PERIYAR IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS 19-OCTOBER-2017
Topic: Issues relating to development and
management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human
Resources.
GM cotton grown in 8.5 lakh ha, illegal
market is Rs 472 crore
Delhi-based South Asia Biotechnology Centre
(SABC) has claimed that the illegal market of the herbicide tolerant (HT)
genetically modified cotton is
worth about Rs 472 crore.
§ As per the SABC, about 35 lakh packets of
illegal HT cotton hybrids were sold this kharif season across Telangana,
Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra, Odisha, Karnataka and MP.
§ Around 8.5 lakh hectares, or 7% of the total
cotton growing area in the country, is under the illegal HT cultivation.
What is a GM crop?
A GM or transgenic crop is a plant that has a
novel combination of genetic material obtained through the use of modern
biotechnology.
§ For example, a GM crop can contain a gene(s)
that has been artificially inserted instead of the plant acquiring it through
pollination. The resulting plant is said to be “genetically modified” although
in reality all crops have been “genetically modified” from their original wild
state by domestication, selection, and controlled breeding over long periods of
time.
§ While Bt cotton has been cultivated in the
country since 2002, Bt brinjal, the first GM food crop okayed by GEAC, never
hit the fields as an indefinite moratorium was imposed on its commercial
release in early 2010.
Sources: the hindu.
Topic: India and its neighborhood- relations.
Centre plans new Integrated Check Posts
A Cabinet proposal to set up 13 new Integrated Check Posts (ICPs) is being mooted by the Union Home
Ministry to encourage India’s engagement with its neighbours belonging to SAARC
region.
Key facts:
§ Among the 13 ICPs, seven will be along the
India-Bangladesh border, apart from the three already operational there.
§ The ICPs planned along the Bangladesh border
will be at Hili, Changrabandha, Ghojadanga, Mahadipur, Fulbari in West Bengal,
Kawripuichhuah in Mizoram and Sutarkandi in Assam.
§ Among the new ICPs, only one will be on the
India-Pakistan border while four will be on the India-Nepal border and one on
the India-Myanmar border.
§ Some of the other ICPs are at Dawki
(Meghalaya), Akaura, (Tripura) Kawarpuchiah (Mizoram), Jobgani (Bihar), Sunauli
(UP) and Rupaidiha/Nepalganj (UP).
§ The cost of setting up 13 ICPs will be Rs
3,000 crore. The setting up of new ICPs was first proposed by the UPA
government, which set up a separate body, Land Port Authority of India (LPAI), in 2011 for their management.
What constitutes an integrated check post?
An ICP not only provides various services
under one roof but is also equipped with cargo process building, cargo
inspection sheds, warehouse, cold storage, currency exchange counters, Internet
hubs, clearing agents, banks, vehicle scanners, isolation bay and parking.
Need for ICPs:
The borders need to be secured against
interests hostile to the country. Putting in place systems that are able to
interdict such elements while facilitating legitimate trade and commerce are
among the principal objectives behind setting up the new ICPs. It is therefore
necessary to undertake integrated development of infrastructure at the entry
points on our land borders.
Sources: the hindu.
Paper 3:
Topic: Indian Economy and issues relating to
planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.
Maharashtra govt rolls out loan waiver
Maharashtra government has rolled out the
loan waiver scheme and announced the first list of 8.4 lakh beneficiaries
across the state, for whom the government will pay banks Rs 4,000 crore under
the scheme.
§ The release of funds under the scheme,
announced in June, will be a continuous process and by November 15, the
government hopes that 75-80% of the disbursement will be completed.
Concerns:
According to the Economic Survey 2016-17, the
burden of farm loan waivers could be as much as `2.2-2.7 lakh crore if all
states start offering the relief and would stoke short-term deflationary shock
in the economy.
§ The survey estimates that loan waivers by all
states could reduce aggregate demand by as much as 0.7% of GDP. This is because
the states funding the loan waiver would have to prune spending and possibly
raise taxes to improve revenue and stick to their fiscal deficit limits,
although private demands tends to get a boost from the loan waivers.
§ Even as the central government makes
significant efforts toward fiscal consolidation, the higher debt burden of the
states could push up general government debt.
Way ahead:
It appears that loan waiving can provide a
short-term relief to a limited section of farmers; it has a meagre chance of
bringing farmers out of the vicious cycle of indebtedness. There is no concrete
evidence on reduction in agrarian distress following the first spell of
all-India farm loan waiver in 2008. In the longer run, strengthening the
repayment capacity of the farmers by improving and stabilising their income is
the only way to keep them out of distress.
Sources: the hindu.
Topic: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads,
Airports, Railways etc.
NHAI to get power to speed up
Bharatmala programme
The National Highways Authority of India
(NHAI) is set to get the power to approve projects with a construction cost of
more than Rs 1,000 crore to ensure faster implementation of the Bharatmala
programme. Currently, all highway projects that entail a construction cost of
more than Rs 1,000 crore, excluding land, need to be approved by the Cabinet
Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).
§ Under the proposal, only public private partnership (PPP)
projects under the build-operatetransfer (BOT) model, where viability gap
funding (VGF) is to be provided by the government, will need CCEA clearance.
About Bharatmala project:
Bharatmala envisions 44 economic
corridors across the country at a cost of at least Rs 5 lakh crore. The programme, along with the proposal to
enhance NHAI’s powers, is likely to get Cabinet clearance soon.
§ The Bharatmala corridors have been mapped as
per traffic density and economic relevance of the cities that will be connected
with the help of the Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and
Geo-informatics. The project involves constructing 24,000km of fresh highways.
The project is aimed at speeding up cargo movement and the development of
multimodal logistics hubs and parks on the periphery of major commercial
centres.
§ The project includes construction of feeder
routes alongside national highways. Around 80% of Bharatmala will be based on a
government funded, engineering procurement and construction (EPC) model while
the rest will be a hybrid-annuity public private partnership.
Sources: et.
Topic: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads,
Airports, Railways etc.
ACI-ASQ Survey
The Jaipur and Srinagar Airport are ranked First
and Second respectively in the category of 2-5 million passengers in ACI-ASQ
Survey.
§ This is for the second consecutive time that
Jaipur Airport has been rated the Best Airport in the World in the traffic
volume of 2 to 5 million passengers per year. Jaipur
was ranked as the Best Airport in the World catering to a traffic volume of 2
to 5 million passengers per year in 2016 also.
About ASQ awards:
The Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Awards are
the aviation industry’s most prestigious accolades.
§ The awards recognize the airports which have
achieved the highest passenger satisfaction ratings in the ASQ Survey – the
world’s benchmark measure of airport excellence.
§ It is the only worldwide programme to survey
passengers at the airports on their day of travel.
§ Every year, the programme delivers some
600,000 individual surveys in 41 languages in 84 countries. It measures
passengers’ views on 34 key performance indicators, including airport access,
check-in, security screening, restrooms, stores and restaurants.
§ Each airport uses the exact same survey,
creating an industry database that allows airports to compare themselves to
other airports around the world.
§ The ASQ programme also has a feature that
facilitates sharing of best practices among airport operators.
Sources: pib.
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