Today Current Affairs: 1st October 2022 for UPSC IAS exams, State PSC exams, SSC CGL, State SSC, RRB, Railways, Banking Exam & IBPS, etc
Table of Contents
New Tiger Reserve In Uttar Pradesh:
Uttar Pradesh (UP) approved the notification of the state’s fourth tiger reserve in the Ranipur Wildlife Sanctuary (RWS) in Chitrakoot district.
- This will be the 54th Tiger Reserve in India. Guru Ghasidas National Park of Chhattisgarh is the 53rd Tiger Reserve in India.
- A Ranipur Tiger Conservation Foundation will also be established for the protection and conservation of tigers in the region.
- RWS founded in 1977, has no resident tiger.
- However, it is an important corridor for the movement of tigers, according to the Status of tigers, co-predators and prey in India report by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
- The Ranipur Tiger Reserve will be the fourth in UP.
- It will also be the first in the Bundelkhand region of the state.
- There is dry deciduous forest of Bamboo, Palash, Khair, Mahua, Dhau, Saal, Tendu, etc.
- Blackduck, Chinkara, Sambar, Cheetal, Bear, Leopard, Wolf, Wild dog, Blue bull, etc.
- Other Tiger Reserves in UP:
- Dudhwa National Park
- Pilibhit Tiger Reserve
- Amangarh Tiger Reserve
Global Skills Summit 2022:
The Union Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister inaugurated the 13th Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) Global Skills Summit 2022.
- Theme: Education to Employability – Making It Happen.
- The 2015 Report on National Policy on Skill Development and Entrepreneurship estimated that only 4.7% of the total workforce in India had undergone formal skill training compared with 52% in the US, 80% in Japan, and 96% in South Korea.
- A skill gap study conducted by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) over 2010-2014 indicated an additional net incremental requirement of 10.97 crores of skilled manpower in 24 key sectors by 2022.
- In addition, the 29.82 crore farm and nonfarm sector workforce needed to be skilled, reskilled, and upskilled.
World’s First CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) Terminal:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the “world’s first CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) terminal” at Bhavnagar in Gujarat on September 29.
- This is a three-year-old project that is expected to infuse Rs 4,000 crore in developing the existing port infrastructure at Bhavnagar.
- The Bhavnagar port is in close vicinity to the Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) and is expected to serve the industries that set up base in the region.
- It is already connected to the northern hinterland through a railway line that extends to the existing berths at the port.
- It is expected to be made operational by 2026.
- The proposed port terminal’s capacity is 4.65 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA), of which the capacity of the CNG terminal will be 0.3 MTPA.
Scheme Special Assistance To States For Capital Investment For 2022-23:
The Government has launched a Scheme Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment for 2022-23.
- Under this Scheme, financial assistance is provided to the States Governments in the form of 50-year interest free loan for capital investment projects.
- For the 2022-23 Financial Year (FY) a total financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh crore would be given to states.
- The loan under the scheme would be over and above the normal borrowing ceiling allowed to states for FY 2022-23 and should be spent in the same year.
- New or ongoing projects or for settling pending bills in ongoing capital projects.
- States may submit projects of higher value than the funds allocated, indicating their preference/priority.
- For capital works (PM Gati Shakti Master Plan will receive priority), PM Gati Shakti related expenditure, PM Gram Sadak Yojana, Incentives for digitisation, Optical Fibre Cable, Urban reforms, Disinvestment and monetisation.
- Exclusion: Projects with capital outlay of less than 5 crore (2 crore for North East) and repair and maintenance projects irrespective of capital outlay are not eligible
Global Innovation Index:
India has climbed to the 40th rank in the Global Innovation Index of World Intellectual Property Organization. This is a huge leap of 41 places in 7 years.
- The World Intellectual Property Organization yesterday released the Global Innovation Index 2022 in which Switzerland has emerged as the world’s most innovative economy for the 12th consecutive year.
- Switzerland leads globally in innovation outputs, and specifically in patents by origin, software spending, high-tech manufacturing, production, and export complexity.
- The second position was secured by the US followed by Sweden, the UK, and the Netherlands.
Operation GARUDA:
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has launched a multi-phase Operation GARUDA to dismantle drug networks with international linkages.
- The CBI is doing this in close coordination with enforcement actions across international jurisdictions through INTERPOL and Narcotics Control Bureau with special focus on Indian Ocean Region.
- Operation GARUDA seeks to target drug networks with international footprints for action against handlers, operatives, production zones and support elements.
- During the Operation, searches, seizures and arrests were carried out across multiple states and UTs in the country.
- Apart from CBI and NCB, eight states and UT Police including Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Manipur have also participated in this Operation.
Pacific Islands:
The United States announced $810 million in new funding for Pacific islands at a summit with President Joe Biden amid inroads by China in the strategic but sparsely populated region.
- The White House said $600 million will be in the form of a 10-year package to clean up and develop dirty waters to support the tuna industry, while the United States will also expand climate and development aid and its diplomatic presence.
- Biden will also address the first-ever Washington summit of Pacific Island nations, including 12 heads of state or government, in hopes of using a personal touch to reconnect with a region that has been tied closely to the United States since the Second World War.
- With the U.S. until now often seen as taking the region for granted, China has asserted itself strongly in recent years through investment, police training and, most controversially, a security pact with the Solomon Islands.
- The Biden administration also announced that the United States would recognise Cook Islands and Niue, a self-governing territory whose foreign and defence policies and currency are linked to New Zealand.
- The step will allow the United States to increase its diplomatic footprint in the Cook Island and Niue, which have fewer than 20,000 inhabitants.
Abortion:
In a historic judgment, the Supreme Court declared that single women with pregnancies between 20 and 24 weeks are entitled to access the same safe and legal abortion care as married women.
- The judgment came in an appeal by a person who wanted to terminate her pregnancy before her term completed 24 weeks.
- The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971 prohibits unmarried women who are between 20 and 24 weeks’ pregnant to abort with the help of registered doctors.
- The Supreme Court held that the rights of reproductive autonomy, dignity and privacy give an unmarried woman the right of choice as to whether or not to bear a child on a similar footing as that of a married woman
- Registered medical doctors are exempt from disclosing to the police the identity of minors who have come in for abortion, the Supreme Court directed in a judgment.
- A registered medical practitioner (RMP) is obliged under Section 19(1) of the POCSO Act to report to the police when a minor approaches him or her for an abortion.
- In many cases minors and their guardians opt to go to an unqualified doctor for abortion rather than risk being involved in criminal proceedings following a report under Section 19(1) of the POCSO Act.
- If there is an insistence on the disclosure of the name of the minor in the report under Section 19(1) of POCSO, minors may be less likely to seek out RMPs for safe termination of their pregnancies under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act.
- The court said it was necessary to harmonise the provisions of the MTP and POCSO laws to enable minors to approach an RMP for abortion without the fear of getting exposed.
- It would also protect the statutory obligation of the RMP to report the offence under the POCSO Act and the rights of privacy and reproductive autonomy of the minor under Article 21 of the Constitution.
