Centre increases Fair and Remunerative Price on sugarcane

• The amount is for sugarcane with a basic sugar recovery rate of 10.25%. The Centre has also announced a premium of ₹3.05 per quintal for each 0.1% increase in recovery of sugar over and above 10.25% and reduction in FRP by ₹3.05 per quintal for every 0.1% decrease in recovery.
• The FRP for last season was ₹290 per quintal with a basic recovery rate of 10%.
• While the Centre claimed the increase will protect the interest of sugarcane farmers, the farmers’ organisations said the FRP is too low when compared to the increase in input cost and the increase of 0.25% in recovery rate is a blow to them.
• The Centre has also decided that there shall not be any deduction in case of sugar mills where recovery is below 9.5%.

Union Cabinet approves India''s climate pledges

• The Union Cabinet approved an update to India’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).
• Modi had laid out five commitments, or Panchamrit, as the government references it, namely:
  • India will increase its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW (gigawatt) by 2030;
  • will meet 50% of its energy requirements from “renewable energy” by 2030;
  • will reduce the total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes from now till 2030;
  • will reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by more than 45%; and
  • will achieve the target of “net zero” by the year 2070, when there will be no net carbon dioxide emitted from energy sources.
• A press statement, following the Cabinet approval, only mentions two of these promises, namely that
  • India is committed to reduce emissions intensity of its GDP by 45% by 2030, from the 2005 level and
  • achieving 50% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030.

India to host UNSC meet on counterterrorism in October

• The meeting of the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC), which India is chairing for 2022 as a member of the UNSC, will focus particularly on challenges such as terrorism financing, cyberthreats and the use of drones.
• New Delhi is expected to highlight cross-border threats from Pakistan and Afghanistan at the meeting, which will come two months before India completes its tenure as an elected member of the UNSC (2021-22).
• In addition, India has been pushing for the UN members to adopt a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (first proposed in 1996), which is likely to be raised during the meeting.
• While terror financing is now recognised and dealt with through mechanisms such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), it was necessary to build templates and “codes of conduct” for newer threats, including financing through cryptocurrency and the use of drones for terror attacks.

Supreme Court calls for a panel to look into freebies issue

• The court suggested setting up a specialised body composed of persons who can “dispassionately” examine the problem.
• The observations from a Bench led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana came even as the Centre said these freebies were paving the way for an “economic disaster” besides “distorting the informed decision of voters”.
• The Centre, represented by Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, said it “substantially and in principle” supported doing away with the practice of promising freebies to voters.
• The court directed the parties to make “suggestions for the composition of a body”.
• It proposed that this body could examine ways to resolve the issue of freebies and file a report before the Centre or the Election Commission of India (ECI). The court said once the parties come up with suggestions on the composition of such a body in a week, it would pass orders.

GST E-Invoice Must for Businesses With Rs 10 Crore Turnover from October

• Businesses with annual turnover of Rs 10 crore or more will have to generate e-invoices for business-to-business (B2B) transactions from October 1 this year. The existing threshold for this is Rs 20 crore.
• Pursuant to the GST Council’s decision to introduce e-invoicing in a phased manner, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on August 1 notified lowering the e-invoice threshold to Rs 10 crore.
• The GST Council approved the standard of e-invoice in its 37th meeting held on September 20, 2019. E-invoicing for B2B transactions was made mandatory for companies with turnover of over Rs 500 crore from October 1, 2020, which was then extended to those with turnover of over Rs 100 crore effective January 1, 2021.

Experiencing poor rainfall in June and July, almost three-fourth of Kerala is experiencing heavy showers in August, with several areas on the brink of flooding.

• Kerala is presently under the influence of at least three rainfall triggering weather conditions.
• There are strong Westerly winds flowing-in from the Arabian Sea, and bringing moisture over Kerala.
• Another major cause for an increase in rainfall is the presence of an east-west shear zone located 10 degrees north over the southern peninsula.
• This vertical zone — that can prevail either in the lower, middle or upper atmospheric levels — allows active winds of high speeds to interact. This zone also allows monsoon winds to remain active, thus causing intense rainfall over the area under its influence.
• The IMD further stated that the presence of a north-south trough running between Chhattisgarh and Comorin areas, which is located closer to south Kerala is causing widespread rainfall.

Chinese ‘spy ship’ heading for a Sri Lankan port

• The vessel’s visit to the Lankan port comes at a time when the country is battling a severe economic crisis, and India is learnt to have already lodged a verbal protest against the ship’s visit.
• The ‘Yuan Wang 5’, a Chinese research and survey vessel, is en route to Hambantota, a strategically important deep-sea port developed mostly using loans from Beijing.
• ‘Yuan Wang’-class ships are used to track satellite, rocket and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launches.
• China has around seven of these tracking ships that are capable of operating throughout the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans. The ships supplement Beijing’s land-based tracking stations.

Haryana''s Cheerag Scheme for EWS Students

• Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s government recently launched the “Chief Minister Equal Education Relief, Assistance and Grant (Cheerag)” scheme.
• It was introduced in place of a similar scheme launched by Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s government in 2007 under Rule 134 A of the Haryana School Education Rules, 2003.
• Under the Cheerag scheme, government school students whose parents have an annual verified income of less than Rs 1.8 lakh can enroll in private schools from Class II to XII.
• The government will reimburse Rs 700 per student from Classes II to V, Rs 900 per student from Classes VI to VIII, and Rs 1,100 per student from Classes IX to XII.