Daily Current Capsules

31 May 2023

Theme – Bilateral Relations

Cambodian King arrives on a maiden state visit to India

What’s the NEWS

• Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni arrived on a maiden state visit, a trip that would mark the culmination of the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations with India.
• The state visit marks the culmination of the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between India and Cambodia, which were established in 1952
• This visit by the Cambodia King is taking place after almost six decades, with the last being that of the current King’s father in 1963.

India and Cambodia relations

• India and Cambodia enjoy warm and friendly relations marked by civilisational, cultural and economic linkages and deep-rooted people-to-people ties
• India actively assists Cambodia in capacity building and human resource development through training slots under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme and scholarships under the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
• India has also extended grants and concessional loans for developmental projects.
• Conservation and restoration of the ancient temples of Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm and Preah Vihar are also being carried out under Indian government funding.
• India has extended a grant of $1.5 million (one million = Rs 10 lakh) for the purchase of de-mining equipment and offered a line of credit worth $50 million for the procurement of defence equipment from it
• Trade between the two countries for FY 2023-23 stood at $366 million and is growing.
• Indian investments in Cambodia are estimated at around $115 million primarily in pharmaceuticals, automobiles and mining.

Associated Organisations

The Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme

• It was instituted by a decision of the Indian Cabinet on 15 September 1964 as a bilateral programme of assistance of the Government of India.
• DPA-II Division of Development Partnership Administration (DPA) in the Ministry of External Affairs is the nodal division for handling all capacity-building programmes.
• The ITEC Programme is essentially bilateral in nature. However, in recent years, ITEC resources have also been used for cooperation programmes conceived in regional and inter-regional contexts such as the Economic Commission for Africa, Commonwealth Secretariat, UNIDO, Group of 77 and G-15.
• The ITEC Programme, fully funded by the Government of India, has evolved and grown over the years.
• Under ITEC, 161 countries in Asia, Africa, East Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean as well as Pacific and Small Island countries are invited to share in the Indian developmental experience acquired over six decades of India’s existence as a free nation.

ITEC Programme has the following components :

• Training (civilian and defence) in India of nominees from ITEC partner countries;
• Deputation of Indian experts abroad;
• Study Tours

Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR)

• It is an autonomous organisation of the Government of India, involved in India’s global cultural relations, through cultural exchange with other countries and their people.
• It was founded on 9 April 1950 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the first Education Minister of independent India.
• The ICCR Headquarters is situated at Azad Bhavan, I.P. Estate, New Delhi

Theme – Infrastructure Development

National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust (NICDIT).

What’s the NEWS

• Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister, chaired the 2nd meeting of the Apex Monitoring Authority constituted to review the activities of the National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust (NICDIT).
• Union Finance Minister stated that “FIRE Corridors = F – Freight; I – Industrial; R – Railways; E – Expressways” will ignite industrialization & economic development in India.

Know! about National Industrial Corridor Development Program

• The National Industrial Corridor Development Program aims to establish a network of industrial corridors that will serve as engines of economic growth, promote industrialization, and create employment opportunities across India.
• The program focuses on developing world-class infrastructure, attracting investments, and fostering sustainable industrial development.

National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC)

• National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC) is a Special Purpose Vehicle that envisages to establish, promoting and facilitating the development of the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme.
• The current equity shareholders in NICDC include the Government of India (49%), represented through the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) (26%) and financial institutions such as Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) (19.9%), India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL) (4.1%) & Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) (1.0%).

National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust (NICDIT)

• The NICDIT is the implementing agency of the National Industrial Corridor Programme.
• NICDIT originated in 2007 as the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project Implementation Trust Fund (DMIC-PITF).
• In 2016, the government approved the expansion of the scope of the existing DMIC-Project Implementation Trust Fund (PITF) and re-designated it as NICDIT.
• NICDIT works under the administrative control of the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Theme – Environment

The Environmental Information, Awareness, Capacity Building and Livelihood Programme (EIACP)

What’s the NEWS

• The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India envisages celebrating the World Environment Day 2023 with a thrust on the Mission LiFE.
• The concept of LiFE, introduced by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, aims to promote sustainable living by encouraging individuals to make changes in their lifestyles and emphasizes the responsible and conscious use of resources to safeguard and conserve the environment.

Environmental Information, Awareness, Capacity Building and Livelihood Programme (EIACP)

• The Environmental Information, Awareness, Capacity Building and Livelihood Programme (EIACP) is one of the Central Sector sub-scheme being implemented in alignment with Mission Life.
• As a part of the current mass mobilization campaign, 60 EIACP Centres are actively engaged in promoting awareness about sustainable actions that individuals can undertake.
• Environmental Information System (ENVIS) was renamed as EIACP (Environmental Information, Awareness, Capacity Building and Livelihood Programme).
• ENVIS came into existence as a planned programme in 1983.
• It serves as a single-stop web-enabled repository of comprehensive environmental information with collection, collation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of the same through a nationwide network of ENVIS Hubs and ENVIS Resource Partners (RPs).

Theme – Governance

Tele-Law Programe

What’s the NEWS

• The Tele-Law program under the Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice achieved a new milestone with 40 Lakh beneficiaries across the country having been empowered with pre-litigation advice.

Know! about Tele-Law

• Reaching the Unreached is an e-interface mechanism to seek legal advice and consultation at a pre-litigation stage.
• It connects the needy and marginalised in need of legal aid with the Panel Lawyers via video conferencing/telephonic facilities available at Common Service Centres (CSCs) situated at the Panchayat level.
• Launched in 2017, the Tele-Law service is now directly accessible through the Tele-Law Mobile App

Theme – Space Awareness

Indian scientists discover gigantic alien planet, 13 times bigger than Jupiter

What’s the NEWS

• A new Jupiter-size exoplanet with the highest density known till this date and mass 13 times than that of Jupiter, has been discovered by an international team of scientists at the Exoplanet Research Group of the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad.
• An exoplanet is any planet beyond the solar system and the one discovered by scientists from India, Germany, Switzerland and the U.S. is with a density of ~14 g/cm3.
• Massive giant exoplanets are those having a mass greater than four times that of Jupiter.

Highlights

• The discovery of this massive exoplanet was made using the indigenously made PRL Advanced Radial-velocity Abu-sky Search spectrograph (PARAS) at the 1.2 m telescope of PRL at its Gurushikhar Observatory in Mt. Abu by measuring the mass of the planet precisely.
• The newly discovered exoplanet was found around the star called TOI4603 or HD 245134.
• NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite initially declared TOI4603 as a possible candidate to host a secondary body of unknown nature.

Theme – Fodder for Pre and Mains

India – now a net exporter of toys

What’s the NEWS

• India has recently turned a net exporter of toys, during 2020-21 and 2021-22, ending decades of import dominance.
• Between 2018-19 and 2021-22, toy exports increased from $109 million (₹812 crores) to $177 million (₹1,237 crores); imports declined from $371 million (₹2,593 crores) to $110 million (₹819 crores)
• The achievement is widely credited to the ‘Make in India’ initiative launched in 2014, and related policies
• Moreover, in 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reportedly spoke of promoting toy manufacturing, in his talk show, ‘Mann ki Baat’.

KEEP Learning KEEP Evolving

TEAM CL/GKP