Paryatan Parv 2019
Context :
The Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change and Information & Broadcasting inaugurated the nationwide “Paryatan Parv 2019″ .
Objective :
To encourage Indians to visit various tourist destinations of the country and also to spread the message of ‘Tourism for All’ . The idea of Paryatan Parv is to propagate the message of ‘Dekho Apna Desh’,
The three components of Paryatan Parv, are:
Dekho Apna Desh: To encourage Indians to visit their own country. In the run up to the parv, several activities have been organised across the Country like Photography contest covering tourism attractions and experiences, promotion on Social Media, Tourism related Quiz, Essay, Debate and Painting Competitions for Students. General public engagement for the event will be promoted through the MyGov platform.
Tourism for All: Tourism Events at sites across all States in the country are being organised. The activities at these sites will include illumination in and around the Sites, Cultural Programmes of Dance, Music, Theatre, Story Telling, Sensitisation Programmes for Stakeholders around the Sites, Tourism Exhibitions, Showcasing Culture, Cuisine and Handicrafts / Handlooms, Guided Heritage Walks, etc.
Tourism & Governance: Interactive Sessions & Workshops with Stakeholders on varied themes have been organised across the Country as a part of the Paryatan parv activities.
Drone Innovators Network Summit 2019
Context: Drone Innovators Network Summit-2019 is being held in New Delhi.Organised by the World Economic Forum under the aegis of the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Drone Innovators Network (DIN):
Started by the World Economic Forum to hasten and contribute to healthy drone policies in need of legislation.
Established to help overcome common challenges regulators are facing in enabling drones and unmanned aviation, such as how to enable beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights at scale, autonomous operations and flights over densely populated areas.
Composition: Government aviation agencies, academics, and established drone entities.Inaugural Drone Innovators Network summit was held in Zurich in 2018.
Drone Regulation in India:
India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation issued Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR), effective 1 December, 2018 for drones.
- As per the regulations, manufacturers of drone are required to comply with the requirements of No Permission, No Take-off (NPNT) on the Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS).
- These regulations (CAR Version 1.0) only permit operations of drones during daytime Visual Line of Sight.
- DigiSky is a portal for registration and flying of civil drones in India.
Delhi-Lucknow Tejas Express
In News
- This is the first train which is not operated directly by the Railways. IRCTC will be operating this train.
- The train is schedules to be flagged off on 4 October 2019.
- IRCTC has promised Tejas passengers compensation for delays – Rs100 will be paid if the delay is for over an hour and ₹250 if delay is more than 2 hours
- The IRCTC has announced a slew of offers, including free travel insurance worth ₹25 lakh and on-board infotainment services, doorstep baggage collection, local food and no tatkal quota, to make the travel on its first train attractive ahead of its first commercial run on October 5.
Awareness to initiative RUCO (Repurpose Used Cooking Oil)
Context : To mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi , Secretary, Petroleum and Natural Gas Dr M.M.Kutty today flagged off the publicity vans in Delhi, to generate awareness among the people about the OMCs’ initiative of converting Used Cooking Oil to Biodiesel.
Purpose :
- To spread awareness and educate people about the ill effects of used cooking oil and ways to dispose it off for converting it to biodiesel.
- The publicity vans will also carry the poster messages across 100 cities to spread the awareness.
- This awareness initiative of the OMCs would be a continuous process in coming days.
Significance : Consumers can give their Used Cooking Oil to authorised aggregators of Used Cooking Oil who will in turn give it to the Biodiesel Manufactures for production of Biodiesel which will be used for blending with Diesel.
About RUCO:
- The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had launched RUCO (Repurpose Used Cooking Oil), an initiative that will enable collection and conversion of used cooking oil to bio-diesel.
- Under this initiative, 64 companies at 101 locations have been identified to enable collection of used cooking oil. For instance: McDonald’s has already started converting used cooking oil to biodiesel from 100 outlets in Mumbai and Pune.
- FSSAI wants businesses using more than 100 litres of oil for frying, to maintain a stock register and ensure that UCO is handed over to only registered collecting agencies.
Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs)
Context: CBDT inks the 300th Advance Pricing Agreement.APA Programme is currently in its seventh year.
What are APAs?
An APA is an agreement between a taxpayer and the tax authority determining the Transfer Pricing methodology for pricing the tax payer’s international transactions for future years.
Purpose: An APA provides certainty with respect to the tax outcome of the tax payer’s international transactions.
Statutory basis:
The Finance Act, 2012, inserted sections 92CC and 92 CD in the ITA to provide the legal basis for APA in India.
An APA can be one of the three types – unilateral, bilateral and multilateral:
- Unilateral APA is an APA that involves only the taxpayer and the tax authority of the country where the taxpayer is located.
- Bilateral APA (BAPA) is an APA that involves the tax payer, associated enterprise (AE) of the taxpayer in the foreign country, tax authority of the country where the taxpayer is located and the foreign tax authority.
- Multilateral APA (MAPA) is an APA that involves the taxpayer, two or more AEs of the tax payer in different foreign countries, tax authority of the country where the taxpayer is located and the tax authorities of AEs.
Village Secretariat programme
Context: Village Secretariat system launched in Andhra Pradesh.
Key facts:
- Under the new system, the AP government, one Village Secretariat has been set up for every population of 2,000, with each one comprising close to a dozen village officials (from different departments like police, revenue, etc).
- The idea behind it, according to the state government, is to ensure that its services reach people on the ground, and also to strengthen the existing Panchayat Raj system.
- Village Secretariats would act as a bridge between the government and the people by rendering over 500 types of services at their doorstep.
- These institutions would showcase government programmes and make pictorial representations of government schools and hospitals under the caption ‘then and now’ to show how reforms have changed their functioning.
Criticism:
While the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) has maintained that this will make government services more accessible, the system, however, is in complete contrast to the earlier trajectory of the state, which had been pushing for e-governance or online services instead under former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.