• The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has said that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) should approach the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for accessing a part of its optical fibre network or suitable bandwidth to extend telecom coverage in the far-flung areas of Himachal Pradesh.
• The regulator has recommended that in Lahaul and Spiti, Mandi, Kullu and Chamba districts, the villages that are yet to be connected under the BharatNet Project, should be immediately connected on VSAT media that can be surrendered as soon as the optical fibre cable (OFC) backhaul is made available.
• The identified districts have 181 uncovered villages, of which 14 are planned to be covered under the ‘354 village scheme’ and 142 are to be covered under the ‘Saturation of 4G Mobile’ scheme of the USOF.
• Under the Project Kranti, also known as Network For Spectrum (NFS), the BSNL has implemented a nationwide OFC network is being, wherein almost 60,000 km OFC is being rolled out for exclusive use by defence forces in lieu of 65 megahertz spectrum surrendered by the defence forces for auction.
• The regulator has said that it is already in receipt of a reference on enabling the ICR for remote and hilly regions frequently prone to natural disaster-based emergency situations and it will come up with separate recommendations in this regard after due consultations.
• Trai has recommended that the government should fund capital expenditure and operating expenditure required for providing telecom infrastructure and connectivity to the 25 uncovered villages through the Universal Services Obligation Fund.
• “The authority recommends that the DoT may take up the case with the Himachal government for not levying any RoW (right of way) charges on telecom service providers and IP-Is for connecting remote and hilly areas in the state, including all locations in four districts,” Trai said.
• The regulator has suggested that the DoT should take up with the state government, NHAI and the BRO that all road construction, road widening or other related works should be done with prior coordination with telecom operators, and the liability of contractor for making payments for damages to telecom networks should be included ab-initio in the contracts.
• The regulator has suggested that the DoT should ask the Himachal government to consider providing electricity to telecom sites within 15 days of connections request at utility or industrial tariff and consider waiving the last mile installation charges for extending electric connections to telecom sites in remote and hilly areas.

• The 6th edition of Indo – Kazakhstan joint training exercise –KAZIND-22 will be conducted at Umroi (Meghalaya).
• The exercise will enhance the level of defence cooperation between the Indian Army and the Kazakhstan Army which will further foster the bilateral relations between the two nations.
• Kazakhstan Army soldiers comprising troops from the Regional Command, and South and Indian Army soldiers from the 11 Gorkha Rifles will be participating in the exercise.
• The aim of the exercise is to build positive military relations, imbibe each other’s best practices and promote the ability to operate together while undertaking counter-terrorist operations, under a UN peace enforcement mandate.
• This joint exercise will enable the two armies to train, plan and execute a series of combined tactical drills for neutralising threats.

• A group of nine rich industrialized nations has approved a deal to provide Vietnam with 15.5 billion US dollars to help the Southeast Asian nation move faster from coal power to renewable energy, cutting its climate-damaging pollution.
• The Group of Seven major economies, along with Norway and Denmark, said in a statement that the aim is to help Vietnam reduce its emissions to “net zero” by 2050. It is a goal which experts say needs to be met globally to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius.
• The Just Energy Transition Partnership with Vietnam is among a series of agreements that developing and rich nations are negotiating.
• The first such deal was signed with South Africa last year, and a similar agreement was reached with Indonesia last month.
• British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that Vietnam is a dynamic, emerging economy at the heart of Southeast Asia. He said the investment they are making today means the country can cut its emissions while simultaneously creating new jobs and growth.

• The UN Economic and Social Council have voted to immediately oust Iran from the N.’s premiere global body fighting for gender equality because of its systematic violation of the rights of women and girls.
• The United States has hailed it as a “historic” decision. The US-sponsored resolution was sparked by Iran’s ongoing brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters. The protest began in September after the death of a 22-year-old woman taken into custody by the morality police.
• The vote in the 54-member UN council known as ECOSOC to remove Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women for the remainder of its 2022-2026 term. Twenty-nine members supported the resolution and eight opposed it, and 16 abstained from voting.

About ECOSOC

• The Economic and Social Council is at the heart of the United Nations system to advance the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental. It is the central platform for fostering debate and innovative thinking, forging consensus on ways forward, and coordinating efforts to achieve internationally agreed goals. It is also responsible for the follow-up to major UN conferences and summits.
• ECOSOC was established by the UN Charter (1945), which was amended in 1965 and 1974 to increase the number of members from 18 to 54. ECOSOC membership is based on geographic representation: 14 seats are allocated to Africa, 11 to Asia, 6 to eastern Europe, 10 to Latin America and the Caribbean, and 13 to western Europe and other areas. Members are elected for three-year terms by the General Assembly. Four of the five permanent members of the Security Council have been continuously reelected because they provide funding for most of ECOSOC’s budget, which is the largest of any UN subsidiary body. Decisions are taken by simple majority vote. The presidency of ECOSOC changes annually.

• In the United States, wildlife officials declared a Nevada wildflower endangered at the only place it’s known to exist – on a high-desert ridge where a lithium mine is planned to help meet the growing demand for electric car batteries.
• The Fish and Wildlife Service has formally listed Tiehm’s buckwheat and its accompanying area of 910 acres for the 6-inch-tall flower with yellow blooms. With an estimated remaining population of only about 16,000 plants, the service concluded that Tiehm’s buckwheat is on the brink of extinction.
• Ioneer, the Australian mining company that is planning to dig for lithium where the flower grows, said that it has developed a protection plan which will allow the plant and the project to coexist.
• Federal agencies are prohibited from approving any activity on federal lands that could destroy, modify or adversely affect any listed species’ critical habitat.

About Lithium

• Lithium gets its name from “lithos,” the Greek word for stone, because it is present in trace amounts in virtually all rocks. It might help mental disorders by increasing the activity of chemical messengers in the brain. Lithium might also be needed for other functions, like the development of blood cells.
• People use lithium supplements for alcohol use disorder, Alzheimer disease, depression, and many other conditions, but there is no good scientific evidence to support any of these uses.
• Lithium carbonate and lithium citrate are approved by the U.S. FDA as prescription drugs for bipolar disorder. These and other lithium drugs aren’t covered in this topic. Lithium supplements contain much lower doses of lithium than drugs.

• The government has granted Geographical Indications (GI) tag to various products, including Gamosa of Assam, Tandur Redgram of Telangana, and an apricot variety of Ladakh.
• The commerce and Industry ministry said on Wednesday that the total number of GI has reached to 432.
• “Famous Gamosa of Assam, Tandur Redgram of Telangana, RaktseyKarpo Apricot of Ladakh, Alibag White Onion of Maharashtra have got their GI tags,” it said.
• The top five states holding maximum number of GIs are Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, it added.
• Recently, the government has supported the promotion of GIs by approving an expenditure of Rs 75 crore for three years for promotion at awareness programmes.
• A GI is primarily an agricultural, natural or a manufactured product (handicraft and industrial goods) originating from a definite geographical territory.
• Typically, such a name conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness, which is essentially attributable to the place of its origin.
• There is a proper process of registration of GI products, which includes filing of application, preliminary scrutiny and examination, show cause notice, publication in the geographical indications journal, opposition to registration, and registration.
• Any association of persons, producers, organisation or authority established by or under the law can apply. The applicant must represent the interest of the producers.
• The famous goods which carry GI tag include Basmati rice, Darjeeling Tea, Chanderi Fabric, Mysore Silk, Kullu Shawl, Kangra Tea, Thanjavur Paintings, Allahabad Surkha, Farrukhabad Prints, Lucknow Zardozi and Kashmir Walnut Wood Carving.

Why in News?

• Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar chairs 32nd meeting of Board of Directors of NHB.
• He stresses on easing digital process for farmers.

Key points of Meeting:

• The government has decided to make a digital process for horticulture projects and provide approval in just 45 days. It will ease farmers in getting projects without delay across the country.
• The decision was taken in the 32nd meeting of the Board of Directors of the National Horticulture Board (NHB)held in New Delhi, under the chairmanship of Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Chairman of the Board, Narendra Singh Tomar. The new simple design will come into effect from first January next year.
• The Minister expressed the hope that this process will make the system more transparent and efficient, promote ease of doing business for the benefit of the farming community and generate more hi-tech commercial projects for NHB funding.
• The meeting also discussed a new initiative of NHB- Swachh Plant Programme, under which problem of availability of planting material to the farmers will be solved by spending 21 hundred crore rupees with the assistance of Asian Development Bank.
• This programme will go a long way in providing a major contribution to the much-needed quality planting material for horticulture crops in the country.

About NHB

• The National Horticulture Board (NHB) was set up by the Government of India in 1984 as an Autonomous organization under the administrative control of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and registered as a society under Societies Registration Act with its headquarters at Gurugram.
• Presently, NHB has 29 field offices located all over the country.

Aims and Objectives of NHB

• The main objectives of the NHB are to improve integrated development of Horticulture industry and to help in coordinating, sustaining the production and processing of fruits and vegetables. Some of the Detailed objectives of the Board are as under:-

1. Development of hi-tech commercial horticulture in identified belts and make such areas vibrant with horticultural activity, which in turn will act as hubs for development of horticulture.
2. Development of modern post-harvest management infrastructure as an integral part of area expansion projects or as common facility for cluster of projects.
3. Development of integrated, energy efficient cold chain infrastructure for fresh horticulture produce.
4. Popularization of identified new technologies / tools / techniques for commercialization / adoption, after carrying out technology and need assessment.

Why in News?

• The UK, France, and UAE have extended their support for India’s permanent membership at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
• India is holding the presidency of United Nations Security Council for the month of December 2022.
• Speaking at UNSC Open Debate on ‘Maintenance of International Peace & Security: New Orientation for Reformed Multilateralism, UAE Minister Noura Bint Mohammed Al Kaabi ‘ said, India’s voice at this chamber is necessary and UAE reiterates its endorsement of country’s bid for permanent membership of the reformed UNSC.

About UNSC

• The UN Security Council is the premier global body for maintaining International peace and security. The Security Council, the United Nations’ principal crisis-management body, is empowered to impose binding obligations on the 193 UN member states to maintain peace.
• The Security Council, the United Nations’ principal crisis-management body, is empowered to impose binding obligations on the member states to maintain peace.
• The council’s five permanent and ten elected members meet regularly to assess threats to international security, including civil wars, natural disasters, arms proliferation, and terrorism.
• Structurally, the council remains largely unchanged since its founding in 1946, stirring debate among members about the need for reforms.
• The UN Security Council is composed of 15 members, including five permanent member states – China, France, Russian Federation, the United States, and the United Kingdom – and 10 non-permanent member states, which are elected by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)
• Ten non-permanent members are elected to the UNSC every year for a two-year term
• The 10 non-permanent seats are distributed among the regions of the world: five seats for African and Asian countries (three are for Africa and two for Asia), one for Eastern European countries, two for Latin American and Caribbean countries, and the remaining two for Western European and other countries.
• The Africa and Asia Pacific group takes turns every two years to put up an Arab candidate.

Need for the Reforms:

• There is a need of reform in UNSC, due to the undemocratic nature of UNSC, barring two regions (North America and Europe), other regions are either underrepresented (like Asia) or not represented at all (Africa, Latin America and the Small Island developing states).
• Moreover, there is a misuse of veto power. The veto power is used by P-5 countries to serve the strategic interest of themselves and their allies.

Reasons why India should become a permanent member at UNSC:

• India is a founding member of the UN.
• India, till now has been elected for eight terms for a two-year non-permanent member seat.
• Most significantly, India has almost twice the number of peacekeepers deployed on the ground than by P5 countries.
• India being the largest democracy and second-most populous country (soon to become most populous) in the world, are the primary reasons for it to be granted permanent membership in UNSC.
• Also, India is one of the largest economies and fastest-growing economies of the world.

Why in News?

• Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has inaugurated the 7th India Water Impact Summit (IWIS 2022) at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi.

About

• In the past 3 to 8 years many mega initiatives such as Swachh Bharat Mission, Namami Gange Programme, Jal Jeevan Mission, Atal Bhujal Yojana, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Digital India, etc. that directly or indirectly relate to restoration and conservation of river systems were launched.
• Similar initiatives are also taken by many state governments to restore and conserve river systems including efforts through MGNREGA. It is essential that various activities carried out by multiple agencies of central, state and local governments as well as of international groups are scanned through the lens of a larger vision of river restoration and conservation to feed into the UN SDGs.
• It is imperative to understand the bottlenecks in bringing convergence of actions on ground through a large number of projects formulated via various sectorial programmes to achieve the vision of “Samarth Ganga”.
• Managing the interplay amongst five key factors (5P’s: People, Policies, Plans, Programmes & Projects;) appears to be the most crucial challenge.
• The theme of the summit this year is Restoration and Conservation of Small Rivers in a Large Basin.
• This year, the Summit will deliberate on Restoration and Conservation of Small Rivers in a Large Basin with focus on select aspects of “Mapping and Convergence of 5P’s”.
• The Summit will give an insight into the potential causes for divergence and strategy to achieve convergence. 
• The Summit, like the previous editions of IWIS, will also host the “Finance Forum”, a special track that will bring together global financial institutions and investors interested in river restoration and conservation programmes.

Why in news?

• Despite the High Court’s 2018 order for taking over the management of the Kalinath Kaleshwar Mahadev Temple at Rakkar in Dehara Gopipur, Kangra District with immediate effect, the direction is yet to be implemented.
• The entire temple complex was in the possession of some South Indian saints, who are also receiving the offerings.
• In the last four years, the situation has moved from bad to worse as many persons have encroached upon the land of the temple.
• Rakkar Tehsildar Amit Kumar had been given an additional charge of the temple officer but the government failed to depute regular staff to manage the affairs of the ancient temple.

About the Temple:

• The 400-year-old ancient temple situated on the bank of the Beas near Garli Paragpur in Kangra is spread over 120 kanal of land and is in a state of neglect.
• Kaleshwar Mahadev temple is a popular ancient monument. It is believed that Kalesar and Shiva worshipped Maha Rudra of Mata Chintpurni in this temple.
• During the Maha Shivratri festival as well as in the Sharavan Navratra (Hindu month), a large number of devotees visit this place.

Present Situation:

• At present, a private person is collecting the entire offerings of the temple.
• The temple gets a lot of offerings in a year and these must be utilised to provide the devotees with better facilities.
• The Rakkar Tehsildar, who is also the temple officer, said so far, the government had not appointed any staff in the temple.
• Besides, in a writ petition filed by one of the saint, Swami Vishvanand, the High Court had granted stay for all type of construction activities in the temple complex and the government could not take up the reno vation of the temple.