National
Anti-Human Trafficking Cell
⇒ The National Commission for Women launched an Anti-Human Trafficking Cell on 02 April 2022.
Objective:
The objective of the cell is to improve effectiveness in tackling cases of human trafficking, raising awareness among women and girls, capacity building and training of Anti Trafficking Units and to increase responsiveness of law enforcement agencies.
- The Cell has been set up with an aim of increasing awareness among law enforcement officials and to facilitate their capacity building.
Benefits:
- The Cell will conduct Gender Sensitization Trainings and Workshops in combating human trafficking for police officers and for prosecutors at regional, state and district level.
- The complaints related to human trafficking received by the Commission will be addressed by this cell.
- The Cell will also help survivors of trafficking in rebuilding their lives by providing them with need-based training and by organizing capacity building programs for them to prevent re-traumatization of victims.
Six new and rare Reference Materials
⇒ In a breakthrough achievement, the National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) has indigenously developed six new and rare Reference Materials (RMs).
- It is the purest form of chemical required for anti-doping analysis in all WADA-accredited Laboratories across the world.
The RMs were launched by the Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Shri Anurag Singh Thakur during the 15th Governing Body Meeting of NDTL.
Developed by:
The six RMs have been developed by NDTL in association with the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER)-Guwahati and the CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM), Jammu.
Out of the six Reference Materials launched, three each were synthesized in collaboration with NIPER-Guwahati and CSIR-IIIM, Jammu.
» Last year too, scientists of NDTL and NIPER-Guwahati succeeded in synthesizing two indigenously developed rare Reference Materials in 2021 which were launched and shared with fellow WADA- Accredited Laboratories.
Broadcast Seva Portal
⇒ Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, and Youth Affairs & Sports, Shri Anurag Singh Thakur launched the Broadcast Seva Portal in New Delhi on 04 April 2022.
- Broadcast Seva Portal is an online portal solution for speedy filing and processing of applications of broadcasters for various kinds of licenses, permissions, registrations, etc.
Benefits of Portal:
- The Broadcast Seva Portal will reduce the turnaround time of applications and at the same time will help applicants track the progress.
- This portal will reduce the human interface that was required earlier and thus add to capacity building of the Ministry and will be a major step towards Ease of Doing Business.
- The Portal will provide a 360-degree solution to over 900 Satellite TV Channels, over 70 Teleport operators, over 1750 multi-service operators, over 350 Community Radio Stations (CRS), over 380 Private FM Channels and others.
- The portal would bring Transparency, Accountability & Responsiveness in the ecosystem and all information will be available on a single dashboard.
Various services and features of the portal includes:
End-to-end processing, Integration with payment system (Bharat Kosh), Integration with E-Office and stakeholder ministries, Integrated Helpdesk, Application forms and status tracking, etc.
International
India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement
⇒ The Minister of Commerce and Industry, Minster of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, and Minister of Textiles, Government of India, Shri Piyush Goyal, and Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Government of Australia, Mr. Dan Tehan, MP, signed the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement on 02 April 2022.
- The agreement was signed in a virtual ceremony in presence of the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Australia, Mr. Scott Morrison.
Salient features of India-Australia ECTA:
- The India-Australia ECTA is the first trade agreement of India with a developed country after more than a decade.
- The Agreement encompasses cooperation across the entire gamut of bilateral economic and commercial relations between the two friendly countries.
- It covers areas like Trade in Goods, Rules of Origin, Trade in Services, Technical Barriers to Trade, Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures, Dispute Settlement, Movement of Natural Persons, Telecom, Customs Procedures, Pharmaceutical products, and Cooperation in other Areas.
Benefits:
» ECTA provides for an institutional mechanism to encourage and improve trade between the two countries.
Tariff lines:
- The ECTA between India and Australia covers almost all the tariff lines dealt in by India and Australia respectively.
- India will benefit from preferential market access provided by Australia on 100% of its tariff lines.
- This includes all the labour-intensive sectors of export interest to India such as Gems and Jewellery, Textiles, leather, footwear, furniture, food, and agricultural products, engineering products, medical devices, and Automobiles.
- On the other hand, India will be offering preferential access to Australia on over 70% of its tariff lines, including lines of export interest to Australia which are primarily raw materials and intermediaries such as coal, mineral ores and wines etc.
Trade in services:
- Australia has offered wide ranging commitments in around 135 sub sectors and Most Favoured Nation in 120 sub sectors which cover key areas of India’s interest like IT, ITES, Business services, Health, Education, and Audio visual.
- India has offered market access to Australia in around 103 sub-sectors and Most Favoured Nation in 31 sub-sectors from the 11 broad service sectors such as business services, communication services, construction and related engineering services, and so on.
» Both sides have also agreed to a separate Annex on Pharmaceutical products under this agreement, which will enable fast track approval for patented, generic and biosimilar medicines.
Important Day
258th Raising Day of Army Medical Corps
⇒ The Indian Army celebrated 258th Raising Day of Army Medical Corps on 3 April 2022.
Motto:
The Corps has the motto of “Sarve Santu Niramaya” meaning “Let all be free from disease and disability”.
History:
- The Army Medical Corps came into existence as a homogeneous corps of officers and men on the pattern of the Royal Army Medical Corps by the amalgamation of the Indian Medical Service, the Indian Medical Department and the Indian Hospital Corps.
- The Indian Army Medical Corps (IAMC) came into existence on 03 April 1943.
- The IAMC was re-designated as Army Medical Corps with effect from 26 January 1950.