PIB Summary- 22nd September, 2021 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

India – United Arab Emirates Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)

Details

• The first round of CEPA negotiations will be held on 23-24 September 2021.
• India and the UAE signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2017.
• It is expected that the CEPA negotiations will be concluded by December this year and a formal agreement would be signed in March 2022 after the completion of internal legal procedures and ratification.
• The CEPA will create new jobs, raise living standards, and provide wider social and economic opportunities in both nations.
• A new strategic economic agreement is expected to increase bilateral trade in goods to USD 100 billion within five years of the signed agreement and increase trade in services to USD 15 billion.

Background of India – UAE Economic Relations

• The UAE is currently India’s third-largest trading partner with bilateral trade in 2019-20 valued at USD 59 billion.
• The UAE is also India’s second-largest export destination after the US.
• India was the UAE’s second-largest trading partner in 2019, with bilateral non-oil trade valued at USD 41 billion.
• The UAE is the eighth-largest investor in India, having invested USD 11 billion between April 2000 and March 2021, while investment by Indian companies in the UAE is estimated to be over USD 85 billion.
• India’s major exports to the UAE include petroleum products, precious metals, stones, gems and jewellery, minerals, food items such as cereals, sugar, fruits and vegetables, tea, meat, and seafood, textiles, engineering and machinery products, and chemicals.
• India’s top imports from the UAE include petroleum and petroleum products, precious metals, stones, gems and jewellery, minerals, chemicals and wood and wood products.
• India imported USD 10.9 billion of crude oil from the UAE in 2019-2020.

National Single Window System for Investors and Businesses

Details

• The single window portal will become a one-stop-shop for investors for approvals and clearances.
• The system is expected to bring in transparency, accountability and responsiveness in the ecosystem and all information will be available on a single dashboard.
• An applicant Dashboard would be there to apply, track and respond to queries.
• The portal currently hosts approvals across 18 Central Departments and 9 States, and another 14 Central depts and five states will be added by December 2021.
• The NSWS provides the following services:
  • Know Your Approval (KYA) Service: It generates a list of approvals required by any business to commence operations. It does so by asking the investor a series of dynamic questions about their planned business activities and identifies the applicable approvals on the basis of responses provided. This service is for guidance purpose only.
  • Common Registration Form: To ensure a single point of submission of information and documents across Ministries and States, a unified information capturing system along with a common registration form has been introduced.
  • State registration form: Enables investor to have seamless single click access to respective State Single Window System.
  • Applicant dashboard: Provides a single online interface to apply, track and respond to the queries pertaining to approvals and registrations across ministries and States.
  • Document repository: An online centralized storage service for investors to enable one-time document submission and use the same across multiple approvals eliminating the need for submitting documents at multiple portals.
  • E-Communication module: Enables online response to queries and clarification requests related to applications by Ministries and States.

Commission for Air Quality Management

• Commission for Air Quality Management in the National capital region and adjoining areas takes a series of steps towards abatement of Air Pollution.
• Air Quality Commission ropes in top technical institutions to set up a Decision Support System.

About the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM)

• The Commission for Air Quality Management was formed by an ordinance in October 2020, the “Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance 2020”.
• The commission was envisaged to be a super commission that subsumed practically every other law and agency dealing with air pollution in this region (Delhi – NCR).
• The central government had instituted this ‘permanent’ body for the region effectively replacing the Environmental Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA).
• The CAQM has the power to:
  • Formulate rules and set emission standards
  • Impose fines up to Rs. 1 Crore or send violators to prison for up to five years
• It is headed by a former secretary to the Government of India or a chief secretary to a state government.
• The ex-officio members comprise chief secretaries or secretaries dealing with the subject of environment in the states of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh and non-governmental organisations.
• Functions of CAQM:
  • Implement in Delhi NCR and adjoining areas, the National Clean Air Programme, the National Air Quality Monitoring Programme, and the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
  • It lays down the parameters for various aspects of air quality including emission parameters and discharge of environmental pollutants from various sources.
  • The Commission has the right to prohibit activities that are likely to cause or increase air pollution in the NCR.
  • It can take up matters suo motu or on the basis of complaints from individuals and
  • The annual report that the Commission submits to the government will be laid before both Houses of the Parliament. Also, the various orders and regulations brought forth by the CAQM will also be placed before the Parliament.
  • The Commission would specifically monitor measures taken by the states to prevent factors causing air pollution like stubble burning, industrial emissions, road dust, vehicular pollution, construction activities, biomass burning and other major sources of air pollution.