Current Affairs 15th February 2018

Current Affairs 15th February 2018 - Important Points

• Which state government constituted Revenue Commission - Punjab State
• NTPC to supply 300 MW electricity to which country - Bangladesh
• President hosted LPG Panchayat at - Rashtrapati Bhavan
• Sports Ministry to introduce ranking system for - National sports federations
• Which Unmanned Russian Cargo Ship launched to Space Station - Progress MS-08

Current Affairs 15th February 2018 - Details

Which state government constituted Revenue Commission - Punjab State

Punjab government has formed 6 members Revenue Commission with an objective to bring greater functional efficiency and accountability of the Revenue Department. The Commission will be led by Retd. Justice SS Saron of Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Terms of References

The authority will streamline present laws, procedures relating to land administration, need of land for agriculture and industry usage. It will advise new laws and processes, to facilitate revenue administration more clear and responsive to the requirements of the citizen.
It will analyse need for new Acts or amendment of present laws to legalize land-lease exercises in order to give a firm basis for a modern high-value agriculture and horticulture, replacing present mono culture of wheat-paddy.

It will have compulsion to review organizational structure of income related aspirations, assumptions, requirements of modern Punjabi society. It will propose norms of population, area and many more for all administrative units including divisions, sub-divisions, tehsil, sub-tehsil and districts.

NTPC to supply 300 MW electricity to which country - Bangladesh

India’s biggest electricity generator NTPC Ltd has won tender to provide 300 megawatts of electricity to Bangladesh for fifteen years. The tender was drafted by Bangladesh Power Development Board for supply of 500 megawatts power from India for short term 2018-2019 and long term 2020-2033.

Key Points

The availability of 300 megawatts to Bangladesh is portion of India’s plan of playing a crucial role in creating a new energy security architecture for its neighbours. It will aid NTPC earn Rupees 900 crores in yearly revenue. It will facilitate NTPC to maintaining pace with fast changing power sector. India is presently exporting about 600 megawatts electricity to Bangladesh.

Importance

Boosting across border energy business is a vital part of India’s South Asia-focused neighbourhood-first policy. It also has been expressed in NITI Aayog’s draft national energy policy. India already has power grid connections with Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh and is developing power projects in 3 nations. It is also preparing to make power transmission links with Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

India has also been pursuing closer relations in energy area with Bangladesh, aiding markets to integrate. State operated Indian Oil Corp. is exploring long termed agreements with Bangladeshi organisations for providing LPG and other petroleum products.

President hosted LPG Panchayat at - Rashtrapati Bhavan

President Ram Nath Kovind entertained an ‘LPG Panchayat at Rashtrapati Bhavan. It was held by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjawala Yojana. The LPG Panchayat objects to give a platform for LPG users to interact with each other, improve mutual learning and share experiences.

LPG Panchayat

LPG Panchayat works as an interactive platform among those who got LPG cylinders under PMUY. 1 panchayat has approximately 100 LPG subscribers of nearby areas. The panchayats share issues such as quality of service given by distributors, safe practices and possibilty of refill cylinders.

LPG Panchayat objects at increasing awareness among LPG consumers about how to properly handle clean fuel and its appropriate benefits. It gives platform to initiate discussion via sharing of personal experiences on advantages of clean fuel as compared to fuels including cow dung, wood and charcoal.
It also connects with recepients of PMUY to solve problems and bad traditional beliefs between people through officials of NGOs, Asha and social workers. Under it, 1 lakh LPG Panchayats will be initiated across nation to deal with issue of safe usage of LPG and its various advantages on environment, health and how it empowers females.

Sports Ministry to introduce ranking system for - National sports federations

The Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs is preparing to start ranking system for National Sports Federations. It is objected at implanting healthy competition among sports bodies. This will be for 1st time the Sports Ministry will have plan by which sports federations will be rated as per to set parameters.

Key Points

The ratings will be based on federations’ administrative capability, talent-spotting ability, transparency, and medal number of players.

The sports ministry will establish committee for this. The committee will consist of sports administrators, sportsmen and experts from other fields, consisting CA and management professionals. It will take its own study and also instruct NSFs to present audited accounts, provide details of professional management practices implementation, and their effective grievances for players.

The ranking system looks to be an incentive for NSFs to upgrade their internal systems of talent promotion, management and governance.

Which Unmanned Russian Cargo Ship launched to Space Station - Progress MS-08

Russian space agency Roskosmos has fortunately launched Progress MS-08, a without man cargo spacecraft for the International Space Station. It was initiated onboard of Soyuz-2.1a rocket from Russian-leased Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan. Soyuz-2.1a has 4 strap-on boosters and main engine, all fuelled by kerosene and liquid oxygen mixture.

Key Points

The Progress capsule carried 2.7 tons of fuel, food and other supplies. The robotic cargo capsule is hook-up with ISS’s Zvezda service module.

The capsule is loaded with 1,390 kg of equipment, food, scientific hardware and supplies for orbiting lab of 6 persons group, with 890 kgs of propellant for station, 420 kgs water, 24 kgs of compressed-air and 22 kgs of compressed-oxygen.

The ISS is presently manned by 6-astronauts team consisting 3 from United States, 2 from Russia and one from Japan.