November 2024

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Daily Current Capsules 09th December 2021

Prelims Factoids
President's Standard
What's the NEWS

  • The President of India, Shri Ram NathKovind, presented President's Standard to the 22nd Missile Vessel Squadron of the Indian Navy in Mumbai, Maharashtra today (December 8, 2021).
22nd Missile Vessel Squadron -highlights
  • The ships of this squadron have been deployed for a multitude of operations.
  • They are securing our maritime borders through mission based deployments.
  • They are also undertaking diplomatic missions in the Gulf of Oman and Persian Gulf and anti-piracy operations.
  • The President's Standard is the highest honour bestowed by the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces to a military unit in recognition of the service rendered to the nation.
Government Schemes/GSII
Cabinet approves continuation of Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana - Gramin (PMAY-G) beyond March 2021 till March 2024
What's the NEWS
  • The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister has approved the proposal of the Department of Rural Development for continuation of Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana - Gramin (PMAY-G) beyond March 2021 wherein financial assistance is to be provided for the construction of the remaining 155.75 lakh houses, as on 31st March, 2021 under the scheme within total target of 2.95 crore houses.
Benefits:
  • The continuation of scheme till March, 2024 ensures that the remaining 155.75 lakh households within overall target of 2.95 crore houses under PMAY-G would be provided assistance for construction of Pucca houses with basic amenities to achieve the objective of "Housing for All" in rural areas.
  • As on 29th November, 2021, 1.65 crore PMAY-G houses have been constructed out of the total target of 2.95 crore.
  • It is estimated that 2.02 crore houses, which is almost equal to SECC 2011 database based Permanent Wait List will be completed by the deadline of 15th August, 2022. Therefore, to achieve the total target of 2.95 crore houses, the scheme need to be continued till March, 2024.
Infrastructure Development/GSIII
Cabinet approves Ken-Betwa Interlinking of Rivers Project
What's the NEWS
  • The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the funding and implementation of Ken-Betwa inter-linking of rivers project.
Know! about the project
  • The total cost of Ken-Betwa link project has been assessed at Rs.44,605 crore at 2020-21 price levels.
  • The Union Cabinet has approved central support of Rs.39,317 crore for the project, covering grant of Rs.36,290 crore and loan of Rs.3,027 crore.
  • This project involves transfer of water from the Ken to the Betwa River through the construction of Daudhan Dam and a canal linking the two rivers, the Lower Orr Project, Kotha Barrage -and Bina Complex Multipurpose Project.
  • The project will provide an annual irrigation of 10.62 lakh ha, drinking water supply to a population of about 62 lakhs and also generate 103 MW of hydropower and 27 MW solar power.
  • The Project is proposed to be implemented in 8 years with state of the art technology.
  • The Project will be of immense benefit to the water starved Bundelkhand region, spread across the states of MP and UP.
  • This project will provide enormous benefits to the districts of Panna, Tikamgarh, Chhatarpur, Sagar, Damoh, Datia, Vidisha, Shivpuri and Raisen of Madhya Pradesh and Banda, Mahoba, Jhansi & Lalitpur of Uttar Pradesh.
  • The project is expected to boost socio-economic prosperity in the backward Bundelkhand region on account of increased agricultural activities and employment generation. It would also help in arresting distress migration from this region.
  • This project also comprehensively provides for environment management and safeguards. For this purpose a comprehensive landscape management plan is under finalization by Wildlife Institute of India.
Background:
  • On 22nd March 2021, a historic agreement was signed between the Union Minister of Jal Shakti and the Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to implement the first major centrally driven river interlinking project in the country.
  • This agreement heralds the beginning of inter- state cooperation to implement the vision of Sh. Atal Bihari Vajpayee to carry water from areas that have surpluses to drought prone and water deficit areas, through the interlinking of rivers.
Information given by Ministers in Parliament
Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS)
  • ISRO has the requisite technologies and expertize to provide information on advance warning of cyclones, monitoring of coast lines and coral reefs using space based inputs to support small island states to help them protect from inundation due to rising temperatures.
  • ISRO is gearing up to provide such information to some of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Indian Ocean Region.
  • India, UK, Australia, Fiji, Jamaica and Mauritius jointly launched an initiative, Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS) to provide technical support on disaster resilience of infrastructure systems to SIDS, during the 26th Conference of Parties held in Glasgow, UK by United Nations.
  • IRIS, will also support SIDS by facilitating access to existing financial mechanisms for resilient infrastructure development.
  • IRIS will extend its support on demand basis to 58 Small Island Developing States (SIDS) across geographic regions.
  • ISRO carries out prediction of track, intensity, landfall time and location of all cyclones originated in Indian Oceans using space based inputs.
  • While India Meteorological Department (IMD) is the mandated agency to provide the Cyclone forecast advisories, ISRO supports IMD in improving the prediction methodologies and publish the R&D outputs for the help of all.
  • ISRO has carried out vulnerability assessment of the selected states along the Indian coastal region and has identified coastal stretch that are susceptible due to sea level rise.
  • ISRO provides near real time prediction of storm surge and surge induced inundation for Indian coast during cyclone using satellite observations and numerical model.
  • Maps of coral reefs of Indian Ocean, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden have been published and are updated regularly.
  • A region-specific Coral Bleaching Monitoring System based on sea surface temperature data is hosted on ISRO's VEDAS geoportal.

 

PLI Scheme

 

  • Keeping in view India's vision of becoming ‘Atmanirbhar' and to enhance India's Manufacturing capabilities and Exports, an outlay of INR 1.97 lakh crore (over US$ 26 billion) has been announced in Union Budget 2021-22 for PLI schemes for 13 key sectors of manufacturing starting from fiscal year (FY) 2021-22.
The 13 key sectors include already existing 3 sectors namely
  • Mobile Manufacturing and Specified Electronic Components
  • Critical Key Starting materials/Drug Intermediaries & Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients
  • Manufacturing of Medical Devices and 10 new key sectors which have been approved by the Union Cabinet in November 2020.
These 10 key sectors are:
  • Automobiles and Auto Components, (ii) Pharmaceuticals Drugs, (iii) Specialty Steel, (iv) Telecom & Networking Products,(v) Electronic/Technology Products, (vi) White Goods (ACs and LEDs), (vii) Food Products, (viii) Textile Products: MMF segment and technical textiles, (ix) High efficiency solar PV modules, and (x) Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery.
  • PLI Scheme for an additional sector, Drones and Drone Components, has also been approved by the Union Cabinet in September 2021.
  • With the announcement of PLI Schemes, significant creation of production, employment, and economic growth is expected over the next 5 years and more.
Know! about PLI Scheme
  • The schemes have been specifically designed to attract investments in sectors of core competency and cutting edge technology; ensure efficiency and bring economies of size and scale in the manufacturing sector and make Indian manufacturers globally competitive so that they can integrate with global value chains.
  • The PLI schemes are being implemented by the concerned Ministries/ Departments.
  • All the approved sectors identified under PLI Schemes follow the broad framework of new and emerging technologies where India can leapfrog, overall economic gain accruing to the economy and export potential of the sectors.
  • These sectors were recommended by NITI Aayog after detailed deliberations with concerned Ministries/ Departments followed by approval of the Union Cabinet.
  • Any new sector for PLI will require fresh approval of the Cabinet.
Regional Trade Agreements

 

 

  • India currently has 11 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)/Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) with other countries/regions.
  • In addition, it has 6 limited coverage Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs).
The details are as under:
i. Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)
  

 

Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs)

TYPES OF TRADE AGREEMENTS

  • Trade agreements is an accord between two or more countries for a specific terms of trade, commerce, transit or investment.
  • They mostly involve mutually beneficial concessions.
Depending on the terms and concession agreed on by the participating bodies, there are several types of trade agreements-
Free Trade Agreement
  • A free trade agreement is an agreement in which two or more countries agree to provide preferential trade terms, tariff concession etc. to the partner country.
  • Here a negative list of products and services is maintained by the negotiating countries on which the terms of FTA are not applicable hence it is more comprehensive than preferential trade agreement.
  • India has negotiated FTA with many countries e.g. Sri Lanka and various trading blocs as well e.g. ASEAN.
Preferential Trade Agreement
  • In this type of agreement, two or more partners give preferential right of entry to certain products.
  • This is done by reducing duties on an agreed number of tariff lines.
  • Here a positive list is maintained i.e. the list of the products on which the two partners have agreed to provide preferential access.
  • Tariff may even be reduced to zero for some products even in a PTA. India signed a PTA with Afghanistan.
Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement
  • Partnership agreement or cooperation agreement are more comprehensive than an FTA.
  • CECA/CEPA also looks into the regulatory aspect of trade and encompasses and agreement covering the regulatory issues.
  • CECA has the widest coverage.
  • CEPA covers negotiation on the trade in services and investment, and other areas of economic partnership.
  • It may even consider negotiation on areas such as trade facilitation and customs cooperation, competition, and IPR.
  • India has signed CEPAs with South Korea and Japan.
Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement
  • CECA generally covers negotiation on trade tariff and TQR rates only.
  • It is not as comprehensive as CEPA. India has signed CECA with Malaysia.
Framework agreement
  • Framework agreement primarily defines the scope and provisions of orientation of the potential agreement between the trading partners.
  • It provides for some new area of discussions and set the period for future liberalisation.
  • India has previously signed framework agreements with the ASEAN, Japan etc.
CAROTAR, 2020
  • A few instances of re-routing of goods through the countries with which India has FTAs/RTAs have come to notice.
  • To address this issue, Government has issued Customs (Administration of Rules of Origin under Trade Agreements) Rules, 2020 (CAROTAR, 2020) with effect from September 21, 2020 to supplement the procedures prescribed under different FTAs.
  • These rules also cast responsibility on the importers to conduct due diligence for ensuring that the goods meet the prescribed rules of origin.
  • The newly introduced provisions act as deterrent against misuse of trade agreements.
India-MERCOSUR PTA
  • The India-MERCOSUR PTA provides for five Annexes.
  • MERCOSUR is an economic grouping among the South American countries. It comprises of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Asia Pacific Trade Agreement
  • APTA is a preferential trading arrangement designed to liberalise and expand trade in goods progressively in Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP) region through liberalization of tariff and nontariff barriers.
  • At present, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, South Korea, India and China are exchanging tariff concessions under APTA.
  • Participating countries under Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) are Bangladesh, China, India, Lao PDR, Republic of Korea, and Sri Lanka.
Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP)
  • Under agreement establishing GSTP, tariff concessions are exchanged among developing countries, who have signed agreement.
  • Presently, 46 countries are members of GSTP and India has exchanged tariff concessions with 12 countries on a limited number of products. EIC is sole agency authorised to issue Certificate of origin under GSTP.
  • The Sao Paulo Round of the GSTP was concluded among 8 countries but only Cuba, India and Malaysia have ratified the Protocol as of October, 2014.

 


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