UN Migration Compact
- The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration has been formally adopted by UN member states at a conference in Marrakesh, Morocco.
- It is the first intergovernmental negotiated agreement under the auspices of UN to cover all dimensions of migration.
- It aims to protect the human rights of migrants, help them resettle and ensure they have access to education.
- The agreement was signed in the UNGA by adopting a political declaration “New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants” in 2016.
- It is a non-binding political accord on member countries.
- Under the agenda, member States committed to cooperate internationally to facilitate safe, orderly and regular migration.
- Few countries have refused to sign or withdrawn from the agreement – USA, Australia, Hungary, Australia, Israel, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Latvia, Italy, Switzerland and Chile.
Vaccine for Multiple Pathogens
- A global coalition set up to develop a synthetic vaccine system that could be tailor-made to fight multiple pathogens such as flu, Ebola, Marburg and Rabies.
- Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Britain scientists is developing a “vaccine platform” to fight disease epidemics.
- Vaccine platform is using synthetic self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) approach.
- SaRNA aims to harness the body’s own cell machinery to make an antigen rather than injecting the antigen itself directly into the body.
- It can be adapted to immunize against different diseases by inserting new genetic sequences.
- The other advantage of this approach is that it’s very rapid to manufacture.
- Antigen – A foreign substance which induces an immune response in the body.
- Antibodies - also called immunoglobulins, are proteins manufactured by the body that help fight against foreign substances called antigens.
- CEPI, set up in 2017, aims to dramatically speed up the development of vaccines against new and unknown diseases, collectively known as “Disease X”.
National Pension Scheme
- It is a pension cum investment scheme launched to provide old age security.
- The scheme was introduced for central government employees who joined service on or after January 1, 2004 and later extended to all citizens (18-65 years) in 2009.
- The minimum employee contribution in NPS is 10 per cent of basic pay. An equal contribution is made by the government.
- It offers two kinds of accounts – Tier 1 and Tier 2.
- Tier 1 account is non-withdrawable till the person reaches the age of 60.
- The Tier II NPS account works like a savings account from where the subscriber is free to withdraw money as and when required.
- The subscribers could withdraw 60% of the corpus, with 40% of mandatory being deposited in annuity schemes.
- Of the 60%, one-third was taxable and two-third was tax exempt. 40% of the fund deposited in annuities is totally tax exempted.
- Recent developments – The government has recently announced few changes in the scheme.
- The government increased its share of contribution from the current 10% to 14%.
- The tax exemption limit when withdrawing funds from corpus has also been increased.
- Following the changes, the entire 60% of the fund withdrawn from the corpus is tax-exempted.
- Taken in combination with 40% deposited in annuities, the change means that the entire withdrawal from NPS will now be tax free.
- Contribution by the Government employees under Tier-II of NPS will now be covered for tax exemption up to Rs. 1.5 lakh.
Kaiga Nuclear Power Plant
- Kaiga plant in Karnataka has recently created a world record for the longest uninterrupted operation for 941 days.
- It breaks the earlier record of 940 days by the Heysham – 2 reactor of United Kingdom.
- Kaiga is an indigenously built Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) run by domestic fuel (Uranium).
- It began commercial operation in 2016.
- While Kaiga is a PHWR and Heysham-2 Unit-8 is an Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor (AGR).
Agni – V
- Agni – V was successfully test fired from a canister on a road mobile launcher from Dr. Abdul Kalam Island, off the coast of Odisha.
- It is India’s longest-range ballistic missile which will be inducted into the nuclear arsenal soon.
- It is an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) with a range of over 5,000 km and can reach most parts of China.
- It is powered by three stage solid fuelled missiles.
- It can carry a payload of 1.5 tonnes.
- It is a part of Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP).
- Earlier variants of the Agni family of long-range missiles have already been deployed.
International Conference on Sustainable Water Management
- The first International conference on sustainable water management was recently organized in India.
- It was organized under the aegis of national hydrology project, Union Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.
- National hydrology project is a central sector scheme, helps in gathering hydro-meteorological data which will be stored and analysed on a real time basis.
Source: PIB, The Hindu
