The Telangana Government recently banned the potatoes from Uttar Pradesh. Can a State Government do this? Do state government hold such powers? Yes. The Trade and Commerce is a State Subject under the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.
Around 2,500 kg of potatoes are transported from UP to Telangana every day. Telangana government has now banned the potatoes imported from UP. This was done for two reasons. One, UP is exporting old stocks. Two, Telangana has become self sufficient in potato production. Telangana prefers freshly in grown potatoes (that is potatoes grown within the state) to the old stocks from UP.
The farmers in UP sow potatoes during October to November. They harvest during Feb – Mar. They sell only one – fifth of the harvest in Mar. They store the rest in cold storages till November end. They then export the stored potatoes to other states throughout the year. Thus, UP has enough old stocks to send to other states throughout the year.
The UP potatoes are long grown, five to six months. The potatoes grown in other states such as HP, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Punjab are short grown, less than 60 to 75 days. Thus, only UP potatoes can be stored till November at two to four degrees Celsius. And the short-grown potatoes cannot be stored for longer time. UP potatoes are actually more nutritious for their longer growing period!
Telangana has increased the potato acreage. It is now producing 3,500 to 4,000 acres of potatoes. The state has become the second largest paddy producer, third largest cotton producer. This is mainly because Telangana increased its irrigation. They are now producing fresh potatoes, of lesser growth period that can be sold within four to five days of harvest. Mostly, baby potatoes!
The IRDAI recently issued guidelines for surety insurance. Under the guidelines, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India has capped the surety insurance to 10% of the premium. And the maximum threshold was set to five hundred crores of rupees.
Surety insurance are guarantees without collateral. It protects the lender against default by contractor, failure of projects or poor services.
The guidelines say that the surety or guarantee shall not exceed 30% of project value. Only the insurance registered under the Insurance act shall issue surety insurance. The company issuing surety insurance should fulfil the following conditions:
It is an agreement signed between insurance company, contractor (debt receiver) and the oblige (awarding authority like that of a government company). Under the agreement, the insurance company promises that it will pay the balance amount if the debtor fails to adhere to the terms (or fails to pay). There are different types of surety insurance. They are contract bond, advance payment bond, Bid bond, customs and court bond, performance bond and retention money.
Every year the World Braille Day is celebrated on January 4. The day is celebrated to spread the importance of braille. It is celebrated by the United Nations and several other international organizations.
In 2018, the United Nations passed a resolution to celebrate January 4 as the World Braille Day. Following this, the first World Braille Day was observed in 2019.
January 4 is the birth anniversary of Louis Braille. Louis invented the Braille language in 1809. January 4 was chosen to honour Louis Braille.
Braille was a French teacher. At the age of three, he lost one of his eye sight in an accident. Braille lost his other eye while working in his father’s shop. This motivated Braille to invent Braille. Also his passion towards learned kindled him to invent Braille.
In Braille the alphabets and numbers are created using six dots. There are three different types of braille scripts. They are as follows:
According to the National Blindness and Visual Survey prevalence of blindness is the highest among old age people, 80 years old. The major causes of blindness in India are cataract, cataract surgical complication and corneal opacity.
Recently, India changed the age-old definition of blindness. In 1976, India defined blindness as the incapability of the person to count fingers at a distance of six metres. In the new definition, the distance has been reduced to three metres. The vision impairment in middle income countries is four times greater than the high income regions.
Ministry of Mines has created a joint venture (JV) company called “Khanij Bidesh India (KABIL)” with participating interest from Hindustan Copper (HCL), National Aluminium Company (NALCO), and Mineral Exploration Corporation (MECL).
KABIL has been created in a bid to ensure India’s mineral security and to attain self-reliance in the area of strategic and critical minerals. KABIL has been mandated to identify and acquire overseas mineral assets like Lithium, Cobalt etc. KABIL ensure mineral security of the nation as well as help in realizing overall objective of import substitution.
This initiative is aimed at giving boost to Atmanirbhar Bharat. It will cater to the requirements of crucial sectors including RE, e-mobility, aerospace, medicine, aviation etc.
On the basis of commissioned study and selection criteria, some countries have been shortlisted to explore possibilities of mineral asset acquisition abroad. Currently KABIL is engaged with source countries like Australia, Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.
KABIL had signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with 3 State-owned Argentinian organisations in July, September and December to share information regarding prospective mineral acreages.
Wholly-owned subsidiary of national Payments Corporation of India, NPCI BillPay Ltd. (NBBL) introduced a unique functionality called “Unified Presentment Management System (UPMS) with the aim of enriching and simplifying bill payments in India.
Technical Service Providers (TSPs) and Several Operating Units (OUs) are actively helping in the rapid deployment of UPMS. Ecosystem partners like IDFC FIRST bank and Axis Bank are amongst Private Banks and PhonePe are actively engaged in taking UPMS services for their Billers and Consumers.
UPMS service assumes criticality with undergoing category expansion, as a majority of the transactions in new categories under BBPS such as mutual fund, subscriptions, insurance, school fee payments, presently happen through presentment and standing instructions.
NPCI is the specialised division of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). It works under the parent jurisdiction of Ministry of Finance. It was established by RBI for operating retail payments and settlement systems across India.
The Bucharest Nine Group comprises of Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Estonia. The organisation was formed in 2015. It was formed under the initiative of Romania and Poland. It is also called Bucharest Format or B9. The group was formed at the Romania capital Rome and hence the name.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. The B9 was formed condemning the annexation. The B9 members were either a part of Soviet Union before its disintegration or a sphere of influence. The B9 has proposed to extend the organisation eastward. It wants to include Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. Ukraine is of great importance to US, EU and B9 because it is the buffer between the western world and Russia.
Lithuania recently allowed Taiwan to open an embassy equivalent office in its soil. This angered China. According to China, Taiwan is not a separate country and is an integral part. US and B9 countries are supporting Lithuania actions.
The Sea of Azov and Black Sea are connected by Kerch Strait. The Kerch strait is located in Crimea. The strait is an important sea route. Russia can reach Mediterranean countries through this strait. Russia annexed Crime for its strategic location. Crimea was a part of Ukraine. The US and EU are against this annexation. Reason: They do not want Russia to capture the Mediterranean market.
After the 1949 civil war, Taiwan leaders declared Taiwan as a sovereign state. However, China brought in One Country Two System formula. Under this Taiwan was given autonomy. In return, China claimed that Taiwan is its integral part. This was rejected by Taiwan. The economy of Taiwan is strong. US, Japan and several other countries use Taiwan as a gateway to make business with China. Through Taiwan, they can bypass the custom duties and taxes. Thus, they support Taiwan.
INSACOG is a multi-lab agency. It was established by the Government of India in 2020 to monitor the genomic variations of COVID-19. In the beginning, there were ten labs. The number has now increased largely.
The labs identify and expand the genome sequences of COVID-19 virus. Through this they understand how the virus evolves and spreads. It was established by the Health Ministry. The other establishing partners of INSACOG are CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), Department of Biotechnology and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The genome sequencing is essential because it helps to understand the immune escape of the virus and how its infection increases.
It aims to ensure the status of Variants of Concern and Variants of Interest. Also, it aims to establish the surge surveillance and sentinel surveillance mechanisms. These mechanisms help in early detection of the virus. The labs will find out the presence of variants in the areas reporting higher infection.
The samples collected from different places are sent to the INSACOG labs. These labs conduct genome sequencing. Identify the variants. The information is then passed on to the health ministry. Required actions are taken to address the concerns. It mainly works to understand the severity of the diseases.
SCAG is Scientific and Clinical Advisory Group. It was established to assist INSACOG. The Central Surveillance Unit conducts investigation on the variants based on the recommendations made by the SCAG.
Genome is a set of DNAs. Genomics is the study of the structure, evolution, function of the genes in these DNAs. Genome sequencing is finding the order of DNA.
Isolation of DNA. Fragmentation of DNA, Size selection using electrophoresis, paired end sequencing, library construction and genome assembly.
India reported a record $55.7 billion on gold imports in 2021. India bought more than double tonnage, as compared to previous tonnage, as a price drop favoured retail buyers.
In the year 2020, demand was robust because lot of weddings were postponed to 2021 amid the covid-19 pandemic. Strict lockdown during the first wave of covid-19 pandemic in 2020 had hit the gold demand.
Indian Parliament had repealed the “Gold (Control) Act, 1968” and was enacted to control sale and holding of gold in personal possession.
In India, there is a high demand for gold and negligible indigenous production. This result in high gold imports, which in turn lead to drastic devaluation of Indian rupee and depletion of foreign exchange reserves. Thus, India has its gold import policy with the aim of curbing gold imports to a manageable legal restriction.
Indian entities are mandated to import gold in the form of gold bars. While, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have prohibited the form of coins and medallions. Imports of the yellow metal can be routed only through custom bonded warehouses. One entity is prohibited to import more than 10 kg of gold (including ornaments) per passenger.
Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, and China are the largest exporter of gold to India. India also imports Gold from Dubai. Switzerland has strengthened its position as India’s most significant import partners due to increasing gold imports. It has replaced Saudi Arabia to become 4th largest import partner of India.
Scientists in France have identified a new and more mutated strain of SARS-CoV-2 virus, causing covid-19 disease.
New variant of the coronavirus has been named IHU or the B.1.640.2 variant. It was discovered by the academics at institute IHU Mediterranee Infection. It comprises of 46 mutations, more than Omicron, making it more resistant to vaccines and infectious.
So far, 12 cases of the new variant have been reported near Marseilles. Cases are linked to travel to the African country Cameroon. Omicron variant is still the dominant strain in most of the countries. But the threat of IHU variant is rising rapidly. New variant has not been spotted in other countries and World Health Organisation (WHO) has not yet labelled it as a variant under investigation.
The new variant comprises of 14 amino acid substitutions, including N501Y and E484K. Apart from that, 9 deletions are located in the spike protein. This genotype pattern led to creation of new Pangolin lineage named B.1.640.2. it is a phylogenetic sister group to the old B.1.640 lineage.
On January 3, 2021, police apprehended an engineering student from Bengaluru to question in connection with its probe into two apps on which images of Muslim women were posted to “auction” them.
The person was booked in connection with the outrage over shocking ‘auction’ of Muslim women online through ‘Sulli Deals’ on GitHub. A similar page named ‘Bulli Bai’ circulated profiles and images of women asking people to join ‘auction.’ Sulli Deals and Bulli Bai were created on open-source platform called GitHub.
It is a provider of Internet hosting for version control and software development using Git. It offers the source code management (SCM) and distributed version control functionality of Git, along with its own features. The app also provides access control and several collaboration features like feature requests, bug tracking, task management, wikis for every project and continuous integration. It is headquartered in California and is a subsidiary of Microsoft since 2018. This platform is commonly used to host open-source projects. It is not a social media platform, but a software repository for developers and coders, which is used to store codes of their software online. As of November 2021, GitHub reports having over 73 million developers and 200 million repositories.
UNSC statement on Nuclear War was published by Kremlin on January 3, 2022. Five nuclear powers, namely Russia, China, Britain, the United States and France, stated in a joint statement that further spread of nuclear arms and a nuclear war should be avoided.
In a joint statement, countries affirmed that, a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. They also affirmed that nuclear weapons should serve defensive purposes, prevent war and deter aggression, as long as they exist.
Joint statement was published in the light of deteriorating bilateral ties between the United States and Moscow. Relation between both the countries have deteriorated to its lowest point, since the end of Cold War. Relations between United States and China are also at its lowest point.
Nuclear warfare is a military conflict or political strategy of deploying nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction. Such warfare can produce destruction in a shorter time by leaving a long-lasting radiological result.
So far, nuclear weapons have been used in armed conflict that occurred in 1945 with American atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A uranium gun-type device named “Little Boy” was thrown over Hiroshima city in Japan, on August 6, 1945. Following that, a plutonium implosion-type device named “Fat Man” was thrown over Nagasaki city in Japan on August 9, 1945. These two bombings caused deaths of around 200,000 people in Japan.
After the World War II, nuclear weapons were developed by Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France, China, leading to Cold War. India in 1974 and Pakistan in 1998, developed nuclear weapons. Israel and North Korea are also thought to have developed nuclear weapons. South Africa also manufactured some complete nuclear weapons, but also became the first country to voluntarily destroy their domestically made weapons.
The project was launched by AYUSH Ministry. Ayush Aahaar is a healthy diet. The ministry is to make this diet available in its canteen.
It was launched at Ayush Bhawan canteen of the ministry. The project aims to promote healthy living through nutritious diet. The healthy diet that includes kokum drink, gajar ka halwa, bhajani vada and vegetable poha. These dishes are rich in nutrition and are very popular among the public. Also, they are easily digestible.
The Ayush Aahaar is being launched as a test. Forms will be issued to people taking the dishes. Feedbacks are to be collected. Based on the feedback, a new diet is to be regularised. This is a precursor to promote Ayush Lifestyle. The ministry has plans to spread awareness about Ayush lifestyle.
It mainly aims to reduce the burden of lifestyle diseases. Lifestyle diseases are heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity and stroke. AYUSH lifestyle includes taking healthy diet, regular exercise and yoga.
India is the world leader in AYUSH practices. There are more than 500 colleges and 3000 hospitals dedicated to AYUSH. If the project becomes a success, the diet can be introduced in these hospitals.
The AYUSH market in India is 10 billion USD. It is predicted to increase by 50% in the next five years. There are no FDI limits for AYUSH. India is the second largest exporter of alternate medicines in the world. Yoga and acupuncture are gaining popularity in developed countries. The major AYUSH partners of India are Japan, Russia, UAE and USA. India is pushing AYUSH largely through National Ayush Misssion. The mission was launched in 2014 to promote cost effective AYUSH medicines, cultivate medicinal plants, increase institutional capacities and to provide cost effective medical services.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry recently released the monthly goods export report of the country. According to the report, in December 2021, India exported 37.29 billion USD of goods.
The export demand for goods such as petroleum items, engineering products and gems and jewellery were the highest in December 2021. Between April and December, the exports grew by 48.9%. The cumulative services exports have reached 179 billion USD in the first nine months (Apr to Dec). It is to reach 230 billion USD by the end of the fiscal year. The main reason behind the increase in exports is expansion of export baskets.
The merchandise exports of the country between April and December 2021 were 300 billion USD. This was 26% higher than the same period in 2019. At this rate, the export of India will touch 400 billion USD in 2021-22. In 2020-21, the exports of the country were 290 billion USD.
The engineering goods constitute 26% of the total exports. It has grown by 37% as compared to last year.
Gems and jewellery constitute 8% of the total exports. It has grown by 15.8%.
The merchandise imports of the country were 59.27 billion USD in December 2021. It has increased by 38.06%. In December 2019, it was 49.7%.
The trade deficit was 21.99 billion USD in December 2021. Last year, it was 15.75 billion USD.
The key markets of India such as North America and Europe are witnessing high infections. This might affect the pipeline of imports and exports. As of now, Omicron has no effect on trade of the country.
On January 3, 2022, Union Education Minister & Skill Development Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched “National Educational Alliance for Technology (NEAT) 3.0.
NEAT is an initiative for providing the use of best-developed technological solutions in education sector for enhancing the employability of youth on a single platform for the convenience of learners. These solutions make use of artificial intelligence for a customised and personalised experience for better learning outcomes and skill development across niche areas.
NEAT will play a significant role in bridging the digital divide, particularly among the economically disadvantaged students. It will also help in fulfilling the knowledge-based requirement of India as well as world.
Currently, 58 global and Indian start-up ed-tech companies are onboard NEAT. They are offering 100 courses and e-resources for a better learning outcome, for developing employable skills as well as overcoming learning loss.
According to education minister, AICTE should integrate courses in NEAT with skill India in order to tap opportunities in emerging areas of skill for boosting employability and prepare youth for future. AICTE and ed-tech companies should offer e-resources at minimum possible cost.
Under NEAT 3.0, more than 12 lakhs socially and economically disadvantaged students have been provided free ed-tech course coupons worth over Rs 253 crore.
NEAT scheme was launched by Ministry of Human Resource Development (now Ministry of Education) to use technology for better learning outcomes in Higher Education. It was launched with the aim of using Artificial Intelligence to make learning customized and personalized for learner. It also seeks to recognize the development of technologies in Adaptive Learning and bring them on a single platform. It also proposes to create a National Alliance with technology developing EdTech Companies in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode. Under the scheme, a National NEAT platform was created for providing one-stop access to Adaptive Learning Solutions.
All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is the implementing agency for NEAT scheme.
On January 3, 2022, the Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh launched a web portal for the PM Excellence Award registration.
The selection process of the award has undergone several changes since 2014. In 2022, the award is institutionalized based on performance of the district and not on the performance of the collector. Output and results are prioritized. Also, the award is to be institutionalized based on the scale of implementation of schemes. The total number of Prime Minister Awards for Excellence in Public Administration is 18. Basically, the award acknowledges, and recognizes the innovative works done by central and state government officers. The evaluation parameters of the award are changed every year. The award is presented by the Prime Minister.
In 2022, the prize money of the PM Excellence Award has been doubled. It has been increased from 10 lakh rupees to 20 lakh rupees. The prize money shall be utilized to bridge resource gaps and implement projects. Apart from prize money. the award will also consist of a scroll and a trophy. Also, a certificate of recognition will be placed in APAR of the collector. APAR is the Annual Performance Assessment Report.
In 2022, all district collectors should register for the award compulsorily. The award is to recognize the contribution of civil servants in innovation, end – to – end delivery of services, holistic development in one – district – one – product scheme, good governance in PM SVANidhi scheme, digital payments, promoting wellness through Khelo India and promoting people participation in Poshan Abhiyan.
Short listing by the screening committee, expert committee evaluation and recommendation by an empowered committee. The Prime Minister shall then approve the name based on the recommendations made by the empowered committee.
1st April 2019 to December 31, 2021
Quality control, Outcomes, governance and activities covering the production stage.
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) announced to develop and launch a Climate Change Awareness Campaign and a National Photography Competition.
National Photography Competition will be held in two categories:
Photos for the competition can be submitted before January 26, 2022.
The Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav started on March 12, 2021. It marks the 75-week countdown for 75th anniversary of India’s independence. It is an to celebrate 75 years of progressive India as well as glorious history of its people, culture, and achievements. It is dedicated to the people of India who have been instrumental in bringing India this far in its evolutionary journey.
The Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman K Sivan recently announced about plans for 2022. He also provided details about the missions accomplished in 2021.
The satellite aims to map the surface temperature of land. It is jointly developed by India and France. TRISHNA will also monitor water use. Similar India – France operations include Megha – Tropiques and SARAL – AltiKa. SARAL mission will study the ocean from space using ARGOS. ARGOS is a data collecting system. Megha – Tropiques will study the energy exchanges in the tropical region and water cycle. It will also study the natural resources using thermal infrared imaging. Currently, the earth temperature from space is obtained at a resolution of 100 metres. TRISHNA aims to increase the resolution to 57 metres. With this, scientists can understand the physical, biological and climatic phenomena of water cycle.
It is joint mission of NASA and ISRO. NISAR means NASA – ISRO – SAR. SAR is Synthetic Aperture Radar. The radar is to be used to measure the changes occurring on the earth surface. NISAR will carry the largest reflector antenna (designed by NASA). The main objective of NISAR Mission is to scan the earth every 12 days for three years. It will send images of sea ice and ice sheets.
DISHA is a twin satellite system. It will study the aeronomy of the earth. That is, the uppermost layer of the earth atmosphere.
In the last two months, it has been observed that China is constructing a bridge connecting the north and south banks of the Pangong Lake.
In August 2020, India had occupied key heights on Kailash range on the southern bank. It provided troops a strategic advantage as they overlooked the Chinese Moldo garrison. India had pulled back from the height following a “mutual pullback plan” for easing the tensions.
Construction of the bridge is significant, as it bridge will facilitate quick induction since it will reduce the distance and time to reach the contested areas at the Pangong Lake. It will connect the two banks and thus allow Chinese forces easy access on either side to combat any threat.
Ever since tensions started in Ladakh, in May 2021, China has enhanced its troop deployment of about 50,000 in this sector. Apart from Ladakh, China has been making aggressive moves in Eastern Sector bordering Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Recently, China also renamed 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh on its map.
The Chinese law is not specially meant for India. however, it has significant implications on the border dispute between India and China, which has intensified since May 2020.
Possible Reasons are:
On January 3, 2022, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released a framework for small-value offline transactions in digital mode.
Transaction which does not require telecom or internet connectivity to take effect are called as offline payment.
As per the framework, customers shall have recourse to integrated ombudsman scheme of RBI, as applicable, for grievance redressal.
These guidelines are part of RBI’s “framework for facilitating small value digital payments in offline mode”. It is followed by pilot testing conducted by some entities in between September 2020 to July 2021. RBI had permitted a pilot scheme in August 6, 2021 for encourage technological innovations which will enable small value digital transactions done offline.
The Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory is to get a district – level Good Governance Index. The index is modelled on Good Governance Index 2021.
The index will assess the governance in different districts of Jammu and Kashmir. It is to be calculated considering 58 indicators in ten different sectors. The Centre for Good Governance (CGG) provided the technical support to create the framework of the index. The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) is to prepare the index.
The index is to be calculated based on the performance of the districts in 10 sectors such as citizen centric governance, public safety and judiciary, welfare and development, economic governance, public infrastructure and utilities, public health, human resource development, commerce and industry and agriculture and allied sector.
The index will help Jammu and Kashmir increase its district governance to the level of other best administered districts in the country. The next step is to take good governance to block levels and tehsil levels. The index aims to change the work culture in government organizations. It will help the Union Territory march towards “Maximum governance and minimum government”. Also, the index will help in time bound disposal of office files, Increased citizen participation, increased accountability and transparency.
It was first announced at the regional conference organised by DARPG (Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances) in Uttar Pradesh. The DARPG operates under the Ministry of Personnel, public grievances and pension. It is the nodal agency for administrative reforms and public grievance redressal.
It was released by DARPG on Good Governance Day (December 25). Gujarat topped the ranking and was followed by Maharashtra and Goa. It is essential to release these indices in order to assess the governance in the state.