20 MARCH 2022 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS | UPSC CDS CAPF AFCAT NDA SSB

1. INDIA – JAPAN SUMMIT

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrived in India for his first visit to the country as the head of government. He met PM Narendra Modi for bilateral talks.

About:

India and Japan set an investment target of “five trillion yen” ($42 billion) in the next five years, the leaders announced after a meeting in New Delhi for the 14th annual summit, where several agreements were signed.
The two sides also exchanged six agreements on cybersecurity, economic partnerships, waste-water management, urban development, a clean energy partnership and an agreement on promoting bamboo-based products from the northeast region.
The “2+2” meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers in the next few months is due to take forward agreements on the strategic partnership and PM Modi is expected to visit Tokyo in May or June, where he will also attend the Quad summit with the U.S. President and Australian Prime Minister.

Source : The Hindu

2. KASHMIRI PANDITS

Union Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed the progress of rehabilitation of Kashmiri migrants, including Kashmiri Pandits, during a meeting with Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha in Jammu.

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According to the Home Ministry, only 17% of the proposed accommodation for Kashmiri Pandits has been completed in the past seven years.
The Union government, under the Prime Minister’s Development Package announced in 2015, had approved the creation of 3,000 government jobs for Kashmiri migrants in the erstwhile State of J&K. So far, 1,739 migrants have been appointed and 1,098 others selected for the jobs.
A similar package for migrants was announced by the Manmohan Singh government in 2008 under which 2,905 jobs had been filled out of the 3,000 jobs approved.
In 2015, as many as 6,000 transit accommodation units were announced for the members who were to be provided jobs by the J&K administration at a cost of ₹920 crore. According to the Ministry data, till February 2022, construction of only 1,025 units had been partially or fully completed while work at more than 50% units was yet to start.

Background

A large number of Pandits were forced to leave the Kashmir Valley from 1990 onwards due to rising terrorist attacks and calls for violence against the community.
According to the Home Ministry, several Kashmiri migrants reside at existing transit accommodation at Vessu (Kulgam), Mattan (Anantnag), Hawl (Pulwama), Natnusa (Kupwara), Sheikhpora(Budgam) and Veerwan (Baramulla) in the Kashmir Valley other than the camps in Jammu.
According to a 2020 parliamentary panel report, there are 64,827 registered migrant families in J&K — 60,489 Hindu families, 2,609 Muslim families and 1,729 Sikh families.
Of the 64,827 families, 43,494 are registered in Jammu, 19,338 in Delhi and 1,995 families are settled in other States and Union Territories. Of the 43,494 migrant families, 5,248 are living in migrant camps.

Source : The Hindu

3. FIXING DRUG PRICES

Consumers may have to pay more for medicines and medical devices if the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) allows a price hike of over 10% in the drugs and devices listed under the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM).

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The escalation which is expected to have an impact on nearly 800 drugs and devices is propelled by the rise in the Wholesale Price Index (WPI).
Lobby groups that represent domestic pharmaceutical companies have been engaging with the Central Government to ask it to extend the 10% annual hike to scheduled formulations under price control.

How does the pricing mechanism work?

All medicines under the NLEM are under price regulation.
As per the Drugs (Prices) Control Order 2013, scheduled drugs, about 15% of the pharma market, are allowed an increase by the government as per the WPI while the rest 85% are allowed an automatic increase of 10% every year.
The pharma lobby is now asking for at least a 10% increase for scheduled drugs too than going by the WPI.
The NPPA was set up in 1997 to fix/revise prices of controlled bulk drugs and formulations and to enforce price and availability of the medicines in the country, under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 1995-2013.

Source : The Hindu

4. KINZHAL MISSILE

Russia said that it had unleashed hypersonic missiles against an arms depot in Ukraine, the first use of the next-generation weapons in combat.

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Russia’s new Kinzhal (Dagger) hypersonic missile is a nuclear-capable air-launched ballistic missile that flies at 10 times the speed of sound and can overcome air-defence systems. Kinzhal means 'dagger'.
The missile has a range of approximately 1,500-2,000km and can carry a nuclear payload or conventional payload of 480 kg.
They are normally defined as fast, low-flying, and highly manoeuvrable weapons designed to be too quick and agile for traditional missile defence systems to detect in time.
Unlike ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons don’t follow a predetermined, arched trajectory and can manoeuvre on the way to their destination.
The term “hypersonic” describes any speed faster than five times that of sound, which is roughly 760 miles (1,220 kilometers) per hour at sea level, meaning these weapons can travel at least 3,800 miles per hour.
At hypersonic speeds, the air molecules around the flight vehicle start to change, breaking apart or gaining a charge in a process called ionization. This subjects the hypersonic vehicle to “tremendous” stresses as it pushes through the atmosphere.
There are two main types of these weapons — glide vehicles and cruise missiles.
Analysts say Russia is leading the hypersonics race, followed by China and the U.S.

Source : The Hindu

5. RIGHTS OF FOREIGNERS

The Union government wants the Supreme Court’s help to frame a law with “long-lasting implications” on the rights of foreigners who violate visa conditions.

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The government argues that issuance of visa is a “sovereign function”. There cannot be any remedy in court for a foreigner who breaks visa conditions. The Centre has indicated it wants a law which says that. Moreover, it seems to need the backing of the court too.
A 67-year-old judgment of a Constitution Bench in Hans Muller of Nurenberg v Superintendent, Presidency Jail, Calcutta is a much-thumbed precedent from the Supreme Court in matters concerning rights of foreigners in India.
The top court, in this judgment, held that the Centre had an “absolute and unfettered right” to expel foreigners.
But it added that foreign nationals have the basic right to be not deprived of their life or liberty “except according to procedure established by law”. The judgment took into consideration the prospect of a foreign national being detained before expulsion.
“Article 21 guarantees the protection of personal liberty to citizen and foreigner alike. No person can be deprived of his personal liberty ‘except according to procedure established by law’,” the five-judge Bench held in 1955.

Source : The Hindu

6. NEON GAS

The Ukraine-Russia conflict is expected to further impact the already stressed global semiconductor supply as raw material exported from the two countries such as neon gas, chemical C4F6 and palladium are critical for semiconductor manufacturing.

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This has also put the Indian electronics and automobile manufacturing industry in a wait-and-watch mode.
Neon prices had witnessed a tenfold increase during the 2014 Crimean crisis in Ukraine even as the semiconductor industry cut the total usage of the gas by 20% to 40% after adjusting software logic and optimising the purging process of the gas filling procedure.
Two of Ukraine’s leading suppliers of semiconductor-grade neon have halted their operations.
The unavailability of crucial upstream raw materials can have a cascading impact through the supply chain, and impacting especially those manufacturers in Asia, who are reliant on Ukraine.
Ukraine caters to almost 70% of the world’s neon demand and the neon gas is a by-product of Russian steel plants, which is then filtered and supplied by Ukrainian companies.

Neon

Neon is a chemical element with the symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is a noble gas.
Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under standard conditions, with about two-thirds the density of air.

Source : The Hindu

7. PAR TAPI NARMADA RIVER-LINKING PROJECT

On March 21, 2022, the tribals in Gujarat will hold a public meeting in Kaprada in Valsad district to protest against the Centre’s Par Tapi Narmada river-linking project.

About:

The Par Tapi Narmada link project was envisioned under the 1980 National Perspective Plan under the former Union Ministry of Irrigation and the Central Water Commission (CWC).
The project proposes to transfer river water from the surplus regions of the Western Ghats to the deficit regions of Saurashtra and Kutch.
The excess water in the interlinked Par, Tapi and Narmada rivers which flow into the sea in the monsoon would be diverted to Saurashtra and Kutch for irrigation.
It proposes to link three rivers — Par, originating from Nashik in Maharashtra and flowing through Valsad, Tapi from Saputara that flows through Maharashtra and Surat in Gujarat, and Narmada originating in Madhya Pradesh and flowing through Maharashtra and Bharuch and Narmada districts in Gujarat.
The link mainly includes the construction of
- seven dams (Jheri, Mohankavchali, Paikhed, Chasmandva, Chikkar, Dabdar and Kelwan),
- three diversion weirs (Paikhed, Chasmandva, and Chikkar dams),
- two tunnels (5.0 kilometers and 0.5 kilometers length),
- the 395-kilometre long canal (205 kilometre in Par-Tapi portion including the length of feeder canals and 190 km in Tapi-Narmada portion), and
- six powerhouses.
Of these, the Jheri dam falls in Nashik, while the remaining dams are in Valsad and Dang districts of South Gujarat.

Source : Indian Express

8. ZOJI LA PASS

Border Roads Organisation (BRO) opened the gateway between Union Territories of Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir - the Zoji La Pass - for traffic on Srinagar-Kargil-Leh road at 11,650 feet on March 19, 2022, setting up an all-time record of the pass being opened after just 73 days of its closure this year.

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This is the first time BRO has been able to achieve the feat, after it had kept the pass open till January 05, 2022 through relentless snow clearance operations amidst tough weather conditions.
Since February 15, 2022, the snow clearance operations were undertaken from both sides of the pass by Project Beacon and Vijayak, located in J&K and Ladakh respectively. After sustained efforts, the connectivity across Zoji La Pass was initially established on March 04, 2022.
Usually, the Zoji La Pass used to remain closed for around 160-180 days during winters on account of heavy snowfall.

Do you know?

Zoji La is a high mountain pass in the Himalayas in Ladakh.
Located in the Dras, the pass connects the Kashmir Valley to its west with the Dras and Suru valleys to its northeast and the Indus valley further east.

Source : PIB

9. DRONE-BASED MINERAL EXPLORATION

National Mineral Development Corporation Ltd. (NMDC), Country’s largest Iron Ore producer, a CPSE under Ministry of Steel signed a MoU with IIT Kharagpur for drone-based mineral exploration.

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NMDC would be the first CPSE in India to conduct Drone-based Geophysical Surveys and Hyperspectral Studies for Mineral Exploration in the country.
NMDC is conducting exploration for various minerals in the State of Madhya Pradesh and also in the Beloda-Belmundi block in Chhattisgarh for Diamonds.
NMDC is also the first CPSE to use Space Geophysics in Central Indian Diamond Province and the first to use online monitoring of exploration of data on the BHUVAN platform.

Source : PIB

10. GOLDEN LANGUR

A recent study by scientists has suggested a significant decline in the habitat of the golden langur (Trachypithecus geei), an endangered primate species distributed in the trans-boundary region of Bhutan and India.

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A recent paper titled “Future simulated landscape predicts habitat loss for the golden langur: a range-level analysis for an endangered primate” throws light on whether the habitat of the endangered primate is protected or not. The paper has been published by scientists of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI).
Golden langurs are easily recognised by the colour of their fur, and are distributed in the forested habitats of Tsirang, Sarpang, Zhemgang and Trongsa districts of Bhutan.
In India, fragmented and isolated populations of the species are distributed in Chirang, Kokrajhar, Dhubri and Bongaigaon districts of Assam.
The results indicate that out of the total range extent (66,320 square km), only 12,265 square km (18.49%) is suitable for the species at present, which will further be reduced to 8,884 square km by the year 2031, indicating major range contraction.
Conservation Status:In 2003, they were considered endangered by the IUCN Red List, and listed as Appendix I on the CITES website.
Chakrashila is India’s first wildlife sanctuary with golden langur as the primary species. Chakrashila has about 600 golden langurs whose population is scattered across western Assam and the foothills of Bhutan.

Source : The Hindu

20 MARCH 2022 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS | UPSC CDS CAPF AFCAT NDA SSB

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21 MARCH 2022 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS | UPSC CDS CAPF AFCAT NDA SSB

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