IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-01

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Data: Just 26% of Indians speak Hindi as mother tongue

News:

Only about 26% of Indians speak Hindi as mother tongue under the broader Hindi language grouping (according to Census 2011).

Beyond News:

• A language is an umbrella term which contains many mother tongues. 43% of Indians speak the Hindi language, which includes many mother tongues such as Bhojpuri, Rajasthani & Hindi.
• Close to 40% of the Hindi language speakers speak mother tongues other than Hindi.
• Despite being spoken by a large number of people, Bhojpuri and Rajasthani are not listed as scheduled languages, while Bodo and Nepali which are spoken by relatively fewer people are in the Eighth Schedule.
• The share of Hindi language speakers is highest in Uttar Pradesh and lowest in KeralaThe Hindi language has 56 mother tongues listed under it
• For instance, in Haryana, Haryanvi was the mother tongue of 42% of people who spoke the Hindi language and Hindi was the mother tongue of 54.5% of people who spoke the Hindi language.

J&K police decides to recruit only “permanent residents” to women constables post

News:

• The Jammu & Kashmir police, in a fresh notification issued on Monday, has decided to recruit only “permanent residents” to 1,350 post of women constables, despite the State Subject law, Article 35-A, ceasing to be in vogue after the August 5 presidential order diluting it.

Beyond News:

• The vacancies were announced by the Home Ministry in March. It will see 60% of the recruitments from the border districts of Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipora, Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Rajouri and Poonch and 40% from other districts.
• This comes at a time when the fate of the Permanent Resident Certificate is not clear.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

India, Singapore, Thailand naval exercise begins

AIM: To bolster maritime relationships and contribute significantly to enhancing overall maritime security.

News:

The maiden trilateral naval exercise involving India, Singapore and Thailand commenced at Port Blair . The exercise was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his address at Shangri-La dialogue in June 2018.

Beyond News:

For the exercise, guided missile stealth frigate RSN Tenacious of Singapore, and Thailand Navy’s guided missile frigate HTMS Kraburi would join with INS Ranvir, a guided missile destroyer, INS Kora, a missile corvette and Sukanya, an Offshore Patrol Vessel along with P8I long range maritime reconnaissance aircraft.

T.N. releases e-vehicle policy; rolls out a slew of concessions

News:

• In an attempt to give a boost to the manufacture and use of electric vehicles in the State, Chief Minister released the Tamil Nadu Electric Vehicle Policy, 2019, which provided for various concessions to manufacturers and users of e-vehicles.

Beyond News:

• The policy called for 100% road tax exemption till December 30, 2022, besides a waiver of registration charges for electric two-wheelers. These sops are expected to push up sales of electric vehicles.

Special package

• The manufacture of electric vehicles, their components, particularly EV batteries, and manufacture of charging infrastructure would be provided a special package of incentives.
• Special packages were announced for units engaged in e-vehicle manufacture that made investments over ₹50 crore and employed at least 50 persons.
• Full reimbursement would be provided for SGST paid on the sale of EVs manufactured, sold and registered for use in the State till 2030.
• In the case of intermediate products where SGST reimbursement was not applicable, a capital subsidy of 15% would be given on eligible investments over 10 years.

Separate plates

• In order to distinguish electric vehicles from others, registration number shall be exhibited in yellow colour on a green background for transport vehicles and in white on a green background for all other EVs.

Centre for clean coal research launched

News:

With the aim of addressing opportunities and challenges in the development of clean coal technologies, the National Centre for Clean Coal Research and Development (NCCCR&D) has been launched at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) by the Department of Science & Technology (DST).

Beyond News:

• The consortium will work on identifying existing gaps in clean coal technology as the major problem Indian power plants were facing was a high level of pollutants and low thermal efficiency.
• The centre will also address challenges like development of low emission combustion and gasification, and achieve high cycle efficiencies with reduced pollutants, an IISc. note stated.
• The IISc. has already set-up an advanced indigenous supercritical CO2 test loop at a laboratory scale.
• Target beneficiaries of NCCCR&D include organisations such as the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL), Bharat Heavy Electronics Ltd. (BHEL), Tata Power, and Triveni Turbines Ltd.

Defence Ministry signs ₹5,500 crore Akash SAM contract

News:

The Defence Ministry has signed a ₹5,500 crore contract for additional indigenous Akash Surface to Air Missile (SAM) systems and in the next one year, contracts worth ₹70,000-80,000 crore are expected to be signed with Indian industry.

Beyond News:

• Akash SAM contract was signed two days back worth ₹5,500 crore. Though Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) are the main vendors, there are almost 150 private vendors involved
• The deal is for seven additional Akash units for the Indian Air Force.
• There are some major deals in final stages to be awarded to Indian companies which include Pinaka rocket launchers, Light Combat Aircraft, Mk-1A, Light Combat Helicopter and towed artillery guns among others. Together deals worth ₹70,000-80,000 crore to be signed in the next one year, he added.

On shortage of funds, the capital allocation in this year’s defence budget was ₹81,000 crore while the committed liabilities are in excess of ₹1 lakh crore.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Indigenously designed air-to-air missile Astra successfully test-fired

News:

Indigenously designed air-to-air missile Astra was successfully test-fired from the Bay of Bengal off the coast of Odisha on September 17.

Beyond News:

• The beyond-visual-range missile was launched from a Sukhoi-30 MKI as a part of user trials.
• As a part of the trial, a live aerial target was engaged, accurately demonstrating the capability of the missile.
• Radars, the electro-optical tracking system and sensors tracked the missile and confirmed its engagement with the target.
• Astra, designed by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO), is capable of engaging targets of different ranges and altitudes, including long-range as well as short-range targets.

Navy to induct submarine Khanderi, commission carrier dry dock on September 28

News:

• The Indian Navy is set to induct second Scorpene submarine Khanderi on September 28 in Mumbai. The remaining submarines in the series are in advanced stages of manufacturing and trials.

Beyond News:

• “Three landmark events are planned on September 28 – the commissioning of the second Scorpene submarine, Khanderi; the launch of the first P-17A frigate, Nilgiri, and the commissioning of the largest dry dock of the Indian Navy,” Navy Vice Chief Vice Admiral Ashok Kumar said. With this the Navy’s reach and combat sustenance would go up tremendously.
• Khanderi was launched into the water in January 2017 and has since been undergoing a series of trials.
• The cost of the Scorpene project now stands at Rs. 25,000 crore. The cost of the aircraft carrier dry dock was Rs. 1,320 crore, while the cost of the seven frigates under P-17A is over Rs. 48,000 crore.
• Naval Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mk-1 was never meant to be inducted. It was a technology demonstrator. The arrested landing is a great achievement and will lead to the twin-engine Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), which the Navy will induct.

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