Daily Current Affairs Dated On 20-Sep-2019

GS-1

Sangam age:

Why in news?

In a major turning point in the cultural historiography of the ancient Sangam Age, the Tamil Nadu
Archaeology Department (TNAD) has stated that the cultural deposits unearthed during excavations at
Keeladi in Sivaganga district could be safely dated to a period between 6th century BCE and 1st century
CE.

This is the first time the date has been officially announced by the TNAD.

Findings of the report

 The new findings in the report, released on Thursday by Minister for Tamil Culture and
Archaeology K. Pandiarajan here, place Keeladi artefacts about 300 years earlier than previously
believed — 3rd century BCE.
 One of the six samples collected at the depth of 353 cm and sent for carbon dating test in the
U.S. “goes back to 580 BCE,” Commissioner of Archaeology T. Udayachandran said.
 The report titled, ‘Keeladi-An Urban Settlement of Sangam Age on the Banks of River Vaigai’,
was published by the TNAD.
 The results from the fourth excavations suggest that the “second urbanisation [the first being
Indus] of Vaigai plains happened in Tamil Nadu around 6th century BCE as it happened in
Gangetic plains.”
 The report also spells the site as Keeladi as against the erstwhile widely used Keezhadi.

‘Tamil-Brahmi older’

 The recent scientific dates obtained for Keeladi findings push back the date of Tamil-Brahmi
script to another century, i.e., 6th century BCE.
 “These results clearly ascertained that they attained literacy or learned the art of writing as early
as 6th century BCE,” the 61-page report stated.
 Daily Current Affairs Dated On 20-Sep-2019

Tamil-Brahmi potsherds

 Fifty-six Tamil-Brahmi inscribed potsherds were recovered from the site of excavation
conducted by the TNAD alone, the report stated.

 Pottery specimens from Keeladi sent to the Earth Science Department of Pisa University, Italy,
through Vellore Institute of Technology for mineral analysis, confirmed that water containers
and cooking vessels were shaped out of locally available raw materials.
 “Recovery of 10 spindle whorls, 20 sharply pinpointed bone tip tools used for design creations,
hanging stones of the yarn, terracotta spheres, copper needle and earthen vessels to hold liquid
clearly attest to the various stages of weaving industry from spinning, yarning, looming and
weaving and later for dyeing.

GS-2

PoK issue

Why in news?

Last month, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had said that any talks with Pakistan, if they are held, would
be over PoK and not J&K, and Home Minister Amit Shah had told Lok Sabha that "whenever I mention
the State of Jammu and Kashmir, it means both Pak-Occupied Kashmir and Aksai Chin are part of it".

Background

 A resolution unanimously adopted by Parliament on February 22, 1994 affirmed that "the State
of Jammu & Kashmir has been, is and shall be an integral part of India", and demanded that
"Pakistan must vacate the areas of the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir, which they have
occupied through aggression".

What lies across the LoC?

 Pakistan Occupied Kashmir is an area of 13,297 sq km, which was under the control of the
Pakistani forces when the ceasefire line came into effect on January 1, 1949.
 Daily Current Affairs Dated On 20-Sep-2019

 That was after a 14-month period of hostilities between India and Pakistan, which began with an
invasion of Kashmir by Pashtun tribesmen, and later its Army, to seize Kashmir.

 PoK has a population of over 40 lakh, according to a census carried out in 2017.
 It is divided into 10 districts: Neelum, Muzaffarabad, Hattian Bala, Bagh, and Haveli bordering
areas in Kashmir, and Rawlakot, Kotli, Mirpur, and Bhimber bordering areas in Jammu.
 The capital of PoK is Muzaffarabad, a town located in the valley of the Jhelum river and its
tributary Neelum (which Indians call Kishanganga) to the west and slightly north of Srinagar.
 In 1963, through an agreement, Pakistan ceded to China over 5,000 sq km of J&K land under its
control, in the Shaksgam area, in northern Kashmir, beyond the Karakoram.

And what is Gilgit Baltistan?

 This is a picturesque, hilly region to the north of PoK and east of the Pakistani province of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The British sold it, along with the rest of Jammu and Kashmir, to the
Dogra ruler of Jammu, Gulab Singh, after defeating the Sikh army in 1846, but retained
controlled over the area through a lease extracted from the Maharaja.
 This lease was last renewed in 1935. In 1947, a British army officer of the rank of Colonel
imprisoned Maharaja Hari Singh's governor in the region, and handed over the area for
accession to Pakistan.

 Gilgit Baltistan (GB) is spread over 72,871 sq km, and is five-and-a-half times the size of PoK. But
it is sparsely populated, with just under 20 lakh people.
 GB is divided into three administrative divisions and 10 districts.
 Gilgit, Hunza, Ghizer and Nagar are in the Gilgit administrative division; Ghanche, Shigar,
Kharmang and Skardu are in the Baltistan division; and Diamer and Astore are in the Diamer
division.

What is the administrative status in GB?

 Though both PoK and GB are ruled directly from Islamabad, neither is officially listed as the
territory of Pakistan, which has just four provinces: Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (which now
includes the Federally Administered Tribal areas or FATA), Balochistan, and Sindh.
 Daily Current Affairs Dated On 20-Sep-2019

 PoK and GB are both "autonomous territories". Pakistan has kept this fiction going, as
incorporating these areas into its map would damage its international position in the United
Nations and elsewhere that the entire Jammu and Kashmir is "disputed".
 For India, on the other hand, as per the resolution passed by Parliament in 1994, PoK and GB are
both part of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral part of India by virtue of its
accession to India in 1947.

GS-3

Climate Action Summit

UN Secretary General António Guterres has convened a special Climate Action Summit on Monday, at
the start of the annual General Assembly session, in a bid to nudge countries to do more to fight climate
change. He has told world leaders to come with ‘concrete’ and ‘realistic’ proposals to enhance the
actions that they are already taking.

Why a special summit?

 This is not the first time that a special meeting on climate change is taking place on the sidelines
of the General Assembly session.
 But what makes this meeting different from earlier efforts is the intention of the Secretary-
General not to let this become another talk shop.
 Bring concrete plans, not speeches, Guterres is reported to have told the world leaders in a
letter inviting them for the meeting.
 More specifically, he has asked countries to bring their action plans in line with the objective of
reducing global greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent by 2030, and to “net zero” by 2050. In
addition, he has also identified nine areas in which he would like the countries to do more.
 Daily Current Affairs Dated On 20-Sep-2019

What are the climate action plans he is talking about?

 Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, every signatory nation is supposed to finalise and submit a set
of time-bound actions that it would take to combat climate change.
 The first set of action plans, called nationally determined contributions or NDCs, was submitted
in 2015.
 The Paris Agreement also says that the NDCs should be updated every five years, with each
subsequent NDC being stronger and more ambitious than the previous one.
 As per the five-year cycle, countries have to submit their second NDCs by next year.
 But the Secretary-General is asking the countries to make specific additional commitments at
Monday’s meeting.
 In addition, he has also appealed to the countries to promise not to set up any new coal plants
after 2020, stop subsidies on fossil fuels, and levy additional taxes on polluters. Importantly, he
has asked all countries to commit to net zero emissions by 2050.

Why has India refused?

 India has said its NDC already represents its “best effort”, keeping in mind its development
imperatives.
 In a discussion paper released earlier this week, the government said the “new asks” from the
Secretary-General, “in particular net zero emissions, mean a sweeping change across the entire
economy”.
 It has said this target should be kept only for developed countries.
 “This can be a global aspirational goal and developed countries must be on track to take
measures and legislate for net zero emissions by 2050.
 But it cannot be a goal for developing countries as the technologies have not progressed and
aren’t all available yet for developing countries.
 And the past performance on both finance and technology front is just not reassuring for them,”
it has said.

 India has said while it will continue to “do its best” on climate actions, it would not commit to
any long-term goal, like a net-zero emission target for 2050, at this stage.
 Daily Current Affairs Dated On 20-Sep-2019

 Under the Paris Agreement, countries are supposed to undertake a stock-take of their actions in
2023 to see whether these were in line with the objective of keeping the global rise in
temperature to below 2°C from the pre-industrial times.

 “Given this, India will be better placed to consider a mid-term assessment of its actions and
suitably recalibrate through re-examination and improvement when the global stocktake takes
place in 2023. For the present, India may only be in a position to elaborate or clarify its post
2020 climate actions already pledged in its NDC,” it has said.

So, what is expected to come out of Monday’s meeting then?

 A new UN report just ahead of Monday’s meeting says at least 112 countries had expressed
their intent to revise their NDCs, with 75 of them promising to enhance its ambition.
 The other 37 have proposed to bring more data and information in their NDCs.
 In addition, at least 53 countries had said they were working to finalise long-term strategies, like
a net-zero goal by 2050.
 Only 14 countries, together accounting for 26 per cent of global emissions, had categorically said
they would not revise their NDCs.

Many countries are likely to make these announcements at Monday’s meeting.

Air-to-Air missile Astra successfully flight tested from Su-30 MKI

Why in news?

Air-to-Air missile, ASTRA, has been successfully flight tested on 16 September 2019 off the coast of
Odisha. The missile was launched from Su-30 MKI as a part of User trials. The live aerial target was
engaged accurately demonstrating the capability of first indigenous air-to-air missile.

About the missile

 Astra (Sanskrit: weapon[5]) is an all weather beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile developed by

the Defence Research and Development Organisation, India.
 Daily Current Affairs Dated On 20-Sep-2019

 It is the first air-to-air missile developed by India. It features mid-course inertial guidance with
terminal active radar homing.
 Astra is designed to be capable of engaging targets at varying range and altitudes allowing for
engagement of both short-range targets at a distance of 20 km (12 mi) and long-range targets
up to a distance of 80 km (50 mi) .
 Astra has been integrated with Indian Air Force's Sukhoi Su-30MKI and will be integrated with
Dassault Mirage 2000 and Mikoyan MiG-29 in the future. Limited series production of Astra
missiles began in 2017.

National Centre for Clean Coal Research & Development

Why in news?

Union Minister of Science & Technology, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, today inaugurated the National Centre for
Clean Coal Research and Development at Indian Institute of Science (IISc)-Bengaluru. Government of
India through Department of Science & Technology, has set up the National Centre for Clean Coal
Research and Development (NCCCR&D) as a national level consortium on clean coal R&D, led by the
Indian Institute of Science (IISc)-Bengaluru.

About the center

 National Centre for Clean Coal Research and Development (NCCCR&D) is a national level
consortium on clean coal R&D, led by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc)-Bengaluru.
 The primary goal is to address several critical R&D challenges towards the development of clean
coal technologies, in tandem with developing supercritical power plant technologies, both at the
materials and system level.
 In order to achieve international targets on climate change by minimizing anthropogenic
emissions and also to address the ever-growing energy demand of India, development of clean
coal technologies to reduce carbon emissions from coal-based power plants has become a
prime necessity for India.
 The pathways identified for lowering the carbon footprint of coal-based thermal power plants is
by shifting towards high efficiency advanced ultra-supercritical (AUSC) steam power plants as
well as supercritical carbon dioxide (s-CO2) based Brayton cycle power plants, along with
exploration of new combustion and gasification technologies.
 Daily Current Affairs Dated On 20-Sep-2019

Corporate tax

Why in news?

In a major fiscal booster, the government on Friday slashed effective corporate tax to 25.17% inclusive
of all cess and surcharges for domestic companies.

Making the announcement, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the new tax rate will be
applicable from the current fiscal which began on April 1.

Major decisions

 The revenue foregone on reduction in corporate tax and other relief measures will be ₹1.45
lakh crore annually.
 In effect, the corporate tax rate will be 22% for domestic companies, if they do not avail any
incentive or concession.
 The changes in the Income Tax Act and Finance Act will be made effective through an ordinance.
 The companies opting for 22% income tax slab would not have to pay minimum alternative tax
(MAT).
 Meaning, effective tax rate for new manufacturing companies will be 17.01% inclusive of all
surcharge and cess.
 The government has also decided to not levy enhanced surcharge introduced in Budget on
capital gain arising from sale of equity shares in a company liable for securities transaction tax
(STT).
 Also, the super-rich tax will not to apply on capital gains arising from sale of any security
including derivatives in hands of foreign portfolio investors (FPIs).
 The companies have now also been permitted to use their 2% CSR spend on incubation, IITs,
NITs, and national laboratories.