Leaders pay tributes to Rani Lakshmibai

• Rani Lakshmibai, one of the warriors of India''s struggle for Independence, was born as Manikarnika Tambe in Varanasi.
• Lakshmibai got married to Gangadhar Rao Newalkar, the Maharaja of Jhansi and got the name of Rani Lakshmibai.
• Then Lakshmibai and Gangadhar Rao adopted Rao''s cousin''s son, Anand Rao, who was later renamed as Damodar. Soon after they adopted Anand, Maharaja died due to an illness.
• The East India Company took advantage of the Maharaja''s death and applied the Doctrine of Lapse.

Doctrine of Lapse

• It was an annexation policy followed widely by Lord Dalhousie when he was India''s Governor-General from 1848 to 1856.
  • According to this, any princely state under the direct or indirect (as a vassal) control of the East India Company where the ruler did not have a legal male heir would be annexed by the company
  • As per this, any adopted son of the Indian ruler could not be proclaimed as heir to the kingdom. This challenged the Indian ruler''s long-held authority to appoint an heir of their choice.
• So, due to the Doctrine of Lapse, Britishers did not accept Damodar Rao as the legal heir. The plan of the Britishers was to annex Jhansi. They seized the state jewels, granted her an annual pension of Rs 60,000 and asked her to leave the fort forever.

PM Kisan Samman Nidhi: 11th instalment of funding has fallen by 67%, says reports

• PM Kisan is a Central Sector scheme with 100% funding from Government of India.
• Objective: The scheme aims to supplement the financial needs of the farmers in procuring various inputs to ensure proper crop health and appropriate yields, commensurate with the anticipated farm income.
• Benefits and Eligibility conditions:
  • Under the scheme an income support of 6,000/- per year in three equal instalments will be provided to all land holding farmer families.
    • Definition of family for the scheme is husband, wife and minor children.
  • State Government and UT administration will identify the farmer families which are eligible for support as per scheme guidelines.
  • The fund will be directly transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.

Exclusion Categories:

The following categories of beneficiaries shall not be eligible for benefits under the scheme:

• All Institutional Land holders.
• Farmer families which belong to one or more of the following categories:.
  • Former and present holders of constitutional posts
  • Former and present Ministers/ State Ministers and former/present Members of LokSabha/ RajyaSabha/ State Legislative Assemblies/ State Legislative Councils,former and present Mayors of Municipal Corporations, former and present Chairpersons of District Panchayats.
  • All serving or retired officers and employees of Central/ State Government Ministries /Offices/Departments and its field units Central or State PSEs and Attached offices /Autonomous Institutions under Government as well as regular employees of the Local Bodies (Excluding Multi Tasking Staff /Class IV/Group D employees)
  • All superannuated/retired pensioners whose monthly pension is Rs.10,000/-or more (Excluding Multi Tasking Staff / Class IV/Group D employees) of above category
  • All Persons who paid Income Tax in last assessment year
  • Professionals like Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Chartered Accountants, and Architects registered with Professional bodies and carrying out profession by undertaking practices.

Treaties Committee supports ratification of a further trade agreement, this time with India

• AI-ECTA needs ratification by the Australian parliament before its implementation. In India, such pacts are approved by the Union Cabinet.
• The agreement, once implemented, will provide duty-free access to the Australian market for over 6,000 broad sectors of India, including textiles, leather, furniture, jewellery and machinery.
• Under the pact, Australia is offering zero-duty access to India for about 96.4% of exports (by value) from day one. This covers many products that currently attract 4-5% customs duty in Australia.
• India’s goods exports stood at USD 8.3 billion and imports aggregated to USD 16.75 billion in 2021-22. The agreement would help in taking bilateral trade from USD 27.5 billion at present to USD 45-50 billion in the next five years.
• The Agreement inter-alia covers areas like Trade in Goods, Rules of Origin, Trade in Services, Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures.
• Rules of origin are the criteria needed to determine the national source of a product. Their importance is derived from the fact that duties and restrictions in several cases depend upon the source of imports.
• The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) has no specific rules governing the determination of the country of origin of goods in international commerce. Each contracting party was free to determine its own origin rules, and could even maintain several different rules of origin depending on the purpose of the particular regulation.

Pratham gets Indira Gandhi prize for works in education

• The award is in recognition of Pratham’s work in ensuring quality education for children of the country, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Pratham also used digital technology to deliver education so that the children could learn during the school closure amid the pandemic.
• The foundation’s Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), serves as a model to assess education outcomes and learning deficiencies across 14 countries in three continents
• The Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development, is given to people whose work have exemplified Indira’s ideals and causes. It consists of a monetary award of ₹25 lakh along with a citation.

Sangeet Natak Akademi of Culture Ministry organises colourful and vibrant cultural programmes at India Gate today

• Under Kalanjali , cultural programmes are to be organised at Central Vista every week. The programmes organised included Chenda Melam, Kathak Dance, Puppet Show, Manipuri Dance.
  • Panchari Melam is a percussion ensemble, performed during temple festivals in Kerala, India. Panchari Melam (or simply panchari), is one of the major forms of Chenda Melam (ethnic drum ensemble), and is the best-known and most popular in the kshetramvadyam (temple percussion) genre.
  • Kathak is one of the eight major forms of Indian classical dance. It is the classical dance form of Uttar Pradesh.
  • Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer.
  • Manipuri Dance: Manipuri dancesencompasses both classical and folk dance forms. The Raas Leela is one of the major Indian classical dance forms.
• Sangeet Natak Akademi – The national Academy of Music, Dance and Drama was created by a resolution of the (then) Ministry of Education dated 31 May 1952. The Akademi became functional the following year, with the appointment of its first Chairman, Dr P.V. Rajamannar.
• Financed by the government of India, the Akademi functions as an autonomous organization under Ministry of Culture, and is registered under the Societies Registration Act.
• The scheme of Financial Assistance to Cultural Institution is one of several schemes formulated by the Akademi to further its objectives.

Yellen wants India in ''friend-shoring'' list

• ‘Friendshoring’- the term is shorthand for the practice of relocating supply chains to countries where the risk of disruption from political chaos is low.
• It is a strategy where a country sources the raw materials, components and even manufactured goods from countries that share its values. The dependence on the countries considered a "threat" to the stability of the supply chains is slowly reduced. It is also called "allyshoring".
• Friendshoring may push the world towards a more isolated place for trade and reverse the gains of globalisation. It is a part of the "deglobalisation" process.
• While moving supply chains away from east Asia could increase security in the long run, an ill-conceived implementation of this friendshoring strategy could result in price hikes and a stronger China over time.

PM Modi dedicates 600 MW Kameng hydro power project in Arunachal Pradesh to nation

• It is the biggest Hydro Power Project implemented by NEEPCO Ltd., a Mini Ratna Power PSU under Ministry of Power.
• 600 MW Kameng Hydro Power Station in Arunachal Pradesh will be a major step towards fulfilling Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of the Govt. of India.
• The project will form part of projected hydro capacity addition of 30000 MW by 2030.
• This will make Arunachal Pradesh a power surplus state with huge benefits to the National Grid in terms of grid stability and integration and balancing of solar and wind energy sources in the grid.

PM Modi inaugurates first greenfield airport in Arunachal Pradesh

• With Donyi Polo Airport**, all eight northeastern state capitals will now have airports**. This will be the third operational airport in Arunachal Pradesh.
• The name of the airport reflects the traditions and rich cultural heritage of Arunachal Pradesh and its age-old indigenous reverence to the Sun (Donyi) and Moon (Polo).
• This is the seventh airport to have been built in the Northeast in the last eight years. This rapid development of airports in the region is in keeping with the government''s emphasis on increasing connectivity.
• This is also the first greenfield project in northeast India.
• A Greenfield project is a project built from scratch or from ground up and it lacks constraints of prior work. In a greenfield project there are no existing buildings or infrastructure, everything is built from scratch ,and in such projects, there is no need to demolish or remodel any existing project.

Thanks to Namibia for cheetahs? India abstains on ivory trade vote

• The proposal, to allow a regular form of controlled trade in ivory from Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe, was defeated at the 19th meeting of the CITES (CoP19) in Panama City.
• India’s abstention — a break from its past stand — was in tune with what Namibia had asked for when it agreed to transfer cheetahs this summer.
• The ivory trade was globally banned in 1989 when all African elephant populations were put in CITES Appendix I.
• No trade is allowed in species listed in CITES Appendix I while trade is strictly regulated in those under Appendix II.
• It is an international agreement to which States and regional economic integration organizations adhere voluntarily.
• It was drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of IUCN (The World Conservation Union). It entered into force in July 1975.
• Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species.
• Although CITES is legally binding on the Parties – in other words they have to implement the Convention – it does not take the place of national laws.
• The CITES Secretariat is administered by UNEP and is located in Geneva, Switzerland. The Conference of the Parties to CITES is the supreme decision-making body of the Convention and comprises all its parties.

India Climbs Six Places To 61st Rank In Network Readiness Index

• The report has been prepared by the Portulans Institute, an independent non-profit, nonpartisan research and educational institute based in Washington DC.
• In its latest version of 2022, the NRI Report maps the network-based readiness landscape of 131 economies based on their performances in four different pillars: Technology, People, Governance, and Impact covering a total of 58 variables.
• India has not only improved its ranking, but also improved its score from 49.74 in 2021 to 51.19 in 2022.
• It is noteworthy that India leads in several indicators:
  • India secured 1rank in “AI talent concentration”
  • 2rank in “Mobile broadband internet traffic within the country” and “International Internet bandwidth”
  • 3rank in “Annual investment in telecommunication services” and “Domestic market size”
  • 4rank in “ICT Services exports”
• NRI-2022 report states that India has a greater network readiness than would be expected given its income level.
• India is ranked 3rd out of 36 in the group of lower-middle-income countries after Ukraine (50) and Indonesia (59). India has a score higher than the income group average in all pillars and sub-pillars.