Comprehensive Current affairs 7 October 2020

Senior Citizens and disabled people getting postal ballot to their doorsteps.

Seeking to make the procedure to opt for postal ballot more convenient for those above 80 years of age and people with disabilities, the Election Commission has come out with a set of new instructions.

The form required to opt for the postal ballot would be delivered at the residence of all those aged above 80 and people with disabilities by the booth level officer under his polling station. It would be up to these two categories of voters to opt for postal ballot.

“If he/she opts for postal ballot, then the BLO will collect the filled-in form 12-D from the house of the elector within five days of the notification and deposit it with the returning officer forthwith,” according to the October 3 letter sent by EC to all State chief electoral officers.

These instructions have been issued based on the feedback the poll panel received from civil society and media during its visit to poll-bound Bihar last week.

The EC said the fresh instructions would be applicable to all elections and bye lections.

 

As per the instructions, the returning officer would deploy polling teams, which will deliver and collect the postal ballot on pre-informed dates and then deposit it with the returning officer.

Apex court acts against involuntary narco tests.

Involuntary administration of narco or lie detector tests is an “intrusion” into a person’s “mental privacy”, a Supreme Court judgment of 2010 has held.

•The judgment is significant amid reports that the Uttar Pradesh government wants to subject the Hathras rape and murder victim’s family members to these tests.

•The consequences of such tests on “individuals from weaker sections of society who are unaware of their fundamental rights and unable to afford legal advice” can be devastating, the court said.

•It may involve future abuse, harassment and surveillance, even leakage of the video material to the Press for a “trial by media.” Such tests are an affront to human dignity and liberty, and have long-lasting effects.

•An ndividual’s decision to make a statement is the product of a private choice and there should be no scope for any other individual to interfere with such autonomy,” the apex court had held.

National Medical Commission (NMC)

The National Medical Commission (NMC) has recently replaced the Medical Council of India (MCI), as per the gazette notification issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

• MCI was established in 1934 under the Indian Medical Council (IMC) Act, 1933 with the main function of establishing uniform standards of higher qualifications in medicine and recognition of medical qualifications in India and abroad.

• The old Act was repealed in 1956 and a new act was enacted in its place. The new act was further modified in 1964, 1993 and 2001.

• The government dissolved the MCI in 2018 and replaced it with a Board of Governors (BoG), which was chaired by a member of NITI Aayog.

 

• The IMC Act, 1956 stands repealed after the gazette notification, and has been replaced by The National Medical Commission Act that came into existence on 8th August 2019.

• The change is aimed at bringing in reforms in the medical education sector and especially aimed at replacing the MCI, which was tainted by corruption and other problems.

• The NMC will function as the country’s top regulator of medical education.

• It will have four separate autonomous boards for Undergraduate medical education, Postgraduate medical education, Medical assessment and rating and Ethics and medical registration.

• The common final year Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) examination will now be known as the National Exit Test (NEXT), according to the new medical education structure under the NMC.

• The NEXT will act as licentiate examination to practice medicine, the criteria for admission to postgraduate medical courses, and also for screening of foreign medical graduates.

• The NEXT will also be applicable to institutes of national importance such as all the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in a bid to ensure a common standard in the medical education sector in the country. NEET is conducted by the National Testing

Agency (NTA).

China moves towards closer ties with Bangladesh.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said he stands ready with Bangladesh leaders to better align the two countries’ strategies and jointly promote the construction of his multi-billion dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to take the strategic partnership of the two countries to new heights.

Mr. Xi made the remarks on Sunday in an exchange of congratulatory messages with his Bangladesh counterpart, Mohammad Abdul Hamid, on the 45th anniversary of the establishment of the bilateral diplomatic relationship.

 

 

With over $26 billion Chinese investments and $38 billion dollars funding commitments, Bangladesh is one of the largest recipients of China’s massive infrastructure project.

China has also offered zero-tariff treatment to 97% of Bangladesh’s exports by adding 5,161 more items to the existing list of 3,095 duty-free products.

The BRI seeks to build rail, maritime and road links from Asia to Europe and Africa in a revival of ancient Silk Road trading routes.

Earlier, China had sent medical team to Bangladesh to share its experience of handling coronavirus, which had emerged first in Wuhan in December last year.Bangladesh is also among a dozen countries where the clinical trials of Chinese vaccine are under way.

Quad Discusses Indo-Pacific Infrastructure and 5G

Senior officials from the Foreign Ministries of “the Quad” group of countries — India, the U.S., Australia and Japan — met virtually on Friday, during the United Nations high level week, as part of their periodic consultations on the Indo-Pacific Region.

Highlights:

• Officials discussed ongoing and proposed practical cooperation in the areas of connectivity and infrastructure development.

• Noting the importance of digital connectivity and secure networks, the officials discussed ways to promote the use of trusted vendors, particularly for fifth generation (5G) networks.

• In an effort to stop Chinese G5 giant Huawei from setting up shop networks in other countries, U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has been promoting “clean telcos” — a list of companies considered by the U.S. administration to be free from security risks and the risk of surveillance by the Chinese government.

• Other topics discussed by the Quad officials, included counter-terrorism, cyber and Maritime Security, and Quality Infrastructure in the Region.

 

ASEAN Inclusiveness:

• Both countries’ statements say the officials committed support to the concept of ASEAN-centrality in the Indo-Pacific and ASEAN’s leadership in the architecture of the region.

• The U.S. statement says the officials “explored ways to work together in the Mekong sub-region, in the South China Sea, and across the Indo-Pacific to support international law, pluralism, regional stability, and post-pandemic recovery efforts”.

• The MEA statement says the officials reiterated their readiness to work with ASEAN and all other countries towards realising “a common and promising vision for the Indo-Pacific”.

• The U.S. statement describes collective efforts to advance “a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region”.

• The phrase normally used by US is “free and open Indo-Pacific”.

• India had, at least initially since the Quad was revived after a ten year hiatus in 2017, been hesitant for the Quad to be seen as a framework to exclude or contain China. Prime

Minister Narendra Modi had articulated an inclusive vision for the Indo Pacific in 2018 atthe Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore, when India-China relations were on a high relative to this year, when there have been tensions and clashes along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Centre starts implementing Swaminathan commission recommendations.

Indian Minister has said that the Central Government has started implementing the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission and is working towards doubling the income of farmers by 2022.

The minister while addressing a press conference in Osmanabad today assured the farmers that the recent laws will not affect the minimum guaranteed price or market committee for agricultural commodities but will provide alternative selling options to the farmers for their agricultural products.

 

•Minister further said that the Central Government under the leadership of PM Modi has started various schemes including Kisan Credit Card, Prime Minister crop insurance scheme, Prime Minister irrigation scheme among others.

7). PM set to inaugurate RAISE 2020 summit on artificial intelligence.

Indian P M Modi will inaugurate the Summit RAISE 2020 - ‘Responsible AI for Social Empowerment 2020 today. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and NITI Aayog are organizing the Mega Virtual Summit on Artificial Intelligence from today to 9th of October.

The summit will discuss cross-sector subjects like ‘Leveraging AI for Pandemic Preparedness’, the Impetus that Innovation Places on Digitisation’, Inclusive AI and Partnerships for Successful Innovation.

In the spirit of 'SabkaSaath, SabkaVikas', Prime Minister Modi plans to leverage AI for inclusive development, representing the country's 'AI for All' strategy. Directed by the Prime Minister’s vision,

India will soon stand out in the international community not just as a leader in the Artificial Intelligence field, but also as a model to show the world how to responsibly direct AI for social empowerment.

The summit will be a global meeting of minds to exchange ideas and chart a course for using AI for social transformation, inclusion and empowerment in areas like Healthcare, Agriculture, Education and Smart Mobility, among other sectors. During the summit, delegates and experts in research, policy and innovation on Artificial Intelligence will join from across the globe.

The Summit will also feature some of the most exciting startups working in Artificial Intelligence-related fields. Start-ups chosen through the AI Solution Challenge will showcase their solutions in the AI Startup Pitch fest scheduled on 6th October.

 

 

MoeFCC to bring in detailed plan for improving quality of zoos.

Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister PrakashJavadekar said that a detailed plan will be prepared to improve the quality of zoos across the country. He said, budget allocation will be enhanced to improve the experience of people who visit zoos.

The Minister today virtually interacted with children as part of Wild Life Week 2020 and gave away the PraniMitra Award. He congratulated all the awardees who have shown exemplary compassion towards zoo animals.

Mr.Javadekar said, an economic valuation of ecosystem service of national zoos in Delhi showed that nature gives you more than what you spent on it.

He said, government is committed to creating more zoos in the country and efforts will be made to promote public participation in conservation of wildlife. He said, development of zoos can ensure coordination between wildlife and humans.

Kitata and Kosgei wins London marathon.

Ethiopian Shura Kitata outsprinted Kenya’s Vincent Kipchumba to win a thrilling London Marathon on Sunday as a stunned World record holder EliudKipchoge faded late in the race to suffer his first defeat since 2013.

In cold, wet conditions, 24-year-old Kitata edged clear in the final metres to win by one second over Kipchumba in a relatively slow two hours, 05.41 minutes.

Scrub Typhus in North East.

Recently, an outbreak of Scrub Typhus (also known as Bush Typhus), a bacterial disease, has caused 5 deaths and 600 infections in Nagaland’s Noklak district bordering Myanmar.

• The North East Region is also suffering from an outbreak of diseases like malaria, Japanese encephalitis and Covid-19 pandemic. The cattles have also been affected by African swine fever.

• It is caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi (Bacteria)

 

• It spread through bites of Larval Mites of family trombiculid, also called Chiggers.

• Its symptoms are Fever, headache, body aches, and sometimes rash.

• It occurs in rural areas of Southeast Asia, Indonesia, China, Japan, India and northern Australia.

• It has no vaccine available.

About Typhus:

• It is a group of bacterial infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus.

• The Epidemic typhus is due to Rickettsia prowazekii spread by body lice.

• The Scrub typhus is due to Orientia tsutsugamushi spread by chiggers.

• The Murine typhus is due to Rickettsia typhi spread by fleas.

• Napoleon’s army was infected with Epidemic Typhus during his invasion of Russia in 1812 causing it to Retreat.

Focus on UPSC Mains.

Domestic Systemically Important Insurers.

The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), General Insurance Corporation of India and The New India Assurance Co have been identified as Domestic Systemically Important Insurers (D-SIIs) for 2020-21 by insurance regulator, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).

About Domestic Systemically Important Insurers:

• D-SIIs are perceived as insurers that are ‘too big or too important to fail’ (TBTF).

 

 

 

• D-SIIs refer to insurers of such size, market importance and domestic and global interconnectedness whose distress or failure would cause a significant dislocation in thedomestic financial system. Thus, the continued functioning of D-SIIs is critical for the uninterrupted availability of insurance services to the national economy.

• The IRDAI would identify D-SIIs on an annual basis and disclose the names of such

Insurers for Public Information.

Requirements for D-SIIs:

• The three public sector insurers have been asked to raise the level of corporate governance.

• Identify all relevant risks and promote a sound risk management culture.

• The D-SIIs will also be subjected to enhanced regulatory supervision of the IRDAI.

Reasons:

• The insurance sector had Grown Exponentially in the last 15 years and a few of the insurers have a Sizeable Market share and Interconnected with other Financial Institutions as well.

• With perception of TBTF and the perceived expectation of government support may amplify risk taking, reduce market discipline, create competitive distortions, and increase the Possibility of Distress in Future.

Concerns:

• Given the nature of operations and their systemic importance, the failure of D-SIIs has the potential to cause significant disruption to the essential services they provide to the policyholders and, in turn, to the overall economic activity of the country.

• These considerations require that D-SIIs should be subjected to additional regulatory measures to deal with the systemic risks and moral hazard issues.

 

 

• Systemic risk is the possibility that an event at the company level could trigger severe Instability or collapse an Entire Industry or Economy.

• Moral hazard is a situation in which one party gets involved in a risky event knowing that it is protected against the risk and the other party will incur the cost. It arises when both the parties have Incomplete Information about Each Other.

Background:

• In January 2019, IRDAI announced the formation of a committee on D-SIIs.

• The constitution of the committee came in the backdrop of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) asking all member countries to have a regulatory framework to deal with Domestic-SIIs.

• The IAIS is a voluntary membership organization of insurance supervisors from over 200 jurisdictions, constituting 97% of the world's insurance premiums. It is the international standards-setting body for the Insurance Sector.

About Domestic Systemically Important Bank (D-SIBs):

• D-SIB means that the bank is too big to fail. According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), some banks become systemically important due to their size, cross- jurisdictional activities, complexity and lack of substitute and interconnection. Banks whose assets exceed 2% of GDP are considered part of this group.

• Presently, the State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank, and HDFC Bank have been identified as DSIBs in India.

Significance of D-SIBs:

• Should such a bank fail, there would be significant Disruption to the Essential services they provide to the Banking System and the Overall Economy.

 

 

• The too-big-to-fail tag also indicates that in case of distress, the government is expected to Support these Banks.

• Due to this perception, these Banks Enjoy certain Advantages in funding. It also means that these banks have a different set of policy measures regarding systemic risks and moral Hazard Issues.

PCA Decision on Retrospective Taxation by India.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) recently ruled that India’s retrospective imposition of a tax liability, as well as interest and penalties on Vodafone Group for a 2007 deal was violation of the Bilateral Investment Treaty with Netherlands and the arbitration rules of United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

About the News:

• In May 2007, the British telecommunication company Vodafone Group had bought a 67% stake in a company called Hutchison Whampoa.

• For this, the Indian government for the first time raised a demand of capital gains and withholding tax from Vodafone, under the Income Tax Act of 1961. The government argued that Vodafone should have deducted the tax at source before making a payment to

Hutchison.

• In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Vodafone Group.

• Later, the Finance Act was amended (2012) giving the Income Tax Department the power to retrospectively tax such deals.

• Vodafone then initiated arbitration in 2014 invoking the Bilateral Investment Treaty signed between India and the Netherlands in 1995.

• The International Arbitration Tribunal at Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that the government’s demand is in breach of fair and equitable treatment.

• The government must cease seeking the dues from Vodafone.

• This was a unanimous decision meaning that India's appointed arbitrator also ruled in favour of Vodafone.

• India has said it would study the order and all its aspects and take a decision on further course of action including legal remedies before appropriate fora.

• According to Indian Government, as Vodafone had not paid the initial tax demand and interest and penalty on it, the question of India paying back the amount does not arise.

• India has the option to move to Singapore International Arbitration Centre as well.

About Capital Gains Tax:

• It is the tax paid on income that derives from the sale or exchange of an asset, such as a stock or Property that's Categorized as a capital asset.

What is Retrospective Taxation?

• It allows a country to pass a rule on taxing certain products, items or services and deals and charge companies from a time behind the date on which the law is passed.

• Countries use this route to correct any anomalies in their taxation policies that have, in the past, allowed companies to take advantage of such loopholes.

• Retrospective Taxation hurts companies that had knowingly or unknowingly interpreted the tax rules differently.

• Apart from India, many countries including the USA, the UK, the Netherlands, Canada, Belgium, Australia and Italy have Retrospectively Taxed Companies.

Bilateral Investment Treaty:

• On 6th November, 1995, India and the Netherlands had signed a BIT for promotion and protection of investment by companies of each country in the other’s jurisdiction.

• The two countries would ensure that companies present in each other’s jurisdictions would at all times be accorded fair and equitable treatment and shall enjoy full protection and

security in the territory of the other.

• The BIT between India and the Netherlands expired on 22nd September, 2016.

• Vodafone invoked BIT as its Dutch unit, Vodafone International Holdings BV, had bought the Indian business operations of Hutchison Telecommunication International Ltd. This made it a transaction between a Dutch firm and an Indian firm.

About United Nations Commission on International Trade Law:

• UNCITRAL was established in 1966 as a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

• It is the core legal body of the United Nations system in the field of international trade law.

• To further the progressive harmonization and modernization of rules on international business and reform Commercial Laws.

• It adopted the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration in 1985 and the UNCITRAL Conciliation Rules in 1980.

• The UNGA has recommended the use of the said Model Law and Rules in cases where a dispute arises in the context of international commercial relations and the parties seek an

amicable settlement of that dispute by recourse to conciliation.

• India has also incorporated these uniform principles of Arbitration and Dispute Resolution (ADR) in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 which has been amended several

times.

• The Arbitration Act provides for ADR mechanisms like arbitration, conciliations, etc. for national and international stakeholders.

Significance:

• Vodafone’s win in the arbitration against the government in the retrospective taxation is very significant as it may cause other similarly placed companies to seek arbitral reliefs.

• India is entangled in more than a dozen such cases against companies over retrospective tax claims and cancellation of contracts. The exchequer could end up paying billions of dollars in damages if it loses.

• To reduce future arbitration claims, India has ended such bilateral investment agreements

with over 50 countries and is working on a new law to protect foreign investors by offering relief from possible policy changes even as it upholds the right to tax them.

• The victory of Vodafone at PCA may provide it some relief as the telecom sector is already facing a number of issues and challenges. The ruling comes days after the Supreme Court allowed a period of 10 years for telecom companies to clear Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) related dues, Causing Heavy Financial burden on the Telecom Sector.