PERIYAR IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS 12-APRIL-2018
Topic: Indian culture will cover the salient
aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.
11th World Hindi Conference
Context: The 11th World Hindi Conference (WHC) is
being organized in August 2018 in Mauritius by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India in association with the
Government of Mauritius.
About the conference:
The event, held once in three years,
is dedicated to Hindi language. It sees
participation from Hindi scholars, writers and laureates from different parts
of the world who contribute to the language.
Key facts for Prelims:
§ The decision to organize the 11th edition of
the Conference in Mauritius was taken at the 10th World Hindi Conference held
in Bhopal, India in September 2015.
§ The first World Hindi Conference was held in
1975 in Nagpur, India. Since then, ten such Conferences have been held in
different parts of the world.
§ The main theme of the Conference is “Vaishvik
Hindi Aur Bharatiy Sanskriti”.
§ The MEA has also set up the World Hindi
Secretariat in Mauritius. The main objective of the WHS is to promote Hindi as
an international language and further its cause for recognition at the United
Nations as an Official Language.
What’s important?
§ For Prelims: World Hindi Conference, World
Hindi Secretariat.
§ For Mains: Need for recognition of Hindi at
UN as an Official language.
Sources: the hindu.
Paper 2:
Topic: Government policies and interventions for
development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and
implementation.
Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing
Policy (HELP)
Context: In line with the Government initiative
of ease of doing business, the Union Cabinet has given its approval for
delegating the powers to Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Finance
Minister to award the Blocks/Contract Areas to successful bidders under
Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP) after International
Competitive Bidding (ICB) based on the recommendations of Empowered Committee
of Secretaries (ECS).
Significance of this move:
Under HELP, Blocks are to be awarded twice in
a year. Therefore, this delegation of powers will expedite the decision making
process on awarding blocks and give a boost to the initiative of ease of doing
business.
About Hydrocarbon Exploration and
Licensing Policy (HELP):
§ Government of India launched a new policy
regime for Exploration & Production (E&P) sector namely Hydrocarbon
Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP) in 2016 which is paradigm shift from
earlier policy regime.
§ The main features of new Policy regime are Revenue Sharing Contract, single
Licence for exploration and production of conventional as well as
unconventional Hydrocarbon resources, marketing & pricing freedom, etc.
§ Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) under HELP, is main innovative feature
wherein investor can carve out Blocks of their own interest and submit an
Expression of Interest (Eol) throughout the year. Based on the areas for which
expression of interest has been expressed bidding will be conducted every 6
months.
What was the need for the new
Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP)?
India is the 3rd largest consumer of crude
oil and petroleum products with oil and gas contributing 34.4% to primary
energy consumption. In 2015-2016, India’s crude oil import dependence rose to
81% from 78.5%. In last five years, India has seen overall decline in
exploration and production of conventional resources. New Exploration Licensing
Policy (NELP) created in 1997 ended the state dominance and created a
competitive environment leading to liberalization of oil and gas exploration
and production industry. However, it failed to keep the momentum of production
growth and attracting the foreign investment.
Bureaucratic hurdles like multiple approvals
and sanctions, cost overruns, and disputes led to some oil majors leaving their
awarded blocks and exit from the space.
What’s important?
§ For Prelims: OALP, HELP.
§ For Mains: Need for HELP and its
significance.
Sources: pib.
Topic: International institution.
Headquarters Agreement between India
and the International Solar Alliance
Context: The Union Cabinet has given its ex-post
facto approval for entering into Headquarters (Host country) Agreement between
India and the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and authorizing the Ministry
of External Affairs for signing the Headquarter Agreement.
Significance of the agreement:
The Headquarters Agreement will
institutionalize the functional arrangements between India and ISA. It
will help in smooth transition of ISA as international inter-governmental organization.
Creation of ISA will lead to accelerated solar technology development and
deployment in ISA member countries including India.
About ISA:
The Paris Declaration establishes ISA as an
alliance dedicated to the promotion of solar energy among its member countries.
The ISA is the first international body that will have a secretariat in India.
Objectives: The ISA’s major objectives include
global deployment of over 1,000GW of solar generation capacity and mobilisation
of investment of over US$ 1000 billion into solar energy by 2030.
What it does? As an action-oriented organisation, the
ISA brings together countries with rich solar potential to aggregate global
demand, thereby reducing prices through bulk purchase, facilitating the
deployment of existing solar technologies at scale, and promoting collaborative
solar R&D and capacity building.
When it entered into force? When the ISA Framework Agreement
entered into force on December 6th, 2017, ISA formally became a de-jure treaty
based International Intergovernmental Organization, headquartered at Gurugram,
India.
Significance of ISA:
There is no specific body in place to address
the specific solar technology deployment needs of the solar resource rich
countries located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.
Most of these countries are geographically located for optimal absorption of
the sun’s rays. There is a great amount of sunlight year-round which can lead
to cost effective solar power and other end useswith high insolation of almost
300 sunny days in a year. Most of the countries have large agrarian
populations.
Many countries face gaps in the potential
solar energy manufacturing eco-system. Absence of universal energy access,
energy equity and affordability are issues common to most of the solar resource
rich countries. International Solar Alliance (ISA) is conceived as a coalition
of solar resource rich countries to address their special energy needs and will
provide a platform to collaborate on addressing the identified gaps through a
common, agreed approach.
Significance of ISA for India:
The ISA is not only expected to spur
innovation in the RE space but also help make India a technological hub with
independent manufacturing capabilities of RE equipment like solar panels,
rather than being dependent on imports, through initiatives like ‘Make in
India’. India’s Ministry of External Affairs is expected to play a role in “marrying
Indian tech and finance capabilities with specific projects around the world”.
India announced a goal of obtaining 40% of
its electricity from non-fossil fuels by 2030 at the Paris climate change
summit. It is close to achieving 20 GW grid connected solar power generation
capacity this fiscal year (2018), in pursuit of achieving its target of 100 GW
by 2022.
What’s important?
§ For Prelims: ISA.
§ For Mains: Renewable energy and its
significance, India’s leadership in the sector.
Sources: pib.
Topic: International institutions.
Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and
Child Health (PMNCH)
Context: PMNCH Delegation recently called on the
Prime Minister and presented the logo for the 2018 Partners’ Forum.
About PMNCH Delegation:
§ The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn &
Child Health (The Partnership, PMNCH) is an alliance of more than 1000 organizations
in 77 countries from the sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and
adolescent health communities, as well as health influencing sectors.
§ The Partnership is governed by a Board, and
administered by a Secretariat hosted at the World Health Organization in
Geneva, Switzerland.
§ The Partnership provides a platform for
organizations to align objectives, strategies and resources, and agree on
interventions to improve maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health.
§ The Partnership’s role complements the work
and accountability processes of its individual members, enabling them to
deliver more collectively than they would alone.
§ This Partner-centric approach mobilizes,
engages and empowers different implementing partners. It allows them to coordinate
their actions and activities, and encourages and promotes mutual
accountability.
Sources: pib.
Paper 3:
Topic: Awareness in IT.
IIT-Delhi launches first 5G radio lab
Context: In an effort to establish India as a
key global player in the standardisation, research and development and
manufacturing of 5G equipment, a Massive MIMO radio laboratory has been set up
at IIT Delhi. This will be the first such lab in India.
What is MIMO Technology?
Multiple-input multiple-output, or MIMO, is a
radio communications technology or RF technology that is being mentioned and
used in many new technologies these days.
Wi-Fi, LTE; Long Term Evolution, and many
other radio, wireless and RF technologies are using the new MIMO wireless
technology to provide increased link capacity and spectral efficiency combined
with improved link reliability using what were previously seen as interference
paths.
How it works?
MIMO technology uses a natural radio-wave
phenomenon called multipath. With multipath, transmitted information bounces
off walls, ceilings, and other objects, reaching the receiving antenna multiple
times at different angles and slightly different times. In the past, multipath
caused interference and slowed down wireless signals. With multipath, MIMO
technology uses multiple, smart transmitters and receivers with an added
spatial dimension, increasing performance and range.
Significance of Massive Multiple-Input
Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology:
In Massive MIMO technology, several antennas
are deployed at the base station as compared to only a few antennas in 3G/4G.
This large antenna array at the base station allows the network to communicate
reliably with a very large number of mobile terminals simultaneously at the
same time and on the same frequency channel.
Benefits: It will help curb the emittance of
radiation harmful to our health and also will allow less radio interference for
better communication.
What’s important?
For Prelims and Mains: All about MIMO
technology.
Sources: the hindu.
Topic:
Infrastructure.
Sebi amends norms for REITs
Context: Sebi has amended REITs and InvITs
regulations to facilitate the growth of such trusts. As per the amendments,
REITs and InvITs will now have to provide a mechanism for resolution of
disputes with their shareholders and partners in the holding firm.
What are REITs?
REITs are similar to mutual funds. While
mutual funds provide for an opportunity to invest in equity stocks, REITs allow
one to invest in income-generating real estate assets.
How does an REIT work?
REITs raise funds from a large number of investors
and directly invest that sum in income-generating real estate properties (which
could be offices, residential apartments, shopping centres, hotels and
warehouses). The trusts are listed in stock exchanges so that investors can buy
units in the trust. REITs are structured as trusts. Thus, the assets of an REIT
are held by an independent trustee on behalf of unit holders.
Sources: the hindu.
Topic: Awareness in space.
IRNSS-1I
Context: The Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO) has launched the IRNSS-1I satellite through its PSLV-C41. It was the
20th flight of PSLV-XL version. This satellite will transmit signals for the
accurate determination of position, navigation and time.
§ Like all other IRNSS satellites, IRNSS-1I
will also carry two payloads – navigation payload and ranging payload – the
former to transmit signals for determining position, velocity and time and the
latter for determining the frequency range of the satellite.
Background:
Navigation satellite IRNSS-1I has been
launched to replace India’s first navigation satellite IRNSS-1A, whose three
Rubidium atomic clocks had stopped working two years ago. The malfunctioning of
the Europe-imported atomic clocks in IRNSS-1A made it difficult to measure
precise locational data from the satellite. When the time signal is missing,
getting true positional accuracy becomes a problem. Therefore, Isro felt a need
to replace faulty satellite IRNSS-1A.
What is IRNSS?
IRNSS stands for Indian Regional Navigation
Satellite System. It is a set of satellites which together can provide India a
regional positioning system similar to the GPS. According to the ISRO website,
the system is designed to give position accuracy better than 20 metres to users
in its primary coverage area. It can also service regions extending up to 1500
km around India’s boundary. NavIC is the operational name for the IRNSS.
How many IRNSS satellites are up there
now?
There are currently seven IRNSS satellites (1A
to 1G) in orbit. A, B, F, G are placed in a geosynchronous orbit, which means
they seem to be at a fixed location above the Earth and they orbit along with
the Earth. The remaining three, C, D, E, are located in geostationary
orbit-they seem to be at a fixed location above the Earth along the equator and
orbit along with the Earth.
The last IRNSS, 1H, which was launched on
August 31, 2017 was unsuccessful as the satellite did not come out of its heat
shield.
What are the applications of IRNSS?
These satellites help not just in land
navigation but also in marine and aerial navigation. The data from these
satellites can be used to give vehicle drivers visual and voice navigation
assistance. They also help in disaster management and in proper time-keeping.
Which Other Countries / Space Agencies
Have Similar Navigational Systems?
India’s (ISRO’s) NavIC joined the elite
league of four countries / space agencies which have similar navigation
capabilities. These include GPS (United States), GLONASS (Russia), Galileo
(European Union), BeiDou (China). Japan is also planning a similar project with
three of its own satellites. Japan’s system will be called the QZSS.
Sources: the hindu.
Facts for Prelims:
Ratnagiri Mega Refinery:
Context: An Indian Consortium consisting of
IOCL, BPCL and HPCL and Saudi Aramco signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
here today to jointly develop and build an integrated refinery and
petrochemicals complex, Ratnagiri Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd. (RRPCL) in
the State of Maharashtra.
What it does? The strategic partnership
brings together crude supply, resources, technologies, experience and expertise
of these multiple oil companies with an established commercial presence around
the world.
Exercise Gaganshakti-2018:
What is it? An all encompassing coordinated
and composite exercise named Gaganshakti is being conducted by the IAF.
The aim of this exercise is real time
coordination, deployment and employment of Air Power in a short & intense
battle scenario. This exercise will hone the war fighting skills of the air
warriors in a real time scenario thus affirming the IAF’s role as the cutting
edge of our nation’s military capability.
Defence, aerospace SME fund:
Context: Department of Defence Production has
announced the creation of a dedicated defence and aerospace small and medium
enterprises (SME) fund.
Key facts:
§ The fund will be registered with the
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), where a minority stake could be
taken by investors.
§ This fund would help channelise investments
into the two defence corridors announced by the Government in Tamil Nadu and
Uttar Pradesh.
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