NASA-ISRO satellite at stake Space scientists in India and America are on tenterhooks as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump meet for the first bilateral in Washington on Monday. At stake is the world's most expensive earth-imaging satellite till date being jointly made by the NASA and the ISRO. NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite called NISAR. The satellite aims to study global environmental change and natural disasters. However, climate change seems to be a red rag for the current American administration Mr. Trump calls climate change a hoax created by China by adhering to his views that "the concept of global warming was created by the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive" On the other hand, Mr. Modi has penned a pictorial book-Convenient that compiles his actions and beliefs on Action: Continuity for Change climate change.
Forum set up to resist child marriage Children who have resisted parental and societal pressure to get married before the legal age have joined hands to bring an end to the regressive practice in Odisha. As many as 33 boys and girls recently formed the 'Odisha Child Marriage Resistance Forum' and resolved to prevent untimely marriages and spread awareness among parents. Despite modern times and a massive awareness programme, child marriages continue to take place in Odisha. ActionAid, an international voluntary organisation, and UNICEF have come forward to support the initiative of these brave children These girls and boys will now track child marriages in their locality. They will inform anganwadi workers and together, they would try to persuade parents to reject marriage proposals for their children. Besides, they would also inform the respective Child Development Project Officers, who are designated government officials, to stop child marriage,
Energy Conservation Building Code 017 Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines launched the Energy Conservation Building Code 2017 (ECBC 2017). Developed by Ministry of Power and Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), ECBC 2017 prescribes the energy performance standards for new commercial buildings to be constructed across India. The updated version of ECBC provides current as well as futuristic advancements in building technology to further reduce building energy consumption and promote low-carbon growth ECBC 2017 sets parameters for builders, designers and architects to integrate renewable energy sources in building design with the inclusion of passive design strategies. The code aims to optimise energy savings with the comfort levels for occupants, and prefers life-cycle cost effectiveness to achieve energy neutrality in commercial buildings. In order for a building to be considered ECBC-compliant, it would need to demonstrate minimum energy savings of 25%. Additional improvements in energy efficiency performance would enable the new buildings to achieve higher grades like ECBC Plus or Super ECBC status leading to further energy savings of 35% and 50%, respectively ECBC 2017 was developed by BEE with technical support from United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the U.S.-India bilateral Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Deployment Technical Assistance (PACE-D TA) Program The Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC), was launched by Ministry of Power, Government of India in May 2007, as a first step towards promoting energy efficiency in the building sector.
Before the colours fade away As the country prepares to migrate to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime from July 1, textile and clothing exporters rest their hopes on the continuance of duty drawback taking into account all levies. The GST will cover several taxes and the duty paid by exporters for the products they import will come as a refund in the form of a duty drawback. However, there are certain levies that are not subsumed in the GST and these should be refunded, say exporters. Examples of such levies include electricity tax, market committee fees and VAT on fuel. Matter of concern' For a country that has the second-largest integrated textile manufacturing facility globally, next to China, the almost flat growth in the exports is a matter of concern, especially since countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam have seen exports rising. China enjoys about 35 % share in the world textile and clothing exports while India, in second position, has a mere 4.89% share. Bangladesh and Vietnam are close behind at 4.62% and 4.05% share respectively and their exports are mainly garments. Almost 75% of the units in the weaving and garmenting segments in the country are in the unorganised sector. These units have to adapt to the new tax system and that, industry watchers said, might take time. The revised drawback rates should be announced at the earliest so that exporters can quote prices to the buyers.
Before the colours fade away Why exports have fallen' While the slow down in global demand and strengthening of the rupee against the dollar in recent months are some of the factors, there seems to be an inherent competitiveness issue for the Indian textile and clothing industry, Infrastructure challenges that push up costs, preferential tariffs that neighbouring countries such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh enjoy with EU markets, the need for economies of scale, and significantly, the China factor are all issues that need to be addressed for textile and clothing exports to leap forward. Globally, 65% of the textile and clothing consumption is man-made fibre-based and the remaining 35% is cotton based. While 80% of Chinese exports are MMF-based, almost 80% of Indian exports are cotton based. Thus, the Indian industry seems to be competing in a limited space. what is way forward? Last year, the Union Government announced a Rs. 6,000 crore special package for the apparel sector, a special package for made-ups and a comprehensive scheme for the power loom sector. What is needed is a focused scheme to have at least 30 or 40 large-scale, high-technology processing units, Textiles is also an industry that sees frequent fluctuations in prices and demand and many units are in the unorganised sector. Industries need to be encouraged to re-invest their hedging in other sectors and in business innovation. profits in the textile value chain rather than
IAF chief flags off air ambulance Air Chief Marshal, Chief of the Air Staff, Indian Air Force, on Sunday launched Ganga Air Ambulance (GAA) run by the Coimbatore-based Ganga Medical Centre and Hospitals Private Limited. GAA is the first air ambulance run by a hospital in the country with its own helipad approved by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation