India gets first TIR shipment

 

News Flash

The first shipment under the United Nations ‘Transports Internationaux Routiers’ (TIR) convention arrived in India from Afghanistan through Iran’s Chabahar Port.

FICCI has been appointed as National Issuing & Guaranteeing Association and system is managed worldwide by the International Road Transport Union (IRU), Geneva and overseen by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).

 

TIR Convention

• India had joined the TIR Convention (the United Nations Customs Convention on International Transport of Goods under cover of TIR Carnets) on June 15, 2017.
• The convention allows goods to be outlined in a TIR carnet and sealed in load compartments.

 

Advantages of TIR

• The convention will help boost India’s exports and enable greater participation in the global value chains.
• TIR will play a pivotal role in improving ease of doing business.
• It will also pave the way for smoother and safer transport of goods across international borders.
• It will help boost trade between India, Central Asia, Europe and Russia.

 

TIR system

The system is a win-win-win model for Customs, FICCI and the business community as it will act as a strong catalyst for moving goods using the multi-modal transportation route like Chabahar and International North-South Transport (INSTC) Corridor.

The system facilitates and encourages international trade, and thereby provides many advantages and benefits to the national economy by simplifying the movement of national and international transport, giving access to over 62 TIR operational countries.

 

Chabahar Port and TIR

The opening of Chabahar Port for TIR is hugely significant — offering connectivity for landlocked countries, seamless border crossing facilitation and intermodal capabilities.

This will open the door for other intermodal corridors such as International North South Transport Corridor — connecting India to Central Asia, Russia and eventually Europe.

Source: The Hindu

 

 

National Register of Citizens (NRC)

 

News Flash

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has assured the Supreme Court that names have not been deleted from the Assam electoral roll on the basis of their exclusion from the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC), which was published in July last year.

The draft National Register of Citizens (NRC), published on 30th July 2018, includes only those who are able to prove they were in Assam before 1971.

A petition in the Supreme Court claims that that several categories of persons were deprived of voting rights ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

• Some persons are having their names the draft NRC but not in the voter list.
• Some persons are not having names in the voter list but their names are in the draft NRC published on July 30, 2018.
• Others are related to the categories of declared foreign persons.
• There are People whose mass are not in the draft NRC but their family members were included.

On the above grounds petition claims that the voter list prepared are not inclusionary and in this way discriminates various sections of the society in an arbitrary manner.

D-voters D stands for ‘dubious’ or ‘doubtful, this is a category of voters who have been denied voting rights by the government for alleged lack of proper citizenship documents. Some 2.48 lakh people got the D-voter tag during NRC process.

 

National Register of Citizens (NRC) of Assam

The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is the list of Indian citizens of Assam. It was prepared in 1951, following the census of 1951.

The bases to include any persons name in the updated NRC were following:

1. Existence of name in the legacy data: The legacy data includes:

• The collective list of the NRC data of 1951.
• The electoral rolls up to midnight of 24 March 1971.

2. Proof of linkage with the person whose name appears in the legacy data.

Declared foreigners This is the category of those D-voters who fail to defend their citizenship claim in special tribunals under the Foreigners’ Act they are marked as declared foreigners and sent to any of six detention camps, Which are within jails for criminals, for deportation. There were 91,206 declared foreigners as on December 31, 2017.

 

In order to wean out cases of illegal migration from Bangladesh and other adjoining areas, NRC updation was carried out under The Citizenship Act, 1955, and according to rules framed in the Assam Accord. Supreme Court ordered in 2013 to update the NRC of Assam and monitored the procedure.

The Assam Accord of 1985 that ended the six-year anti-foreigners’ agitation decided upon the midnight of March 24, 1971 as the cut-off date. Because the biggest migration waves occurred in and after March 1971 when the Pakistan army crackdown forced many to flee to India.

Source: The Hindu

 

 

 

SIPRI report: India is world’s largest weapons importer

 

News Flash

Between 2013 and 2017, India was the world’s largest importer of major weapons and its imports have increased by 24 per cent over the last 10 years, according to the latest annual study by the global watchdog on arms sales, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

• In the total arms transfers in the world India’s arms imports share is 12 percent.
• The US remained the biggest arms seller, accounting for 34 per cent of global arms exports. And Russia is the second largest arms exporter in that period.
• Pakistan and China’s arms imports have reduced in the same period. Pakistan’s arms imports decreased by 36% between 2008-12 and 2013-17. China’s arms imports fell by 19% between 2008-12 and 2013-17.

 

Transition in Defence Import Composition :

• The largest supplier of arms to India is Russia between 2013-2017. Russian arms were 62 per cent of India’s imports.
• But imports from the US increased by a huge 557 per cent between 2008-12 and 2013-17. The US is now India’s second largest arms supplier.
• India’s arms imports increased by 24% over the last 10 year.
• India’s arms imports accounted for 12 per cent of the total arms transfers in the world.

 

Reasons Behind this increase:

• A tensed neighbourhood : The tensions between India, on the one side, and Pakistan and China, on the other, are fuelling India’s growing demand for major weapons.
• Still unable to produce weapons it needed of high quality and updated with state of the art technologies.
• The old weapon stocks in India is not capable to take on prospective future conflicts with its rivals. China, by contrast, is becoming increasingly capable of producing its own weapons and continues to strengthen its relations with Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar through arms supplies.

 

SIPRI

SIPRI is an independent international institute, established in 1966, dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament. It provides data, analysis and recommendations, based on open sources, to policymakers, researchers, media and public.  The SIPRI Arms Transfers Database contains information on all international transfers of major weapons (including sales, gifts and production licences) to states, international organizations and armed non-state groups.

Source: New Indian Express

 

 

Combat Casualty Drugs

 

News Flash

DRDO’s medical laboratory has come up with a range of ‘combat casualty drugs’ that can extend the golden hour till the trooper is shifted to hospital.

 

Why do we need

Scientists at INMAS, said that the main battlefield emergencies are excess bleeding, sepsis, shock, hypovolemia (decreased blood volume) and pain.

 

Combat Casualty Drug

The spectrum includes bleeding wound sealants, super absorptive dressings and glycerated salines, all of which can save lives in the event of warfare in jungle and high altitude areas as well as in terror attacks

 

Glycerated saline

• Glycerated saline, a battlefield intravenous fluid that does not freeze till -18 degrees Celsius and is useful in handling trauma cases in high altitude area.
• Glycerated saline reduces inflamation.
• Glycerated saline has life-saving capacities as it gives more time to the medical personnel to shift the wounded patient to a higher care facility.

 

Medicated dressing

• INMAS has also developed a special medicated dressing material which is 200 times more absorptive than normal dressings during bleeding wounds.
• These cellulose fibre-based dressings are more effective in stopping bleeding and keeping the wound clean.

 

Chitosan gel

• Chitosan gel, which helps in preventing blood loss by forming a film over the wound.
• Coupled with platelets and red blood cells aggregation, it stops the bleeding.
• Its antibacterial and wound health properties are of added benefit.
• Chitosan gel is suitable for sealing wounds by twin action: haemostasis by chemical action and filing action.

 

Hypocholorous acid

• Hypocholorous acid (HOCL), a disinfectant for troopers involved in jungle warfare. It is helpful in treating necrotising fascitis, a rapidly progressing bacterial infection of soft tissues.
• Bacterial toxins cause local tissue damage and necrosis, as well as blunt immune system responses.

 

Nalbuphine injection

• Nalbuphine injection to reduce pain during mutilating war injuries.
• 10 mg injection of Nalbuphine hydrochloride is more effective for an injured trooper if it is given through the submental/sublingual route instead of intra-muscular or intravenous route.

 

Developers

The drug is developed at the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences, a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation.

 

Institute of Nuclear Medicine & Allied Sciences (INMAS)

INMAS is a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation. Located in New Delhi, it is involved in Nuclear medicine research and responding to nuclear accidents and explosions.

Soure: The Hindu

 

 

 

Cabinet Approves Proposal to Align with Global Trademark System

 

News Flash

The Cabinet has approved the proposal to harmonise the classification systems for examination of trademark and design applications.

Union Cabinet has approved the proposal for the accession of India to:

• The Locarno Agreement for establishing an International classification for industrial designs.
• The Nice Agreement deals with International classification of goods and services for the purposes of registration of trademarks.
• The Vienna Agreement deals with an International classification of the figurative elements of trademarks.

All three agreements are administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization.

 

Benefits of Accession

• Instill confidence in foreign investors in relation to protection of IPs in India.
• It will also facilitate in exercising rights in decision-making processes regarding review and revision of the classifications under the agreement.
• It will give an opportunity to include Indian designs, figurative elements and goods in the international classification systems.
• The accession is part of the government’s commitment to strengthen the Indian Intellectual property regime.

 

Intellectual Property

Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce.

IP is protected in law by, for example, patents, copyright and trademarks, which enable people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create.

Copyright: Copyright is a legal term used to describe the rights that creators have over their literary and artistic works. Works covered by copyright range from books, music, paintings, sculpture and films, to computer programs, databases, advertisements, maps and technical drawings. Patents: A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention. Generally speaking, a patent provides the patent owner with the right to decide how – or whether – the invention can be used by others. In exchange for this right, the patent owner makes technical information about the invention publicly available in the published patent document. Trademarks: A trademark is a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one enterprise from those of other enterprises. Trademarks date back to ancient times when artisans used to put their signature or “mark” on their products. Industrial designs: An industrial design constitutes the ornamental or aesthetic aspect of an article. A design may consist of three-dimensional features, such as the shape or surface of an article, or of two-dimensional features, such as patterns, lines or color.  Geographical indications: Geographical indications and appellations of origin are signs used on goods that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities, a reputation or characteristics that are essentially attributable to that place of origin. Most commonly, a geographical indication includes the name of the place of origin of the goods.

 

World Intellectual Property Organization

• WIPO was created in 1967 “to encourage creative activity, to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world”. It is one of the oldest specialized agencies of the United Nations. WIPO currently administers 26 international treaties.
• It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
• Every year World Intellectual Property Day is being celebrated on 26th April.

Source: The Hindu Businessline

 

 

 

Project Varshadhare

 

News Flash

As 176 talukas reel under drought, the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department of Karnataka State,  pushed a tender call for cloud seeding operations to enhance rainfall during the monsoons of 2019 and 2020.

Special aircraft will disperse the chemical silver iodide as they fly through rain-bearing clouds that will trigger and enhance the precipitation. Rain occurs when moisture in the air reaches levels at which it can no longer be held.

Hoysala Projects Pvt Ltd, the designated agency to carry out the cloudseeding, will take up the operations from the airports of Hubli and Bengaluru over the next 60 days.

 

Cloud Seeding

Cloud-seeding is a kind of weather modification procedure that attempts to enhance the amount of precipitation from the clouds to generate more rain.

Aim

To facilitate and accelerate the process by making available chemical ‘nuclei’ for condensation to take place. The agents used as nuclei are iodides of silver or potassium, dry ice (solid carbon dioxide), or liquid propane.

 

Technology used

• Three Doppler radars to detect the rain-bearing clouds and enable their seeding.
• Special aircraft will disperse the chemical silver iodide as they fly through rain-bearing clouds that will trigger and enhance the precipitation

Source: The Hindu

 

  

Arecanut gets its first GI tag for ‘Sirsi Supari’

 

News Flash

Arecanut, known as supari or betel nut, made its entry in the list of agricultural produce for the first time with the Geographical Indication (GI) tag for ‘Sirsi Supari’.

• The Registrar of Geographical Indications, Government of India, accorded a GI tag, ‘Sirsi Supari’, to arecanut grown in Sirsi, Siddpaur and Yellapur taluks of Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka.Totgars’
• The GI tag will guarantee the authenticity of arecanut grown in these taluks, and ensure a better market for ‘Sirsi Supari’.

 

Arecanut

• The arecanut is the fruit of the areca palm that grows in much of the tropical Pacific, Southeast and South Asia, and parts of east Africa.
• It is commonly referred to as betel nut (chewing nut or Supari). In India, it is extensively used by large sections of people and is linked with religious practices.
• India is the largest producer and consumer of arecanut.
• The nut is majorly cultivated in Karnataka, Kerala, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Meghalaya and West Bengal.

 

Unique features 

• Round and flattened coin shape.
• Particular texture, size, cross-sectional views, taste, etc.
• These features are not seen in arecanut grown in any other regions. Its average dry weight is 7.5 g and average thickness is 16 mm.

Source: The Hindu

 

 

ATTENTION

A New frog species

 

2 cm long and with sports pale blue spots and brilliant orange thighs. The discovery of the starry dwarf frog has been published on March 13 in PeerJ, an international multidisciplinary journal.

Its a nocturnal amphibian.

Lives under leaf litter on a mountaintop in Kerala’s Wayanad.

The team named the new species the starry dwarf frog Astrobatrachus kurichiyana (genus Astrobatrachus after its starry spots and kurichiyana in honour of the Kurichiya tribal community who live in the area).

Source: The Hindu

 

 

Wood snake

 

A species of wood snake that wasn’t seen for 140 years has resurfaced in a survey conducted by scientists in the Meghamalai . The species, endemic to the Meghamalai forests and the Periyar Tiger Reserve landscape, was recently rediscovered .

Meghamalai popularly called Highways Mountains is a mountain range situated in the Western Ghats in Theni district, Tamil Nadu. It is known for cardamom plantations and tea estates. The place is situated at an elevation of 1,500 m above sea level and it is rich in flora and fauna.

Source: Indian Express

 

Cool-spots

 

‘Cool-spots’ are the world’s last refuges where high numbers of threatened species still persist. Cool-spots could be the result of protection or because of intact habitat that has not been cleared yet.

Source: The Hindu

 

Black Hole Coin

 

• UK Issues New Black Hole Coin in Honour of Stephen Hawking.
• The British Royal Mint has commemorated professor Stephen Hawking in a new 50p coin, which references the late physicist’s pioneering work on black holes. It aims to celebrate the life and “ground-breaking” achievements of Hawking, who passed away in 2018.

Source: The Hindu