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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 10 November 2020

::NATIONAL::

The 15th Finance Commission has summitted its report to President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday.
Its main recommendationsisthe devolution of funds between the Centre and the States for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26.
Apart from the main report uniquely titled ‘Finance Commission in Covid Times’ which depicts a set of scales on its cover to denote balance between the Union and the States, the Commission has presented two more volumes as part of its submissions.
The first one focuses on the State of the Union government’s finances, with an in-depth scrutiny of key departments, the medium-term challenges facing the Centre and a roadmap for the future. The other volume is entirely dedicated to States, with the finances of each analysed in great depth.
The panel has come up with State-specific considerations to address the key challenges that individual States face, as per a statement issued by the Commission after its meeting with the President.
The Commission’s chairman N.K. Singh was accompanied by members Ajay Narayan Jha, Anoop Singh, Ashok Lahiriand Ramesh Chand for the report’s submission to the President.

The Ministry of Power, Government of India issued notification to cover all the Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOMs) under the preview of the EC Act.
As per the notification, which was formulated in consultation with Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) ‘All entities having issued distribution license by State/Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission under the Electricity Act, 2003 (36 of 2003)’ are notified as Designated Consumers (DCs).

Key highlights:

The amendment is expected to help DISCOMs to monitor their performance parameters and bring in transparency in the Distribution sector through professional inputs.
It will also assist in developing projects for reducing the electricity losses by DISCOMs and implementing effective solutions.
The amendment is expected to improve the financial state of the DISCOMs.
The quarterly data of these DISCOMs will be collected and monitored by the government to suggest measures for increasing the efficiency and reduce the energy loss.
This move is expected to gradually become more effective if extended upto the level of end consumers.

About Bureau of Energy Efficiency

Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) is a statutory body under the Ministry of Power,Government of India.
It assists in developing policies and strategies with the primary objective of reducing the energy intensity of the Indian economy.
BEE coordinates with designated consumers, designated agencies, and other organization to identify and utilize the existing resources and infrastructure, in performing the functions assigned to it under the EC Act.

Chinese President ordered the construction of the new USD 47.8 billion railway project connecting the country’s southwest Sichuan province to Linzhi in Tibet close to the Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh.
The Sichuan-Tibet Railway will be the second railway line into Tibet after the Qinghai-Tibet Railway project.
It will go through the southeast of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, one of the world’s most geologically active areas, according to the Chinese official media.
The Sichuan-Tibet Railway starts from Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province and travels through Ya’an and enters Tibet via Qamdo, shortening the journey from Chengdu to Lhasa from 48 hours to 13 hours.Linzhi, also known as Nyingchi, is located close to the Arunachal Pradesh border.
The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border between the two countries. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of south Tibet which is firmly rejected by India.
Linzhi also has an airport which is one of the five airports built by China in the Himalayan region.

ISRO has successfully launched its Earth Imaging Satellite EOS-01 and 9 other foreign satellites onboard the PolarSatellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C49 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
Last year EOS-01 is another Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT) that will work together with RISAT-2B and RISAT-2BR1launched.
It aims at to providing all-weather round-the-clock service for high-resolution images for applications inagriculture, forestry and disaster management support.
Earth observation satellites are used for several areas like rural development, mineral prospecting, covering agriculture, water resources, urban planning etc.

Trailblazers’ skipper Smriti Mandhana says she always believed in her team’s potent spin attack to defend a low total in the Women’s T20 Challenge final, which her side won by 16 runs against Supernovas here.
Despite a fiery start, Trailblazers could post only a modest 118 for eight on Monday but Mandhana said she knew the slow nature of the surface would help her side.

The Karnataka Biodiversity Board has decided to declare four more areas in the State as biodiversity heritage sites.

About:

Biodiversity heritage sites are well defined areas that are unique, ecologically fragile ecosystems - terrestrial, coastal and inland waters and, marine.
Under Biological Diversity Act, 2002, the State Government in consultation with local bodies can notify about biodiversity heritage sites.

The following to declare as biodiversity heritage sites are: