Register now : Call/ Whatsapp 6238427443 | 7594875084 Prepare for IAS at the comfort of your home SCHOOL & COLLEGE STUDENTS Register now : Call/ Whatsapp 6238427443 | 7594875084 Etikoppaka dolls In the Mann Ki Baat speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a special mention of the famous Etikoppaka dolls saying that the toys would be useful to unleash the creativity in children in the current Pandemic situation. Key points • Etikoppaka dolls are native to Andhra Pradesh, they come from the village by the same name Etikoppaka. • This village is located on the banks of the Varaha river in Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. • The village has a glorious history where the local jamindars started recognizing the possibility of making splendid and attractive toys much before independence. These are well known for canon toys, lord Ganesha form and bullock etc. • Made in the Etikoppaka region of Andhra Pradesh, these toys are made with lacquer color and are traditionally known as Etikoppaka toys or Etikoppaka Bommalu. • The village is very famous for its toys made of wood. The toys are also called as lacquer toys because of application of lacquer coating. • The toys are made out of wood and are coloured with natural dyes derived from seeds, lacquer, bark, roots and leaves. • The wood used to make the toys is soft in nature and the art of toy making is also known as Turned wood Lacquer craft. • While making the Etikoppaka toys, lac, a colourless resinous secretion of numerous insects, is used. The already prepared vegetable dyes are further mixed to the lac, during the process of oxidation. After this process, the end product obtained is rich and colored lacquer. • The lac dye is used for decorating the Etikoppaka toys, which are exported all over the world. ‘MEDBOT’ • Indian Railways develops remote-controlled medical trolley ‘MEDBOT’ to deliver food, medicines to COVID-19 patients. • The trolley has been designed and constructed in-house by the Loco Division. It also has cameras and a mic. The special thing is that medicine, water, food, bed sheets etc. can be given through trolleys without coming in contact with the patient. • The control on the fully robotic medboat trolley is remote. • After successful testing it was handed over to the central hospital to serve the isolated patients. Pranab Mukherjee • Former President Bharat Ratna Pranab Mukherjee passed away . He was 84. Mukherjee had, earlier this month, undergone brain surgery at the Army Research and Referral hospital in the national capital. • Mr Mukherjee served as 13th President of India from 2012 to 2017. He also served as Union Minister of Finance, Defence, External Affairs and Commerce. • Mr Mukherjee was also Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission. He was elected to Rajya Sabha five times and twice to Lok Sabha. Mr Mukherjee served as Leader of both houses of Parliament. India's GDP shrinks by a record 23.9% • The Indian economy saw its worst contraction in decades, with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) shrinking by a record 23.9% in the April to June quarter in comparison to the same period last year, according to data released by the National Statistical Office. • The contraction refl•ects the severe impact of the COVID19 lockdown, which halted most economic activities, as well as the slowdown trend of the economy even pre COVID19. • According to D.K. Srivastava, chief policy advisor at EY India, and a member of the Advisory Council to the 15th Finance Commission, expect annual GDP to contract 5%- 7% in 2020-21, noting that the last contraction of the economy occurred in 1979-80, when GDP shrank 5.2%. • There have been four other instances of minor contraction between 1965-68, and 1972-73, but this year is likely to be the worst since Independence. • Agriculture was the only sector which recorded a modest growth of 3.4% in year on year terms. All other sectors saw contraction, with the steepest fall of 50% in construction, and the trade, hotels, transport and communication services category shrinking 47%. Note What Is Gross Domestic Product (GDP)? • Gross domestic product (GDP) is the total monetary or market value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country's borders in a specific time period. • As a broad measure of overall domestic production, it functions as a comprehensive scorecard of a given country’s economic health. Renati Chola era inscription • A rare inscription dating back to the Renati Chola era has been unearthed in a remote village of Kadap. It was found engraved on a dolomite slab and shale, which are part of a fragmentary pillar recently excavated from the fields of Chinnadudyala village. • Going by the language and characters, the inscription was written in archaic Telugu, which was readable in 25 lines — the first side with 11 lines and the remaining on the other side. • It was assigned to the 8th Century A.D, when the region was under the rule of the Chola Maharaja of Renadu. • The inscription seems to throw light on the record of a gift of six marttus (a measuring unit) of land gifted to a person Sidyamayu, one of the Brahmins serving the temple at Pidukula village. • The last lines are indicative of the priority given to morality in those days. “It says the people who safeguard this inscription for future generations will acquire the status of conducting Aswamedha Yaga, and those destroying it will incur sin equivalent to causing a death in Varanasi. Ulcerative Colitis Japanese PM, Shinzo Abe resigned a year before he would have completed his term (September 2021) in office after the ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease, that he has been battling for many years had worsened recently. Key points • Ulcerative colitis, or UC as it is commonly known, is a chronic, lifelong condition and is classified as an autoimmune disorder. • UC is part of a group of conditions known as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). • It causes inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract (gut). • This inflammation occurs in the colon (large intestine) and rectum. The colon’s lining develops small ulcers which produce pus and mucus, leading to abdominal pain, discomfort and urge to frequently empty the colon. Indra 2020 • Amid high operational alert by the Indian Navy in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) due to the ongoing standoff with China in Ladakh. • India and Russia are scheduled to hold the bilateral naval exercise, Indra 2020, in the Andaman Sea, close to the strategic Strait of Malacca later this week. • Three Russian Navy ships will take part in the exercise on September 4 and 5 along with an equal number from the Indian Navy, along with some aircraft. • This is also the first bilateral naval exercise since all such engagements were suspended due to the COVID19 pandemic. • The timing of the exercise coincides with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s visit to Russia for the Shanghai Cooperation organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers meet. • It also comes just after India withdrew from the Kavkaz2020 multinational exercise in Russia that is scheduled for later this month. Exercise with U.S. • In July, frontline warships of the Indian Navy conducted a Passage Exercise (PASSEX) with the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Nimitz strike group in the same area near the Andaman and Nicobar (A&N) islands as it was transiting the Indian Ocean. • USS Nimitz was returning from the South China Sea through the Malacca Strait where it undertook freedom of navigation operations. International Commission of Jurists • The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said civil rights lawyer Prashant Bhushan’s conviction for criminal contempt of court by the Supreme Court seemed to be inconsistent with the freedom of expression law guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that India was a party to. • In a statement, the ICJ, an international human rights organisation comprising judges and lawyers, said it joined 1,800 Indian lawyers in calling for the Supreme Court to review the standards of criminal contempt. Note • The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is an international human rights non- governmental organization. • It is a standing group of 60 eminent jurists—including senior judges, attorneys and academics—who work to develop national and international human rights standards through the law. • Commissioners are known for their experience, knowledge and fundamental commitment to human rights. • The composition of the Commission aims to reflect the geographical diversity of the world and its many legal systems. • The Commission is supported by an International Secretariat based in Geneva, Switzerland, and staffed by lawyers drawn from a wide range of jurisdictions and legal traditions. • The Secretariat and the Commission undertake advocacy and policy work aimed at strengthening the role of lawyers and judges in protecting and promoting human rights and the rule of law. Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India - 2019 The number of suicide cases and accidental deaths registered an increase across the country last year from the 2018 figures, according to the Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India report for 2019 released by the National Crime Records Bureau. Key findings • The most cases of mass/family suicides were reported from Tamil Nadu (16), followed by Andhra Pradesh (14), Kerala (11) and Punjab (9) and Rajasthan (7). Suicides in the country went up slightly from 1,34,516 to 1,39,123. • Of the 97,613 male suicides, the most were of daily wage earners (29,092), followed by self employed persons (14,319) and the unemployed (11,599). Of the 41,493 female, over half were housewives. • The most suicides by unemployed persons were in Kerala at 14% (1,963), followed by 10.8% in Maharashtra, 9.8% in Tamil Nadu, 9.2% in Karnataka and 6.1% in Odisha.