CL’s Connect to Current-Daily Current Capsules (Prelims Prep. Prominence) 24th October 2018

Government Initiatives “Main Nahin Hum” Portal and App

Connect to the Portal

The portal, which works on the theme “Self4Society”, will enable IT

professionals and organizations to bring together their efforts towards

social causes, and service to society, on one platform.

In doing so, the portal is expected to help catalyse greater collaboration

towards the service of the weaker sections of society, especially by

leveraging the benefits of technology.

It is also expected to generate wider participation of interested people

who are motivated to work for the benefit of society.

Health Sector Workshop on Health and Nutrition Initiatives under Aspirational

District Programme

Implementing agencies

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,in collaboration with Ministry

of Women and Child Development, organized a one-day National

Workshop for Orientation of District Officials of Aspirational Districts on

Health and Nutrition, here today.

It is a first of its kind initiative by identifying 117 districts under the

‘Aspirational Districts’ Programme with an aim to quickly and effectively

transform them.

117 districts have been identified for rapid transformation and inclusive

growth.

The Reproductive Maternal New born Child and Adolescent Health

(RMNCH+A) program is an important pillar which will be strengthened

under Aspirational Districts Programme.

The operational guidelines on Aspirational Districts will provide a

framework for implementing action to be undertaken for various health

initiatives to guide the state, district, block programme officers and other

stakeholders

The e-Mitra (Mobile Integrated Toolkit RMNCH+A ) app has been

designed to complement the Aspirational District Programme and offers one

stop solution to access RMNCH+A related statistics from different sources

through a combination of approaches.

Connect to the Aspirational districts

The ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ programme aims to

quickly and effectively transform these districts.

The broad contours of the programme are Convergence (of Central &

State Schemes), Collaboration (of Central, State level ‘Prabhari’ Officers

& District Collectors), and Competition among districts driven by a mass

Movement.

With States as the main drivers, this program will focus on the strength of

each district, identify low-hanging fruits for immediate improvement,

measure progress, and rank districts.

The Government is committed to raising the living standards of its

citizens and ensuring inclusive growth for all – “Sabka Saath Sabka

Vikas”.

To enable optimum utilization of their potential, this program focusses

closely on improving people’s ability to participate fully in the

burgeoning economy. Health & Nutrition, Education, Agriculture &

Water Resources, Financial Inclusion & Skill Development, and Basic

Infrastructure are this programme’s core areas of focus.

After several rounds of consultations with various stakeholders, 49 key

performance indicators have been chosen to measure progress of the

districts.

Districts are prodded and encouraged to first catch-up with the best

district within their state, and subsequently aspire to become one of the

best in the country, by competing with, and learning from others in the

spirit of competitive & cooperative federalism.

NITI Aayog in partnership with the Government of Andhra Pradesh has

created a dashboard for monitoring the real-time progress of the districts.

District Information Officers underwent training on March 23, 2018 on

how to enter data to the dashboard and generate MIS (Management

Information System) reports. On April 1, 2018 districts will start entering

data.

Beginning May 2018, districts will be ranked based on progress made

(‘delta ranking’) on a real-time basis. The dashboard will be open to the

public to monitor the progress of the aspirational districts.

Economy Increase in Direct tax base

Direct tax base widens sharply over 4 years, compliance rises

What

The direct tax base has significantly widened in the last few years,

according to new back series data released by the government.

The data showed a growth of more than 80% in the number of returns

filed in the last four financial years from 3.79 crore in financial year (FY)

2013-14 to 6.85 crore (these figures include revised returns) in FY 2017-

18.

Further, the number of persons filing income tax returns also increased by

about 65% during this period from 3.31 crore in FY 2013-14 to 5.44 crore

in FY 2017-18.

There has been continuous increase in the amount of income declared in

the returns filed by all categories of taxpayers over the last three

assessment years

Connects to the reasons behind this

There may be four reasons for increase in the number of tax returns

One, the effect of demonetisation, two, the increase in the use of

information being collected digitally and being used by the tax

department. Three, the movement towards digital assessment and

decrease in the number of cases being picked up for scrutiny, and four,

the ease of getting refund, majorly by small and medium taxpayers.

The data also showed that the direct tax-GDP ratio rose to 5.98% in FY

2017-18, the highest it has been in the last 10 years.

The overall number of taxpayers (including corporates, firms, and Hindu

Undivided Families) declaring an income above ₹1 crore a year also saw

a sharp growth over the three years under consideration.

The number of individual taxpayers disclosing income above ₹1 crore

increased during the period under reference from 48,416 to 81,344,

which translates into a growth of 68%.

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Commerce & Industry SIAL Paris exhibition

What

Forty-five Indian companies are participating in the SIAL

Paris exhibition – the largest international market place for food service

professionals.

Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI) has inaugurated a special

Indian pavilion in the ongoing mega exhibition for the participating

companies.

SIAL Paris is the leading exhibition of food service products with more

than 7020 French and international exhibitors from 109 countries

displaying their foodstuffs, ranging from ingredients to processed

products, including fresh produce.

Connect to the exhibition

This exhibition is an ideal platform for the Indian participants to explore

the business opportunities for trade, acquaint with new consumer trends,

food innovations, food services, marketing tie-ups and joint ventures.

The exhibition is one of the most important get-togethers of buyers and

sellers interested in dairy products, meat, fresh fruits and vegetables,

tinned and preserved foods, semi-processed food products, organic

products, health products and food supplements, seafood, and ready-

prepared dishes, pet and poultry products and equipment and services.

Connect to SIAL Paris

SIAL Paris is held every two years, and is famous for culinary

demonstrations by famous chefs every day.

This unique culinary show stages SIAL Paris exhibitors’ products on the

basis of current topics and trends: locavore cooking, fresh attitude, trends

and textures, besides live cuisine lessons.

Buyers throng this exhibition to discover fresh produce and raw supplies

and Indian companies are making their mark felt through their products

and cuisine.

Bilateral Relations India – Czech Joint Commission on Economic Cooperation held in

Prague

What

The eleventh session of India – Czech Republic Joint Commission on

Economic Cooperation (JCEC) was held at Prague.

The deliberations were marked with the mutual desire to further expand

and strengthen relations between the two countries in the economic field.

The Czech side stressed that the Czech Government continues to rank

India among the priority countries for promotion of mutual commercial,

investment and economic activities and stated that Czech companies are

interested to cooperate with Indian partners within the framework of the

‘Make in India’ programme.

Czech Industrial Cluster (CIC)

Czechoslovakia is preparing a project called Czech Industrial Cluster

(CIC) near Bengaluru.

The CIC will comprise administrative and production units and will serve

as a hub for Czech companies that intend to settle down in India.

The CIC may also serve as a base of inter-academic cooperation between

both the countries.

The Czech side would appreciate support and cooperation of Indian

authorities during creating CIC units and in setting of conditions for

Czech investors coming to CIC.

Broad Based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA)

The two sides reaffirmed their support to finalizing an ambitious and

balanced Broad Based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) between

India and the EU.

The Czech side noted that India is one of the most important partners for

the EU and liberalization of our markets would be beneficial in the long

term for both sides.

The India side stated that India is committed to an early and balanced

outcome of India-EU BTIA negotiations of which investment is an

important track.

Connect to India – EU BTIA negotiation

There have been talks concerning the Bilateral Trade Investment

Agreement (BTIA) between India and the European Union since 2007,

but a deadlock has been in place since 2013. While there have been many

ups and downs in the trade between both the sides, India is finally set to

resume the free trade agreement (FTA) with EU.

The BTIA talks hit a roadblock on the contentious issues of import duty

on European cars and alcohol (wines and spirits) levied by India, and

recognition of India as a 'data-secure’ nation by the EU.

India also wants a greater access for its professionals in the EU.

Environment, Forest and Climate Change

3rd Decadal International year of Reefs-2018

What

The International Conference on Status and Protection of Coral Reefs

(STAPCOR – 2018) with the theme “Reef for Life” was inaugurated by

the Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

Where

Bangaram - coral Island of Union Territory of Lakshadweep.

Connect to the conference

About 150 delegates both International and National, are participating in

this mega event at Bangaram Island from 22nd to 24thOctober, 2018.

The delegates and keynote speakers for technical deliberations have come

from United State America, United Kingdom, Kuwait, Italy, France,

Maldives and Sri lanka.

The conference highlighted the importance of coral reefs and the need

for its protection, emphasising on converting science into adequate

policies for conservation.

Evolving effective management strategies leading to restoration of coral

reef, along with the practice of green good deed for behavioral change

and social responsibility in day to day life was also emphasized.

Lakshadweep will establish an International Atoll Research Centre, with

world class infrastructures for scientific research on corals.

Connect to the inception of STAPCOR

The effect of climate change and global warming along with Elnino on

the corals lead to heavy bleaching internationally during the year 1998,

this lead to the foundation of STAPCOR with a decision to have a

international conference in every 10 years to review the status and

progress of coral reefs all over the world.

The Department of Environment and Forest, Union Territory of

Lakshadweep Administration organised this mega conference with the

technical support of Zoological Survey of India and in association with

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, IUCN, ENVIS in

consonance with declaration of the year 2018 as 3rddecadal International

year of Reefs.

Connect to Coral reefs

A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building

corals.

Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium

carbonate.

Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in

groups.

Coral belongs to the class Anthozoa in the animal phylum Cnidaria,

which includes sea anemones and jellyfish.

Unlike sea anemones, corals secrete hard carbonate exoskeletons that

support and protect the coral. Most reefs grow best in warm, shallow,

clear, sunny and agitated water.

Often called "rainforests of the sea", shallow coral reefs form some of

Earth's most diverse ecosystems.

They occupy less than 0.1% of the world's ocean area, about half the area

of France, yet they provide a home for at least 25% of all marine

species,including fish, mollusks, worms, crustaceans, echinoderms,

sponges, tunicates and other cnidarians.

Coral reefs flourish in ocean waters that provide few nutrients. They are

most commonly found at shallow depths in tropical waters, but deep

water and cold water coral reefs exist on smaller scales in other areas

International World’s longest sea bridge

55-km structure will deepen integration of Hong Kong and Macao

with rest of China

What

Chinese President Xi Jinping oinaugurated a 55-km bridge that will

deepen the integration of Hong Kong and Macao with the rest of China.

The world’s longest sea-crossing bridge will be at the heart of an

integrated Greater Bay Area (GBA) covering 11 major neighbouring

cities, which include Hong Kong, Macao, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

The giant GBA comprising 68 million people is expected to rival the San

Francisco Bay Area of the U.S., as well as the Tokyo Bay Area of Japan.

From a passenger clearance building of the Zhuhai Port in mainland

China, President Xi announced the opening of the Hong Kong-Macau-

Zhuhai Bridge (HMZB).

The opening of the bridge docks with the start of a bullet train last month

between Hong Kong and Guangzhou, the gateway to the rest of mainland

China.

The bridge has been built to withstand super-typhoons, a magnitude-8

earthquake, as well as hits by super-sized cargo ships. A 6.7 km

underground sea tunnel to allow uninterrupted flow of shipping above,

along the super-busy Pearl River Delta, is also part of the bridge’s design.

Sources – PIB ,The Hindu , Indian express