Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 16 August 2021

::NATIONAL::

Prime Minister Narendra launched the long-awaited National Automobile Scrappage Policy.

Key highlights about the policy:

The policy recommends “fitness tests” for private and commercial vehicles that are more than 20 and 15 years old respectively. In the absence of a “fitness certificate,” registration of such vehicles will be automatically cancelled.
It further recommends mandatory scrapping of all government vehicles that are more than 15 years old but is applicable only on four-wheelers.
The fitness tests will be done at government-certified fitness centres, appointments for which can be made online. Test reports will be generated in online mode. Also, scrappage can be done anywhere in the country, regardless of the place of vehicle registration.
The scheme also proposes several incentives which the owners can avail after being given a scrapping certificate. This includes the scrap value for the old vehicle, which is expected to be around 5-6% of the price of a new vehicle.
Additionally, a road tax rebate of up to 25% for new personal vehicles, and 15% for new commercial vehicles, as well as a 5% discount against the scrapping certificate, have also been proposed under the policy.
The registration fees for the purchase of a new vehicle may also be waived upon getting the old vehicle scrapped.
The policy will bring investments worth more than ₹10,000 crore and create up to 50,000 jobs, Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari had said while announcing details of the policy, in March.

It is India’s first Cattle Genomic Chip for the conservation of pure varieties of indigenous cattle breeds and helps towards doubling farmers’ income by 2022.
It is the largest cattle chip in the world with 11,496 markers.
Till now India’s dairy development program has been referring to chips which are developed for foreign western breeds of cattle.
This indigenous chip was developed by the National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (Hyderabad), an autonomous institution under the aegis of the Department of Biotechnology.

Ahead of India’s 75th Independence Day, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney from New York has reintroduced a legislation in the US House of Representatives to posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to Mahatma Gandhi for his contributions made through his methods of non-violence.

About:

If given the award, Gandhi would become the first Indian to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, which is the highest civilian award in the US and has been awarded to the 1980 US summer Olympics team, Robert F. Kennedy, Nelson Mandela and George Washington among many others.
In every session of the Congress, the legislation to award Congressional Gold Medals are introduced.

What is the Congressional Gold Medal?

The History, Arts and Archives section of the US House of Representatives notes that since the American revolution, Congress has commissioned gold medals as its highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions.
The first recipients of the medal were participants of the American Revolution, the War of 1812 and the Mexican War, Congress subsequently broadened the scope of the medal to include actors, authors, entertainers, musicians, explorers, athletes, humanitarians and foreign recipients among pioneers in some other fields.
Most recently, the medal was awarded to the US Capitol Police and those who protected the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, the day of the siege.
It is necessary that all Congressional Gold Medal legislations be co-sponsored by at least two-thirds of the Members of the House.
As of now, there is no statutory limit on the number of such medals that can be awarded during a given year, even though such legislation has been introduced previously.

The Indian Navy demonstrated its maritime maneuvers in U.S. Navy-led Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (SEACAT) military exercise in Singapore. The military exercise also included navies of 20 other partner nations as well.

About:

Nations like Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, New Zealand, Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, East Timor, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam took part in SEACAT.
The maritime exercise aimed to foster enhanced cooperation between Southeast Asian countries by incorporating tactics, standardized training, and procedures to combat contingencies or illegal activities in the maritime domain.

The Karnataka-based Authority for Advance Rulings (AAR) has ruled that sales promotion companies that trade in vouchers will have to pay GST at the rate of 18 per cent and mention it on its sales returns.

About:

It held that since the voucher can be transmitted, transferred, delivered, stored, possessed etc, it would get covered under the ambit of goods, though it is intangible.
Under GST Act, AAR is a body empowered to render decisions with regards to the tax consequences of a transaction or a proposed transaction.
It gives certainty to investors in respect of their prospective indirect tax liabilities.
For GST, it is established at two levels, respective State/UT level under State/UT GST Act and atCentral Level under the Central GST Act.

Karez are constructed as a series of well-like vertical shafts, connected by sloping tunnels, which tap into subterranean water in a manner that efficiently delivers large quantities of water to the surface by gravity, without need for pumping.
The system was brought to the India during the Bahmani Sultanate (founded by Alaudin BahmanShah).
The first Karez system in India was built in Bidar (Karnataka) during the reign of Sultan AhmadShahWali (1422-1436).