Colombo Security Conclave

Context:

• Doval discusses transnational threats with member NSAs

News:

• National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and the representatives of the Maldives, Mauritius and Sri Lanka signed the Charter and an MoU for the establishment of the Colombo Security Conclave Secretariat in Colombo to promote regional security by addressing transnational threats and challenges of common concern to the member states.

About Colombo Security Conclave (CSC):

• It brings together National Security Advisors (NSAs) and Deputy NSAs from India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Mauritius.
• Along with Bangladesh and the Seychelles as observers, it is probably now the most active security-focused group operating in the Indian Ocean region.
• It was established to address security and stability challenges in the Indian Ocean Region.
• The small group provides an opportunity for India to address its own strategic concerns in the Indian Ocean while providing an opportunity for the island and littoral nations to address their own challenges.
• It was evolved out of trilateral meetings between NSAs and Deputy NSAs from India, Maldives, and Sri Lanka, starting in 2011.
• Since its revival and re-branding as the CSC in 2020, Mauritius was added as a member of the grouping.
• There are five pillars of cooperation under the CSC:
• Maritime Safety and Security
• Countering Terrorism and Radicalisation
• Combating Trafficking and Transnational Organised Crime
• Cyber Security and Protection of Critical Infrastructure and Technology
• Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief.
• CSC countries are all members of the two region-wide Indian Ocean groupings, the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), and the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS).

PM SHRI Scheme

Context:

• Education Ministry asks Tamil Nadu to sign PM-SHRI MoU to get Samagra Shiksha funds

News:

• Tamil Nadu is required to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the PM-SHRI scheme aimed at developing exemplar schools that would offer leadership to other schools in the neighbourhood – Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan

About PM SHRI (PM Schools for Rising India) School:

• PM SHRI School is a centrally sponsored scheme by the Government of India.
• This initiative is intended to develop more than 14500 PM SHRI Schools managed by Central Government/State/UT Government/local bodies including KVS and NVS in which every student feels welcomed and cared for,
• Where a safe and stimulating learning environment exists,
• Where a wide range of learning experiences are offered, and
• Where good physical infrastructure and appropriate resources conducive to learning are available to all students.
• It will nurture students in a way that they become engaged, productive, and contributing citizens for building an equitable, inclusive, and plural society as envisaged by the National Education Policy 2020.
• More than 20 lakh students are expected to be the direct beneficiaries of the scheme.
• The scheme will also promote an understanding of various dimensions of the Quality of school education and inform Policy, Practice and Implementation.
• The learning from these schools will be scaled up to other schools in the country.
• The Scheme is proposed to be implemented over a period of 5 years w.e.f. 2022-23 to 2026-27.
• PM SHRI Schools will help showcase the implementation of the National Education Policy 2020 and emerge as exemplar Schools over a period of time.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Context:

• UN team to probe ‘rights abuse’ during Bangladesh uprising

News:

• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has received an official invitation from the Chief Adviser of the Interim Government of Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus, to conduct an impartial and independent fact-finding mission into human rights violations committed from 1 July to 15 August.

About United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights:

• He is the principal human rights official of the United Nations.
• He is accountable to the Secretary-General of UN and is responsible for all the activities of OHCHR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights), as well as for its administration.
• OHCHR is located in Geneva, Switzerland.
• Functions:
• Carries out the functions specifically assigned to him or her by the General Assembly in its resolution 48/141 of December 1993 and subsequent resolutions of policy-making bodies;
• Advises the Secretary-General on the policies of the United Nations in the area of human rights;
• Ensures that support is given to the projects, activities, organs and bodies of the human rights programme;
• Represents the Secretary-General at meetings of human rights organs and at other human rights events; and carries out special assignments as decided by the Secretary-General.
• In accordance with General Assembly resolution 48/141, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations and approved by the General Assembly, with due regard to geographical rotation for a fixed term of four years with a possibility of one renewal for another fixed term of four years.

Anti-dumping duty

News:

• The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry recommended the imposition of an anti-dumping duty on aluminium foils imported from China, after observing that Chinese imports had captured 30 per cent of the Indian market despite sufficient domestic capacity.

About Anti-dumping duty:

• Dumping: It is said to occur when the goods are exported by a country to another country at a price lower than its normal value.
• This is an unfair trade practice which can have a distortive effect on international trade.
• Anti-dumping: It is a measure to rectify the situation arising out of the dumping of goods and its trade distortive effect.
• Thus, the purpose of anti-dumping duty is to rectify the trade distortive effect of dumping and re-establish fair trade.
• The use of anti-dumping measure as an instrument of fair competition is permitted by the WTO.
• In fact, anti-dumping is an instrument for ensuring fair trade and is not a measure of protection per se for the domestic industry.
• It provides relief to the domestic industry against the injury caused by dumping.

Anti-dumping duty vs. Normal custom duty:

• Although anti-dumping duty is levied and collected by the Customs Authorities, it is entirely different from the Customs duties not only in concept and substance, but also in purpose and operation.
• Conceptually, anti-dumping and the like measures in their essence are linked to the notion of fair trade.
• The object of these duties is to guard against the situation arising out of unfair trade practices while customs duties are there as a means of raising revenue and for overall development of the economy.
• Customs duties fall in the realm of trade and fiscal policies of the Government while anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures are there as trade remedial measures.
• The object of anti-dumping and allied duties is to offset the injurious effect of international price discrimination while customs duties have implications for the government revenue and for overall development of the economy.
• The anti-dumping duty is levied over and above the normal customs duty chargeable on the import of goods in question.

Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC)

Context:

• CBFC withholding clearance for my film, claims Kangana Ranaut

About CBFC:

• It is a statutory body under Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
• It regulates the public exhibition of films under the provisions of the Cinematograph Act 1952.
• Films can be publicly exhibited in India only after they have been certified by the Central Board of Film Certification.
• The Board consists of non-official members and a Chairman (all of whom are appointed by Central Government).
• It functions with headquarters at Mumbai.
• It has nine Regional offices, one each at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Cuttack and Guwahati.
• The Regional Offices are assisted in the examination of films by Advisory Panels.
• The members of the panels are nominated by Central Government by drawing people from different walks of life for a period of 2 years.
• The Certification process is in accordance with The Cinematograph Act, 1952, The Cinematograph (certification) Rules, 1983, and the guidelines issued by the Central government u/s 5 (B).

Film Certification in India:

• The Cinematograph Act, 1952 lays down the guidelines to be followed by certifying films.
• Initially, there were only two categories of certificate – “U” (unrestricted public exhibition) and “A” (restricted to adult audiences), but two other categories were added in 1983 – “UA” (unrestricted public exhibition subject to parental guidance for children below the age of twelve) and “S” (restricted to specialized audiences such as doctors or scientists).

West Bank

Context:

• Israeli strike kills three Palestinians on the third day of West Bank raid

About West Bank:

• It is an area of the former British-mandated (1920–47) territory of Palestine west of the Jordan River.
• It is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that comprise the State of Palestine.
• It is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the Levant region of West Asia.
• It is sandwiched between Israel and Jordan.
• Borders: It is bordered by Jordan and the Dead Sea to the east and by Israel (via the Green Line) to the south, west, and north.
• It contains a significant section of the western Dead Sea.
• One of its major cities is Ramallah, the de facto administrative capital of Palestine.
• It was claimed from 1949 to 1988 as part of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan but occupied from 1967 by Israel.
• The mid-1990s Oslo Accords split the West Bank into three regional levels of Palestinian sovereignty, via the Palestinian National Authority (PNA): Area A (PNA), Area B (PNA and Israel), and Area C (Israel, comprising 60% of the West Bank).