CURRENT AFFAIRS FACTS FOR PRELIMS JULY 30, 2018 FACT # 1 DEDICATED FREIGHT CORRIDOR (DFC) PROJECT

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1 FACT # 1 DEDICATED FREIGHT CORRIDOR (DFC) PROJECT Why in news? After 165 years of its birth, Indian Railways is set to get its first publiclyowned dedicated corridor for freight trains on August 15 this year. Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) Project: Indian Railways is building two world-class freight corridors i.e. Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor. These are freight-only railway lines to move goods between industrial heartlands in the North and ports on the Eastern and Western coasts. The dedicated freight-only lines are being built along the four key transportation routes known as the Golden Quadrilateral and connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Howrah and its two diagonals (Delhi Chennai and Mumbai Howrah). Covering a total of 10,122 km, these corridors carry the heaviest traffic and are highly congested. The route carries 52 per cent of passenger traffic and 58 per cent of freight traffic, according to the Make-in-India report of These freight corridors will help reduce the cost and allow faster transportation. To construct the special freight corridors, Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCC) was set up under Indian Railways in It was registered as a special-purpose vehicle under the Companies Act The DFCC is one of the largest ever infrastructure projects being undertaken by railways since Freight corridor will permit the trains to carry higher loads, in a more reliable manner. These lines are also being built to maximise speeds to 100 km an hour, up from the current average freight speed of 20 km an hour.

2 Freight corridor envisages long-haul operations with trailing loads to increase from 5,000 to 15,000 tonnes and container capacity will go up to 400 per train. The DFCs will allow much shorter transit times from freight source to destination which means it will reduce the time by up to 50 per cent in some cases. Both EDFC and WDFCs are targeted for commissioning in phases by year Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC): o Covering a distance of 1,856 km, Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor will be divided into two segments: An electrified double-track segment of 1,409 km between Dankuni in West Bengal and Khurja in Uttar Pradesh. A single line segment of 447 km between Ludhiana Khurja Dadri o It passes through the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. o It has been designed for a maximum speed of 100 Kmph. o It has the capacity to run long haul train of 1500 meter length. o This project is expected to benefit the transportation of coal for power plants, steel, food grains, finished steel and cement. o Along with the freight lines, logistics parks have also been planned in Kanpur and Ludhiana. Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC): o Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) is from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Terminal (JNPT) to Dadri (1504 Kms) o Western DFC passes through States of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. o It is proposed to join the Eastern Corridor at Dadri. o This corridor also facilitates transportation of fertilisers, food grains, iron and steel and cement, among other commodities. o There are plans to set up Logistics Parks on the outskirts of Mumbai, especially near Kalyan-Ulhasnagar area or Vashi-Belapur. o Additionally, other parks have been proposed in Vapi, Ahmedabad and Gandhidham in Gujarat, Jaipur and Delhi-National Capital Region.

3 FACT # 2 SRIKRISHNA PANEL ON DATA PRIVACY Why in news? The draft data protection bill prepared by an expert group headed by ex- Supreme Court judge B.N. Srikrishna has been submitted recently. Srikrishna panel on data privacy: The committee has recommended phased timelines for the adoption of different aspects of the privacy law, making data protection a critical component in India s security posture. According to the panel, sensitive personal data will include passwords, financial data, health data, official identifier, sex life, sexual orientation, biometric and genetic data, and data that reveals transgender status, intersex status, caste, tribe, religious or political beliefs or affiliations of an individual. Consent should be the lawful basis for the processing of personal data and the consent should be free, informed, specific, clear and capable of being withdrawn. For sensitive personal data, consent should be explicit. The right to be forgotten should be adopted with the proposed data protection authority determining the eligibility of the application on the basis of five points which are: o Sensitivity of the personal data sought to be restricted o Scale of disclosure sought to be restricted o Role of the data principal (whose data it is) in public life o Relevance of the personal data to the public o Nature of the disclosure Regarding data misuse the committee has recommended a penalty of either a certain percentage of the total worldwide turnover of the data misuser, or a fixed amount set by the law.

4 The penalty may extend up to 5 crore or 2% of the data misuser s total worldwide turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is higher in situations where the company fails to take prompt and appropriate action in response to a data security breach. In situations where the norms on personal data, sensitive personal data, and the personal data on children are violated a penalty be of 15 crore or 4% of the total worldwide turnover of the preceding financial year of the company.

5 FACT # 3 MISSION SATYANISHTHA Why in news? Indian Railways has launched Mission Satyanishtha which is a Program on Ethics in Public Governance. Mission Satyanishtha: Mission Satyanishtha aims at sensitizing all railway employees about the need to adhere to good ethics and to maintain high standards of integrity at work. Talks and Lectures on the subject are being organised all over the Indian Railways today for this purpose. The objectives of the Mission are: o To train every employee to understand the need and value of ethics in Personal and Public life o To deal with ethical dilemmas in life and Public Governance o To help understand the policies of Indian Railways on ethics and integrity and the employee s role in upholding the same o To develop inner governance through tapping inner resources

6 FACT # 4 DEFINITION OF PETROLEUM Why in news? The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has liberalised the definition of petroleum to bring more hydrocarbons such as coal bed methane and shale gas under its fold. Definition of petroleum: The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has liberalised the definition of petroleum to bring more hydrocarbons such as coal bed methane and shale gas under its fold. According to the gazette notification for the Petroleum and Natural Gas (Amendment) Rules, 2018, petroleum will now mean naturally occurring hydrocarbons, whether in the form of: o natural gas o liquid o viscous o solid form o mixture of the above It does not include coal, lignite and helium occurring in association with petroleum or coal or shale. Till now the definition of petroleum meant any liquid hydrocarbon or a mixture of hydrocarbons and any inflammable mixture (liquid, viscous or solid) containing a liquid hydrocarbon. It will open up exploration of all hydrocarbons in existing fields in line with the new Hydrocarbon Exploration Licensing Policy (HELP).

7 The new HELP allows producers to harness any hydrocarbon resource they find within the assigned area subject to a revenue-share commitment. The earlier definition had excluded shale and other such hydrocarbons, hampering their exploration and production in the country. It will help in enhancing domestic exploration and production of hydrocarbons, thereby increasing India s energy security and reducing our dependence on imports. But the exclusion of natural gas from the purview of GST remains a deterrent to attracting large-scale investments as neither the producers nor the consumers are able to set off the taxes paid on their input and output.