Headlines at a Glance – 31st July 2020
ADB approves USD 3 million grant to India to combat COVID-19
Multilateral funding agency ADB on Wednesday said it has approved a USD 3 million (about Rs 22 crore) grant to India from its Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund to further support the government’s emergency response to COVID-19 pandemic. The grant, which is financed by the Japanese government, will be used to procure thermal scanners and essential commodities to strengthen India’s COVID-19 response, Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in a statement. On April 28, ADB approved USD 1.5 billion COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support (CARES) programme to support India in its immediate pandemic response efforts, including disease containment and prevention, as well as social protection measures for the poor and economically vulnerable, particularly women and disadvantaged groups. The CARES programme is funded through the COVID-19 pandemic response option (CPRO) under ADB’s Countercyclical Support Facility.
SOURCE: The New Indian Express
Tiger population rising at 6% per annum from 2006-18: report
Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar, on Tuesday released the detailed Status of Tigers Report 2018. According to the report, released on the eve of Global Tiger Day, tigers were observed to be increasing at a rate of 6 per cent per annum in India from 2006 to 2018. “There were nine tiger reserves when Project Tiger started in 1973. Now, India has 50 tiger reserves. Seventy per cent of the world’s tigers are in India and the conservation effort has been a huge success… We are ready to help the other 13 countries with tiger ranges in conserving, capacity building and training in tiger conservation. The ministry will also start a water and fodder scheme within the reserves so that less animals stray out of these reserves and this minimalises animal-human conflict,” Javadekar said.
SOURCE: The Indian Express
Govt imposes safeguard duty on solar cells for one more year
The government has imposed safeguard duty on solar cells for one more year till July 2021 to protect domestic manufacturers and discourage cheap imports from countries like China. The move followed recommendation by the commerce ministry’s investigation arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) for continued imposition of the duty for one more year. In its probe, the DGTR had concluded that after a decline in imports in 2018-19 due to the imposition of safeguard duty on “solar cells whether or not assembled in modules or panels”, imports have increased during April-September 2019 due to reduction in rate of the duty from July 30, 2019. After considering the findings of the DGTR, the department of revenue in a notification has said that it is imposing “a safeguard duty” on the product.
SOURCE: Livemint
Isro’s IN-SPACe to be set up as single-window nodal agency for pvt sector
The proposed IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre) will be a single-window nodal agency for enabling and regulating space activities and the use of Isro facilities by the private sector, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has said. IN-SPACe will have a Chairman, technical experts for space activities, safety specialists, experts from academia and industries, legal and strategic experts from other departments, and members of the PMO and MEA, Government of India, Isro said. The space agency released a detailed structure of IN-SPACe and its proposed activities. Last month, the Cabinet cleared IN-SPACe as a separate vertical for permitting and regulating the activities of private industry in the space sector. It will be established as a single-window nodal agency, with its own cadre, which will permit and oversee the following activities of NGPEs (Non-Government Private Entities).
SOURCE: Business Standard
NASA Launches Perseverance Rover, Capping Summer of Missions to Mars
NASA’s Perseverance rover is headed to Mars, the third spacecraft to head that way this month. Perseverance, a robotic wheeled vehicle designed to look for signs of past life on Mars, lifted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Thursday at 7:50 a.m. Eastern time. The launch was pushed back a couple of weeks by a series of technical delays and overcame challenges imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, which required many of its engineers to work from home. The rover’s destination is a crater, Jezero, which was once a lake in the northern hemisphere of Mars. Scientists believe it is a promising location where signs of ancient Martian life could be preserved if life ever existed on Mars. The Atlas 5 rocket lofted the spacecraft away from Earth and on a trajectory to arrive at Mars in six-and-a-half months. It follows July’s earlier launches by the United Arab Emirates and China. While Perseverance is last to leave, all three missions should arrive at the red planet at about the same time, in February.SOURCE:BBC News
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