29-09-22 Daily-Kerala-KPSC Current Affairs

The southernmost stateKeralatook a technological leap by collaborating with BSNL, a government-owned telecommunications service provider to provide 100Mbpsbroadband Internet connectivity in high schools, higher secondary schools, and vocational higher secondary schools that are run by the state. For this Kerala and Technology for Education (KITE) partnered withBSNLunder the Hitech classroom scheme of Kerala. Now the state-run schools of Kerala will have high-speed internet connectivity.

The 100 Mbps internet connectivity will be beneficial for 45,000 classrooms of 4,685 schools covered under the Hi-Tech school project, with upgraded ICT-enabled education. TheSamagra Resourcesportal and Sahitham mentoring portal which were available to all the classrooms in offline mode will now become easier to use effectively in online or digital mode with the availability of 100 Mbps internet connectivity. This will also enable the availability of KITE VICTERS educational channels meant for students in the classrooms.

60 per cent of the totalCSRfunds spent by companies in the last seven financial years were in the areas of Education,healthcareand rural development-related activities. In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, the corporate affairs ministry said that during the period, around 33 per cent of the total CSR amount spent by companies were inMaharashtra,Karnataka,Gujarat,Andhra Pradeshand Nadu.

Under the Companies Act, 2013, a certain class of profitable companies have to earmark at least two per cent of their three-year annual Average net profit towards CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities in a particular fiscal year.

The Centre has given an extension of one more year to the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal that has been adjudicating River Water Sharing disputes between Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra since 2010. The extension comes at a time when the government is preparing to get the pending Inter-State River Water Disputes (Amendment)Bill, 2019 passed in theParliamentduring the monsoon session.

The Bill, passed in theLok Sabhain July 2019, seeks to adjudicate water disputes within the fixed timeframe of maximum four-and-half-years, unlike the current law of 1956 which does not have such a timeline and therefore the existing have been getting extension year after year.

There are two more existing tribunals that have been getting extension from time to time. The oldest one – Ravi and Beas Water Tribunal – was constituted in April 1986 to adjudicate water sharing disputes between Punjab,HaryanaandRajasthanwhile the last one – Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal – was constituted in March, 2018 to resolve disputes between Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

India’s government on Wednesday raised fiscal support for new semiconductor facilities to cover 50% of project costs and said it will remove a ceiling for maximum permitted for display manufacturing as it moves to boost local production.

The announcement comes as Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s government seeks to attract more big-ticket investments under a $10 billion incentive plan for chip and display production, aiming to make India a key player in the global supply chain.

The government had previously agreed to cover between 30% and 50% of the cost of setting up new display and chip Plants. It said on Wednesday that it will also cover 50% of the Capital Expenditure required to set up semiconductor packaging facilities.

The World Economic Forum recently released its Gender Gap Report 2022.

In the report, India was ranked at 135^thposition, out of 146 countries.

It has scored 0.629, on a scale of 0 to 1.

This is Indias seventh-highest score in last 16 years.

In this report, India registered the most important and positive change in its performance on Economic Participation and Opportunity.

However, it performed and ranked lowest on Health and Survivalsubindex.

Political Empowerment witnessed a declining score of -0.010, because negligible share of Women served as head of state in last 50 years.

Nepals Parliament passed the countrys first Amendment Bill, which was under discussion for more than two years as Political Parties failed to forge a consensus on it.

The bill has been under discussion in the House of Representatives since 2020, but it failed to be endorsed due to differences among the political parties over certain provisions, namely the seven-year waiting period for obtaining naturalised citizenship for foreign Women married to Nepali men.