VISION

1)  Sadbhavna Diwas 2022: Birth Anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi

•India celebrates Sadbhavna Diwas in memory of Rajiv Gandhi’s birth anniversary. Sadbhavna Diwas 2022 commemorates the 78th birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi on 20th August 2022. Sadbhavna Diwas was instituted after the death of Rajiv Gandhi in 1992, by Congress. Sadbhavna Diwas promotes peace, harmony, empathy, and unity among all citizens of India. On this several cultural events and contests are organized across the country.

2)  Akshay Urja Diwas 2022: India Observes Renewable Energy Day

•Every year on the 20th of August India observers Akshay Urja Diwas or Renewable Energy Day. Akshay Urja Diwas 2022 or Renewable Energy Day aims to spread awareness about the development and adoption of renewable energy in India. Akshay Urja Diwas 2022, marks its importance by promoting and lining up the alarming rate of depletion of Natural resources. This day makes people aware of the use of natural resources like wind energy, solar energy, and hydropower.

•Akshay Urja Diwas was first established in 2004 to support renewable energy development programs in India and promote the usage of natural resources. In 2004, the first event was facilitated by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, where he released a stamp with 12000 children forming a human chain to promote the use of green energy sources. The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy Source (MNRE) planned to arrange the first informative campaign or event along with the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh.

3)  India’s First Portal On Arrested Narco Offenders ‘NIDAAN’

•A first-of-its kind database of arrested narcotics offenders has been made operational for use by various central and state prosecution agencies tasked to enforce anti-drugs laws in the country. The portal–NIDAAN or the National Integrated Database on Arrested Narco-offenders–has been developed by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). It is part of the narcotics coordination mechanism (NCORD) portal that was launched by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on July 30 in Chandigarh during the national conference on ‘Drug trafficking and national security’.

4)  Shipping Ministry Proposes Amendment To 110 Year-Old Indian Ports Act

•The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has released a draft to amend the Indian Ports Act, 1908, which aims to bring in sweeping reforms in the sector by bringing non-major ports into the national fold, creating a new mechanism for resolution of disputes, and empowering maritime state development council (MSDC).  The Indian Ports Act, 1908 is more than 110 years old.

•It has become imperative that the Act is revamped to reflect the present-day frameworks, incorporate India’s international obligations, address emerging environmental concerns, and aid the consultative development of the ports sector in the national interest. However, sector experts say the bill could face the same fate as the Major Ports Authority Act amendment, which was introduced last year and faced criticism over the possibility of higher concentration of power in the hands of the central government, which controls 12 major ports of India.

5)  India to buy Six Tu-160 long-range bombers from Russia

•India intends to purchase Tu-160 bomber from Russia, in order to boost its strategic force. America objected to its initial flight because of how hazardous this bomber is in nature. Tupolev Tu-160 bomber can reach a peak speed of 2220 kmph. The maximum weight that this aircraft can carry while flying is 110,000 kg. It has a 56-meter wingspan. Russia produces the tactical bomber known as the Tu-160 bomber. As a result, the bomber may carry out an attack at a distance of thousands of kilometres from its base.

6)  ISRO received a Crew Module Fairing from HAL for Gaganyaan mission

•Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) handed two pieces of space equipment to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for use in the Gaganyaan mission. This is the second crew module fairing (CMF) that India’s top space agency has purchased from HAL for the mission. Even though both of these CMFs will be used in some capacity, the first experiment will use the CMF that ISRO obtained from HAL.

7)  HDFC Bank opened the first all-women branch in north Kerala

•HDFC Bank inaugurated an all-women branch in Kozhikode, north Kerala. Mayor of the city Corporation Beena Philip opened the branch of HDFC Bank. As of March 31, 2022, women made up 21.7% (21,486) of the workforce, according to the bank. By 2025, the private lender wants to raise it to 25%. Deals beyond a certain threshold require regulator approval, which keeps an eye on unethical business practises in the marketplace.

8)  HAL to establish its first marketing office abroad in Malaysia

•The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish its first international marketing and sales office in Kuala Lumpur in anticipation of a potential agreement for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas in Malaysia. The change has taken place because Tejas is being considered by Malaysia as a Fighter Lead-in Trainer (FLIT) aircraft for the Royal Malaysian Air Force.

 Vision IAS Indian Geography Printed Notes PDF

Click Here to download Vision IAS Indian Geography Printed Notes PDF

Click Here to Like our Facebook page for latest updates and free ebooks

📰 The injustice of exceptionalism

1)  World Photography Day celebrates on 19th August

•World Photography Day is celebrated on August 19 each year. The aim of World Photography Day is to create awareness, share ideas and encourage people to take up photography. The annual celebration pays tribute to the art of photography and also encourages those who are passionate about it to come together and share their work. It also serves as a motivating day for enthusiasts to pursue photography as a career.

2)  World Humanitarian Day observed on 19th August

•World Humanitarian Day is celebrated on August 19 every year to recognise all aid and health workers who volunteer to help victims of disasters and crises against all odds. The day aims to spread awareness about the need for humanitarian assistance worldwide. The UN hopes that the day will serve as a reminder to people of the risk taken by some to save lives and support humanitarian causes.

3)  Country first electric double-decker bus launched in Mumbai

•Union Transport Minister, Nitin Gadkari has launched India’s first electric double-decker bus at YB Centre in south Mumbai. The name of the bus is “Switch EiV 22”, the double-decker bus will be run by the Mumbai civic transport body from September. Nitin Gadkari said 35 per cent of the pollution is because of diesel and petrol, and the introduction of these buses will reduce pollution. Two new electric buses, including the first air-conditioned double-decker bus in the country, will join the fleet of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST).

4)  Goa, first state in India to receive “Har Ghar Jal” certification

•The people of all the villages in Goa and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu (D&NH and D&D) declared their village to be a “Har Ghar Jal” through a resolution passed by the Gram Sabha, certifying that all households in the villages have access to safe drinking water through taps and ensuring that “No One is Left Out.” All 85,156 of the 85,635,000 rural households in Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, and Goa have access to potable water via a tap connection with Har Ghar Jal.

5)  Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched ‘Make India No. 1’ mission

•Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal has formally unveiled his Aam Aadmi Party’s national ambition with the launch of the ‘Make India No 1’ campaign. At an event organised at Talkatora stadium here, he proposed a five-point vision for good governance. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor termed the campaign a “national mission” and appealed to the masses to join.

6)  The Geo-Political Situation Of China-Taiwan-USA Relations

•Taiwan is crucial for power ambition. No country can become superpower without establishing regional hegemony. The US is protected by the World’s two largest ocean that has made her Great power, same with soviet union. China knows if it wants to become global power, it cant be caged in terms of naval power. And china is surrounded by crowded neighbous which acts as obstacle in its ambition.

7)  United Kingdom(U.K) Inflation Rises To 10.1%, A 20 Year High

•Britain’s annual inflation rate has touched doubled digits, climbing to 10.1% in July from a year ago — the sharpest increase since 1982. Consumer prices are rising even faster in the U.K. than in the U.S. and Europe, propelled by higher food and energy costs. The increase was largely due to rising prices for food and staples, including toilet paper and toothbrushes. Core inflation, which strips out volatile, food and energy prices hitting 6.2% in July.

8)  India’s Oil Demand Will Rise By 7.73% In 2022, Fastest In The World

•India’s demand for petroleum products like petrol and diesel will grow by 7.73 per cent in 2022, the fastest pace in the world. India’s oil demand remained healthy at 0.7 millions barrels per day (million b/d), about 16 per cent y-o-y growth in June, after an annual growth of 0.8 million b/d in May. Oil demand in India is supported by the rising momentum in economic activities, as the economic reopening continued amid an easing of COVID-19 restrictions in India. Indian oil demand in June was supported by the reduction in excise duty on petrol and diesel by the Central Government, coupled with the delayed arrival of the monsoon season and has led to robust demand for fuels.

📰 Bustards adapt to produce 2-egg clutch

Vision IAS Environment Mains 365 Hindi 2022 PDF

 Why in news?

In Independence Day address, PM Narendra Modi asked Indians to embrace “Panch Pran” (five vows) by 2047 when the country celebrates 100 years of independence.

The first vow is for India to become a developed country in the next 25 years.

What is a “developed” country?

• World Economic Situation and Prospects’ (UN) Classification
  • Developed economies
  • Economies in transition
  • Developing economies
• The World Bank’s categorization - Based on Gross National Income (GNI) per capita
  • Low income countries
  • Lower middle income countries
  • Upper middle income countries
  • High income countries

Why is the United Nations classification contested?

• It can be argued that the UN classification is not very accurate and has limited analytical value.
• There are 31 developed countries according to the UN in all.
• Except 17 economies in transition, others are designated as “developing” countries, even though in terms of proportion, China’s per capita income is closer to Norway’s than Somalia’s.
• Then there are countries such as Ukraine, with a per capita GNI of 4,120 dollars (a third of China’s) that are designated as “economies in transition”.

Where does India stand?

• India falls under the categories of “developing economies” and “lower middle income countries”.
• GDP- Considering the absolute level of GD, India is one of the biggest economies of the world even though the US and China remain far ahead.
• Per capita income- However, to be classified as a “developed” country, the average income of a country’s people matters more.
• On per capita income, India is behind even Bangladesh.
• Developments- India has made a secular improvement on Human Development Index (HDI) metrics that has three factors.
  • Health and longevity of citizens
  • Quality of education
  • Standard of life
• The life expectancy at birth in India has gone from around 40 years in 1947 to around 70 years now.
• India has also taken giant strides in education enrolment at all three levels — primary, secondary, and tertiary.

China’s per capita income is 5.5 times that of India, and the UK’s is almost 33 times.

• Distance left to cover- Even though India is the world’s third-largest economy in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms, most Indians are still relatively poor compared to people in other middle income countries.
• Metrics, such as the food share of consumption, suggest that even rich households in India would have to see a substantial expansion of their total consumption to reach levels of poor households in rich countries.

As of 2013, India had 218 million people living in extreme poverty — which made India home to the most number of poor people in the world.

How much can India achieve by 2047?

1)  PM Modi announced ‘Panch Pran’ goal for the next 25 years

•Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to the nation from the Red Fort for the ninth time in a row on August 15, 2022. PM Modi, in his 88-minute speech, outlined his “Panch Pran Targets” (Five Resolves) to make India a developed country by the time it celebrates its 100th Independence Day in 25 years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed the Panch Pran Goal.

2)  NASA’s moon rocket moved to launch pad for 1st test flight

•The American space agency, NASA has rolled out its giant new Moon rocket, surrounding the  Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, the vehicle was moved to Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of the expected lift-off on 29 August. The near 100m-tall (328ft) SLS rode an immense tractor to the pad. The SLS will be used under the Artemis mission that will take humans back to the Moon his time with plans for a longer presence on the surface.

•Nasa has promised that this third mission will witness the first woman to put her boots down on the Moon’s surface. A major objective of the test fight is to check the heatshield on the capsule can survive the heat of re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.

3)  Defence Minister Rajnath Singh gives “F-INSAS” system to Indian Army

•Defence Minister of India, Rajnath Singh handed over to the Indian Army the much-awaited Future Infantry Soldier as a System (F-INSAS) at the unveiling ceremony of various defence and strategic systems held in Delhi. The full gear of the F-INSAS includes an AK-203 assault rifle, which is a Russian-origin gas-operated, magazine-fed, select-fire assault rifle.

4)  National Intellectual Property Awareness Mission (NIPAM)

•The National Intellectual Property Awareness Mission (NIPAM) was launched by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on 8th December 2021. The National Intellectual Property Awareness Mission (NIPAM) aims to provide awareness and training on Intellectual Property (IP). On 31st July 2022, the scheme met its goal of training one million students before the deadline on 15th August 2022. The number of students or faculty trained under the Intellectual Property Awareness Mission is 10,05,272 and 3663 educational institutions have been covered.

5)  Centre Approves Limit of Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme(ECLGS) to 5 Lakh Crore

•The Union Cabinet approved the enhancement in the limit of the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) by Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 5 lakh crore, with the additional amount being earmarked exclusively for enterprises in hospitality and related sectors. ECLGS is a continuing scheme and the additional amount of Rs. 50,000 crore would be made applicable to enterprises in hospitality and related sectors till validity of the scheme in March 31 next year.

•The enhancement is expected to provide much-needed relief to enterprises in these sectors by incentivizing lending institutions to provide additional credit of up to Rs 50,000 crore at low cost, enabling these business enterprises to meet their operational liabilities and continue their businesses. Loans of about Rs. 3.67 Lakh crore have been sanctioned under ECLGS till August 5.

6)  India Gift Dornier Maritime Reconnaissance Aircraft to Sri Lanka

•India on August 15 gifted a Dornier maritime reconnaissance aircraft to Sri Lanka which will enable the island nation to tackle multiple challenges like human and drug trafficking, smuggling and other organised forms of crime in its coastal waters more effectively. Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe was present at the impressive handover ceremony which took place on a day when India celebrated its 76th Independence Day and a day before a high-tech Chinese missile and satellite tracking ship docks at the island nation’s strategic Hambantota port.

•Vice Chief of Indian Navy Vice Admiral S.N. Ghormade, who is on a two-day visit to the country, accompanied by Indian High Commissioner in Colombo Gopal Baglay, handed over the aircraft to the Sri Lanka Navy at the Sri Lanka Air Force base in Katunayake, adjoining the Colombo international airport.

7)  Now, Use UPI For NPS, Atal Pension Yojana(APY) Contribution

•Subscribers of National Pension System (NPS) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) can now contribute to their accounts through Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the country’s instant real-time payment system. The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has launched a UPI handle for depositing contributions through D-Remit for the benefit of subscribers.

•Currently, the contributions were carried out through net banking account by using IMPS/NEFT/RTGS. The PFRDA-administered two schemes NPS and APY are targeted towards organised and unorganised sector employees, respectively. Introduced in December 2003, it is mandatory for central government employees (except armed forces) who joined service from January 1, 2004, to subscribe to NPS. In May 2009, it was extended to private and unorganised sector on voluntary basis.

8)  India’s IT Secretary Alkesh Kumar Sharma named to high-level UN internet panel

•UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has named India’s Electronics and Information Technology Secretary, Alkesh Kumar Sharma to a panel of eminent experts on internet governance. Internet pioneer Vint Cerf and Nobel Prize-winning journalist Maria Reesa were also appointed to the 10-member Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Leadership Panel. In addition, Guterres’ envoy on technology, Amandeep Singh Gill, will also be on the panel. They will serve for a two-year term during the 2022–23 IGF cycles.

9)  Vostok-2022: Indo-China military drills to be held in Russia

•The People’s Liberation Army of China will take part in the Vostok-2022 strategic command and staff exercise in Russia, which also includes the armies of India, Belarus, Tajikistan, and Mongolia, according to the country’s defence ministry. China‘s People’s Liberation Army will send some troops to Russia to participate in the Vostok-2022 (East) strategic exercise, in accordance with the two countries’ yearly military cooperation plan and agreement.

10)  GoI unveils “Manthan” platform for better industry and R&D collaboration

•The government of India unveiled the “Manthan” platform to drive collaboration between the industry and research institutes to implement technology-based social impact innovations and solutions in the country. The launch of Manthan, a platform that promises to augment our efforts to build and nurture industry participation in R&D, is also a testimony of our commitment to the UN’s SDG goals. The launch commemorates India’s 75 years of independence and presents an opportunity to bring national and global communities closer to India’s technology revolution.

11)  IRDAI hosts its inaugural hackathon, Bima Manthan 2022

•IRDAI, the insurance regulator, in order to safeguard the interests of policyholders, has asked organisations to provide technologically advanced new solutions for automated death claim settlement, reducing miss-selling, and other components of the insurance ecosystem. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) is accepting applications for Bima Manthan 2022, its inaugural hackathon, with the topic “Innovation in Insurance.”

12)  Marina Tabassum, first South Asian to get Lisbon Triennale Lifetime Achievement Award

•As the first recipient from the global south and the first South Asian, renowned Bangladeshi architect, researcher, and educator Marina Tabassum received the prestigious Lisbon Triennale Millennium bcp Lifetime Achievement Award. The Lisbon Architecture Triennale panel commended Marina Tabassum for providing an inspiring example of work with local communities that may have a beneficial impact all over the world even in the most challenging circumstances when announcing the award.

13)  Rajkiran Rai named as new MD of NaBFID

•The Centre and the board of the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) has appointed Rajkiran Rai G as its managing director (MD) for the next five years. The board of NaBFID approved Rai’s appointment on July 30 based on clearance by the RBI, centre and the Development finance institutions (DFI) nomination and remuneration committee. He took charge as the DFI’s MD on August 8, and will hold the top post till May 18, 2027, according to details of the appointment.

•Last year in October 2021, the Centre had appointed K V Kamath as chairperson of NaBFID. Subsequently, government nominees Pankaj Jain and Sumita Dawra were appointed directors to the board of DFI. The government has already infused Rs 20,000 crore into NaBFID to help the DFI start its operations to catalyse investment in the infrastructure sector.

14)  State Bank of India introduced its first dedicated branch to support start-ups

•The country’s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI) has launched its first branch dedicated to start-ups in Koramangala, Bengaluru. SBI Chairman Dinesh Khara launched the branch in Koramangala near HSR Layout and Indiranagar which are the biggest start-up hubs in the city. After Bengaluru, the next branch will be opened in Gurgaon and the third one will be in Hyderabad. These branches would support the needs of the entire start-up ecosystem.

15)  Meghalaya Sports Department set to host 2nd edition of North East Olympics

•Meghalaya is all set to host the upcoming 2nd edition of the North East Olympics from 30th October. Meghalaya Department of Sports and Youth Affairs, and the North East Olympic Association was held last evening to finalize the list of sports disciplines. The first edition of the Games was held in Manipur in 2018, with 12 disciplines.

•In this edition, about 4,000 participants from eight North Eastern States will be competing in 18 disciplines at 13 venues spread across Shillong. Participants will be competing in disciplines, such as archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, football, judo, karate, shooting, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, wushu, cycling (Mountain Bike), golf, weightlifting and wrestling.