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In a move to promote green mobility across, the Union Cabinet approved the PM-eBus Sewa scheme for operation of 10,000 electric buses in 100 cities, with priority to those without an organised bus service.
Hailing the scheme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it will “redefine urban mobility”. It will strengthen our urban transport infrastructure.
Prioritising cities without organised bus services, this move promises not only cleaner and efficient transport but also aims to generate several jobs,” he tweeted.
According to Union Minister Anurag Thakur, of the Rs 57,613 crore allocated to the scheme in PPP (public-private partnership) mode, Rs 20,000 crore will be provided by the Centre while the rest will be borne by the states.
He said the scheme will support bus operations in the form of a “per kilometre aid” for 10 years and the Centre will also provide support for creating power infrastructure for the buses. In the Union Territories, hill states and the Northeast, 90% of the funding cost will be borne by the Centre.
Destroying self-esteem of a person amounts to suicide abetment: HC (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 2, Judiciary)
The tarnishing of the image or destruction of the self-esteem and self-respect of a hypersensitive person would amount to abetment to suicide if the accused persons have consistently irritated or annoyed a victim by words or deeds, the Karnataka High Court has ruled while refusing to quash a criminal case against three senior executives of a private firm over the death of a Dalit worker belonging to the LGBT community.
A single judge bench of the Karnataka HC dismissed a plea by three executives of the apparel firm, Lifestyle International Private Limited, for quashing of an abetment to suicide case registered against them over the death of a 35-year-old visual merchandising executive, Vivek Raj, on June 4 this year in Bengaluru.
Ahead of his death, Vivek had filed internal complaints with the company’s committee for prevention of sexual harassment over bullying in the office regarding his sexual orientation.
A day before his death, he had also filed a police complaint of caste discrimination under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989.
A deputy general manager in marketing, S B Malathy, 40; a vice-president in the human resources department, Kumar Suraj, 45; and an assistant manager in marketing, Nitish Kumar, 30, at Lifestyle International Private Limited have been named as accused in the abetment of suicide case filed by Vivek father Rajkumar Ramavadh, 67.
Govt & Politics
Cabinet clears Rs 13,000 cr 5yr scheme for crafts people (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced during his Independence Day address the launch of Vishwakarma Yojana “in the coming days”, the Rs 13,000-crore scheme, aimed at benefiting individuals skilled in traditional craftsmanship, was announced on Wednesday after a meeting of the Union Cabinet.
Modi had said: “In the days to come, we will launch a scheme on the occasion of Vishwakarma Jayanti, benefiting individuals skilled in traditional craftsmanship, particularly from the OBC community.
Weavers, goldsmiths, blacksmiths, laundry workers, barbers, and such families will be empowered through the ‘Vishwakarma Yojana’, which will begin with an allocation of around Rs 13,000 crore to Rs 15,000 crore.”
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister, approved the scheme for a period of five years up to 2027-28 financial year.
The scheme aims to strengthen and nurture the “guru-shishya parampara” (teacher-pupil tradition) or family-based practice of traditional skills by artisans and craftspeople working with their hands and tools, the government said in a statement.
The scheme, it stated, also aims to improve the quality and reach of products and services of artisans and craftspeople, as well as to ensure that “Vishwakarmas” (craftspeople) are integrated with the domestic and global value chains.
Express Network
DRDO ex-chief who weaponised India's nukes dies (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Eminent scientist, former head of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and a key player in the weaponisation of India’s nuclear programme, V S Arunachalam, has passed away, his former colleagues said. He was 87 and was undergoing treatment for pneumonia and Parkinson’s.
Arunachalam, who served as DRDO chief and scientific adviser to the defence minister for ten years between 1982 and 1992, passed away in the United States where he had been living the life of an academic for a long time.
He was one of the most inspiring leaders at the DRDO. It was under him that the DRDO transformed from a small projects organisation to a multi-mission organisation, planning and executing complex and sophisticated projects.
Many of the most important programmes, including the Light Combat Aircraft and Main Battle Tank Arjun started under his leadership. He had a long-term vision and great leadership qualities,” V K Saraswat, himself a former head of DRDO and now a member of NITI Aayog.
A “physics person” who ventured into material sciences, Arunachalam began his career at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Mumbai, moved to the National Aeronautical Laboratory in Bengaluru before joining the Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory where he became the director at a very young age.
He was awarded Bhatnagar Prize in 1980. Arunachalam was in his mid 40s when he was appointed head of DRDO and secretary of Department of Defence Research & Development. He was succeeded by A P J Abdul Kalam.
Govt & Politics
Chandrayaan closer to moon lander set for separation today (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
Chandrayaan-3 came further close to the Moon, the ISRO said, with the spacecraft bringing itself into a near-circular 153×163 km orbit and setting the stage for the separation of the Lander Module.
Wednesday’s was the fourth and the final orbit-reducing manoeuvre performed by the spacecraft, which comprises a Propulsion Module and the lander component, which includes the rover.
After it separates from the Propulsion Module, the Lander will accomplish the rest of the journey to the Moon’s surface on its own.
Following the activation and testing of its on-board instruments, including the three scientific payloads, the Lander will carry out two orbit-reduction manoeuvres: first, to get into the circular 100×100 km orbit, and then further closer to the Moon in the 100×30 km orbit.
It is from this 100×30 km orbit that the Lander will, on August 23, begin its final descent for touchdown on the Moon.
Ideas Page
The U20 promise (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
On July 7 and 8, Ahmedabad hosted the Urban 20 (U20) summit. In the history of G20 meetings, the Summit was the sixth of its kind. U20, established in 2018 to generate discussions among G20 members on urban issues, was first chaired and hosted by the city of Buenos Aires.
For this year, the leadership was handed over to Ahmedabad as the 2023 Chair from the city of Jakarta, the Chair for 2022. The Summit published a Communique — a recommendation document for the G20 Heads of State and Government Summit to be held on September 9 and 10.
Given Gujarat’s own history of urban development, one cannot think of a better city in India to have hosted the summit this year than Ahmedabad.
First, Ahmedabad is a very good example of how cities in the Global South can achieve infrastructural development goals.
The city has been comparatively successful in its implementation of innovative and liberal urban planning policies and as a result, has been able to organise its expansion better than most Indian cities.
Ahmedabad has also shown what good quality public spaces can do for a city’s residents and its businesses. The city has executed some very challenging large-scale public projects in the last three decades and has become an example for many others to follow.
Explained
India’s new non-poor (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his Independence Day address that in the first five-year term of his government, “13.5 crore of my fellow poor brothers and sisters have broken free from the chains of poverty and entered the new middle class”.
Today the 13.5 crore people who have come out of poverty have in a way become the middle class. When the purchasing power of the poor increases, the power of the middle class to carry out business grows too.
The 13.5-crore number cited by the PM appears in the second National Multidimensional Poverty Index report that was published by Niti Aayog on July 17. The first such report was published in 2021.
The 2023 edition of the index uses data from the latest round of the National Family Health Survey (2019-21), and captures changes in multidimensional poverty between the survey periods of NFHS-4 (2015-16) and NFHS-5 (2019-21).
A Danube channel for Ukraine grain exports (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Russia, in overnight drone strikes (August 16), targeted ports and grain storage facilities along the Danube river in Ukraine.
The Danube delta has provided Ukraine with an alternative passage for its grain after Russia withdrew from the Black Sea grain deal last month.
The deal, brokered by the UN and Turkey, used to provide safe passage for cargo ships carrying grain from Ukrainian Black Sea ports of Odessa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi.
Of particular importance in this ‘new’ trade route is the Sulina Channel – a 63 km long distributary of the Danube, connecting major Ukrainian ports on the river to the Black Sea, lying completely within the borders of Romania, a NATO member.
Ukraine, often called the “breadbasket of Europe”, is among the world’s biggest grain exporters, with its economy heavily dependent on agricultural exports.
The Danube, Europe’s second longest river, has historically been crucial for the movement of freight. Near Tulcea, Romania, some 80 km from the sea, the river begins to spread out into its delta which has three major channels – Chilia, Sulina and St George.
World
China appears to be building airstrip on disputed island (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
China appears to be constructing an airstrip on a disputed South China Sea island that is also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.
The work on Triton island in the Paracel group mirrors construction on seven human-made islands in the Spratly group to the east which have been equipped with airstrips, docks and military systems, although it currently appears to be somewhat more modest in scale.
China claims virtually the entire South China Sea as its own, denying the claims of others and defying an international ruling invalidating its assertion.
Satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by the AP show construction on the airstrip first visible in early August. The runway, as currently laid out, would be more than 600 meters (2,000 feet) in length, long enough to accommodate turboprop aircraft and drones, but not fighter jets or bombers.
Also visible are large numbers of vehicle tracks running across much of the island, along with what appear to be containers and construction equipment.
Triton is one of the major islands in the Paracel group, which is roughly equidistant from the coast of Vietnam and China’s island province of Hainan.
Economy
Banks likely to raise deposit rates to meet credit demand (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
With the excess liquidity in the banking system getting absorbed due to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) incremental cash reserve ratio (I-CRR) measure, banks are likely to raise deposit rates on select tenors to meet higher credit demand ahead of the upcoming festive season.
Last week, the RBI asked banks to maintain an incremental cash reserve ratio (I-CRR) of 10 per cent on the increase in their net demand and time liabilities (NDTL) between May 19, 2023, and July 28, 2023. Lenders have to maintain I-CRR from the fortnight starting on August 12.
According to experts, banks will wait for a fortnight to gauge the liquidity situation, and demand for credit, and later take a call on the quantum of the increase in deposit rates.
The hike in deposit rates could be in the range of 25-50 basis points (bps), they said. One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.
Banks could increase deposit rates by 25-50 basis points in different buckets depending upon the demand for credit and liquidity conditions in the coming few months.
After a long time, competitive dynamics in the deposit market have intensified, mostly owing to revivals in credit demand,” said India Ratings and Research’s Director (core analytical group) Soumyajit Niyogi.