Certification of seeds to be made mandatory
Agriculture
- More than half of all seeds sold in India are not certified by any proper testing agency, and are often of poor quality.
- The Centre now hopes to mandate uniform certification by pushing through a replacement to the Seeds Act, 1966 and also by barcoding all seeds to ensure their traceability. This could increase overall agricultural productivity by up to 25%.
- Currently, about 30% of seeds are what the farmer himself saves from his crop. Of the remaining seeds which are bought and sold commercially, 45% come through the ICAR system and have gone through the mandated certification process. The other 55% are sold by private companies, most of which are not certified.
Draft policy on logistics
Economy
- The draft National Logistics Policy, released by the government earlier this year, has overlooked the role of the express industry (courier and parcel) and air cargo sectors in the multimodal transport mix for faster and cost effective movement of cargo.
- The government had issued the draft national logistics policy with a target to bring down logistics costs from 13-14% of GDP to 10% .
- For the air cargo sector, aviation turbine fuel (ATF) is the single largest component of direct operating cost with a share of 40%. Excise duty and value-added tax, charged by central and State governments on ATF, add another 30-35% to the cost. Making the matter worse, the GST regime disallows input credit on ATF, increasing the tax burden on express cargo airlines further.
Newly discovered lake in Nepal
Geography
- The recently discovered Kajin Sara lake in Manang district of Nepal is likely to earn the distinction of the world’s highest lake, taking the title from Tilicho lake (also in Manang).
- The lake is located at a height of 5,200 metres.
- If the official inspection confirms the altitude, it would be the world’s highest.
- The lake, called Singar locally, is said to have formed out of the water melted from the Himalayas.
Directed energy weapons
Defence
- Directed energy weapons or DEWs are among the next bunch of military technologies that the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is working on.
- Laser-based or microwave-based high-power DEWs can quietly disable enemy drones or missiles temporarily or permanently without leaving physical debris. In contrast, the ASAT or anti-satellite missile that the DRDO tested on March 27, killed an orbiting Indian target satellite and left hundreds of small pieces as debris for a few months.
