ISRO constantly enlarging its role in development activities

Union Government has decided to give more powers to the tribal communities in managing the forest resources. Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda and Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar will sign a Joint Communication in this regard, in New Delhi on Tuesday. The joint Communication, pertains to effective implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, which is commonly known as Forest Rights Act. The Act recognizes and vests the forest rights and occupation in forest land in forest dwelling scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers, who have been residing in such forests for generations but whose rights could not be recorded.

-Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar on Monday released the regulations and poster for the 52nd edition of the International Film Festival of India. The festival will be held in Goa from 20th to 28th November this year.The International Film Festival of India, IFFI is reckoned as one of Asia's oldest and India's biggest international film festivals. The 52nd edition of this film festival will be held in a hybrid format considering the success of the 51st edition held in January 2021. The festival is being organized by the Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in collaboration with the State Government of Goa and the Indian Film Industry. IFFI is recognized by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations. Every year, the festival celebrates some of the finest cinematic works and showcases a bouquet of the best films from India and around the world.

-Minister of State for Department of Space Dr Jitendra Singh has said that Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is no longer confined mainly to the launching of satellites. He said, it has been constantly enlarging its role in development activities in the last seven years. He was interacting with senior officials of ISRO. ISRO scientists briefed him about the widespread application of Space Technology in fields like agriculture, soils, water resources, land use, rural development, earth and climate studies, geosciences, infrastructure, disaster management support, forestry and ecology and Using Geo-spatial Technology as a tool for enabling Decision Support Systems.Striking a note of appreciation, Dr Singh said that it is not widely known that ISRO had provided Liquid Oxygen continuously on a large scale to several State Governments from their own manufacturing facilities or from the existing stock during the COVID pandemic. He added that ISRO also engaged in repurposing existing resources, scaling up of capacity of their facilities and transferring technology to supplement the country's fight against the second wave of COVID-19.

-Bihar, Unlock-Four has been extended for a month with certain restrictions. This will be effective till August 6. This decision was taken at a meeting of the Crisis Management Group headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. According to revised guidelines university, college and technical institutions will be opened with fifty per cent attendance. Besides, classes of Standard 11th and 12th will also be opened with fifty per cent attendance. Online teaching will continue in educational institutions. Other schools and coaching institutions will remain  closed.

-Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission has notified new provisions in the Tamil Nadu Electricity Distribution Code, mandating installation of Residual Current device in all electricity connections in both single and three-phase connections of all constructions. The Electricity Board said that the residual operating current not exceeding 30 milliampere must be installed to avoid electrical shock and protect life of the human beings. Larger electrical loads exceeding 10 KW like big shops, malls, hospitals, godowns, large scale industries, also need to install a common RCD at the point of commencement of supply with rated residual operating current of 300 milliampere to avoid electrical shock. To avoid nuisance tripping in installations of larger loads, the electrical circuits should be subdivided according to loads/ segregation of floors or building portions as per the site conditions and an independent RCD shall be provided for each sub-divided circuit, so that the people in each portion of the building shall be protected from electrical shock in case of electrical faults in that particular portion of the building. The electricity board said that No service connection shall be effected, unless an RCD is installed and safety to the inmates is ensured.

-The Central Board of Direct Taxes, CBDT has granted further relaxation in electronic filing of Income Tax Forms 15CA and 15CB and extended the date of filing from June 30 to July 15, 2021. The taxpayers can now submit these forms in manual format to the authorized dealers till 15th of this month. The CBDT in a statement said that authorized dealers are advised to accept such forms for the purpose of foreign remittances. A facility will be provided on the new e-filing portal to upload these forms at a later date for the purpose of generation of the Document Identification Number. As per the Income-tax Act, 1961, there is a requirement to furnish form 15CA and 15CB electronically. Presently, taxpayers upload the Form 15CA, along with the Chartered Accountant Certificate in Form 15CB, wherever applicable, on the e-filing portal, before submitting the copy to the authorized dealer for any foreign remittance.