16-02-23 Daily -Goa- GPSC Current Affairs

In yet another attempt to bring in transparency and provide online Services to entrepreneurs and industrial units, Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) has decided to create a digital land bank of all industrial estates by October.

The GIDC board and gave its approval for an aerial survey of all industrial estates, which will help monitor encroachments and allow entrepreneurs to identify vacant plots.

GIDC chairman Alexio ReginaldoLourencoalso announced that the board has accepted the need for a one-time settlement scheme for defaulting industries which have not paid lease rent and other charges for several

years.

In 2020, the Centres Department for Promotion of and Internal Trade launched the countrys first digital industrial land bank and Goa was among the first seven states to map industrial land as part of the national GIS-enabled land bank system.

At least one in every 10 ration shops in the country are also functioning asCommon Services Centres(CSC), offering a range of services to people and many ration shop owners are earning Rs 50,000 per month. A ration shop owner, not providing common services, usually earns about Rs 15,000-Rs 20,000 a month. WhileJharkhandleads among states and Union territories with a maximum of 6,632 ration shops providing

these services, in addition to the distribution of foodgrains under theNational Act, Maharashtra and Gujarat have 6,574 and 6,188 such ration shops respectively.

Union food secretarySanjeev Choprasaid currently nearly 60,000 out of the

5.3 lakh ration shops are providing services to people like the CSCs. The services provided include applying for government documents, payment of utility bills and sale of Insurance policies as well. On the impact of ration shops functioning as CSC as well, the food secretary said this is giving good results in Gujarat where the ration shop owners are earning almost Rs 50,000 per month.

Come April, persons with disabilities (divyangjan) will be able to own a vehicle in their name and register it as a divyangjan vehicle.

Earlier, only persons with disabilities such as locomotor and hand or leg impairment could get a driving licence and register a vehicle in their name. Since thesevehicleshave a special mention of invalid carriage (IC) on the numberplate, persons with visual impairment were not allowed to get a vehicle in their

name as they would have to use the service of a driver. And, if a driver has been hired, s/he was not allowed to drive a vehicle with the IC logo.

The Union Government has notified the states of these changes in the policy, and it will be implemented inGujaratfrom April.

The leaders of Japan and the Philippines agreed to sharply boost their DEFENCE ties, allowing Japanese troops greater access to Philippine territory, as tensions rise in Asia amid China’s growing influence. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is visiting Japan shortly after he and U.S. Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin reached an agreement on allowing the USA more access to Philippine military bases to keep China’s ambitions in check.

The defence arrangement signed by Marcos and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will allow Japanese troops to join training exercises to respond to natural disasters and humanitarian needs in the Philippines.

The agreement is seen as a step toward broader military cooperation and

could lead to similar agreements between Japan and other Southeast Asian nations.

South Africa is beginning a joint military drill with Russia and China. The 10-day naval exercises, which will go on the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine, have drawn criticism from the US as well. The South African government, however, insists that it is still impartial in the conflict and that it frequently hosts such exercises with other nations, such as France and the US.

The South African government, however, insists that it is still impartial in the conflict and that it frequently hosts such exercises with other nations, such as

France and the US.

Off the coast of South Africa, in the Indian Ocean, are the Mosi II naval drills.