General

1. MoES appoints Climate Change Panel for analysing Kerala effect
   
   
   
   

• MoES to consider Rs. 79-crore project to study climate change in Kerala
• The ambitious project, spread over a period of three years, will assess the impact of climate change on agriculture (including plantation crops and spices); fisheries (marine and inland); industries; health; transport — vehicular and inland water transports; tourism; biodiversity; forestry; and landslips.
• It assumes significance in the wake of devastating floods that ravaged many parts of the State as the research initiative will specifically assess the dynamics of riverine discharge and saline water incursion under the climate change scenario.
• The experts will study the spatial and temporal changes in water resources (surface and groundwater — quantity and quality).
• CSIR-NISCAIR was the nodal institute to develop climate change adaptation programmes for islands and coastal ecosystems as part of the 12th Five Year Plan programme approved by the CSIR.
• It is part of the vulnerability assessment and development of adaptation strategies for climate change impact with special reference to coasts and island ecosystems of India project launched by CSIR-NISCAIR in 2015
  
  

2. Registration of all drones is must.
   
   
   
   

• Drones, their operators and pilots will have to be mandatorily registered on aviation regulator DGCA’s online portal, effective December 1.
• The use of remotely piloted aircraft, a kind of drone, is allowed for taking photographs, conducting surveys such as for laying of pipelines and agricultural purposes and surveillance, as per the regulations on remotely piloted aircraft system unveiled by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
• The rules bar use of drones for delivery of items. They can be deployed for spraying of pesticides and delivery of relief material during a natural disaster only on a case-by-case basis.
• Remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) have been divided into five categories – nano (less than 250gm), micro (between 250 gm and 2kg), small (between 2 and 25 kg) and large (more than 150 kg).
• Users will have to go online to seek a unique identification number for each drone as well as an operator’s permit licence.
• They will have to provide details of flight path to be undertaken for every flight. However, nano drones are exempt from all these pre-requisites.
• Operations are allowed in daylight and within the visual range or a range of 450 m. Wedding photographers are allowed to use micro drones during night, if they are taking pictures in an enclosed premises which is also well-lit.
• Drones are barred from being flown near airports, international border, coastline, Parliament, Secretariat complex in State capitals, military installations and eco sensitive zones.
• Small and large drones can fly up to a maximum height of 400 feet. Nano drones must not fly beyond 50 feet and micro drones must be within 200 feet from ground level.
  
  

3. SC reiterates its stand : Female genital mutilation

• Female genital mutilation leaves permanent emotional and mental scars in a young girl.
• Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said the Constitution does not allow a person to cause injury to another.
• 70,000 Bohra Muslim women who are in favour of the practice which has continued since the 10th century.
• The court has to test it in the light of constitutional morality. Just because something is “essential”, does not mean it is above constitutional morality.
• If we do not go by the Constitution, then morality is left to the mob. The people on the streets will say what is moral and what is immoral.
• The court is hearing a PIL filed by advocate Sunita Tiwari to ban female genital mutilation practised by some communities as a religious practice
• The practice cannot be considered “essential” in religion as it can be brought under the ambit of the POCSO Act.
  
  

4. Jatropha powered Indian flights : a reality
   
   
   
   

• A blend of oil from jatropha seeds and aviation turbine fuel propelled the country’s first-ever bio jet fuel-powered flight between Dehradun and Delhi.
• The 43-minute flight was operated by SpiceJet’s Bombardier Q-400 aircraft.
• A blend of 25% of bio jet fuel and 75% of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) was carried in one of the two engines of the plane, while the other engine carried only ATF. International standards permit a blend rate of upto 50% biofuel with ATF.
• The indigenously developed fuel has been nearly eight years in the making by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) lab based in Dehradun along with the Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP).
• The institute started its experiment on biofuel soon after Virgin Atlantic carried out the first test flight globally in 2008.
  
  

5. Indus treaty talks between India & Pak
   
   
   
   

• India and Pakistan resume their talks on various aspects of the Indus Waters Treaty in Lahore .
• The last meeting of the Pakistan-India Permanent Indus Commission was held in New Delhi in March, during which both sides had shared details of the water flow and the quantum of water being used under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty.
• The Pakistani side will reiterate its objections over two water-storage and hydroelectric projects being built by India ;the 1000-MW Pakal Dul and the 48-MW Lower Kalnai hydroelectric projects on the Chenab river.
• The 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank and signed by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and former Pakistan President Ayub Khan, administers how the waters of the Indus River and its tributaries that flow in both the countries will be utilised.
  
  

6. Economic Strangulation On Iran By US
   
   
   

• The Islamic Republic launched a suit at the International Court of Justice over U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to reimpose the sanctions that had been lifted in a 2015 accord.
• The United States is publicly propagating a policy intended to damage as severely as possible Iran’s economy and Iranian nationals and companies.
• The sanctions target financial transactions and imports of raw materials, cars and aircraft among other things.
• A second wave of punitive measures is due to hit Iran in early November, targeting its vital energy sector including oil exports.