Daily Current Affairs 2 January 2020

Current Affairs of Today Are

1) Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan-­3 in mission mode

• Four pilots from the Indian Air Force (IAF) will leave for Russia this month to receive training as astronauts of Gaganyaan, the first Indian crewed flight to space. They were shortlisted after a series of fitness and endurance tests, ISRO Chairman K. Sivan announced
• The initial tests were conducted in the IAF’s Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Bengaluru, and Russia. The four will leave in the third week of January to be trained at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Centre in Moscow, as per an agreement signed between the space agencies of the two countries last year.

Gaganyaan

• Gaganyaan, announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August 2018, is the ₹10,000­crore Indian human space flight scheduled for 2022. It is designed to have 3­7 crew members spend 3­7 days in space in a 400­ km orbit.
• Gaganyaan activities were on track. However, it was not known yet how many astronauts would finally travel to space.
• The first of the two preGaganyaan flights with a humanoid will be launched this year ­end along with some of the six shortlisted microgravity experiments

Chandrayaan-3

• ISRO has also quietly begun work on another soft landing mission to the moon with most of the same features of Chandrayaan­2 and almost on the back of the failure of the latter’s lander on the lunar surface on September 7.
• The launch of the nearly ₹600­crore Chandrayaan­-3 is targeted for the end of this year or early 2021
• It will be almost a repetition of the July 2019 Chandrayaan­-2 mission in the configuration of spacecraft, the landing spot on the moon and the experiments to be conducted on the lunar surface
• The third mission was ISRO’s bid to realize for itself the difficult technology of soft­landing on another planetary body. The agency is undertaking it as the landing module of the second mission crashed barely five minutes before it was to have landed on the lunar surface.
• The lander and rover are estimated to cost ₹250 crore and will go to the moon on a propulsion model. The GSLV Mark III vehicle costs around ₹350 crores.

New Launch Port of ISRO

• The Tamil Nadu government has started acquiring 2,300 acres of land in Thoothukudi district for ISRO’s second launch port.
• Currently, satellites are launched from the Sriharikota launch center in Andhra Pradesh.
• Thoothukudi offers a locational advantage to launch towards India’s South. When ready, the new port will handle mainly the small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV) that is under development. SSLVs are meant to put a payload of up to 500 kg in space.

Reason Vikram Lander Crashed

• Indian moon lander Vikram may have most likely crashed on the moon because the navigation control and guidance mechanism in the penultimate phase were not designed to handle the large spike in speed that developed in the last 3­5 minutes of its descent.
• This problem has been corrected in the new modules of Chandrayaan-­3 which is due to be sent around the end of this year.

In the second mission that cost nearly ₹1,000 crores, an orbiter carried the lander and the rover to a lunar orbit. The orbiter continues to work well around the moon.

Another lunar mission is being discussed with Japanese space agency JAXA ( Japan Aeronautics Exploration Agency) but its elements have not been finalized

2) No documents need to be produced for NPR

The Union Home Ministry clarified that no person needs to submit any documents during the house ­to ­house survey for updating the National Population Register and that information provided by individuals would be accepted and recorded.

The relevant points in the NPR Training Manual that indicate that the details collected by the enumerators will be verified are:

• The Government has decided to update the NPR database along with the House listing and Housing Census phase of the Census of India 2021 during April– September 2020.
• Updating the existing NPR database by verifying the details of all residents by conducting a house to house enumeration by the enumerator (designated Government official) and modifying/correcting the demographic data items.
• Collecting Aadhaar number from each resident voluntarily.
• Collecting mobile number, Election Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) or Voter ID Card number, Indian Passport number and Driving License number, if available with the residents.
• Inclusion of all-new resident(s)/new household (s) found in the local area (HLB) during the fieldwork.

3) Alien plants growth in NBR

Senna Spectabilis

• The Kerala Forest and Wildlife Department is gearing up to adopt comprehensive steps to arrest the rampant growth of invasive alien plants, especially tree species like ‘Senna Spectabilis’, in the forest areas of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR), including the Wayanad wildlife sanctuary
• The spread of invasive plants, especially Senna Spectabilis, is posing a major threat to the forest areas of the reserve, owing to its quick growth and coppicing character
• The tree species had been found in nearly 10 km sq area of 344.44 sq km of the sanctuary around five years ago. But now it has invaded more than 50 sq km of the sanctuary in a short period. This showed its high invasive nature

Tiger reserve

• A recent study of the Ferns Nature Conservation Society with the support of the Forest department recorded the presence of the plant on 78.91 sq km area of the sanctuary.
• The plant started to invade in adjacent tiger reserves, including Bandipur and Nagarhole in Karnataka and the Mudumalai tiger reserve in Tamil Nadu
• Earlier, it was planted as avenue trees along roadsides in Wayanad. Due to massive flowering and drying of bamboo species in the Wayanad, lots of open spaces were created which were occupied by Senna Spectabilis
•  An adult tree grows up to 15 to 20 meters in a short period and every year distributes thousands of seeds after the gregarious flowering. The thick foliage arrests the growth of other indigenous species of trees and grass and causes food shortage for the wildlife population, especially herbivores, during summer. Moreover, wildlife would not feed on the leaves of the tree as it was not palatable for them

Chemical measures

• The ‘vayal’ ecosystem (marshy land) of the forest area now houses this plant in large numbers. The allelochemicals produced by this plant adversely affect the germination and growth of the native species
• The KFRI has developed some physical and chemical measures to tackle the threat of the plant. Though we have been following the physical method to tackle the issue for the past five years, it was yet to make any desired effect. Hence we are planning to adopt an integrated method by combining the physical as well as chemical measures to address the issue

4) Prime Minister Narendra Modi calls up South Asian leaders

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka and conveyed India’s commitment to the principle of “neighborhood first”. 
• Discussed the upcoming regional interactions. The talks hint at India’s pursuit of a regional arrangement without the participation of Pakistan
• India’s commitment to the ‘neighborhood first’ policy and the vision of shared peace, security, prosperity and progress for all of India’s friends and partners in the region
• India’s ‘neighborhood first’ policy was adopted soon after Mr. Modi took charge in May 2014 which led to several key regional agreements including the Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh
• India’s ties with Dhaka were a “priority” for his government. In recent weeks, relations with the eastern neighbor were marred by negative references to the country by several leaders including Home Minister Amit Shah who justified the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 citing alleged persecution against minority religious communities in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan
• Talk with Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk, Mr. Modi discussed the visit of the ruler to India in 2020. Mr. Modi visited Bhutan soon after being sworn in for the second stint. The phone calls were in keeping with India’s recent attempts to create a regional grouping without Pakistan. 

5) PM to dedicate Five DRDO Young Scientists Laboratories to the nation

• In a boost to indigenous research capabilities in the defense sector, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will dedicate Five DRDO Young Scientists Laboratories to the nation
• The event shall be organized at the Aeronautical Development Establishment, DRDO at Bengaluru. Prime Minister shall unveil a plaque to mark the dedication and address the Scientists.
• DRDO will also showcase some of its innovative products to the Prime Minister at an Exhibition on the occasion.
• It may be recalled that in 2014, addressing a distinguished gathering of senior and eminent defense scientists, and senior officers of the armed forces, after giving away the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) awards, the Prime Minister had suggested that at least five DRDO labs should be identified exclusively for innovation from young scientists up to the age of 35 years.
• On that occasion, the Prime Minister had also called for involving youth in defense research-related activities in a big way, to ensure that India remained abreast of global technological advancements in the field.

6) Krishi Karman Awards

• The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will distribute Krishi Karman Awards and Commendation Awards to states at a public meeting in Tumkur Karnataka on Thursday, 2.1.2020. He will also give away Agriculture Minister’s Krishi Karman Awards for Progressive Farmers.
• The event will also witness the release of the 3rd installment of PM Kisan (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi) of Rs 2000 for the period December 2019-March 2020. This will benefit approximately 6 crore beneficiaries.  Prime Minister will also hand over Certificates to beneficiaries under PM Kisan from 8 States/UTs.
• At the same event, Prime Minister will also handover the Keys of Deep Sea fishing Vessels and Fishing Vessel Transponders to select farmers of Tamil Nadu.
• He will also distribute Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) to select farmers of Karnataka.

7) Peace on LAC can help solve the border issue

• Maintaining peace and tranquillity on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China can set the stage for an eventual solution to the border issue, Army chief Gen. M.M. Naravane said
• We have the Line of Actual Control with China. The border question is yet to be settled. However, we have made a little progress in maintaining peace and tranquillity along the borders and I am sure that situation will prevail
• Stating that both the western and northern borders were equally important, that while we had been giving attention in the past to the western front, “the northern front also now requires equal attention.” “It is in this context we are now going in for capability enhancement on our northern borders, which includes the northeast parts of the country.”
• India and China have different perceptions on the over 3,400 ­km­ long border and have held several rounds of Special Representative talks in an attempt to resolve it
• We will continue to build up our capabilities, especially in the north and north­eastern regions of the country
• There will also be an emphasis on improving security awareness among the rank and file with special attention to the issue of human rights

8) India–Africa Trade

• In order to promote India-Africa trade and economic relations, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry regularly reviews India's trade with Africa through institutional mechanisms like Joint Commission Meetings (JCMs), Joint Trade Committees (JTCs), and Joint Working Groups(JWGs).
• The 9th Session of the India-Kenya Joint Trade Committee was held in New Delhi on 19-20 August 2019 under the co-chairmanship of Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal and his Kenyan counterpart Mr. Peter Munya, Cabinet Secretary (Minister) for Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives, Government of the Republic of Kenya.  During the meeting, wide-ranging discussions were held cutting across sectors like MSME, Agriculture, Information Communication Technology (ICT), Tourism, Administration of Standards, Development of Human Resources in Higher Education, Science & Technology, Investment Promotion and Protection, Air Services, Energy, Plastics, Textile, Pharmaceuticals, Oil & Gas, Health, Immigration, Automobile, and other engineering products. Collaboration in the field of issue of recognition of Indian Pharmacopoeia in Kenya was also discussed.
• The First India-Nigeria JTC was held on 19th – 20th December 2019 in New Delhi, under the Co-chair of Commerce Secretary, Government of India and his Nigerian counterpart. During the meeting, discussions were held in various sectors including oil and natural gas, market access in bovine meat, rice, recognition of pharmacopeia, the cooperation of SME sector, higher education and power.
• The first meeting of the India-South Africa JWG on Trade and Investment was held in January 2019, to deliberate upon the bottlenecks including non-tariff barriers, and suggest the way forward to further deepen India’s trade with the region.
• The proposed India-Mauritius Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA)seeks to mutually benefit both the countries, in the area of trade in goods, and trade in services.  Seven rounds of India-Mauritius CECPA negotiations have been held till now.  The 7th round was held during 19-23 November 2018 in Mauritius. During these rounds, negotiations were held cutting across trade in Goods, trade-in Services, Rules of Origin, Technical Barriers to Trade and Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary(SPS) measure, Trade Remedies and Dispute Settlement. India- Mauritius CECPA negotiations for trade in goods and trade in services, have been completed. The Agreement is near finalization.
• On the Occasion of World Cotton Day organized by WTO in Geneva on 7th October 2019, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India announced the launch of Phase-II of C-TAP in 11 African countries. The program is aimed at enhancing productivity in the cotton sector, improving the post-harvest and plant by-products industry in the participating countries, as well as building the capacity of the cotton-based textile sector. Department is currently working on implementation plan in consultation with stakeholders such as foreign counterparts through IndianMissions, Ministry of External Affairs, institutes engaged in cotton research and capacity building activities in India.
• In order to leverage the huge presence of Indian business community in Africa for promoting India’s exports to the region, three rounds of interactions of Minister of Commerce & Industry were organized through Indian Missions with Indian business community in Madagascar, Tanzania, Mauritius, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique, Ghana, Botswana, Nigeria, Morocco, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia and Egypt over Digital Video Conference (DVC) in May 2019.
• For promoting India-Africa trade and economic relations, a regional conclave was organized by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India jointly with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in March 2019 at New Delhi. On the sidelines of the Conclave/Regional Conclave, bilateral meetings with participating countries were also held at the Ministerial level to boost up Indian participation in project export opportunities in African countries. The conclave was attended by the Head of the States from three African countries. More than two dozen Ministers along with around 500 business delegates from Africa participated in the Conclave.
• On the sidelines of the conclave, bilateral meetings were held between Minister of State (Commerce & Industry) with Trade Ministers of African countries, issues related to trade, investments, and cooperation in agriculture, pharmaceutical sector was discussed. The conclave also focused on new ideas and strategies, for enhancing the engagement between Indian and the Southern African Development Community (SADC- a 16-member organization) in various sectors. Various opportunities in project exports were discussed by Indian and African business delegates in B2B meetings.
• Ministry of Commerce & Industry jointly with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organized the India-Africa Higher Education and Skill Development Summit on 26 – 27 August 2019 at New Delhi.