Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 29 November 2021

::NATIONAL::

Scheme, by Ministry of Civil Aviation, proposes to facilitating and incentivizing movement of Agri-produce by air transportation.
It will be implemented at 53 airports across the country mainly focusing on Northeast and tribal regions.

Key highlights of the scheme:

Strengthening cargo related infrastructure at airports and off airports.
Resources-Pooling through establishing Convergence mechanism.
Development of E-KUSHAL (Krishi Udaan for Sustainable Holistic Agri-Logistics) for information dissemination to all the stakeholders.
Furthermore, integration of E-KUSHAL with National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) is proposed.

Centre has proposed amendments to Registration of Births and Deaths (RBD) Act that will enable it to maintain the database of registered birth and deaths at the national level.
Presently, the registration of births and deaths is done by the local registrar appointed by
States.
Under proposed amendment, the Chief Registrar (appointed by States) will maintain a unified database at State level and integrate it with National Level data maintained by Registrar General of India.
Database may be used to update the Population Register and the electoral register, and Aadhaar, ration card, passport and driving licence databases.

The report is published by The World Inequality Lab.
The World Inequality Lab aims to promote research on global inequality dynamics.
Its missions are the intension of the World Inequality Database, the production of analysis on global inequality dynamics, and the dissemination in the public debate.

Key findings:

Top 10% of the global population owns 76% of total household wealth and captured 52% of total income in 2021.
Bottom 50% of the global population owns just 2% of wealth and 8% of income.
Women make just a third of global labour incomes, which has seen very limited change since 1990.
A very moderate wealth tax for global billionaires can generate 1.6% of global income.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the 18th India-ASEAN Summit at the invitation of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, the current Chair of ASEAN.

Key highlights:

Highlighting the milestone of 30th anniversary of India-ASEAN Partnership, the leaders announced the Year 2022 as India-ASEAN Friendship Year.
Building upon the synergies between the ASEAN Outlook for the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) and India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI), PM and ASEAN leaders welcomed the adoption of the India-ASEAN Joint Statement on cooperation for peace, stability and prosperity in the region.
On COVID-19, the Prime Minister highlighted that India has contributed medical supplies worth USD 200,000 to ASEAN’s humanitarian initiative for Myanmar and USD 1 million for ASEAN’s Covid-19 Response Fund.
Prime Minister Modi announced India’s support for establishing the ASEAN Cultural Heritage List.
The discussions also covered regional and international issues of common interest and concern, including South China Sea and terrorism.
Both sides noted the importance of promoting a rules-based order in the region including through upholding adherence to international law, especially the UNCLOS.
The leaders affirmed the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, stability, safety and security in the South China Sea, and ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight.

The government announced the appointment K.V. Kamath as chairperson of the newly set up ₹20,000-crore National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NBFID).

About:

NBFID was established as the principal development financial institution (DFIs) for infrastructure financing.
DFIs provide long-term finance for segments where the risks involved are beyond acceptable limits of commercial banks and other ordinary financial institutions.
NBFID was set up as a corporate body with authorised share capital of one lakh crore rupees. It has both financial as well as developmental objectives.
No investigation can be initiated against employees of NBFID without the prior sanction of central government (for chairperson or other directors) and managing director (in case of other employees).

Recently, TRAI sought information on the quantum of mmWave band spectrum to be available for 5G services to reach its base price.

About:

mmWave is the band spectrum with usual wavelengths between 10 millimetres (30 GHz) and 1 millimetre (300 GHz).
In India, Telecom companies want inclusion of 26-28Ghz spectrum bands in National Frequency Allocation Plan (NFAP), 2018 along with existing mid-band spectrum of 3.3-3.6 Ghz for 5G services.
Critical for 5G and satellite broadband services due to their capacity to carry enormous data, it will reduce the 5G cost significantly.