Published on: January 3, 2025

Snippets : 3 JANUARY 2025

Snippets : 3 JANUARY 2025

  • The World Bank is providing a $426 million (₹3,500 crore) loan for Bengaluru’s water resilience project, with nine disbursement-linked indicators (DLIs) ensuring accountability and focused outcomes. The project, implemented by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), will cost ₹5,000 crore, with ₹1,500 crore funded by the State government. Running from 2026 to 2031, the project emphasizes service benchmarking, digital governance, climate financing, treated water reuse, flood alert systems, infrastructure operation and maintenance, lake management with sluice gates, resource mobilization through property tax reforms and water tariff hikes, and disaster-risk governance via an advanced control room at the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre. Innovative approaches include circular economy practices and advanced flood management systems, with compliance tied to World Bank disbursement requirements.
  • The UDISE+ report 2023-24, released by the Union Ministry of Education, highlights a sharp rise in school dropout rates in Karnataka compared to 2022-23, with rates increasing from 0% to 1.7% in primary, 0% to 2.7% in upper primary, and 14.9% to 22.09% in secondary education. Total student enrolment from pre-primary to Class 12 also declined to 1,19,26,303 in 2023-24 from 1,23,98,654 in 2022-23, affecting both government and private unaided schools. The report identified 1,572 zero-teacher schools, 7,821 single-teacher schools catering to 2,74,814 students, and 1,078 zero-enrolment schools. However, a positive trend was observed in Class 1 enrolments, with 3,91,940 students transitioning from anganwadis and 59,748 joining private unaided schools. The dropout rate is defined as the proportion of students not enrolling in the next grade and is calculated along with promotion and repetition rates.
  • The Union Cabinet has extended the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and the Restructured Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) until FY26, with an increased outlay of ₹69,515.71 crore for 2021-2026, up from ₹66,550 crore. A new Fund for Innovation and Technology (FIAT) worth ₹824.77 crore has been created, aimed at enhancing insurance assessments using remote-sensing technology to identify crop damage. Over the past eight years, crop insurance has benefitted 4 crore farmers, with 88% of them being small and marginal. ₹1.7 lakh crore in insurance payouts have been disbursed, with insurers facing a 12% penalty for delays in claims. In addition, a one-time subsidy of ₹3,850 crore has been approved for Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) fertilisers, lowering the retail price to ₹1,350 per 50 kg bag, with the Central Government bearing the extra cost. A one-time special subsidy of ₹3,500 per tonne on DAP has been extended beyond December 31, 2024. PMFBY, launched in 2016, offers insurance coverage for crops affected by natural calamities, pests, and diseases, stabilising farmers’ income. The scheme utilizes technologies like satellite imagery, drones, AI, and machine learning to assess crop losses. The premium rates are set at 2% for Kharif crops, 1.5% for Rabi crops, and 5% for commercial and horticultural crops, with the Centre providing a premium subsidy for unirrigated and irrigated areas. RWBCIS, launched in 2016, focuses on mitigating financial losses due to adverse weather conditions, covering crops such as food crops, oilseeds, and commercial crops against risks like drought, floods, and cyclones.
  • In 2025, the Defence Ministry of India aims to usher in a year of reforms, focusing on the integration of emerging technologies, including cyber, space, artificial intelligence, machine learning, hypersonics, and robotics, to shape the future of warfare. As part of these reforms, steps will be taken to establish integrated theatre commands, bringing together elements of the Army, Navy, and Air Force to enhance jointness, integration, and resource optimization. A nine-point guideline has been issued to drive these reforms, simplifying acquisition procedures and positioning India as a global defence exporter. Technological advancements, such as the use of cyber and space technologies for multi-domain operations, will play a crucial role, drawing lessons from recent global conflicts. The Indian Navy is also advancing with the commissioning of three indigenous platforms—guided-missile destroyer Surat, stealth frigate Nilgiri, and submarine Vagsheer—on January 15, 2025, marking a significant step in self-reliance and gender inclusion in combat roles. These efforts reflect India’s commitment to enhancing its defence capabilities and advancing its indigenous defence manufacturing.
  • The Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award 2024, India’s highest sporting honor, was announced to recognize outstanding performance in sports at the international level. Instituted in 1991-1992 by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, this prestigious award is conferred on athletes who have demonstrated exceptional achievements in international events over the preceding four years. The key recipients for 2024 include Manu Bhaker, a double Olympic medal-winning shooter; D Gukesh, the World Chess Champion at 18 and leader of India’s gold-winning team at the Chess Olympiad; Harmanpreet Singh, captain of the Indian men’s hockey team who led them to a bronze at the Paris Olympics; and Praveen Kumar, a para-athlete who competed with prosthetic support and won the T64 High Jump title at the Paris Paralympics. The award’s criteria include performance in Olympic, Asian, Commonwealth, or World Games, with exclusion for doping violations, and it comes with a ₹25,00,000 cash prize, a certificate, and a medal.
  • Bhuvnesh Kumar took charge as the Chief Executive Officer of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which administers Aadhaar. Mr. Kumar, a 1995-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, is an Additional Secretary at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, a post he will continue to hold after this appointment
  • The 5000m and 10,000m Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet smashed the women’s 5km world record with a time of 13 minutes 54 seconds at the Cursa dels Nassos road race in Barcelona
  • The Keladi Shivappa Nayaka University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences here has developed the state’s first high oleic acid groundnut variety to help growers get high crop yield and benefit heart and diabetics. It is named ‘Sahyadri Durga. The new variety has been developed in association with Hyderabad-based International Crops Research Institute for Semi-arid Tropics at the farm of the Zonal Agricultural & Horticultural Research Station at Babbur in Hiriyur taluk of the district.
  • Bellatrix Aerospace’s Rudra High-Performance Green Propulsion System has fired flawlessly onboard the POEM-4 in the recently launched PSLV C-60 mission, marking a significant milestone for the Bengaluru-based space start-up. The system, which was replicated from January 2024’s space qualification, demonstrated dependable and repeatable performance, with all sub-systems being 100% made at Bellatrix. During the 60-second firing, the system imparted a disturbance of 1.4 deg/s on the POEM body in the Yaw axis, achieving an 80-degree angular rotation of the POEM platform, setting a new benchmark for performance.
  • The Karnataka State Cabinet has approved the bifurcation of the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) to establish a separate municipal corporation for Dharwad city, aiming to enhance governance and secure more funds for Dharwad’s development, which is home to key institutions like the University of Agricultural Sciences and IIT. This decision follows demands from the Dharwad Separate Corporation Agitation Committee and Congress leaders for an independent urban body. Additionally, the Cabinet increased the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board’s (KIADB) borrowing limit from ₹500 crore to ₹5,000 crore to support land acquisition and compensation, crucial for developing 24 industrial areas. Approvals were also granted for a ₹120 crore modern bus stand in Mysuru, a revised ₹209.13 crore fisheries port plan at Kodi in Udupi, ₹84.57 crore for fishery port modernization under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana, ₹10.5 crore for developing goshalas in 14 districts, and ₹149.75 crore for constructing an engineering college in Chickballapur district.
  • World Organisation for Animal Health (WoAH) Reference Laboratory for Leptospirosis was inaugurated, January 2, 2025, at ICAR National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics campus, in Ramagondanahalli, Yelahanka.
  • The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has amended the rules governing the selection of experts to the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), India’s apex body regulating genetically modified (GM) seeds, requiring expert members to disclose potential conflicts of interest and recuse themselves from decisions where such conflicts may arise unless explicitly requested otherwise. Members must also submit a decade-long record of professional affiliations before joining the committee. These changes follow a Supreme Court order in July 2023, which directed the creation of a national policy on GM crops after a split verdict on the Centre’s 2022 conditional approval for GM mustard, leaving the final decision to a future Bench. Allegations of conflict of interest in 2013, involving an expert linked to Monsanto-funded organizations, highlighted the necessity of such safeguards, with Monsanto now part of Bayer CropScience Limited.
  • Labani Jangi, a research scholar from Centre for Studies in Social Sciences in Kolkata, became the first recipient of the TM Krishna-PARI award for her work in art that “reflects the resilience and complexities of rural India, combining artistic expression with critical social commentary”, said a statement from People’s Archive of Rural India. The award honours individuals whose works bridge the worlds of art and journalism and includes a cash prize of ₹1 lakh.
  • Researchers from the Centre for Advanced Studies in Botany, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong discovered a new plant species and named it as Stellaria bengalensis.