The Department of Science & Technology has constituted a joint Science Communication Forum with a view to facilitate interaction, cooperation, and coordination amongst various public sector science communication institutions and agencies.

The Forum brings together science communication efforts spread across various institutions and can help adoption of a common policy and best practices at a wider scale, ultimately aiming towards a national science communication framework. It is represented by senior officials from various central ministries and departments, including Agriculture, Health, Culture, Defense, Space, Atomic Energy, and Information & Broadcasting, in addition to Science & Technology.

Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Dept. of Science & Technology said that the Forum would work upon strategies for effective planning and implementation of science communication programmes at macro and micro level in the country to spread scientific awareness and inculcate scientific temper amongst the masses leading to an innovation-driven society that contributes towards an ecosystem for Atmanirbhar Bharat.

The Forum would be served by a Secretariat at the National Council for Science & Technology Communication (NCSTC), Department of Science & Technology, which is mandated for coordination with different organizations, programmes and activities focused on science communication in the country and orchestrating them for enhanced public understanding of science with a scientific bent of mind. It is also mandated to formulate countrywide programmes, policies, and activities in the domain of science communication and popularization in the country.

India has a very robust organizational structure on science communication. At least five national organizations are working on the growth and development of science communication. These are the National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (1951), Homi Bhabha Center for Science Education (1974), National Council of Science Museums (1978), National Council for Science & Technology Communication (1982), and Vigyan Prasar (1989). In addition, different scientific organizations have their own science communication wings.

They include Unit for Science Dissemination (CSIR), Directorate of Knowledge Management in Agriculture (ICAR), Publication & Information Division (ICMR), Directorate of Public Interface (DRDO), Public Awareness Division (DAE), Office of Media & Public Relations (ISRO), Science Cells, AIR, etc. Almost all national laboratories and scientific institutions have some institutional mechanisms for science communication and public outreach.

These organizations are contributing to science communication using various ways and means and reaching out to the masses. However, there seems to be ample scope for interaction and integration for evolving and adopting common policies and following best practices at a much wider scale. Concerted and collective countrywide programmes are needed to be worked out and implemented jointly by integrating them, and eventually, a national science communication framework may emerge.

The public communication of science and technology and inculcation of scientific temper among masses necessitates interaction, cooperation, and coordination amongst various stakeholders for better planning, policy, and implementation of large-scale science communication programmes in the country.

The Government of India will launch auction of coal mines for commercial mining with the theme “UNLEASHING COAL: NEW HOPES FOR ATMANIRBHAR BHARAT” on June 18, 2020. Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will grace the occasion as chief guest in the launching Programme to be virtually held at New Delhi.

“We are launching first-ever commercial coal auctions in country on 18th June. Event will be graced by PM @NarendraModi Ji. It is his vision & guidance to make #AtmaNirbharBharat in coal. I am proud that we are well on our way to achieve it” Union Minister of Coal & Mines Shri Pralhad Joshi tweeted today.

It will be a historic day when Indian coal sector will break free from the shackles of restrictions to charter new growth.

As India has recently embraced Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan under the visionary and decisive leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the coal & mining sector has started gearing up to make the country Atma Nirbhar (self-reliant) in coal mining through structural reforms in the coal sector.

The commercial coal mining auctions are completely different from earlier regime of restricted sectors, use and price. Now there are no such restrictions at all. The proposed auctions have terms and conditions which are very liberal allowing new companies to participate in the bidding process, reduced upfront amount, adjustment of upfront amount against royalty, liberal efficiency parameters to encourage flexibility to operationalize the coal mines, transparent bidding process, 100% FDI through automatic route allowed and reasonable financial terms and revenue sharing model based on National Coal Index. The successful bidders also will have flexibility in coal production unlike past and have provision for incentives for early production and coal gasification.

The coal mines auction process will lay strong foundation for energy security in the country by producing additional coal providing large scale employment and huge opportunities for investment in coal sector. These efforts will supplement the 01 billion tonne coal production likely from Coal India in FY 23-24 and meet full requirement of domestic thermal coal.

INS Shardul, deployed for Operation Samudra Setu, entered Porbandar harbour with 233 Indian Nationals onboard, who were earlier evacuated from Bandar Abbas port in Iran.

IFLOWS-Mumbai is developed as a state of art Integrated Flood Warning system for Mumbai to enhance the resilience of Mumbai by providing early warning for flooding specially during high rainfall events and cyclones

Ministry of Earth Sciences, using in-house expertise,and in close coordination with Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai developed the Integrated Flood Warning System for Mumbai

The system has provisions to capture the urban drainage within the city and predict the areas of flooding Posted On: 11 JUN 2020 6:59PM by PIB Delhi

Extreme precipitation events are on the rise in India driven by warming temperatures and changes in the monsoon due to climate change. The capital of the state of Maharashtra, Mumbai, a megapolis and the financial capital of India has been experiencing floods with increased periodicity and recent flood in 29 August 2017, brought the city to a standstill. The flood during 26th July 2005, is probably etched in the memory of every Mumbai citizen, when the city received a rainfall of 94cm, a 100 year high in a span of 24 hours paralyzing the city completely. As a preparedness for floods before they occur, people to be warned so that they can be prepared in advance for flooding conditions.

In a bid to aid in the mitigation activities of the flood prone city, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, Govt of Maharashtra approached the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) to develop an Integrated Flood Warning System for Mumbai referred to as, IFLOWS-Mumbai. MoES initiated the development of IFLOWS-Mumbai in July 2019 using the in-house expertise available within the Ministry of Earth Sciences in close coordination with Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. IFLOWS-Mumbai is developed as a state of art Integrated Flood Warning system for Mumbai to enhance the resilience of the city of Mumbai by providing early warning for flooding specially during high rainfall events and cyclones.

I-FLOWS is built on a modular structure and comprises of seven modules, namely Data Assimilation, Flood, Inundation, Vulnerability, Risk, Dissemination Module and Decision Support System. The system incorporates weather models from National Centre for medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), India Meteorological Department (IMD), field data from the rain gauge network stations setup by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM),Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) and IMD, thematic layers on land use, infrastructure etc provided by MCGM. Based on inputs from weather models, Hydrologic models are used to transform rainfall into runoff and provides inflow inputs into the riversystems. Hydraulic models are used to solve equations of fluid motion to replicate the movement of water to assess flooding in the study area.

Since, Mumbai is an island city with its connectivity to sea, hydrodynamic models and storm surge model are used to calculate the tide and storm surge impacts on the city. The system has provisions to capture the urban drainage within the city and predict the areas of flooding, which will be incorporated in the final system. The data on river bathymetry was collected in all rivers namely Mithi, Dahisar, Oshiwara, Poisar, Ulhas, lakes and creeks by NCCR in association with MCGM and IMD, Mumbai. The land topography, land use, infrastructure, population etc., was provided by MCGM and it was integrated into a Decision Support System to accurately estimate flood levels at ward level using thematic layers in GIS. A web GIS based decision supports system is build to calculate the vulnerability and risk of elements exposed to flood.

Exotic live species are animal or plant species moved from their original range (location) to a new one. These species are introduced to a new location most often by people. Manycitizen of the country have kept CITES (Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species)

enlisted exotic animal species in their possession but there is no unified information system available of such stock of species at the State/Central level. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has decided to collect stock information from the holders of such species through voluntary disclosure in next six months.

The registration will be done for the stock of animals, new progeny, as well as for import and exchange. This will help in better management of the species and guide the holders about proper veterinary care, housing and other aspects of well-being of the species. The database of exotic animals will also help in control and management of zoonotic diseases on which guidance would be available from time to time to ensure safety of animals and humans.

The declarer would not be required to produce any documentation in relation to the exotic live species if the same has been declared within six months of the date of issue of the advisory. For any declaration made after 6 months, the declarer shall be required to comply with the documentation requirement under the extant laws and regulations.

Holders of such species have to visit the website (www.parivesh.nic.in)and fill up the requisite forms in order to complete the stock registration process.

IIT Madras retains 1stPosition in Overall Ranking as well as in Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru tops the University list

IIM Ahmedabad tops in Management Category and AIIMS occupies the top slot in Medical category for third consecutive year. Miranda College retains 1st position amongst colleges for third consecutive year

Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences, Delhi secures 1st position in “Dental” category, dental institutions included for first time in India Rankings 2020

Rankings help universities to improve their performance on various ranking parameters and identify gaps in research and areas of improvement- Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal Posted On: 11 JUN 2020 2:59PM by PIB Delhi

Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, today released “India Rankings 2020” of Institutions of Higher Education in various categories on the basis of their performance on five broad categories of parameters. The Minister released India Rankings 2020 virtually in 10 categories in the presence of Minister of State for HRD ,Shri Sanjay Dhotre. Additional Secretary (Higher Education),Shri Rakesh Ranjan, MHRD; Chairman UGC, Prof. D. P. Singh; Chairman, AICTE Anil Sahasrabudhe; Chairman NBA, Prof. K.K. Aggarwal;

Member Secretary NBA, Dr. Anil Kumar Nassa, and representatives of Higher Education Institutions witnessed the release through video conferencing.This is the fifth consecutive edition of India Rankings of the institutions of higher education in India. In 2020, an addition to nine rankings ie one domain “Dental” has been introduced for the first time bringing the total tally to 10 categories / subject domains.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said that these rankings acts as a guide to students for selection of universities based on a set of criteria and helps universities to improve their performance on various ranking parameters and identify gaps in research and areas of improvement. He added that the Ranking of Institutions at national level instill a competitive spirit amongst institutions to perform better and secure higher rank in international ranking.

Jal Jeevan Mission, a flagship programme launched by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi last year, aims to provide all rural households with tap water supply in adequate quantity and of prescribed quality on regular and long-term basis. States are implementing this ambitious programme to accomplish the task by 2024 so as to bring improvements in the lives of rural people by reducing the drudgery of rural women, especially girls.

Maharashtra presented the Annual Action Plan to the Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation for consideration and approval. Maharashtra State has planned to provide 100% tap connections to all the households in the State by 2023-24. Out of 1.42 Crore rural households in Maharashtra, 53.11 lakh households have already got tap connections. The State is planning to provide tap connections to 31.30 lakh households in 2020-21.

State has planned for retrofitting and augmentation of existing 8,268 piped water supply schemes, thereby making provision of 22.35 lakh household tap connections during this year and the remaining 9 lakhs from new schemes. State has been advised to take up all these works in ‘campaign mode’, so that the remaining households belonging to poor and marginalized sections of the society get tap connections immediately. The State has made plan to cover 100% of its quality-affected habitations by 31st December, 2020. While planning for universal coverage of households, priority is given to water scarce areas, quality-affected areas, SC/ ST dominated habitations/ villages, aspirational districts, Sansad Adarsh Gramin Yojana villages, particularly vulnerable tribal groups.

Government of India has approved ₹1,828.92 Crore for implementation of JJM in the State during 2020-21. With an unspent balance with the state amounting ₹ 285.35 Crore and along with this year central allocation & matching State share, ₹ 3,908 Crore will be available with the state during 2020-21 for JJM. Further, 15th Finance Commission has allocated tied grants of ₹5,827 Crore to the State be spent mandatorily on (a) supply of drinking water, rainwater harvesting and water recycling and (b) sanitation and maintenance of ODF status.

Following the spirit of 73rd Amendment of the Constitution, under JJM, local village community/ Gram Panchayats and/or user groups are being involved in planning, implementation, management, operation and maintenance of water supply systems in villages to ensure long-term sustainability to achieve drinking water security. In all villages, IEC campaign along with community mobilization is to be taken up to make Jal Jeevan Mission truly a people’s movement. Voluntary organizations and self-help groups will play a vital role in community mobilization.

Under Jal Jeevan Mission, emphasis is being given on water quality surveillance through active participation of frontline functionaries as well as involving the community i.e. in every village, 5 persons especially women are being trained. School and college students are being encouraged to use the Field Test Kits to test the quality of water being provided in the rural areas. Every source needs to be tested once every year for physical and chemical parameters and twice for bacteriological contamination.

In every Gram Panchayat, GP or their sub-committee i.e. Village Water & Sanitation Committee or Paani Samitis are being constituted for planning at village level. Based on Village Action Plans of villages, the Annual Action Plan for the State has been finalized. State is ensuring convergence of funds from various sources like MGNREGS, 15th Finance Commission Grants to rural local bodies, SBM, CAMPA, District Mineral Development Fund, Local Area Development Fund, etc. for taking up works related to strengthening of water resources, aquifer recharge, grey water management, etc.

It’s the endeavour of the Government to provide tap connections in rural households on priority basis during prevailing CoVid-19 pandemic situation, so that rural people don’t have to go through the hardship of fetching water from public stand-posts and standing in long queue. Government intends that the poor and marginalized sections of the society get water through tap connections inside their house premises and avoid going to stand-posts and ensuring social distancing, thereby keeping the rural communities safe from being infected.

Jal Jeevan Mission, well implemented by the State, is a door to happiness for rural women by providing water in household premises and creating opportunities for economic activities by saving their precious time as well as improving the general health of rural community.

The Central Government’s decision to increase import duty on bamboo sticks from 10% to 25% will open up new avenues of self-employment in the country. Welcoming the decision in a statement issued today, Khadi & Village Industries Commission(KVIC) has said that, in the next 8-10 months, at least one lakh new jobs will be created in the Agarbatti industry, a major activity under the village industry sector in India, according to industry players.

KVIC said that the decision was taken by the Finance Ministry on the initiative of Union Minister for MSME, Shri Nitin Gadkari who had requested the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to increase the import duty on bamboo sticks to discourage heavy import and help local industry grow. The decision assumes great significance as heavy import of bamboo sticks from China and Vietnam caused huge employment loss in India. This decision will pave the way for setting up of new agarbatti stick manufacturing units to meet the ever-growing demand of Agarbatti in India.

At present, the KVIC said, consumption of incense sticks in India is pegged at a whopping 1490 tons per day but only 760 tons per day is locally produced. Hence, the huge gap between the demand and supply resulted in heavy import of raw agarbatti. Consequently, the import of raw agarbatti increased from just 2% in 2009 to 80% in 2019. In monetary terms, the import of raw agarbatti in India increased exponentially from Rs 31 crore in 2009 to Rs 546 crore in 2019 due to reduction of import duty in 2011 from 30 % to 10 %, it added. KVIC stated, "This hit the Indian agarbatti manufacturers hard and resulted in closure of nearly 25% of the total units".

However, on request of Khadi and Village industries Commission (KVIC), the Ministry of Commerce on August 31, 2019, placed the import of raw agarbatti under “Restricted” category. But while the restriction on import revived hundreds of agarbatti units in states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and several North Eastern states, it also prompted the local traders to import round bamboo sticks for manufacturing of raw Agarbatti. This resulted in increase in import of Bamboo sticks from Rs 210 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 370 crore in the year 2019-20.

KVIC Chairman, Shri Vinai Kumar Saxena said this single decision will strengthen the agarbatti as well as the bamboo industry in India. “India is the 2nd largest producer of bamboo in the world but ironically, it is also the 2nd largest importer of bamboo and its products. The hike in import duty on bamboo sticks from 10% to 25% will curb heavy import from China and encourage local manufacture in Agarbatti and bamboo industries. We are expecting now India will become "atamnirbhar"in Agarbatti production soon which will create thousands of new jobs,” Saxena said.

“Agarbatti making industry is a part of the Village Industry, which requires a very small capital and less technical skill. This industry employs mostly women workers. In the post Covid scenario, this industry will prove to be a boon for the migrant workers. The Agarbatti industry can realize the Prime Minister’s dream of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’”, Saxena added.

Notably, India produces 14.6 million tons of bamboo every year with nearly 70,000 farmers engaged in bamboo plantation. While 136 varieties of bamboo are found in India; the Bambusa Tulda variety, which is used for making agarbatti sticks, is found in abundance in the North eastern region. The KVIC has also launched a bamboo plantation drive to make India self-sufficient to meet the growing demand of bamboo in the next 3-4 years.

Thrust on innovation, speed and customisation in freight operations

From 1st April 2020 to 10th June 2020 Indian Railways has transported 178.68 million tonnes of commodities through its uninterrupted 24X7 freighters trains operations

More than 32.40 lacs wagons carried supplies to keep the supply chain functional from 24.03.2020 to 10.06.2020. Of these, more than 18 lacs wagons carried essential commodities

From 22.03.2020 to 10.06.2020 total 3,897 Parcel Trains have also been run out by Indian Railways with total 1,39,196 tonnes of consignment

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has recommended only reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) test for novel coronavirus testing. Researchers at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) have developed a new low-cost and low-tech required test for SARS-CoV-2 testing. This test is known as reverse transcription nested PCR (RT-nPCR) test.

This test does not require real-time quantitative RT-qPCR. The RT-nPCR developed by the CCMB research team has shown comparable performance to the standard RT-qPCR test. The nested PCR (RT-nPCR) approach does not depend on RT-qPCR but uses standard RT-PCR as part of an endpoint assay.

In the course of comparing the results of both tests, researchers found that the standard RT-qPCR test can have low detection efficiency (less than 50%) in a real testing scenario, which may be due to low viral representation in many samples. This finding brought home the importance of monitoring detection efficiency directly in test environments.

“We developed and tested an RT-nPCR protocol comprising a multiplex primary RT-PCR for amplification of four SARS-CoV-2 amplicons and a control human amplicon followed by a secondary nested PCR for individual amplicons. We also examined the use of RT-nPCR in pooled testing and in direct amplification without RNA isolation,” said Dr Rakesh Mishra, Director, CCMB, while speaking with India Science Wire.

The RNA isolated from nasopharyngeal swab samples that had been previously tested using one of the two RT-qPCR tests was examined using RT-nPCR and the results were compared. It was found that taking both standard RT-qPCR tests together, the RT-nPCR test was able to identify 90% of the detected samples as positive by RT-qPCR. It also detected 13% samples as positive among samples that were negative by the standard RT-qPCR test (likely false negatives). Based on the experimentally measured false negative rate by RT-nPCR tests from this study, it was estimated that as many as 50% of positive samples may escape detection in single pass testing by RT-qPCR in an actual testing scenario.

Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata is at 7th position, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore at 14th position and S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata at 30th position Posted On: 11 JUN 2020 3:59PM by PIB Delhi

Three of the autonomous institutions of the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India have found their place among top 30 Indian Institutions including universities, IITs, IISERs, and Research Institutions and Labs as per Nature Index 2020 ratings based on the research published in the top journals, a measure of research quality.

These are the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata at 7th position, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore at 14th position and S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata at 30th position.

Keeping out CSIR, which is a cluster of institutions, IACS is among the top three institutions in quality Chemistry Research in India. JNCASR ranks 4th among academic institutions in life sciences, 10th in Chemistry and Physical Sciences, 10th among Indian academic institutions, and 469th in global ranking.

“It is extremely heartening that the DST's hot spots of knowledge are consistently rated in the top institutions of the country in the quality of research as judged by the papers published in the selected top-quality journals. While the research carried out in the academia and research labs has shown good quantitative enhancement, the need for a greater emphasis on quality, relevance, and translational aspects is now being understood as acted upon,” said Prof Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, DST.

Globally the top-rated Indian institutions in this list are Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), a group of 39 institutions at the 160th position and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore at the 184th position.

Governments are on a law-making spree. When legislatures are not in session, as is currently the case, India’s Constitution empowers the government to make laws through executive action. The central government has made ten new laws in the last two months. Four were made recently.

Two of these are new legislations which aim is to give a “boost to rural India and agriculture”. The third protects companies from insolvency proceedings for defaulting on their financial commitments after March 25. The last one gives power to the government to regulate the supply of food items like cereals, oils, pulses in extraordinary circumstances.

Indian statute books are overflowing with more than 6,000 laws passed by the Centre and state governments. They are the preferred tool for problem-solving for all governments. But laws are also blunt instruments which have a large impact. So the use of laws for governance intervention raises three key questions.

First, how well are these laws made? Effective laws are the outcome of a robust law-making process. Over the years, both the government and Parliament have tried to bring about more rigour to this process. But not all laws go through a standardised process of law-making. Some laws sail through the process, bypassing multiple layers of scrutiny.

Ordinances, which are laws made by the government to deal with an emergent situation when Parliament is not in session (such as those mentioned above) are one such example. They are rarely sent to a parliamentary committee for examination. But the rationale for their existence, ie to tackle an emergent situation, makes it critical they be scrutinised carefully and in a timely manner by Parliament. More so when these are brand new laws or significant amendments to existing legislations.

The second question is whether these laws accomplish their intended purpose. Take for example the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979. Its purpose is to prevent the exploitation of migrant workers. It starts by admitting that “the provisions of the various labour laws are not being observed in their case and they are subjected to various malpractices”. Another example is the law to eliminate the inhuman practice of manual scavenging. The 2013 Bill that was enacted into law admitted that a previous law made 20 years ago was ineffective. Clearly, making a law is no guarantee that it will solve a problem.

After the initial excitement of passing a new law wanes, it seems to be forgotten on our statute books. There are no regular checks to ensure that it is working well on the ground, and whether there is a need for revising the law. In 2019, in a public lecture, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu stressed on the importance of post-legislative impact assessment of laws. A parliamentary committee headed by Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Bhupender Yadav is currently examining how the evaluation of laws can be done to measure their impact. The report of this committee will be instrumental in reducing the gap between the intent of laws and their implementation.

The last question with respect to laws is whether their use is appropriate in a particular situation. In the 1960s, two American academics Kaplam and Maslow popularised the phrase, “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” Also termed as the law of the instrument, the axiom is a reference to the overreliance on a familiar tool, irrespective of its suitability to solve a problem.

A recent example is the use of laws to address complex issues thrown up by the coronavirus pandemic. The closing down of commercial establishments after the first lockdown left a large number of workers with no source of livelihood. To address the problem, the government directed employers to pay full wages to workers for the lockdown period. With little to no earnings during the lockdown, businesses themselves were facing financial trouble. They petitioned the Supreme Court, which directed the government not to take action against them.

With workers unable to make ends meet, they started heading back to their home states. When the lockdown was eased, commercial establishments slowly started opening up. But, by then, there was a shortage of workers. To address this problem, state governments allowed factories to increase their working hours to 12 hours a day.

The thought process was that fewer individuals could work for longer hours to make up for the shortage of workers. In hindsight, perhaps these legal measures on their own were not appropriate to address the distress faced by workers and businesses.

The pandemic has led to calls for creating new laws to deal with the unprecedented situation. But for laws to be effective, they cannot be a simple exercise on paper. They have to be carefully made, regularly sharpened and judiciously used.

Chakshu Roy is the head of legislative and civic engagement, PRS Legislative Research The views expressed are personal

The government on May 11, 2020 had released Rs 6,195.08 crore to 14 states as the second equated monthly instalment of the Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant as recommended by the 15th Finance Commission. This would provide them additional resources during the Corona crisis.

The 15th Finance Commission used the following criteria while determining the share of states: 45% for the income distance. 15% for the population in 2011 15% for the area 10% for forest and ecology 12.5% for demographic performance, and 2.5% for tax effort.

For 2020-21, the Commission has recommended a total devolution of Rs 8,55,176 crore to the states, which is 41% of the divisible pool of taxes. This is 1% lower than the percentage recommended by the 14th Finance Commission.

What are the various grants recommended by the 15th Finance Commission? The Terms of Reference of the Finance Commission require it to recommend grants-in-aid to the States.

These grantsinclude: (i) revenue deficit grants, (ii) grants to local bodies, and (iii) disaster management grants.

What is the Finance Commission? The Finance Commission is constituted by the President under article 280 of the Constitution, mainly to give its recommendations on distribution of tax revenues between the Union and the States and amongst the States themselves.

Two distinctive features of the Commission’s work involve redressing the vertical imbalances between the taxation powers and expenditure responsibilities of the centre and the States respectively and equalization of all public services across the States.

It is the duty of the Commission to make recommendations to the President as to: the distribution between the Union and the States of the net proceeds of taxes which are to be, or may be, divided between them and the allocation between the States of the respective shares of such proceeds; the principles which should govern the grants-in-aid of the revenues of the States out of the Consolidated Fund of India;

the measures needed to augment the Consolidated Fund of a State to supplement the resources of the Panchayats and Municipalities in the State on the basis of the recommendations made by the Finance Commission of the State; any other matter referred to the Commission by the President in the interests of sound finance.

Composition: As per the provisions contained in the Finance Commission [Miscellaneous Provisions] Act, 1951 and The Finance Commission (Salaries & Allowances) Rules, 1951, the Chairman of the Commission is selected from among persons who have had experience in public affairs, and the four other members are selected from among persons who:

are, or have been, or are qualified to be appointed as Judges of a High Court; or have special knowledge of the finances and accounts of Government; or have had wide experience in financial matters and in administration; or have special knowledge of economics.

What is it? The annual Report to Congress on International Religious Freedom, also known as the International Religious Freedom Report, describes the status of religious freedom, government policies violating religious belief and practices of groups, religious denominations and individuals, and U.S. policies promoting religious freedom. The report is a survey of the state of religious freedom across the world.

Observations made on Religious freedom in India: The report takes note of the change in the status of Jammu and Kashmir, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act(CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

It discusses in detail mob lynchings and anti-conversion laws and related issues. Lawmakers failed: The report notes, Issues of religiously inspired mob violence, lynching and communal violence were sometimes denied or ignored by lawmakers.

It details incidents of “cow vigilantism” and other types of mob violence. The report also takes note of the Babri Masjid decision by the Supreme Court and the challenges to the 2018 reversal of a ban on some women entering the Sabarimala temple.

Impact and implications: The report outlines the U.S. engagement with India on the issues. USCIRF had, in April, recommended to Secretary of State that the State Department downgrade India’s religious freedom to the lowest grade — ‘Country of Particular Concern (CPC)’. The Secretary of State is not obliged to accept the recommendation.

It recommended that the Trump administration “impose targeted sanctions on Indian government agencies and officials responsible for severe violations of religious freedom by freezing those individuals’ assets and/ or barring their entry into the United States citing specific religious freedom violations”.

India’s response: India has said the USCIRF’s “biased and tendentious” comments against the country were “not new”, but that, on this occasion, “its misrepresentation has reached new levels”.

Experts say, as per this convention, Naku la belongs to India. Besides, Prior to Sikkim’s merger with India in 1975, China has officially accepted this demarcation.

What is the 1890 convention? The treaty was formalised between Britain and Chinese kingdom.

It was signed at Calcutta Convention in 1890. Of the eight Articles mentioned in the treaty, Article 1 is of critical significance.

As per Article (1), it was agreed that the boundary of Sikkim and Tibet shall be the crest of the mountain range separating the waters flowing into the Sikkim Teesta and its affluents, from the waters flowing into the Tibetan Mochu and northwards into other rivers of Tibet.

The line commences at Mount Gipmochi, on the Bhutan frontier, and follows the above-mentioned water-parting to the point where it meets Nepal territory. However, Tibet refused to recognise the validity of Convention of 1890 and further refused to carry into effect the provisions of the said Convention.

In 1904, a treaty known as a Convention between Great Britain and Tibet was signed at Lhasa.

As per the Convention, Tibet agreed to respect the Convention of 1890 and to recognise the frontier between Sikkim and Tibet, as defined in Article (1) of the said Convention.

On April 27, 1906, a treaty was signed between Great Britain and China at Peking, which confirmed the Convention of 1904 between Great Britain and Tibet.

Many companies including Reliance Industries Limited, Mahindra finance, Tata Power, Shriram Transport Finance among others plan to raise funds (aggregating to over Rs 10,000 crore) through rights issue amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

What is rights issue? It is an offering of shares made to existing shareholders in proportion to their existing shareholding.

Companies often offer shares in a rights issue at a discount on the market price. Rights issues are used by companies seeking to raise capital without increasing debt. Shareholders are not obliged to purchase shares offered in a rights issue.

Why are companies going for rights issue in current times? For a rights issue, there is no requirement of shareholders’ meeting and an approval from the board of directors is sufficient and adequate. Therefore, the turnaround time for raising this capital is short and is much suited for the current situation unlike other forms that require shareholders’ approval and may take some time to fructify.

Thus the rights issue are a more efficient mechanism of raising capital. What were the temporary relaxations provided in the wake of Covid-19 by SEBI?

Sebi reduced the eligibility requirement of average market capitalisation of public shareholding from Rs 250 crore to Rs 100 crore for a fast track rights issuance.

It also reduced the minimum subscription requirement from 90 per cent to 75 per cent of the issue size. Also, listed entities raising funds upto Rs 25 crores (erstwhile limit was Rs 10 crores) through a rights issue are now not required to file draft offer document with SEBI.

The move is aimed at building a robust secondary market for bank loans that could ensure proper price discovery and can be used as an indicator for impending stress.

What are loan sales? Loan sales may be resorted to by lenders for any reasons ranging from strategic sales to rebalance their exposures or as a means to achieve resolution of stressed assets by extinguishing the exposures.

Highlights of the draft: Standard assets would be allowed to be sold by lenders through assignment, novation or a loan participation contract (either funded participation or risk participation).

Stressed assets would be allowed to be sold only through assignment or novation only. They may be sold to any entity that is permitted to take on loan exposures by its statutory or regulatory framework.

The draft lays down norms for sale of NPAs to Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) also buy back of NPAs in case the ARCs manage to turn them into standard assets.

The draft also proposes to do away with the requirement of Minimum Retention Requirement (MRR) for sale of loans by lenders.

Relevance: These guidelines will be applicable to commercial banks, all financial institutions, non-banking finance companies and small finance banks. The directions will be applicable to all loan sales, including sale of loans to special purpose entities for the purpose of securitisation.

Significance of these guidelines: A dynamic secondary market for bank loans will ensure proper discovery of credit risk pricing associated with each exposure, and will be useful as a leading indicator for impending stress, if any, provided that the volumes are sufficiently large.

So, in this regard, Shetkari Sanghatana — a farmers’ union— has announced fresh plans in its agitation for use of genetically modified seeds.

What is the movement about? The Sanghatana has announced that this year they are going to undertake large-scale sowing of unapproved GM crops like maize, Ht Bt cotton, soyabean and brinjal across Maharashtra.

Farmers who plant such variants will put up boards on their fields proclaiming the GM nature of their crop. This action will draw attention to the need for introduction of the latest technology in the fields.

What are genetically modified seeds? Genetic engineering aims to transcend the genus barrier by introducing an alien gene in the seeds to get the desired effects. The alien gene could be from a plant, an animal or even a soil bacterium.

For example: Bt cotton, the only GM crop that is allowed in India, has two alien genes from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that allows the crop to develop a protein toxic to the common pest pink bollworm. Ht Bt cotton is derived with the insertion of an additional gene, from another soil bacterium, which allows the plant to resist the common herbicide glyphosate.

In Bt brinjal, a gene allows the plant to resist attacks of fruit and shoot borer. In DMH-11 mustard, genetic modification allows cross-pollination in a crop that self-pollinates in nature.

What is the legal position of genetically modified crops in India? In India, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is the apex body that allows for commercial release of GM crops.

Penalty: Use of the unapproved GM variant can attract a jail term of 5 years and fine of Rs 1 lakh under the Environmental Protection Act ,1989.

Why are farmers rooting for GM crops? Reduced costs: Cost of weeding goes down considerably if farmers grow Ht Bt cotton and use glyphosate against weeds. In case of Bt brinjal, the cost reduces as the cost of production is reduced by cutting down on the use of pesticides.

Concerns: Environmentalists argue that the long-lasting effect of GM crops is yet to be studied and thus they should not be released commercially. Genetic modification, they say, brings about changes that can be harmful to humans in the long run.

Context: Ministry of Tourism brings out the “Hidden Treasures of Chhattisgarh” through 30th webinar under Dekho Apna Desh series.

Places: Karkabhat – Megalithic burial site. Dipadih – Temple complex dating back to the 7th Century.

Others: Ghotul – It is both an ancient tribal system of education as well as the campus with its own system of hierarchs.

Sonabai– Famous bas relief ornamentation works of Chhattisgarh got its roots when Sonabai made little toys for her son Daroga Ram to lull him to sleep.

Celebrated on 9th June every year to highlight as well as promote the role of accreditation in trade & economy.

Theme: “Accreditation: Improving Food Safety”. The day was jointly established by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC).

DBO is the northernmost corner of Indian territory in Ladakh, in the area better known in Army parlance as Sub-Sector North.

It has the world’s highest airstrip, originally built during the 1962 war but abandoned until 2008, when the Indian Air Force (IAF) revived it as one of its many Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) along the LAC. DBO is less than 10 km west of the LAC at Aksai Chin.

To the west of DBO is the region where China abuts Pakistan in the Gilgit-Baltistan area, once a part of the erstwhile Kashmir principality.

Why in News? The construction of the 255-km long Darbuk-Shyokh-Daulat Beg Oldie (DSDBO) all-weather road is said to be the immediate reason behind the standoff between Indian Army and a Chinese Army along LAC.

Built by BRO, the road runs almost parallel to the LAC and connects Leh to DBO.

It was the name of the Anti-espionage operation started by Military Intelligence (MI) in early 2019. It successfully culminated in June 2020 with the arrest of two men. Both were arrested under relevant sections of Official Secrets Act, 1923.

Context: Under this operation, Rajasthan Police arrested two civil defence employees in Jaipur based on Military Intelligence (MI) inputs that they had been passing on sensitive information to Pakistan’s spy agency ISI.

Context: The Kerala government has issued a fresh no-objection certificate (NOC) for the state electricity board to proceed with the implementation of the proposed Athirapally hydro-electric project, which had been shelved several times in the past due to protests by green activists.

Key facts: The project will have an installed capacity of 163 mw. Under the project, a dam is proposed to be constructed on the Chalakudy River. The Chalakudy River is a tributary of the Periyar River and originates in the Anamalai region of Tamil Nadu.

Central Pollution Control Board will classify railway stations under the red, orange and green categories based on the quantity of waste water generated.

Red: railway stations generating waste water equal to or more than 100 Kilo Litres per Day.

Orange: those greater than 10 KLD but less than 100 KLD.

Green: less than 10 KLD waste water generation.