03 JANUARY 2022 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS | UPSC CDS CAPF AFCAT NDA SSB

1. CHINA’S NEW LAND BORDER LAW

China’s new law on land borders, passed on October 23, came into effect on January 1. This has happened at a time when the border standoff in eastern Ladakh remains unresolved, when China has renamed several places in Arunachal Pradesh as part of its claim on the Indian state.

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The Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress passed the law for the “protection and exploitation of the country’s land border areas”.
It mandates the state to take measures “to strengthen border defence, support economic and social development as well as opening-up in border areas, improve public services and infrastructure in such areas, encourage and support people’s life and work there, and promote coordination between border defence and social, economic development in border areas”.
This means that it is encouraging the development of villages for civilians in the border areas.
The law lays down four conditions under which the state can impose emergency measures, including border shutdown.

Important Info :

Does it concern India?

Although the law is not meant specifically for India, it is bound to have some impact.
China and India share a disputed 3,488-km boundary, the third longest among China’s 22,457-km land boundaries with 14 countries, after the borders with Mongolia and Russia.
Besides India, Bhutan (477 km) is the only other country with which China has a disputed land border.

Source : Indian Express

2. SOLID STATE BATTERIES

Shareholders of California-based QuantumScape Corp, a battery startup backed by Volkswagen AG, have approved a multibillion-dollar pay package for Chief Executive Officer Jagdeep Singh, subject to the company meeting some performance milestones.

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QuantumScape’s solid-state battery — lithium metal with a solid electrolyte separating the two electrodes — is seen as an exceptionally bright prospect in an increasingly crowded space.
QuantumScape says its solid-state lithium-metal battery replaces the polymer separator used in conventional lithium-ion batteries with a solid-state separator.
The lithium metal anode is more energy-dense than conventional anodes, which allows the battery to store more energy in the same volume, according to the company.
The advantages of the solid-state battery technology include higher cell energy density (by eliminating the carbon anode), lower charge time (by eliminating the need to have lithium diffuse into the carbon particles in conventional lithium-ion cells), the ability to undertake more charging cycles and thereby a longer life, and improved safety.

Source: Indian Express

3. ASSAM CATTLE PRESERVATION ACT, 2021

Last week, the Assam Cattle Preservation Act, 2021, was made more stringent through an amendment in the Winter Session of the Assam Assembly. The original legislation had been passed on August 13.

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In August, the Assam Cattle Preservation Act, 2021 replaced the Assam Cattle Preservation Act, 1950, on the ground that the latter lacked sufficient legal provisions to regulate the slaughter, consumption and transportation of cattle.
The Act bars sale and purchase of beef or beef products in areas “predominantly inhabited by Hindu, Jain, Sikh and other non beef-eating communities”, or “within a radius of 5 km” of any temple or sattra (Vaishnavite monasteries).
The Act — ostensibly passed to check cattle smuggling to Bangladesh — prohibits inter-state transport of cattle to and from Assam without valid documents.

Important Info :

The Amendments

The main amendments include a change in the transport permissions to cattle within the state and two new provisions that provide more teeth to the police.
The amendment now allows movement from one district to another, provided
- these do not border Bangladesh,
- and those transporting the cattle are registered under the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department, and have permits to transport the cattle for bonafide agricultural or animal husbandry purposes or for trade.
The amendments empower the police to enter the house of an accused, search and seize properties if they have a “prima facie reason to believe” that the properties have been acquired in the last six years with money earned from illegal cattle trade.
This provision also places the burden of proof on the accused.

Source: Indian Express

4. ARUNACHAL PRADESH

China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs announced on December 29 that it had “standardised” the names of 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh. The Ministry of External Affairs of India has dismissed the Chinese “invention”.

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China claims some 90,000 sq km of Arunachal Pradesh as its territory.
It calls the area “Zangnan” in the Chinese language and makes repeated references to “South Tibet”.
Chinese maps show Arunachal Pradesh as part of China, and sometimes parenthetically refer to it as “so-called Arunachal Pradesh”.
China makes periodic efforts to underline this unilateral claim to Indian territory. Giving Chinese names to places in Arunachal Pradesh is part of that effort.

Important Info :

But what is China’s argument for claiming these areas?

The People’s Republic of China disputes the legal status of the McMahon Line, the boundary between Tibet and British India that was agreed at the Simla Convention — officially the ‘Convention Between Great Britain, China, and Tibet’ — of 1914.
China was represented at the Simla Convention by a plenipotentiary of the Republic of China, which had been declared in 1912 after the Qing dynasty was overthrown. (The present communist government came to power only in 1949, when the People’s Republic was proclaimed.)
The Chinese representative did not consent to the Simla Convention, saying Tibet had no independent authority to enter into international agreements.

Source: Indian Express

5. R-VALUE

Although the government has not described it as such, there are now unmistakable signs that India has entered the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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The sharpest increases in cases are being seen in the major cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Kolkata, Chennai and others.
The reproduction number or R, an indicator of how quickly a disease is spreading in the population, has crossed 1 in all these megacities.
An R-value of 1, which signifies that every infected person is passing on the infection to at least one person on an average, is a key threshold after which cases begin to rise rapidly. Both Delhi and Mumbai have R-values over 2 right now.

Source: Indian Express

6. ARC DE TRIOMPHE MONUMENT

French authorities took down a temporary installation of the European Union flag from the Arc de Triomphe monument in Paris on Sunday, after rightwing opponents of President Emmanuel Macron accused him of “erasing” French identity.

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The giant blue flag was raised in place of a French flag on New Year’s Eve to mark France’s turn at the rotating presidency of the EU Council.
The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile (lit. 'Triumphal Arch of the Star') is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France.
The Arc de Triomphe honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces.
The arch, a monument to war dead, and other landmarks including the Eiffel Tower and the Pantheon are also being illuminated with blue lights for the remainder of this week.

Source: The Hindu

7. EWS QUOTA

A government committee report in the Supreme Court has said that “income” is a “feasible criterion” for defining the “Economically Weaker Sections” (EWS) in society, and the annual family income of ₹8 lakh is a “reasonable” threshold to determine EWS in order to extend reservation in admissions and jobs.

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The committee did not agree with the notion that the Union government had “mechanically adopted” ₹8 lakh as a number because it was also used for the OBC creamy layer cut-off.
It said the income criterion for EWS was “more stringent” than the one for the OBC creamy layer.
Firstly, EWS’s criteria relates to the financial year prior to the year of application whereas the income criterion for the creamy layer in OBC category is applicable to gross annual income for three consecutive years.
Secondly, in case of OBC creamy layer, income from salaries, agriculture and traditional artisanal professions are excluded from the consideration whereas the ₹8 lakh criteria for EWS includes all sources, including farming.
The report is the result of the Supreme Court’s repeated grilling of the government, since October, to explain how it zeroed in on the figure of ‘₹8 lakh’ as the annual income criterion to identify EWS among forward classes of society for grant of 10% reservation in National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) medical admissions under the All India Quota (AIQ) category.
The Supreme Court’s query was significant as the One Hundred and Third Constitutional Amendment of 2019, which introduced the 10% EWS quota, is itself under challenge before a larger Bench. The Amendment is under question for making economic criterion as the sole ground for grant of reservation benefits.
The Centre had then formed an expert committee comprising Ajay Bhushan Pandey, former Finance Secretary; professor V.K. Malhotra, Member Secretary, ICSSR; and Sanjeev Sanyal, Principal Economic Adviser to the Government of India. The committee had submitted its report on December 31.

Source: The Hindu

8. DRAFT NATIONAL AIR SPORTS POLICY (NASP 2022)

Ministry of Civil Aviation has released draft National Air Sports Policy (NASP) for public feedback.

The key features of the Draft National Air Sports Policy are:

NASP 2022 covers sports like aerobatics, aeromodelling, amateur-built and experimental aircraft, ballooning, drones, gliding, hang gliding and paragliding; microlighting and paramotoring; skydiving and vintage aircraft.
The vision is to make India one of the top air sports nations by 2030. The mission is to provide a safe, affordable, accessible, enjoyable and sustainable air sports ecosystem in India.
NASP 2022 seeks to leverage India’s huge potential for air sports given its large geographical expanse, diverse topography and fair weather conditions.
An Air Sports Federation of India (ASFI) will be established as the apex governing body. Associations for each air sport will handle day to day activities e.g. Paragliding Association of India or Skydiving Association of India etc.
The air sports associations shall be accountable to ASFI with respect to the regulatory oversight and for providing safe, affordable, accessible, enjoyable and sustainable conduct of their respective air sport.
ASFI shall represent India at FAI and other global platforms related to air sports. Greater participation and success of Indian sportspersons in global air sports events will be facilitated.
Domestic design, development and manufacturing of air sports equipment will be promoted in line with the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland is the world governing body for air sports. All competitions in India will be conducted as per the guidelines laid down by FAI.
Air sports by their very nature involve a higher level of risk than flying a regular aircraft. NASP 2022 places strong focus on ensuring international best practices in safety.

Source: PIB

9. MAJOR DHYAN CHAND SPORTS UNIVERSITY

Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of Major Dhyan Chand Sports University in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh.

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Modi stressed that for sports in the country to thrive, it is necessary that the youth should have faith in sports and should be encouraged to take up sports as a profession.
The Prime Minister said, schemes like Target Olympics Podium TOPS are providing all support to top sports persons to compete at the highest level.
The Prime Minister said, Khelo India Abhiyan is recognizing talent very early and all support is being given to groom them for international level.

Source: All India Radio

10. TRINCOMALEE OIL TANK FARM

Last week, Sri Lanka’s Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila announced that the Indian Oil Subsidiary Lanka IOC would be given 49% stake in the joint development of the Trincomalee Oil Tank farm, with Ceylon Petroleum Corporation keeping 51%.

About:

The CPC has formed a special purpose company, Trinco Petroleum Terminals Ltd, and it is expected to get Cabinet approval this week.
If it goes according to plan India and Sri Lanka would have finally achieved the implementation of an agreement — contained in an exchange of letters between then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J R Jayewarndene as part of the annexure to the India-Sri Lanka Accord of July 29, 1987 — that the tank farm would be developed jointly.
Why Trincomalee matters? The pre-WWII era oil storage facility has a capacity of nearly 1 million tonnes, which far outstrips the demand in Sri Lanka. Located inland from China Bay, the facility was meant to be serviced by the natural harbour at Trincomalee.

Source: Indian Express

03 JANUARY 2022 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS | UPSC CDS CAPF AFCAT NDA SSB

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