Current Affairs 9th October 2018

Current Affairs 9th October 2018 - Important Points

• Indian Railways sign two agreements with Russia on - 5th October 2018
• Government reconstituted Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority on - 3rd October 2018
• Government’s crop insurance scheme to cover crop loss in - wild animal attacks
• Government sanctions 5 new battalions of - Rapid Action Force
• 3rd edition of Japan-India Maritime Exercise JIMEX 18 begins in  - Visakhapatnam
• Nitin Gadkari to lay the foundation stone for development of Ghagra River as  - National Waterway
• ESIC wins ISSA good practice award for -  Asia, Pacific region

 Current Affairs 9th October 2018 - Details

Indian Railways sign two agreements with Russia on - 5th October 2018

The Union Ministry of Railways on 5th October 2018 signed MoU with Russia’s Ministry of Transport for the development of cooperation in the education of transport. The main motto behind this agreement is to provide organisational and methodological support to the higher educational institutions implementing joint  projects in the field of transport education in both the nations.

The MoU also aims to boost cooperation between the Russian University of Transport and the National Rail Transportation Institute, Vadodara to jointly organise  educational transport seminars, including participation in shaping their themes, facilitating the search for partners, organising mutual visits and preparation  of regulatory and methodical documents.

The agreement was signed by Russian Ambassador to India, Nikolay Rishatovich Kudashev and Indian Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani.

Government reconstituted Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority on - 3rd October 2018

Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has reformed Supreme Court-empowered
Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority. This comes after time of the last Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority finished on October 3rd, 2018.
Important Points

• Former Indian Administrative Services officers Bhure Lal will remain as Chairman of reconstituted
  Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority.
• The other associates of the 20 members re-constituted Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority consist of Ajay Mathur, DG “The Energy Research Institute”- TERI; Arunabha Ghosh, CEO Centre for Energy Environment and Water; Navroz K. Dubash, Senior Fellow for the Centre for Policy Research.
• Others associates consist Vishnu Mathur, DG Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers; Krishna Dhawan, CEO, Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, New Delhi and Arvind Kumar, former professor of surgery, AIIMS New Delhi and among others.
  Environment Pollution Control Authority
• Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority is Supreme Court authorized body tasked with taking different actions to control air pollution in the NCR.
• It was notified in 1998 by Environment Ministry under Environment Protection Act, 1986. Its command is to safeguard and advance quality of environment and prevent and control environmental pollution in NCR.
• It is also mandated to impose Graded Response Action Plan in National Capital Region according to the pollution levels. In November 2017, Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority had imposed various checks, including restriction on brick kilns, closure of Badarpur Thermal Power Plant, hot mix plants and stone crushers, and construction activities in National Capital Region.

Government’s crop insurance scheme to cover crop loss in - wild animal attacks

The Union Government has finalised to cover crop damages due to wild animal attacks under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna in nominated districts on an experimental basis.  The news was shared by Union Agricultural Minister Radha Mohan Singh. The minister informed that the government also brought certain horticultural crops under the domain of Fasal Bima Yojna ambit on an experimental ground.
Important Highlights

• The Government’s Fasal Bima Yojna earlier did not cover compensates incurred to an individual or a limited number of cultivators during unprecedented localised events including waterlogging, landslide and hailstorms.
• However, now under its new necessities, the protection plan will cover all these events.
• The necessities of the crop insurance plan were revised in consultation with various shareholders and the alterations have been implemented from this month. 
• The revised provisions also specify penalties in cases of delay in clearing the insurance claims for crop damages.
  Provision of Penalties
• The Government has finalised to include the provision of penalties for States and Insurance Firms for the interruption in settlement of insurance claims under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.
• Under the fresh provisions, the farmers will be compensated 12% interest by insurance firms for the delay in settlement claims beyond 2 months of prescribed cut-off date.
• The state governments will be needed to pay 12% interest for the interruption in the release of the state share of subsidy beyond 3 months of explained cut-off date submission of requisition by insurance firms.
• The fresh provisions come at the onset of the Rabi season, which initiates from October 1st.
• Besides, the fresh rules also detail a Standard Operating Procedure for assessment of insurance firms and eradicate them from the scheme if found unproductive in providing services.

Government sanctions 5 new battalions of - Rapid Action Force

Union Ministry of Home Affairs has certified 5 new battalions of anti-riot and crowd control Rapid Action Force. These new battalions will be positioned at Varanasi UP, Hajipur- Bihar, Jaipur- Rajasthan, Mangalore- Karnataka) and Nuh- Haryana. With these, the sum number of Rapid Action Force battalions in the nation has expanded to fifteen. Varanasi will be 4th base of Rapid Action Force in UP- the 3 others being in Meerut, Allahabad and Aligarh.
Rapid Action Force

• Rapid Action Force is a specially trained and armed wing of Central Reserve Police Force- CRPF, the
  nation’s major paramilitary force or Central Armed Police Force with more than three lakh personnel.
• It was fashioned in 1992 to tackle riots, riot like circumstances, crowd control, rescue-relief operations and related unrest. It is HQ in New Delhi. Its slogan is ‘Serving Humanity with Sensitive Policing’.
• Rapid Action Force battalions are located in different parts of the nation in order to decrease response time and rush the teams in shortest possible time to counter an occurrence.
• The ten old Rapid Action Force battalions are located in Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Aligarh, Delhi, Coimbatore, Jamshedpur, Bhopal and Meerut.
• Single Rapid Action Force battalion has gathering of just more than 1,000 staff and it is armed with
  gadgets and non-lethal weapons including, Tear Smoke Grenade launchers, pump action guns and others to impose security and law and order in case of protests like situations.

3rd edition of Japan-India Maritime Exercise JIMEX 18 begins in  - Visakhapatnam

The Third Edition of Japan-India Maritime Exercise inaugurated at Visakhapatnam, AP. Japan-India Maritime Exercise-18 is intended to improve interoperability, advance understanding and down best practices between navies of both nations.
More about JIMEX 18

• Japan-India Maritime Exercise-18 will be spread over 8 days from 7th-15th October 2018 and will
  include Harbour Phase and Sea Phase of 4 days each.
• Harbour Phase will comprise professional and social communications among ship’s crews, operational planning for sea phase and sports fixtures.
• Sea Phase will comprise anti-submarine warfare movements, Gun firings, Visit, Board, Search and Seizure drills, cross deck helo operations and co-ordinated operations in anti-submarine and anti-air threat scenarios.
• In this edition of exercise, Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force is signified by Kaga, an Izumo class
  helicopter destroyer, Inazuma which is a directed missile destroyer and Escort Flotilla-4.
• Indian Navy will be signified by 3 Indian planned and built warships- INS Satpura, multipurpose stealth frigate, INS Kadmatt, Anti-Submarine Warfare Corvette, Missile Corvette and fleet tanker.
• Additionally, single submarine, P8I long range maritime patrol aircraft and number of integral helicopters are also taking part in the exercise.
  Did you know?
  India and Japan maritime exercise Japan-India Maritime Exercise was initiated in January 2012 with special focus on Maritime Security Co-operation. It was organised for 1st time was conducted off Japanese coastline. The last edition of Japan-India Maritime Exercise was held in Dec 2013 off Chennai coast, India.

Nitin Gadkari to lay the foundation stone for development of Ghagra River as  - National Waterway

Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport Highways and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Nitin Gadkari laid down the foundation-stone for the expansion work of Ghagra River as National Waterway-40 on October 9th, 2018 at Basti in UP. The project is a fragment of the Sagarmala Program of the Union Ministry of Shipping.
Ghagra river as National Waterway

• The channel will stretch from Manjhighat at Ganga-Gaghra river convergence to Ayodhya along Gaghra River for a length of 354 kilometres.
• This stretch was announced as National Waterway-40 during the year 2016, as part of Government’s rehabilitated push to progress inland waterways sector in the nation.
• Together with National Waterway-1 on river Ganga, National Waterway-40 will come as a chief transport modal choice for cargo and passengers. 
• The Comprehensive Project Report on the development of National Waterway-40 envisions terminal at 5 locations including at Ayodhya, Mahirpur, Dohrighat, Tortipar and Manjhighat.
  Significance
• This waterway is being categorised as class-III waterway which envisages movement of about 1000 tons capacity vessels.
• Besides cargo and passenger movement, National Waterway-40 will deliver a connectivity to tourist and pilgrimage places along river Gaghra and Ganga.

ESIC wins ISSA good practice award for -  Asia, Pacific region

The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation was bestowed the ‘ISSA Good Practice Award’ for administrative solution for coverage extension at the ‘Regional Social Security Forum for Asia and the Pacific’ organised recently at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The award recognizes the actions taken by Employees’ State Insurance Corporation for extension of coverage of the plan for Promoting Registration of Employers and Employees, decreasing the rate of contribution rates for 2 years in freshly executed areas and raising the wage edge for coverage under the Employees’ State Insurance Act.
The certificate of award was received Raj Kumar, Indian Administrative Services official and DG Employees’ State Insurance Corporation on behalf of the corporation. 
Key Highlights

• The regional social security forum for Asia and the Pacific is a triennial Forum, which is the utmost crucial social security programme in the region.  
• The International Social Security Association- ISSA invites submissions for the International Social Security Association Good Practices award for Asia and the Pacific areas, on the eve of the triennial regional forum.
• The Forum issues exclusive chances to Chief Executive Officers and Managers of International Social Security Association Member Institutions to deliberate important social security tasks and share their experiences.

ISSA
The ISSA was originated in 1927, under the patronages of the International Labour Organization, Geneva. It is the chief international organisation for social security organisations, governments and departments of social security. 
ESIC
The Employees State Insurance Corporation was recognized by Employees’ State Insurance Act 1948.
It is an independent corporation under the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment, that handles the ESI- the self-financing social security and health insurance plan for Indian workers and labours.