IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

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India ranks 129 in UNDP Human Development Index report

News

• India climbed one spot to take the 129th rank among 189 countries on the 2019 report on Human Development Index (HDI) released by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
• India was at the 130th place on this index in last year’s report.

Human Development Index

• India’s HDI value has marginally increased from 0.643 in 2017 to 0.647 in 2018, shows the report, titled ‘Beyond Income, Beyond Averages, Beyond Today: Inequalities in Human Development in the 21st Century’.
• Globally, Norway, with a HDI value of 0.954, is at the first rank while Burundi (0.423) is at the bottom. As far as India’s neighbouring countries are concerned, China ranked 85 and Bangladesh and Pakistan ranked 135 and 152, respectively. Sri Lanka ranked 71 and Maldives ranked 104.
• The report shows that India’s annual HDI growth has slowed down in recent years. Between 1990 and 2000, India’s average annual HDI growth was 1.43 per cent which increased to 1.57 per cent during 2000-2010 but came down to 1.34 per cent between 2010 and 2018.
• HDI is calculated taking into consideration performance of countries on four broad parameters life expectancy at birth; expected years of schooling; mean years of schooling; and per capita gross national income (PPP).
• The report has also given the Gender Development Index (GDI). With a score of 0.829, India is at the 122nd place out of 162 countries.

Indian, French navies to launch joint patrols in southern Indian Ocean

News

• India and France will soon launch joint naval patrolling in the southern Indian Ocean region to protect their strategic interests, including to check large scale illegal fishing, a top commander of the French Navy said.

Joint naval patrolling

• Indian and French Navies are also considering carrying out joint patrols in the northwestern part of the Indian Ocean, including the Gulf of Aden.
• There is a very clear strategic and political objective of France in the region.
• The two navies will ink an agreement early next year providing for sharing of classified information for better operational cooperation in the region.

Authority with punitive powers planned in Gujarat’s tribal district

News

• The Statue of Unity Area Development and Tourism Governance Bill, 2019, proposed to be tabled in the ongoing winter session of the Gujarat Assembly, gives sweeping powers to a Statue of Unity Tourism Authority, an authority planned to be constituted to notify a designated area around the 182-metre statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as an industrial township.

Statue of Unity Area Development and Tourism Governance Bill

• The authority will have powers ranging from acquiring land for any development project in the area, which is predominantly tribal, to taking punitive action against those violating it or encroaching it.
• The Bill proposes to establish the Statue of Unity Area Development and Tourism Governance Authority or the SoU Tourism Authority (SoUTA).
• It aims to make necessary arrangements to develop the area and manage tourism in and around the Statue of Unity at Kevadia in the predominantly tribal district of Narmada in South Gujarat.
• It will be headed by a chairman appointed by the state government and will be headquartered at Kevadia in Narmada district.
• The authority will define the limits of the tourism development area and will be empowered to acquire immovable property under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
• It will largely work as a local body that will prepare and execute a development plan or a town planning scheme, remove encroachments and provide civic amenities like water supply, transportation, power supply, drainage, hospitals, medical services, schools, public parks, markets, shopping places, disposal of waste, among others.
• The bill sets aside Rs 10 crore from the consolidated fund of the state for the discharge of functions and duties by SoUTA.
• The punitive action in the Bill comes at time when local tribal organisations have been opposing the project built near the Sardar Sarovar dam, alleging they have lost their livelihood and land. The project drew opposition even on the day PM Modi arrived to inaugurate the project in 2018.

Part of makeover plan of Port Trust: Mumbai gets ready to host India’s 2nd marina

News

• India’s second marina project is all set to come up in Mumbai.

Functional marina

• The Centre gave the go-ahead for the construction of a 300-yacht marina on Mumbai Port Trust land at Princess Dock in South Mumbai. At present, the Kochi International Marina in Kerala is the only functional marina in the country.
• The marina project is part of the makeover plan of the port trust. MbPT has been pushing the project from 2016 approaching various government agencies.
• The project, expected to be completed by 2021, will come up on an eight-hectare plot. It is expected to cost Rs 350 crore. Incidentally, when the project was first conceived in 2016, its cost was estimated to be around Rs 230 crore.
• MbPT has taken up a project to develop its properties along the eastern waterfront in the city. Apart from the marina project, there are plans to build an international cruise terminal and an equipment lab for shipping repair.

The India-Australia Mutual Logistics Support Agreement

News

• India and Australia moved closer to closing in on the Logistics Support Agreement (LSA), as the Foreign and Defence Secretaries from both countries met in New Delhi.

Logistics Support Agreement

• The dialogue comes ahead of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s scheduled trip to India, during which he will visit New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru.
• The first such two-plus-two meeting happened in December 2017.
• The LSA will be one of the key agenda points during Prime Minister Morrison’s visit. The Agreement will allow the two countries to use each other’s military bases for logistics support, including food, water, and petroleum.
• During their meeting on Monday, the two sides carried out a comprehensive review of their strategic engagement and the regional security scenario, which is continuously evolving given China’s military expansion and economic influence.

India-Australia bilateral relations

• When it comes to defence, India and Australia share a common concern over China; it is that aspect which informs a lot of the bilateral transactions between the two countries.
• While Australia is worried about China’s presence in the Pacific, India is worried about China’s increasing activities and influence in the Indian Ocean.
• Earlier this year, the Australian and Indian navies concluded a two-week-long bilateral maritime exercise code-named AUSINDEX.
• From 2016-18, the armies of the countries conducted a joint military exercise dubbed “AUSTRA HIND”.

The Quad

• The informal strategic Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD) that was initiated by Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007 was largely in response to China’s growing power and influence.
• Initially, the “Quad” members included India, Japan, the US, and Australia; however Australia chose to withdraw when Kevin Rudd was Prime Minister, since it did not want to be a part of an anti-China alliance at the time.
• Australia later rejoined the dialogue in 2017 on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit, signalling a re-ignition in Australia’s interest in the dialogue.

Parliament Winter Session 2019 HIGHLIGHTS: Lok Sabha passes Bill for extending SC-ST quota in legislatures

News

• The Lok Sabha passed The Constitution (126th Amendment) Bill, 2019 that is aimed at extending SC-ST quota in legislatures.

The Constitution Bill

• The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha by the Minister of Law and Justice. It amends provisions related to reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).
• The Bill seeks to extend the reservation for SCs and STs by another 10 years till January 25, 2030.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

India among top performing countries on climate action: Report

News

• An aggressive renewable energy deployment target for 2030 has ensured India a listing among the top-performing countries on climate action in a new report by Germanwatch, an independent group.
• India is one of the only two countries within the G-20 group assessed to be “high” performers, the other being United Kingdom. India has been placed ninth on the list while the UK is seventh.

Climate Change Performance Index report

• The new Climate Change Performance Index report assesses the climate programmes of 57 countries and the European Union, which together account for more than 90 per cent of the global greenhouse gas emissions.
• The index is based on a number of criteria, like the country’s energy use, its per capita emissions, its emission reduction targets for 2030, its national and international climate policy, renewable energy deployment and past trends of emissions.
• It assigns every country scores on each of these indicators to assess its overall ranking.
• The report says that no country performed well enough across all the indicators to deserve a ‘very high performing’ rating and therefore the top three slots were left vacant. Sweden and Denmark top the rankings at the 4th and 5th positions, followed by Morocco, the UK, Lithuania and India.
• China is ranked at the 30th position, while the United States is at the bottom of the rankings.
• The report notes that in 31 of the 57 countries assessed, falling emission trends were noticed. Global coal consumption has been reducing while a boom in renewable energy continues, it says.
• India has been using these assessments to fight off pressures to take on even more ambitious actions in light of the findings of several scientific studies that collectively, the world is not doing enough to prevent the catastrophic impacts of climate change.

TRAI issues public notice on revised MNP process; new norms effective from December 16

News

• Telecom regulator TRAI issued a public notice on the revised mobile number portability process, which is slated to make the porting process fast and simple from December 16.

Porting process

• The new process, which comes with conditions for generation of Unique Porting Code (UPC),entails three working days’ timeline for port out requests within a service area, and five working days for requests for port out from one circle to another.
• There is no change in the porting timelines for the corporate mobile connections.
• From December 16, 2019, the revised MNP process will be in place and mobile subscribers can generate the Unique Porting Code and avail the mobile number porting process.
• A positive validation of various conditions will determine generation of the Unique Porting Code. For instance in case of post-paid mobile connection, the subscriber has to ensure clearance of ‘outstanding dues’ towards the existing telecom service provider for the issued bills as per normal billing cycle.
• Other conditions include activation in the present operator’s network of not less than 90 days; no pending contractual obligations to be fulfilled by the subscriber as per the exit clause provided in the subscriber agreement.
• UPC will be valid for four days for all Licensed Service Areas (LSAs) except the circles of Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and North East where it will remain valid for 30 days.

Karnataka: 3D mapping of 844 state-protected monuments to begin soon

News

• In a bid to attract more tourists and to felicitate research work around monuments in the state, the Karnataka government has identified 844 state-protected monuments for 3D mapping.

First-of-its-kind initiative in India

• A memorandum of understanding (MoU) worth Rs 64.92 lakh has been signed with the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology for the project.
• Claimed to be a first-of-its-kind initiative in India, the department will make the information available on its official website.
• While 118 of these are located in Haveri, over 105 other monuments are located within the ambit of the Bengaluru division. The project will be carried out in a phased manner.
• Once the 3D mapping is completed, the data about each of these monuments will help tourists identify the importance of each structure. While this is expected to attract more tourists to the state, the same data will also come handy to researchers working around these areas.
• The data is also expected to help the government identify structures that need renovation.

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