• Prime Minister recently inaugurated the Sela Tunnel, the world’s longest twin-lane tunnel, in Arunachal Pradesh.

ABOUT SELA TUNNEL

• Situated at an altitude of 13,000 feet, the strategically important Sela Tunnel will ensure all-weather connectivity to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.
• Constructed at a cost of Rs 825 crore, the project consists of two tunnels and over 8 km of approach roads, with a total length of approximately 12 km.
• The first tunnel is a single-tube tunnel spanning 980 metres, while the second serves as an emergency escape route, measuring 1.5 km in length.
• Situated near the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Sela Tunnel is strategically crucial, providing year-round access to Tawang and other forward areas bordering China.
• The escape tube, constructed parallel to the main one, is connected with cross passages every 500 m.
• In case of emergency, this escape tube can be used for the movement of rescue vehicles and evacuation of stranded people.
• The tunnel has been designed for a traffic density of 3,000 cars and 2,000 trucks per day with a maximum speed of 80 km per hour.

• Niti Aayog has launched a digital cross-sectoral knowledge platform called Niti for States, which will create a digital public infrastructure (DPI) for policy and governance.

ABOUT NITI FOR STATES

• Niti for States will have a multi-sectoral live repository of 7,500 best practices, 5,000 policy documents, over 900 datasets, 1,400 data profiles of states, districts, blocks etc. broken down by demography and socioeconomic indicators, and 350 NITI publications.
• The primary goal is to enable better policymaking as a ‘one stop shop’ for officials down to local levels to access robust, contextually relevant and actionable knowledge and insights for quality decision making.
• The platform will be accessible online to all to help think-tanks, academia as well.
• It will also have knowledge products spanning 10 sectors including agriculture, education, energy, health, livelihoods and skilling, manufacturing, MSME, tourism, urban, water resources and sanitation and hygiene, across two cross-cutting themes—gender and climate.
• The platform is integrated with Niti Aayog’s National Data Analytics Platform as the main data source.
• Multilingual Accessibility- In the near future the platform will be available in 22 major Indian languages and 7 foreign languages, ensuring inclusivity for diverse user groups.

• The National Youth Parliament 2024 concluded recently.
• The National Youth Parliament is being organised this year based on the theme of ‘Young Voices: Engage and Empower for Nation’s Transformation’.
• The National Youth Parliament Festival, 2024 was organised from 9th February 2024 to 6th March 2024 across the country at three levels covering 785 Districts of the country.
• Winners
  • Yatin Bhaskar Duggal from Haryana won the first prize in the National Youth Parliament Festival, 2024, while Vaishna Pitchai from Tamil Nadu won the second prize and Kanishka Sharma from Rajasthan the third prize.

ABOUT NATIONAL YOUTH PARLIAMENT FESTIVAL

• The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports through Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) and National Service Scheme (NSS) has been organizing Youth Parliament District Youth Parliament, State Youth Parliament and National Youth Parliament.
• The 1^st National Youth Parliament Festival was held in 2019.
• These Youth Parliaments are aimed at strengthening the roots of democracy; inculcate healthy habits of discipline, tolerance of the view of others and to enable youths to know about practices and procedures of the Parliament.

• Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that the Muslim countries could introduce a common currency, like the European Union (EU), to boost trade and commerce among them.
• She was hosting a delegation of D-8 trade ministers led by Turkish Deputy Minister of Trade at her official residence Ganabhaban in Dhaka.

ABOUT D-8

• The D-8 is an Organization for Economic Cooperation among the eight Muslim countries: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.
• The establishment of D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation was announced officially through the Istanbul Declaration of Summit of Heads of State/Government on June 15, 1997.
• The objectives of D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation are-
  • to improve member states’ position in the global economy,
  • diversify and create new opportunities in trade relations,
  • enhance participation in decision-making at international level, and
  • improve standards of living.
• The principal organs of D-8 are-
  • The Summit– which is the supreme organ of D-8, is composed of the Heads of State/Government of member states. It is convened once every two years.
  • The Council– is composed of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of member states. It is the political decision-making organ of D-8, and acts as a forum for thorough and comprehensive consideration of the issues at hand.
  • The Commission– is the executive body of D-8. It is composed of senior officials appointed by their respective governments. Each Commissioner is responsible for the national coordination in his/her respective country.

• There are an estimated 7,396 golden langurs in India, the latest survey of the primate has revealed.
• The comprehensive population estimation of the endangered primate was carried out in two phases by the Primate Research Centre NE India (PRCNE), Assam Forest Department, Bodoland Territorial Council, Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), and Conservation Himalayas.
• The entire distribution range of the golden langur (Trachypithecus geei) covers the Manas Biosphere Reserve and all fragmented forests in the western part of Assam.

ABOUT GOLDEN LANGUR (TRACHYPITHECUS GEEI)

• Gee’s golden langur is also known as golden leaf monkeys, or more simply as golden langurs.
• Golden langurs are easy to identify by their golden fur.
• Golden langurs’ coats change color with the seasons, darkening to a golden chestnut hue in the winter and lightening to a creamy tone in the summer.
• The color of the young differs from adults, as they are almost pure white.
• Habitat
  • It is limited to Assam, India and neighboring Bhutan where they live year-round.
  • The area they inhabit is restricted to the region surrounded by four geographical landmarks: the foothills of Bhutan (north), Manas river (east), Sankosh river (west), and Brahmaputra river (south).
  • A single, isolated population of golden langurs even lives in the Abhaya Rubber Plantation, in the Kokrajhar district in Assam, India.
• Protection Status-
  • IUCN red list: Endangered
  • CITES: Appendix I
  • WPA 1972: Schedule-I

• India–European Free Trade Association signed a Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA)
• India has been working on a Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) with EFTA countries, which has now been approved by the Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister.
• Among EFTA countries, Switzerland is the largest trading partner of India followed by Norway.

ABOUT TEPA

• The agreement comprises of 14 chapters with main focus on market access related to goods, rules of origin, trade facilitation, trade remedies, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, investment promotion, market access on services, intellectual property rights, trade and sustainable development and other legal and horizontal provisions.
• EFTA has committed to promote investments with the aim to increase the stock of foreign direct investments by USD 100 billion in India in the next 15 years, and to facilitate the generation of 1 million direct employment in India, through such investments.
  • The investments do not cover foreign portfolio investment.
  • For the first ever time in the history of FTAs, a legal commitment is being made about promoting target-oriented investment and creation of jobs.
• EFTA is offering 2% of its tariff lines which covers 99.6% of India’s exports.
  • The EFTA’s market access offer covers 100% of non-agri products and tariff concession on Processed Agricultural Products (PAP).
• India is offering 82.7% of its tariff lines which covers 95.3% of EFTA exports of which more than 80% import is Gold.
  • The effective duty on Gold remains untouched.
  • Sensitivity related to PLI in sectors such as pharma, medical devices & processed food etc. have been taken while extending offers.
  • Sectors such as dairy, soya, coal and sensitive agricultural products are kept in exclusion list.
• India has offered 105 sub-sectors to the EFTA and secured commitments in 128 sub-sectors from Switzerland, 114 from Norway, 107 from Liechtenstein, and 110 from Iceland.
• TEPA has provisions for Mutual Recognition Agreements in Professional Services like nursing, chartered accountants, architects etc.

ABOUT EFTA

• EFTA is an inter-governmental organization founded by Stockholm Convention in 1960 for the promotion of free trade and economic integration for the benefit of its four Member States.
• Members include Switzerland, Iceland, Norway & Liechtenstein.
• These countries are not part of the European Union (EU).

EFTA is one important economic block out of the three (other two – EU &UK) in Europe.

• Chamba MLA has expressed gratitude to Chief Minister for declaring the Suhi fair and Saho Jatar of Chamba as district-level events.
• Declaring these two fairs as district-level events would help local artistes, craftsmen, artisans, and self-help groups to uplift their economy.
• The Suhi fair is celebrated in the month of April.
• This fair is exclusive for women and children of Himachal Pradesh.
• This fair is celebrated to pay tribute to the Rani Sunayana, popularly known as Rani Suhi, who had sacrificed herself to bring water in the Chamba District of Himachal Pradesh.

• The Prime Minister presented the inaugural ‘National Creators Award’ at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi
• The award aims to honour excellence and influence across various fields such as storytelling, environmental sustainability, education, and gaming.
• It serves as a platform to utilise creativity for promoting positive transformations.
• The award encompasses twenty categories, including Best Storyteller, Disruptor of the Year, Celebrity Creator of the Year, Green Champion, Best Creator for Social Change, Most Impactful Agri Creator, Cultural Ambassador of the Year, and International Creator.

WINNERS INCLUDE

• Nishchay – Best Creator in Gaming Category
• Ankit Baiyanpuria – Best Health and Fitness Creator
• Naman Deshmukh – Best Creator in Education Category
• Kabita Singh (Kabita’s Kitchen) – Best Creator in Food Category
• RJ Raunac (Bauaa) – Most Creative Creator-Male
• Shraddha – Most Creative Creator-Female
• Jahnvi Singh – Heritage Fashion Icon Award
• Malhar Kalambe – Swachhta Ambassador Award
• Gaurav Chaudhary – Best Creator in Tech Category
• Kamiya Jani – Favourite Travel Creator
• Drew Hicks – Best International Creator
• Maithili Thakur – Cultural Ambassador of The Year
• Jaya Kishori – Best Creator for Social Change
• Pankti Pandey – Favourite Green Champion
• Ranveer Allahbadia (BeerBiceps) – Disruptor of the Year
• Piyush Purohit – Best Nano Creator
• Aridaman – Best Micro Creator
• Aman Gupta – Celebrity Creator of the Year

Lakshay Dabas – Most Impactful Agri Creator

• A fire power demonstration ‘Exercise Bharat Shakti’ will be held on March 12 at the Pokhran firing range in Rajasthan.
• It aims to demonstrate the “prowess” of indigenously manufactured defence equipment of the three Services, the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force, with particular focus on “jointness” and synergy.
• The live demonstration will be followed by a static equipment display.
• LCA Tejas, ALH Mk-IV, mobile anti-drone system, T90 tanks, Dhanush, K9 Vajra and Pinaka are among the platforms that will be demonstrated.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to witness the demonstration.

• The government has approved extension of Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) Scheme support to additional export sectors i.e. Advance Authorisation (AA) holders, Export Oriented Units (EOU) and Special Economic Zones (SEZ) export units.
• These 3 sectors constitute approximately 25% of India’s exports.

ABOUT RODTEP SCHEME

• The Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) Scheme is a key initiative aimed at refunding various embedded taxes and duties on exported products.
• Launched in 2021
• Nodal Ministry- Ministry of Commerce and Industry
• Key sectors such as Engineering, Textiles, Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals & Food Processing and many others stand to benefit from the measure.