Addapedia Odisha | Daily Current Affairs |20 November 2023 | Download PDF

National and International News

• Dell, HP, Flextronics and Foxconn are among the 27 firms to get nod under the new IT hardware Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme
• This will lead to an investment of about ₹3,000 crore, additional production of about 3.5 lakh crore units and direct employment for some 50,000 and indirect jobs for 1.5 lakh (total two lakh employees).

About PLI 2.0

• The scheme proposes a financial incentive to boost domestic manufacturing and attract large investments in the value chain.
• The target segments under PLI 2.0 Scheme shall include Laptops, Tablets ,All-in-One PCs and Servers and Ultra Small Form Factor.
• Implementation: Companies, both global and domestic, that meet the eligibility criteria specified in the PLI 2.0 Scheme guidelines will receive support for manufacturing goods in India within the specified target segment.
• Tenure: The incentives provided under the PLI 2.0 Scheme will be applicable for a period of 6 years
• Base year: For the calculation of net incremental sales of manufactured goods, the base year will be the financial year 2022-23.

Former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) S. Venkitaramanan, passes away. 

About

• Born on January 28, 1931, in Tirumayam of Pudukottai district, Venkitaramanan obtained a post-graduate degree in physics from University College, Thiruvananthapuram. 
• After he joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1953, he also received a post-graduate degree in management from the Carnegie Mellon University in the U.S., in 1968.
• Belonging to the Tamil Nadu cadre of the IAS, Venkitaramanan was appointed RBI Governor in December 1990 when a balance of payment crisis was brewing in the economy.

• Oxygen-producing materials made from meteorites found on Mars have been produced using a robotic artificial intelligence (AI)-chemist. 
• The research, published inNatureSynthesis, provides a proof-of-concept for generating oxygen and may have implications for future manned missions to Mars.

Key points

• Five different categories of meteorites were selected, that come from or have been confirmed to exist on Mars, which were analysed by the robotic AI-chemist.
• Recent evidence of water on Mars and analysis of the elemental composition of meteorites found on the planet could provide an opportunity to make catalysts using Martian resources.

• Hours after being sworn in, President Mohamed Muizzu of the Maldives “requested” India to “withdraw” its military personnel from his country
• Indian military personnel was meant for the training of Maldivian personnel and for the maintenance of equipment.
• Mr. Muizzu-led Progressive Party of Maldives won the September election by defeating President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

• In Kadalundi, a village on the southwest coast in Kozhikode district of Kerala, the expanse of mudflats in the estuary of the Kadalundipuzha river has reduced to about 1 hectare. 
• This is depriving prey to thousands of shorebirds that migrate from colder climes in winter to the village.

Key points

• Researchers point out that if the mudflats are not protected and restored, Kadalundi will vanish from the global map as a prominent destination of migrant shorebirds in a few years.
• It is the abundance of prey such as polychaetes and crustaceans in the mudflats that attract a wide variety of migrant shorebirds to Kadalundi from places such as Siberia, Ladakh, Mongolia, and Scotland.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that he told President Xi Jinping he has “serious concerns” about Chinese military activity during their first direct talks in a year and slammed Beijing’s ban on its seafood.

Key points

• Military tensions have soared in the Pacific over China’s actions in the disputed South China Sea and its drills around the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which Beijing regards as its own territory.
• China banned all Japanese seafood imports after Japan began releasing treated wastewater into the Pacific Ocean from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant in August, with Beijing accusing Tokyo of treating the sea like a “sewer”. 
• Japan insists the discharge is safe, a view backed by the UN atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Odisha Regional Specific News

As a top-performing DMF(District Mineral Foundation) district, Keonjhar has been selected by the Ministry of Mines to open a stall at the prestigious India International Trade Fair (IITF) 

Key points

• This recognition underscores the impactful development work undertaken by DMF Keonjhar across the various sectors of social development. 
• The stall features a dynamic exhibition of various development projects executed by the DMF Keonjhar.
• The theme of IITF for this year is ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam – United By Trade’. 
• The tagline of the Mining Pavilion, ‘Connecting Beyond Mining’, complements the broader vision and impact of Keonjhar district’s efforts in fostering sustainable development.

• The proposed Shree Jagannath International Airport at Puri got further impetus after the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) cleared diversion of forest land for the ambitious project.
• MoEFCC has accorded clearance for 27.85 hectare of forest land (deemed forest), which amounts to around 68.81 acre, for the international airport, which will come up on an area of around 1,164.75 acre

• In order to give a boost to India Post, the Central government plans to open 500-600 post offices in Odisha
• Apart from serving as courier offices, the post offices now also function as banks to help mobilisation of investment.

• Tata Steel has chalked out ambitious plans to augment the capacity of its Kalinganagar plant in Odisha to 8 million tones per annum (MnTPA) by 2026 by giving pace to the ongoing Phase II expansion.
• the expansion represents a significant stride toward fostering economic development, generating employment opportunities, and contributing to the overall socio-economic progress of the region.

Close to 27 years after the enactment of the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, Odisha has come up with the draft of the Odisha Gram Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas Rules, 2023, to bring clarity in its implementation.

Key points

• The rules dwell upon the issues of gram sabhas’ role and power in respect to acquisition of land, minor minerals and grant of prospecting licence or mining lease, control over intoxicants and prevention of alienation of land in the scheduled areas and control over the markets.
• As per the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, though Odisha has made good progress in respect of compliance of State subject laws, it had not framed PESA Rules.

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