Daily current affairs - 10th September 2021

• IAS Plus, Ranchi
• 10, Sep 2021

National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF)

• National Institute Ranking Framework or NIRF is the first-ever effort by the government to rank  higher education institutions (HEIs) in the country.

BY ---- Ministry of Education’s annual ranking.

• It outlines a methodology to rank institutions across the country.
• The methodology draws from the overall recommendations broad understanding arrived at by a Core Committee set up by MHRD, to identify the broad parameters for ranking various universities and institutions.
• The parameters broadly cover - 
  • Teaching Learning and Resources
  • Research and Professional Practices
  • Graduation Outcomes
  • Outreach and Inclusivity
  • Perception
• IIT Madras has been ranked number one in India in ‘Overall’ and ‘Engineering’ category in NIRF Rankings 2021. It was followed by IISc Bengaluru and IIT Bombay in -

NIRF rankings were launched in 2015 and the first ranks were announced in 2016. Since the first rankings, the number of categories has increased from four to 11.

Samvatsari

It is the last day of Paryushana Shwetambar sect of Jainism.

• It falls on Shukla Panchami each year in the Jain calendar month of Bhadrapada, somewhere between the middle of August and September in the Gregorian calendar.
• On this day, Jains forgive and seek forgiveness for their mistakes committed knowingly or unknowingly from all the living beings.
• As a matter of ritual, they personally greet their friends and relatives Micchami Dukkadam.

Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) for Specified Agriculture Products Scheme

• Department of Commerce had introduced ‘Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) for Specified Agriculture Products Scheme’ to provide assistance for the international component of freight, to mitigate the disadvantage of higher freight costs faced by the Indian exporters of agriculture products.
• It aims to provide assistance for the international component of freight and marketing of agricultural produce, which is likely to mitigate the disadvantage of the higher cost of transportation of export of specified agriculture products due to trans-shipment and to promote brand recognition for Indian agricultural products in the specified overseas
  markets.
• The scheme was announced in 2019 for providing financial assistance for transport and marketing of agricultural products to boost exports of such commodities to certain countries in Europe and North America.
• Under the Transport and Marketing Assistance plan, it reimburses a certain portion of freight charges and provides assistance for marketing of agricultural produce. Exporters were demanding to extend the scheme as freight charges continue to increase.
• Dairy products, which were not covered under the earlier scheme, will be eligible for assistance.
• Enhanced assistance under the revised scheme is expected to help Indian exporters of agricultural products to meet rising freight and logistics costs.

Solar Storm

• Solar storms are massive eruptions of plasma and charged particles that are blasted into space from the sun.
• These eruptions, which comprise flares, prominences, sunspots, and coronal mass ejections (CME) can overwhelm the Earth’s atmosphere if they occur in sufficiently large quantities.
• While the Earth’s atmosphere can normally act as a defence against harmful radiation, if it gets overwhelmed by the solar storm, the result could be devastating.
• The harmful particles of the solar storm can produce their own magnetic fields, which could
• modify the Earth’s magnetic field and affect compass readings.
• It could also dump particles in the Earth’s atmosphere that can cause an Aurora on the planet, like the northern lights.
• It could also produce massive electrical surges in power grids and induce electricity in long pipelines.
• Apart from causing significant damage to the planet’ s Internet infrastructure, the storm could also impact
• power grids throughout the world.
• It could also cause severe damage to repeaters, used for strengthening signals in long-distance fibre optic cables, and the massive undersea cables that provide Internet connectivity between continents.

Muthuswami Dikshitar

• He was a South Indian poet, singer and veena player, and a legendary composer of Indian  Classical music, who is considered one of the musical trinity of Carnatic music.
• His compositions, of which around 500 are commonly known, are noted for their elaborate and poetic descriptions of Hindu gods and temples and for capturing the essence of the raga forms through the vainika (veena) style that emphasises gamakas.
• He is also known by his signature name of Guruguha which is also his mudra (and can be found in each of his songs).
• His most important compositons can be categorized as –
  • Nava Gruha Kritis
  • Nava Avarana Kritis
  • Pancha Linga Kritis
  • Guruguha Kritis
• Some popular examples of Muthuswami Dikshitar Kritis are –
  • ”Vatapi Ganapatim” – set to “Raaga Hamsadhwani”
  • ”Annapoorne” Set to “raaga Sama”
  • ”Mahaganapathim” – set to “raaga Naata”

UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik)

• It is a regional airport development and "Regional Connectivity Scheme" (RCS) of Government of India, with the objective of "letting the common citizen of the country fly", aimed at making air travel affordable and widespread, to boost inclusive national economic development, job growth and air transport infrastructure development of all regions and states of India.
• UDAN-RCS is both an enabler and a beneficiary of other key Government of India schemes, such as
• Bharatmala, Sagarmala, Dedicated Freight Corridors, Industrial corridor, BharatNet, Digital India and Make in India, National e-Governance Plan, Startup India and Standup India.
• UDAN has played a major role in adding new airports and routes to the aviation landscape of the country. 50 unserved and underserved airports (including 5 heliports) with 285 routes have been added under UDAN across the length and breadth of India.
• As the implementing agency, AAI has an ambitious plan to develop at least 100 airports/waterdromes/heliports by 2024 under the Scheme.

Nuakhai

• Nuakhai or Navakhai or is an agricultural festival mainly observed by people of Western Odisha and Southern Chhattisgarh.
• Nuakhai is observed to welcome the new rice of the season.
• Nuakhai is the agricultural festival of Kosali people.
• The festival is akin to Onam in Kerala.
• The festival is celebrated on the day after Ganesh Chaturth