Weekly Current Capsules
September(4th and 5thweek) 2022

herSTART' Platform

 

What's the NEWS

 

• President Draupadi Murmu launches 'herSTART' - a start-up platform of Gujarat University for women entrepreneurs

Know! about herSTART platform

• herSTART' is the initiative of Gujarat University Startup and Entrepreneurship Council aims at supporting women-led startups.
• The platform has been launched with the aim that it will not only boost innovation and start-up efforts of women entrepreneurs but also help them connect with government as well as private enterprises.
• Through this platform, free resources and training modules free will be provided to aspiring women entrepreneurs. It will build a digital community and also a digital publication to spread their success stories.

 

International Year of Millets (IYOM)-2023

 

 

What's the NEWS

 

• Agriculture Ministry, NAFED signed MoU to boost the initiative to promote millets towards the celebration of the international year of millets 2023.
• The U.N. General Assembly recently adopted a resolution, sponsored by India and supported by more than 70 countries, declaring 2023 as the International Year of Millets.
• The resolution is intended to increase public awareness on the health benefits of millets and their suitability for cultivation under tough conditions marked by climate change.

Know! about millets

• Millet is a cereal that belongs to the grass family.
• Majorly cultivated in the semiarid tropical regions of Africa and Asia, around 97 percent of world's overall millet production happens in these regions.
• Types of millets: Jowar (Sorghum), Ragi, Bajra (Pearl millet).

 

 

G20 Sherpa

What's the NEWS

 

• India recently participates at 3rd G20 Sherpa meeting in Indonesia.

 

Know! about Sherpa

• A Sherpa is a personal representative of the leader of a member country at an international Summit meeting such as the G8, G20, the Nuclear Security Summit etc.
• The Sherpa engages in planning, negotiation and implementation tasks through the Summit.
• They coordinate the agenda, seek consensus at the highest political levels, and participate in a series of pre-Summit consultations to help negotiate their leaders' positions.
• Sherpas are career diplomats or senior government officials appointed by the leaders of their countries.
• The term is derived from the Nepalese Sherpa people, who serve as guides for mountaineers in the Himalayas.
• There is only one Sherpa per Summit for each member country

 

The G20 or Group of Twenty

 

• It is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU).
• It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigation, and sustainable development.
• The G20 is composed of most of the world's largest economies, including both industrialized and developing nations, and accounts for around 80% of gross world product
• The members of the G20 are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union.

 

 

World Green Economy Summit

 

What's the NEWS

 

• Environment Minister participated in the Ministerial Roundtable for Green Economy at the World Green Economy Summit at the World Trade Center in Dubai.
• The Minister stated that India is the first country with a cooling action plan based on energy efficiency and thermal comfort.

 

Know! about the India Cooling Action plan

The India Cooling Action seeks to:

 

• reduce cooling demand across sectors by 20% to 25% by 2037-38,
• reduce refrigerant demand by 25% to 30% by 2037-38,
• Reduce cooling energy requirements by 25% to 40% by 2037-38,
• recognize "cooling and related areas" as a thrust area of research under national S&T Programme,
• training and certification of 100,000 servicing sector technicians by 2022-23, synergizing with Skill India Mission.

 

The following benefits would accrue to the society over and above the environmental benefits:

 

• Thermal comfort for all - provision for cooling for EWS and LIG housing,
• Sustainable cooling - low GHG emissions related to cooling,
• Doubling Farmers Income - better cold chain infrastructure - better value of produce to farmers, less wastage of produce,
• Robust R&D on alternative cooling technologies - to provide push to innovation in cooling sector.

 

World Green Economy Summit (WGES)

• It is one of the leading global forums on the green economy.
• It brings together world-class experts in critical sectors from around the world to directly focus on advancing the global green economy and sustainability agenda, achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals
• This Summit is organised by the Dubai Electricity & Water Authority, Dubai Supreme Council of Energy and World Green Economy Organization in cooperation with WETEX.

 

Kushiyara River

 

 

What's the NEWS

 

• The Union Cabinet chaired has given its ex-post facto approval for a MoU between the Government of India and Bangladesh on withdrawal of upto 153 cusecs of water each by India and Bangladesh from common border river Kushiyara.
• The Kushiyara River is a distributary river in Bangladesh and Assam, India.
• It forms on the India-Bangladesh border as a branch of the Barak River, when the Barak separates into the Kushiyara and Surma.
• The waters that eventually form the Kushiyara originate in the uplands of the state of Assam and pick up tributaries from Nagaland and Manipur.

 

 

Redevelopment of three major Railway stations

What's the NEWS

 

• The Union Cabinet approved the Indian Railways' ₹10,000 crore proposal for the redevelopment of three major stations - New Delhi, Ahmedabad and Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT).
• The stations, which will make use of green building techniques with solar energy, water conservation/recycling and improved tree cover, will be integrated with other modes of transportation such as metro and bus.

 

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana

What's the NEWS

 

• The Union Cabinet has approved the extension for the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY-Phase VII) for a further period of 3 months i.e. October to December 2022.

Know! about the scheme

• Under this welfare scheme, 5 kg of food grain per person per month is provided free of cost for all the beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) [Antodaya Anna Yojana & Priority Households] including those covered under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).

 

Chief Of Defence Staff (CDS)

What's the NEWS

 

• Government of India appointed Lieutenant General Anil Chauhan (Retired) as the next Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).

 

Know! about CDS

 

• The post of Chief of Defence Staff has been lying vacant since General Bipin Rawat's death in a helicopter crash on 8th December last year.
• The Chief of Defence Staff of the Indian Armed Forces (CDS) is the military head and permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC) of the Indian Armed Forces.
• The Chief of Defence Staff is the highest-ranking uniformed officer on active duty in the Indian military and chief military adviser to the Minister of Defence. The Chief also heads the Department of Military Affairs.
• The CDS will act as the Principal Military Adviser to the defence minister on tri-services matters.
• The CDS was one of the 99 recommendations made by Lt. Gen. (retd.) D.B. Shekatkar Committee, which submitted its report in December 2016.
• The Army, Navy and IAF chiefs will have operational command of their forces.
• He is the single-point military adviser to the government.
• CDS is a four-star general like the three chiefs, the CDS will be the ‘first among equals' in the hierarchy.
• CDS would come in the ambit of RTI Act, 2005.
• The government has amended rules putting the maximum age limit of 65 years for the CDS by making changes in the Army Rules, 1954.
• The CDS will also head the Department of Military Affairs (DMA) within the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and function as its Secretary.
• The CDS will be a member of the Defence Acquisition Council chaired by the Defence Minister and Defence Planning Committee chaired by the National Security Adviser (NSA).

The CDS will be a member (Military Adviser) of Prime Minister-led Nuclear Command Authority which looks after nuclear weapons of the country.

 

Department of Military Affairs (DMA):

 

• A Department of Military Affairs has been created in the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
• It will be the fifth department in the MoD.
• The existing ones are the Department of Defence, the Department of Defence Production, the Department of Defence Research and Development and the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare.

 

Convergence Portal Between AIF, PMFME SCHEME & PMKSY

What's the NEWS

 

• Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) jointly launched a Convergence Portal between Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF), Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) scheme and Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY).

 

Know! about it

 

• The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare is implementing the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) - a medium to long-term debt financing facility for the creation of post-harvest management infrastructure and building of community farming assets.
• Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) launched a centrally sponsored PPMFME scheme on June 29th, 2020 as a part of "Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan" to enhance the competitiveness of individual micro-enterprises in the unorganized segment & promote the formalization of this sector.
• Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojna is a Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries envisaged as a comprehensive package that will result in the creation of modern infrastructure with efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet.

 

HURRICANE IAN

What's the NEWS

 

• Hurricane Ian has made landfall in western Cuba as a category three storm, bringing wind speeds of up to 205 kilometres per hour.

 

Know! about Hurricane IAN

 

• A hurricane is a type of storm called a tropical cyclone, which forms over tropical or subtropical waters.
• A tropical cyclone is a rotating low-pressure weather system that has organized thunderstorms but no fronts (a boundary separating two air masses of different densities).
• Tropical cyclones with maximum sustained surface winds of less than 39 miles per hour (mph) are called tropical depressions. Those with maximum sustained winds of 39 mph or higher are called tropical storms.
• When a storm's maximum sustained winds reach 74 mph, it is called a hurricane.
• Hurricanes originate in the Atlantic basin, which includes the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico, the eastern North Pacific Ocean, and, less frequently, the central North Pacific Ocean.
• "Hurricane Season" begins on June 1 and ends on November 30, although hurricanes can, and have, occurred outside of this time frame.

 

 

BRAHMOS MISSILES

What's the NEWS

 

• Ministry of Defence signed a contract with M/s BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited BAPL for acquisition of additional dual-role capable Surface to Surface BrahMos missiles at an overall approximate cost of 1700 Crore rupees under Buy-Indian Category.

 

Know! about these dual-role capable Missiles

 

• Induction of these dual-role capable Missiles is going to significantly enhance the operational capability of Indian Navy fleet assets.
• BAPL is a Joint Venture between India and Russia making a crucial contribution to augment the new generation of Surface-to-Surface Missiles with enhanced range and dual role capability for land as well as anti-ship attacks.
• This contract is going to give further boost to indigenous production of critical weapon system and ammunition with active participation of indigenous industry.

 

 

 

POPULAR FRONT OF INDIA (PFI)

What's the NEWS

 

• The Central Government has declared Popular Front of India (PFI) and its associates and affiliates as an unlawful association with immediate effect for a period of five years.
• PFI and its associates and affiliates including Rehab India Foundation, Campus Front of India, All India Imams Council, National Confederation of Human Rights Organization, National Women's Front, and Rehab Foundation, Kerala have been involved in the violent terrorist activities with an intent to create a reign of terror in the country.

 

VERY SHORT RANGE AIR DEFENCE SYSTEM MISSILES

What's the NEWS

 

• Defence Research and Development Organization has conducted two successful test flights of Very Short Range Air Defence System missiles.
• The test flight was conducted at the Integrated Test Range in Chandipur, Odisha.
• The Very Short Range Air Defence System is a Man Portable Air Defence System, designed and developed by DRDO in collaboration with Indian industry partners.
• The missile is designed to neutralize low-altitude aerial threats at short ranges.
• The design of the missile including the launcher has been highly optimized to ensure easy portability.

 

CARL-GUSTAF M4 WEAPON SYSTEM

What's the NEWS

 

• Swedish defense major SAAB announced plans to manufacture its Carl-Gustaf M4 weapon system in India.
• The manufacturing would be done by a new fully SAAB-owned subsidiary, Saab FFV India Pvt. Ltd.
• This is the first time, SAAB will be setting up a manufacturing facility for this outside Sweden.
• The technology will be transferred to India. The first product will roll out in 2024.
• The Army has been using the iconic Carl-Gustaf since 1976 and currently operates the Mk2 and Mk3 versions.

 

Carl-Gustaf M4

• The Carl-Gustaf weapon system manufactured by Saab is one of the most evolved and versatile weapon systems.
• Its latest iteration, the Carl-Gustaf M4, is a recoilless man-portable, multi-role weapon system which can use a wide variety of ammunition.
• It weighs less than seven kilos and is under one metre in length.
• Its programable and versatile ammunition makes it an anti-armour, anti-structure and anti-personnel weapon system.
• This single-weapon system increases tactical flexibility while reducing the amount of equipment to carry in all situations.

 

 

 

ONE WEEK ONE LAB CAMPAIGN

What's the NEWS

 

• Union Minister of Science & Technology, Dr. Jitendra Singh, who is also the Vice President of CSIR, announces "One Week One Lab" campaign.
• Objective of this campaign is to showcase the technological breakthroughs and innovations in each of the 37 CSIR laboratories/institutes spread across the country.
• The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), was established by the Government of India in 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the largest research and development organisation in India.

 

FUND OF FUNDS FOR STARTUPS (FFS)

What's the NEWS

 

• Fund of Funds for Startups (FFS), launched under Startup India initiative in 2016 by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has committed Rs. 7,385 crore to 88 Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) as of 24th September 2022.
• These AIFs in turn have invested Rs. 11,206 crore in 720 startups.
• FFS has been playing a monumental role in mobilizing domestic capital in Indian startup ecosystem.
• FFS was announced with a corpus of Rs. 10,000 crore.
• The corpus is to be built up over 14th and 15th Finance Commission Cycles (FY 2016-2020 and FY 2021-2025) through budgetary support by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India.
• Under FFS, support is extended to SEBI registered Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), which in turn invest in startups.
• Furthermore, Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) which is responsible for operationalising the Scheme has undertaken a series of reforms recently to expedite the drawdowns to enable AIFs assisted under FFS to avail accelerated drawdowns.

 

Alternate Investment Fund

• AIF means any fund established or incorporated in India which is a privately pooled investment vehicle which collects funds from sophisticated investors, whether Indian or foreign, for investing it in accordance with a defined investment policy for the benefit of its investors.

 

Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act

What's the NEWS

 

• The central government has extended for another six months the application of the disturbed area under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, AFSPA in 12 districts of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.

 

Know! about AFSPA

 

• It is a law which gives armed forces (Army, the Air Force and Central paramilitary forces) the special powers and immunity to maintain public order in "disturbed areas".
• It can be applied only after an area has been declared "disturbed" under section 2 of the act.
• An area can be considered to be disturbed due to differences or disputes among different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities.
• Section (3) of AFSPA empowers the governor of the state/Union territory to issue an official notification declaring the state or a region within as a "disturbed area", after which the centre can decide whether to send in armed forces.

 

AFSPA special powers

 

• ‘Power to use force, including open fire' at an individual if he violates laws which prohibit (a) the assembly of five or more persons; or (b) carrying of weapons.
• ‘Power to arrest' without a warrant; (Under section 5 the Armed Forces have to hand over the arrested person to the nearest Police Station "with the least possible delay".
• ‘Power to seize and search' without any warrant any premise.
• These armed forces are immune from prosecution unless Union Government provides sanction to the prosecuting agencies.

 

Black Cocaine

What's the NEWS

 

• The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) recently arrested a Bolivian woman from Mumbai airport for allegedly carrying black cocaine.

 

Know! about Black Cocaine

 

• "Black cocaine" is a rare drug, is a mixture of regular cocaine and other chemicals of administrated quantity.
• In a bid to ensure that sniffer dogs used at airports do not detect cocaine, it is being used by drug peddlers coming to India from South American countries.
• It neutralises the smell of cocaine so that it can pass through checkpoints easily.
• Black cocaine is a mixture of regular cocaine base with various substances to camouflage typical appearance (e.g. charcoal), to interfere with colour-based drug tests (cobalt salts form deep red complexes in solution), to make the mixture undetectable by drug-sniffing dogs as activated carbon may sufficiently absorb trace odours.
• The pure cocaine base is then recovered from the mixture by extraction using common organic solvents such as methylene chloride or acetone.
• A second process is required to convert the cocaine base into powdered cocaine hydrochloride.

 

Abortion Rights Of Single Women

What's the NEWS

 

• In a historic judgment, the Supreme Court declared that single women with pregnancies between 20 and 24 weeks are entitled to access the same safe and legal abortion care as married women.

 

Know! about MTP act 1971

 

• The judgment came in an appeal by a person who wanted to terminate her pregnancy before her term completed 24 weeks.
• The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971 prohibits unmarried women who are between 20 and 24 weeks' pregnant to abort with the help of registered doctors.
• The Supreme Court held that the rights of reproductive autonomy, dignity and privacy give an unmarried woman the right of choice as to whether or not to bear a child on a similar footing as that of a married woman.

 

50 Iconic Indian Textiles

What's the NEWS

 

• UNESCO released a list of 50 exclusive and iconic heritage textile crafts of the country.

 

Know! about it

 

• Toda embroidery and Sungadi from Tamil Nadu, Himroo from Hyderabad, and Bandha tie and dye from Sambalpur in Odisha were some of the textiles that made the cut.
• Some of the iconic handcrafted textiles documented from north India are Khes from Panipat, Chamba rumals from Himachal Pradesh, Thigma or wool tie and dye from Ladakh, and Awadh Jamdani from Varanasi.
• From the south, Ilkal and Lambadi or Banjara embroidery from Karnataka, Sikalnayakanpet Kalamkari from Thanjavur have been included.
• Kunbi weaves from Goa, Mashru weaves and Patola from Gujarat, Himroo from Maharashtra and Garad-Koirial from West Bengal also find a place among the 50 iconic textiles.

 

MTP and POCSO laws

What's the NEWS

 

• Registered medical doctors are exempt from disclosing to the police the identity of minors who have come in for abortion, the Supreme Court directed in a judgment.

 

Know! about the changes in MTP and POCSO law

 

• A registered medical practitioner (RMP) is obliged under Section 19(1) of the POCSO Act to report to the police when a minor approaches him or her for an abortion.
• In many cases minors and their guardians opt to go to an unqualified doctor for abortion rather than risk being involved in criminal proceedings following a report under Section 19(1) of the POCSO Act.
• If there is an insistence on the disclosure of the name of the minor in the report under Section 19(1) of POCSO, minors may be less likely to seek out RMPs for safe termination of their pregnancies under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act.
• The court said it was necessary to harmonise the provisions of the MTP and POCSO laws to enable minors to approach an RMP for abortion without the fear of getting exposed.
• It would also protect the statutory obligation of the RMP to report the offence under the POCSO Act and the rights of privacy and reproductive autonomy of the minor under Article 21 of the Constitution.

 

Potash Fertilizer

What's the NEWS

 

• India's fertiliser companies- Coromandel International, Chambal Fertilizers and Indian Potash Limited signed an MoU with Canpotex, Canada on 27th September 2022.

 

Know! about Potash

 

• Potash, which is source of Potassium, is used both for direct application as MOP as well as in combination with ‘N' & ‘P' nutrients in NPK fertilizers.
• India meets 100% of its Potash requirement through imports. The country imports approximately 40 LMT MOP annually.
• Canpotex is a joint venture between leading fertiliser players, Mosaic and Nutrien, and markets Potash being produced at Saskatchewan region in Canada.
• It is amongst the largest suppliers of Potash globally, exporting around 130 LMT of product annually to more than 40 countries and has been one of the suppliers to India.

 

World's First CNG Terminal

What's the NEWS

 

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the "world's first CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) terminal" at Bhavnagar in Gujarat on September 29.

 

Know! about it

 

• This is a three-year-old project that is expected to infuse Rs 4,000 crore in developing the existing port infrastructure at Bhavnagar.
• The Bhavnagar port is in close vicinity to the Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) and is expected to serve the industries that set up base in the region.
• It is already connected to the northern hinterland through a railway line that extends to the existing berths at the port.
• It is expected to be made operational by 2026.
• The proposed port terminal's capacity is 4.65 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA), of which the capacity of the CNG terminal will be 0.3 MTPA.

 

 

Lok Manthan Programme

What's the NEWS

 

• Vice President of India inaugurated the third edition of the Lok Manthan programme in Guwahati.
• The theme of this year's biennale is Lokparampara (Lok traditions) - and how lok traditions have kept our cultural consciousness intact and strengthened our feeling of National Selfhood.
• Lokmanthan is an event where artists, intellectuals, and academicians are drawn from different parts of the country converge and brainstorm on the questions that haunt the society.

 

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