Daily Current Affairs 28 November 2019

Current Affairs of Today are

1) Exercise Mitra Shakti-VII: 2019

The seventh edition of India-Sri Lanka joint training exercise, Exercise MITRA SHAKTI– 2019 is scheduled to be conducted at Foreign Training Node (FTN), Pune from 01 - 14 December 2019. The sixth edition of the exercise was held in Sri Lanka

Objective

• This joint training exercise aims to build and promote positive relations between armies of India and Sri Lanka with a focus on subunit level training for counter-insurgency & counter-terrorism operations in the urban and rural environments under the United Nations mandate. 
• The joint exercise is designed for incorporating the current dynamics of United Nations peacekeeping operations through practical & comprehensive discussions and tactical exercises. 
• The joint effort will also focus on achieving the desired level of interoperability and cohesive operational ability of the troops from both India and Sri Lanka through mutual exchange of operational experiences & best practices.

2) Production of CNG from Stubble

Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) can be produced from biomass and organic waste sources like paddy straw & farm stubble, agricultural residue, cattle dung, sugarcane press mud, distillery spent wash, municipal solid waste, sewage treatment plant waste, forest residue, etc.

• The government of India has launched the Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) initiative on 1.10.2018 to promote CBG as an alternative, green transport fuel for efficient management of biomass and organic waste. 
• As part of the SATAT scheme, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, Gail (India) Limited and Indraprastha Gas Limited had launched an Expression of Interest (EoI) for procurement of CBG from the entrepreneurs at an assured price. 
• The CBG shall be sold to automobiles as a clean fuel in a similar way to CNG and can also be sold to domestic, industrial and commercial consumers which are using LPG and other fuels. 
• SATAT initiative has the potential of addressing environmental problems arising from stubble burning. The viability is based on techno-commercial factors.

3) ISRO enabled GPS system in Indian Railways

Real-time Train Information System (RTIS) project is being executed by Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS), which is an Information Technology arm of the Ministry of Railways, in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It is primarily used for the acquisition of train movement data, including that of arrival, departure, run-through timings at the stations in the route. As the RTIS devices have been installed in locomotives, the trains hauled by such locomotives get tracked through this system.

Additional funds for the installation of the RTIS system in 6000 more locomotives (both passenger and goods) have been sanctioned in 2019.

The automatic acquisition of the train running data by the RTIS system helps in improving the efficiency of train control, dissemination of accurate train running information to the passengers and freight customers, and emergency messaging between locomotive and control center.

4)  Cartosat­-3

India’s Cartosat­-3 and 13 other nano satellites belonging to two companies in the U.S. lifted off successfully from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota, at 9.28 a.m on Wednesday

About the mission

• The Cartosat­3 is a high-resolution imaging satellite that will help large­scale urban planning, infrastructure development, and coastal land use, among others. The satellite is also likely to have a military use since it provides the highest­ever spatial resolution of about afoot.
• The Cartosat­3 is the 9th satellite of the Cartosat series and ISRO’s fifth launch this year. One of its cameras offers a ground resolution of 25 cm, while the best ground resolution till now was 31 cm offered by WorldView­3, a satellite owned by U.S. company Maxar.
• The launch was unique since the PSLV was navigated for the first time using the indigenous Vikram processor designed by the ISRO and fabricated within the country
• This is India’s highest resolution civilian satellite and most advanced earth observation satellite built by the ISRO so far
• India ranks fifth along with newbie New Zealand. They each have 6% of the orbital launch pie, according to website Space. Skyrocket.  It said the space majors totally made 87 orbital launches as on November 27. China launched 28 satellites or 32% of them. When the year ends, China’s share will likely be still above Russia (20) and the U.S. (18), and the two old champions are unlikely to reach or overtake it in the remaining month, reckons Ars Technica. 
• By the end of 2019, India’s launches may climb two numbers: that is if the radar imaging satellites RISAT­2BR1 and 2BR2 keep their December due dates.
• The space agency counts a satellite and a launch vehicle as two missions

5) 15th Finance Commission

• The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the extension of the term of the 15th Finance Commission, which will now submit two reports.  The term had been extended till October 30. 
• The first report, for the financial year 2020­-21 will be submitted in the coming months before the Union Budget, and the second report for the period 2021­-26 will be presented by October 30, 2020.
• This will effectively mean the 15th Finance Commission’s recommendations will be applicable for six years and not the conventional five­ year period.

Benefits

The extension of the term will enable the Commission to examine various comparable estimates for financial projections given reforms and the new realities to finalize its recommendations for the period 2020­-2026.

Flaws

• It is not unprecedented for the term of a Commission to be extended when there is a restructuring of States, or if the terms of reference for the Commission have been significantly expanded.
• This Commission has seen its terms of reference expanded and the reorganization of J&K, and so, an extension of the term is not unusual
• It happened before in the 14th Finance Commission when Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were split.
• In a situation where the number of States has changed, the former chairman explained, the Commission then has to alter its calculations for every State and this takes time

The 9th Finance Commission under the chairmanship of N.K.P. Salve also saw its recommendation period extended to six years from the conventional five

6) Gold Smuggling

• International non­-government organization IMPACT, in its latest report, has said that India has become one of the largest gold smuggling hubs in the world.
• Gold, possibly tied to conflict, human rights abuses and corruption in Africa and South America, is entering legal international markets through India
• The NGO said it had uncovered how the country imported about 1,000 tonnes of gold per year a quarter more than the official figures indicated.
• The report said that one­third of the world’s gold passed through India, identifying three primary factors for smuggling: tax breaks, falsified origin documents, and complicit allies.  
• The report said that refined gold was being smuggled into India primarily from the United Arab Emirates, while key traders and refiners in Africa’s Great Lakes region, with links to India, were identified as being part of the illicit gold trade.

7) Australia to return 3 idols to India

• Three culturally significant artifacts a pair of ‘Dwarapala’ (door guardians) from Tamil Nadu and one ‘Nagaraja’ (serpent king) from either Rajasthan or Madhya Pradesh, purchased from idol smuggler Subhash Kapoor will be returned to India by the Australian government during Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s visit to India in January 2020.
• The artifacts which were held by the National Gallery of Australia (Gallery), were purchased in good faith, but extensive research undertaken by the gallery has led to its decision to voluntarily return these artifacts to India
• Both India and Australia are a party to the UNESCO 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transport of Ownership of Cultural Property