Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

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Rajya Sabha passes Bankruptcy Code Bill

News

• The Rajya Sabha passed the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2017, which bars unscrupulous persons from misusing the provisions of the code.
• The Bill, which replaces an ordinance promulgated last November, was cleared by the Lok Sabha last week.

Bankruptcy Code Bill

• The Bill prohibits certain persons from submitting a resolution plan in case of defaults.  These include:
• (i) wilful defaulters,
• (ii) promoters or management of the company if it has an outstanding non-performing debt for over a year,
• (iii) disqualified directors, among others. 
• Further, it bars the sale of property of a defaulter to such persons during liquidation.

CCEA approves over ₹6,800-cr Zojila Tunnel project

News

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the ₹6,808-crore Zojila Tunnel project in Jammu and Kashmir that will provide year-round connectivity between Srinagar, Kargil and Leh when completed.

Beyond News

• Currently, Leh-Ladakh is cut off from the rest of India for almost six months due to heavy snowfall and threat of avalanches.
• The project aims to construct a 14.15-km long two-lane bidirectional single tube tunnel with a parallel 14.2-km long egress or parallel escape tunnel, excluding approaches between Baltal and Minamarg in the state, an official release said.
• The government added that the project will be an instrument for the development of the economically backward districts in J&K.
• The project will be implemented by Ministry of Road Transport & Highways through National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited.

Never acknowledged existence of Arunachal Pradesh: China

News:

• China said it had “never acknowledged” the existence of Arunachal Pradesh as it kept mum over a media report that its troops intruded into the Indian side of the border in the frontier State.

Beyond News

• Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang’s response came after a media report said that Chinese troops intruded into the Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh for about 200m close to a village in Upper Siang district.
• China claims Arunachal Pradesh is part of South Tibet.
• The India-China border dispute covered 3,488 km along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
• According to the report, the Chinese troops who reportedly crossed over with the construction machinery in December 2017 were stopped by Indian soldiers. The Chinese troops reportedly left the construction equipment behind.
• Asked whether there is another standoff between India and China similar to the one in Dokalam area, Mr. Geng said the “standoff which happened last year has been resolved properly”.
• The standoff ended on August 28 following mutual agreement under which China stopped the road building and India withdrew its troops.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

NASA-inspired technique boosts wheat production

News

• Inspired by NASA’s experiments to grow wheat in space, Australian scientists have developed the world’s first ‘speed breeding’ technique that can boost the production of the crop by up to three times.

Beyond News

• The NASA experiments involved using continuous light on wheat which triggered early reproduction in the plants.
• Experiments showed that the quality and yield of the plants grown under controlled climate and extended daylight conditions was as good, or sometimes better, than those grown in regular glasshouses.
• Researchers said that,there has been a lot of interest globally in this technique due to the fact that the world has to produce 60-80 per cent more food by 2050 to feed its nine billion people
• The speed breeding technique has largely been used for research purposes but is now being adopted by industry.

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