WEEKLY CURRENT AFFAIRS MAY 9 - MAY 15 SOURCES- THE HINDU / INDIAN EXPRESS / PIB / WORLD WIDE WEB MAY 9th ● At the invitation of the President of the European Council Mr. Charles Michel, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi participated in the India-EU Leaders’ Meeting. ● The meeting was held in a hybrid format with the participation of leaders of all the 27 EU Member States as well as the President of the European Council and the European Commission. ● The talks for Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA), which began in 2007, have been deadlocked since 2013 over issues including tariffs, market access and data security status etc. ● This is the first time that the EU hosted a meeting with India in the EU+27 format. The EU+27 have met in this format only once before, with the US President in March this year. ● It is a significant political milestone and will further build on the momentum witnessed in the relationship since the 15th India-EU Summit in July 2020. The meeting was the initiative of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union. ● ● During the meeting, the leaders exchanged views on three key thematic areas: i) foreign policy and security; ii) COVID-19, climate and environment; and iii) trade, connectivity and technology. ● The EU demanded that there are significant duty cuts in automobiles, tax reduction on wines, spirits etc, a strong intellectual property regime, relaxation in India's data localisation norms, protection to all its items with Geographical Indication etc. ● Indian demanded that Data secure status (important for India's IT sector); Ease norms on temporary movement of skilled workers, relaxation of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) norms etc. ● The leaders welcomed the decision to resume negotiations on both the Trade and Investment Agreements which will enable the two sides to realise the full potential of the economic partnership. ● India and the EU launched an ambitious and comprehensive ‘Connectivity Partnership’ which is focused on enhancing digital, energy, transport and people-to-people connectivity. ● India welcomed the EU’s decision to join CDRI. ● India and the EU also agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation on digital and emerging technologies such as 5G, AI, Quantum and High-Performance Computing including through the early operationalization of the Joint Task Force on AI and the Digital Investment Forum. ● A finance contract of Euro 150 million for the Pune Metro Rail Project was signed by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, and European Investment Bank. ● Announced a dedicated dialogue on WTO issues, regulatory cooperation, market access issues and supply chain resilience, demonstrating the desire to deepen and further diversify economic engagement. ● India-EU Leaders Meeting has set a significant milestone by providing a new direction to the Strategic Partnership and giving a fresh impetus for implementing the ambitious India-EU Roadmap 2025 adopted at the 15th India-EU Summit held in July 2020. ● The EU is strategically important for India, and the EU as a whole was India's largest trading partner in 2018 with bilateral trade USD 115.6 billion in 2018-19. ● The EU wants to diversify its value chain away from China to India and hence there is interest on its part also to have a trade deal with India. Veteran Music Composer Vanraj Bhatia passes away at 93 ● Veteran music composer Vanraj Bhatia died in Mumbai yesterday after a brief illness. ● Vanraj Bhatia was an Indian composer best known for his work in Indian New Wave cinema. ● He was also one of the leading composers of Western classical music in India. ● The 93-year-old Padma Shri awardee scored the music for Shyam Benegal classics like ‘Ankur’ and ‘Bhumika’ and TV series ‘Yatra’ and ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’ ● Bhatia was a recipient of the National Film Award for Best Music Direction for the television film Tamas (1988), the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Creative and Experimental Music (1989) and India's fourth-highest civilian honour, the Padma Shri (2012). India participates in the 3rd Arctic Science Ministerial; shares plans for research and long-term cooperation in the Arctic ● India is participating in the 3rd Arctic Science Ministerial (ASM3) - the global platform for discussing research and cooperation in the Arctic region (8-9 May, 2021). ● The first two meetings—ASM1 and ASM2—were held in the USA in 2016 and Germany in 2018, respectively. ● ASM3, jointly organised by Iceland and Japan, is the first Ministerial meeting being held in Asia. ● The meeting is designed to provide opportunities to various stakeholders to enhance collective understanding of the Arctic region, emphasize and engage in constant monitoring, and strengthen observations. ● The theme for this year is ‘Knowledge for a Sustainable Arctic’. ● India and Arctic :- India’s engagement with the Arctic dates back to 1920 with the signing of the Svalbard Treaty in Paris. Since July 2008, India has a permanent research station in the Arctic called Himadari at NyAlesund, Svalbard Area in Norway. ● Since 2013, India has enjoyed ‘Observer’ status in the Arctic Council with twelve other countries (Japan, China, France, Germany, UK, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Spain, Netherlands, Singapore, and South Korea). ● It has also deployed a multi-sensor moored observatory called IndARC in the Kongsfjorden fjord since July 2014. ● The research in the Arctic region from India is coordinated, conducted, and promoted by the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), Goa, under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India. ● The launch of NISER (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite mission by India, in collaboration with the USA, is underway. NISER aims to conduct global measurements of the cause and consequences of land surface changes using advanced radar imaging. ● India’s contributions to the Sustained Arctic Observational Network (SAON) would continue. Hope soars as Second World War airport in Assam takes commercial wings ● An airport built for warplanes in 1939 took commercial wings, heralding the best of times for western Assam’s Dhubri district. ● Rupsi airport near Gauripur, about 15 km from district headquarters Dhubri, was one of South Asia’s largest airports with a 1.8 km runway used by Allied aircraft for supplying arms, manpower and ammunition to forces in Burma and China during World War II. ● Rupsi is Assam's 7th airport and 15th in the northeast including Pakyong in Sikkim. Commercial flights were allowed later. ● India’s Partition in 1947 began eroding the airport’s importance. It was abandoned after the last flight — a Vayudoot from Dhubri to Guwahati — took off in 1983. ● Flybig, an Indore-based company, would be operating the Kolkata-Guwahati-Rupsi flight under the subsidised UDAAN scheme for regional connectivity. ● Rupsi is vital not only for western Assam. It used to and again will cater to the people of western Meghalaya, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar districts of West Bengal and south-western Bhutan, besides fuelling small-scale industries. US to join New Zealand-led global campaign to stamp out violent extremism online ● The United States will join a New Zealand-led global campaign to stamp out violent extremism online, making a policy change two years after the administration of former president Donald Trump declined to participate. Biden administration spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement yesterday that the US would join the Christchurch Call to Action to Eliminate Terrorist and Violent Extremist Content Online. ● The Christchurch Call is named after the New Zealand city in which 51 people from the Muslim community were killed in terrorist attacks broadcast live on the Internet on 15 March 2019. ● The Christchurch Call is an action plan that commits governments, international organizations and Internet players to take a series of measures, in particular: ● developing tools to prevent the downloading of terrorist and violent extremist content; ● combating the causes of violent extremism; improving transparency in the detection and removal of content; and ● ensuring that the algorithms designed and used by businesses do not direct users towards violent extremist content, so as to reduce their viral nature. Army inducts first batch of women in military police The government had approved the induction of women in military police in January 2019, and plans to have 1700 women soldiers by 2036, in batches of 100 recruits per year. ● The Indian Army inducted its first batch of 83 women soldiers as part of its military police. ● The attestation parade for the soldiers took place at the Dronacharya Parade Ground in Bengaluru. ● The government had approved the induction of women in military police in January 2019, and plans to have 1700 women soldiers by 2036, in batches of 100 recruits per year. ● What is the Corps of Military Police (CMP)? :- It is the military police of the Indian Army. The roles of military police include the following: ● policing the cantonments and Army establishments, ● maintaining movement of soldiers as well as logistics during peace and war and ● handling prisoners of war. ● They can be identified by their red berets and white belts. They also wear a black brassard with the letters MP imprinted in red. ● The First section of Indian Corps of Military Police was raised in 1939 during World War 2. CBSE launches new mobile application for psycho social wellness of students, parents ● The new app namely CBSE Dost for Life has been designed for students of classes 9 to 12 and it can be used for counselling sessions from 10th of this month. ● Making a departure from the existing practice of counselling through toll free numbers across the country, the board has designed this facility for the ease, convenience and utility of students and parents within the safe home environment. ● Through this app, live counselling sessions will be conducted free of cost on Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the trained counsellors.