March-2023 with an increase of demand by 18 MU per day.

Andhra Pradesh, which used to produce about 7-8 lakhkgof wool per annum until a few years ago, did not produce any wool in 2021-22. Till 2014, the state accounted for nearly 11% of the total wool production in the country. The production saw a gradual decline over the years, and it has now come down to zero.

As per the Union governments basic animal husbandry statistics 2022, this is due to the states shift to meat production-based cultivation. Even in the country as a whole, wool production decreased by about 10.3% in 2022 compared to a year ago. While ewes contributed to 63.8% of the total wool production, ram/wether and lamb contributed to only 18.86% and 17.37%, respectively.

Of the 9.29 million tonnes of meat production, over 51% came from . The top five meat producing states in 2022 wereMaharashtra(12.25%), Uttar Pradesh (12.14%), West Bengal (11.63%), Andhra Pradesh (11.04%), and Telangana (10.82%). They together amounted to 57.86% of total meat production in the country during the last financial year.
Andhra Pradesh was also among the top five milk producing states. The state has a per capita availability of 799 grams of milk a day almost two times higher thanthe nationalaverage of 444 grams. The milk production from exotic/crossbred cattle increased by 6.16% and indigenous/non-descript cattle by 6.13% in 2021-22 as compared to previous year. The milk production from buffaloes also witnessed an improvement by 4.44%. Nearly 31.58% of the total milk production was contributed by indigenous buffaloes, with crossbred cattle contributing 29.91%. The total export of Livestock and livestock products was valued at 46,083 crore.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD) on Wednesday launched the Stree Manoraksha Project in collaboration with NIMHANS Bengaluru with an aim to improve the mental Health of women in India.

The project would focus on building on capacity building of OSC (One-Stop Center) functionaries on the tools and techniques as to how to handle the cases of women approaching the One-Stop Centres, particularly the women who have suffered violence and distress with due sensitivity and care.

The project which has been outlined meticulously by NIMHANS based on the requirements projected by the Ministry will be imparted in two formats. One format will focus on basic training for all OSC functionaries including the security guards, cooks, helpers, caseworkers, counsellors, centre administrators, paramedical staff etc.

Indians believe Women make better political leaders and share an egalitarian vision of womens place in Society, but an overwhelming majority agrees that when there are few jobs available, men should have more rights to a job than women. These are the findings of the latest Pew Research Centre survey of nearly 30,000 adults throughout India interviewed on gender roles in families and societies.

According to the report, while 55% of Indians believed that men and women make equally good political leaders, nine-in-ten Indians agree with the notion that a wife must always obey her husband. Indian women were only slightly less likely than Indian men to agree with this sentiment (61% versus 67%). Although most Indians expressed egalitarian views on gender roles, with 62% saying that both men and women should be responsible for child care, traditional norms still held sway, with 34% convinced that child care should be handled primarily by women.

Similarly, while a slim majority (54%) says that both men and women should be responsible for earning , as many as 43% believed that earning an income is mainly the obligation of men. Also, 80% of Indians agreed with the idea that when there are few jobs, men should have more rights to a job than women.

The survey also found that Indians with a college degree were less likely to hold traditional views on gender roles, although this did not extend to all gender-related issues. So for instance, 80% of the college-educated (as compared with 88% of those with less Education) still agreed with the notion that wives must always obey their husbands.

National Safety Day is celebrated every year. The day aims to highlight the importance of following safety regulations and measures in order to avoid workplace mishaps. The motive behind celebrations of this day is to create awareness and commitment to working safely.

The National Safety Council declared the holiday to raise public awareness of all safety principles. These also include road safety, workplace safety, human Health and environmental safety.

The National Safety Council is a non-profit and self-financing organization running at the national level.

With the bang of a gavel made of recycled plastic and a standing ovation, representatives of 175 nations agreed on Wednesday to begin writing a global treaty that would restrict the explosive Growth of plastic pollution.

Theagreement commits nationsto work on a broad and legally binding treaty that would not only aim to improve recycling and clean up the worlds plastic waste, but would encompass curbs on plastics production itself. That could put measures like a ban on single-use plastics, a major driver of waste, on the table.

Under the new rules of the Canadian government, a 3% digital Services tax will be imposed on the companies with total annual revenue of at least850millionandprofitsof16 million or more from providing digital services in Canada.

It is to tax large multinational corporations (MNCs) such as Facebook, Apple, and Google which do business in Canada but pay most taxes in USA or tax-havens.

USTR has argued that this tax goes against the spirit and the text of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) agreement, where it was agreed that the signatories would not impose new unilateral taxes that work against the spirit of the BEPS agreement.

A day after the virtual Quad summit in which PM Narendra Modi called on the four-nation grouping to focus on its core principles, the MEA reiterated the same message on Friday. The agenda leaders signed up to is Indo-Pacific being at the core of the Quad agenda.

It is something they want to push ahead. The message is clear that all four countries are trying to take forward the agenda