(FREE) UPSC Current Affairs 2024 PDF

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 24 November 2021

::NATIONAL::

A blueprint for the ‘National Coal Gasification Mission’ prepared by the Union coal ministry has proposed 15% methanol-blending target with petrol to encourage investments in the sector.
It also proposes massive tax waivers to incentivise coal gasification, which can lead to eco-friendly alternate utility of the fuel abundantly available in the country.

About:

Coal gasification is the process of converting coal into synthesis gas (also called syngas), whichis a mixture of hydrogen (H2), carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2).

Proposed challenges:

Most of India’s known coal deposits are non-recoverable.
Underground coal gasification could help extract those plentiful reserves that are deep, scattered and covered by forests.
Coal can be gasified to turn it into a cleaner syngas or synthesis gas—a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide — which constitutes the basic building block of the chemical industry and can be converted into a wide range of downstream products such as methanol and olefins of which India is at present a net importer.
The syngas technology allows conversion of non-mineable coal/lignite into combustible gases through in situ gasification of the material.
The mission document, pointed out that if levies such as GST compensation cess and additional duties on coal are removed, the tentative reduction on aggregate price of methanol may be in the range of Rs 1,450-1,650 per MT.

It came to fore after around 50 crows were found dead near Sambhar lake, Rajasthan.
Sambhar lake is the country’s largest inland saline water body which attracts thousands ofmigratory birds every year.

About Bird flu:

Avian influenza is a viral disease caused by Influenza Type A viruses which is contagious andcan spread from one bird to other birds and animals.
It also effects humans and human infections are primarily acquired through direct contact with infected animals or contaminated environments.
There are multiple strains like H1N1, H5N1 etc.

India and the United States (US) are set to revive the Trade Policy Forum (TPF), in an attempt to bolster trade and investment flows between the two nations.

About:

Established in 2005, the India-US TPF met last in October 2017.
It was then replaced by negotiations between the two sides on a trade deal. With the Biden administration now insisting on resolving irritants first rather than going for a mini deal, the focus on the TPF has again emerged.
The India-US Trade Policy Forum has five focus groups – agriculture, investment, innovation and creativity (intellectual property rights), services, and tariff and non-tariff barriers.
The bilateral trade between India and the US stood at $80.5 billion in 2020-21.
India has received $13. 8 billion foreign direct investment from the US during 2020-21.

TV and Radio shows produced by Doordarshan and All India Radio respectively got ABU - UNESCO Peace Media Awards 2021 at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
Doordarshan’s programme ‘DEAFinitely Leading the Way’ won an award under ‘Living Well with Super Diversity’ category, while All India Radio’s programme ‘Living on the edge – The coastal lives’ won another award in the category of ‘Ethical & Sustainable Relationship with Nature’.

About:

The awards were given by UNESCO in collaboration with Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) under ‘Together for Peace’ (T4P) initiative.
The award giving ceremony was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on November 17, 2021.
More than hundred inspiring stories of individuals and communities were received from 33 countries across 5 continents. The competition was open for Radio, TV, and digital platforms.
The ABU-UNESCO T4P Media Awards highlight and promote crucial role of independent, ethical journalism and citizens’ media literacy for building positive peace in human minds.
The Awards honour innovative and creative content, which informs and educates audiences on best practices of building positive peace that have increasing urgency in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and building back better from the COVID-19 pandemic.
All India Radio series ‘Living on the edge – The coastal lives’ explores life for fishing communities living on the edge in Visakhapatnam, a coastal town on the shores of the Bay of Bengal.

With an aim to correct the inverted duty structure for textiles and footwear under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, the Finance Ministry has notified a uniform 12 per cent rate for manmade fibre (MMF), yarn, fabrics and apparels, along with a 12 per cent uniform rate for footwear.
The GST Council had taken the decision to correct the inverted duty structure for these two categories in its meeting in September, with the changes to be effective from January 1 next year.

Inverted duty structure

An inverted duty structure arises when the taxes on output or final product is lower than the taxes on inputs, creating an inverse accumulation of input tax credit which in most cases has to be refunded.
Inverted duty structure has implied a stream of revenue outflow for the government prompting the government to relook the duty structure.

The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPP) on the Personal Data Protection Bill of 2019 is said to have adopted the final draft. The Bill is slated to be tabled in the Winter Session.

Why does India need a data protection law?

Amid the proliferation of computers and the Internet, consumers have been generating a lot of data, which has allowed companies to show them personalised advertisements based on their browsing patterns and other online behaviour.
Companies began to store a lot of these datasets without taking the consent of the users, and did not take responsibility when the data leaked.
To hold such companies accountable, the government in 2019 tabled the Personal Data Protection Bill for the first time.

What is said to be in the final draft?

One of the major changes that the final draft of the PDP Bill is believed to have pushed for is to include non-personal data within its ambit, which changes the nature of the Bill from personal data protection to just data protection.
The final draft is also said to have sought additional compliance for companies that deal exclusively with children’s data, by asking them to register with the Data Protection Authority — a regulatory body that will have powers to decide on implementing the law’s various provisions.
A third key aspect that the committee is said to have pushed for is to consider all social media companies as publishers, and to hold them accountable for the content on their platform if they are not acting as intermediaries.