Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE
Topics Covered
- Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA)
- Belgavi Dispute
- Facts for Prelims
1 . Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA)
Context : Seven Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, are among the top 10 central institutions in promotion and support of innovation and entrepreneurship development, according to Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) announced on Wednesday.
About ARIIA
- The ARIIA is an initiative of the Union Education Ministry to rank systematically all major higher education institutions in India on indicators related to innovation, start-up and entrepreneurship development among students and faculty members.
Key parameters
- The ARIIA evaluates institutions on parameters such as patent filed and granted, number of registered students and faculty start-ups, fund generation by incubated start-ups, specialised infrastructure created by institutions to promote innovation and entrepreneurship.
2021 Ranking
- ARIIA-2021 ranking has been announced in various categories which include Centrally funded technical institutions (IITs, NITs and so on), State universities, State standalone technical colleges, private universities, private standalone technical colleges, non-technical government and private universities and institutions.
- The top rank has been bagged by the IIT, Madras followed by the IITs in Bombay, Delhi, Kanpur and Roorkee.
- The IISc has bagged the sixth position in the ranking followed by the IITs in Hyderabad and Kharagpur, the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Calicut, and the Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Uttar Pradesh.
2 . Belgavi Dispute
Context : The border town of Belagavi has been a part of Karnataka since boundaries were demarcated on linguistic lines under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. But the inter-State border dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra erupts every now and then.
Recent Issue
- In the most recent instance, trouble began after some Kannada activists blackened the face of a leader of the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) – a Marathi outfit formed to demand Belagavi’s inclusion into Maharashtra — during ‘Maha Melava’ rally.
- In turn, some Marathi outfits burnt the Kannada flag in Kolhapur in Maharashtra. This was widely condemned by Kannada organisations and the Basavaraj Bommai-led government in Karnataka.
- To settle scores, some Kannada activists poured ink on a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji in Bengaluru. MES activists then vandalised a statue of Sangolli Rayanna, a 19th century icon of Karnataka who fought the British, at Belagavi.
What are the claims of both states?
- In 1957, unhappy with the demarcation of boundaries, Maharashtra demanded realignment of its border with Karnataka. It invoked Section 21 (2) (b) of the Act, and submitted a petition to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs stating its objection to Marathi-speaking areas included in Karnataka.
- It claimed 814 villages, and three urban settlements of Belagavi, Karwar and Nippani, all part of Mumbai Presidency before independence. A petition by Maharashtra in the Supreme Court, staking a claim over Belagavi, is currently pending.
- Karnataka has consistently argued that inclusion of Belagavi as part of its territory is beyond dispute. It has cited the demarcation done on linguistic lines as per the Act and the later Mahajan Commission Report to substantiate its position.
- Karnataka has argued for inclusion of areas in Kolhapur, Sholapur and Sangli districts (falling under Maharashtra) as its territory. Karnataka started holding the winter session of the Legislature in Belagavi from 2006. It built a massive Secretariat building in the district headquarters, on the lines of the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru, to reassert its claim.
- In 1960, a four-member committee was formed by both States. The committee could not arrive at a consensus and respective representatives submitted reports to their government. In the subsequent decades, chief ministers of both States have met several times to find an amicable solution but to no avail.
What were the terms of the Mahajan Commission?
- In 1966, at Maharashtra’s insistence, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi established a one-man commission, the Mahajan Commission (Mehr Chand Mahajan, third Chief Justice of India) a few months before the 1967 general elections and its report was released after the elections. It recommended that 264 villages be transferred to Maharashtra and that Belgaum and 247 villages remain with Karnataka.
- Maharashtra rejected the report, while Karnataka welcomed it. Karnataka argued that either the Mahajan Commission Report should be accepted fully or status quo maintained.
3 . Facts for Prelims
Regression Theorem
- The regression theorem refers to a theory of the origin of money that states that money must have originated as a commodity with intrinsic value in the marketplace. The idea was first proposed by Austrian economist Carl Menger in his 1892 work “On the Origins of Money.
- The regression theory is offered as an alternative to the state theory of money which states that money can come into existence only when it is backed by the government. The regression theory, however, argues that money comes into existence through a gradual process of evolution in the marketplace, without the need for any government sanction.