Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Editorials are covered separately. HINDU NOTES are available free date wise| CLICK HERE

India to help repatriate Rohingya

News

• Promising to help repatriate Rohingya to Myanmar, Home Minister Rajnath Singh told Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that India would provide relief supplies for the refugees in Bangladesh and build homes for them in Rakhine state of Myanmar.

Beyond News

• Home Minister said India was prepared to “step up” assistance to approximately 7,50,000 Rohingya refugees who had fled the violence in Myanmar, and provide food, medical or relief supplies needed.
• India has offered to supply and construct prefabricated homes in Rakhine for the returning refugees.
• Singh is in Dhaka to co-chair the sixth round of India-Bangladesh talks on Home affairs .
• He inaugurated the “Bangladesh-India Friendship Building” at the Bangladesh Police Academy in Rajshahi.
• Singh had mentioned “some countries in the region” that were not cooperating in fighting terror groups based in South Asia, a reference to Pakistan.
• Later, Mr. Singh and his Bangladesh counterpart, inaugurated the largest Indian visa centre in the world at about 18,500 sq.ft in Jamuna Future Park in Dhaka. It replaces four visa centres in the capital and will serve visa seekers with 48 counters. The Indian High commission issued l.4 million visas last year.

Indian shipping companies headed for troubled waters

News

• A proposed move by the Centre to abolish the Right of First Refusal (ROFR) clause for transportation of Indian cargo by Indian-flagged vessels the only benefit available to Indian shipping companies is threatening the existence of the domestic shipping industry.

Beyond News

• Anticipating a bleak future, Indian shipping companies  which have a combined fleet of 1,372 ships with a total capacity of 12.35 million Gross Tonnage (GT)  are mulling over de-registering their vessels from India and flag them in tax havens of Panama and Bahama to survive and compete with foreign lines.
• Having recently relaxed norms benefiting foreign shipping lines, the government is now preparing ground to do away with the ROFR clause which ensures Indian-registered ships carry Indian bulk dry/liquid cargo of Indian public and private sector companies at the lowest rate quoted by a foreign shipping line by matching the price.
• Thus, while it does not add any extra cost to the importer or exporter, it provides assured business to the national fleet at a rate quoted by a foreign line.
• Currently, 92% of India’s export import trade is carried by foreign flag ships. And the 8% that is assured to Indian ships is likely to go if the ROFR is scrapped.
• This benefit is provided since foreign flag vessels do not pay any tax in India while Indian companies are costlier since they have to pay multiple taxes.
• In 2017 alone, Indian shipping companies have invested around Rs. 4,700 crore in assets in anticipation of business. All this investment is at stake, said ship owners.
• Recently, the Union Shipping Ministry issued orders that permitted foreign flag vessels to transport export import-laden containers, agri products, horticulture, fisheries, animal husbandry commodities and fertilizers between two or more Indian ports without obtaining a license from the Directorate General of Shipping.
• All this means is that an Indian flag vessel, if available, has lost the opportunity of doing this business.
• Indian shipping companies said the move was being contemplated without any consultative process.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Ministry panel okays cut in power plant capacity

 News

• The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has approved the reduction in the capacity of the 2×800 MW Ennore SEZ Thermal Power Plant being implemented by BHEL for Tangedco to 2×660 MW.

Ennore thermal power station expansion project

• Tamil Nadu Generationand Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) is undertaking theexpansion of the existing Ennore Thermal Power Station (ETPS) in Tamil Nadu, India. The project involves the construction of a 660MW coal-fired power unit on 36ha of land at an existing facility.

Beyond News

• The committee also directed the project proponent to raise a green belt in 92 acres of land that would now become free following the reduction in the size of the two units.
• The recommendations came at the 18th meeting of the EAC on thermal power projects.
• The project proposed at Vayalur village was awarded to BHEL by Tangedco in September 2014 as it was the lowest bidder but a consortium went to court seeking the contract to be awarded to it.
• According to the minutes of the meeting, the reduction in the unit size involves reduction in both consumption of resources and pollution levels from the proposed plant.
• While the land requirement for the 2×800 MW plants was 500 acres, the reduced capacity requires only 408 acres.
• The requirements for water and coal also decline considerably, while the project cost is estimated to come down by Rs. 1,354.11 crore. However, the power generated also is set to decline by 2084.88 MUs.
• The committee noted that all the raw materials and resources requirement and emissions will proportionately reduce when compared with the requirement of 2×800 MW. However, 800 MW is ultra super critical unit whereas 660 MW is supercritical.
• The committee also directed the company to raise a greenbelt in addition to the green belt stipulated earlier on the 92 acres that would be available following the reduction in the size of the units.

Tejas price comes under scrutiny

News

• The Defence Ministry has appointed a committee to look into the costing of products and military platforms manufactured by defense public sector undertakings (DPSU), Defence Minister has said.

Beyond News

• The first project to be reviewed is the indigenous light combat aircraft, Tejas, being manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL). This development comes after the cost quoted by the HAL turned out to be higher than those of many imported fighters.
• Also several platforms manufactured under licence in India have been found to be more expensive than the imported platforms.
• The committee will review all military hardware and systems being manufactured by the DPSUs. The report is expected to be submitted within 60 days, Defence Minister said.
• The IAF has committed to inducting 123 Tejas jets in various configurations. Of these, 40 have already been ordered and negotiations are under way for 83 Mk-1A variants featuring specific advancements.
• However, the HAL has quoted over Rs. 463 crore for each aircraft, while the advanced twin-engine Sukhoi-30 assembled in India costs just over Rs. 400 crore. This price is also a steep rise in comparison to the LCA Mk1 variant for which the HAL quoted Rs. 100 crore.
• There have been other instances where licence-manufactured products of the HAL have been costlier than those imported. The Su-30 fighters imported from Russia and the advanced jet trainer Hawk from the U.K. are cheaper than those manufactured by HAL.

In Manipur, incursions on the border

News

• Border disputes in the northeast are usually associated with China’s claim on Arunachal Pradesh and alleged intrusion by Chinese soldiers.

Beyond News

• The 1,643-km border with Myanmar along Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram often has more to do with smuggling of drugs, gold and wildlife body parts, as well as raids by the northeastern extremist groups from their hideouts beyond the boundary. The spotlight is on this frontier for alleged incursions by Myanmar soldiers.
• Villagers along Manipur’s border say incursions are nothing new. For instance, Myanmar nationals have been occupying Govajang village near the trade town of Moreh in Tengnoupal district.
• But the aggression has increased over the past six months.
• The action has been in the newly created Tengnoupal district, though the other three border districts Chandel, Kamjong and Ukhrul  have issues too.
• The External Affairs Ministry has said India has not shifted pillars demarcating the border with Myanmar and the boundary is settled and there is no confusion over its alignment. Manipur Chief Minister has said his government has formed a high-power committee to investigate the incursions; it will seek a fresh survey if any discrepancy is found.

 ‘Monitoring reports of formalin in fish’

News

• Goa Chief Minister said he had to make an intervention in the ongoing controversy surrounding the use of formalin in fish, because people had stopped eating fish in Goa.

Beyond News

• Goa Food and Drugs Administration officials had claimed that formaldehyde was used to preserve fish, after a raid on fish consignments coming from other States last week.
• The controversy took a major turn after Agriculture Minister tweeted that the fish was fit for consumption, following which the FDA in a statement said that Formalin was “within permissible limits”.
• Fish markets in the coastal tourist State have been in crisis over the last few days, with consumers staying away from them unsure of the quality of fish.

NASA’s Cassini Grand Finale coverage lands Emmy nomination

News

• NASA’s coverage of the Cassini mission’s final crash into Saturn, including news, web, education, television and social media efforts, has been nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Original Interactive Program category.
• In 2017, after nearly 20 years in space and 13 years revealing the wonders of Saturn, Cassini began a whole new mission its Grand Finale, which ended with a spectacular plunge into the planet .

NASA’s Juno data points to new volcano on Jupiter moon Io

News

• Using data collected by NASA’s Juno spacecraft, scientists have got clues to a previously undiscovered volcano on the Jupiter moon Io.
• With its Jovian InfraRed Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument, the Juno spacecraft found a new heat source close to the south pole of Io, NASA researchers said.

• CLICK HERE TO SEE DATE WISE CURRENT AFFAIRS.