Current Affairs for IAS Exams -20 January 2023

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 20 January 2023

::NATIONAL::

Hakku Patra

• The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi distributed title deeds (hakkupatra) to the eligible beneficiaries of newly declared revenue villages of Karnataka and laid the foundation stone for a National Highway project in Malkhed, Kalaburagi, Karnataka. 

About Hakku Patra:

• Hakku Patra in Kannada means “Claim Letter”. The word ‘Hakku’ means “the right”, and ‘Patra’ means a “paper” or “document”. Hakku Patra is a legal document that states an individual’s rightful inheritance of a property. 
• It is issued to the nation’s underprivileged section, including scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, urban slum dwellers, handicapped, and other disadvantaged populations.
• In most cases, the land on which the Hakku Patra is issued is government-owned with a specific set of conditions attached. It is a part of the Ambedkar Rural Housing Scheme of Karnataka.
• The government offers free registration of Hakku Patra land in the beneficiary’s name. But, any house built on the Hakku Patra land should be used as the beneficiary’s house and not for rental purposes.  

Benefits of Hakku Patra:

• Hakku Patra, like every legal property document, offers a great set of benefits. 
• It makes you the legitimate owner of your land or property by giving an up-to-date and official record of who owns the land. The individual does not have to research as the government issues the document.
• It is a state-guaranteed document. 
• Hakku Patra registration resolves all types of disputes regarding the ownership or rights over the land. 
• The document helps in preventing any encroachment via trespassing on the boundaries.

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Advance Authorization Scheme

• The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has notified the amended rules for calculation of Composition Fee under Advance Authorization Scheme (AAS).
• It will help automate entire Export Obligation extension process with minimal human intervention and lead to ease of doing business.

About:

• AAS is a duty exemption scheme issued by Government of India under Foreign Trade Policy2015-2020.
• Advance Authorisation covers manufacturer exporters or merchant exporters tied to supporting manufacturer(s).
• It exempts payment of import duties on raw materials/inputs required for manufacturingproducts for export.
• It allows duty free import of inputs, which are physically incorporated in an export product.
• It additionally allows packaging material, fuel, oil, catalyst which is consumed / utilized inproduction of export product.
• DGFT provides a sector-wise list of Standard Input-Output Norms (SION) under which the exporters may choose to apply. 
• Alternatively, exporters may apply for their own ad-hoc norms in cases where the SION does not suit the exporter.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

International Energy Agency

• The lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in China is set to boost global oil demand this year to a new record high, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said while price cap sanctions on Russia could dent supply.

About: 

• IEA is an international intergovernmental organization based in Paris that was established in 1974.
• Aimed to maintain the stability of the international oil supply.
• It was founded in response to the 1973 oil crisis, in which the supply chain for oil temporarily broke down.
• IEA operates within the broader framework of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD).
• As of 2022, the IEA has 31 member nations.India became an associate member of IEA in 2017.
• According to the IEA, a member country must maintain "crude oil and/or product reserves equivalent to 90 days of the previous year’s net imports, to which the government has immediate access (even if it does not own them directly) and could be used to address disruptions to global oil supply". 

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Fourth Industrial Revolution

• The World Economic Forum (WEF) has chosen Hyderabad for establishing its Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution focused on healthcare and life sciences.

About:

• The C4IR Telangana will be an autonomous, non-profit organisation and the only such of World Economic Forum in India with a thematic focus on healthcare and life sciences, Industries.
• Centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) will be setup in collaboration with World Economic Forum (WEF), anautonomous organization based in Geneva, Switzerland.
• C4IR will be the 18th centre in WEF’s fourth IR network,spanning four continents, and it will focus on lifesciences and healthcare.
• Industry 4.0 is a collective termfor converging technologies which blurs the distinctionbetween physical, digital and biological realms.
• Industry 4.0 builds upon Industry 3.0 which waslargely based on use of electronics and informationtechnology. 

Significance of Industry 4.0: 

• Impacting advances inScience and Technology as well as processes of businesses.

Concerns:

• There are also chances of job loss, increasedinequalities, Privacy and Security concerns etc

::Economy::

International North–South Transport Corridor

• Recently Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, conducted a workshop on the ‘Linking Chabahar Port with INSTC’ in Mumbai. 

About:

• The International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is a multi-modal transportation route linking the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea via Iran and onward to northern Europe via St. Petersburg in Russia.
• INSTC (International North-South Transport Corridor) is India’s vision and initiative to reduce the time taken for EXIM shipments to reach Russia, Europe and enter the central Asian markets. Successful activation of the corridor will help connect India to Russia and Central Asian countries. 
• The Chabahar Port, located in Iran, is the commercial transit centre for the region, especially Central Asia.
• The strategic location of Chabahar has a great advantage for developing it as a transshipment hub. 
• The Port’s deep draft of 16 m is suitable for handling large shipment vessels. 
• The Port lies close to some of the busiest trade routes in the world. The region comes under the Asia-Europe, Asia-Asia trade route, which carries large cargo volumes.

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::SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY::

Red-Billed Quelea Birds

• Experts have cautioned that the Kenyan government’s effort to exterminate the red-billed quelea birds that have infested farms will have unintended negative consequences for other raptors and wild species.

Key highlights:

• Kenya’s government began to kill up to 6 million red-billed quelea birds, the world’s most populous bird species which are also known as ‘feathered locusts’. 
• The preferred method for eradicating pests in Africa has been to spray fenthion, which is an organophosphate pesticide, but scientists have noted that the substance is toxic to people and other non-target organisms.
• Fenthion has been listed in Annex III of the Rotterdam convention which aims to reduce risks from hazardous chemicals in agriculture. 

Key facts about Red-Billed Quelea:

• It is a small, short-tailed weaver with a mottled back and a yellow or reddish bill.
• Large flocks are resident and nomadic in arid savanna, grassland, and cultivated areas.
• It has been categorized under Least Concerned category as per IUCN.

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