BY- ASHIRWAD SIR (Wifistudy UPSC)
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2019 PIB 25.07.19 BY- ASHIRWAD SIR (wifistudy UPSC) CURRENT AFFAIRS PIB 25.07.19 BY-ASHIRWAD SIR Page 1 Cabinet approves creation of buffer stock of 40 LMT of sugar for a period of one year from 1st August 2019 to 31st July 2020 The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the following proposals: 1. Creation of buffer stock of 40 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of sugar for one year and to incur estimated maximum expenditure of Rs.1674 crores for this purpose. However, based on the market price and availability of sugar, this may be reviewed by the Deptt. of Food and Public Distribution any time for withdrawal / modification. 2. The reimbursement under the scheme would be met on quarterly basis to sugar mills which would be directly credited into farmers’ account on behalf of mills against cane price dues and subsequent balance, if any, would be credited to the mill’s account. Benefits: The decisions will lead to: 1. improvement in the liquidity of sugar mills; 2. reduction in sugar inventories; 3. stabilization in sugar prices by alleviating of price sentiments in domestic sugar market and thereby facilitate timely clearance of cane price dues of farmers; and 4. benefits for sugar mills in all sugarcane producing States, by way of clearing sugarcane price arrears of sugar mills Cabinet approves Determination of ‘Fair and Remunerative Price’ of sugarcane payable by sugar mills for 2019-20 sugar season The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the proposal in respect of Determination of ‘Fair and Remunerative Price’ of sugarcane payable by sugar mills for 2019-20 sugar season. The FRP is based on the recommendation of the Commission of Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP) as per its report of August 2018 on the price policy for sugarcane for the 2019-20 season. The CACP has recommended the same price for the 2019-20 sugar season as it was for the sugar season 2018-19. The CCEA also approved to provide a premium of Rs. 2.75 per qtl for every 0.1% increase above 10% in the recovery; Benefits: The approval will ensure a guaranteed price to cane growers. The ‘FRP’ of sugarcane is determined under Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966. This will be uniformly applicable all over the country. Determination of FRP will be in the interest of sugarcane growers keeping in view their entitlement to a fair and remunerative price for their produce. Radiation Technology for Sewage Treatment Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in collaboration with Amdavad Municipal Corporation (AMC), Ahmedabad has set up a Technology Demonstration Pilot Project “Sewage Sludge Hygienisation Plant” at Shahwadi, Ahmedabad. The plant loaded with 150 kCi of Co-60 was inaugurated in February 2019 and is in continuous operation since then. Another liquid sludge irradiator; Sludge Hygienisation Research Irradiator (SHRI) is operating at Vadodara for radiation treatment of raw sludge containing 3-4% solids since last 30 years. PIB 25.07.19 BY-ASHIRWAD SIR Page 2 BARC has not set up any sewage plant in Maharashtra. BARC has given wide publicity to the use of radiation technology for sewage treatment. BARC outreach programmes have been used as an effective platform to dispense information about this technology through oral presentations, animated videos, posters, demonstrations at different universities and institutions. The technology has been also propagated in scientific and public forums through theme meetings, workshops, seminars, newsletters etc. These efforts have resulted in wide coverage of this technology in print and digital media. This information was provided by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today. New Space India Limited The Union Government has already set up New Space India Limited (NSIL), a wholly owned Government of India undertaking/ Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE), under the administrative control of Department of Space (DOS) on 06th March 2019 to commercially exploit the research and development work of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Centres and constituent units of DOS. NSIL has been incorporated to carry out the following roles and functions as part of its madate viz. (i) Small Satellite technology transfer to industry, wherein NSIL will obtain license from DOS/ISRO and sub-license it to Industries; (ii) Manufacture of Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) in collaboration with Private Sector; (iii) Productionisation of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) through Indian Industry; (iv) Productionisation and marketing of Space based products and services, including launch and application; (v) Transfer of technology developed by ISRO Centres and constituent units of DOS; (vi) Marketing spin-off technologies and products/services, both in India and abroad; and (vii) any other subject which Government of India deems fit. NSIL was set up to meet the ever-increasing demands of Indian space programme and to commercially exploit the emerging global space market. The emergence of NSIL would spur the growth of Indian industries in the space sector and enable Indian industries to scale up manufacturing and production base. A total of 239 satellites were commercially launched by Antrix Corporation Limited during the last three years. The total revenue from operations during the last three years is Rs 6289.05 Crores. This information was provided by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today. India Ranked 52ndin Global Innovation Index-2019 Commerce & Industry Minister Releases Global Innovation Index Rankings Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways, PiyushGoyal, launchedthe Global Innovation Index (GII) 2019 in New Delhi, today. India jumped five places to improve its position from 57th last year to 52nd in 2019. Speaking on this occasion Commerce and Industry Minister first congratulated all those involved in the process and said that India has made a significant progress to 52nd rank in the GII-2019 and now the culture of innovation is coming to the centre-stage. He said that India will continue its efforts to reach upwards of top 50 ranks in the GII that Prime Minister, Narendra Modi set a goal. He further said that India will not rest on past laurels until it achieves its target of positioning itself among the top 25 countries of the Global Innovation Index. To achieve this ranking he urged all stakeholders to work in mission mode. PiyushGoyal urged the R&D institutions, universities and private sector to transform the country into a hub of innovation. The Commerce and Industry Ministry requested the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to factor in India’s rural innovation as part of the innovation index in future. PIB 25.07.19 BY-ASHIRWAD SIR Page 3 Commerce and Industry Minister in his address said that the improvement in the rankings should inspire Indians to help marginalized and under privileged section of society and R&D must provide sustainable solutions to the problems that India is facing at present like rising pollution levels in cities, water crises faced in different parts of the country, depleting natural resources, issues of climate change and solving problems of food wastage. All these problems that the country is facing should be solve through innovative ideas. The Commerce and Industry Minister further added that India must be a responsive country and work in mission mode by engaging with academia, private sector and government agencies to improve the quality of citizens’ lives even in the remotest parts of the country. Referring to GII theme of this year which is Creating Healthy Lives - The Future of Medical Innovation, PiyushGoyal said that Government of India is focusing on not just curative but preventive healthcare where wellness becomes a part of society. The GII rankings are published every year by Cornell University, INSEAD and the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and GII Knowledge Partners. This is the 12th edition of the GII rankings of 129 economies based on 80 indicators ranging from intellectual property filing rates to mobile-application creation, education spending and scientific and technical publications. Switzerland remains number one is the GII index followed by Sweden, the United States of America, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Finland, Denmark, Singapore, Germany and Israel. Use of GI LOGO Agricultural, natural or manufactured goods are registered as Geographical Indications (GI) by the Geographical Indications Registry as per the provisions of the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration & Protection) Act, 1999. The Government is not aware of any index by the name of International Intellectual Property (IP) Index published by any multilateral organisation. However, a private entity namely, Global Intellectual Property Centre of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, prepares an International Intellectual Property Index, which does not provide a composite view of the IP regime in any country. The intellectual property rights indicators used in the index are selective and hence not a true reflection of the state of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection and innovation in India. India has a well-established legislative, administrative and judicial framework to safeguard IPRs, which meets its international obligations while utilizing the flexibilities provided in the international regime to address its developmental concerns. India has a Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) compliant, robust, equitable and dynamic IPR regime. In addition, the Government of India has taken various steps to further strengthen the IPR regime of the country, some of which are as follows: The National IPR Policy, 2016 was adopted on 12.05.2016 as a vision document to guide future development of IPRs in the country.