Daily Current Affairs :  03-12-2020

Table of Contents :

1. J & K's Rohni Act
2. K Curve
3. Green Charcoal
4. India's first 100 Octane Petrol:XP 100
5. Emergency use Authorisation (EUA)
6. Hornbill Festival
7. Boko Haram
8. Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI)
9. India's Renewable Energy(RE)
10. India Plans DAM on Brahmaputra to offset chinese Construction upstream

1.J & K's Roshni Act

• There are allegations related to irregularities in the implementation of Jammu and Kashmir States land (vesting of ownership to the occupants) Act, also known as Roshini Act, which has now been declared null and void.

About the Act

• It envisaged the transfer of ownership rights of state land to its occupants, subject to the payment of a cost, as determined by the government.
• Revenue generated was to be spent on commissioning hydroelectric power projects, hence the name Roshni.

Source: The Hindu

2.K Curve

• K Curve depicts the inequality existing between different financial entities {Banks, NBFCs, etc}in terms of their attributes that determine their future growth and profitability.
• Widening of the arms of the K would imply that the inequality is increasing while narrowing of the span of the 'K'would means the opposite.

Source: The Hindu

3.Green Charcoal

• Recently, the Green Charcoal Hackathon w<is launched, by the Ministry of power, with the objective to clean the air by eliminating farm fire, producing renewable energy out of the agro residue, etc.
• Green Charcoal is a type of biofuel that can be made locally and inexpensively.
• To make this, agricultural waste materials appropriate to the season and the region are carbonized (conversion of an organic substance into carbon or a carbon-containing residue) in a kiln.
• It burns cleanly, reducing exposure to the smoke that causes respiratory infections.

Source: The Hindu

4.India's first 100 Octane Petrol:XP 100

• Recently, Indian Oil has launched world-class premium-grade Petrol (Octane 100) in the country. Branded as XP100, the premium grade petrol was launched across ten cities.
• Octane number is a measure of the resistance of fuels to knock or to Ignite prematurely.
• The higher an octane number, the more stable the fuel.

Source: The Hindu

5.Emergency use Authorisation (EUA)

• Vaccines require the approval of a regulatory authority before they can be administered. However, in emergency situations like COVID-19, regulatory authorities have developed mechanisms to grant interim approvals to vaccines and medicines.
• Till the completion of final trials, EUA allows medicine or vaccine to be used on the public.
• India'sdrug regulations do not have provisions for a EUA, and the process for receiving one is not clearly defined or consistent.
• In India, the regulatory authority concerned for this is the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation.

Source: The Hindu

6.Hornbill Festival

• It is one of the largest celebrations of the indigenous warrior tribes of Nagaland. I t is organized every year in the first week of December.
• The aim of the festival is to revive and protect the rich culture of Nagaland and display its extravaganza and traditions.
• The festival is named after the Hornbill, one of the most venerated bird species in the state whose importance is reflected in a number of tribal cultural expressions, songs, and dances.

Source: The Hindu

7.Boko Haram

• Recently, at least 11Ofarmers were killed by Boko Haram in Nigeria.
• Boko Haram is a militant group in northern Nigeria that is fighting to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state.
• Boko Haram promotes a version of Islam which makes it forbidden, for Muslims to take part in any political or social activity associated with Western society.

Source: The Hindu

8.Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI)

• IWAI has eased tender terms for privatizing multi-modal terminals (MMT) at Varanasi, Haldia, and Sahibganj on NationalWaterway (NW) 1.
• MMTs are being privatized on Equip, Operate, and Transfer (EOT) basis.EOT model is used where infrastructure already exists and there is no need for capital investment
• NW 1is from Allahabad to Haldia that falls on the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system. It passes through UP, Bihar, Jharkhand &West Bengal.
• MMT uses a combination of at least two or more different modes (rail, road, waterways) to move cargo from a place to another place.
• MMTs are being built as part of the Jal Marg Vikas Project that aims to develop a stretch of RiverGanga between Varanasi to Haldia for navigation of large vessels up to 1soo-2000 tonnes weight.
• IWAI is the project Implementing Agency.
• The objective is to promote inland waterways as a cheaper and more environmentally friendly means of transport, especially for cargo movement
• India has approximately 14,500 km of navigable waterways but freight movement through waterways is less than 5% compared to 65% by road and 27% by rail.

Source: The Hindu

9.India's Renewable Energy(RE)

• India expects to add over 220 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity by 2022 and 450 GW by 2030.
• Current installed RE capacity is around 90 GW, this includes 36 GW of solar and 38GW of wind energy.
• Challenges faced in the growth of RE in India
• Inadequate power purchase agreements (PPAs): Out of 18 GW of solar power projects awarded in the past two years, 16 GW do not have PPAs.
• Land availability for these projects is the single biggest impediment.
• Lack of transmission infrastructure: Close to 24  GW of solar capacity did not have transmission connectivity for projects awarded by other central and state agencies.
• Low investor sentiment due to delayed or non-payment by dis coms to clean energy developers.

Steps were taken by the Government

• Facilitating developers by allowing FOi of up to 100% through the automatic route.
• Inter-State Transmission System charges and losses for inter-state sale of solar and wind power shall be waived for renewable projects come missioned before June 2023.
• Norms for Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) until 2022 has been prescribed.

Source: The Hindu

10.India Plans DAM on Brahmaputra to offset chinese Construction upstream

• The government is considering a plan to build a 1O·gigawatts hydropower project in Arunachal Pradesh, following reports that China could construct a super dam on a lower reaches of the Brahmaputra river.
• Amidst the ongoing border issue with China, damming the Brahmaputra could potentially develop into another flashpoint.

Concerns for India:

• Brahmaputra River is of great importance as it accounts for 29% of total run-off of India's rivers, ( key to  India's river linking project) and the Brahmaputra basin possesses about 44% of India's total hydropower potential.
• Potential diversion of Brahmaputra waters by China might affect quality, ecological balance, and flood management in India.
• It is the first project by China in the downstream region of the river and is just across the border from Arunachal. Other dams by China (Zangmu, Jiexu, etc) are in upper/middle reaches only.

Steps that can be taken by India:

• India could lead a counter-coalition of countries that share transboundary rivers and forge a common institutional set-up for this.
• Promote a Southern Asian water information grid and aggregate best practices for water management.

Source: The Hindu

Jai Hind!

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