General Studies-I
Indian Heritage and Culture
Exhibition “Traditional Head Gear of India” Begins in National Museum
An exhibition entitled “Traditional Head Gear of India” organised by the National Museum in National Museum Complex, Janpath, New Delhi was inaugurated. This small exhibition is arranged to showcase printed turban, embroidered dopalli and Maratha stitched cap and zardozi cap. Pagdi, pag, turban, topi, cap, headgear are the part of daily men’s attire, sometimes women too, along with Indian traditional wear. These were specially designed for occasional and ceremonial bases.
Headgears signify the social, religious and economical status of a user in the society. From muslin, cotton, silk and wool, variety of materials have been used for most ornamental and intricately decorated headgears and later on jewels were also added to ornate it. Each phase of Indian history show some distinct or peculiar style of wearing pag for example; Maurya-Sunga period evidences show the tying of pag in two stages, top-knot for covering the hair bun and then covers the head.
During the medieval period also we witnessed the interesting types of headgear such as; Akbar’s ‘atpati turban’, was famous which was like a loosely worn, carefree style turban. It is believed that Shah Jahan introduced the ‘turban band’, which was tied above the band to secure the turban. It is believed that Aurangzeb use to make his own cap. The last Mughal ruler Bahadurshah Zafar’s ‘Chugani’ or ‘Chaugoshia’ cap has four raised points. Around late 19th and early 20th century ‘do-palli’ or ‘round cap’ or ‘topi’ in the northern region became very popular for daily as well as occasional uses. The ‘do-palli’, means two layered cap, which were stitched from one side and worn on the head, while the ‘topi’ remains circular and covers the entire head, which often been known as skull cap. Nizam’s in Hyderabad (South-India) introduced in ‘dastar’ which was the neatly arranged turban, looks like a stitched cap. During his period as per the status of minister the colour of dastar was decided especially for courtly attire. Famous Maratha’s turban and Rajput turbans had their distinct feature for fabric, colour, design and ornamentation. They introduced the stitched headgear with full head covering, little fabric hanging at the back and the third is hangings, which use to be pearls to semi-precious stones and glass beads.
Spreading of Indian Culture
The Indian culture has manifested in various realms across Asia and beyond. Government of India has taken a number of initiatives to disseminate Indian Culture across the world which inter alia includes signing of multilateral and bilateral agreements on cultural relations, promotion of Indian culture through Festival of India in foreign countries, providing assistance to Indo Foreign Friendship Cultural Societies in foreign countries for cultural activities. Various activities taken up in the financial year 2016-17 include holding of Festival of India in 18 countries, sanction of an amount of Rs 11.56 crores to Indo-Foreign Friendship Cultural Societies in foreign countries, Signing of Agreements on bilateral cultural relations with 7 countries etc.
The Indian Council for Cultural Relations which is also mandated to foster and strengthen cultural relations with other countries has sponsored 166 groups from India during the last one year to 88 countries. They have established 37 Indian Cultural Centres in various countries to promote Indian Culture abroad.
Yoga in the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage
Yoga was inscribed in UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity during the 11th session of Intergovernmental Committee held from 28th November to 02nd December, 2016 at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The inclusion of Yoga on the UNESCO’s Representative List will contribute to the visibility of intangible cultural heritage in general and raise awareness of its importance at the local, national and international levels as its practice is universal and widespread cutting across community, class, income, gender, faith and age. Additionally, Yoga’s inscription on the Representative List will promote respect for cultural diversity and human creativity as it will create a commonality and a bond between and across practitioners, transmitters and the diverse communities and individuals that follow the practice.
Promotion of Traditional Art and Folk Art
To protect, preserve & promote various forms of traditional art and folk art throughout the country, the Government of India has set up seven Zonal Cultural Centres (ZCCs) with headquarters at Patiala, Nagpur, Udaipur, Allahabad, Kolkata, Dimapur and Thanjavur.
To develop traditional art across the country including the State of Andhra Pradesh, these ZCCs are implementing a number of schemes viz. Award to Young Talented Artistes, Guru Shishya Parampara Scheme, Theatre Rejuvenation Scheme, Research & Documentation Scheme, Shilpgram Scheme, Octave and J&K Festivals and National Cultural Exchange Programme (NCEP).
No State/UT-wise funds are provided for promotion of traditional art and folk art. However, annual grant-in-aid is provided to all these 7 ZCCs by Government of India for carrying out various cultural activities throughout the country for this purpose.
Project Mausam
Project ‘Mausam’ is the initiative of Ministry of Culture to be implemented by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) as the nodal agency with research support of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) and National Museum as associate bodies. This project aims to explore the multi-faceted Indian Ocean ‘world’–collating archaeological and historical research in order to document the diversity of cultural, commercial and religious interactions in the Indian Ocean. It also aims to promote research on themes related to the study of Maritime Routes. Main objective of the project is to inscribe places and sites identified under Project Mausam as trans-national nomination for inscription on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
The project was launched in June, 2014 during 38th session of the World Heritage Committee.
List of Indian Ocean countries identified under Project Mausam are:
Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Comoros, Egypt, Eritrea, Réunion Island (French Department), Indonesia, Iraq, Iran (Islamic Republic), Jordan, Kuwait, Kenya, Lebanon, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, United Republic of Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Viet Nam, Yemen.
Protection of Dialects
The Government of India has initiated a Scheme known as “Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages of India’ (SPPEL), being implemented by Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysore. This scheme aims at protection, preservation and documentation of all the mother tongues/languages of India which are spoken by less than 10,000 people. Dialects being part of a language are covered under this programme. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has a Scheme for “Establishment of Centres for Endangered Languages” under which centres were approved in respect of nine Central Universities. Further the UGC has been implementing a scheme namely ‘Funding support to the State Universities for study and research in indigenous and endangered language in India’’ under which seven Universities were approved for grants. In addition, a collaborative project between Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda and BHASA, a Non Governmental Organisation working for Promotion and Preservation of Indigenous and Endangered languages was approved by UGC.
Changes in critical geographical features
Rise in Average Temperatures
Average Temperature during last ten years (2007 to 2016) was 26.10 C. Rise in the average temperature was 0.51 C during this period. Spatial pattern of trend in mean annual temperature anomalies, for the period 1902-2012, suggests significant positive (increasing) trend (0.5 C in general with few pockets of 1.0 C) over most parts of the country except some parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Bihar, where significant negative (decreasing) trend was observed.
The latest Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report (2014) highlights that mean surface temperature of the globe has risen by 0.85 C + 0.18 C. However, all India mean temperature has risen around 0.64 C over the last 110 years.
Following steps have been undertaken in the area of Climate Change:
i) Launched a high-priority Programme to address the Science issues of Global and Regional Climate Change (GRCC) with a well-equipped state-of-the-art Center for Climate Change Research (CCCR) at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune for interdisciplinary research and training in the area of science of climate change.
Development of Earth System Model (ESM) has been taken up for generating future climate change scenarios. Currently, CCCR is leading “Co-ordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX)” for the South Asian region under the aegis of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). The CORDEX program provides an important framework for a co-ordinated set of downscaled regional climate simulations for both the historical past and future decades. Training workshops are also conducted for end-users, stakeholders in the South Asian region.
ii) The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) released in 2008 by Government of India. Outlines eight missions in specific areas of Solar Energy, Enhanced Energy Efficiency, Sustainable Habitat, Water, Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem, Green India, Sustainable Agriculture and Strategic knowledge for Climate Change. Eight National Missions form the core of the National Action Plan, representing multipronged, long term and integrated strategies for achieving key goals in the context of climate change.
Rise in Global Sea Levels
According to the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that global mean sea level had risen by 0.19m over the period 1901-2010 with a rate of global averaged sea level rise of 1.7 mm/year between 1901 and 2010 within which an accelerated rate of 3.2 mm/year was noticed between 1993 and 2010. The estimates made for the period 1993-2010, using the remote sensing satellite data and in-situ measurements of tide gauges, are found to be 3.2 ± 0.5 mm/year and 2.8 ± 0.8 mm/year, respectively. Recent studies by Indian Scientists reveal that the trend of sea level rise in the north Indian Ocean is slightly higher than the global estimate of 3.2 mm per year.
The possibility of sea level rise in the next ten years is about 3.2 cm in the north Indian Ocean, if the sea level acceleration remains similar to 3.2 mm per year.
A number of studies have been undertaken using remote sensing techniques in the past for assessment of the shoreline changes; mapping and delineation of entire coastal wetlands including beach vegetation, bio-shields, sea grass, opening of lagoons in certain cases and small islands etc. including their regeneration/preservation. The Integrated Coastal and Marine Area Management (ICMAM), Directorate of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has carried out mapping and demarcating of multi-hazard coastal vulnerability for the entire coast of India. The Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has been implementing an Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Plan for India instead of uniform Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) framework. Accordingly, the Central Government has issued CRZ-2011 notification with a view to ensure livelihood security to the fisher communities and other local communities, living in the coastal areas, to conserve and protect coastal stretches, its unique environment and its marine area and to promote development through sustainable manner based on scientific principles taking into account the dangers of natural hazards in the coastal areas, sea level rise due to global warming.
As a part of an Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project, the MoEFCC has been implementing the four components, namely,
(i) National Coastal Management Programme;
(ii) ICZM-West Bengal;
(iii) ICZM-Orissa;
(iv) ICZM-Gujarat.
The national component includes
(a) Demarcation of hazard line for mapping the entire coastline of the mainland of the country;
(b) establishment of a National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) in Chennai with its regional centres in each of the coastal States/Union territories to promote research and development in the area of coastal management including addressing issues of coastal communities.
India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) outlines a strategy that aims to enable the country adapt to climate change and enhances the ecological sustainability of our development path. Appropriate protection measures arising out of the coastal erosion are addressed jointly by respective state governments and the Coastal Protection and Development Advisory Committee (CPDAC) of the Central Water Commission.
General Studies-II
Development in various sectors: Tourism
Beach Tourism Zones
The Ministry of Tourism has launched Swadesh Darshan Scheme in 2014-15 for integrated development of Theme-Based tourist Circuits in the country. Coastal Circuit which includes inter-alia beach destinations has been identified as one of thirteen thematic circuits for development under this scheme. The Ministry of Tourism promotes India as a holistic destination as part of its on-going activities by releasing advertising campaigns in various media under the Incredible India brand-line, through its website, production of publicity and promotional material and through promotional activities undertaken by the overseas India
Cleanliness and maintenance of beaches is the responsibility of the respective State Governments/ UT administrations. However, Ministry extends Central Financial Assistance under the Swadesh Darshan scheme for Beach Cleaning Equipment as one of the admissible components to promote cleanliness of beaches
Ramayana and Krishna Circuits
Ramayana Circuit and Krishna Circuit are among the thirteen thematic circuits identified for development under Swadesh Darshan Scheme.
The Ministry of Tourism has initially identified fifteen destinations for development under the Ramayana Circuit theme namely Ayodhya, Nandigram, Shringverpur & Chitrakoot (Uttar Pradesh), Sitamarhi, Buxar & Darbhanga (Bihar), Chitrakoot (Madhya Pradesh), Mahendragiri (Odisha), Jagdalpur (Chattisgarh), Nashik & Nagpur (Maharashtra), Bhadrachalam (Telangana), Hampi (Karnataka) and Rameshwaram (Tamil Nadu).
Similarly, twelve destinations have been identified for development under Krishna circuit namely Dwarka (Gujarat), Nathdwara, Jaipur & Sikar (Rajasthan), Kurukshetra (Haryana), Mathura, Vrindavan, Gokul, Barsana, Nandgaon & Govardhan (Uttar Pradesh) and Puri (Odisha).
Swadesh Darshan scheme and PRASAD Scheme
Under the scheme ‘Swadesh Darshan’ and ‘PRASAD’, the Ministry of Tourism provides Central Financial Assistance (CFA) to State Governments/Union Territory Administrations, for various tourism projects.
Swadesh Darshan Scheme:
Under this scheme, 13 thematic circuits have been identified for development, namely North-East India Circuit, Buddhist Circuit, Himalayan Circuit, Coastal Circuit, Krishna Circuit, Desert Circuit, Tribal Circuit, Eco Circuit, Wildlife Circuit, Rural Circuit, Spiritual Circuit, Ramayana Circuit and Heritage Circuit.
Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive (PRASAD) Scheme:
This scheme focusses on development and beautification of the identified pilgrimage destinations. Under this scheme, 13 cities namely Ajmer, Amritsar, Amravati, Dwarka, Gaya, Kamakhaya, Kancheepuram, Kedarnath, Mathura, Patna, Puri, Varanasi and Velankanni have been identified for development.
General Studies-III
Marketing of agricultural produce
Spices Exports
The spices exports from the country have touched an all-time high during 2016-17. The export of spices & spice products from the country for the last 3 years is given below:
2014-15 – 893920 Tons – Rs.14900 crore
2015-16 – 843255 Tons – Rs.16238 crore
2016-17 – 947790 Tons – Rs.17665 crore
No targets are fixed by the government for export of spices as the production and export of spices are dependent upon various factors such as climatic conditions, market forces, domestic and international demand, etc.
Spices Board is implementing the “Export Oriented Production, Export Development & Promotion of Spices” Scheme wherein assistance is provided to cultivators of cardamom for production of quality planting materials, replanting of old and uneconomic gardens, new planting, irrigation development programme, improved curing facilities, farm mechanization, etc. for boosting production.
In addition, Spices Board implements several programmes for spices farmers which, inter alia, include development of infrastructure for common processing facilities in Spice Parks, adaptation of upgraded technology in spice processing, setting up of quality evaluation labs for sampling and testing of the export consignments for meeting quality specifications of consuming countries, assistance to farmers on post-harvest quality improvement, imparting training to farmers in Good Agricultural Practices etc.
Science & Technology; Space
Setting up of a High Altitude Cloud Observatory Near Munnar, Kerala
A high altitude cloud physics observatory has been established at Munnar (Kerala), in Western Ghats, the region which is gateway for the monsoon of India.
High altitude cloud physics observatory at Munnar is used to observe cloud and rain processes over that region with state of the art observations. Such facility will enable understanding of rainfall distribution and will allow better characterization of rainfall processes in the numerical models used for prediction of monsoon rainfall.
It is expected that long term monitoring of cloud and rainfall processes will enable for accurate representation of cloud micro-physical process in forecast models to improve over all skill of rainfall prediction for severe weather phenomena viz, heavy rainfall, thunderstorm etc., not only over Kerala but for the whole country.
High altitude cloud physics laboratories are functional at Mahabaleshwar (Konkan) and Munnar (Kerala) to study the monsoon cloud microphysics process modulated by the Western Ghats only and hence no such additional facility are contemplated.
Studies were undertaken in four climate sensitive regions of the country, viz. Himalayan Region, Western Ghats, North Eastern Region, Coastal Areas to assess the possible impacts on the four sectors viz. agriculture, water, forests and health and associated ecosystem. A Report entitled, Climate Change & India: A 4X4 Assessment – A Sectoral and Regional Assessment of Impact of Climate Change in 2030s, has been released by the Government during November, 2010 under the aegis of the Indian Network of Climate Change Assessment (INCCA).
Outer Space Treaty – 50 years
The Outer Space Treaty, which laid the foundation for an international space law, came into force in October 1967, following a feverish, decade-long space race between the Cold War rivals, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.
Formulated to bar its signatory countries from placing weapons of mass destruction in orbit of the Earth, on the Moon or any other celestial body or the outer space, the treaty aimed to get the countries to use space exploration for peaceful purposes.
The space race itself is an important segment in the history of mankind, one that intensified the Cold War rivalry as a fight for supremacy in space became a matter of pride for both the countries. The race resulted in the setting of new benchmarks by the superpowers in the late 1950s and 1960s. There were many ‘firsts’ that came up during this period, like the successful test of the first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) in 1957, the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite (Sputnik 1) in 1957 and the first successful orbiting of earth by an animal (Laika, sent by Sputnik 2) in 1957. NASA, which became operational in 1958, was a partly a product of this rivalry.
The space race left a wider impact in the field of technology, spawning pioneering efforts to launch artificial satellites and unmanned space probes of the Moon, Venus, and Mars, and human space flight in low Earth orbit and to the Moon.
The two countries’ zeal to outperform each other quite beneficial to the progress of science in general, despite the work cultures of the space organisations being poles apart. However, the space programmes of both the superpowers were not just for civilian purposes; they were as much about military supremacy. The idea was to battle through display of power without having to fight an actual war. At this point, the United Nations had to step in, in order to ensure that outer space didn’t become a battleground for these superpowers, and the Outer Space Treaty was born.
The space race didn’t have an end date, and, in many ways, it still continues. But the ‘space rivalry’ definitely ended to an extent in 1975, with the Apollo-Soyuz Joint Test mission through which three U.S. astronauts and two Soviet cosmonauts became part of the first joint space flight.
The space race left a legacy in the field of space research worldwide. As the pioneers of space missions, both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. helped their allies build their own individual space missions by training their scientists and engineers; transferring technology to them; and allowing their researchers to come to their space laboratories to learn and improve on their existing knowledge and skills.
Governance
First meeting of Islands Development Agency (IDA)
The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh chaired the first meeting of the newly constituted Islands Development Agency (IDA). The IDA was set up on June 01, 2017 following the Prime Minister’s review meeting for the development of islands.
The Union Home Minister presented the vision for developing India’s maritime economy while preserving the natural eco-system and addressing the security concerns. He emphasized upon the need for sustainable development of Islands with people’s participation.
The CEO, NITI Aayog made a detailed presentation on the current status and the way forward for holistic development of identified islands. He informed that Concept Development Plans and Detailed Master Plans are being prepared for identified islands with principles of sustainability, people’s participation, eco-system preservation and determination of carrying capacity as the guiding principles. Such an exercise is being taken up for the first time in the country.
Admiral D.K. Joshi, former Navy Chief and Vice Chairman of IDA suggested taking up suitable interventions for sustainable implementation of planned projects.
During the meeting, the progress being made for the formulation of integrated master plans and other matters concerning the islands development were reviewed. It was also decided that Lt. Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Administrator of Lakshadweep Islands will be included as members of IDA.
After detailed consultations with key stakeholders, 10 islands namely Smith, Ross, Aves, Long and Little Andaman in Andaman & Nicobar and Minicoy, Bangaram, Suheli, Cherium and Tinnakara in Lakshadweep have been identified for holistic development in the first phase. With this meeting, the efforts for holistic development of Islands of India received a major boost.
Other Members of the IDA including Cabinet Secretary, Home Secretary, Secretary (Environment, Forests and Climate Change), Secretary (Tourism) and Secretary (Tribal Welfare) also participated in the meeting.
Human Resources
Rationalisation of Labour Laws
The Second National Commission on Labour has recommended that the existing Labour Laws should be broadly grouped into four or five Labour Codes on functional basis. Accordingly, the Ministry has taken steps for drafting four Labour Codes on Wages; Industrial Relations; Social Security & Welfare; and Safety and Working Conditions respectively, by simplifying, amalgamating and rationalizing the relevant provisions of the existing Central Labour Laws. The draft codes are at pre-legislative consultation process. These legislative initiatives will improve the wage security, job security and social security of the workers.
The Ministry is implementing the National Career Service (NCS) Project as a Mission Mode Project for transformation of the National Employment Service to provide a variety of employment related services. The NCS is an online Portal (www.ncs.gov.in) for providing employment services like registration of candidates and employers, posting of vacancies, job matching etc. The NCS presently has over 3.86 Cr job seekers and 14.8 lakh employers on the Portal.
ILO Fundamental Conventions
India has ratified six out of the eight core/fundamental International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions. These are the
- Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29),
- Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105),
- Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100),
- Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111),
- Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) and Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182).
India has not ratified the core/fundamental Conventions, namely
- Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) and
- Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).
The main reason for non-ratification of ILO Conventions No.87 & 98 is due to certain restrictions imposed on the Government servants. As communicated by Department of Personnel & Training (DOPT), the ratification of these conventions would involve granting of certain rights that are prohibited under the statutory rules, for the Government employees, namely, to strike work, to openly criticize Government policies, to freely accept financial contribution, to freely join foreign organizations etc.
In India we ratify an ILO Convention only when the national laws are brought fully into conformity with the provisions of the Convention in question.
Government of India has been taking various pro-active steps to examine the prospects of ratifying Conventions No. 87 & 98, including holding regular discussions on the issue with the stakeholders. The matter has also been widely discussed in the meetings of the Tripartite Committee on Conventions (COC). A meeting under the Chairmanship of Secretary (Labour & Employment) is scheduled on 09.08.2017 along DOPT and ILO to further look into the matter, including international practices. Ratification of ILO Convention is a voluntary process and no time frame has been agreed for the same.
Global Conventions on Child Labour
After the enactment of the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016, Government has recently ratified the International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions No. 138 concerning minimum age for employment and No. 182 concerning prohibition and elimination of worst forms of child labour.
Sustainable Development Goal 8.7 stipulate to take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms. In order to achieve Sustainable Development Goal with respect to eradication of child labour, Government has already strengthened the legislative framework by completely prohibiting child labour upto 14 years in all forms and prohibiting employment or work of adolescent in hazardous occupations & processes. Subsequently the ratification of two core ILO Conventions regarding child labour would further strengthen the commitment of Government for effective enforcement of the provision of Child & Adolescent Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986.
Infrastructure
The Admiralty (Jurisdiction and Settlement of Maritime Claims) Bill, 2017
Admiralty (Jurisdiction and Settlement of Maritime Claims) Bill, 2017, aims to establish a legal framework for consolidation of related laws to replace the age old archaic laws with modern Indian legislation and to confer admiralty jurisdiction on all High Courts of the coastal states of the country.
The bill repeals the five different Admiralty Acts which are 126 to 177 years old. The Bill provides for prioritization of maritime claims and maritime liens while providing protection to owners, charterers, operators, crew members and seafarers at the same time.
As per the new Bill, High Courts of all the coastal states shall exercise admiralty jurisdiction over maritime claims which include several aspects not limited to goods imported and chattel as earlier, but also other claims such as payment of wages of seamen, loss of life, salvages, mortgage, loss or damage, services and repairs, insurance, ownership and lien, threat of damage to environment etc. The Bill accords highest priority to payment of wages of the seafarers. The Bill also provides for protection against wrongful and unjustified arrest and has provision for transfer of cases from one High Court to other High Court.
Economic development
Measures to Improve Balance of Trade
Based on the applications filed by the domestic industry (DI) for imposition of anti-dumping duty on imports from various countries including China PR, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand etc., Directorate General of Anti-dumping & Allied Duties (DGAD) initiated anti-dumping investigations on imports from various countries.
From time to time, DGAD receives applications from domestic producers for imposition of anti-dumping duty on various products. After detailed investigations, preliminary/final findings are issued by DGAD based on which, Department of Revenue imposes provisional/definitive anti-dumping duties.
Efforts are being made to increase overall exports by diversifying the trade basket with emphasis on manufactured goods, services, resolution of market access issues and other non-tariff barriers. This is done through bilateral meetings and institutional dialogues. Indian exporters are encouraged to participate in major trade fairs in China to show-case Indian products. Further, many measures have been taken to overcome the overall trade deficit. These include implementation of Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) and Services Exports from India Scheme (SEIS), implementation of NiryatBandhu Scheme, Single Window Interface for Facilitating Trade (SWIFT) clearance project as part of ‘Ease of doing Business’, Interest Equalization Scheme in pre and post shipment credit, Special Advance Authorization Scheme, Trade Infrastructure for Export Promotion (TIES) Scheme etc. The Foreign Trade Data Dashboard-Trade Analytics has been launched on 10.10.2016. It aims at providing easy access to India’s export/import and balance of trade data in visual analytic format to all the stakeholders including public. It provides an overview of India’s trade dynamics for last five years.