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IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

Cabinet approves MoU between India and UAE for Scientific and Technical Cooperation

Source: PIB INDIA

News

• The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Indian Prime Minister, has given its approval to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Scientific and Technical Cooperation between National Centre of Meteorology (NCM), United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) India.

Scientific and Technical Cooperation

The MoU provides for sharing of knowledge, data and operational products for meteorological, seismological and oceanic services, such as Radar, Satellite, Tide gauges, seismic and Meteorological stations. 

• Exchange of experience/visits in term of scientists, research scholars and specialists, etc. for the purpose of research, training, consultation, focused on climatic information services, satellite data utilization for now casting and tropical cyclones forecasting.
• Exchange of scientific and technical information related to common interest activities.
• Organization of bilateral scientific and technical seminars/ workshops/ conferences and training courses on problems related to the fields of cooperation mentioned in the MoU and of interest to both countries.
• Other fields of cooperation as may be mutually agreed upon by the parties.
• Deployment of Meteorological observation networks on mutual agreement over Ocean waters.   
• Cooperation in the development of special capacities of Tsunami models researches for faster and more reliable forecasts of Tsunamis propagating through the Oman Sea and Arabian Sea which affect the coastal areas of India and North East of UAE.
• Cooperation to support the Tsunami Early Warning Centre (TEWC) in the form of forecast modelling software, specifically designed to support the Tsunami forecasting operations.
• Sharing the real-time seismic data of some of Seismic stations situated in south and west of India and North of the UAE for monitoring the seismic activities which may generate Tsunami in Arabian Sea and Sea of Oman.
• Cooperate at the field of Seismology which includes the study of Seismic activities having the potential to generate Tsunami waves in Arabian Sea and Oman Sea.
• Cooperation in Early warnings of Sand and Dust storms through the exchange of knowledge.

Collaborative participation within MoES (India) and NCM-UAE in terms of activities related to multi-hazard early warning system and climate resilience can significantly contribute to economic growth in the region.

Kerala becomes the 8th State to complete ease of doing business reforms; Additional borrowing permission of Rs. 2,261 crore granted.

Source: PIB INDIA

News

• Kerala has become the 8th State in the country to successfully undertake “Ease of Doing Business” reform stipulated by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance.

Business reforms

• The State has become eligible to mobilise additional financial resources of Rs.2,261 crore through Open Market Borrowings.
• Kerala has now joined the seven other States namely, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, who have completed this reform.
• On completion of reforms facilitating ease of doing business, these eight States have been granted additional borrowing permission of Rs.23,149 crore. 
• The ease of doing business is an important indicator of the investment friendly business climate in the country.
• Improvements in the ease of doing business will enable faster future growth of the state economy. Therefore, the government of India had, decided to link grant of additional borrowing permissions to States who undertake the reforms to facilitate ease of doing business.

The reforms stipulated in this category

• Completion of first assessment of ‘District Level Business Reform Action Plan’
• Elimination of the requirements of renewal of registration certificates/approvals/licences obtained by businesses under various Acts.
• Implementation of computerized central random inspection system under the Acts wherein allocation of inspectors is done centrally, the same inspector is not assigned to the same unit in subsequent years, prior inspection notice is provided to the business owner, and inspection report is uploaded within 48 hours of inspection.

The four citizen centric areas for reforms identified were (a) Implementation of One Nation One Ration Card System, (b) Ease of doing business reform, (c) Urban Local body/ utility reforms and (d) Power Sector reforms.

Maharashtra: 3 yearly compensations for fishermen as govt amends policy

Source: Economic Times

News

• The Maharashtra fisheries and forest department amended the compensation policy for fishermen who release protected marine species back into the sea by cutting their fishing nets.

Conservation

• Opposed to the previous compensation of Rs 25,000, the amount will now be fixed based on the species every time a turtle, shark, dolphin or any other protected marine animal is caught during fishing. Besides, fishermen can now apply for compensation thrice a year.
• Under the Mangrove Foundation’s conservation project, fishermen, who cut their nets to free protected marine mammals and fishes, were entitled to a compensation of up to Rs 25,000.
• The scheme was launched in 2018 to conserve the endangered marine species and ensure the fishing community’s participation in the process.
• The scheme was based on the Gujarat model where the forest department compensates fishermen for rescuing whales.
• Under the amended compensation scheme, if species like Olive Ridley, Green Sea and Hawksbill turtles among others are released by cutting the net, fishermen will receive Rs 12,500 for the first time. For second and third such instances within a year, the compensation amount will be Rs 10,000 and Rs 8,000 respectively.
• The compensation will remain Rs 25,000 for large marine animals such as whales, dolphins and Pondicherry sharks among others. For the second and third such instances within a year, the compensation will be to the tune of Rs 20,000 and Rs 15,000 respectively.

Under the amended policy, a fisherman will have to give details of his boat and fishing license, GPS location of the incident, photographs and details of the fish/marine mammals that were caught.

Centre to club targeted schemes for Scheduled Castes to boost efficiency

Source: Livemint

News

• The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is in the process of merging three schemes, aimed at the welfare of Scheduled Castes, under one head.

Merging three schemes

• The schemes are the Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana, the Special Central Assistance to Scheduled Castes sub-plan and the Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrwas Yojana.
• The schemes are being merged to streamline them and make their implementation more efficient by taking away the element of duplication.
• One of the Centre’s flagship projects, the Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana received a major boost last year after the Union government identified 26,968 Dalit-majority villages for focussed implementation of various targeted welfare schemes.
• In all, there are 46,859 revenue villages where more than half the population comprise people belonging to Scheduled Castes. Of these, 26,968 villages, with a population of over 500, were identified by the ministry last year for time-bound implementation of targeted schemes.
• While the idea behind this scheme is to ensure focused implementation and convergence of all existing central and state schemes, the ministry allocates Rs 11 lakh per village to address funding gaps.
• As per of the Special Central Assistance Scheme, each ministry sets aside a minimum of 15 per cent of their budgets for allocation to welfare schemes for Scheduled Castes and an additional 7.5 per cent for tribals.

Assam forms panel to identify ‘collaborators’ of illegal migrants

Source: INDIAN EXPRESS

News

• The Assam government announced the formation of a new committee, comprising five police officers, “to take immediate and proactive steps to identify the intermediaries, facilitators, collaborators facilitating the infiltration of illegal migrants from across the international border into Assam”.

Infiltration of illegal migrants

• The formation of the new committee has been done to strengthen the existing mechanism of dealing with illegal migration into Assam.
• The National Register of Citizens (NRC) published in August 2019 excluded over 19 lakh people. Moreover, Assam also has a border wing of the state police that investigates suspected ‘illegal foreigners’ and refers their cases to the Foreigners Tribunals.
• Local electoral authorities mark persons as Doubtful Voters and their cases are referred to Tribunals too.

Infiltration into the state from Bangladesh remains a contentious pivotal theme in the state’s politics although Bangladesh denies any infiltration.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Cabinet approves Procurement of 83 Light Combat Aircrafts (LCA) ‘Tejas’ from HAL for IAF

Source: PIB INDIA

News

• The Cabinet met under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister in New Delhi and has approved procurement of 73 LCA Tejas Mk-1A fighter aircrafts and 10 LCA Tejas Mk-1 Trainer aircrafts at the cost of Rs. 45,696 Crore along with Design and Development of Infrastructure sanctions worth Rs.1,202 Crore. 

Light Combat Aircrafts

• Light Combat Aircraft Mk-1A variant is an indigenously designed,  developed and manufactured state-of-the-art modern 4+ generation fighter aircraft.
• This aircraft is equipped with critical operational capabilities of Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Radar, Beyond Visual Range (BVR) Missile, Electronic Warfare (EW) Suite and Air to Air Refuelling (AAR) would be a potent platform to meet the operational requirements of Indian Air Force, IAF.
• It is the first “Buy (Indian-Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured)” category procurement of combat aircrafts with an indigenous content of 50% which will progressively reach 60% by the end of the programme. 
• The Cabinet has also approved infrastructure development by IAF under the project to enable them handle repairs or servicing at their base depot so that the turnaround time would get reduced for mission critical systems and would lead to increased availability of aircraft for operational exploitation.
• This would enable IAF to sustain the fleet more efficiently and effectively due to availability of repair infrastructure at respective bases. 

Pak court sentences Hafiz Saeed’s two close aides to over 15 years in jail in terror financing case.

Source: Indian Express.

News

• An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has handed down more than 15 years jail term each to two close aides of Mumbai terror attack mastermind and banned Jamat-ud Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, including the outfit’s media face Yahya Mujahid, in a terror financing case.

Terror financing

• The anti-terrorism court in Lahore also sentenced Saeed’s brother-in-law Abdul Rehman Makki to six-month in jail.
• Earlier, the court had handed down a 47-year jail term to Mujahid in three terror financing cases. Similarly, Iqbal was sentenced 26 years imprisonment in three such cases.
• Saeed, a UN-designated terrorist on whom the US has placed a USD 10 million bounty, was arrested on July 17 last year in the terror financing cases.
• Saeed-led JuD is the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans.
• The US Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. He was listed under the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008.
• The global terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is instrumental in pushing Pakistan to take measures against terrorists roaming freely in Pakistan and using its territory to carry out attacks in India.
• The FATF had placed Pakistan on the grey list in June 2018 and asked Islamabad to implement a plan of action to curb money laundering and terror financing by the end of 2019.

With Pakistan’s continuation in the ‘grey list’, the country may find it difficult to get financial aid from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, thus further enhancing problems for the cash-strapped nation.