5th October, 2021 Current Affairs
NATIONAL
Centre notifies new Electricity Rules
- Union Ministry of Power has notified new Electricity rules called “Electricity (Rights of consumers) Rules” in India, laying down the rights of power of consumers.
- These rules will empower the consumers of electricity. Rules originate from the conviction that power systems exist to serve consumers and consumers have rights to get reliable services & quality electricity.
- These rules were notified considering the fact that, distribution companies across India are monopolies and consumer has no alternative.
- Rules will also further the ease of doing business in India as its implementation would ensure that new electricity connections, refunds and other services are provided to consumers in a time bound manner.
Key areas covered under Electricity (Rights of consumers) Rules:
- Rights of consumers and Obligations of Distribution licensees
- Consumer as Prosumer
- Release of new connection and modification of existing connection
- Metering arrangement
- Reliability of supply
- Billing and Payment
- Disconnection and Reconnection
- Standards of Performance of licensee
- Compensation Mechanism
- Grievance redressal mechanism
- Call Centre for Consumer Services
Key Provisions of the rules
- It will be the duty of every distribution licensee to supply electricity on request of owner or occupier.
- Release of new connection and modification in existing connection will be done in transparent and time bound processes. Process will be completed within 7 days in metro cities,15 days in municipal areas while 30 days in rural areas.
- No connection will be given without a meter.
- Compensation amount will be paid to consumers, automatically, by the distribution licensees in case of violation of performance
- Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum (CGRF) will include representatives from consumer and prosumer. Grievances will be resolved within 45 days.
MeitY plans Tech repository for Digital services
- Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is planning to find a “customer relationship management (CRM) as well as enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions” on the basis of “Free and open-source software (FOSS)”.
- These solutions would be planned in such a way that it could deploy on its own platform and use it in future for developing other citizen-facing interfaces like AarogyaSetu app or a COWIN platform.
- Primary goal of coming up with the solution is to create an open-source software repository which can be accessed and used across the departments, States and countries.
- Indian government is working on using FOSS in order to find solutions in agritech, governance, healthcare and education segments.
- To make the solution reality, MeitY had announced #FOSS4Gov Innovation Challenge.
- This challenge is being organised with the aim of creating awareness and promote FOSS. It also seeks to identify solutions which can be used by the government.
Govt deploys 'Made in India' drone first time to transport COVID-19 vaccine
- The Minister for Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya has launched ICMR’s Drone Response and Outreach in North East (i-Drone) with a view to ensure last-mile delivery of vaccines. This is a delivery model to make sure that life-saving vaccines reach everyone.
- This is for the first time that a "Made in India' drone has been used in South Asia to transport COVID vaccine over an aerial distance of 15 kilometres in 12 to 15 minutes from the Bishnupur district hospital to Loktak lake, Karang island in Manipur for administration at the Primary Health Centre.
Government to investigate 'Pandora Papers Leak' by multi-agency group under CBDT Chairman
- Government said that the cases pertaining to Pandora Papers will be investigated and appropriate action will be taken in such cases as per law.
- The investigations in cases of Pandora Papers leaks appearing in the media under the name Pandora papers will be monitored through the Multi Agency Group, headed by the Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes.
- It will be have representatives from CBDT, Enforcement Directorate, Reserve Bank of India and Financial Intelligence Unit.
- With a view to ensure effective investigation in these cases, the government will also proactively engage with foreign jurisdictions for obtaining information in respect of relevant taxpayers and entities.
- The Government of India is also part of an Inter-Governmental Group that ensures collaboration and experience sharing to effectively address tax risks associated with such leaks.
- In case of earlier similar such leaks in the form of ICIJ, HSBC, Panama Papers and Paradise Papers, the Government has already enacted the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 with an aim to curb black money.
Molnupiravir: New drug to treat COVID-19
- On October 1, 2021, Pharmaceutical Company “Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics” announced the early results of Phase-3 trials of its anti-viral drug called molnupiravir. As per the results, Molnupiravir has reduced the chances of hospitalisation by half among COVID-19 patients with mild or moderate symptoms.
- Placebo trials comprised of testing a drug on thousands of people. Among them, some get the drug and some do not.
- In the group that do not get placebo, 53 patients or 14% of the patients were either hospitalised or had died. On the other hand, among the group that got drug, 28 patients or 7.3% were hospitalized or succumbed to the covid-19 infection.
- Patients were monitored for 29 days. No deaths were reported among the patients who received molnupiravir. On the other hand, eight deaths were reported among those who received placebo.
INTERNATIONAL
Japanese PM Fumio Kishida calls for Parliamentary polls on October 31
- In Japan, new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has surprised by calling for Parliamentary Polls on 31st of October. Mr.Kishida also vowed to bolster the country's response to the Corona virus pandemic.
- During his inaugural news conference, Mr.Kishida expressed a wish to implement large-scale Corona virus counter-measures and bold economic policies. He said that the elections will make it clear whether people trust him to carry out these policies.
- Earlier, the 64-year-old leader unveiled a Cabinet line-up dominated by allies of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and ex-Finance Minister Taro Aso.
- Following the announcement for polls, Parliament will now be dissolved on 14th of October. His decision to call an election came as a surprise to most analysts who had expected the election to be held in November.
- Mr.Kishida also said that he would consider COVID-19 relief payouts and will strengthen the medical system besides ramping up the testing to help reopen the economy.
Russia successfully test-fires Zirkon hypersonic cruise missile from nuclear submarine for first time
- Russia it successfully test fired a Zirkon hypersonic cruise missile from a nuclear submarine for the first time.
- The Russian Defence Ministry said, the Severodvinsk submarine performed two launches of the Zircon cruise missile at mock targets in the Barents Sea. It first test-fired Zircon from the surface and then launched another missile from a submerged position in the White Sea.
- Lauding as part of a new generation of unrivaled arms systems, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, Zircon would be capable of flying at nine times the speed of sound and have a range of 1,000 kilometres.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sworn in for second five-year term
- Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sworn in for a second five-year term running a country in the grip of a nearly year-long war.
- His Prosperity Party was declared the winner of Parliamentary Elections earlier this year in a vote criticized and at times boycotted by opposition parties. However, outside electoral observers described the poll as better run than those in the past. Mr.Abiy, the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner for restoring ties with neighbouring Eritrea and for pursuing sweeping political reforms, now faces major challenges as war in the Tigray region spreads into other parts of the country. This war is weakening Ethiopia’s economy, once one of Africa’s fastest-growing and threatening to isolate Mr. Abiy, once seen as a regional peacemaker.
- Ethiopia’s Government last week faced condemnation from the United Nations, United States and several European nations after it expelled seven U.N. officials it accused of supporting the Tigray forces who have been battling Ethiopian and allied forces.
ADB signs agreement with Bangladesh for first tranche of USD 400 million loan for highway development
- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government of Bangladesh signed the agreement for USD 400 million in loan for constructing the Dhaka-Sylhet highway to improve mobility, road safety and regional trade in the north east economic corridor in Bangladesh.
- It is the first tranche of the USD 1.78 billion financing facility approved by ADB for the South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Dhaka-Sylhet Road investment project.
- It will be utilised for widening of about 210 kilometres of Dhaka-Sylhet road from 2-lane to 4 lane highway among other activities.
- The Dhaka–Sylhet corridor, once completed, will support a new trade route that connects Chattogram port with India’s north-eastern states through the three land ports of Akhaura, Sheola, and Tamabil, and onwards to Bhutan and Myanmar.
- The project is the main part of Road Corridor No. 5 under the South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program.
AWARDS
David Julius &ArdemPatapoutian from US share 2021 prize in Medicine or Physiology
- David Julius and ArdemPatapoutian, from the United States, share the 2021 prize in Medicine or Physiology for their work on sensing touch and temperature.
- They unpicked how our bodies convert physical sensations into electrical messages in the nervous system. Their findings could lead to new ways of treating pain.
- Heat, cold and touch are crucial for experiencing the world around us and for our own survival. But how our bodies actually do it had been one of the great mysteries of biology.
ECONOMY
ICMR report: India’s electricity demand to grow 8-8.5% in FY22
- According to rating agency ICRA Ltd., India’s electricity demand is expected to increase by 8-8.5 % in Financial Year 2022.
- As per report, all-India electricity demand increased by 12.7% to 707 billion units (BU) on year-on0year basis, during the period from April 2021 to September 2021.
- This increase in demand was supported by a lower base, improvement of economic activity as well as lower than normal monsoons.
- Lower than normal monsoon led to higher demand from the agriculture segment in the period of July 2021 and August 2021.
- Energy demand in H1 of Financial Year 2021-2022 also remained higher by 2.9% as compared to same in H1 FY2020-2021. It was led by relatively sharper recovery in demand of energy as it was reflected from 8.4% growth in Q2 of FY2021-22 as compared to FY2020.
- As per report, all India average thermal PLF level is likely to remain subdued, despite the recovery in electricity demand. It is likely to remain below 60.0% in the current fiscal. Thus, outlook on the thermal power generation is Negative.
- One of the reasons for negative outlook is lack of visibility in signing of new power purchase agreements (PPAs) for thermal IPPs as well as upward pressure on power generation cost with the strengthening in fuel price levels besides tight environmental compliance requirements.
Coal stocks at power projects
As the power projects, coal stocks have been low as a result of an unprecedented increase in electricity demand because of:
- Resumption in economic activities,
- Heavy rains in September impacting coal production & dispatch, and
- Lower electricity production by other fuel sources.
As on October 1, India’s 72 coal fuelled power projects had less than three days of stocks. On the other hand, 50 plants had stocks worth 4-10 days. Only 13 projects had enough fuel stocks to sustain electricity generation for more than 10 days.
First consignment of Kashmir walnuts flagged off
- Under the “One District, One Product (ODOP) initiative” of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, first consignment of Kashmiri walnuts was flagged off from Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, recently.
- 90% of India’s walnut production is from Kashmir.
- Kashmiri walnuts are of superior quality & taste and are of a great source of nutrients. Hence, they are highly in demand worldwide.
- Walnuts have immense potential to make a place for itself across the local and global markets.
Coal Ministry sets up panel to review benchmarking timelines in project execution
- Coal Ministry has set up a committee to review benchmarking timelines in project execution.
- The aim of the committee is to suggest a robust and efficient set of timelines for the clearances prior to issuing tender.
- It will be chaired by the Joint Secretary and Financial Advisor comprising of representatives from NTPC, IOCL, Power Grid Corporation of India and Director, Eastern Coalfields as member secretary for review and benchmarking the timelines in project execution.
ENVIRONMENT
NOAA report: August 2021 is the 6th-warmest in 142 years
- As per NOAA’s National Centre for Environmental Information analysis, August 2021 was the 6th hottest month on the Earth, despite the fact that, Central Texas went through a cooler than average month.
- August 2021 was the 6th warmest month in 142 years.
- While analysing the August’s heat, scientists found that the average global land & ocean surface temperature was 1.62 degrees F more than the average of 20th-century.
- North America witnessed its top-10 warmest August.
- Asia had its 2nd warmest August while Africa had 3rd warmest August.
- Since 2009, 9 out of 10 warmest Augusts on Earth have happened.
- NOAA is an American scientific and regulatory agency working under the “United States Department of Commerce”that forecasts weather, charts the sea, monitors oceanic &atmospheric conditions, conduct deep sea exploration, besides managing fishing & protecting marine mammals.
Odisha’s initiatives to prevent Elephant electrocution
- Odisha government has allocated Rs. 445.75 crore to the distribution companies in order to increase ground clearance of electrical networks with the objective of preventing Elephant electrocution.
- With the help of allocated funds, distribution companies would also replace bare conductors across elephant corridors and movement areas.
- This initiative is aimed at preventing elephant deaths because of electrocution.
- As per Energy department, 79000 interposing poles have been erected and about 2,300 circuit bare conductors have been replaced by covered ones.
- In the recent development, companies and Forest Department have been asked to interact on regular basis in a bid to achieve zero casualty of elephants.
- Officials have also been directed to involve with the local community in elephant protection and bring in scheme for rewarding the villagers, who would provide information regarding illegal hooking for poaching wild animals.
- As per the Wildlife Society of Orissa (WSO), an environment pressure group working on elephant conservation, about 862 elephants have lost their lives in between April 2010 August 2021. Out of this, about 16 % accounting for 135 elephants died due to electrocution.