25th & 26th DEC, 2022

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MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION UNVEILS ‘RIGHT
TO REPAIR’ PORTAL ON OCCASION OF NATIONAL CONSUMER DAY (DECEMBER 24)

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On the portal, manufacturers would share manual of product details with customers so

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that they could either repair by self, by third parties, rather than depend on original
manufacturers.
Initially, mobile phones, electronics, consumer durables, automobile and farming
equipments would be covered.
Right to Repair movement calls for companies to make spare parts, tools and information

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on how to repair devices available to customers and repair shops to increase lifespan of
products and to keep them from ending up in landfills.
Right to Repair has been recognised in many countries including US, UK and European
Union.
Significance of developing a framework on right to repair in India

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Empower consumers and product buyers in the local market.

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Address issue of ‘planned obsolescence’ i.e. devices are designed specifically to last a limited amount of time and to be replaced.
Harmonize trade between original equipment manufacturers and the third-party buyers and sellers.
Developing sustainable consumption of products and reduction in e-waste.
Catalysing employment generation through Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) by allowing third-party repairs.

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DEPARTMENT FOR PROMOTION OF INDUSTRY AND INTERNAL TRADE (DPIIT) SEEKS

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VIEWS ON DRAFT NATIONAL RETAIL TRADE POLICY
Draft policy by DPIIT (Ministry of Commerce and Industry) would focus on formulating strategies to provide a globally competitive
and sustainable environment for overall development of retail trade.

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India is world’s fifth-largest global destination in the retail space.
Objective of the policy
Ensuring easy and quick access to affordable credit.
Facilitating modernization and digitisation of retail trade by promoting modern technology and superior infrastructural support.
Development of physical infrastructure across distribution chain.
Promotion of skill development and improving labour productivity.
Providing an effective consultative and grievance redressal mechanism.
Economic importance of retail in India
With more than 12% gross value contribution to GDP, retail is the third-largest sector in India’s economy.
In addition to employing more than five crore workers, retail also provides significant indirect employment to adjacent sectors
such as warehousing, logistics, construction, and packaging.
Government initiatives for boosting retail
Better access to finance through schemes like Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana etc.
Focus on infrastructure by giving infrastructure status to Warehousing and logistics, developing multimodal logistics parks, Smart
Cities Mission etc.
Prioritising technology through initiatives like Digital India program.

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CENTRAL BOARD OF INDIRECT TAXES AND CUSTOMS (CBIC) NOTIFIED RULES OF

ORIGIN (ROO) FOR INDIA-AUSTRALIA TRADE PACT
Customs Tariff (Determination of Origin of Goods under India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement) Rules, 2022, lays
out origin criteria for claiming preferential customs duty on products.
India and Australia had earlier signed Economic cooperation and trade agreement (ECTA), which is expected to cover 90% of
bilateral trade between the two.
ROO are the criteria prescribed to determine national origin of an imported product in a country.

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It helps to prevent misuse of FTAs by determining whether enough value addition took place in partner country for import to
qualify as originating from there.
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) has no specific rules governing determination of country of origin of goods in
international commerce.

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ROO are used:

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To implement commercial policy measures such as anti-dumping duties and safeguard measures.
To determine whether imported products shall receive most-favoured-nation (MFN) treatment or preferential treatment.
For trade statistics, government procurement and application of labelling and marking requirements.
Earlier India notified the ‘Customs (Administration of Rules of Origin under Trade Agreements) Rules, 2020’ (CAROTAR) to plug duty
evasion through routing exports to India under FTAs.

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CENTRAL POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD (CPCB) WINDOW FOR FREE TRADE
REPORT SHOWS FEWER POLLUTED RIVER STRETCHES AGREEMENTS (FTAs) SHRINKS
(PRS), BUT WORST ONES REMAIN UNCHANGED AS INDIA BRACES FOR SET OF

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CPCB monitors water quality, under National Water Quality Monitoring NON-TARIFF BARRIERS

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Programme, at locations covering rivers, lakes, creeks, drains, canals etc.
Water quality management is performed under provision of Water
(Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.
According to report, number of polluted stretches in India’s rivers has fallen
Concerns are being raised that India’s ongoing
FTA negotiations with UK, European Union etc.
might face hurdles from non-tariff issues such
as climate action, carbon emission norms,
labour and gender balance standards.

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from 351 in 2018 to 311 in 2022.
Overall reduction may be attributed to development of infrastructure for E.g. USA brought up the issue of carbon

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sewage management, industrial effluent management, waste management emissions from manufacturing melted steel
and enforcement of regulations etc. process that can impact India.
Maharashtra has highest number of PRS followed by Madhya Pradesh. Similarly, EU has proposed a Carbon Border
Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) from 2026
PRS are categorized under five Priority Classes (I to V) on the basis of to tax carbon-intensive products such as iron

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maximum Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) level observed. and Steel, Cement, Fertiliser, Aluminium etc.
BOD represents amount of oxygen consumed by bacteria and other Negative Impact of these Non-Tariff Barriers
microorganisms while they decompose organic matter under aerobic (oxygen for India
is present) conditions at a specified temperature.
Might delay the FTAs conclusion.
BOD exceeding 3.0 mg/L (milligram per litre) are identified as polluted
locations. Can hurt India's chances to reap the benefits
of its comparative labour advantage.
Two or more polluted locations identified on a river in a continuous sequence
are considered as a PRS. Reduced scope of FTAs benefit for India.
A BOD less than 3 mg/L means river stretch is fit for ‘Outdoor Bathing.’ Exposes early harvest agreements of India
to legal challenges from other WTO
members if they do not graduate into
full-scale FTAs.
FTAs are arrangements between two or more
countries or trading blocs that primarily agree
to reduce or eliminate customs tariff and
non-tariff barriers on substantial trade
between them.
India has inked FTAs with several countries,
including Australia, UAE, Mauritius, Japan,
Singapore etc.

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CHANGE IN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT (EIA) PROCESS CANNOT BE

SUSTAINED, SAYS GREEN COURT
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) with a notification in 2018 gave powers to the local bodies instead of
State Environment Impact Assessment Authorities (SEIAAs) to do EIA of:
Construction projects with built up area between 20,000 sqm and 50,000 sqm .
Industrial sheds, educational institutions, hospitals and hostels for educational institutions between 20,000 sqm and 1,50,000
sqm.

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Now NGT has stated that this will result in diluting the existing mechanism of EIA by SEIAAs and cannot thus be sustained.
EIA is the study to predict effect of a proposed activity/project on environment. It examines both beneficial and adverse
consequences and ensures that these are taken into account during project design.
EIA is backed by the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

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EIA notification of 2006 made it mandatory for various projects such as mining, thermal power plants, river valley, infrastructure
and industries etc. to get environmental clearance.

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Benefits of EIA: protection of environment, optimum utilisation of resources, saving of time and cost of the project etc.

ALSO IN NEWS
National Company Law Appellate Tribunal ruled that a Judicial member is not a must for CCI to
validly discharge its functions.

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CCI was established in 2009 under the Competition Act, 2002 for the administration,
implementation, and enforcement of the Act.
It consists of a Chairperson and not less than two and not more than ten other members.
Qualification for Chairperson and Member: A person with special knowledge and not less than 15

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Competition Commission years professional experience in - international trade, economics, business, commerce, law, finance,
of India (CCI) accountancy, management etc.

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Revamped e-HRMS 2.0 Portal was launched by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
e-HRMS was introduced by DoPT to facilitate a digital working environment, and streamline
Human Resource services for Government employees.
Revamped portal was launched as earlier e-HRMS was limited in scope, where employees could
avail limited services and it was not connected with other HR applications.

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e-HRMS (Electronic- Revamped e-HRMS 2.0 is the first digital system in Govt. of India to provide end-to-end HR
Human Resource Services.

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Management System) It will also save several thousand man-hours and tonnes of printing paper.
Railways is planning to modernise 1,000 small yet important stations under ABSC.
Aim is to identify developing cities with potential and envisage railway stations as city centres

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that would link not just various parts of the city but also between different cities in future.
Modernisation of stations will be done in a cost-effective manner and a special fund will also be
Amrit Bharat Station earmarked with divisional railway managers (DRMs).
Scheme (ABSC) Redevelopment will be done under “Khurda (Station in Odisha) model of redevelopment”.

Dark patterns are unethical user interface designs that deliberately make Internet experience
harder or even exploit users.
In turn, they benefit the company or platform (Big Tech firms such as Apple, Amazon, Skype etc )
employing the designs.
By using dark patterns, digital platforms take away a user’s right to full information about the
Dark patterns services they are using, and reduce their control over their browsing experience.
It makes internet users more vulnerable to financial and data exploitation by Big Tech firms.

Recently researchers at IIT Kanpur have developed an organic solar cell on steel substrates.
It can convert a steel roof into an energy producing device.
OSCs are one of the emerging photovoltaic (PV) technologies and are classified as
third-generation solar cells with organic polymer material as the light absorbing layer.
Benefits of OSCs
Organic solar cells (OSCs) Lightweight, can cover a much larger area, and has low manufacturing costs.
Potential to store much larger amounts of solar energies than other solar technologies.

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A new research has shown infrared light emission and absorption with GaN nanostructures for
the first time.
GaN (Gallium + Nitrogen) is a very hard, mechanically stable wide bandgap semiconductor
suited for high-power transistors.
Other Properties: Faster Switching Speed, Higher power density etc. over silicon-based
devices.
Gallium Nitride (GaN) GaN is also known for blue light emission and it is commonly used in LEDs.

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The new development highlights GaN nanostructures potential to be developed into highly
efficient absorbers, emitters and modulators, useful in fields of Defense, Imaging and Sensing.

Citing damage to petroglyphs, experts have red-flagged the proposed mega oil refinery project
in Ratnagiri (Konkan region of Maharashtra).

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Petroglyphs are drawn by removing part of a rock surface.
Classified as protected monuments, these rock carvings are made in hard lateritic rock during

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Prehistoric era.
They are also added to tentative list of UNESCO’s world heritage sites.
Rock Carvings (Petroglyphs)
Total rock cravings in Konkan region goes over 1,000 (also called katal Shilpa), depicting
of Ratnagiri
sculptures of various animals, birds, geometrical structures and ancient hieroglyphics.
Unlike Bhimbetka and Mirzapur carvings, no scenes of animal hunting are depicted here.

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PM extended his greetings on the occasion of Losar.
It marks the beginning of the Tibetan new year in the traditional schedule of Tibetan Buddhism
and is an important festival of Ladakh.
It dates back to the pre-Buddhist era in Tibet when Tibetans used to follow the Bon religion.

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Celebration consists of offering of prayers in the name of God and Goddess, dances and songs
Losar Festival
in honour of Ibex and pilgrimage of Mount Kailash.

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Madan Mohan Malviya (25 December 1861 - 12 November 1946)
Born at Prayagraj (earlier Allahabad), he was a freedom fighter and educationist, popularly
known as Mahamana.
In 1906, he founded Hindu Mahasabha and Banaras Hindu University in 1916.

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He served as a member of Imperial Legislative Council and Indian Industrial Commission.
He joined Indian National Congress (INC) in 1886 and became its President 4 times: 1909

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(Lahore), 1918 (Delhi), 1932 (Delhi) and 1933 (Calcutta).
Personalities in News Media: Served as Editor of Hindustan. He started Abhyudaya (Hindi weekly, 1907), Maryada
(Hindi monthly, 1910) and The Leader (English Daily, 1909).
In 2015, he was posthumously conferred with Bharat Ratna.

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Virtues: Patriotism, Honesty, Impartiality etc.

Fiji (Capital: Suva)

Sitiveni Rabuka became Fiji's Prime Minister.
Situated in the south pacific, Fiji is referred to as “300
islands in the sun”.
It is an island group located in Oceania between Hawaii
and New Zealand.
Three biggest islands: Viti Levu, Vanua Levu and Taveuni
Form of Government: Parliamentary republic.
Geographical features:
Places in news
Climate: Tropical marine, only slight seasonal
temperature variation.
Terrain: Mostly mountains of volcanic origin.
Highest Point: Tomanivi.

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