July 05, 2022 Current Affairs
No more forced service charges
- These establishments should not add service charge automatically or by default to the food bill, the guidelines say.
- The guidelines adds that if any consumer finds that a hotel or restaurant is violating the guidelines, he or she may make a request to remove the service charge from the bill amount or lodge a complaint with the National Consumer Helpline.
- Complaints can be filed with the Consumer Commission too or with the District Collector.
- The guidelines added that component of service is inherent in the price of food and beverages offered by the restaurant or hotel.
Australia plans to supply critical minerals to Indian electric vehicle makers, space and defence programmes
- Australia will commit $5.8 million to the three-year India-Australia Critical Minerals Investment Partnership.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, soon after his May 23 election victory, had participated in the Quad Summit in Tokyo along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, where all sides pledged to focus on green and sustainable forms of energy.
- An MoU was recently signed between Khanij Bidesh India Ltd (KABIL) and the Critical Minerals Facilitation Office (CMFO) of Australia that will try to source lithium and cobalt from Australia.
Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project
- Centre has directed to stop the work on the proposed Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) in view of “lack of consent” by other States
- The proposed Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) is set to benefit 13 districts of Rajasthan through interlinking of three rivers. The project stipulates transfer of excess water from the Chambal river basin to the regions facing water scarcity.
- Rajasthan has been demanding the national project status for ERCP for quite some time.
NHRC seeks report on harassment of Chakmas in Arunachal
- The Chakma people are a tribal group from the eastern-most regions of the Indian subcontinent.
- They are the largest ethnic group in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region of southeastern Bangladesh, and the second-largest in Mizoram, India (Chakma Autonomous District).
- Other places in Northeast India also have significant Chakma populations. Around 60,000 Chakma people live in Arunachal Pradesh, India; a first generation migrated there in 1964 after the Kaptai Dam tragedy. Another 79,000 Chakmas live in Tripura, India, and 20,000-30,000 in Assam, India.
Saving Chenkurinji from climate change
- Belonging to the Anacardiaceae family, the tree was once abundant in the hills on the southern parts of the Aryankavu Pass in Kerala’s Kollam district, but its presence has been fast receding from the area over the years.
- Gluta travancorica is very susceptible to climate change and the present condition of the species is quite bad with low regeneration performance.
- Though the flowering usually happens in January, of late, the species has reported a tendency to extend the process due to climate change. It’s an adaptation strategy to increase the chances of germination and maintain a minimum viable population.
- Though the tree is also seen inside the shola forests near Ponmudi, effective pollination hardly takes place in the habitat.
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