Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 4th March 2022

NEWS

Under “Relief and Rehabilitation of Migrants and Repatriates scheme”, Central Government has approved the proposal for continuation of seven existing sub schemes for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26.

DETAILS

Continues to reach beneficiaries through the Ministry of Home Affairs

Enables repatriates and migrants, who have suffered due to displacement, to earn a reasonable income as well as to facilitate their inclusion in mainstream economic activities.

WHICH ARE THE SCHEMES

• Relief and Rehabilitation of displaced families of Pakistan Occupied Areas in Jammu and Kashmir and Chhamb
• Relief assistance to Brus lodged in relief camps in Tripura
• Relief assistance to Sri Lankan Tamil refugees
• Enhanced relief to 1984 Anti-Sikh Riot Victims
• Financial Assistance and other facilities to the families of affected civilian victims in terrorist violence including insurgency, militancy, cross border firing, communal or Left-Wing Extremism violence and victims of mine or IED blasts on Indian Territory.
• Grants-in-aid to Central Tibetan Relief Committee (CTRC)

NEWS

Trade Deficit of India is expected to increase

TRADE DEFICIT

WHAT –

• Negative Balance of Trade
• Refers to the amount of international trade that takes place between countries throughout the world
• When a country's imports surpass its exports in a fiscal year, it is considered to be a trade deficit

CAUSES –

• When a country cannot produce what it requires and must import things from other countries while paying import taxes
• When businesses are involved in the production of goods in another country. The raw resources used in manufacturing are exported, whilst the final commodities brought into the country are imported.

IMPACT-

• Raises the standard of living at first because residents have access to a wider range of things.
• If the trade imbalance remains, the government will have to obtain additional foreign exchange to close the gap, causing the local currency to fall.
• To close the import-export imbalance, a larger trade deficit necessitates the recruitment of foreign investors.
• Because more imports mean fewer job prospects, a bigger trade imbalance causes jobs to be outsourced to other countries.
• Demand for imported items leads to a decrease in demand for locally produced goods, resulting in factory closures and job losses.

NEWS

Historic resolution on Plastic Pollution adopted by 175 countries at the fifth United Nations Environment Assembly

WHAT IS THE RESOLUTION

• Addressing plastic pollution is recognized as a global environmental challenge
• Resolution on “End plastic pollution: Towards an international legally binding instrument”
• It was initiated by India
• India engaged constructively with all member states in UNEA 5.2 to develop consensus on the resolution for driving global action on plastic pollution by setting up of an intergovernmental negotiating committee for a new international legally binding treaty

UN ENVIRONMENT ASSEMBLY

• World’s highest-level decision-making body on the environment
• Addresses the critical environmental challenges facing the world today
• The Environment Assembly meets biennially to set priorities for global environmental policies and develop international environmental law.
• The Assembly is the governing body of the UN Environment Programme (UN Environment) and the successor of its Governing Council, which was composed of 58 member States
• Now composed of 193 Member States

NEWS

Swiss Air Lines, the subsidiary of Lufthansa, plans to become the world’s first airline to use solar fuel

WHAT IS SOLAR FUEL

• Technology has been developed for producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from renewable energy sources by Synhelion, a spinoff from the Swiss Institute of Technology in Switzerland
• Syngas (synthesis gas) is produced by concentrated solar heat, which can then be converted into kerosene
• When the solar fuel is combusted, it will only produce as much carbon dioxide as it went into making it, helping to reduce aviation emissions

NEWS

Ministry of Defence (MoD) has offered four projects to the Indian Industry for design & development under Make-I category of Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020.

Make-I category

The industry will be provided financial support for prototype development of these projects.

The list of projects which were accorded ‘Approval In-Principle (AIP)’ by Collegiate Committee of MoD is as follow:

• Indian Air Force: Communication Equipment with Indian Security Protocols (Routers, Switches, Encryptors, VoIP Phones and their software)
• Indian Air Force: Airborne Electro Optical pod with Ground Based System
• Indian Air Force: Airborne Stand-off Jammer
• Indian Army: Indian Light Tank

This is for the first time since the launch of DAP-2020 that Indian Industry has been involved in development of big ticket platforms such as Light tank and Communication Equipment with Indian security protocols.

Make-II procedure

In addition, AIP has also been accorded to following five projects under industry-funded Make-II procedure:

• Indian Air Force: Full Motion Simulator for Apache Helicopter
• Indian Air Force: Full Motion Simulator for Chinook Helicopter
• Indian Air Force: Wearable Robotic Equipment for Aircraft Maintenance
• Indian Army: Integrated Surveillance and Targeting System for Mechanised Forces
• Indian Army: Autonomous Combat Vehicle

Projects under 'Make-II' category involve prototype development of equipment or their upgrades or their components, primarily for import substitution/innovative solutions, for which no Government funding will be provided for prototype development purposes.

DAP 2020 - HIGHLIGHTS

• Reservations for Indigenous firms
• Defines an “Indian vendor” as a company that is owned and controlled by resident Indian citizens, with foreign direct investment (FDI) not more than 49 per cent.
• Stipulates indigenisation of at least 50 per cent of the overall contract value of a foreign purchase bought with the intention of subsequently building it in India with technology transfer
• Meeting the difficult indigenisation requirement would force the vendor to build the equipment in India, rather than supply most of it ready-built from abroad.
• Promotes greater indigenous content in arms and equipment of the military procures, including equipment manufactured in India under licence. In most acquisition categories, DAP-2020 stipulates 10 per cent higher
• Indigenous content will now be calculated on ‘Base Contract Price’, that is Total Contract Price, less taxes and duties
• The “import embargo list” of 101 items that the government promulgated last month has been specifically incorporated into DAP 2020
• The government has decided not to have an offset clause in procurement of defence equipment if the deal is done through inter-government agreement (IGA), government-to-government or an ab initio single vendor.
• The offset clause requires a foreign vendor to invest a part of the contract value in India.

NEWS

Quad Summit was recently held

WHAT HAPPPPEN AT THE MEET

AIM - Announce a new mechanism for humanitarian assistance in the Indo-Pacific, and the impact of the Ukraine crisis on the region

Leaders discussed the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine

QUAD

WHAT - Quadrilateral security dialogue

WHICH ARE THE COUNTRIES - Japan, India, United States and Australia

OTHER DETAILS

• All four nations find a common ground of being the democratic nations and common interests of unhindered maritime trade and security
• The idea was first mooted by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007

SIGNIFICANCE

• Opportunity for like-minded countries to share notes
• Collaborate on projects of mutual interest
• Members share a vision of an open and free Indo-Pacific
• Each is involved in development and economic projects as well as in promoting maritime domain awareness and maritime security

• The ‘Stree Manoraksha Project’ has been launched by the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD)in collaboration with NIMHANS Bengaluru. This was launched with the aim to improve women’s mental health across India.
• Meghalaya has withdrawn consent to the CBI, becoming the ninth state to do so. The withdrawal of consent means that the agency will not be able to investigate any case in the state without the state government’s permission.
  A nodal organization named “MeitY Startup Hub’ (MSH) has been set up under the ambit of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) with the aim of promoting start-ups, technology innovation, and the creation of Intellectual Properties.
• To build awareness amongst citizens about good governance, MyGov has launched the “Sabka Vikas MahaQuiz” series.