Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 23 June 2021

::NATIONAL::

The National Highways Authority of India, has made mandatory use of drones for monthly video recording of all stages of development, construction, operation and maintenance.
These videos are uploaded on NHAI’s portal ‘Data Lake’.

It will provide their comments on the digital monthly progress reports covering various aspects of the project development.
These videos will also be used by NHAI officials during the physical inspection of the projects to check the discrepancies and rectifications made basis the earlier observations.
Also, mandatory deployment of Network Survey Vehicle (NSV) to carry out road condition survey on the National Highways to enhance quality will enhance the overall quality of the highways.
NSV uses latest survey techniques such as high-resolution digital camera for 360 degree imagery, Laser Road Profilometer and other latest technology for measurement of distress in road surface.

Ministry of Power announced extension of timeline by two years (upto 2025) for waiver on Inter-State Transmission system (ISTS) charges for electricity generated from solar and wind sources.
Waiver would also be available for Hydro Pumped Storage Plant (PSP) and Battery Energy Storage System(BESS) projects.
This would promote the development of solar, wind, Hydro PSP and BESS, trading of Renewable Energy (RE) in the power exchanges and seamless transmission of RE power across the states.
ISTS means any system for the conveyance of electricity by means of main transmission line from the territory of one state to another state.

Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva has responded the concerns raised by Special Procedures Branch of the Human Rights Council regarding India’s Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

The special procedures of the Human Rights Council are independent human rights experts with mandates to report and advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective.
They are non-paid and elected for 3-year mandates that can be reconducted for another three years. As of September 2020, there are 44 thematic and 11 country mandates.
With the support of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), special procedures:

1. undertake country visits

2. act on individual cases of reported violations and concerns of a broader nature by sending communications to States and others

3. conduct annual thematic studies, seek information from calls for input and convene expert consultations

4. contribute to the development of international human rights standards, and

5. engage in advocacy, raise public awareness, and provide advice for technical cooperation.

UK joined the United States, Canada and the European Union in imposing fresh sanctions on Belarus after the detention of an opposition journalist.
The government said its sanctions were imposed separate to the EU, which it left last year, but in parallel to those announced by Washington, Ottawa and Brussels.
The British foreign office said the restrictions on BNK (UK) Ltd, which exports Belarusian oil products, would “significantly impact one of the regime’s main revenue streams”.

The government has proposed a host of revisions in the revised Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 to make it more stringent.
The revised draft, released for stakeholder consultations, will define ‘cross selling’, ‘fall-back liability’, ‘flash sale’, ‘mis-selling’, among others, to avoid misrepresentation.

It proposes to end the practice of flash sale and distinct identification of sponsored list of products displayed on the e-commerce platform.
It will also make registration with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) mandatory for all e-commerce entities.
The proposed changes will also incorporate a provision to appoint a chief compliance officer in every e-commerce entity for a proper grievance redressal mechanism. In case of imported goods, the e-commerce entity will have to ensure that the product carries adequate additional information, including the country of origin. A pre-purchase search provision by country of origin on e-commerce websites has also been proposed.
The draft rules say that no logistics service provider of a marketplace e-commerce entity shall provide differentiated treatment between sellers of the same category.
It is also proposed that e-commerce entities will not use any information collected through its platform for unfair advantage of its related parties and associated enterprises.
The related parties and associated enterprises have also been prohibited from enlisting as sellers for sale to consumers directly.
The revised rules may also introduce a fall-back liability concept under which if a seller registered on a platform fails to deliver the goods or services ordered by a consumer due to negligent conduct, omission or commission, then the e-commerce entity will be responsible.

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has issued a Special Call for North East Region as a part of its Mission Programme “Biotech-Krishi Innovation Science Application Network (Biotech-KISAN)”, with the aim to understand the local problems of the NER farmers and provide scientific solutions to those problems.

Biotech-KISAN is a scientist-farmer partnership scheme launched in 2017.
It aims for agriculture innovation with an objective to connect science laboratories with the farmers to find out innovative solutions and technologies to be applied at farm level.
Under this scheme, so far 146 Biotech-KISAN Hubs have been established covering all 15 agroclimatic zones and110 Aspirational Districts in the country. The scheme has benefitted over two lakhs farmers so far by increasing their agriculture output and income. Over 200 entrepreneurships have also been developed in rural areas.
The Biotech-KISAN will be implemented in the North East Region with objective of linking available innovative agriculture technologies to the farm with the small and marginal farmers, specially women farmers of the region.
The Hubs in NER will collaborate with the top scientific institutions across the country as well as State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) / Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) / existing state agriculture extension services / system and other Farmers’ organizations in the NER for demonstrations of technologies and training of farmers.