IN NEWS:

Union minister of health and family welfare Shri Mansukh Mandaviya chairs High Level Meet with all States to review Public Health gains against Tuberculosis.

KEY POINTS:

• The minister assured that the Union government is open to all suggestions from the States/UTs on Tuberculosis in its mission to fulfil Prime Minister’s dream of a TB Free India by 2025.
• He also encouraged the States and UTs to provide suggestions on the Public Health Management of COVID and other programs and initiatives of the Union Health Ministry.
• On the threat to the gains made against TB due to COVID-19, he spoke on the ramping up of COVID Vaccination in the recent days and also highlighted the importance of vaccinating all teachers by the 5th of September for which additional doses are being provided to the States.
• He encouraged states to ensure that COVID protocols are continued to be followed and no laxity in shown due to improved situation in the country.
• He emphasised on encouraging the common people to join us in this mission for eradicating TB. It has to be made a people’s initiative.

TB and COVID-19:

• The World Health Organization (WHO) is advising Member States that are leading the response to the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic.
• The WHO Global TB Programme, along with WHO regional and country offices, has developed an information note, in collaboration with stakeholders.
• This note is intended to assist national TB programmes and health personnel to urgently maintain continuity of essential services for people affected with TB during the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by innovative people-centred approaches, as well as maximizing joint support to tackle both diseases.
• It is important that the progress made in TB prevention and care is not reversed by the COVID19 pandemic. Finding and treating people with TB remain the fundamental pillars of TB prevention and care and those would require maintained attention.

SOURCE: PIB

2.DefExpo-2022

IN NEWS:

Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh and Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Vijay Rupani jointly reviewed the preparations of DefExpo-2022, at Kevadia, Gujarat on September 02, 2021.

KEY POINTS:

• The 12th edition of DefExpo, which is India’s flagship event showcasing the land, naval, air as well as homeland security systems, will be held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat between March 10-13, 2022.
• The Gujarat Government aims to utilise the opportunity to further its aerospace & defence vision and seek foreign investments.
• In February 2021, India was the first country to conduct a hybrid aerospace exhibition, Aero India-2021 at Bengaluru, in compliance with strict COVID-19 protocols. The event, under the aegis of Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence, had witnessed tremendous global response.

DefExpo-2022

• The DefExpo, the premier event in the international aerospace and defence calendar, has witnessed year-on-year growth, both in the quantity and quality of participation.
• The aim of DefExpo-2022 is to build upon the vision to achieve ‘Aatmanirbharta’ in defence and reach USD five billion defence exports target by 2024.
• The objective is to make India a major destination of land, naval, air & homeland security systems and defence engineering.
• Keeping with future warfare in mind, the event aims to recognise the impact of disruptive technologies on conflicts and its consequent impact on the equipment and platforms required.
• The DefExpo-2022 will be organised keeping with the COVID-19 protocols and aims to ensure maximum international and domestic participation.
• The events planned include Conclave, Hybrid events, live demonstrations & business seminars.

SOURCE: PIB

3. Shikshak Parv-2021.

IN NEWS:

The Shikshak Parv-2021 will be observed from September 5, 2021.

KEY POINTS:

• During the Shikshak Parv-2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address teachers, students and other stakeholders of the education sector on September 7.
• This event will be celebrated to honour the contribution of teachers.
• On the occasion, PM will launch five initiatives:
• Indian sign language dictionary of 10,000 words
• Talking books (audio books for visually impaired)
• School quality assessment and accreditation framework (SQAAF) of CBSE
• NISTHA teachers’ training programme for NIPUN Bharat, and
• Vidyanjali portal to facilitate education volunteers, donors and CSR contributors in development of school.

Shikshak Parv-2021

Shikshak Parv-2021 will be celebrated by Ministry of Education (MoE) from September 5 to 17, 2021. It will be organised to recognise the valuable contributions of teachers and to take National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 ahead.

SOURCE:TH

4. Additional Tier 1 Bonds.

IN NEWS:

• Recently, State Bank of India (SBI) has raised Rs. 4,000 crore of the Basel compliant Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds at coupon rate of 7.72%.
• This is the first AT1 Bond issuance in the domestic market post the new SEBI regulations.
• This is also the lowest pricing ever offered on such debt issued by any Indian bank since the implementation of Basel III capital rules in 2013.

KEY POINTS:

• AT1 bonds, also called perpetual bonds, carry no maturity date but have a call option. The issuer of such bonds may call or redeem the bonds if it is getting money at a cheaper rate, especially when interest rates are falling.
• They are like any other bonds issued by banks and companies, but pay a slightly higher rate of interest compared to other bonds.
• Banks issue these bonds to shore up their core capital base to meet the Basel-III norms.
• These bonds are also listed and traded on the exchanges. So, if an AT-1 bondholder needs money, he can sell it in the secondary market.
• Investors cannot return these bonds to the issuing bank and get the money. i.e there is no put option available to its holders.
• Banks issuing AT-1 bonds can skip interest payouts for a particular year or even reduce the bonds’ face value.
• Regulated By:AT-1 bonds are regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). If the RBI feels that a bank needs a rescue, it can simply ask the bank to write off its outstanding AT-1 bonds without consulting its investors.

Bonds

• Bonds are units of corporate debt issued by companies and securitized as tradable assets.
• A bond is referred to as a fixed-income instrument since bonds traditionally paid a fixed interest rate (coupon) to debtholders. Variable or floating interest rates are also now quite common.
• Bond prices are inversely correlated with interest rates: when rates go up, bond prices fall and vice-versa.
• They have maturity dates at which point the principal amount must be paid back in full or risk default.

SOURCE:TH

The post September 3rd Current Affairs appeared first on Vignan IAS Academy.

IN NEWS:

INS Tabar, as part of her overseas deployment, made a port call at Casablanca in Morocco on 25 and 26 Aug 21.

KEY POINTS:

• The ship participated in a Maritime Partnership Exercise with Royal Moroccan Navy ship ‘Lieutenant Colonel Arrahman’ off Casablanca port.
• Evolutions like communication drills, replenishment at sea procedures and naval manoeuvres were undertaken during the exercise.
• The exercise concluded with the traditional ‘Steam Past’ between the two ships to bid farewell to each other.

About INS Tabar:

• INS Tabar (translates as “battle axe”) is the third of the Talwar-class frigate of the Indian Navy. The frigate was commissioned on 19 April 2004 in Kaliningrad, Russia.
• INS Tabar is a well-equipped warship that has the ability to handle air/surface/sub-surface missions or defending herself operating either independently on maritime missions or supporting a larger naval task force.

SOURCE:PIB

2.PM to release a special commemorative coin on the occasion of 125th Birth Anniversary of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Ji on 1st September.

IN NEWS:

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will release a special commemorative coin of ₹ 125 and will also address the gathering, on the occasion of the 125th Birth Anniversary of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Ji on 1st September 2021.

KEY POINTS:

About Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Ji:

• Swami ji born Abhay Charan De, was an Indian spiritual teacher and the founder-acharya (preceptor) of the the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) commonly known as the “Hare Krishna movement that translated Shrimad Bhagvad Geeta and other Vedic literature in 89 languages, playing a stellar role in dissemination of Vedic literature across the world.
• Swamiji also established over a hundred temples and wrote several books, teaching the path of Bhakti Yoga to the world.
• He has been described as a charismatic leader who was successful in acquiring followers in many countries including the United States, Europe and India.
• His mission was to propagate throughout the world Gaudiya Vaishnavism, a school of Vaishnavite Hinduism that had been taught to him by his guru, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati.

3.Sweat Equity Rules: SEBI.

IN NEWS:

Recently, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has brought into effect the SEBI (Share Based Employee Benefits and Sweat Equity) Regulations, 2021.

The regulations have widened the scope of employees who can be offered stock (equity) options.

KEY POINTS:

• SEBI has merged the SEBI (Share Based Employee Benefits) Regulations, 2014 (SBEB Regulations) and the SEBI (Issue of Sweat Equity) Regulations, 2002 (Sweat Equity Regulations).
• SEBI is a statutory body established in accordance with the provisions of the SEBI Act, 1992. Its basic function is to protect the interests of investors in securities and to regulate the securities market.

What is Sweat Equity?

• Sweat equity is a non-monetary contribution that the individuals or founders of a company make towards the company.
• Cash-strapped startups and business owners typically use sweat equity to fund their companies.
• It will be issued for providing the know-how or making available rights in the form of intellectual property rights or value additions.
• The maximum yearly limit that can be issued by a listed company has been prescribed at 15% of the existing paid-up equity share capital
• It will be applicable for 10 years from the date of the company’s incorporation.

SOURCE:IE

4.Economy grows 20.1% in Q1.

IN NEWS:

• India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 20.1% in the first quarter of 2021-22.
• In the corresponding quarter a year ago, the 24.4% contraction was recorded.
• However, economic activity still remained well below the pre-pandemic levels, due to the second wave of COVID-19.

KEY POINTS:

• Gross Value Added (GVA) in the economy (April to June) rose 18.8%, as per the National Statistical Office (NSO), from a 22.2% dip in the first quarter of 2020-21.
• Electricity, gas, water supply and other utility services was the only sector along with agriculture, forestry and fishing, to recover beyond the pre-pandemic levels of 2019-20.

What is the difference between GDP and GVA?

• Gross value added (GVA) is defined as the value of output less (minus) the value of intermediate consumption.
• It is used to measure the output or contribution of a particular sector.
• When such GVAs from all sectors (∑ GVA) are added together along with adding taxes and reducing subsidies,  we can get the GDP (at market price).
• GVA thus shows the production contribution of a particular sector and GDP shows the production contribution of  the  economy.

SOURCE:TH

5.Ladakh adopts State animal and bird.

IN NEWS:

• Ladakh recently adopted two endangered species, snow leopard and black-necked crane, as the State animal and the State bird.
• Black-necked crane, only found in the Ladakh region, was the State bird of J&K before August 5, 2019.

KEY POINTS:

About Snow Leopard

• It is also known as Ghost of the mountains.
• They are positioned as the top predator in the food web.
• It acts as an indicator of the health of the mountain ecosystem in which they live.
• Habitat: Higher Himalayan and trans-Himalayan landscape in  J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh.
• Snow Leopard’s capital of the world: Hemis, Ladakh.
• Threats: Reduction in prey populations, illegal poaching and increased human population infiltration into the species habitat and illegal trade of wildlife parts and products

Conservation Efforts by India:

• Himal Sanrakshak: It is a community volunteer programme, to protect snow leopards, launched on 23rd October 2020
• In 2019, First National Protocol was also launched on Snow Leopard Population Assessment
• SECURE Himalaya: Global Environment Facility (GEF)-UNDP funded project on conservation of high altitude biodiversity
• Project Snow Leopard  launched in 2009
• Snow Leopard is in the list of 21 critically endangered species for the recovery programme of the Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change.

About Black-necked crane.

• It has A conspicuous red crown that adorns the head.
• The juveniles have a brownish head and neck and plumage is slightly paler than that of an adult.
• The bird is revered by the community of Monpas (major Buddhist ethnic group of Arunachal Pradesh) as an embodiment of the sixth Dalai Lama (Tsangyang Gyatso).
• Habitat and Breeding Grounds : The high altitude wetlands of the Tibetan plateau , Sichuan (China), and eastern Ladakh (India)
• In Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh, it only comes during the winters.
• Threats: Damage to the eggs and chicks; Loss of habitat due to humans Development Projects; Increased grazing pressure on the limited pastures near the wetlands.

SOURCE:IE

6.President’s Colour to Be Awarded to Naval Aviation.

IN NEWS:

Shri Ram Nath Kovind, the Hon’ble President of India, will award the President’s Colour to Indian Naval Aviation at the ceremonial parade to be held at INS Hansa, Goa on 06 Sep 21.

KEY POINTS:

About Presidents colour:

• The President’s Colour is the highest honour bestowed on a military unit in recognition of its exceptional service to the nation.
• The Indian Navy was the first amongst the Indian Armed Forces to be awarded the President’s Colour on 27 May 1951 by Dr Rajendra Prasad, the then President of India.

About Indian Naval Aviation:

• Indian Naval Aviation came into being with acquisition of the first Sea land aircraft on 13 Jan 1951 and commissioning of INS Garuda, the first Naval Air Station, on 11 May 1953.
• Arrival of the armed Firefly aircraft in 1958 added an offensive punch, and the naval aviation steadily expanded its inventory to become an integral part of a formidable Navy.
• Today, Indian Naval Aviation boasts of nine air stations and three naval air enclaves along the Indian coastline and the in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• Over the past seven decades, it has transformed into a modern, technologically advanced and highly potent force with more than 250 aircraft comprising Carrier-borne fighters, maritime reconnaissance aircraft, helicopters and remotely piloted aircraft (RPA).
• The Fleet Air Arm can support naval operations in all three dimensions and will remain the first responder for maritime surveillance and HADR in the Indian Ocean Region.

SOURCE: PIB

7.Exercise Zapad 2021 In Russia.

IN NEWS: 

A 200 personnel contingent of Indian Army will participate in Exercise ZAPAD 2021, a Multi Nation exercise being held at Nizhniy, Russia from 03 to 16 September 2021.

KEY POINTS:

About Exercise ZAPAD 2021:

• ZAPAD 2021 is one of the theatre levels exercises of Russian Armed Forces and will focus primarily on operations against terrorists.
• Over a dozen countries from Eurasian and South Asian Region will participate in this signature event.
• The exercise aims to enhance military and strategic ties amongst the participating nations while they plan & execute this exercise.
• The Indian Contingent has been put through a strenuous training schedule which encompasses all facets of conventional operations including mechanised, airborne & heliborne, counter terrorism, combat conditioning and firing.
• The NAGA Battalion group participating in the exercise will feature an all Arms combined task force.

SOURCE: PIB

The post September 1st and 2nd Current Affairs appeared first on Vignan IAS Academy.

IN NEWS:

Thematic POSHAN Maah will be Celebrated Across the Nation Throughout the Month of September as Part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

KEY POINTS:

About POSHAN (Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) Abhiyaan:

• Launched by Ministry of Women & Child Development (MoW&CD) on the occasion of International Women’s Day on 8 March, 2018 from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan, POSHAN Abhiyaan is Government of India’s flagship programmed to improve nutritional outcomes for children, adolescent Girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
• The Abhiyaan targets to reduce
• Stunting by 2% per annum
• Undernutrition by 2% per annum
• Anemia (among young children, women and adolescent girls) by 3% per annum
• Reduce low birth weight by 2% per annum
• It is an inclusive Jan Andolan or “People’s Movement” that involves participation of public representatives of local bodies, government departments of the States/UTs, social organizations and the public and private sector at large.
• Focusing on the aims of POSHAN Abhiyaan, Mission Poshan 2.0 (Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0) has been announced in the Budget 2021-2022 as an integrated nutrition support programme, to strengthen nutritional content, delivery, outreach and outcomes with focus on developing practices that nurture health, wellness and immunity to disease and malnutrition.
• In order to ensure community mobilization and bolster people’s participation, every year, the month of September is celebrated as POSHAN Maah across the country.
• This year, the entire month of September has been subdivided into weekly themes for focused and assimilated approach towards improving Holistic Nutrition.

SOURCE:PIB

2. FDI Inflow.

IN NEWS:

Measures taken by the Government on the fronts of FDI policy reforms, investment facilitation and ease of doing business have resulted in increased FDI inflows into the country.

KEY POINTS:

About the trends in India’s Foreign Direct Investment:

• India has attracted total FDI inflow of US$ 22.53 billion during first three months of 2021-22, i.e., April, 2021 to June, 2021 which is 90% higher as compared to first three months of 2020-21 (US$ 11.84 billion).
• FDI equity inflow grew by 168% in the first three months of F.Y. 2021-22 (US$ 17.57 billion) compared to the year ago period (US$ 6.56 billion).
• Automobile Industry emerges as the top sector during the first three months of F.Y. 2021-22 with 27% share of the total FDI Equity inflow followed by Computer Software & Hardware (17%) and Services Sector (11%) respectively.
• Karnataka is the top recipient state during the F.Y. 2021-22 (upto June, 2021) with 48% share of the total FDI Equity inflows followed by Maharashtra (23%) and Delhi (11%).

SOURCE:PIB

3. Jallianwala Bagh Smarak.

IN NEWS:

Prime Minister Modi dedicated the renovated complex of Jallianwala Bagh Smarak to the nation.

KEY POINTS:

Elaborate heritage restoration works have been carried out in sync with the local architectural style of Punjab. The Shaheedi well has been repaired and restored with a redefined super structure

About Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

• Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, also called Massacre of Amritsar was an incident on April 13, 1919, in which British troops fired on a large crowd of unarmed Indians in an open space known as the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar in Punjab.
• A large but peaceful crowd had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh to protest against the arrest of pro-Indian independence leaders Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlu and Dr. Satya Pal.
• Dr. Saifuddin Kitchlu and Dr. Satya Pal opposed the passing of Rowlat Act in early 1919, which essentially extended the repressive wartime measures.
• In response to the public gathering at Bagh, the British Brigadier-General R. E. H. Dyer surrounded the Bagh with his soldiers. After blocking the exit with his troops, he ordered them to shoot at the crowd, continuing to fire even as protestors tried to flee.
• The Jallianwala Bagh could only be exited on one side, as its other three sides were enclosed by buildings.
• At least 1000 people were killed and over 1,200 other people were injured
• The ineffective inquiry by Disorders Inquiry Committee (also known as Hunters Commission) together with the initial praise for Dyer, fuelled great widespread anger against the British among the Indian populace, leading to the Non-cooperation movement of 1920–22.
• This incident shocked Rabindranath Tagore (the first Indian and Asian Nobel laureate) to such an extent that he renounced his knighthood.
• Britain never formally apologised for the massacre but expressed “regret” in 2019.

SOURCE:TH

4. ICGS Vigraha.

IN NEWS:

• The Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) Indian Coast Guard Ship (ICGS) Vigraha was commissioned into the Indian Coast Guard (ICG).
• It is the last vessel in the series of seven OPVs built by Larsen & Toubro (Private Company) under an Ministry of Defence contract signed in 2015.
• In May 2021, OPV Sajag was commissioned into the ICG.

Key Points

About:

• It is about 98 metres long, 15 metres wide, has 3.6 metres draught, with 2,140 tonnes displacement and a range of 5,000 nautical miles.
• It can attain a sustained speed of up to 26 knots.
• It is fitted with advanced technology radars, navigation & communication equipment, sensors and machinery capable of operating in tropical sea conditions.
• It is also equipped with an integrated bridge system, integrated platform management system, automated power management system and high-power external fire-fighting system.
• It is armed with a 40/60 Bofors gun and fitted with two 12.7 mm Stabilised Remote Control Gun with fire control system.

Special Capability:

• To carry one twin-engine Helicopter and four high speed boats for boarding operation, search & rescue, law enforcement and maritime patrol.
• Capable of carrying pollution response equipment to contain oil spills at sea.

Offshore Patrol Vehicles:

• OPVs are long-range surface ships, capable of operation in maritime zones of India, including island territories with helicopter operation capabilities.
• Their roles include coastal and offshore patrolling, policing maritime zones of India, control and surveillance, anti-smuggling and anti-piracy operations with limited wartime roles.

SOURCE:IE

The post August 30th Current Affairs appeared first on Vignan IAS Academy.

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

The post August 27th and 28th Current Affairs appeared first on Vignan IAS Academy.

IN NEWS:

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) cleared a foreign direct investment (FDI) proposal entailing an investment of up to Rs. 15,000 crore in Anchorage Infrastructure Investment Holding (AIIH) Ltd.

KEY POINTS:

• It is a company incorporated to invest in the infrastructure and construction development sectors.
• The government said the investment would prove to be a “significant boost to the recently announced National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP)” as AIIH had proposed downstream investments in some of the sectors covered under the NMP.

What is National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP)?

• The government aims to raise $81 billion by leasing out state-owned infrastructure assets over the next four years (from FY22 to FY25) through National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP).
• Key features of the National Monetisation Plan:
• The NMP’s roadmap has been formulated by NITI Aayog in consultation with infrastructure line ministries, under the ‘Asset Monetisation’ mandate of the Union Budget 2021-22.
• NITI Aayog has a Public Private Partnership Cell and has engaged transaction advisors to handhold any ministry for any support it needs in pursuing the monetisation roadmap.
• The sectors in which assets are being identified to monetise include roads, ports, airports, railways, power generation and transmission, telecom, warehousing, gas & product pipeline, mining, stadium, hospitality and housing.
• For now, the government has only included the assets of infrastructure line ministries and Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) working in the infrastructure sectors.
• Monetisation through disinvestment and monetisation of non-core assets have not been included in the NMP.

SOURCE: TH

2.100 days ‘SUJALAM’ Campaign begins.

IN NEWS:

The Ministry of Jal Shakti began ‘SUJALAM’, a ‘100 days campaign’ as part of the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ celebrations.

KEY POINTS:

About the initiative

• Objective: To create more and more ODF (Open Defecation Free) Plus villages by undertaking waste water management at village level particularly through creation of 1 million Soak-pits and also other Grey water management activities.
• Waste water from baths, sinks, washing machines, and other kitchen appliances is known as grey water.
• The effort of the campaign would be directed towards achieving the ODF plus status for villages across the country in an accelerated manner in a short time.
• ODF: At any point of the day, not even a single person is found defecating in the open.
• ODF+: At any point of the day, not a single person is found defecating and/or urinating in the open, and all community and public toilets are functional and well maintained.
• ODF++: If the area is already ODF+ and the faecal sludge/septage and sewage are safely managed and treated
• The campaign will also aid in sustainable management of water bodies.
• Significance and benefits: The disposal of waste water and clogging of waterbodies in the villages or on the outskirts of the villages remain one of the major problems.
• The Campaign would help in management of the wastewater and in turn would help to revive the water bodies.
• Furthermore, the campaign would boost the momentum of SBMG (Swachh Bharat Mission – Gramin) phase II activities through community participation and it will increase awareness about ODF-plus activities. Hence ensuring long term maintenance and sustainability of built infrastructure.
• The key activities that will be organised in the villages under this campaign include:
• Organizing Community consultations, Khuli Baithaks and Gram Sabha meetings to analyze the current situation
• Pass resolution to maintain ODF sustainability and achieve needed number of soak pits to manage the grey water
• Develop a 100 days’ plan to undertake sustainability and soak pit construction related activities
• Construct requisite number of soak pits
• Retrofit toilets where needed through IEC and community mobilization and
• Ensure all newly emerging Households in the village have access to toilets.

SOURCE:IE

3.Indo-Kazakhstan joint training exercise to commence on 30 august 2021

IN NEWS:

• As part of military diplomacy and to strengthen the growing strategic relation with Kazakhstan, the 5th edition of Indo- Kazakhstan Joint Training Exercise, “KAZIND-21” will be conducted at Training Node, Aisha Bibi, Kazakhstan, from 30 August to 11 September 2021.
• The exercise is a joint training between both the Armies, which will boost the bilateral relations between India and Kazakhstan.

KEY POINTS:

About “KAZIND-21”

• The KAZIND-21 exercise is a joint training between both the Armies, which will boost the bilateral relations between India and Kazakhstan.
• In this exercise, the Indian Army contingent is represented by a battalion of the Bihar Regiment (consisting of a total of 90 personnel) led by a Contingent Commander and the Kazakhstan Army will be represented by a company group.
• The Exercise will provide an opportunity to the Armed Forces of India & Kazakhstan to train for Counter Insurgency/ Counter-Terrorism operations in the mountainous, rural scenarios under UN mandate.
• Its scope includes professional exchange, planning & execution of the operation in Counterterrorism environment at sub-unit level and sharing expertise on skills at arms, combat shooting, and experiences in Counter Insurgency/ Counter-Terrorism operations.
• The exercise will culminate after a 48 hours long validation exercise which will involve a scenario of neutralization of terrorists in a semi-rural hideout. It will strengthen mutual confidence, interoperability and enable sharing of best practices between the Armed Forces of India and Kazakhstan.

SOURCE: PIB

4.AICTE and BPR&D to launch MANTHAN-2021 tomorrow.

IN NEWS:

Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) will be launching MANTHAN 2021 on 26th August 2021 at National Media Centre.

KEY POINTS:

About MANTHAN 2021

• Hackathon “MANTHAN 2021” is a unique national initiative (36-hour online hackathon with Prize money worth Rs. 40 Lakh and with two phases) to identify innovative concepts and technology solutions for addressing the security challenges of the 21st century faced by our intelligence agencies.
• During this hackathon, selected youths from education institutions across the country and registered start-ups will participate to offer strong, safe and effective technology solutions using their technical expertise and innovative skills.
• Participants are expected to develop digital solutions under 6 themes for 20 different challenge statements released today using new technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning, Augmented reality, Machine Learning, etc. for ever-changing security related challenges, which include photo/video analysis, Fake Content Identification along with the information of creator, predictive Cyber Crime data analytics, etc.

SOURCE: PIB

The post August 26th Current Affairs appeared first on Vignan IAS Academy.

IN NEWS:

Logo for e-Shram portal unveiled by Minister for Labor and Employment.

KEY POINTS:

What is the e-Shram portal?

• e-Shram portal is a portal through which the government aims to register 38 crore unorganised workers, such as construction labourers, migrant workforce, street vendors and domestic workers, among others.
• The workers will be issued an e-Shram card containing a 12-digit unique number, which, going ahead, will help in including them in social security schemes.

Significance of e-Shram portal – National Database on Unorganized Workers (NDUW)

• Targeted identification of the unorganized workers was a much-needed step and the portal which will be the national database of our nation builders will help take welfare schemes to their doorstep, who are the builders of our Nation.
• Targeted delivery and last mile delivery, has been a major focus of the schemes of government of India and the National Database of Unorganised workers (E-Shram portal) is another key step towards that.

SOURCE: PIB

2.Nation’s first mRNA-based vaccine

IN NEWS:

Nation’s first mRNA-based vaccine developed by Gennova company is found to be safe and the Drugs Controller General of India DCG(I) has approved for its Phase II/III trial.

KEY POINTS:

About Gennova’s mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine development program

• Gennova’s mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine development program was partly funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt. of India under Ind CEPI, way back in Jun 2020.
• Later on, the DBT further supported the program under the Mission COVID Suraksha- The Indian COVID-19 Vaccine Development Mission, implemented by BIRAC.

About Mission COVID Suraksha

• It is a mission to accelerate the development of approximately 5-6 vaccines for coronavirus.
• However, a total of 10 vaccine candidates have been supported by DBT till now.
• Under the mission complete focus on the preclinical and clinical development of the vaccine is to be taken care of, for quick release and to restrict any further spread of the Novel coronavirus in the country.

About DBT BIRAC

• Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) is a not-for-profit Section 8, Schedule B, Public Sector Enterprise, set up by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India as an Interface Agency to strengthen and empower the emerging Biotech enterprise to undertake strategic research and innovation, addressing nationally relevant product development needs.
• BIRAC is an industry-academia interface and implements its mandate through a wide range of impact initiatives, be it providing access to risk capital through targeted funding, technology transfer, IP management and handholding schemes that help bring innovation excellence to the biotech firms and make them globally competitive.

About CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations)

• CEPI is an innovative global partnership between public, private, philanthropic, and civil society organizations that are working together to accelerate the development of vaccines against emerging infectious diseases and enable equitable access to these vaccines for people during outbreaks.
• It is an alliance to finance and coordinate the development of new vaccines to prevent and contain infectious disease epidemics with the mission to accelerate the development of vaccines against emerging infectious diseases and enable equitable access to these vaccines for people during outbreaks.

SOURCE: PIB

3. eSanjeevani initiative.

IN NEWS:

Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare’s National Telemedicine Service eSanjeevani has conducted more than 1 Crore (i.e. 10 million) tele-consultations across India.

KEY POINTS:

That eSanjeevani has been quickly adopted by patients, doctors and specialists across the country is evident from the fact that it has shown astounding growth of over 1000% in last 10 months.

eSanjeevani is serving around 75,000 patients every day.

About eSanjeevani:

• Started in 2019, Sanjeevani is the first-ever online OPD (outpatient) consultation service offered by the government of India to citizens and is run by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• The scheme is also called the National Teleconsultation Service, it aims to provide healthcare services to patients in their homes.
• The eSanjeevani OPD portal and system has been developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) in Mohali and includes a structured and safe teleconsultation between a doctor and a patient through online mode (eSanjeevani OPD).

SOURCE: PIB

4. Global Manufacturing Risk Index

IN NEWS:

• Recently, India has overtaken the United States (US) to become the second-most sought-after manufacturing destination globally, driven mainly by cost competitiveness in the Global Manufacturing Risk Index 2021.
• In last year’s report, the US was at second position while India ranked third.

KEY POINTS:

About the Global Manufacturing Risk Index:

• It assesses the most advantageous locations for global manufacturing among 47 countries in Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific (APAC).
• The rankings in the report are determined based on four key parameters:
• Country’s capability to restart manufacturing,
• Business environment (availability of talent/labour, access to markets),
• Operating costs,
• Risks (political, economic and environmental).
• The index is released by the US-based property consultant Cushman & Wakefield.
• China remains at number one position and the US is at third position, in the Global Manufacturing Risk Index, 2021.
• The improvement in ranking indicates the growing interest shown by manufacturers in India as a preferred manufacturing hub over other countries, including the US and those in the APAC region.

Factors Responsible for Improvement in India’s Ranking:

• The growing focus on India can be attributed to India’s operating conditions and cost competitiveness.
• India has a huge population, which means a younger workforce with innovative capabilities that has the potential to fuel the country’s manufacturing sector.
• The improvement in ranking can be also attributed to plant relocations from China to other parts of Asia due to an already established base in pharma, chemicals and engineering sectors.
• Also, these factors continue to be at the centre of the US-China trade tensions.

SOURCE:IE

The post August 25th Current Affairs appeared first on Vignan IAS Academy.

IN NEWS:

The first commercial flight landed on the easternmost tip of the Indian landmass, Tezu in the Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh, on Thursday, scripting history in the country’s aviation sector.

KEY POINTS:

• Tezu’s inclusion on the country’s aviation map is projected to enhance tourism in the Arunachal Pradesh.
• CM Pema Khandu said that Tezu is the seventh domestic destination in the North East under UDAN, giving a boost to regional connectivity as envisioned by PM Narendra Modi.
• With Guwahati – Tezu route, flybig has provided air connectivity in 10 out of 16 routes in the region under the UDAN-RCS scheme. Flybig will operate on this route with a frequency of four flights each week.

Important Information :

About UDAN scheme

• The opening of the Guwahati-Tezu route is a success story for RCS–UDAN route in the northeast.
• In October 2016, the Ministry launched the ‘Ude Deshka Aam Naagrik’ (UDAN) Regional Connectivity Scheme to make air travel more accessible to residents in regional cities.

SOURCE:TH

2. Ubharte Sitaare Alternative Investment Fund.

IN NEWS:

Recently, the Ministry of Finance has launched ‘Ubharte Sitaare’ Alternative Investment Fund to facilitate debt and equity funding to export-oriented MSMEs (Micro Small and medium Enterprises).

KEY POINTS:

About the scheme

• Under the scheme, an identified company is supported even if it is currently underperforming or may be unable to tap its latent potential to grow.
• The scheme diagnoses such challenges and provides support through a mix of structured support covering equity, debt and technical assistance.
• It will also have a Greenshoe Option of Rs 250 crore.
• A greenshoe option is an over-allotment option, which is a term that is commonly used to describe a special arrangement in a share offering for example an IPO
• The fund has been set up jointly by Exim Bank and SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India) which will invest in the fund by way of equity and equity-like products in export-oriented units, in both manufacturing and services sectors.

Criteria for Selecting Companies:

• Companies will be selected for support based on their unique value proposition in technology, products or processes that match global requirements.
• Fundamentally strong companies with acceptable financials with an annual turnover of up to approx. Rs 500 crore.
• Companies with a good business model, strong management capabilities, and focus on product quality.

Objectives:

• To enhance India’s competitiveness in select sectors through finance and extensive handholding support.
• Identify and nurture companies having differentiated technology, products or processes, and enhance their export business;
• Assist units with export potential, which are unable to scale up their operations for want of finance.
• Identify and mitigate challenges faced by successful companies which hinder their exports.
• Assist existing exporters in widening their basket of products and target new markets through a strategic and structured export market development initiative.

SOURCE:TH

3. Yuktdhara.

IN NEWS:

New portal under Bhuvan “Yuktdhara” has been released that will facilitate planning of new MGNREGA assets using Remote Sensing and GIS based information.

KEY POINTS:

About

• The “Yuktdhara” is a new Geospatial Planning Portal that will serve as a repository of assets (Geotags) created under various national rural development programmes, i.e., MGNREGA, Integrated Watershed Management Programme, Per Drop More Crop and Rastriya Krishi Vikas Yojana etc., along with field photographs using remote sensing and geographic information system-based data.
• The name given is very apt as word ‘Yukt’ is derived from Yojanam, the planning and ‘Dhara’ indicates the flow.
• It is a culmination of untiring joint efforts of ISRO and Ministry of Rural development made towards realizing a G2G service for rural planning in support of decentralized decision making.
• This portal integrates wide variety of thematic layers, multi-temporal high resolution earth observation data with analysis tools.
• Planners will analyse previous assets under various schemes and facilitates identification of new works using online tools.
• Plans prepared will be evaluated by appropriate authorities under State Departments. Thus, Yuktdhara based plans will be prepared by grassroot functionary and verified by appropriate authorities for relevance and resource allocation.
• This would ensure quality of plan and enable a long-term monitoring of the assets created over the years.

SOURCE:PIB

4.Sree Narayana Guru.

IN NEWS:

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has paid tributes to Sree Narayana Guru on his Jayanti.

KEY POINTS:

About Sree Narayana Guru

• Sree Narayana Guru was a catalyst and leader from Kerala who reformed the oppressivecaste system that prevailed in society at the time whose philosophy always advocated social equality, education for all, and spiritual enlightenment.
• Born in the Ezhava caste, Narayan Guru had experienced discrimination from the upper caste of society.
• One of his famous sayings in Malayalam was ‘One caste, one religion, one god for all.’
• Narayana Guru consecrated the first temple of Lord Shiva in 1888 where an idol was ordinated by a non-brahmin in Aruvippuram village of Kerala sparking off the anti-caste revolution against the upper-caste Brahmin communities.
• Later, in 1903, he established the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP) organization as the founder and president that continues to mark its strong presence to this day.
• The famous ‘Vaikom Satyagraha’ protest movement against caste discrimination and untouchability abolished untouchability and inequality. Hence, this day is quite important in Kerala and is observed as a public holiday.
• The Sivagiri pilgrimage was established in 1924 to promote the virtues of cleanliness, education, devotion, agriculture, handicrafts, and trade.
• His philosophy and teachings are a way of life for the people of Kerala.
• He passed away on September 20, 1928.

SOURCE:PIB

5. ‘National Monetisation Pipeline’.

IN NEWS:

Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, unveiled a four-year National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) scheme on August 23, 2021.

KEY POINTS:

About NMP scheme

• Scheme was launched with a Rs 6 lakh crore unlock value in brownfield projects.
• It also engages the private sector. They will have the rights but not the ownership in projects.
• Scheme will be using the funds for infrastructure creation across India.
• Under the scheme, roads, railways and power sector assets would be comprising of more than 66 per cent of the total estimated value of the assets to be monetised.
• Rest of the estimated value will come from sector like mining, telecom, ports, aviation, natural gas, warehouses & stadiums and petroleum product pipelines.
• Real estate investment trusts (REITs) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs) are some of structures that will be used to monetise assets in roads and power sectors.
• Significance of the monetisation
• According to Finance Minister, monetisation will help in creating further value for infrastructure creation India and exploring innovative ways of private participation without transferring the government ownership.

Key challenges of the scheme

1. Major key challenges in the NMP roadmap include:
2. Lack of identifiable revenue streams across various assets,
3. Level of capacity utilisation across gas and petroleum pipeline networks,
4. Dispute resolution mechanism,
5. Regulated tariffs in power sector assets, and
6. Low interest among investors for national highways below four lanes.

Assets on the NMP list include-

1. 26700 km of roads, railway stations, train operations & tracks
2. 28608 CKT km of power transmission lines
3. 6 GW of hydroelectric & solar power assets
4. 86 lakh km fibre assets & 14,917 towers in the telecom sector
5. 8154 km of natural gas pipelines and
6. 3930 km of petroleum product pipelines.

SOURCE:ET

The post August 24th Current Affairs appeared first on Vignan IAS Academy.

IN NEWS:

Recently, the Ministry of New and Renewable (MNRE) has conducted a review of implementation of Prime Minister’s Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) scheme and Rooftop Solar Programme Phase-II and suggested measures for expansion of the schemes.

KEY POINTS:

About PM-KUSUM:

• The PM-KUSUM scheme was launched by the MNRE in 2019, to support installation of off-grid solar pumps in rural areas and reduce dependence on grid, in grid-connected areas.
• The objective of the scheme is to enable farmers to set up solar power generation capacity on their barren lands and to sell it to the grid.
• The government’s Budget for 2020-21 expanded the scope for the scheme with 20 lakh farmers to be provided assistance to install standalone solar pumps; another 15 lakh farmers to be given help to solarise their grid-connected pump sets.

About Rooftop Solar Programme Phase II:

• The aim is to achieve a cumulative capacity of 40,000 MW from Rooftop Solar Projects by the year 2022.
• In a grid-connected rooftop or small Solar Voltaic Panel system, the DC power generated from the Solar Voltaic panel is converted to AC power using the power conditioning unit and is fed to the grid.
• This scheme is being implemented in the states by distribution companies (DISCOMs).
• The MNRE is providing a 40% subsidy for the first 3 kW and 20% subsidy beyond 3 kW and upto 10 kW of solar panel capacity.
• Objectives of the Rooftop Solar Programme:
• To promote the grid-connected SPV rooftop and small SPV power generating plants among the residential, community, institutional, industrial and commercial establishments.
• To mitigate the dependence on fossil fuel based electricity generation and encourage environment-friendly Solar electricity generation.
• To create an enabling environment for investment in the solar energy sector by the private sector, state government and the individuals.
• To create an enabling environment for the supply of solar power from rooftop and small plants to the grid.

SOURCE:PIB

2.NTPC commissions largest Floating Solar PV Project in the country

IN NEWS:

The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Ltd, has commissioned the largest floating solar PV project of 25MW on the reservoir of its Simhadri thermal station in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

KEY POINTS:

This is also the first solar project to be set up under the Flexibilization Scheme, notified by the Government of India in 2018.

About floating solar PV project

• The floating solar installation has a unique anchoring design and it is spread over 75 acres in an RW reservoir.
• This floating solar project has the potential to generate electricity from more than 1 lakh solar PV modules that would not only help to light around 7,000 households but also ensure at least 46,000 tons of CO2e are kept at arm’s length every year during the lifespan of this project.
• The project is also expected to save 1,364 million litres of water per annum.
• This would be adequate to meet the yearly water requirements of 6,700 households.

Simhadri thermal station

• The 2000MW coal-based Simhadri Station is the first power project to implement an open sea intake from the Bay of Bengal which has been functional for more than 20 years.
• NTPC is also planning to set up a hydrogen-based micro-grid system on a pilot basis at Simhadri.
• NTPC
• NTPC is India’s first energy company to declare its energy compact goals as part of the UN High-level Dialogue on Energy (HLDE) and has set a target to install 60 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy (RE) capacity by 2032.
• With a total installed capacity of 66900 MW, NTPC Group has 71 Power stations including 29 Renewable projects.

SOURCE:PIB

3. Malabar naval exercise

IN NEWS:

The Quad countries — India, the U.S., Australia and Japan — will carry out the next edition of the Malabar naval exercise from August 26 to 29 off the coast of Guam amid mounting global concerns over China’s growing military muscle-flexing in the Indo-Pacific region.

KEY POINTS:

Indian stealth frigate INS Shivalik and anti-submarine warfare corvette INS Kadmatt arrived in Guam, an island territory of the U.S. in the Western Pacific,

The Malabar-21 will witness high-tempo exercises among destroyers, frigates, corvettes, submarines, helicopters and long-range maritime patrol aircraft of the participating navies.

Senior officials from the Quad nations had held talks on advancing practical cooperation to achieve the goal of a free and open Indo-Pacific.

China has been suspicious about the purpose of the exercise as it feels that the annual war game is an effort to contain its influence in the Indo-Pacific.

About Malabar Exercise

• Malabar is an annual military exercise between the navies of India, Japan and the U.S. held alternately in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
• The annual Malabar exercise started in 1992 as a bilateral event between the navies of India and the United States.
• It was expanded into a trilateral format with the inclusion of Japan in 2015.
• This year’s Malabar exercise will see participation from Australia as well.

SOURCE:IE

4. Narayankoti Temple.

IN NEWS:

Recently, the Narayankoti temple (Uttarakhand) has been included under the Centre’s Adopt a Heritage project.

KEY POINTS:

Adopt a Heritage Project:

• Launched on 27th September, 2017 (World Tourism Day), it is a collaborative effort by the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), State/UTs Governments.
• Aim:
• To develop tourism amenities at heritage/ natural/ tourist sites spread across India to make them tourist friendly, in a planned and phased manner.
• Implementation:
• The sites/monuments are selected on the basis of tourist footfall and visibility and can be adopted by private and public sector companies and individuals — known as Monument Mitras — for an initial period of five years.
• The Monument Mitras are selected by the ‘oversight and vision committee,’ co-chaired by the Tourism Secretary and the Culture Secretary, on the basis of the bidder’s ‘vision’ for development of all amenities at the heritage site.
• There is no financial bid involved.
• The corporate sector is expected to use Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds for the upkeep of the site.

About Narayankoti Temple:

• The temple is a group of ancient temples, about 2 km from Guptkashi on the Rudraprayag-Gaurikund highway.
• This is the only place in the country which has nine planetary temples in a group that are a “symbol of nine planets”.
• It is devoted to Lakshmi Narayana who is associated with Pandavas.
• It is believed that these temples were constructed in the 9th century.

SOURCE:IE

The post August 23rd Current affairs appeared first on Vignan IAS Academy.

IN NEWS:

 Recently, The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by the Prime Minister has approved a revival package of Rs.77.45 crore for revival of North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Limited (NERAMAC),

KEY POINTS:

On the same day, the Union Cabinet also approved the National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) as a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme with a special focus on the North east region and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

About NERAMAC

• NERAMAC is a central Public Section Enterprises under the administrative control of Ministry of Development of North Eastern Regional (MDoNER).
• NERAMAC was set up to support farmers/producers of North East getting remunerative prices for their produce and thereby bridge the gap between the farmers and the market and also to enhance the agricultural, procurement, processing and marketing infrastructure of the North-eastern Region of India.
• Its objective is to undertake development and marketing of horticultural products within and outside the north eastern region and the supply of inputs, tools, equipment etc. required for the development of horticulture and agro-based industries.
• The revival of NERAMAC will ensure remunerative prices to the farmers and provide better farming facilities and training to the farmers of the North Eastern Region.

About National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP)

• NMEO-OP was set up with the special emphasis on India’s north-eastern states and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands due to the conducive weather conditions in the regions, under which oil palm farmers will be provided financial assistance and will get remuneration under a price and viability formula.
• Its objective is to achieve self-reliance in edible oil by reducing import dependency of palm oil, thereby benefitting oil palm farmers & create employment generation.
• The Mission aims to increase the area under cultivation for Oil Palm by an additional area of 6.5 lakh hectare (ha.) thereby reaching the target of 10 lakh hectares in the next 5 years.

SOURCE:PIB

2. DRDO develops Advanced Chaff Technology for Indian Air Force.

IN NEWS:

Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed an Advanced Chaff Technology to safeguard fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) against hostile radar threats.

KEY POINTS:

• The technology has been given to the industry for production in large quantities to meet the annual rolling requirement of the Indian Air Force.
• Defence Minister has lauded DRDO, IAF and the industry for indigenous development of this critical technology, terming it as one more step of DRDO towards ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’ in strategic defence technologies.

Chaff technology:

• Chaff is an electronic countermeasure technology used by militaries worldwide to protect naval ships, aircraft or other sensitive targets from radar and radio frequency (RF) guiding mechanisms of the enemy missile.
• Chaff is composed of many small aluminium or zinc coated fibres stored on-board the aircraft in tubes. In case the aircraft feels threatened by any radar tracking missiles, chaff is ejected into the turbulent wake of air behind the plane.
• The chaff deployed in the air reflect as multiple targets for the missile guidance systems, thus misleading the enemy radars or deflecting adversary missiles.
• The purpose is to confuse radar-guided or infrared-guided anti-aircraft missiles fired so that they could be diverted.
• The importance of this technology lies in the fact that very less quantity of chaff material deployed in the air acts as decoy to deflect enemy’s missiles for ensuring safety of the fighter aircraft.

SOURCE:PIB

3. Cascade Frog.

IN NEWS:

Recently, a team of researchers have discovered a new species of cascade frog in Arunachal Pradesh named Adi Cascade Frog.

Earlier, a new frog species named Minervarya Pentali was discovered in the Western Ghats.

KEY POINTS:

About:

• It is a predominantly brown colour frog, with a size ranging roughly between 4 cm to 7 cm.
• It is formally described as Amolops adicolasp.nov., which is morphologically distinguished from its congeners by a suite of characters that include adult size, body colouration and markings, skin texture, snout shape, foot webbing and digit tip morphology.
• Naming:
• It has been named Adi Cascade Frog (Amolops Adicola) after the indigenous Adi tribe living in the Adi hills of Arunachal Pradesh. The literal meaning of Adi is “hill” or “mountain top.
• Historically, this region was also known as Abor hills.
• Cascade Frog
• Cascade frogs are named so because of their preference of small waterfalls or cascades in flowing hill streams.
• Cascade Frogs belong to the genus Amolops.
• The genus Amolops is one of the largest groups of ranid frogs (family Ranidae) with currently 73 known species that are widely distributed across Northeast and North India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, through Indochina, to the Malay Peninsula.

SOURCE:TH

4. ‘ZyCov-D’ vaccine.

IN NEWS:

The Drug Controller General has granted emergency approval to the Zycov-D, a COVID-19 vaccine.

This is the fifth vaccine, after Covishield, Covaxin, Sputnik V and Moderna to be approved for use in India.

KEY POINTS:

About Zycov-D

• Zycov-D is a COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Ahmedabad based Zydus Cadilla group and is the first vaccine in India that can be administered to adults as well as those 12 and above.
• It’s also the only DNA-based vaccine in the world and can be administered without a needle, purportedly minimizing chances of reactions.
• The vaccine has been developed in partnership with the Department of Biotechnology under the ‘Mission COVID Suraksha’.
• The three-dose vaccine once administered produces the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and elicits an immune response.
• The plug-and-play technology on which the plasmid DNA platform is based can be easily adapted to deal with mutations in the virus, such as those already occurring.

SOURCE:PIB

5. BRICS deal on cooperation in remote sensing satellite data sharing.

IN NEWS:

BRICS Nations- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa- signed a deal for cooperation in remote sensing satellite data sharing.

KEY POINTS:

• According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), this deal will enable the space agencies of BRICS nation to build a virtual constellation of specified remote sensing satellites through which ground stations will receive data.
• This agreement was signed on August 18, 2021 under India’s BRICS Chairship.

About BRICS

• BRICS nations are the major emerging economies who are known for their significant influence on regional affairs. Government of BRICS have been meeting annually since 2009 at formal summits. 12th BRICS summit was the latest edition which was hosted by Russia on November 17, 2020 virtually amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Originally, there were a grouping of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China). South Africa was added to the grouping in 2010 to change the acronym to BRICS.
• BRICS nations have a combined area of 39,746,220 km2 with an estimated t population of around 3.21 billion. 
• Area accounts for 26.656% of the world land surface while population accounts for 41.53% of the world population. Four members out of five are among world’s ten largest countries by population as well as by area. Only South Africa is at 24th position with respect to both.

SOURCE:TH

6. Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN).

IN NEWS:

Nagaland Chief Minister has sought to reduce fears over an exercise similar to Assam’s National Register of Citizens.

KEY POINTS:

What is Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland?

• The RIIN will be the master list of all indigenous inhabitants of the state.
• Objective: To prevent outsiders from obtaining fake indigenous certificates for seeking jobs and benefits of government schemes.
• The RIIN will be prepared after an extensive survey with the help of a village-wise and ward-wise list of indigenous inhabitants based on official records.
• It will be prepared under the supervision of each district administration.
• No fresh indigenous inhabitant certificate will be issued after the RIIN is completed except for children born to the State’s indigenous inhabitants who will be issued indigenous certificates along with birth certificates. The RIIN database will be updated accordingly.
• The RIIN will also be integrated with the online system for Inner-Line Permit, a temporary document non-inhabitants are required to possess for entry into and travel in Nagaland.
• The entire exercise will be monitored by the Commissioner of Nagaland. In addition, the state government will designate nodal officers of the rank of a Secretary to the state government.

SOURCE:IE

The post August 20 and 21st Current Affairs appeared first on Vignan IAS Academy.

IN NEWS:

The Union Cabinet has given its approval for ratification of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer for phase down of Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) by India.

KEY POINTS:

• A national strategy for phase down of hydrofluorocarbons will be developed after required consultation with all the industry stakeholders by 2023.
• Amendments to the existing legislation framework, the Ozone Depleting Substances (Regulation and Control) Rules to allow appropriate control of the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons to ensure compliance with the Kigali Amendment will be done by mid-2024.

The Kigali Amendment:

• Parties to the Montreal Protocol, under the Kigali Amendment, will phase down production and consumption of Hydrofluorocarbons, commonly known as HFCs.
• The Montreal Protocol, effective from 1989, is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances (especially chlorofluorocarbons (CFC)) that are responsible for ozone depletion.
• HFC were introduced as non-ozone depleting alternative to CFC such as R-12 and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC) such as R-21.
• While HFCs do not deplete the stratospheric ozone layer, they have high global warming potential ranging from 12 to 14,000, which have adverse impact on climate.
• Recognizing the growth in use of HFCs, especially in Refrigeration and Air-conditioning sector the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, reached another agreement in 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda to add HFCs to the list of controlled substances and approved a timeline for their gradual reduction by 80-85 per cent by the late 2040s.
• All amendments and adjustments of the Montreal Protocol, prior to the Kigali Amendment have Universal support.
• It has divided the signatory parties into three groups-
• The first group consists of rich and developed economies like USA, UK and EU countries who will start to phase down HFCs by 2019 and reduce it to 15% of 2012 levels by 2036.
• The second group consists of emerging economies like China, Brazil as well as some African countries who will start phase down by 2024 and reduce it to 20% of 2021 levels by 2045.
• The third group consists of developing economies and some of the hottest climatic countries like India, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia who will start phasing down HFCs by 2028 and reduce it to 15% of 2024-2026 levels till 2047.
• It also has a provision for a multilateral fund for developing countries for adaptation and mitigation.
• The phase down of HFCs is expected to
• Prevent the emission of up to 105 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent of greenhouse gases.
• Avoid up to 0.5 degree Celsius of global temperature rise by 2100, while continuing to protect the ozone layer.

SOURCE:IE

2. International Bullion Exchange.

IN NEWS:

International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) chief launches pilot run of International Bullion Exchange; to go live on October 1, 2021, the Foundation Day of IFSCA.

KEY POINTS:

• The IFSCA (Bullion Exchange) Regulations, 2020, were notified on December 11, 2020, which, inter alia, covers the Bullion Exchange, Clearing Corporation, Depositories and Vaults.
• Bullion is gold and silver that is officially recognized as being at least 99.5% and 99.9% pure and is in the form of bars or ingots and is often kept as a reserve asset by governments and central banks.
• Bullion can sometimes be considered legal tender, most often held in reserves by central banks or used by institutional investors to hedge against inflationary effects on their portfolios thus creating Bullion Market.
• The International Bullion Exchange shall be the “Gateway for Bullion Imports into India”, wherein all the bullion imports for domestic consumption shall be channelized through the exchange. 
• The government has also taken steps to notify bullion spot trading and bullion depository receipts, with the underlying bullion as financial product and bullion-related services as financial services.
• Significance of International Bullion Exchange:
• Brings all the market participants at a common transparent platform for bullion trading
• Provides an efficient price discovery
• Assurance in the quality of gold
• Enable greater integration with other segments of financial markets
• Help establish India’s position as a dominant trading hub in the World.

SOURCE:TH

3. National Mission on Edible Oils.

IN NEWS:

Cabinet approved the ‘National Mission on Edible Oils — Oil Palm (NMEO-OP)” with the financial outlay of Rs 11,040 crore.

KEY POINTS:

• This approval was given in order to promote the domestic cultivation of oil palm in next five years.
• It will help in reducing India’s dependence on imports.
• The decision was taken after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced this new Central scheme on August 15.
• The National Mission on Edible Oils is a centrally sponsored scheme.
• Out of the total outlay of Rs 11,040 crores, share of central government is Rs 8,844 crores. Rs 2,196 crores would be shared by states.
• This scheme will subsume the “National Food Security Mission-Oil Palm programme. It was launched in line with the Aatmanirbhar Bharat scheme.

Aim of the mission

The National Mission on Edible Oil was launched with the aim of covering oil palm in an additional area of 6.5 lakh hectare by 2025-26. It seeks to reach the target of 10 lakh hectares.

Significance:

• Currently India is heavily dependent on imports of edible oils to meet the domestic need.
• Thus, it is necessary to make efforts towards increasing their domestic production.
• In order to increase the production, increasing area and productivity of oil palm becomes important. This target of increasing area can be achieved through the mission. 
• Furthermore, Oil Palm can help making farmers aatmanirbhar in accordance with Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative.
• This scheme will also help the Centre in ensure that farmers are not affected with market fluctuations.

SOURCE:PIB

4. Student Entrepreneurship Program 3.0.

IN NEWS:

Third series of Student Entrepreneurship Program 3.0 (SEP 3.0) was launched on August 16, 2021 for the young innovators of Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL).

KEY POINTS:

• This program was launched by Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) NITI Aayog in collaboration with La Fondation Dassault Systemes.
• Theme of SEP 3.0 is ‘Made in 3D – Seed the Future Entrepreneurs Program’.
• Theme was conceptualized and rolled out in France in 2017 by La Main a la Pate Foundation and La Fondation Dassault Systemes, Europe.
• Under this program, a team from each school comprising of 6 students and a teacher will be allocated seed funding in order to creating their own start-up and design.
• They can also prototype their innovation using 3D printing, define product pricing, prepare marketing campaign, and create expansion strategy.
• Through this program, team will get the real feel of ‘How a startup works!’.
• Startup of each school will participate in a playful competition at the end of the programme and present their marketing campaign before experts from industry and academia.

Significance of SEP 3.0

• 0 will allow student innovators to work in association with Dassault volunteers and help them in gaining Mentor support, Prototyping and testing support.
• It will provide End-User feedback, Intellectual Property registration as well as Patenting.
• Program will help in providing Manufacturing support to students and help in launching the product in market.

SOURCE:IE

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