DAY – 34 ( INSTA REVISION TEST – 34)INSTA REVISION PLAN 2.0, 2021

Solution: A

PRAKASH portal:

• PRAKASH (Power Rail Koyla Availability through Supply Harmony) portal has been launched for transparency and better coordination in coal supplies to power plants.
• Aims at bringing better coordination for coal supplies among all stakeholders viz – Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal, Coal India, Railways and power utilities.
• Portal is developed by NTPC and sources data from different stakeholders such as Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS) and coal companies. All reports are available in PDF/Excel format.
• The portal is not accessible to the general public.

Benefits:

• Stakeholders including the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and Power System Operation Corporation Ltd. (POSOCO) can review overall availability of coal at thermal power plants in different regions. The Portal will make available related reports.
• Coal Company will be able to track stocks and the coal requirement at power stations for effective production planning.
• Indian Railways will plan to place the rakes as per actual coal available.
• Power stations can plan future schedule by knowing rakes in pipe line and expected time to reach.

Solution: D

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) is an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system.

The FSB promotes international financial stability; it does so by coordinating national financial authorities and international standard-setting bodies as they work toward developing strong regulatory, supervisory and other financial sector policies. It fosters a level playing field by encouraging coherent implementation of these policies across sectors and jurisdictions.

The FSB, working through its members, seeks to strengthen financial systems and increase the stability of international financial markets. The policies developed in the pursuit of this agenda are implemented by jurisdictions and national authorities.

The FSB’s decisions are not legally binding on its members – instead the organisation operates by moral suasion and peer pressure, in order to set internationally agreed policies and minimum standards that its members commit to implementing at national level.

India is represented by

1. Reserve Bank of India
2. Securities and Exchange Board of India

Ministry of Finance

Solution: A

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India, is an initiative of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, for creating a robust Payment & Settlement Infrastructure in India.

Considering the utility nature of the objects of NPCI, it has been incorporated as a “Not for Profit” Company under the provisions of Section 25 of Companies Act 1956 (now Section 8 of Companies Act 2013), with an intention to provide infrastructure to the entire Banking system in India for physical as well as electronic payment and settlement systems. The Company is focused on bringing innovations in the retail payment systems through the use of technology for achieving greater efficiency in operations and widening the reach of payment systems.

RuPay is an Indigenously developed Payment System – designed to meet the expectation and needs of the Indian consumer, banks and merchant eco-system.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has developed the National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) program to meet the electronic tolling requirements of the Indian market.

Solution: C

The Union Government has notified the structure of the National Startup Advisory Council to advice on measures needed to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and startups in the country.

Composition:

The Council will be chaired by Minster for Commerce & Industry.

1. It will consist of the non-official members, to be nominated by Central Government, from various categories like founders of successful startups, veterans and persons capable of representing interests of incubators and accelerators etc.
2. The term of the non-official members of the Startup Advisory Council will be for a period of two years.
3. The nominees of the concerned Ministries/Departments/Organisations, not below the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India, will be ex-officio members of the Council.
4. Joint Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade will be the Convener of the Council.

Roles and functions:

1. Suggest measures to foster a culture of innovation amongst citizens and students in particular, promote innovation in all sectors of economy across the country.
2. Suggest measures to facilitate public organizations to assimilate innovation with a view to improving public service delivery, promote creation, protection and commercialization of intellectual property rights.
3. Suggest making it easier to start, operate, grow and exit businesses by reducing regulatory compliances and costs, promote ease of access to capital for startups, and incentivize domestic capital for investments into startups.
4. Mobilize global capital for investments in Indian startups, keep control of startups with original promoters and provide access to global markets for Indian startups.

Solution: D

PVTGs are more vulnerable among the tribal groups. Due to this factor, more developed and assertive tribal groups take a major chunk of the tribal development funds, because of which PVTGs need more funds directed for their development.

In this context, in 1975, the Government of India initiated to identify the most vulnerable tribal groups as a separate category called PVTGs and declared 52 such groups, while in 1993 an additional 23 groups were added to the category, making it a total of 75 PVTGs out of 705 Scheduled Tribes, spread over 17 states and one Union Territory (UT), in the country (2011 census).

Tribal communities are often identified by some specific signs such as primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, shyness to contact with the community at large and backwardness.

Along with these, some tribal groups have some specific features such as dependency on hunting, gathering for food, having pre-agriculture level of technology, zero or negative growth of population and extremely low level of literacy. These groups are called Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups.

Solution: A

Global Investment Trend Monitor report

• The Global Investment Trend Monitor report, compiled by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), has been released.
• India was among the top 10 recipients of Foreign Direct Investment in 2019, attracting $49 billion in inflows, a 16 per cent increase from the previous year.
• The global foreign direct investment remained flat in 2019 at $1.39 trillion, a one per cent decline from a revised $1.41 trillion in 2018.

Solution: C

Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB)

• It was created in March 1986 in terms of Section 4 (3) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.
• It is the nodal drug law enforcement and intelligence agency of India responsible for fighting drug trafficking and the abuse of illegal substances.
• It works in close cooperation with Customs and Central Excise, State Police Department, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) and other Indian intelligence and law enforcement agencies both at the national and states level.
• It also provides resources and training to personnel of India’s law enforcement agencies in fighting drug trafficking. It also monitors India’s frontiers to track down points where smuggling activities take place with foreign traffickers.

It comes under the Union ministry of Home Affairs.

Solution: B

PM-CARES Fund

The government has set up the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM-CARES Fund) to deal with any kind of emergency or distress situation like posed by the COVID-19 pandemic

Prime Minister is the ex-officio Chairman of the PM CARES Fund and Minister of Defence, Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Finance, Government of India are ex-officio Trustees of the Fund.

The Chairperson of the Board of Trustees (Prime Minister) shall have the power to nominate three trustees to the Board of Trustees who shall be eminent persons in the field of research, health, science, social work, law, public administration and philanthropy.

Any person appointed a Trustee shall act in a pro bono capacity.

 Other Details:

The fund consists entirely of voluntary contributions from individuals/organizations and does not get any budgetary support. The fund will be utilised in meeting the objectives as stated above.

Contributions by corporates to this fund will be considered as social welfare spending under the companies’ law

Solution: B

Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policy:

Context:

The draft Science, Technology and Innovation Policy released on Jan 1.

• It could be game-changers for not just the scientific research community, but also for the way ordinary Indians interact with Science.

What is the overall philosophy behind the policy?

• Unlike previous STI policies which were largely top-driven in formulation, the 5th national STI policy (STIP) follows core principles of being decentralised, evidence-informed, bottom-up, experts-driven, and inclusive.

Overall objectives:

1. To position India among the top three scientific superpowers in the decade to come.
2. To attract, nurture, strengthen, and retain critical human capital through a people-centric STI ecosystem.
3. To double the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) researchers, gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) and private-sector contribution to GERD every five years.
4. To build individual and institutional excellence in STI with the aim of reaching the highest levels of global recognition and awards in the coming decade.

Key components:

1. It proposes an Open Science Framework, with free access for all to findings from publicly funded research.
2. One Nation, One Subscription: The idea is to democratise science by providing access to scholarly knowledge to not just researchers but to every individual in the country.
3. It suggests modification or waiver of General Financial Rules (GFR), for large-scale mission mode programmes and projects of national importance.

It has made recommendations such as:

1. Mandatory positions for excluded groups in academics; 30% representation of women in selection/evaluation committees and decision-making groups.
2. Addressing issues related to career breaks for women by considering academic age rather than biological/physical age.
3. A dual recruitment policy for couples; and institutionalisation of equity and inclusion by establishing an Office of Equity and Inclusion, etc.

What are the learnings from the Covid-19 pandemic for India’s science and technology sector? How does the draft policy address those learnings?

In India, the pandemic presented an opportunity for R&D institutions, academia, and industry to work with a shared purpose, synergy, collaboration and cooperation, which helped the country develop the capability to produce these kits in record time.

• The STIP draft focuses on the need to adopt such learnings for greater efficiency and synergy in future.

Solution: C

Budget session:

Context:

The budget session of Parliament is expected to be held under similar COVID-19 safety measures and restrictions, including strict physical distancing norms, that were in place for the monsoon session.

• So far, there is no clarity on whether the Question Hour which was suspended during the monsoon session as part of the COVID-19 restrictions will resume in the budget session.

Constitutional Provisions:

• Article 85 requires that there should not be a gap of more than six months between two sessions of Parliament.
• The Constitution does not specify when or for how many days Parliament should meet.

Why is a Parliamentary Session important?

1. Law-making is dependent on when Parliament meets.
2. Also, a thorough scrutiny of the government’s functioning and deliberation on national issues can only take place when the two Houses are in session.

Predictability in the functioning of Parliament is key to a well-functioning democracy.

Solution: B

Judicial review:

Context:

The Supreme Court has refused to treat the Central Vista project as a unique one requiring greater or “heightened” judicial review.

What has the Court said?

1. A majority view of the Supreme Court said the government was “entitled to commit errors or achieve successes” in policy matters without the court’s interference as long as it follows constitutional principles.
2. It is not the court’s concern to enquire into the priorities of an elected government. Judicial review is never meant to venture into the mind of the government and thereby examine validity of a decision.

What is Judicial Review?

Judicial review is the power of Judiciary to review any act or order of Legislative and Executive wings and to pronounce upon the constitutional validity when challenged by the affected person.

Judicial review present in India:

1. The power of Judicial Review comes from the Constitution of India itself (Articles 13, 32, 136, 142 and 147 of the Constitution).
2. The power of judicial review is evoked to protect and enforce the fundamental rights guaranteed in Part III of the Constitution.
3. Article 13 of the Constitution prohibits the Parliament and the state legislatures from making laws that “may take away or abridge the fundamental rights” guaranteed to the citizens of the country.
4. The provisions of Article 13 ensure the protection of the fundamental rights and consider any law “inconsistent with or in derogation of the fundamental rights” as void.

https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/01/21/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-21-january-2021/

Solution: C

Asian Waterbird Census:

Context:

The two-day Asian Waterbird Census-2020 commenced in Andhra Pradesh.

About AWC:

• Asian Waterbird Census is an annual event in which thousands of volunteers across Asia and Australasia count waterbirds in the wetlands of their country.
• This event happens every January.
• This event is coordinated by wetlands International and forms part of global waterbird monitoring programme called the International Waterbird Census (IWC).
• It was started in the year 1987.
• Its main focus is to monitor the status of waterbirds and the wetlands.
• In India, the AWC is annually coordinated by the Bombay Natural history Society (BNHS) and Wetlands International.

What are waterbirds?

According to Wetlands International (WI), waterbirds are defined as species of birds that are ecologically dependent on wetlands. These birds are considered to be an important health indicator of wetlands of a region.

https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/01/21/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-21-january-2021/

Solution: C

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960:

Context:

The Centre has informed the Supreme Court about the 2017 rules under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and said that there was a difference between seizure and confiscation of animals, while responding to a petition.

• The Centre’s response came after last week the court had asked it to amend a rule in the Act pertaining to confiscation of animals before an accused is convicted under the legislation.

What’s the issue?

A plea was filed by Buffalo Traders Welfare Association, challenging the validity of the rules that allow authorities to seize vehicles used in cattle transportation and send the animals to shelters. The petition pointed out that the transporters, farmers and cattle traders were being threatened since the rules were notified.

What has the Centre said?

While seizure is temporary in nature and merely takes possession of property, confiscation amounts to transfer of ownership in the property and is supposed to be carried out only after final adjudication of the rights of the parties in a given case.

Background:

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Care and Maintenance of Case Property Animals) Rules, 2017:

• Framed under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
• The Rules allow a Magistrate to forfeit the cattle of an owner facing trial under the Act.
• The animals are then sent to infirmaries, animal shelters, etc.
• The authorities can further give such animals for “adoption”.

Concerns expressed by traders:

• The traders have claimed that they were being forcibly deprived of their cattle which is sent to Gaushalas.
• These frequent lootings are also threatening the rule of law and generally emboldening groups of persons to take the law into their own hands.
• Moreover, these incidents are acting as triggers for communal polarisation of society.

Way ahead:

If not halted effectively and immediately, will have disastrous consequences on the social fabric of the country

About the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960:

• Seeks to “prevent the infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering on animals”.
• The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) was established in 1962 under Section 4 of the Act.
• This Act provides for punishment for causing unnecessary cruelty and suffering to animals. The Act defines animals and different forms of animals.
• It provides the guidelines relating to experimentation on animals for scientific purposes.

https://www.insightsonindia.com/2021/01/12/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-12-january-2021/

Solution: D

CPI Inflation

• The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, such as transportation, food and medical care. It is calculated by taking price changes for each item in the predetermined basket of goods and averaging them.
• Changes in the CPI are used to assess price changes associated with the cost of living; the CPI is one of the most frequently used statistics for identifying periods of inflation or deflation.
• CPI is calculated for a fixed list of items including food, housing, apparel, transportation, electronics, medical care, education, etc.
• Understanding Consumer Price Index (CPI): o The CPI measures the average change in prices over time that consumers pay for a basket of goods and services, commonly known as inflation. Essentially it attempts to quantify the aggregate price level in an economy and thus measure the purchasing power of a country’s unit of currency.

The weighted average of the prices of goods and services that approximates an individual’s consumption patterns is used to calculate CPI.

• Who maintains Consumer Price Index in India? o Presently the consumer price indices compiled in India are CPI for Industrial workers CPI(IW), CPI for Agricultural Labourers CPI(AL) and; Rural Labourers CPI(RL) and (Urban) and CPI(Rural).
  • Consumer Price Index for Urban Non Manual Employees was earlier computed by Central Statistical Organisation. However this index has been discontinued since April 2008.
  • The CPI(IW) and CPI (AL& RL) are compiled by Labour Bureau.
  • CPI(Urban) and CPI(Rural) are compiled by Central Statistical Organisation.
  • In addition to this, Consumer Food Price Indices (CFPI) for all India for rural, urban and combined separately are also released w.e.f May, 2014.
  • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has started using CPI-combined as the sole inflation measure for the purpose of monetary policy.

Solution: B

The General Council convenes as the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) to deal with disputes between WTO members. Such disputes may arise with respect to any agreement contained in the Final Act of the Uruguay Round that is subject to the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU).

The DSB has authority to establish dispute settlement panels, refer matters to arbitration, adopt panel, Appellate Body and arbitration reports, maintain surveillance over the implementation of recommendations and rulings contained in such reports, and authorize suspension of concessions in the event of non-compliance with those recommendations and rulings.

The DSB is made up of all member governments, usually represented by ambassadors or equivalent.

The Appellate Body was established in 1995 under Article 17 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes (DSU). It is a standing body of seven persons that hears appeals from reports issued by panels in disputes brought by WTO Members. The Appellate Body can uphold, modify or reverse the legal findings and conclusions of a panel, and Appellate Body Reports, once adopted by the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), must be accepted by the parties to the dispute. The Appellate Body has its seat in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Appellate Body is composed of seven Members who are appointed by the DSB to serve for four-year terms, with the possibility of being reappointed once. The Appellate Body membership shall be broadly representative of membership in the WTO.