August 27th and 28th Current Affairs

1. Ministry of Civil Aviation notifies liberalised Drone Rules, 2021.

IN NEWS:

Ministry of Civil Aviation notifies liberalised Drone Rules, 2021

KEY POINTS:

Background:

• In March 2021, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) published the UAS Rules, 2021 that were perceived by academia, Startups, end-users and other stakeholders as being restrictive in nature as they involved considerable paperwork, required permissions for every drone flight and very few “free to fly” green zones were available.
• Based on the feedback, the Government has decided to repeal the UAS Rules, 2021 and replace the same with the liberalized Drone Rules, 2021.
• Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), commonly known as drones, offer tremendous benefits to almost all sectors of the economy like – agriculture, mining, infrastructure, surveillance, emergency response, transportation, geo-spatial mapping, defence, and law enforcement etc. 

Few of the liberalized Drone Rules, 2021

• It has abolished several approvals like: unique authorization number, unique prototype identification number, certificate of manufacturing and airworthiness, certificate of conformance, certificate of maintenance, import clearance, acceptance of existing drones, operator permit, authorisation of R&D organisation, student remote pilot licence, remote pilot instructor authorisation, drone port authorisation etc.
• The relaxation in New Drone Rules stipulates, no security clearance will now be required before any registration or license issuance for the operation of drones.
• Interactive airspace map with green, yellow and red zones shall be displayed on the digital sky platform within 30 days of publication of these rules.
• No permission required for operating drones in green zones.  Green zone means the airspace up to a vertical distance of 400 feet or 120 metre that has not been designated as a red zone or yellow zone in the airspace map; and the airspace up to a vertical distance of 200 feet or 60 metre above the area located between a lateral distance of 8 and 12 kilometre from the perimeter of an operational airport.
• Yellow zone reduced from 45 km to 12 km from the airport perimeter.
• No remote pilot licence required for micro drones (for non-commercial use) and nano drones.
• No requirement for security clearance before issuance of any registration or licence.

Significance of the liberalized Drone Rules, 2021

• The new rules will facilitate investments in drone technology in India and will aid in simplifying the process of registration.
• By abolishing the restrictive practices and stringent license regime under the new Drone Rules by the government, it will offer flexibility to players in the sectors.
• An airspace map on the digital sky platform will provide access to real-time updates for drone operation in India in various zones.

SOURCE: PIB

2.NITI Aayog Releases North Eastern Region District SDGIndex and Dashboard 2021–22.

IN NEWS:

NITI Aayog and Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (M/DoNER) released the first edition of the North Eastern Region (NER) District SDG Index Report and Dashboard 2021–22 thus achieving the milestone towards localizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

KEY POINTS:

About the NER District SDG Index& Dashboard

• The index is the first of its kind in the country as it focuses on the North Eastern Region, which is of critical significance to the country’s development trajectory.
• It meaasures the performance of the districts of the eight States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura on the Sustainable Development Goals and their corresponding targets and ranks the districts based on the same.
• The index is based on NITI Aayog’s SDG India Index –the principal and official tool for monitoring progress on the SDGs at the national and State/ Union Territory levels and shares the common ethos of benchmarking performance and ranking on the SDGs to foster competition among the districts.
• It offers insights into the social, economic, and environmental status of the region and its districts in their march towards achieving the SDGs.
• It is a unique policy tool which has immense potential to measure district level progress, highlight critical gaps, facilitate resource allocation, and will be a handy tool for policy makers in the eight North Eastern States, Ministry of DoNER and other Union Ministries.

Overall Results and Findings

• Out of the 103 districts considered for ranking, 64 districts belonged to the Front Runner category while 39 districts were in the Performer category in the composite score and ranking of districts.
• All districts in Sikkim and Tripura fall in the Front Runner category and there are no districts in the Aspirant or Achiever categories.
• East Sikkim [Score 75.87] ranks first in the region followed by districts Gomati and North Tripura [Score 75.73] in the second position.

SOURCE: PIB

3. QSim Toolkit.

IN NEWS:

Quantum Computer Simulator (QSim) Toolkit was launched by the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY).

KEY POINTS:

About

• QSim is a first-of-its-kind indigenously developed toolkit that helps in learning and understanding the practical aspects of programming using Quantum Computers.
• QSim provides a platform to acquire the skills of ‘programming’ (Quantum Code) as well as ‘designing’real Quantum Hardware.
• It enables the researchers and students to carryout research in Quantum computing in a cost effective manner.
• Developed collaboratively by IISc Bangalore, IIT Roorkee and C-DAC with the support of MeitY under the ‘Design and Development of Quantum Computer Toolkit (Simulator, Workbench) & Capacity Building’ project.
• Features – QSim offers a QC Simulator integrated with a Graphic User Interface (GUI) based Workbench allowing people to create Quantum programs.
• QSim helps simulate Quantum circuits with and without noise and test how well various algorithms work with imperfect quantum components.
• It has pre-loaded Quantum programs and algorithms providing a head start to the users.
• QSim – Offering Model
• PARAM SHAVAK QSim – Standalone system with Quantum Simulator in a box
• PARAM QSim Cloud – Available on cloud using HPC infrastructure PARAM SIDDHI AI (developed under NSM program).

SOURCE:TH

4.BH-Series.

IN NEWS:

• Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has introduced a new registration mark for new vehicles i.e. Bharat series (BH-series).

KEY POINTS:

• This series will help in the vehicle re-registration process while moving from one state to another state.
• Need for new registration – Under section 47 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, a person is allowed to keep the vehicle for not more than 12 months in any state other than the state where the vehicle is registered.
• But a new registration with the new state- registering authority has to be made within the stipulated time of 12 months.
• A passenger vehicle user takes the following steps to re-register a vehicle
• No Objection Certificate from the Parent State for assignment of a new registration mark in another state.
• Assignment of new registration mark after the road tax on prorata basis is paid in the new State
• Application for refund of road tax in parent State on pro rata basis.
• Registration Mark Format in BH-series that will facilitate seamless transfer of vehicles is YY BH #### XX.
• YY is the code for Year of 1st registration, BH is the code for Bharat Series, #### for 0000 to 9999, XX for Alphabets (AA to ZZ).
• A vehicle bearing this BH-series registration mark shall not require assignment of a new registration mark when the owner of the vehicle shifts from one State to another.
• This vehicle registration facility under “BH-series” will be available on voluntary basis to
• Defense personnel,
• Employees of Central & State Governments/ Central & State PSUs,
• Employees of private sector companies/organizations, which have their offices in 4 or more States/UTs.

SOURCE:IE

5. Chakma and Hajong .

IN NEWS:

The Arunachal Pradesh government has recently decided to relocate the Chakmas and the Hajongs, who trace their roots to Bangladesh.

KEY POINTS:

• It is still not clear as to which state or states the Arunachal government is going to relocate the Chakmas and the Hajongs and the position of the states in question on the issue.
• Chakma leaders, however, claimed 96% of the Chakmas and the Hajongs of Arunachal are citizens of India as per Section 3 of the Citizenship Act.

Who are Chakma and Hajong?

• Chakmas are predominantly Buddhists while Hajongs are Hindus.
• They were inhabitants of the Chittagong Hill Tracts of erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) who migrated to India due to:
• Submergence of their land by the Kaptai dam on the Karnaphuli River in the 1960s.
• religious persecution they faced in East Pakistan as they were non-Muslims.
• The Indian government set up relief camps in Arunachal Pradesh and a majority of them continue to live there even after 50 years.

Why is Arunachal Pradesh local tribes opposing Chakmas?

• According to an apex students organisation, the “illegal Chakma and Hajong immigrants” were brought to Arunachal without taking the state’s indigenous populace into confidence.
• The indigenous communities are opposed to the settlement of the people for reasons including the “dangerous demographic” changes which allegedly occurred in the districts where they are settled and their alleged aggressive attitude towards the ethnic tribes.

What are Chakma’s claims?

• The Chakma Development Foundation of India (CDFI) had petitioned Prime Minister and Union Home Minister to reject Arunachal’s move to relocate “60,000” Chakmas and Hajongs to other states.
• The CDFI said Chakmas, Hajongs, and ex-Assam Rifles personnel were settled in the then centrally-administered North East Frontier Agency in defence of the country following the 1962 Indo-China war.
• It also argued that Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju stated the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019 was enacted to undo the Supreme Court judgment of 1996, thus, granting the Chakmas and the Hajongs citizenship.

SOURCE:TH

6. Tamil Nadu moves SC over Mekedatu.

IN NEWS:

The Tamil Nadu government has urgently moved the Supreme Court seeking judicial orders to restrain Karnataka from proceedings with “any activity” in regard to the proposed construction of a reservoir at Mekedatu across the inter-State Cauvery river.

KEY POINTS:

What is the Background?

• On July 6, Karnataka Chief Minister said in Bengaluru that his government would go ahead with the long-pending Mekedatu dam project.
• The Mekedatu multi-purpose project involves building a balancing reservoir across the Cauvery River near Kanakapura in Ramanagaram district of Karnataka.
• It envisages supplying drinking water to Bengaluru and Ramanagaram districts, besides generation of power.

Why is Tamil Nadu opposed to it?

• Tamil Nadu feels that Karnataka, as the upper riparian State has adequate infrastructure even now to address the water needs of Bengaluru, there is no need for the Mekedatu project.
• The Mekedatu project also does not find mention in the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal’s final order or the Supreme Court judgment.
• Besides, given the unpleasant experiences that it has had with Karnataka in securing its share of the Cauvery water over the years, Tamil Nadu is wary of the assurances of the other side.

SOURCE:IE