28th JULY, 2022

NEWS TT DAY
NEWS DAY
MINISTER LAUDS SCIENTISTS FOR CONDUCTING WORLD’S FIRST LOCOMOTION TRIALS OF

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DEEP-SEA MINING SYSTEM
Last year, scientists from National Institute of Ocean Technology (under MoES) conducted world's deepest underwater locomotion
trials of Deep-Sea Mining System in Central Indian Ocean at depth of 5270 meters.
It is part of Deep Ocean Mission (DOM).

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DOM aims to explore Deep Ocean for resources and develop deep sea technologies for sustainable use of ocean resources. It will be
a mission mode project to support Blue Economy Initiatives.

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Blue Economy is sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs. Its size in India is
about 4% of the GDP.
Mission will be implemented in a phase-wise manner over a period Related News
of 5 years (2021-26). Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences launched
Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) is the nodal Ministry. a first-of-its-kind and state-of-art fully automated buoy-based

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coastal observation and water quality nowcasting system for
Major components of the Mission: the Indian Ocean.
Development of Technologies for Deep Sea Mining, and It is developed by Indian National Centre for Ocean
Manned Submersible. Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad.
Development of Ocean Climate Change Advisory Services. It will provide real-time data of 19 water quality-related
measurements such as temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen,

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Technological innovations for exploration and conservation of turbidity, etc.
deep-sea biodiversity.
It will help generate accurate nowcasts about coastal water

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Deep Ocean Survey and Exploration. quality, improve indices of coastal ecosystems’ health, and
Energy and freshwater from the Ocean. calibrate and validate sensors onboard satellites such as
Advanced Marine Station for Ocean Biology. Oceansat-III.

NATIONAL ANTI-DOPING BILL PASSED IN LOK SABHA

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Bill seeks to provide a statutory framework for strengthening anti-doping activities in sports and to give effect to the UNESCO’s

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International Convention against doping in sport (ratified by India).
Doping is consumption of certain prohibited substances by athletes to enhance performance.
Key Highlights of the bill

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Prohibits athletes, athlete support personnel, and other persons from engaging in doping in sport.
Violation of anti-doping rules may result in disqualification of results including forfeiture of medals and prizes, ineligibility to
participate in a competition for a prescribed period, and financial sanctions.
Constitutes National Anti Doping Agency (NADA) as a statutory body headed by a
Director General appointed by central government.

NADA was set up as registered society in 2005.

National Board for Anti-Doping in Sports will be established to make
recommendations on anti-doping regulations and compliance with international
commitments on anti-doping.
Board will constitute a National Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel (for determining
consequences of anti-doping rule violations) and a National Anti-Doping Appeal
Panel (to hear appeals against decisions of Disciplinary Panel).

Attempts to achieve, time-bound justice to athletes, apart from enhancing cooperation

among agencies in fighting doping.

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DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICALS AND PETROCHEMICALS SIGNED MOU WITH ILO ON IN-
TERNATIONAL CHEMICAL SAFETY CARDS (ICSCS)
ICSCs are data sheets intended to provide essential safety and health information on chemicals concisely. Aim is to promote safe
use of chemicals at workplace.
ICSCs are developed by WHO and ILO with cooperation of European Commission.
Frequency and severity of chemical disasters has increased due to rapid development of chemical and petrochemical industries and
increase in size of plants, storage and carriers, specifically in densely populated areas.

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Ministry of Environment is nodal Ministry for management of chemical disasters.
Provisions to deal with Chemical disasters
Doctrine of absolute liability propounded in M.C. Mehta v. UOI (Oleum Gas leak case), 1986.
Under this, enterprises engaged in hazardous or inherently dangerous activities shall be liable for compensation if any accident
in its operation results in escape of toxic substances.

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Environment Relief Fund, a central fund under Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991, was set up to provide immediate relief to

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victims.
Under Environment Protection Act, 1987, Centre has notified Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemicals Rules,
1989 and Hazardous Wastes (Management, Handling and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2008 for regulating hazardous
substances.
SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS
RBI RELEASED DISCUSSION PAPER ON CLIMATE AMENDMENTS TO PREVEN-

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RISK AND SUSTAINABLE FINANCE TION OF MONEY LAUNDERING
Uncertainty about timing and severity of climate-related and environmental
risk is increasingly being recognized as a source of financial risk for banks and,
ACT (PMLA)
Sc verdict came on challenge raised against

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in turn, for stability of overall financial system.
amendments introduced to PMLA in 2019.
Climate-related risks can impact financial sector through:
Amendments to PMLA provided

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Physical risks (economic costs and financial losses from floods, heatwaves Enforcement Directorate (ED) extensive
etc.) powers of summons, arrest and raids, and
makes bail provisions difficult while shifting
Transition risks (arising from process of burden of proof of innocence onto accused
adjustment towards a low-carbon rather than prosecution.

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economy). Key observations made by SC
SC accepted expansive definition of

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Potential effect of such risks:
money laundering that covers every
Credit risk (impairing
process and activity in dealing with the
value of assets held by
proceeds of the crime and is not merely
banks’ customers, or
related to the final act of laundering the
impact supply chains

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money.
affecting customers’
operations and ED officials are not police officials and
profitability). hence statements recorded by them can
serve as evidence in the court and won’t be
Market risk (decline in valuation challenged on ground of being
and increased volatility on self-incriminatory.
underlying economic activity).
Enforcement Case Information Report
Liquidity risk (increased demand for liquidity to respond to extreme weather (ECIR) cannot be equated with an FIR as it
events). is an internal document of ED and directive
Operational risk (disruption in business continuity due to impact on bank’s to share it with accused can’t be issued.
infrastructure, processes etc). About PMLA
Suggestions by RBI Act was enacted in a 2002 response to
India’s global commitment (including
Governance: Identify climate-related, environmental risks and
Vienna Convention) to combat menace of
opportunities and assess actual and potential impact of these risks.
money laundering, stemming from the
Strategy to address climate change risks through proper formulation, trade of drugs and narcotics and organised
planning and implementation of climate and environment strategy. crime that goes with it.
ED is a financial investigation agency
Sensitise India's financial sector to importance and benefits of green under Department of Revenue that
finance through capacity building, training etc. enforces the PMLA.
INDIA HAS ACHIEVED REPLACEMENT LEVEL FERTILITY (RLF): UNION MINISTER OF
STATE FOR HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Speaking at National Family Planning Summit 2022, Minister stated that India has achieved RLF, with 31 States/UTs reaching a Total
Fertility Rate of 2.1 or less.
RLF is level of fertility at which a population exactly replaces itself from one generation to next.
According to World population prospects 2022, India will overtake China as most populous country in 2023.
During the event, Minister also unveiled India Family Planning 2030 vision document with following key priorities:
Teenage Childbearing and early/ child marriage: From NFHS-4 to NHFS-5, decline in teenage childbearing was minimal— 7.9% in
2015-16 to 6.8% in 2019-21.
Migration and lack of access to contraceptives: It is mostly driven by lack of contraceptive preparedness before husband’s arrival,
inaccessibility to health facilities etc.
Lack of male participation in awareness programmes.

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Involvement of private sector to provide modern contraceptives.
Measures taken by India for population control
First country in world to launch a National Programme for Family Planning in 1952.

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National Commission on Population was formed in 2000.
India is a member of Family Planning (FP) 2020 (now transitioned to FP2030), a global initiative for family planning.

ALSO IN NEWS

Cabinet approves project

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Project will provide 4G mobile services in 24,680 uncovered villages in remote and difficult areas

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and will promote delivery of various e-governance services, banking services, tele-medicine,
tele-education etc.
It has a provision to include 20% additional villages on account of rehabilitation,
new-settlements, withdrawal of services by existing operators etc.
In addition, 6,279 villages having only 2G/3G connectivity shall be upgraded to 4G.

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for saturation of 4G Project will be executed by BSNL using Atmanirbhar Bharat’s 4G technology stack and will be
mobile services funded through Universal Service Obligation Fund.

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US is expected to avoid a technical recession.
A technical recession is a term used to describe two consecutive quarters of decline in output.
In case of a nation’s economy, it usually refers to back-to-back contractions in real GDP.
It is most often caused by a one-off event (say COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns imposed)
and is generally shorter in duration.

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It is mainly used to capture trend in GDP while a ‘recession’ encompasses more broad-based
Technical Recession decline in economic activity that covers several economic variables including employment,

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household and corporate incomes etc.
RBI-DPI has demonstrated significant growth (between March 2021- March 2022) indicating
rapid adoption and deepening of digital payments across the country.
RBI-DPI was launched on 01 January, 2021 with March 2018 as the base period.

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RBI-DPI comprises 5 broad parameters that enable measurement of deepening and penetration of
digital payments in the country:
Payment Enablers (weight 25%),
Reserve Bank of India –
Payment Infrastructure – Demand-side factors (10%),
Digital Payments Index Payment Infrastructure–Supply-side factors (15%),
(RBI-DPI) Payment Performance (45%) and
Consumer Centricity (5%).
The Energy Resource Institute (TERI), an independent, multi-dimensional research organization,
released roadmap for feasible pathways to achieving India’s decarbonisation targets.
At COP26, India announced goal of decarbonizing energy to 50% and achieving 500 GW of
fossil fuel-free generating capacity by 2030.
Key suggestions
Increase share of decentralized solar power by introducing feed-in-tariff.
Increase momentum of wind power growth.
Roadmap to India’s 2030
Implement storage projects such as Battery energy storage systems (BESS), Hydrogen energy
Decarbonization Target
storage technologies etc.

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 Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved additional investment by Bharat Petro
Resources Ltd. (BPRL) for development of BM-SEAL-11 Concession Project in Brazil.
BPRL Is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited.
Significance of the project
Strengthen India’s energy security.
BM-SEAL-11 Project Diversifying India’s crude oil supply.
Strengthening India’s foothold in Brazil, which will further open business avenues in
neighbouring Latin American countries.
Researchers reported fourth patient of HIV cured after stem cell transplant.
SCT, also called bone marrow transplant, is a procedure in which a patient receives healthy stem
cells to replace damaged stem cells.
Two main types:
Autologous transplantation: Uses patient’s own stem cells. These cells are removed, treated and
returned to his body after a conditioning regimen.
Allogeneic transplantation: Uses stem cells from a donor.

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Stem cell transplantation
(SCT) Stem cells are special human cells that are able to develop into many different cell types such as
muscle/blood/brain cells.
Google announced launch of its Street View feature in India.
Google Street View collects high-definition images to give users 360-degree views of streets,

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tourist spots, hills and rivers.
As per National Geospatial Policy, 2021, local companies can collect such data and foreign firms

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can license data from Indian entities to serve their customers in country.
Earlier, following security concerns raised by government agencies, google failed to launch its
Google Street View
service.
This time, Google has partnered with two Indian firms.
UNSC condemned attack at United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in Democratic

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Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) that killed two peacekeepers from India.
About UN Peacekeeping
Helps countries achieve lasting peace, supports political processes, protects civilians and
guarantee ceasefires.
UNSC determines when and where a UN peace operation should be deployed.

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Guided by three basic principles: Consent of parties, Impartiality and Non-use of force except in
UN Peacekeeping self-defence and defence of mandate.
India has deployed more than a quarter of a million troops over the years in as many as 49 UN

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Peacekeeping Missions.
James Lovelock, environmental scientist who created Gaia ecology theory, passed away.
About Gaia hypothesis (also known as Gaia theory or Gaia principle)
First proposed in the 1970s.

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It proposes that all organisms and their inorganic surroundings on Earth are closely
integrated to form a single and self-regulating complex system.

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Gaia hypothesis It postulates that this single system as a whole maintains Earth's surface in a habitable state by
self-regulating feedback mechanisms.

As per NTCA data, there were 1,059 tiger deaths since 2012.
About Tiger (Panthera tigris)

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It is classified as big cat and act as both flagship and umbrella species (leads to conservation of
other species).
Territory: Females hold small, mutually exclusive territories and Males hold territories that include
as many female ranges as possible.
Gestation period: 93 – 112 days.
Tiger Social Behaviour: Tends to live in solitary (temporary association during mating), except for
females with cubs.
IUCN status: Endangered.

It has been developed to bring together all Awards of various Ministries/Departments/Agencies

under one platform to ensure transparency and public partnership.
Portal facilitates every citizen or organisation to nominate individuals/organisations for various
Awards instituted by the Government of India.
Rashtriya Puruskar Portal
(National Awards Portal)

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