Merely drafting a National Tourism Policy not enough need a Tourism Council Parliamentary committee (GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
Why in news?
- Recently, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture has suggested fast-tracking the creation of a National Tourism Council on the lines of the GST council to directly make recommendations to the Central and State governments on various issues of the tourism sector and its stakeholders.
Inclusion in Concurrent List:
- The committee also sought to know the steps taken by the Tourism Ministry regarding its earlier recommendation of including tourism in the concurrent list.
- The committee is of the view that inclusion of tourism in the concurrent list will help in simplifying the issues of the pandemic-hit Indian tourism sector since tourism is a multi-sectoral activity.
Industry status to hospitality projects:
- It also sought to know why some 20 States were yet to accord industry status to hospitality projects and asked the Ministry whether anything in this regard has been conveyed by these States to the Centre.
- As of now eight States; Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand have accorded industry status to hospitality projects.
Delayed Projects:
- It expressed concern that in projects sanctioned five years ago or before 2017-18, like the ‘Development at Hazratbal’ in Jammu and Kashmir and ‘Infrastructure Development at Puri, Shree Jagannath Dham – Ramachandi- Prachi River front at Deuli under Mega Circuit’ in Odisha, the progress rates achieved have been less than expected.
- The committee is of the view that projects taking longer than five years may incur high cost and schedule or time overruns, which will put extra financial burden and resource crunch on the Ministry and implementing agencies involved.
Scientists discover new fossil which reveals origin of arthropod breathing system
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Why in news?
- Recently, scientists announced a new fossil that reveals the origin of gills in arthropods.
- Arthropods, the group of animals that includes creepy crawlies like spiders and woodlice, are the largest phylum in the animal kingdom and are found everywhere from the deepest ocean trench to the top of Mount Everest.
Erratus sperare:
- Research shows the newest addition to the group is a 520-million-year-old (about 10 times as old as the dinosaurs) organism called Erratus sperare.
- Erratus sperare was discovered in the Chengjiang Fossil Site, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Yunnan, China.
- The Chengjiang Fossil Site preserves an ancient underwater ecosystem which included the relatives of some well-known arthropod fossils like trilobites and anomalocarids.
Characteristic features:
- Modern water dwelling arthropods have biramous limbs, legs that have two parts; one for breathing and one for walking but how such specialised limbs evolved was a mystery.
- Some of the earliest fossil arthropods, like Anomalocaris, had swimming flaps that may have doubled as gills, but until now researchers didn’t know how arthropods made the jump from these specialised flaps to the biramous limbs of modern arthropods.
- Erratus sperare provides the missing link between arthropods that used such specialised flaps and arthropods with biramous limbs. It has both legs and flaps.
- These gills probably went on to evolve into the wings of insects and the lungs of terrestrial arthropods like spiders so were a very important innovation.
Maharashtra Assembly passes resolution to legally pursue inclusion of 865 Marathi-speaking Karnataka villages into western state
Why in news?
- Recently, the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly unanimously passed a resolution to ‘legally pursue’ inclusion of 865 Marathi-speaking villages in Karnataka into the western state, amid the raging boundary dispute between the two states.
- The resolution moved by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said the Karnataka state legislature had passed a resolution on the issue to purposely fuel the border row.
Resolution by Karnataka:
- The Karnataka Legislative Assembly had unanimously passed a resolution on border row with Maharashtra, resolving to protect the southern state's interests and not to cede an inch of land to its neighbour
- The resolution had also condemned the border dispute "created" by Maharashtra.
Border Issue:
- The border issue dates back to 1957 after the reorganisation of states on linguistic lines.
- Maharashtra laid claim to Belagavi, which was part of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency, as it has a sizeable Marathi-speaking population. It also laid claim to more than 800 Marathi-speaking villages which are currently part of Karnataka.
- Karnataka maintains the demarcation done on linguistic lines as per the States Reorganisation Act and the 1967 Mahajan Commission Report as final.
