Gist of The Hindu: NOVEMBER 2022

Gist of The Hindu: NOVEMBER 2022

Buddhist caves in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve

  • The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has recently reported 26 Buddhist caves in Madhya Pradesh’s Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve.

About:

  • The 26 caves that were found are associated with the Mahayana sect of Buddhism.
  • These date back to the same time as the Ajanta caves in Aurangabad, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 
  • Besides the caves, the ASI team also found the remains of 26 temples, two mathas, two stupas, 46 idols and sculptures, 26 fragments and 19 water bodies.
  • ASI also mentioned a Buddhist pillar fragment containing a miniature stupa carving, dating to the 2nd-3rd century CE, and 24 Brahmi inscriptions from the 2nd-5th century CE.
  • The temples are from more recent times — the Kalachuri period (9th-11th century), while the water bodies range between 2nd-15th centuries CE. 
  • The places Kaushami, Mathura, Pavata (Parvata), Vejabharada a

Tap Water Connections

  • Around 62% of rural households in India had fully functional tap water connections within their premises, according to a survey commissioned by the Union Ministry of Water Resources to assess the functioning of the government’s marquee Jal Jeevan Mission. 

About:

  • Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, and Puducherry reported more than 80% of households with fully functional connections, while less than half the households in Rajasthan, Kerala, Manipur, Tripura, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Sikkim had such connections.
  • A fully functional tap water connection is defined as a household getting at least 55 litres of per capita per day of potable water all through the year.
  • Close to three-fourths of households received water all seven days a week and 8% just once a week. 
  • On average, households got water for three hours every day, and 80% reported that their daily requirements of water were being met by the tap connections.
  • The water quality in some of the households was tested and revealed 95% of households to have within acceptable limits of pH values.
  • The report mentions a concerning problem of chlorine contamination. Though 93% of the water samples were reportedly free of bacteriological contamination, “most of the anganwadi centres and schools, had higher than the permissible range of residual chlorine and indicated inappropriate local dosing. 

Launch of 5G services

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the Telecom Minister AshwiniVaishnaw during the inaugural ceremony of India Mobile Congress 2022 and launch of 5G services at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi on October 1, 2022.

About:

  • 5G (5th generation) is a next generation mobile network technology after 4G LTE networks. It is not a single technology but anamalgamation of various technologies such as:
  • Massive multi-user MIMO (Multiple input multiple output) enabled network.
  • Small cell stations to connect the base stations and users seamlessly.
  • Mobile Edge Computing that brings cloud computing closer to the user physically.
  • Beam forcing which can be visualized as a laser beam between transmitting entity and the user.
  • 5G is believed to accelerate the adoption of cloud gaming, AR/VR technology, Internet of Things, etc. and usher into wider useareas than 4G.
  • This includes areas such as healthcare, FinTech, Agriculture and Livestock, Smart Applications, Education, etc.

UAE’s New Immigration Laws

  • The United Arab Emirates (UAE’s) advanced visa system is set to come into effect from October 3. 

Key highlights of the UAE’s new immigration laws

  • Under UAE’s new immigration laws, the five-year green visa will allow foreigners to sponsor themselves without any help from UAE nationals or their employers. Freelancers, skilled workers, and investors are eligible for this visa.
  • Now, green visa holders can sponsor their family members themselves.
  • If the permit for a green visa holder expires, they will be given a period of up to six months to renew it.
  • A 10-year expanded residency is also offered under the golden visa. Investors, entrepreneurs, and individuals with exceptional talents are eligible for a golden visa.
  • Golden visa holders can also sponsor their family members and children.
  • The family members of a golden visa holder can also stay in UAE after the holder’s demise until the visa remains valid. 
  • According to the new immigration laws, golden visa holders will also enjoy the benefit of 100% ownership of their business. 
  • Tourist visas will allow the visitors to stay in UAE for 60 days, as per new rules.  
  • A five-year multi-entry tourist visa will allow visitors to stay in the UAE for up to 90 days in a row. 
  • And the job exploration visa will also allow professionals to seek employment opportunities in the UAE without a sponsor or host.

International Day of Older Persons

  • October 1 is observed as the International Day of Older Persons across the globe.

About:

  • This year, the theme for the International Day of Older Persons is “Resilience of Older Persons in a Changing World”.
  • The day was established by the United Nations General Assembly with the aim of recognizing the contribution of older people and discussing their problems.
  • The United Nations General Assembly adopted on 14 December 1990 passed a resolution to declare October 1International Day of Older Persons.
  • The day was cameafter the Vienna International Plan of Action Against Aging adopted by the World Assembly on Ageing in 1982.
  • The UN General Assembly adopted the United Nations Principles for Older Persons in 1991.
  • Later in 2002, the Second World Assembly on Aging adopted the Madrid International Plan of Action on Aging.
  • It was created to address and understand the opportunities and challenges facing older generations in the 21st century versus promoting the development of a society for all ages.

Windfall Tax

  • The government cut the windfall tax on domestically-produced crude oil to Rs 8,000 per tonne from Rs 10,500, and halved the levy on export of diesel to Rs 5 per litre.

About:

  • The taxes were introduced on July 1, as the Centre felt that elevated crude prices were allowing oil companies to make windfall profits, and that the exchequer must get a share of such gains. The reduction in tax rates follows the easing of crude oil prices in international markets.

Windfall Tax:

  • Windfall taxes are designed to tax the profits a company derives from an external, sometimes unprecedented event— for instance, the energy price-rise as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
  • Governments typically levy a one-off tax retrospectively over and above the normal rates of tax on such profits, called windfall tax. 
  • One area where such taxes have routinely been discussed is oil markets, where price fluctuation leads to volatile or erratic profits for the industry.

National Informatics Centre(NIC)

  • The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has issued a Request forProposal for consultants to revamp National Informatics Centre(NIC).

About:

  • NIC was established in 1976 with the objective of providing technology-driven solutions to theCentral and State Governments.
  • It comes under MeitY and acts as a technology partner of the government, helping in
    designing and development of IT systems, providing Information and Communication
    Technology (ICT) infrastructure etc.
  • NIC products and Platforms: SVAMITVA, Bhavishya, PM-KISAN, National Judicial Data Gridetc.

Services:

  • Command and Control Centre,
  • Domain Registration,
  • National Knowledge Network.

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Courtesy: The Hindu

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