Comprehensive Current affairs 28 September 2020

 Bilateral Maritime Exercise between Japan and India, JIMEX 20, to Commence on 29 Sept.

The 4th edition of Maritime bilateral exercise between India and Japan "JIMEX 20" has been scheduled to be held from 26 to 28 September 2020. The exercise is conducted biennially between the Indian Navy and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF).

JIMEX 20:

• JIMEX 20 will be conducted in North Arabian Sea.

• The exercise will showcase joint operational skills and high degree of inter-operability through conduct of a multitude of advanced exercises, across the spectrum of maritime operations.

• The exercise will include Multi-faceted tactical exercises like weapon firings, cross deck helicopter operations and complex surface.

 • It also incluse anti-submarine and air warfare drills that will consolidate coordination developed by the two navies.

•JIMEX 20 will be conducted in a ‘non-contact at-sea-only format’, in view of COVID-19 restrictions.

• The exercise aims to enhance the cooperation and mutual confidence between the two navies. It also aims to fortify the long standing bond of friendship between the two countries.

• From Indian Side, the indigenously built stealth destroyer Chennai, Teg Class stealth frigate Tarkash and Fleet Tanker Deepak, under the command of Rear Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet, will participate in the exercise.

• From Japanese Side, JMSDF Ships Kaga, an Izumo Class Helicopter Destroyer and Ikazuchi, a Guided Missile Destroyer, led by Rear Admiral Konno Yasushige, Commander Escort Flotilla – 2 (CCF - 2) will participate in the exercise.

Background:

JIMEX series of exercises commenced in January 2012. The main objective of the exercise is to focus on maritime security cooperation. The last edition of JIMEX was conducted in October 2018 off Visakhapatnam, India.

Kerala Tourisms Human by Nature campaign bagged 2020 PATA Grand Award.

Kerala Tourism's internationally- acclaimed 'Human by Nature' campaign has bagged one of the three PATA Grand Awards 2020. The awards were announced live during a virtual presentation ceremony in Beijing, China. The award recognized the campaign's Marketing, giving a huge stimulus to the state's tourism industry, which has been severely impacted by COVID-19 pandemic.

 PATA Award Highlights:

• The PATA Gold Awards 2020 received 121 entries from 62 organisations and individuals across the world.

• The winners were selected by a judging committee of 16 personalities from various destinations.

• PATA 2020 presented 3 Grand Title Winners and 21 Gold Awards for best of show entries in the categories of Marketing, Sustainability and Human Capital Development.

CAG report finds 40% toilets in govt. schools non-existent and unused.

Public sector units claimed to have constructed 1.4 lakh toilets in government schools as part of a Right to Education project, but almost 40% of those surveyed by the Comptroller and Auditor-General were found to be non-existent, partially constructed, or unused.

In an audit report presented in Parliament on Wednesday, the CAG said over 70% did not have running water facilities in the toilets, while 75% were not being maintained hygienically.

The SwachhVidyalayaAbhiyan was launched by the Human Resource Development Ministry in September 2014 to meet the Right to Education Act’s mandate that all schools must have separate toilets for boys and girls.

Lack of dedicated funds, poor maintenance and poor water availability in toilets were identified as major challenges, and central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) were roped in to bridge the gap over a one-year period.

Out of that sample, CPSEs identified but did not construct 83. Another 200 toilets were reported to be constructed, but were non-existent, while 86 toilets were only partially constructed.

Out of the 1,967 coeducational schools surveyed, 99 schools had no functional toilets while 436 had only one functional toilet, meaning that the objective of providing separate toilets for boys and girls was not fulfilled in 27% of the schools, said the CAG.

 SAUBHAGYA completes three years since inception.

PradhanMantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana -“Saubhagya” has completed three years since its inception. P M Modi had launched this scheme on the 25th of September, 2017 to ensure electrification of all willing households in the country in rural as well as urban areas.

•The scheme was launched with an aim to achieve universal household electrification by providing last mile connectivity and electricity connections to all households in rural areas and all poor households in urban areas across the country.

•The scheme was started with an outlay of 16,320 crore rupees. Out of the total amount, the outlay for the rural households is over 14 thousand crore rupees while for the urban households the outlay is 2,295 crore rupees.

Around 400 detention camps in Chinese Xinjiang province.

China is running hundreds of detention centres in northwest Xinjiang across a network that is much bigger than previously thought, according to research presented on Thursday by an Australian think tank.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) said it had identified more than 380 “suspected detention facilities” in the region, where China is believed to have held more than one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim Turkic-speaking residents.

The number of facilities is around 40% greater than previous estimates, the research said, and has been growing despite China's claims that many Uighurs have been released.

Using satellite imagery, eyewitness accounts, media reports and official construction tender documents, the institute said “at least 61 detention sites have seen new construction and expansion work between July 2019 and July 2020”.

 Beijing on Thursday again denied the existence of detention sites. The government says they are vocational training centres used to counter extremism.

U.S. lawmakers recently voted to ban imports from Xinjiang, citing the alleged use of systematic forced labour.

Beijing recently published a white paper defending its policies in Xinjiang, where it says training programmes, work schemes and better education mean life has improved.

India-Pakistan trade charges at SAARC and CICA meetings.

India and Pakistan crossed swords over terrorism and Jammu and Kashmir at the Foreign Minister’s meetings of the 8-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the 27-nation Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

Speaking at the South Asian meeting, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar called on all SAARC members to “collectively resolve to defeat the scourge of terrorism, including the forces that nurture, support and encourage an environment of terror and conflict, which impede the objective of SAARC to realise its full potential for collective collaboration and prosperity across South Asia”, without a direct reference to Pakistan.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who also attended the meet along with the Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, used the SAARC platform to make a detailed statement on the resolution of “long-standing disputes”, a veiled reference to Jammu and Kashmir and New Delhi’s 2019 move to withdraw Article 370.

RBI releases document to enhance cybersecurity of urban co-operative banks (UCBs).

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has come out with a document to enhance cybersecurity of urban co-operative banks (UCBs).The ‘Technology Vision for Cyber Security for Urban Co-operatve Banks (UCBs) 2020-2023’ has been formalised based on inputs from various stakeholders.

 It plans to achieve its objective through a five-pillared strategic approach GUARD, viz. Governance Oversight, Utile Technology Investment, Appropriate Regulation and Supervision, Robust Collaboration and Developing necessary IT, cybersecurity skill sets.

With concerted efforts and involvement of all stake holders, the vision document, with its 12 specific action points, aspires to involve more board oversight over cybersecurity; enable UCBs to better manage and secure IT assets; implement an offsite supervisory mechanism framework for UCBs on cybersecurity-related controls; develop a forum for UCBs so that they can share best practices and discuss practical issues and challenges; and implement a framework for providing awareness/training for all UCBs, the RBI said.

“The cybersecurity landscape will continue to evolve with wider adoption of digital banking channels, thus necessitating the UCBs to manage the associated risks effectively. Active collaboration within UCBs and stakeholders would be necessary for sharing and co-ordinating various measures taken on cyber security aspects,” it said..

SEBI issues guidelines for investment advisers.

Markets regulator SEBI has come out with detailed guidelines for investment advisers (IA) asking them to ensure segregation of advisory and distribution activities at the client level.

Besides, SEBI has fixed a cap on fee that IA can charge from clients.Under the rules, an individual IA will apply for registration as non-individual investment adviser on onboarding 150 clients and IA will have to enter into an investment advisory agreement with its clients.

In a circular on Wednesday, the regulator said investment advisers will have to ensure compliance with regard to client-level segregation of advisory and distribution activities.

Setting up of plastic parks in India.

indian Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers has approved to set up ten plastic parks in the country under the Plastic Park scheme. The Scheme was launched in 2019.

 The plastic Park scheme has been launched with an aim to increase the competitiveness and value addition in the plastic processing industry. This will be achieved through research and development in the field.

The scheme would boost the plastic trade. Currently, India’s share in the Global market of plastics is very low. The Global trade of plastics is 1 trillion USD while India’s share is just 1%.

Major challenge with the plastic industries in India is its Recycling. Only 60% of plastic waste gets recycled in India. This further causes pollution which is also threatening aquatic resources at a larger scale.

The plastic parks will be set up in Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand.

Standards for Safety Evaluation 0f Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles.

The Standards for Safety Evaluation of Hydrogen Fuel Cells vehicles were recently notified by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

The motor vehicles of Category M and Category N, running on compressed gaseous hydrogen fuel cell, shall be in accordance with AIS 157:2020, as amended from time to time, till the corresponding Bureau of Indian Standard Act, 2016, specification is notified.

Also, the hydrogen fuel specification for fuel cell vehicles will be in accordance with ISO 14687.

They were notified through an amendment to Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989.

These standards are also at par with the available international standards.

This would facilitate the promotion of Hydrogen Fuel Cell based vehicles in India.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell based vehicles are energy efficient and environment friendly.

 Focus on UPSC mains:

Passage of Two Farm Bills by Upper House.

Two of the three agriculture-related legislation aimed at liberalising the farm sector, were passed by the Rajya Sabha by voice Vote Recently.

The two bills were passed in the House to replace the ordinances that were promulgated in June 2020. The passed Bills were:

✓ The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020

✓ The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020

About the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020:

• This bill seeks to provide for the creation of an ecosystem where the farmers and traders enjoy the freedom of choice relating to the sale and purchase of farmers’ produce which facilitates remunerative prices through competitive alternative trading channels to promote efficient, transparent and barrier-free inter-State and intra-State trade and commerce of farmers’ produce outside physical premises of markets or deemed markets notified under various State agricultural produce market legislations.

• A facilitative framework for electronic trading and related matters.

• The Bill basically aims at creating additional trading opportunities Outside the APMC market yards to help farmers get remunerative prices due to Additional Competition.

• This will supplement the existing MSP procurement system which is providing stable income to farmers.

• It is expected to pave the way for the creation of a ‘One India, One Agriculture Market’.

 Background:

• Farmers Faced many restrictions in Marketing their produce.

• There were restrictions in selling agri-produce outside the notified APMC market yards.

• The farmers were also restricted to sell the produce only to registered licensees of the State Governments.

• Further, barriers existed in the free flow of agriculture produce between various States owing to the prevalence of various APMC legislations enacted by the State Governments.

Expected benefits of the New Bill:

•Freedom of choice of sale and purchase of agri-produce.

• Promote barrier-free inter-state and intra-state trade.

• Promote commerce outside the physical premises of markets notified under State Agricultural Produce Marketing legislations.

• Help farmers in getting a better price for their produce because of more choices of markets.

• Help farmers of regions with surplus produce to get better prices and consumers of regions with shortages, lower prices.

• The Bill also proposes electronic trading in transaction platform for ensuring a seamless trade electronically.

• The farmers will not be charged any cess or levy for sale of their produce under this Act.

• There will also be a separate dispute resolution mechanism for the farmers.

About the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020:

• This bill seeks to provide for a national framework on farming agreements that protects and empowers farmers to engage with agri-business firms, processors, wholesalers, exporters or large retailers for farm services and sale of future farming produce at a mutually agreed Remunerative Price Framework in a fair and Transparent Manner.

Background:

• Indian agriculture is characterized by fragmentation due to smallholding sizes and has certain weaknesses such as weather dependence, production uncertainties and market unpredictability.

• This makes agriculture risky and inefficient in respect of both input & output management.

Expected Benefits of the Bill:

• Empower farmers for engaging with processors, wholesalers, aggregators, wholesalers, large retailers, exporters, etc., on a level playing field without any fear of exploitation.

• Transfer the risk of market unpredictability from the farmer to the sponsor.

• Enable the Farmer to access Modern Technology and Better Inputs.

• Reduce the cost of Marketing and Improve the Income of Farmers.

• Help attract private sector investment for building Supply chains for the supply of Indian farm produce to national and global markets, and in Agricultural Infrastructure.

• Farmers will engage in direct marketing thereby eliminating intermediaries resulting in full realization of price.

• Farmers have been provided with adequate protection.

• Sale, lease or mortgage of farmers’ land is totally prohibited and farmers’ land is also protected against any recovery.

• An effective dispute resolution mechanism has been provided with clear timelines for redressal.

What is a ‘Trade Area’, as Mentioned in the Bill?

• Section 2(m) of The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020 defines “trade area” as any area or location, place of production,collection and aggregation.

• It includes (a) farm gates; (b) factory premises; (c) warehouses; (d) silos; (e) cold storages; or (f) any other structures or places, from where the trade of farmers’ produce may be undertaken in the territory of India.

• In effect, existing mandis established under APMC Acts have been excluded from the definition of trade area under the new legislation.

• The government says the creation of an additional trade area outside of mandis will provide farmers with the freedom of choice to conduct trade in their produce.

Why are Farmers Protesting?

• The protesters say this provision will confine APMC mandis to their physical boundaries and give a free hand to big corporate buyers.

• The APMC mandi system has developed very well as every mandi caters to 200-300 villages.

• But the new ordinance has Confined the mandis to their Physical Boundaries.

What is ‘Trader’ and how is it linked to the protests?

• Section 2(n) of the first bill defines a “trader” as “a person who buys farmers’ produce by way of inter-State trade or intra-State trade or a combination thereof.

• Thus, it includes processor, exporter, wholesaler, miller, and retailer.

• According to the Ministry of the Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, “Any trader with a PAN card can buy the farmers’ produce in the trade area.”

•In the present mandi system, commission agents have to get a licence to trade in a mandi.

• The protesters say commission agents have credibility as their financial status is verified during the licence approval process.

Why does the Provision on ‘Market Fee’ worry Protesters?

• Section 6 states that no market fee or cess or levy, by whatever name called, under any State APMC Act or any other State law, shall be levied in a trade area.

• Government officials say this provision will reduce the cost of the transaction and will benefit both the farmers and the traders.

• Under the existing system, such charges in states like Punjab come to around 8.5% — a market fee of 3%, a rural development charge of 3% and the Agent's commission of about 2.5%.

• By removing the fee on trade, the government is indirectly incentivizing big corporates.