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A flight path with obstacles

Switzerland: agriculture scientists fly a drone to study nitrogen level in leaves
Mini airports: where drones carrying people and cargo can congregate.
Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu: estimated the potential of the “drone market” in India to be $1 trillion.
And in the next breath he said India’s security environment necessitated extra precautions.
Want to fly a drone in India?Get ready for paper work.

5 categories: nano, micro, small, medium and large
There is very little regulation for flying a nano up to 50 metres height, except for not flying near airports, military sites or in segregated airspace.
Unique identification number (UIN) for each drone
Long list of documentation including security clearances from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in several cases
Unmanned Aircraft Operator Permit (UAOP), implying more forms, more annexures and more submissions.
Even to fly a micro drone below 200 ft, users have to intimate the local police station 24 hours prior.
Manufacturers of drones as well as technologists and researchers making applications using drones have to test fly these frequently, often several times a day.
The regulation provides a list of identified areas for testing and demonstration but they are far away.

The security and privacy risks of allowing drones to fly in an unregulated manner are high.
They are likely to be the disaster prevention systems, rescue operation leaders, and even public transport providers in the not too distant future.
China’s drone economy — manufacturing and development — will be worth $9 billion in 2020, while the U.S’s commercial drone market is expected to be $2.05 billion by 2023 (Global Market Insights).
Filing a series of applications in multiple copies and waiting for various government departments to respond is not the best way to get started

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Sunday: A revised trade agreement, U.S.-MexicoCanada Agreement (USMCA) makes several changes to NAFTA
It achieves the objective of averting any significant damage to the international trade system.
It help Canada and Mexico deal with protectionist duties imposed by the U.S.
The new labour regulations and rules of origin will add to the cost of production of goods such as cars, thus making them uncompetitive in the global market.

The USMCA mandates a minimum wage that is above the market wage on labour employed in Mexico, yet another move that will make North America a tough place to do business.
Announcing the USMCA, Mr. Trump signalled he would now extend his ‘all or nothing’ approach to resetting trade ties with the European Union, China, Japan and India.
Terming India “the tariff king”, he said it had sought to start negotiations immediately, a move he reckoned as a bow to the power of tariffs that a protectionist U.S. could wield.

In January of this year, that was also the warning issued by four judges of the Supreme Court, in an unprecedented press conference.
The PIL-era Supreme Court has been praised for prodding inefficient governments into action, and stepping in to fill legislative and executive vacuum.
Once you have deprived an individual of her citizenship, you have deprived her of that most basic thing – the right to have rights.
An exercise in which the court decides – in secret consultation with the State Coordinator – makes a mockery of both open justice, and judicial review.

In the 1920s, two of its leading figures, Maulana Mahmood-ul-Hassan and Maulana Hussain Ahmed Madani, were incarcerated in Malta for their uncompromising opposition to British rule.
In a remarkably modern formulation, Maulana Hussain Ahmed declared that qawm (nation) is based on watan (homeland) not mazhab (religion).
Deoband vehemently opposed the Muslim League’s demand for Pakistan and enthusiastically participated in the movement for a united, free India.

Farmers’ rally to capital turns violent Change in mindset fuelled Swachh success, says Modi
People’s participation, combined with public funding and partnerships, had been the key drivers in the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’s successful campaign against open defecation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday.
88 million-year-old isle and crater to be geoparks
In a first, an ancient circular lake created by a meteorite strike in Maharashtra and a hexagonal mosaic of basaltic rocks in an island off Udupi are poised to become global geoparks, under a Geological Survey of India (GSI) plan.
Lonar Lake in Maharashtra and St. Mary’s Island and Malpe beach in coastal Karnataka are the GSI’s candidates for UNESCO Global Geopark Network status.
The Geopark tag is akin to that of a ‘World Heritage Site’ for historical monuments that can bring India’s famed geological features to the global stage.
‘Rape survivor can’t subvert trial’
The turning hostile of a rape survivor should not deter a court from continuing with the trial. Support Dhaka on Rohingya crisis: Guterres India sends relief material to Indonesia –

Solar Alliance to Play the Same Role as OPEC: PM

In meeting the energy requirements of the world in the years to come, the International Solar Alliance (ISA) will play the same role as oil cartel Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) plays today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.
ISA is an inter-governmental treaty-based organisation of countries between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, looking to promote solar energy in the member nations.
OPEC currently meets around half of the world’s oil requirements.
India is becoming the most preferred destination for investment in solar energy today, as the country targets to draw 40% of its total energy requirements from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030, he said.
In the first general assembly of ISA scheduled on Wednesday, India is likely to propose extending ISA membership which is currently limited to 121 countries, to all 193 members of the United Nations. “Through ISA, climate-justice has been given a platform.
The entire world should get the benefits of ISA,” he said.
India is also working on the national energy storage mission and promote creation of demand, indigenous manufacturing, innovation and policy support, a move that will help renewable energy become more reliable in future