Home » Current Affairs Date: 23 October 2021

Current Affairs Date: 23 October 2021

National

Historic Karbi Anglong Agreement

⇒ In the presence of Union Home Minister, Shri Amit Shah, a historic Karbi Anglong Agreement to end the decades old crisis ensuring Assam’s territorial integrity was signed in New Delhi on 04 September 2021.

With this historic agreement, over 1000 armed cadres have abjured violence and joined the mainstream of society.

A Special Development Package of Rs 1000 crores over five years will be given by the Union Government and Assam Government to undertake specific projects for the development of Karbi areas.

Salient features of the Agreement:

» This Memorandum of Settlement will ensure greater devolution of autonomy to the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council, protection of identity, language, culture, etc. of Karbi people and focussed development of the Council area, without affecting the territorial and administrative integrity of Assam.

» The Agreement also provides for rehabilitation of cadres of the armed groups.

» The Government of Assam shall set up a Karbi Welfare Council for focussed development of Karbi people living outside KAAC area.

» The Consolidated Fund of the State will be augmented to supplement the resources of KAAC.

» Overall, the present settlement proposes to give more legislative, executive, administrative and financial powers to KAAC.

ISRO released the report of Chandrayaan-2

⇒ The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has organized a two-day Lunar Science Workshop 2021, which began on 06 September 2021, to commemorate the completion of two years of operation of Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft around the lunar orbit.

ISRO Chairman K Sivan said:
    • India’s Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft has completed more than 9,000 orbits around the Moon, and imaging and scientific instruments onboard have been providing excellent data.
    • The eight payloads onboard the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft are conducting remote sensing and in-situ observations of the Moon at around 100 km altitude from the lunar surface.

New software to identify thin coal seams under the earth crust

⇒ Coal India Ltd (CIL), under the Ministry of Coal has launched a new software named “Spectral Enhancement” (SPE).

This will help in identifying thin coal seams under the earth crust and improve assessment of coal resources using seismic survey during coal exploration process.

Significance:

The present seismic survey techniques for coal resource exploration have limitations in identifying the thin coal seams under the earth, which will now be possible as this new software helps in enhancing resolution of seismic signals leading to delineation of thinnest coal seams.

First ever Electric Vehicle Charging Station (EVCS) in Meghalaya

⇒ Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (POWERGRID), has laid the foundation stone for first ever Electric Vehicle Charging Station (EVCS) in the state of Meghalaya at its office complex at Lapalang, Shillong.

Developed Under the Scheme:

The EVCS are being developed under Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid) & Electric Vehicles (FAME) India Scheme Phase-II.

Under this scheme, POWERGRID shall be developing 11 EVCS in Shillong city (5 Public EVCS, and 6 at Government Establishments).

International

28th edition of Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercise (SIMBEX)

⇒ The 28th edition of Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercise (SIMBEX) was conducted from 02 to 04 September 2021.

Host:

Owing to the ongoing pandemic-related constraints, this year’s SIMBEX was conducted without any physical interactions as an ‘at-sea only’ exercise hosted by the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) in the southern fringes of the South China Sea.

Participation:

» The Indian Navy was represented by Guided Missile Destroyer INS Ranvijay with a ship borne helicopter, ASW Corvette INS Kiltan and Guided Missile Corvette INS Kora and one P8I Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft.

» Participants from the RSN included one Formidable Class Frigate, RSS Steadfast, embarked with an S-70B naval helicopter, one Victory Class Missile Corvette, RSS Vigour, one Archer Class Submarine and one Fokker-50 Maritime Patrol Aircraft.

    • Four F-16 fighter aircraft of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) also participated in the exercise during the Air Defence Drills.
About SIMBEX:

SIMBEX is the Indian Navy’s longest uninterrupted bilateral maritime exercise with any foreign navy, which was initiated in 1994.

11th BRICS Trade Ministers Meeting

⇒ The 11th BRICS Trade Ministers Meeting was held under the Chairship of India on 3rd September, 2021. Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textiles chaired the meeting.

Participants:

The meeting was attended by Trade and Economic Ministers of BRICS Countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

Discussion:

» Apart from others such as a common approach towards the multilateral trading system for the WTO Ministerial Conference (MC- 12):

    • For the first time common understanding between BRICS countries resulted in several new announcements related to cooperation in the fields of consumer protection, e-commerce, genetic resources and traditional knowledge, professional services.

» BRICS countries endorsed the Framework for Cooperation in Trade in Professional Services with the objectives of enhancing domestic capacity and global competitiveness, promoting participation in intra-BRICS mobility of professionals and enhancing intra-BRICS trade in professional services.

» For the first time among all the BRICS member countries, a consensus was reached to work jointly towards the protection of genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions; so as to address the issue of its misappropriation through mandatory disclosure of source of origin of the resource and the disclosure of the evidence of prior informed consent and access and benefit sharing.

» The BRICS Ministers acknowledged the importance of strengthening intra-BRICS cooperation in achieving the common goal of making our goods and services globally competitive and further integrating into the global value chain.

Source: PIB & Other News Reports

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