• The number of candidates facing criminal cases, fielded by political parties this time, has gone up from 18 to 23 per cent as compared to the 2017 elections.
• The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has released the data on the criminal record, assets, educational qualification and performance of 412 candidates, including the sitting MLAs, who are in the fray. As far as giving tickets to women is concerned, the figure stands at mere 5.8 per cent, which makes it 24 out of 412.
• “A total of 94 candidates in the fray have criminal cases against them with the highest number of 36 being from the Congress,” said Dr OP Bhraita, Director, State Resource Centre, ADR.
• A total of 12 candidates each from the BJP and AAP were facing criminal cases.
• Seven CPM candidates out of 11 were facing criminal charges. CPM MLA Rakesh Singha (Theog) faces the highest number of 30 cases, 20 cases by Kuldeep Singh Tanwar (CPM) from Kasumpti, 19 by AAP candidate Manish Thakur from Paonta Sahib, 11 cases by Vikramaditya Singh and eight by Kuldeep Rathore.
• In most cases, these cases pertain to dharnas and demonstrations.
• As far as the wealth of the candidates is concerned, 21 per cent (86) have assets more than Rs 5 crore while 55 per cent (226) are crorepatis. The richest candidate in the fray is Balbir Verma (Rs 128.45 crore), the BJP MLA from Chopal, followed by Shimla Rural MLA Vikramaditya Singh (Rs 101.39 crore) and then RS Bali, Congress candidate from Nagrota Bagwan with assets worth Rs 92.36 crore. While 90 per cent of the Congress candidates are crorepatis, the BJP nominees are a close second with 82 per cent.
• While 84 of the 412 candidates are graduates, 83 are postgraduates. There are 68 graduate with professional degrees while 11 hold a doctorate degree, 69 are matriculate, 66 are Class XII pass, 13 have cleared Class VIII and six have completed Class V.

• Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar stressed the need to march ahead in the interest of the nation with discipline and the ‘swadeshi’ spirit in life.
• He said an anti-corruption approach should become a part of the lifestyle to eradicate the menace.
• The Governor was presiding over an award ceremony during Vigilance Awareness Week being observed by the State Vigilance Bureau (SVB) and the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
• “We need to be aware of corruption and it should not be a part of etiquette. There is a need to put an end to wrong practices, for which we all should participate,” he added.
• Arlekar said corruption comes from human nature. “From the day we have separated religion from our public and personal life, we have started getting corrupted as we have misdefined religion,” he added.
• The Governor said religion was not restricted to the system of worship. It was a part of the way of life and conduct. “Dharma teaches us what to do and what not to do in life.”
• On the occasion, Arlekar also released the website of the State Vigilance Department.

• The Army has approved five Project Sanction Orders (PSOs) for development of niche technology by the Indian industry under Make-II route of defence procurement. The projects include High Frequency Man Packed Software Defined Radios (HFSDR), drone kill systems, Infantry Training Weapon Simulator (IWTS), Medium Range Precision Kill Systems (MRPKS) and 155mm Terminally Guided Munitions (TGM).
• Make II projects are essentially industry funded projects involving design, development and innovative solutions by Indian vendors for development of prototypes. An assurance of order is given after successful prototype development.
• The Army is already progressing 43 projects under the Make II procedure of capital acquisition. Seventeen out of 43 projects have been initiated through suo motu proposals received from the industry, which has generated enthusiasm and confidence in the Indian defence industry for participation in the “Make procedure”, it said in a statement.
• “The PSO for development of prototype of HFSDR under Make-II scheme has been issued to 14 Developing Agencies (DA). These radio sets will replace the existing HF radio sets in the inventory, which have limited data handling capability and obsolete technology,” Army said in a statement.

Drone kill systems

• Similarly, PSO given to 18 DAs for procurement of 35 sets of drone kill systems under the Make-II scheme, post successful development of prototype. The project is reserved for start-ups and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Drone kill system is a hard kill anti-drone system against low Radio Cross Section drones.
• The IWTS is the first triservice Make-II project with the Army as the lead service, the statement said. The PSO has been issued to four DAs to develop the prototype for subsequent procurement of 125 systems. This is also reserved for MSMEs and start-ups.
• Similarly, PSO has been issued to six DAs for development of 155 mm TGMs while PSO has been issued to 15 DAs for developing a prototype of MRPKS.
• On the 155mm TGM, the Army said variants of the ammunition have been held in the inventory, sans the precision strike capability. The Indian Army therefore plans to procure approximately 2000 rounds of 155mm TGM against High Value Targets with assured precision and lethality for mission accomplishment and minimum collateral damage, it stated.
• On the MRPKS, the Army said post successful development of the prototype, it intends to procure 10 sets of them. The MRPKS, once launched can ‘loiter’ in the air for up to two hours and can acquire, designate and engage real-time high value targets up to 40 km, the statement said.
• On the progress on Make-II progress so far, the statement added that 22 out of 43 projects are now in prototype development stage, which is 66% of projects by cost, ₹18,000 crore out of ₹27,000 crore.

• China on November 4, 2022 outlined plans to further expand the global reach of its home-grown Beidou satellite navigation system, billed as its alternative to America’s Global Positioning System (GPS).
• A white paper released by the Chinese government said Beijing is “strengthening regional cooperation with organisations such as ASEAN, the African Union, the League of Arab States, and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States”.
• Beijing has, since 2020, also made an outreach to South Asia and is already working, or in discussion with, a number of countries in the region, including Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, over adopting the Beidou satellite (BDS) navigation system.
• “The Belt and Road (BRI) countries are our priority,” Ran Chengqi, Director of the China Satellite Navigation Office, said at launch of the white paper.
• Ran said the BDS, which now has a “constellation” of 30 satellites in orbit, began its international outreach once the set up was finished in 2018. It is now in use “in more than half of the world’s countries”. China is also helping several BRI partners, including Pakistan and Sri Lanka, launch communication satellites.
• “Saudi Arabia is using Beidou in surveying and mapping, positioning people and vehicle in the desert,” he said. “Tajikistan is using BDS to monitor dams and lakes with precision. Lebanon is using BDS at Beirut port for marine survey and construction. In Burkina Faso, it is being used for survey and construction of hospitals”.
• Pakistan and Russia are two significant Beidou hubs. Mr. Ran said China and Russia have signed a strategic framework on their two navigation systems, taking forward a 2015 deal on interoperability between Beidou and GLONASS
• Pakistan in 2014 became the first foreign country to set up a Beidou network. South Asia and Southeast Asia – both of which are key BRI regions – are a current focus of expanding Beidou’s presence.
• Beidou has set up a first of three Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) for its network in Thailand in 2013, to serve as a hub for ASEAN. China and Sri Lanka also agreed plans to set up 10 CORS,  according to reports in Chinese official media, which said “CORS in Thailand and Sri Lanka will extend the BDS coverage at least 3,000 km more towards Southeast Asia and South Asia.
• In 2020, Beijing reached out to Bangladesh and Nepal. That year, Bangladesh Post and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar told the official Xinhua news agency Dhaka “will consider cooperation with BDS”, while China has invited Nepal officials to Beijing for training on the Beidou system.
• Ran said the next focus was to improve Beidou’s capabilities, which have, in China, closed the gap with GPS in terms of accuracy, although its overseas services still lag behind.
• “We need more medium to high orbit satellites and to build a combined constellation of low, medium and high orbit satellites,” he said. “Now, most of the very good service can only be accessed in China. To expand this provision is our future direction”.
• Its application in China, he said, now included use in guiding drones, autonomous cars, in agriculture and forestry, as well as launching with Chinese mobile phone companies, using Chinese chips, satellite-powered messaging for smartphones that provides for connectivity in remote areas even in the absence of ground reception.

• Three memoranda of understanding were inked between businesses in Taiwan and India for cooperation in electronics manufacturing and green technologies.
• According to the report, all three agreements were signed at the 2022 India-Taiwan Industrial Collaboration Summit jointly held by Taiwan’s Chinese National Federation of Industries (CNFI) and India’s industry body Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry on Thursday. Out of them, one MOU was signed by Taiwanese memory chipmaker Adata Technology and the Electronic Industries Association of India (ELCINA).
• Another agreement was by Taiwanese precious metal recycling specialist UWin Nanotech. Co. and India’s Srikaarya Industries, the report said.
• The third was signed by the Taiwan Environmental Manufacturers Association, Taiwan’s China Productivity Center, Industrial Technology Research Institute, and Water Affairs Organization, and India’s International Centre for Clean Water and Steady-taps Consulting.
• The signing ceremony was witnessed by Taiwan’s Deputy Economics Minister Chen Chern-Chyi — who headed a Taiwanese delegation to India.
• Stating that Taiwanese companies have been eager to grow along with their foreign counterparts, the minister urged the Indian government to lend support to the Taiwanese companies that invest in India.
• In addition to the summit, Chen also attended a CEO roundtable forum where representatives of Taiwan’s government and industrial groups joined with Indian attendees to discuss a wide range of topics.
• Among the topics covered were electronics manufacturing, electric vehicles, batteries, and electronics/information and communications technology development, according to Taiwan’s representative office.

• The global mean temperature in 2022 is estimated to be 1.15 degree Celsius above the pre-industrial (1850-1900) average, likely making the eight years from 2015 the warmest on record, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), a UN agency, said in a report.
• The report titled “WMO Provisional State of the Global Climate 2022” released at the 27th Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC stated the rate of sea level rise had doubled since 1993 and had risen by nearly 10 mm since January 2020 to a new record high this year.
• The past two-and-a-half years account for 10 per cent of the overall rise in sea level since satellite measurements started nearly 30 years ago, the report stated.
• The figures used in the provisional 2022 report are till the end of September this year. The final version will be issued next April.

• The Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of 10 per cent quota for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in government jobs and educational institutes.
• By a majority of 3:2 a five-judge Constitution Bench upheld the validity of the 103rd constitutional amendment under which the EWS quota was provided.
• While Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice JB Pardiwala upheld the validity of EWS quota law, CJI UU Lalit and Justice S Ravindra Bhat delivered a dissenting verdict.
• The majority said the EWS quota law does not violate the equality code of the Constitution or the basic structure of the Constitution.
• The Bench had reserved its verdict on September 27 after hearing the petitioners, the Centre and others.
• The Centre defended the EWS quota law, asserting that it did not violate the basic structure of the Constitution and did not disturb the 50 per cent existing quota meant for SCS, STs and OBCs. It has been given for the first time without eroding the “totally independent” reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs, it had contended during the hearing.
• Noting that a constitutional amendment can only be challenged if it destroyed the basic structure of the Constitution, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had argued that the ceiling of 50% has not been held inviolable.
• The Constitution Bench broadly considered three questions, the first being whether the 103rd Constitution amendment Act can be said to breach the basic structure of the Constitution by permitting the State to make special provisions, including reservation, based on economic criteria.
• The other two issues are: Whether the constitutional amendment could be said to breach the basic structure by permitting the state to make special provisions concerning admissions to private unaided institutions and whether it can be said to breach the basic structure of the Constitution in excluding the SEBCs/OBCs, SCs/STs from the scope of EWS reservation.
• There are 40 petitions challenging the 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019, which introduced 10 per cent EWS reservation in public employment and educational institutes over and above the existing 50 per cent reservation to SCs, STs and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

• A new species of endemic honeybee has been discovered in the Western Ghats. The finding has been published in the September issue of Entomon, a peer-reviewed journal brought out by the Association for Advancement of Entomology.

About:

• The new species has been named Apis karinjodian and given the common name Indian black honeybee.
• It is after a gap of more than 200 years that a new species of honeybee has been spotted in the Western Ghats.
• The last honeybee described from India was Apis indica in 1798 by Fabricius. Although Fabricius named the Indian bee Apis indica, it was not considered a valid species till now.
• The research team restored the status of Apis indica based on a new measure for species discrimination in honeybees termed ‘Radio-Medial Index (RMI)’.
• While proving the distinct identity of Apis indica, led to the discovery of Apis karinjodian.
• Apis karinjodian has evolved from Apis cerana morphotypes that got acclimatised to the hot and humid environment of the Western Ghats.
• The distribution of Apis karinjodian ranges from the central Western Ghats and Nilgiris to the southern Western Ghats, covering the States of Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

• For the first time since the adoption of the UN climate convention, Parties have agreed to introduce Loss and Damage funding as an agenda item at the climate conference.
• UN Climate Conference COP27 President and Foreign Minister of Egypt Sameh Shoukry commended the sense of responsibility and commitment that parties showed, as well as the collective keenness on preserving the credibility and relevance of the climate process.
• In his remarks, Mr. Shoukry called on countries to show faith in multilateralism over the next two weeks as they negotiate to deliver on the goals of the Climate Convention and the Paris Agreement.
• Loss and damage funding refers to financial compensation that directly addresses unavoidable climate change catastrophes that developing countries are particularly vulnerable to.

• India will participate in the World Travel Market (WTM) 2022 in London which is one of the largest international travel exhibitions.
• The theme of this year’s exhibition is – the Future of Travel Starts Now.
• Tourism Ministry said, India is participating in the WTM 2022 to showcase itself as a preferred destination for tourism. During the three-day exhibition, a total of 16 stakeholders, including State Governments, Central Ministries, and tour operators, among others are participating as co-exhibitors in the India Pavilion.
• The objective is to showcase the diverse tourism products and services including Medical Value travel, luxury trains, and the gamut of tourism products to the international business community.
• In 2019, the contribution of travel and tourism to India’s GDP was 5.19 percent of the total economy.
• The Indian tourism sector accounted for around 80 million jobs.
• The consistent efforts of the Central and State Governments have helped the tourism industry to gradually recover from the Covid-19 pandemic to the pre-pandemic levels.