Defence and Security/Indigenisation of Technology/GSIII
BOLLARD PULL TUG "BALBIR"

What's the NEWS

• Contract for construction of 50Ton Bollard Pull Tugs was concluded with M/s Hindustan Shipyard Ltd, Visakhapatnam in Feb 19.
• The Fourth tug in the series, "Balbir" has been delivered to Naval Dockyard, Mumbai on 24 Jan 22.

• These tugs have been designed and built under the classification rules of Indian Register for Shipping (IRS) with a service life of 20 years and are capable of assisting large naval ships, including Aircraft Carrier and Submarines in berthing, un-berthing, turning and manoeuvering in confined waters and in harbour.
• They also provide afloat firefighting cover/assistance to ships alongside/anchorage and have limited capability for Search and Rescue operations.
• Induction of 50Ton Bollard Pull Tugs has significantly augmented the auxiliary support services and enhanced the capability to meet high operational requirements of Fleet assets of Indian Navy.
• With all major and auxiliary equipment/system sourced from indigenous manufacturers, these tugs are proud flag bearers of "Make in India, Make for the World" initiatives of Ministry of Defence
• Tugs "Veeran" and "Balraj" have been inducted on 22 Oct 21 and 31 Dec 21 at Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam respectively and "Balram" on 30 Oct 21 at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai.

• To address the needs of Indian exporters, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) besides conducting investigations against dumped and subsidised imports from other countries, also protects the interests of Indian exporters in investigations conducted by other countries against Indian exports through its Trade Defence Wing (TDW).

• The TDW was established in the year 2016, and has been the nodal point for extending support and defending the interests of Indian exporters in investigations undertaken by other countries against India.
• The TDW coordinates with various departments of the Central as well as the State Governments and presents India's defence.
• Consultations with investigating authorities of other countries, particularly USA and EU authorities, are regularly held to explain, reiterate and drive home the standpoint of the Indian government.
• The Trade Defence Wing (TDW) has been constantly striving to ensure that minimal or no trade remedial measure is applied on Indian goods by other countries.
• The sustained efforts of the Trade Defence Wing are reflected in the fact that in majority of the preliminary and final findings issued during April 2021 - December 2021, by other investigating authorities on Counter Vailing Duty (CVD) investigation / Reviews conducted on the exports from India, minimal duty rates ranging from 3-6% have only been imposed.
• The Trade Defence Wing (TDW) operations under the Department of Commerce (DOC) has brought relief to the Indian exporters. It has resulted in the reduction of anti-subsidy duty imposed on Indian exporters from 11.67 per cent to 2.82 per cent

• CVDs are trade import tariffs imposed to nullify the adverse effects of subsidies.
• They are imposed only under World Trade Organisation rules and are also called anti-subsidy duties.
• They are levied if a country investigates and finds out that a foreign country is subsidizing its imports to the home country thus harming domestic suppliers.
• Then, as per WTO rules, the country can charge additional duties in agreement with the GATT Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures and the GATT Article VI.

• Anti-dumping duties are levied on goods that are imported at a substantially low price whereas countervailing duties are levied on subsidized products in the originating or exporting country.

What's the NEWS

• The Kerala Bird Atlas (KBA), the first-of-its-kind State-level bird atlas in India, has created solid baseline data about the distribution and abundance of bird species across all major habitats, giving an impetus to futuristic studies.

• Conducted as a citizen science-driven exercise with the participation of over 1,000 volunteers of the birdwatching community, the KBA has been prepared based on systematic surveys held twice over 60 days a year during the wet (July to September) and dry (January to March) seasons between 2015 and 2020.
• The KBA accounts for nearly three lakh records of 361 species, including 94 very rare species, 103 rare species, 110 common species, 44 very common species, and 10 most abundant species.
• It is arguably Asia's largest bird atlas in terms of geographical extent, sampling effort and species coverage derived from the aggregation of 25,000 checklists.
• It was found that the species count was higher during the dry season than in the wet season while species richness and evenness were higher in the northern and central districts than in the southern districts.
• Most of the endemics were concentrated in the Western Ghats while the threatened species were mostly along the coast. The survey ignored the short duration passage of migrant species.

Prelims Factoids
GANODERMA- two species of fungi associated with basal stem rot found
 

What's the NEWS

• Researchers from Kerala have identified two new species of fungi from the genus Ganoderma that are associated with coconut stem rot.
• They have also genotyped the two fungi species, named Ganoderma keralense and G. pseudoapplanatum and identified genetic biomarkers.
• The DNA barcodes have been made publicly available in DNA sequence repositories so that future studies can use it for early detection of the pathogen. The research was published in the journal Mycologia.
• The butt rot or basal stem rot of coconut is known by several names in different parts of India: Ganoderma wilt (Andhra Pradesh), Anaberoga (Karnataka) and Thanjavur wilt (Tamil Nadu), to mention a few.
• The infection begins at the roots, but symptoms include discolouration and rotting of stem and leaves. In the later stages, flowering and nut set decreases and finally the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) dies.

Defence
AT4 anti-armour weapon
 

What's the NEWS

• Swedish defence major Saab's AT4 anti-armour weapon had been selected by the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force through a competitive programme for a single-shot weapon.

• The Indian armed forces are a new customer for AT4. This order includes the AT4CS AST, which can be fired from confined spaces such as from inside buildings, bunkers and other urban environments. It weighs around 9 kg and has an effective range of 200 m.
• The AT4 systems are combat-proven across the world. They are lightweight, single-shot, fully disposable and truly characterised by its ease of use and handling.
• The AT4CS AST offered a tandem warhead with a breach or blast mode, which was optimised to defeat enemies within buildings and to destroy structures, which could create a point of access into them.
• Operated by a single soldier, this single-shot system had proven efficacy against structures, landing craft, helicopters, armoured vehicles and personnel.

Economy/GSIII
NON-FUNGIBLE TOKENS (NFTs)

What's the NEWS

• French luxury fashion brand Hermès is suing American digital artist Mason Rothschild who created the MetaBirkins series of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), a rapidly growing part of the cryptoworld.

• An NFT is a unique, irreplaceable token that can be used to prove ownership of digital assets such as music, artwork, even tweets and memes.
• The term ‘non-fungible' simply means that each token is different as opposed to a fungible currency such as money (a ten-rupee note can be exchanged for another and so on).
• Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are also fungible, which means that one Bitcoin can be exchanged for another. But an NFT cannot be exchanged for another NFT because the two are different and therefore unique. Each token has a different value, depending on which asset it represents.
• NFT transactions are recorded on blockchains, which is a digital public ledger, with most NFTs being a part of the Ethereum blockchain. NFTs became popular in 2021, when they were beginning to be seen by artists as a convenient way to monetise their work.
• One of the other attractions is that NFTs are a part of a new kind of financial system called decentralised finance (DeFi), which does away with the involvement of institutions such as banks.
• For this reason, decentralised finance is seen as a more democratic financial system because it makes access to capital easier for lay people by essentially eliminating the role of banks and other associated institutions.

• In a major boost to promote precision farming in India, the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has issued guidelines to make drone technology affordable to the stakeholders of this sector.

• The guidelines of "Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization" (SMAM) have been amended which envisages granting upto 100% of the cost of agriculture drone or Rs. 10 lakhs,whichever is less, as grant for purchase of drones by the Farm Machinery Training & Testing Institutes, ICAR institutes, Krishi Vigyan Kendras and State Agriculture Universities for taking up large scale demonstrations of this technology on the farmers' fields.
• The Farmers Producers Organizations (FPOs) would be eligible to receive grant up to 75% of the cost of agriculture drone for its demonstrations on the farmers' fields.
• A contingency expenditure of Rs.6000 per hectare would be provided to implementing agencies that do not want to purchase drones but will hire drones for demonstrations from Custom Hiring Centres, Hi-tech Hubs, Drone Manufacturers and Start-Ups.
• The contingent expenditure to implementing agencies that purchase drones for drone demonstrations would be limited to Rs.3000 per hectare.
• The financial assistance and grants would be available until March 31, 2023.

• In order to provide agricultural services through drone application, 40% of the basic cost of drone and its attachments or Rs.4 lakhs, whichever less would be available as financial assistance for drone purchase by existing Custom Hiring Centers which are set up by Cooperative Society of Farmers, FPOs and Rural entrepreneurs.
• The new CHCs or the Hi-tech Hubs that will be established by the Cooperative Societies of Farmers, FPOs and Rural entrepreneurs with financial assistance from SMAM, RKVY or any other Schemes can also include Drone as one of the machines along with other agricultural machines in the projects of CHCs/Hi-tech Hubs.

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