Daily Current Capsules - 07th December 2019

Defence
Exercise INDRA 2019
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about INDRA 2019)

What's the NEWS

• Exercise INDRA 2019 a joint, tri services exercise between India and Russia will be conducted in India from 10 - 19 December 2019 simultaneously at Babina (near Jhansi), Pune, and Goa.

• The INDRA series of exercise began in 2003 and the First joint Tri Services Exercise was conducted in 2017.
• It will be a historic occasion for two of the world's greatest Armed Forces to join hands and successfully conduct an exercise of this magnitude with professionalism, to imbibe the best practices from each other, jointly evolve and drills to defeat the scourge of terror under the United Nation mandate.
• Company sized mechanised contingents, fighter and transport aircraft as well as ships of respective Army, Air Force and Navy will participate in this exercise of ten days duration.
• The exercise will consist of a five day training phase consisting of a comprehensive training curriculum.

• The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, presented the National Florence Nightingale Awards to nursing personnel in New Delhi (December 5, 2019) on the occasion of International Nurses Day.

Know! more about it

• Nurses play a vital role in delivering quality and cost effective healthcare, addressing multiple health challenges and responding to health needs of individuals, families and communities.
• The world is more and more in need of care and compassion, and nurses indeed are a symbol of seva, shushrusha, karuna.
• The World Health Organisation has announced 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and Mid-wife.

Centre - State Relations
The Fifteenth Finance Commission submits its report for 2020-21 to the President of India
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about 15 finance commission and about the tenure of 15 finance commission) + Mains ( GS II centre-state relations)
What's the NEWS

• The Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission, Shri N.K. Singh, called on the President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind and submitted the report of the Commission for the financial year 2020-21 for further necessary action.

Know! more about XV finance commission

• The XV Finance Commission was constituted by the President of India under Article 280 of the Constitution on 27 November 2017 to make recommendations for a period of five years from 1st April 2020 to 31 March 2025.
• The Commission had a wide ranging Terms of Reference contained in the Presidential Notification.
• Thereafter, the Gazette Notification dated 27 November 2019 mandated the XV Finance Commission to submit the report for the financial year 2020-21 by 30 November 2019 and thereafter the final report for the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2026 by 30 October 2020.

Recent Updates

• Union Cabinet approved the extension of the term of the 15th Finance Commission
• The 15th finance commission will now submit two reports and their term has been extended to October 30, 2020.
• The 1st report for the Financial Year 2020-21 will be submitted in the coming months before the Union Budget.
• Second report for the period 2021-26 will be presented by October 30, 2020.
• This will effectively mean the 15th Finance Commission recommendations will be applicable for 6 years and not the conventional 5-year period.

Tribal Affairs
Launch of 'Going Online as Leaders' Programme
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about GOAL) + Mains ( GS II welfare scheme for the vulnerable section of the population)

What's the NEWS

• GOAL (Going Online as Leaders) is a digitally-enabled mentorship initiative of Facebook for empowering tribal youth to become leaders for tomorrow in the respective fields.

Know! more about the project

• GOAL Project is stated to aim at identifying and mobilizing renowned people from industry (policy makers and influencers), known for their leadership skills or roles, to digitally empower and personally mentor tribal youth from tribal communities across multiple locations of India.
• The initiative has been designed to identify and attach 1 Mentor who is expert in their respective fields, to four tribal youth, who will be trained and mentored.
• Facebook had started a pilot project on its own in March 2019 in 5 states of India i.e. Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra, wherein they have identified 100 Tribal Mentees and 25 Mentors.
• Further, Facebook envisages to identify 5000 tribals from various fields to be mentored by 1250 mentors in 5 years in a phased manner.
• GOAL (Going Online as Leaders) is a Facebook initiative. Ministry of Tribal Affairs was not associated with the pilot project implemented by the Facebook

Bilateral Relations
Mongla and Chattogram declared as Ports of Call under the "Coastal Shipping Agreement" between India and Bangladesh


What's the NEWS

• Under the Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade (PIWT&T) between India and Bangladesh, the following are existing Ports of Call in the two countries on Indo-Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) route:

• The Port of Mongla is declared as Port of Call under PIWT&T and Chattogram port is not part of PIWT&T.
• Mongla and Chattogram are declared as Ports of Call under the "Coastal Shipping Agreement" between India and Bangladesh.
• A MoU, Agreement and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on the use of Chattogram Port & Mongla Ports for movement of goods to & from India have been signed by India and Bangladesh.

Know! about Port of call

• Port of call means an intermediate stop for a ship on its scheduled journey for cargo operation or taking on supplies or fuel.
• As Per the shipping Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) regulation a "port of call" can be defined as the port of a country where cargo or a passenger (cruise) ship halts to discharge or load the cargo or to embark or disembark passengers.

Prelims Factoids
Head on Generation (HOG)
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about EOG and HOG)
Know! about EOG and HOG and the benefits of HOG

• Premium passenger trains fitted with Air-Conditioned coaches and running traditionally on the End-on-Generation (EOG) system are also contributing towards air and noise pollution.
• Indian Railways have come up with an energy efficient and environment friendly innovative solution to address the issues of air & noise pollution and energy efficiency in running of passenger trains.
• An improvised converter has been developed, which is fitted in Electric locomotives which can replace these diesel generators.
• It uses power from overhead catenary to feed auxiliaries in the coaches hauled by Electric locomotives. It saves up to 1 Million liters of diesel per train per annum.
• This requires locomotives as well as coaches to be modified for making them suitable for HOG.
• Locomotives have been manufactured by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW), over the years, which are HOG compliant.

The major advantages of HOG system include:

• Reduction in noise- from 100dB noise to noise less,
• Significant reduction of CO2 (over 2500Ton) & NOX(over 10Ton) emissions till now
• Reduced Diesel Consumption leading to huge savings in operational costs to the tune of over Rs.1100 crores per annum
• Economical- EOG Power Rs 22/unit, HOG Power Rs 6/unit.

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