8 August 2024, The Indian EXPRESS
Ex-IISc head Padmanabhan, Chandrayaan-3 team among first Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar awardees
Page no- 9
GS3- Achievements of Indians in science & technology
- Former director of Indian Institute of Science G Padmanabhan, the team behind Chandrayaan-3, and Annapurni Subramaniam, director of Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Astrophysics, along with 30 others, have been selected for the inaugural Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar (RVP), the new set of national science awards that were finalised last year.
- The RVP comprises four awards — Vigyan Ratna for lifetime achievement, Vigyan Shri for scientists of all ages, Vigyan Yuva for scientists under 45 years and Vigyan Team for collaborative research work.
- These new sets of awards were instituted last year after disbanding all existing science awards, including the coveted Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize.
- Vigyan Yuva is a replacement for Bhatnagar Prize, which too used to be given to outstanding scientists below 45 years.
A welcome easing
Page no- 10
GS3- Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment
- In the Union Budget 2024-25, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a review of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
- The rationale for this exercise was straightforward — to make the Act simpler to “read and understand”, thus helping bring down tax disputes and consequent litigation.
- The budget took a step in this direction by proposing simplification of provisions for reassessment and capital gains taxation, among others.
- There was a need to reexamine the capital gains tax framework considering the differences in both the tax rates as well as the holding periods for determination of long-term gains across asset classes such as equities, debt, real estate etc.
- The budget had proposed levying a tax of 12.5 per cent on long-term capital gains on all financial and non-financial assets.
- However, it also proposed to eliminate the benefit of indexation that was available to investors for property, gold and unlisted assets for the purpose of estimating long-term capital gains.
Generation of broken dreams
Page no- 11
GS2- Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Education
- Finally, the Supreme Court had to intervene and remind us that coaching centres in India are becoming like “death chambers”.
- This is not surprising. If you keep your eyes open, you can see the way the coaching industry has been allowed to colonise the domain of education, cripple the imagination of young students and their parents, and make them pathetically dependent on almost every rite of passage: From standardised tests like NEET/ JEE/ NET/ CUET to UPSC civil services exams.
- Moreover, the neurotic rat race for select careers and job opportunities, and the mythologies of “success” these coaching centres sell through the brand value of their “star” strategists, or well-packaged “success manuals” accelerate the growth of this lucrative business.
Chhattisgarh to get new tiger reserve amid dwindling big cat population
Page no- 1
GS3- Conservation
- With its tiger population plunging in recent years, Chhattisgarh Wednesday cleared a long-pending proposal to notify a new tiger reserve – the third largest in the country.
- The Guru Ghasidas-Tamor Pingla Tiger Reserve, which integrates an existing national park with a wildlife sanctuary, is Chhattisgarh’s fourth reserve for the big cats.
- It spans 2,829 square kilometres across four northern districts of the state.
Portal to ease entry of technicians from China has started functioning
Page no- 13
GS3- Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment
- A portal to facilitate the approval of short-term business visas for Chinese technicians, essential for operationalising production units and boosting output in sectors under the government’s flagship Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, has begun functioning, a senior government official said on Wednesday.
- The Indian Express in June has reported that the domestic industry flagged concerns over delays in fulfilling export orders due to the hold-up in granting visas to Chinese technicians.
- Several companies had been importing machinery from China but faced production delays due to visa delays that primarily began after the Galwan clash in 2020.
‘Slow pace a worry, BIMSTEC members need to find new pathways for FTA’
Page no- 13
GS2- Regional groupings and agreements involving India
- Expressing concern over the slow pace of talks for a trade agreement with the seven member countries of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) bloc, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said that there is a need to re-evaluate the approach to boost trade within the region.
- The BIMSTEC bloc includes seven countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Thailand.
- The bloc has been negotiating a proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) since 2004, with 22 rounds of talks held so far including the last round that was held in 2018.
Pyrocumulonimbus Cloud: When wildfires spit storms, lightning
Page no- 14
GS1- Important Geophysical phenomena
- The wildfires currently raging in the United States and Canada are so intense that they have created ‘pyrocumulonimbus’ clouds, which have the potential to spit out thunder and spark more fires.
- The development of these clouds has become more frequent in recent years. Before 2023, 102 pyrocumulonimbus were recorded globally in a single year on average — 50 of them were seen in Canada, according to a report published in the journal Nature.
- However, during last year’s extreme wildfire season, 140 pyrocumulonimbus clouds were recorded in Canada alone, the report said.
Why Vinesh failed weigh-in
Page no- 14
Prelims Syllabus- Current affairs
- Wrestler Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the Paris Olympics after the official weigh-in on Wednesday morning, ahead of her scheduled gold medal bout in the evening.
- She will return from Paris without a medal.
- While she had cleared the weigh-in on Tuesday, Vinesh was found to be “a few grams over 50 kg” in Wednesday morning’s weigh-in.
- The Indian Express first reported that she was learnt to be 2 kilos overweight on Tuesday night — weight that she tried her best to cut overnight but could not.
