Important Fact For Prelims (1st March 2019)

• 01 Mar 2019

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize Ceremony

• Winners of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for the years 2016, 2017, and 2018 were awarded in New Delhi on the occasion of National Science Day, 28th February.
• Out of total 34 winners, there was only one woman awardee Aditi Sen who got felicitated for her work in “quantum information and communication, including the formulation of a computable entanglement measure and a novel density-matrix recursion method”.
• Ganesan Venkatasubramanian was awarded for his work towards the psychiatric disorder Schizophrenia is among the wiinners.

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize

• The award is named after the Founder-Director of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) India, the late Dr (Sir) Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar and is known as the ‘Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (SSB) Prize for Science and Technology’.
• The Prize is given each year by CSIR in the fields namely, Biological Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Earth, Atmosphere, Engineering Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Medical Sciences, and Physical Sciences.
• It is the most coveted national recognition bestowed upon young scientists and engineers to honour their research and developmental work in India.
• Any citizen of India engaged in research in any field of science and technology up to the age of 45 years is eligible for the prize. Overseas citizen of India (OCI) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) working in India are also eligible.
• The prize is awarded on the basis of contributions made through work done in India only during the five years preceding the year of the prize.
• The prize comprises a citation, a plaque, and a cash award of Rs. 5 lakh. In addition, recipients also get Rs. 15,000 per month up to the age of 65 years.

Scheme for developing Knitwear Sector

• The Union Minister of Textiles has launched a comprehensive scheme for development of Knitting and Knitwear Sector under PowerTex India.
• The Ministry has approved a combined Standing Finance Component (SFC) of PowerTex India Scheme and Knitwear Scheme with an outlay of Rs. 487.07 crores. Out of this, Rs. 47.72 crore is for Knitwear for the period of 2018-19 and 2019-20.
• The main components of scheme are as follow:
  • Creation of new service centers on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model by industries and associations in the knitting and knitwear clusters.
  • Modernization and upgradation of existing power loom service Centers (PSCs) and institutions run by Textile Research Associations (TRAs) and Export Promotion Councils (EPCs) Association in knitting and knitwear clusters.
  • Facilitation, IT, awareness,studies, surveys, market development and publicity for knitting and knitwear units.

PowerTex India

• PowerTex India was launched in 2017 by the Ministry of Textile.
• It is a three-year all-inclusive scheme focused on the development of country’s Powerloom Sector.
• The scheme embraces branding, subsidies, new markets, new research and development in power loom textiles, and also welfare schemes for the powerloom workers.

• Key components include:
  • In-situ Upgradation of Plain Powerlooms
  • Group Workshed Scheme (GWS)
  • Yarn Bank Scheme
  • Common Facility Centre (CFC)
  • Pradhan Mantri Credit Scheme for Powerloom Weavers
  • Solar Energy Scheme for Powerlooms
  • Facilitation, IT, Awareness, Market Development and Publicity for Powerloom Schemes
  • Tex Venture Capital Fund
  • Grant-in-Aid and Modernisation & Upgradation of Powerloom Service Centres (PSCs).

SC Stays its Eviction Order

• The Supreme Court has stayed its order directing the eviction of lakhs of Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers whose claims for forest land rights have been rejected under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) of 2006.
• The Bench accepted the Central Government’s appeal which said that there is need to further delve into whether due process was followed by gram sabhas and States' authorities under the FRA before the claims for forest rights of forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes (FDST) and other traditional forest dwellers (OTFD) were finally rejected.
• The SC has now given the States four months' time to file affidavits responding to concerns raised by the Centre.
• Apart from this, the SC also raised concern over absence of any mechanism in place in the States or in the Centre to review the rejection orders.

Panel on Offshore Rupee Market

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has formed a eight- member task force on the offshore rupee market.
• It will be headed by former Deputy Governor Usha Thorat and would submit its report by the end of June 2019.

Terms of Reference (TOR)

• Assess the causes behind the development of the offshore Rupee market.
• Study the effects of the offshore markets on the Rupee exchange rate and market liquidity in the domestic market.
• Recommend measures to address concerns, if any, arising out of offshore Rupee trading.
• Propose measures to generate incentives for non-residents to access the domestic market.
• Examine the role, if any, International Financial Services Centres (IFSCs) can play in addressing these concerns.
• Any other relevant issue(s) the Task Force considers relevant to the context.

Hanoi Summit 2019

• Recently, the United States (US) and North Korea held a summit in Hanoi, Vietnam
• This was the second summit between the US and North Korea after the Singapore Summit in June 2018.
• The talks between the US and North Korea ended abruptly without any conclusion and no declaration was signed.
• Reason for failure of talks was that North Korea had demanded complete relief from economic sanctions in exchange for only partial denuclearization. But, the US wants North Korea to give up all its weapons.
• During the Singapore Summit in 2018, the US and North Korea have signed an agreement committing to the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.