Sports Ministry approves inclusion of four indigenous games in Khelo India Youth Games

Gatka, Kalaripayattu, Thang-Ta and Mallakhamba are the recent inclusions.

National level multidisciplinary grassroot games in India held for two categories, namely under-17 years school students and under-21 college students. Every year best 1000 kids will be given an annual scholarship of ₹5 lakh (US$7,000) for 8 years to prepare them for the international sporting events.

It consists of 16 disciplines which includes Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Boxing, Football, Gymnastics, Hockey, Judo, Kabaddi, Kho-Kho, Shooting, Swimming, Volleyball, Weightlifting, and Wrestling.

ASSOCHAM Enterprise of the Century awarded to Ratan Tata

World’s tallest rail bridge=Reasi disctrct over Chenab

India to bring more nations into coastal radar network

Advanced stages to set up coastal radar stations in the Maldives, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Monitor  threats as also expand India’s assistance for capacity building to Indian Ocean littoral states.

• Under Phase-I of the coastal radar chain network, 46 coastal radar stations have been set up across India’s coastline.
• Under Phase-II of the project, which is currently underway, 38 static radar stations and four mobile radar stations are being set up by the Coast Guard and are in the advanced stage of completion.
• Indian Navy’s Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) located in Gurugram is the nodal agency for maritime data fusion.It was set up after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

Shaheen IX- Pak + China air force exercise

ONGC opens 8th hydrocarbon producing basin– 24 parganas in Bengal

DAC= Defence acquisition Council approves 27,000 crores domestic proposal

The airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft designed and developed by DRDO.

DAC approved seven capital acquisition proposals for various weapons, platforms, equipment and systems required by the army, navy and air force at an approximate overall cost of Rs 28,000 crore. Six of these acquisitions, worth Rs 27,000 crore, will be made from Indian industry, the statement said, without giving further details.

GOI+ ADB–> $4.21 million PRF(project Readiness Financing) to develop Tourism infra in Tripura

India has pledged $1million to WADA= World Anti Doping Agency for atmosphere of clean sport globally.

Additional ₹16,728 crore to 5 states

The Finance Ministry said 5 states, including Tamil Nadu and Telangana, had been permitted to borrow an additional ₹16,728 crore following completion of stipulated reforms to facilitate ease of doing business.

 May 2020, the government decided to link the grant of additional borrowing permission to states with reforms undertaken by them to facilitate ease of doing business.

Centre had decided to raise the borrowing limit of the states by
2% of their GSDP (Gross States Domestic Product), over and
>3% limit set under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act.

GST- Physical verification of premises is mandatory

Physical verification for GST registration.
Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs–> Business with monthly turnover > 50lakhs to pay atleast 1% of GST liability in cash instead of Input Tax Credit.

Gov plans to setup DFI= Development Finance Institution to mobilise 111lakh crore for National Infrastructure Pipeline funding.

Suspension of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) is being extended till March 31, 2021, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Govt had suspended fresh proceedings under IBC for loan defaults on or after March 25, for 6 months, as part of measures to provide relief to the industry due to the pandemic.

Centre hikes its funding for SC students’ scholarship scheme

Cabinet committee on economic affairs chaired by PM approved changes are in the share pattern of the centrally sponsored scheme, Post Matric Scholarship to Students Belonging to Scheduled Castes, or PMS-SC, under which the Union government will now provide 60% of the ₹59,000-crore scheme, or ₹35,534 crore. The states will provide the rest. New Funding pattern of 60-40. 60 by centre.

NIPFP pegs best-case GST revenue gap at ₹1.95 lakh crore

revenue shortfall for GST compensation payable to States in 2020-21 could be about ₹1.95 lakh crore in the best-case scenario, significantly lower than the ₹2.35 lakh crore estimated by the GST Council— Report by  by the National Institute for Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP).

“The revenue gap in State GST collections is expected to vary between ₹2.85 lakh crore and ₹3.27 lakh crore. GST compensation cess collection in FY21 is expected to vary between ₹82,242 crore and ₹90,386 crore. Therefore, shortfall in GST compensation fund is expected to vary between ₹1.95 lakh crore to ₹2.45 lakh crore,” the paper concluded.

Cabinet approves 100% FDI in DTH services

Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved revision in guidelines for providing direct to home (DTH) services in the country under which licenses would be issued for 20 years, I&B=
Previously,  Information and Broadcasting had set FDI upto 49%.
TRAI was consulted in this regard
Further, broadcasting firms will have to pay the license fee on quarterly basis

Economic revival beating predictions: RBI bulletin

“Economic conditions continued to improve through November on the back of the uptick in agriculture and manufacturing. Financial conditions embodied in interest rates are perhaps at their easiest in decades,”

“Revenue expenditure measures undertaken to enhance social protections to the underprivileged and to address labour market dislocations might need to continue as the recovery is likely to be uneven across sectors.”

“Capital expenditure, which collapsed in the first half of this fiscal, will need to be scaled up as a priority. Public investment in healthcare, social housing, education and environmental protection is the need of the hour to build a more resilient and inclusive economy,”

World Bank gave $400mill for covid-19 aid.

SC finds HC order on A.P. govt. ‘disturbing’

Unprecedented order of the High Court came while deciding habeas corpus petitions filed by relatives of persons remanded in judicial custody or out on bail.
e High Court had suo motu summoned the State counsel to assist it in deciding whether, in circumstances prevailing in the State of Andhra Pradesh, the court can record a finding that there is a constitutional breakdown in the State or not.
called for President’s Rule

• The government said the High Court’s observation violated the Basic Structure doctrine of the Constitution.
  • It said that the HC order is a serious encroachment on the powers of the executive as enumerated in the Constitution and thus violative of the doctrine of separation of powers.
• It argued that it is Article 356 that deals with the failure of constitutional machinery in a State and the power [to impose President’s rule] exclusively vests in the Executive.
• The power in this regard, like sending a report either to the Hon’ble President or to the Hon’ble Governor or to record a finding in that regard, cannot be exercised by the judiciary.

N- National emergency- Art352
S- State emergency- Art356
F- Financial emergency- Art360

Sports Ministry announces recognition of Yogasana as a competitive sport in India

Ministry of AYUSH +Youth Affairs and Sports jointly announced.
NYSFI= National Yogasana Sports Federation of India was established. The Sports Ministry had recognized NYSFI earlier in November this year.

The ancient Indian Philosophy of Yoga is a 5000-year-old mind and body practice. Yoga is fundamentally a spiritual and scientific discipline that focuses on unifying mind and body. The origin of the word ‘Yoga’ is from the Sanskrit word ‘Yuj,’ which means ‘to join’ or ‘to unite.’The culture of yoga originated in the Indus Saraswati Valley civilization – dating back to 2700 B.C.; and has provided both, material and spiritual upliftment of humanity. Yoga Sadhana is a practice that brings people wisdom, virtue and welfare.

Gas production in KGD6

RIL= Reliance Industries Ltd and BP (British Petroleum) have announced the start of gas production from the R cluster of the KG Basin, the deepest off-shore gas field in Asia.

• Its onland part covers an area of 15000 sq. km and the offshore part covers an area of 25,000 sq. km up to 1000 m isobath.
• The basin contains about 5 km thick sediments with several cycles of deposition, ranging in age from Late Carboniferous to Pleistocene.
• The first gas discovery in the basin was in 1983.
  • Tight gas and tight oil are produced from reservoir rocks with such low permeability that considerable hydraulic fracturing is required to harvest the well at economic rates.
• It was also India’s largest deposit of natural gas and the largest such discovery in the world in 2002.

Why is this important?

• The R cluster, along with the Satellite Cluster and MJ gas fields in the KG Basin is expected to produce around 30 MMSCMD (million standard cubic metres per day) of natural gas.
• This is about 15% of India’s projected demand for natural gas by 2023.

RIL- 60% + BP-30% + Niko Resources Canada-10%

1991– GOI opened up medium bloc Hydrocarbons Exploration + Production (E&P) for Prvt+foreign
1999– Medium bloc in accordance with NELP

BOKO HARAm abducted 344 Nigerian boys.. some released

Rajnath hands 3 DRDOs to Armed Force

1. BOSS= Border Surveillance system to Army chief
2. IMSAS= Indian Maritime Situational Awareness System to Navy Chief
3. ASTRA MkI BVR- Beyond Visual Range to Air force Air Chief Mashal

Resident Coordinator

A United Nations Resident Coordinator is the highest United Nations official and the chief of UN diplomatic mission in a country (except when there is a mission of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations or similar, in which case the Special Representative of the Secretary-General is the highest official). It confers the same rank as an Ambassador of a foreign state. The resident coordinator is the designated representative of the UN secretary general and leader of United Nations Country Team of agencies such as UNICEF, WHO, WFP or UNFPA.

India- Bangladesh

Issues:

• Despite the friendship remaining solid, the border has been sensitive.
  • At least 25 Bangladeshis were killed in the first six months of 2020 along the border by Indian forces, according to a rights watchdog.
• The Teesta water dispute remains unresolved.
• The Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens, have created a negative impression about India.
• China is making deep inroads into Bangladesh by ramping up infrastructure investments and expanding economic cooperation.

War crimes and corruption trials have weakened the traditional opposition. But another Islamist group, Hifazat-e-Islam, organised mass protests against French President Emmanuel Macron and opposed the government’s plan to build a statue of the country’s founding father, Bangabandhu Mujibur Rahman, in Dhaka’s suburbs.

Delivery of S-400 air defence missile systems to be on schedule

• India had signed a $5 billion deal with Russia to buy the S-400 air defence missile systems in 2018.
• The system is also known as the ‘Triumf’ interceptor-based missile system.
• It can simultaneously track numerous incoming objects — all kinds of aircraft, missiles and UAVs — in a radius of 400km and launch appropriate missiles to neutralise them.
• The S-400 is Russia’s most advanced long-range surface-to-air missile defence system.
• Russia plans to complete the delivery by 2025.
• The U.S. imposed sanctions on Russia under the stringent Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) for manufacturing S-400.
• The law also provides for punitive action against countries purchasing defence hardware from Russia.

Singapore street food (hawker) added to Unesco heritage list

Parliamentary panel calls for migrant workers’ database

 Standing Committee on Home Affairs has noted in its report that a national database of migrant workers should be collated at the earliest.

• The database, as per the committee, should have details of the source State, the destination State, skill set of the worker and other contact details.

Iran starts nuclear facility work amid U.S. tensions

• Iran has not publicly acknowledged any new construction at Fordow.
• The discovery of Fordow nuclear facility by the West in 2009 came in an earlier round of brinkmanship before world powers signed the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.
• While the purpose of the building remains unclear, any work at Fordow will likely trigger new concern

Any exploitation of Sentinel Island will wipe out tribals

ANSI= Anthropological Survey of Indi has released a policy document for the Sentinelese island.

The policy document was prepared at the behest of the Andaman and Nicobar administration.
talks about the need to protect the rights of the Sentinelese.

• AnSI says that the right of the people to the island is non-­negotiable and cannot be traded off for commercial and strategic gains.
• The state has the cardinal duty to protect is to protect these rights as eternal and sacrosanct.
• The Sentinelese, with a population of about 50 to 100 on the North Sentinel Island, are among the most isolated of nearly 70 PVTGs across the country.
• Sentinelese also is among the five in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands which include the Great Andamanese, the Onge, the Jarawa, and the Shompens

 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs)?

• In 1973, the Dhebar Commission created Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs) as a separate category, who are less developed among the tribal groups.
• In 2006, the Government of India renamed the PTGs as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs).
• PVTGs have some basic characteristics -they are mostly homogenous, with a small population, relatively physically isolated, social institutes cast in a simple mould, absence of written language, relatively simple technology and a slower rate of change etc.

Sentilenese

• Nicobar tribes are Mongoloid; the Andaman tribes, including the Sentinelese, are Negrito.
• The Sentinelese are a pre-Neolithic people who have inhabited North Sentinel Island for an estimated 55,000 years without contact with the outside world.

First potential radio signal from exoplanet

An international team of scientists has collected the first possible radio signal from a planet beyond our solar system, emanating from an exoplanet system about 51 light-years away.

Using the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR), a radio telescope in the Netherlands, the researchers uncovered emission bursts from the Tau Bootes star-system hosting a so-called hot Jupiter, a gaseous giant planet that is very close to its own sun.

The team led by researchers from the Cornell University in the U.S. also observed other potential exoplanetary radio-emission candidates in the constellation Cancer and Upsilon Andromedae systems.

Himalayan trillium, a common herb of the Himalayas was declared ‘endangered’ by the IUCN

herb has numerous uses for human beings thus inviting people to utilize 

• It is used as a traditional medicine to cure,
  • Dysentery.
  • Sepsis.
  • Wounds.
  • Inflammation
  • Skin boils
  • Menstrual and sexual disorders
• Recent studies have revealed that the rhizome of the herb is a source of steroidal saponins and has its application as an anti-ageing agent and anti-cancer drug.

Natural habitat

• Temperate and sub-alpine zones of the Himalayas at an altitude of 2400 meters to 4000 meters.
• India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan has been home to this specie.
• Indian Himalayan states like Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir possess the herb

Factors that have threatened the survival

• Over-exploitation
• Long life cycle, implying slow to reach reproductive maturity.
• Poor seed dispersal capacity.
• High trade value.
• Specific habitat requirement.
• Increase in market demand.
• Poaching.

India’s COVID-19 case fatality rate (CFR) is currently at 1.45% and is currently one of the lowest in the world.

The case fatality rate, also called case fatality risk or case fatality ratio, in epidemiology is the proportion of people who die from a specified disease among all individuals diagnosed with the disease over a certain period of time.
The recovery rate presently = 95.46% and the cumulative positivity rate has decreased to 6.25%.

Why elephants and tigers did not go extinct in India

Kaundinya Elephant Sanctuary

Located in Palamner – Kuppam forest ranges of Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.

Kaundinya Elephant Sanctuary is located in Palamner – Kuppam forest ranges of Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.

Britain, EU clinch Brexit trade deal.

Britain and the European Union have agreed upon a trade deal that is going to govern the trade ties between the two in the future.

• 11-month period termed the ‘Transition Period’ following the UK’s exit from the EU is coming to an end.
•  U.K. will leave the bloc’s single market and customs union.
• The European Union’s fishing quota in British waters will be cut by 25 per cent in the next five and a half years.
• Trade deal ends the free movement of people between Britain and the continent.
• As both a single market and a customs union, the European Union also agreed to adopt the same rules and regulations so that goods, services and capital can move freely across borders of countries within the bloc. And it agreed to apply the same taxes on goods from outside the bloc, implying that they can be shipped within the European Union without having to face additional tariffs.
• But Britain will now leave both the single market and the customs union and can pursue trade deals with other countries.

Trade deal would mean that Britain would not crash out of the Union after 47 years of shared history.

 Unions boycott consultation on draft rules for labour codes.

Trade unions boycotted the Ministry of Labour and Employment’s consultation with regards to the draft rules for the four labour codes enacted by the government in 2019 and 2020.

• The joint platform of Central trade union organizations has conveyed their stand to the ministry.
• The Central trade unions advocate conducting a physical meeting for discussion on the framing of rules for each of the four codes separately.

1. ILO was formed in 1919 as a part of the Treaty of Versailles.
2. India is a founding member of the International Labour Organisation.
3. The World Employment and Social Outlook (WESO) is released by ILO.

Cairn Energy wins arbitration award

An international arbitration tribunal has ruled in favour of Cairn Energy PLC of the U.K and has ordered India to return up to $1.4 billion to Cairn Energy PLC.
Dispute between Cairn Energy PLC of U.K and the income tax authorities is over an internal transfer of share between the parent company and its subsidiary.
 tribunal charged India of violating UK-India bilateral investment treaty and international laws.

• Income tax authorities alleged that Cairn UK had made capital gains and served a tax notice under retrospective taxation provisions.
• The multiple interpretations of capital gains ensured that the company refused to pay the tax, which led to cases being filed at the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) and the High Court.

 India files appeal against Vodafone case verdict

India appealed against Tribunal verdict on Vodafone case & met with similar fate + setback to the Indian tax authorities in the Cairns PLC of the U.K

• International arbitration court has turned down tax authorities’ demand for 22,100 crore in retrospective taxes and penalties relating to the Vodafone’s acquisition of an Indian operator in the year 2007
•  2012 law that enabled tax authorities to issue tax notices under retrospective tax provisions has been the bone of contention.

GOI views

• government is of the opinion that taxation provisions do not come under investment protection treaties.
• The taxation law is a sovereign function and will be dealt with the law of the land and not by investment protection treaties