Comprehensive Current affairs 8 October 2020

SC quizzes centre and RBI over implementation of Kamalnath committee recommendations.

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India about the steps taken to implement the K.V. Kamath Committee report on recommendations to bail out sectors affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan noted that an additional affidavit filed by the government late last week did not address “several issues” raised in writ petitions highlighting the plight of borrowers, small and big, who were being charged compound interest, post the pandemic moratorium which expired on August 31.

During the hearing, the court asked the government whether it had so far issued any circulars, policy decisions and so on, based on the Kamath panel report, which has made suggestions for a loan resolution or restructuring scheme for 26 pandemic-distressed sectors.

 The court said it was not just about placing the report on record, but implementing it. The RBI and the government should issue circulars so that people knew what benefits had been extended to them. “It will be done,” the government and RBI sides responded.

Survey finds majority rural consumers unaware of transfat.

Despite an increase in cardiovascular diseases in the rural areas during the COVID-19 pandemic, 61% of consumers in the villages in Rajasthan are unaware of the hazards of trans fats, which are responsible for heart ailments by raising the cholesterol levels. Very few consumers know about the sources of trans fats, according to a survey.

The sample survey, conducted by the Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS)-International in 12 districts of the State recently, has found that the consumption of industrially produced partially hydrogenated vegetable oils had increased by 19% from its pre-lockdown level in the rural areas.

In the urban areas, 46% of the consumers were found unaware of the health harms associated with trans fats, though 21% of them had heard the term.

India-South Korea to expand cooperation in health sectors.

Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey and United Kingdom’s Minister of State for South East Asia Affairs Lord Tariq Ahmed discussed bilateral relations in the health sector of the two countries through video conference today.

The two Ministers discussed in detail the current status of the COVID-19 vaccine, its efforts to reach the public and the efforts being made by both countries to stop the pandemic.

Mr.Choubey said that COVID-19 has given humanity an opportunity to come together and fight this pandemic with full force and resolve.

Highlighting the need to include the theme of "Ayushman Bharat" in the agenda of the next joint working group meeting to enhance cooperation between the two countries, Mr.Choubey suggested to further cooperation in the fields of e-health, drug regulations, regulatory cooperation, pharma exports, collaborative research, capacity building, among others to strengthen the relationship between the two countries.

UK's Minister of State for South East Asia, Lord Tariq Ahmed took this occasion to discuss the work being done by India and the United Kingdom on the COVID-19 vaccine. He thanked Prime Minister NarendraModi for India's critical help in the form of medicines during this transition period.

New Caledonia votes to remain within French territory

The South Pacific territory of New Caledonia chose to remain French on Sunday, narrowly rejecting independence in a tightly-fought referendum marked by a high turnout.

The vote rejecting a breakaway from France after almost 170 years came in at 53.26 percent, down from 56.7 percent in a referendum two years ago.

Sunday's vote was part of a carefully negotiated decolonisation plan agreed in 1998 which ended a deadly conflict between the mostly pro-independence indigenous Kanak population and the descendants of European settlers.

New Caledonia, situated between Australia and Fiji and sometimes called "The Pebble", was seized by France in 1853 and is home to 270,000 people.

The economy's mainstays are the production of metals, especially nickel of which New Caledonia is a major global producer, as well as tourism and financial support from mainland France.

India, Denmark sign MoU on Intellectual Property Cooperation.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Danish Patent and Trademark Office, Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs,

Denmark for intellectual property cooperation.

• The MoU Aims at increasing IP Cooperation between the Two Countries by Way of:

 • Exchange of best practices, experiences and knowledge on IP awareness among public,authorities, businesses and research and educational institution of both countries.

• Collaboration in training programmes, exchange of experts, technical exchanges and outreach activities.

• Exchange of information and best practices on processes for disposal of applications for patents, trademarks, industrial designs and Geographical Indications, as also the protection, enforcement and use of IP rights.

• Cooperation in the development of automation and implementation of modernization projects, new documentation and information systems in IP and procedures for the management of IP.

• Cooperation to understand how Traditional Knowledge is protected; including the use of traditional knowledge related databases and awareness raising of existing IP systems.

• This MoU is expected to go a long way in fostering the cooperation between India and Denmark, and provide opportunities to both countries to learn from the experience of each other, especially in terms of best practices followed in the other country.

Centre decides to take street food vendors online under PM SVANIDHI scheme.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has entered into anMoU with Swiggy, one of the leading food delivery platforms, to onboard street food vendors on its e-commerce platform.

The MoU aims at giving the street food vendors online access to thousands of consumers and help them grow their businesses. The arrangement has been facilitated under the Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNibharNidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme.

The Ministry and Swiggy will run a pilot programme by on-boarding 250 vendors across five cities namely - Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Indore, and Varanasi. The street vendors will be helped with PAN and FSSAI registration, training on technology, menu digitization and pricing along with hygiene and packaging best practices.

 Upon the successful completion of the pilot programme, Urban Affairs Ministry and Swiggy plan to expand this initiative across the country in phases.

In a first of its kind initiative, the Urban Affairs Ministry has coordinated with the key stakeholders including Municipal Corporations, FSSAI, Swiggy and GST officials to ensure that necessary pre-requisites are completed for this initiative.

GST council fails to decide upon state compensation.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council was deadlocked on the issue of compensation to be paid to states on account of the shortfall stemming from the transition to the levy in 2017. It however decided to extend the compensation cess beyond 2022—the five-year period that had been agreed originally. The council will meet again on October 12 to discuss the issue.

The Centre will immediately disburse Rs 20,000 crore collected in the cess fund in the current financial year to states, Union finance minister NirmalaSitharaman, also the council chairman, told reporters after its Monday meeting.

The Centre proposed to raise the borrowing limit to Rs 1.1 lakh crore from Rs 97,000 crore as suggested by some states in their feedback, pruning the expected revenue growth to 7% instead of the 10% previously estimated over the last financial year.

DRDO test fires ASW missile system.

Supersonic Missile Assisted Release of Torpedo, SMART was successfully flight tested today from Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha.

Defence Research and Development Organisation, DRDO said, all the mission objectives including missile flight upto the range and altitude, separation of the nose cone, release of Torpedo and deployment of Velocity Reduction Mechanism (VRM) have been met perfectly.

SMART is a missile assisted release of lightweight Anti-Submarine Torpedo System for Anti-Submarine Warfare or ASW operations far beyond Torpedo range.

 The launch and demonstration are significant in establishing Anti-Submarine warfare capabilities. A number of DRDO laboratories including DRDL, RCI Hyderabad, ADRDE Agra, NSTL Visakhapatnam have developed the technologies required for SMART.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the DRDO Scientists and other stake holders for the important feat. Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO Dr G Satheesh Reddy, said that SMART is a game changer technology demonstration in the Anti-Submarine Warfare.

JIMEX 2020 be in North Arabian sea.

The 4th edition of India - Japan Maritime bilateral exercise JIMEX will be held in the North Arabian Sea.

About JIMEX Exercise:

• It is a series of exercises commenced in January 2012 with special focus on maritime security cooperation.

• It is conducted biennially between the Indian Navy and Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF).

• The last edition of JIMEX was conducted in October 2018 off Visakhapatnam, India.

• The Multi-faceted tactical exercises involving weapon firings, cross deck helicopter operations and complex surface, anti-submarine and air warfare drills will consolidate coordination developed by the two navies.

• It is indigenously built stealth destroyer Chennai, Teg Class stealth frigate Tarkash and Fleet Tanker Deepak will represent the Indian Navy. P8I Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft will also participate in the exercise.

• The exercise is taking place in the backdrop of growing concerns over China's military muscle flexing in the Indian Ocean Region as well as in the Indo-Pacific.

 • It will be the first military exercise after the two countries signed a landmark agreement (Acquisition and Cross- Servicing Agreement - ACSA), that will allow their militaries to access each other's bases for logistics support.

• India has significantly expanded its deployment in the Indian Ocean Region with a plethora of warships and submarines following the border row with China. The maritime space around the Malacca Strait is critical for China's supply chain through sea routes.

• Indian and Australian navies conducted a passage exercise in the eastern Indian Ocean Region (IOR). A passage exercise is normally undertaken whenever an opportunity arises, in contrast to pre-planned maritime drills.

• The Indian Navy carried out a military exercise with a USA Navy carrier strike group led by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz off the coast of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

• The USS Nimitz is the world's largest warship. Nimitz Carrier Strike Group is currently deployed to the Indian Ocean in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific.

• Other Military Exercises between India and Japan are Annual joint land military exercise named 'Dharma Guardian', Joint Air Force exercise 'Shinyuu Maitri' and Trilateral Maritime Exercise Malabar with the USA.

Vishnu pandian wins gold in online shooting championship.

India's VisnuShivarajPandian won the 10m air rifle event at the fifth edition of the International Online Shooting Championship yesterday. The 16-year-old Visnu shot 251.4 to win the title by a clear margin of two points.

The second place was won by world no. 27 Etienne Germond of France while Olympic quota winner Martin Strempfl of Austria took the third place.

Shooters from 15 countries are participating in the two-day competition. The 10m air pistol event will be held today. Leading India's challenge will be Olympic quota winner Yashaswini Singh Deswal.

 Focus on UPSC mains.

Document on UCBs’ Cybersecurity

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has come out with ‘Technology Vision for Cyber Security for Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs) 2020-2023’ to enhance cybersecurity of urban co-Operative Banks (UCBs).

Highlights:

• It plans to achieve its objective through a five-pillared strategic approach GUARD, viz.

Governance Oversight, Utile Technology Investment, Appropriate Regulation and

Supervision, Robust Collaboration and Developing necessary IT, cybersecurity skill sets.

• The vision document, with its 12 specific action points, aspires to involve more board oversight over cybersecurity; enable UCBs to better manage and secure IT assets; develop a forum for UCBs so that they can share best Practices etc.

What are Co-operative Banks?

• Co-operative banks are financial entities established on a co-operative basis and belonging to their members. This means that the customers of a co-operative bank are also its owners.

• These banks provide a wide range of regular banking and financial services.

Background:

• The problem of rural credit was the key reason behind the advent of the co-operative movement in India, which began with the passage of the Co-operative Societies Act in 1904.

• The next addition was the Co-operative Societies Act, 1912, which focussed on the need for regulation of such societies and hence the establishment of appropriate bodies to oversee their Functioning.

 Structure of Co-operative Banks in India:

• Broadly, co-operative banks in India are divided into two categories – urban and rural.

• Rural cooperative credit institutions could either be short-term or long-term in nature.

✓ Short-term cooperative credit institutions are further sub-divided into State Co-operative Banks, District Central Co-operative Banks and Primary Agricultural Credit Societies.

✓ Long-term institutions are either State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (SCARDBs) or Primary Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (PCARDBs).

• Urban Co-operative Banks (UBBs) are either scheduled or non-scheduled. Scheduled and non-scheduled UCBs are again of two kinds- multi-state and those operating in single state.

Who Oversees these Banks?

• In India, co-operative banks are registered under the States Cooperative Societies Act.

They also come under the regulatory ambit of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under two laws, namely, the Banking Regulations Act, 1949, and the Banking Laws (Co-operative Societies) Act, 1955.

• They were brought under RBI in 1966, a move which brought the problem of dual regulation along with it.

Difference between Scheduled Commercial Banks and Co-operative Banks:

• Primary Function: Commercial bank’s primary function is to accept deposits from the public and provision loans to individuals or businesses. A cooperative bank’s primary business is to accept deposits from members and the public, and grant loans to farmers and Small Businessmen.

Motive: Commercial banks can be considered as joint stock companies, incorporated as a banking company that operates for profit. Cooperative banks work for service (Financial Inclusion, Community Service) motive.

 • Regulation: Unlike commercial banks, UCBs are only partly regulated by the RBI. While their banking operations are regulated by the RBI, their management and resolution in the case of distress is regulated by the Registrar of Co- operative Societies either under the

State or Central government.

• Area of Operation: The area of operation of a commercial bank is comparatively larger than a cooperative bank, as opposed to the cooperative banks which are confined to a limited area.

• Voting Powers: The borrower in a commercial bank do not have any voting power.

Cooperative banks borrowers influence the credit policy through their voting power.

• Inters Rates: Commercial bank’s interest rate on deposits is relatively lesser than a cooperative bank.

• However, in the event UCBs fail, deposits with them are covered by the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation of India up to a sum of ₹1 lakh per depositor, the same as for a Commercial Bank.

EC Announces New Rules for Postal Ballot.

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.

About the News:

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

 • The Fresh Instructions would be applicable to all elections and by -elections, including the by Polls Announced last week to 56 assembly and one Lok Sabha seat.

• The Returning officer would deploy polling teams, who will deliver and collect the postal ballot on pre-informed dates and thereafter deposit it with the RO.

• This postal Ballot Facility is different from the one extended to service voters. Here, those willing to use the facility have to fill up a form. Officials then carry the ballot to the residence of such voters and Videograph the voting to ensure transparency.

What is Postal Voting?

• A Restricted set of Voters can Exercise Postal Voting.

• Through this facility, a voter can cast her vote remotely by recording her preference on the Ballot Paper and sending it back to the Election Officer before counting.

Who can Avail of this Facility?

• Members of the armed forces like the Army, Navy and Air Force, members of the armed police force of a state (serving outside the state), government employees posted outside India and their spouses are entitled to vote only by post.

• In other words, they can’t vote in person. Voters under preventive detention can also vote only by post.

• Special voters such as the President of India, Vice President, Governors, Union Cabinet ministers, Speaker of the House and government officers on poll duty have the option to vote by post.

• But they have to apply through a prescribed form to Avail this Facility.

What about Absentee Voters?

• Recently, the Law Ministry, at the Election Commission’s behest, introduced a new category of ‘absentee voters’, who can now also opt for postal voting.

 • These are voters employed in essential services and unable to cast their vote due to their service conditions.

• Currently, officials of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, Northern Railway (Passenger and Freight) Services and media persons are notified as absentee voters.

• Senior citizens above the age of 65 and voters who test positive for COVID19 or are suspected to be COVID-affected were allowed to cast their vote by post.

How are Votes Recorded by Post?

• The Returning Officer is supposed to print ballot papers within 24 hours of the last date of nomination withdrawal and dispatch them within a day.

• This is done so that the ballot papers reach the concerned voter well before the polling date and she has enough time to send it back before the counting day.

• Postal ballot papers for members of the Armed Forces are sent through their record offices.

• For members of the armed police force of a state (serving outside the state), government employees posted outside India and their spouses, the ballot paper can be sent through post or electronically.

• For remaining categories ballot papers can be delivered personally or through the post.

Issues with the Recent Move:

• Allowing those aged 80 and above to vote by postal ballot violates secrecy in voting as a large Segment of the Population is uneducated and they might seek assistance from others.

• This will end up Disclosing their Preferred Candidate.

• This also exposes them to “administrative influence or influence by the Government or the ruling party”.