Comprehensive Current affairs 2 September 2020

India inks Rs.2,580 crore contracts to supply Army regiments with Pinaka missiles.

Indian Ministry of Defence has signed a contract to supply six Pinaka regiments, a system of rocket launchers, to the Indian Army. The approximate cost of the missiles is Rs.2,580 crore by 2024.

The contract has been approved by the Defence and Finance Ministers of India.

The contract is signed with the Bharat Earth Movers Ltd, Tata Power Company Ltd and Larsen & Toubro. In this project, atleast 70% of indigenous content will be used.

The 6 Pinaka regiments are expected to be made operational along the country's Northern and Eastern borders.

The aim is to enhance the Indian Army's preparedness in the region against the increased provocative military movements of the Chinese troops. 

Pinaka:

Pinaka is a multi-barrel rocket launch (MBRL) system produced in India for the Indian Army. It is developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). These missiles have a guidance kit bolstered by an advanced navigation and control system. It has an extended range of 70 to 80 km. It has 6 launcher vehicles, each has 12 rockets with 6 loader-replenishment vehicles. Pinaka has 2 command post vehicles with fire control computer and a DIGICORA MET radar. It has the ability to fire all the rockets at a time or only a few in a different direction with the help of its control computer. Pinaka saw service during the Kargil War, where it was successful in neutralizing enemy positions on the mountain tops.

Kerala to set up First International Womens Trade Centre in India.

Kerala State Government aims to set up India’s first International Women’s Trade Centre (IWTC), in consonance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at Angamaly. The aim is to accelerate women entrepreneurship.

IWTC:

The Centre will secure gender parity and provide women with a safe place away from home to start new businesses, set up or expand, and get their products marketed globally.

Scaling up opportunities for MSME Women Entrepreneurs in Kerala is organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) Kerala State Council.

Resource Enhancement Academy for Career Heights (REACH) is aimed to empower women with the required skills to ensure success in life.

It aims to scale up the women-led endeavours through comprehensive support measures.

It aims to enhance its competitiveness to tap market opportunities.

IWTC will enable women entrepreneurs to come forward and participate in international trade, enjoy greater economic benefits.

Jal Jeevan Mission to measure and monitor water supply.

Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) aims to create a smart rural water supply eco-system to measure and monitor the service delivery of the water supply in rural areas. The National JJM has constituted a Technical Expert Committee. The aim is to prepare a road map for measurement and monitoring of the water service delivery system in rural areas. The committee constitutes members from academia, administration, technology, and specialists from the water supply sector.

National Jal Jeevan Mission and Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) is to conduct an ICT Grand Challenge.

The ICT grand challenge is to bring an innovative, modular, and cost-effective solution to develop a ‘Smart Water Supply Measurement and Monitoring System’ to be deployed at the village level.

The ICT grand challenge will invite proposals from Indian Tech start-ups, the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Indian Companies, Indian LLPs.

JJM has partnered with State Governments and sector partners and started facilitating a sensor-based water supply system on a pilot basis in various villages.

Gujarat State govt. has begun navigating the sensor-based rural water supply systems in 1,000 villages spread across five districts.

Pilot projects have been started in other States.

The project will ensure to minimize service delivery outage and water loss and monitor the quantity and quality on a long-term basis.

India, Japan, Australia agree to launch a resilient supply chain initiative in the Indo-Pacific region.

Australia-India-Japan Economic Ministers’ Joint Statement on Supply Chain Resilience was held on 1st September. The virtual meeting comprised of India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry

Piyush Goyal, Australia’s Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Senator Simon, and Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry, Kajiyama Hiroshi.

Highlights:

India-Japan-Australia has agreed to launch an initiative to build a resilient supply chain in the Indo-Pacific region.

The aim is to create a free and transparent trade & investment environment.

The Ministers reaffirmed their agreement to take a lead in delivering a free, fair, transparent, inclusive, non-discriminatory, predictable, and stable trade and investment environment and in keeping their markets open.

During the meeting, the Ministers shared their intention to work toward the launch of a new initiative to achieve the objective through cooperation.

GoI had taken the call at the highest levels to become part of the global supply chain and is emerging as an alternative to China.

Common Voters List.

In a move that ties in with the idea of simultaneous elections in the country, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), earlier this month, held a meeting to discuss the possibility of preparing a common voters’ list for elections to all local bodies, state assemblies and Lok

Sabha.

Common voters List:

• Common Voters list means single electoral roll for all Elections in the country.

• Articles 243K and 243ZA deal with elections to Panchayats and Municipalities in the states. These give the power of superintendence, direction and control of preparation of electoral rolls and the conduct of these elections to the State Election Commission (SEC).

• Article 324(1) of the Constitution empowers the EC to supervise, direct, and control the preparation and revision of electoral rolls for all the elections to Parliament and state legislatures.

• State Election Commission are free to prepare their own electoral rolls for local body elections, and this exercise does not have to be coordinated with the EC.

• Currently, a majority of the states use the EC’s voters list, instead of their own, to elect their municipalities and panchayats. However, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Odisha, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and the

Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir have their own electoral rolls for local body polls.

Issues with Multiple Voters List:

• The Law Commission recommended single voters list in its 255th report in 2015. The EC too adopted a similar stance in 1999 and 2004. It had noted that the non-conformity of preparation of electoral rolls by the EC and the SECs causes duplication of the same task between two different agencies.

• Further, the EC pointed out that it adds to the confusion among voters, since they may find their names Present in one roll, but Absent in Another.

Benefits:

• The incumbent government has pitched a common electoral roll and simultaneous elections as a way to save an enormous amount of effort and expenditure. A common Electoral Roll would save the exchequer money and the election conducting agencies effort.

Challenges:

• First, a constitutional amendment to Articles 243K and 243ZA that would make it mandatory to have a single electoral roll for all elections in the country.

• Second, to persuade the state governments to tweak their respective laws and adopt the Election Commission’s (EC) voters list for municipal and panchayat polls. However, the change would

require a massive consensus-building exercise, which may not be easy given the suspicion between the states and the Centre.

• Having a Common Electoral roll doesn’t end with convincing the state governments to adopt EC’s voters list. The boundaries of the EC’s polling station may not necessarily match that of the wards. So the EC’s voters list has to be Fashioned in a way to fit the SEC’s

Wards.

Biological control of rodents by Barn Owls.

The Lakshadweep Administration had embarked on the ‘Pilot project on

Biological Control of Rodents (Rats) by Using Barn Owls (Tyto alba) in Kavaratti Island’ after studies revealed the shocking extent of damage caused by rats to the island's coconut Yield and Economy.

Highlights:

• Its scientific name is Tyto alba and its Common name is barn owl.

• It is the most widely distributed species of owl. It is found almost everywhere in the world except polar and desert regions, in Asia north of the Himalayas, most of Indonesia, and some Pacific islands.

• The plumage on head and back is a mottled shade of grey or brown, the underparts vary from white to brown and are sometimes speckled with dark markings.

• The face is characteristically heart-shaped and is white in most subspecies.

• Barn owls specialise in hunting animals on the ground and nearly all of their food consists of small mammals which they locate by sound, their hearing being very acute.

• Its IUCN red list status is Least Concern.

• The Barn Owl is respected as the acolyte of the Goddess Chamunda in Karnataka. In Bengal, it is revered as the carrier of Lakshmi, the deity of wealth.

• The biocontrol measure is spearheaded by the Lakshadweep Administration, with the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) at Kavaratti providing the technical knowhow.

• Coconut is an important cash crop for the islands, but the rodents account for 30 to 40% of the yield loss. Total production stood at 8.76 crore nuts in 2017-18.

• Barn owls have been recruited instead of other rat hunters like cats or rat snakes because the rats in the Lakshadweep Islands practically live on treetops.

• The islands have no other natural predators of rodents. Using chemical agents is impossible since Lakshadweep Practises Organic Agriculture.

7). CSIR-CMERI develops Worlds Largest Solar Tree.

Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CMERI) has developed the World’s Largest Solar Tree at Durgapur, West Bengal. The capacity of the installed Solar Tree is above 11.5 kilowatts peak (kWp). It has the annual capacity to generate 12,000-14,000 units of Clean and Green Power.

Solar Tree:

The Solar Tree is designed in a way that it will ensure maximum exposure of each Solar photo-voltaic (PV) Panel to Sunlight. It creates the least amount of shadow area beneath.

A total of 35 Solar PV Panels are there in each tree with a capacity of 330 wp each.

The unique feature is that the inclination of the arms holding the Solar PV Panels are flexible and can be adjusted as per requirement. This is not available in Roof-Mounted Solar facilities.

The data of the energy generated can be monitored either in real-time or on a daily basis.

The design of the Solar Trees potentially makes it available for widespread usage in Agricultural activities such as High Capacity Pumps, e-Tractors, and e-Power Tillers.

The solar trees should be aligned with Agriculture for substituting price-volatile fossil fuels as the Solar Tree has the potential to save 10-12 tons of CO2 emissions being released into the atmosphere as Greenhouse Gases (GHG) when compared with fossil fuel-fired energy generation.

Each Solar Tree will cost Rs 7.5 lakhs and the interested MSMEs can align their Business Model with the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evem Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) Scheme for farmers, for developing a Renewable Energy based Energy Grid.

8).Tele-robotic Surgery: Replicating Surgeon’s Hands Minus the Tremors.

The cutting-edge of remote medical practice can be seen in the emerging field of telerobotic surgery where a surgeon in high demand can perform procedures in multiple distant locations on the same day. Robotic Surgery is a method of performing surgery using very small tools attached to a robotic arm.

The surgeon controls and manipulates the arm from a computer console. An electronic eye in the robot arm sends back a high definition 3-D image, magnified 10 times, which the surgeon can view on the computer screen: something not possible in conventional surgery. The surgeon uses controls in the console to manipulate special surgical instruments that are smaller and more flexible than the human hand. The robot replicates the surgeon’s hand movements and eliminates human shortcomings like hand tremors.

The first robotic surgery (of the prostate) was performed at AIIMS, Delhi, in July 2006, using the Da Vinci robotic system.

The world’s first-in-human robotic coronary surgery using a system from the US-based Corindus Vascular Robotics was performed in India on December 4 and 5, 2018. Five patients in the Apex Heart Institute in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, underwent procedures performed by Dr Tejas Patel, Chief

Interventional Cardiologist of the Apex Heart Institute, from inside the Swaminarayan Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar, 32 km away.

Says Dr Patel: “The first human case of remote robotic PCI represents a landmark event for interventional medicine. The application of telerobotics in India has the potential to impact a significant number of lives by providing access to care that may not otherwise have been possible. For the first time in cardiology’s history, India will shine for this ground-breaking innovationinnovation".

Focus on mains..

Rules for administration in the Union Territory of J&k framed.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has notified new rules for administration in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir that specify the functions of the Lieutenant Governor (LG) and the Council of Ministers.

What are the Roles and Powers of LG?

• Police, public order, All India Services and anti-corruption, will fall under the executive functions of the LG, implying that the Chief Minister or the Council of Ministers will have no say in their functioning.

• Proposals or matters which affect or are likely to affect the peace and tranquillity of the UT or the interest of any minority community, the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Backward Classes “shall essentially be submitted to the Lieutenant Governor through the Chief Secretary, under intimation to the Chief Minister, before issuing any orders.”

• In case of difference of opinion between the LG and a Minister when no agreement could be reached even after a month, the “decision of the Lieutenant Governor shall be deemed to have been accepted by the Council of Ministers.

What is the Role of the President?

• In case of difference of opinion between the Lieutenant Governor and the Council with regard to any matter, the Lieutenant Governor shall refer it to the Central Government for the decision of the President and shall act according to the decision of the President.

• The LG of J&K has been empowered to pass directions in such situations that action taken by the Council of Ministers will be suspended for as long as it takes the President of India to decide on the cases referred to her.

What is the Role of Council of Ministers, led by the Chief Minister?

• They will decide service matters of non-All India Services officers, proposal to impose new tax, land revenue, sale grant or lease of government property, reconstituting departments or offices and draft legislations.

• Any matter which is likely to bring the Government of the Union territory into controversy with the Central Government or with any State Government, shall, as soon as possible, be brought to the notice of the LG and the Chief Minister by the secretary concerned through the Chief Secretary.

What is the Role of the Central Government?

• The Lieutenant Governor shall make a prior reference to the Central government with respect to proposals of the following kinds:

✓ those affecting the relations of the Centre with any state government, the Supreme Court of India or any other high court;

✓ proposals for the appointment of Chief Secretary and Director General of Police;

✓ important cases which affect or are likely to affect the peace and tranquillity of the Union Territory; and

Cases which affect or are likely to affect the interests of any minority community, Scheduled Castes or the Backward Classes.

What are the Implications of the New Rules?

• In the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, when it had special status, the chief minister was the most powerful person in the decision-making process.

• With the new rules, CM has been reduced to an ornamental figure. He would not even have the power to transfer a constable of the Jammu & Kashmir Police.

National Register of Citizens (NRC)

A year after the publication of the complete National Register of Citizens (NRC), the fate of 19, 06,657 people excluded from the updated list in Assam continues to hang in the Balance.

What is NRC?

• The NRC is the list of Indian citizens and was prepared in 1951, following the census of 1951.

• The process of NRC update was taken up in Assam as per a Supreme Court order in 2013.

• In order to wean out cases of illegal migration from Bangladesh and other adjoining areas, NRC updation was carried out under The Citizenship Act, 1955, and according to rules framed in the Assam Accord.

• The Assam government released the final draft of NRC on July 30, 2018. The list incorporates names of 2.89 crore people out of 3.29 crore applicants. The names of 40.07 lakh people have been left out.

Why it was Carried Out?

• Crisis of identity: Influx of immigrants has created a crisis of identity among the indigenous. Locals fear that their cultural survival will be affected,political control weakened and employment opportunities undermined because of immigrants. Environmental degradation: Large areas of forest land were encroached upon by the immigrants for settlement and cultivation. The state experienced declining percent of land area under forest from 39% in 1951-52 to about 30% now.

• Increase financial burden: Immigration has increased pressure on the part of state government, as the government has to increase the expenditure on education and health facilities to the immigrants.

Why is this Worrisome?

• The official presumption that people residing in Assam areas are foreigners has reduced several million of these highly impoverished, mostly rural, powerless and poorly lettered residents to a situation of helplessness and extreme poverty, destitution, hardship.

• It has also caused them abiding anxiety and uncertainty about their futures. They are required to convince a variety of usually hostile officials that they are citizens, based on vintage documents which even urban, educated, middle-class citizens would find hard to muster.

• Women are especially in danger of exclusion from the citizenship register. Typically, they have no birth certificates, are not sent to school, and are married before they become adults.

• UN experts are warning continuously that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam could render millions of citizens stateless and create instability in India.

What can the Left out do Now?

• According to the Centre’s standard operating procedures, a rejected person would have 120 days from the date of receiving the rejection slip to approach a Foreigners’ Tribunal (FT) for judging their citizenship status.

About Foreigners Tribunals in Assam:

• The tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies, to determine if a person staying illegally is a “foreigner” or not.

• Every individual, whose name does not figure in the final National Register of Citizens (NRC), can represent his/her case in front of the appellate authority i.e. Foreigners Tribunals (FT).

• Assam has set up FTs, specifically to handle the cases of 19.06 lakh people left out of the updated NRC.

• Under the provisions of Foreigners Act 1946 and Foreigners (Tribunals) Order 1964, only Foreigners Tribunals are empowered to declare a person as a foreigner.

• The Assam Police Border Organisation, a wing of the State police tasked with detecting foreigners, readies the cases for the tribunals to decide who is a foreigner and who is not.

Way Ahead:

• A person’s citizenship is a basic human right. Declaring people foreigners in haste without judicially verifying their Credentials can leave many Human beings Stateless.

• The need of the hour is that Union Government should clearly chart out the course of action regarding the fate of excluded people from final NRC data and political parties should refrain from colouring the entire NRC process through electoral prospects that may snowball in to communal violence.

• There is a need for a robust mechanism of legal support for the four million who have to prove their citizenship to India with their limited means.