PERIYAR IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS 27-12-2017
Topic:
Urbanization, their problems and their remedies.
‘Prasad’
scheme
Context:
The parliamentary standing committee on transport, tourism and culture has
referred to the tourism ministry’s flagship Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and
Spiritual Augmentation Drive (Prasad) scheme as one whose conceptualization is
“radically wrong” and which needs a “complete relook”.
What’s
the issue?
The
standing committee noted that the scheme was not running properly even three
years after its launch. It said, “States are not actually buying the idea of
tourism department and their plan. The committee visited Karnataka, Andhra
Pradesh and Telangana and during deliberations of the committee, it came to
know that they have their own tourism policy. But it seems there is no
coordination with the central government.” The standing committee was also dissatisfied
with the government’s response blaming state government agencies for the delay.
The
committee also notes that there is something radically wrong with the conceptualization
of the ‘Prasad’ scheme itself. The committee finds that study of the ‘Prasad’
scheme shows that it has not been properly conceived at all. Even today,
without government intervention, there are many other well operated religious
circuits in the country.” The standing committee recommended that the ministry
undertake a “complete relook” of the scheme.
About
PRASAD scheme:
PRASAD
scheme aims to create spiritual centers for tourism development within the
nation. To implement the PRASAD scheme a Mission Directorate has been set up in
the Ministry of Tourism.
Twelve
cities namely Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh), Gaya(Bihar),
Dwaraka(Gujarat), Amritsar(Punjab), Ajmer(Rajasthan), Kanchipuram(Tamil Nadu),
Vellankani(Tamil Nadu), Puri(Odisha), Varanasi(Uttar Prasesh), Mathura(Uttar
Pradesh), Kedarnath (Uttarakhand) and Kamakhya (Assam) have been identified for
development under Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spirituality Augmentation Drive
(PRASAD) by the Ministry of Tourism.
Sources:
the hindu.
Paper
2:
Topic:
Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and
issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Atal
Innovation Mission
Context:
NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), Government of India’s flagship
program to promote innovation and entrepreneurship nationwide in schools,
universities and industry, has selected additional 1500 Schools for
establishment of Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs).
The
addition of these schools will give a major boost to realize the vision of the
mission to ‘Cultivate One Million children in India as the Innovators
of tomorrow’. With this announcement of the new Atal Tinkering Labs, AIM,
has selected 2441 Schools across India to establish ATLs to date since it began
its operations over a year ago.
What
are Atal Tinkering Labs?
ATLs
are innovation play workspaces for students between Grade VI to Grade XII,
stimulating innovations combining science & technology. These open-ended
innovation workspaces equipped with state of the art technologies like 3D
printers, Robotics, Sensor Technology Kits, Internet of Things, miniaturized
Electronics etc enable the students to learn and solve local community problems
using emerging Technologies. Students are encouraged to explore and experience
Design Thinking and Innovation, using a do-it-yourself approach, and develop
innovative solutions to India’s social, community or economic problems.
Background:
NITI
Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission is among one of the flagship programs of the
Government of India to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in the country
to set up the Atal Tinkering Labs across the country. The Mission has / is in
the process of setting up 900+ such labs across India and aims to have 2,000
such labs by end of 2017.
Sources:
the hindu.
Topic:
Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance-
applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential.
Public
Financial Management System (PFMS)
Context:
The home ministry has directed all NGOs, business entities and individuals who
receive funds from abroad to open accounts in any of the 32 designated banks,
including one foreign, within a month for higher level of transparency. It also
asked them to ensure that such funds are not utilised for activities
detrimental to the national interest.
The
directive to the NGOs, companies and individuals to open foreign contribution
accounts in banks, which are integrated with the central government’s Public Financial
Management System (PFMS), came for providing a higher level of transparency and
hassle-free reporting compliance.
Background:
The
Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act 2010 provides for the
regulation of acceptance of the foreign funds or foreign hospitality by certain
individuals, associations, organisations and companies “to ensure that such
contributions or hospitality is not being utilised for the activities
detrimental to the national interest”.
About
PFMS:
What
is it? The PFMS, which functions under the Controller General of Accounts in
the Ministry of Finance, provides a financial management platform for all plan
schemes, a database of all recipient agencies, integration with core banking
solution of banks handling plan funds, integration with state treasuries and
efficient and effective tracking of fund flow to the lowest level of
implementation for plan scheme of the government.
Significance
of PFMS: Introduction of the PFMS resulted in effectiveness and economy in
public finance management through better cash management for government
transparency in public expenditure and real-time information on resource
availability and utilisation across schemes. It also resulted in improved
programme administration and management, reduction of float in the system,
direct payment to beneficiaries and greater transparency and accountability in
the use of public funds.
Sources:
the hindu.
Paper
3:
Topic:
Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources,
growth, development and employment.
Finance
Ministry to issue recapitalisation bonds to PSBs
Context:
The Ministry of Finance is likely to issue the first tranche of
recapitalisation bonds to public sector banks (PSB) in early January. The
recapitalisation bonds will not be sold in open market and will be issued to
all banks. Apart from this, the government will also infuse capital worth Rs
8,000 crore on the basis of performance.
Background:
Earlier
in October, the government had announced an unprecedented PSU banks
recapitalisation programme of Rs 2.11 lakh crore. This was essential to improve
the lending capacity of the banks and to increase public spending on
infrastructure.
Nature
of re-cap bond:
The
government will issue bonds worth Rs 1.35 lakh crore to PSBs against equity
shares. This then becomes a cash-neutral transaction (instead of a direct cash
infusion). The government can also float a bank holding company, transfer all
its shares in PSBs to this corporate entity, infuse some capital into this
entity. This entity then borrows in the market against its equity as a AAA
Quasi-Sovereign entity and uses the money to recapitalise the banks.
Fiscal
implication:
Since
upfront it’s a cash neutral transaction, fiscal deficit will be impacted only
by the interest cost on the bonds that the government pays every year. The
government’s overall debt/GDP ratio though will increase to the extent of the
bond issued and so will its repayment obligations. Whenever the banks require
liquidity, they can sell these bonds in the market, raise cash and use it for
either lending or write-off purposes.
Significance
of this move:
Ultimately,
this recapitalisation will lead to an improvement in the government’s finances
as it would also be able to sell its stake in public sector banks at much
higher valuations. Even on the demand side, some banks who were not investing
their extra cash into debt securities due to capital shortage may now be able
to do so instead of placing them with the Reserve Bank of India’s reverse
repos.
Sources:
the hindu.
Topic:
Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources,
growth, development and employment.
Special
Economic Zone (SEZ)
Context:
A commerce ministry-appointed panel has suggested few changes in the existing
SEZ rules.
Background:
In
order to align the SEZ rules 2006 with the GST (Goods and Services Tax) laws as
well as for removal of various difficulties faced, the committee was
constituted by the ministry to make necessary recommendations.
Proposed
changes:
§ The
Board of Approval (BoA), the highest decision making body for SEZs, should be
given additional powers to exempt units and developers from certain rules to
promote these zones.
§ The
other suggestions include submission of GST registration certificate instead of
sales tax registration. It also provides for obtaining national security
clearance as per guidelines issued by the home affairs ministry.
§ The
committee has also sought the establishment of a SEZ Rules Interpretation
Committee to help in ease of operations, as well as suggestions to reduce paper
work for developing SEZ units.
What
is a SEZ?
A
Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is a geographical region that has economic laws
more liberal than a country’s typical economic laws. They are established with
an aim to purport development , promote rapid economic growth by providing tax
and business incentives for attracting foreign technology along with
investment. These are not merely SEZ’s but may be called as “favorite
Investment destinations” for foreign establishments. Such units would be future
sources of employment, hubs of latest technologies and equipped with the best
infrastructure.
Sources:
the hindu.
Topic:
pollution.
Centre
releases draft action plan to tackle air pollution in Delhi
A
high-level task force headed by the principal secretary to the Prime Minister
has released a 12-point draft plan to tackle pollution in Delhi NCR. The task
force includes senior officials from the environment, agriculture, earth
sciences, transport, power and petroleum ministries and principal secretaries
of Delhi and NCR states.
Proposed
measures:
§ Put
in place a plan to manage crop stubble and ensure that data on its burning is
generated independently and in real time by monitoring the fires.
§ Punitive
measures for polluting industries have to be stricter and clearly defined to
fix accountability which seems to be very relaxed in the current plan and,
finally, the PMO has to intervene at the national level to act on the rising
air pollution and health crises.
§ Conduct
source-attribution studies for NCR every year. The lack of data has been a
problem in implementation of pollution-control measures. The last comprehensive
study on air pollution in Delhi NCR was done by IIT-Kanpur in 2015.
§ Nitrogen
oxide emissions from thermal power plants should be brought under control. In
December 2015, the environment ministry notified stricter standards for thermal
power plants. None of the plants met the deadline to comply with the norms this
year. These include limits for particulate matter, sulphur oxide and nitrogen
oxide.
§ Decongestion
measures must be implemented in choke points in Delhi, Meerut, Rohtak and
Gurugram. Recommendations to improve public transport include adding buses,
improving last-mile connectivity, launching a journey planner app integrating
Metro, DIMTS and DTC services.
§ An
anti-pollution helpline has also been proposed along with an app whereby people
can submit photos of violations to get prompt remedial action.
§ The
action plan called for strict action against polluting brick kilns, especially
in areas such as Bagpat (Uttar Pradesh) and Jhajjar (Haryana), operating
without environmental clearance. These kilns are required to migrate to zig-zag
technology that reduces particulate matter pollution.
§ The
task force also called for promotion of electric vehicles to tackle
transport-related pollution. State and municipal bodies have been asked to
manage solid waste better and ensure no fire outbreaks at landfills. Agencies
involved in large construction projects have been directed to set up facilities
to take care of construction and demolition waste and recycle as far as
possible.
Background:
The
task force was formed after a severe spell of pollution in the region in
November when air quality remained at hazardous levels for almost two weeks.
The centre and the Union environment ministry faced flak for failing to
coordinate actions across states that impacted Delhi NCR’s air quality.
The
environment secretary is tasked with ensuring implementation of the measures,
while the task force will step in occasionally to monitor progress. The direct
intervention by the PMO would give the action plan more heft.
Sources:
the hindu.
Topic:
pollution.
Blue
Flag for Beach Clean-up
The
environment ministry has launched a pilot project named ‘Blue Flag’ for beach
clean-up and development.
About
the Blue Flag project:
The
prime objective of the project is to enhance standards of cleanliness, upkeep
and basic amenities at beaches. Under the project, each state or union
territory has been asked to nominate a beach which will be funded through the
ongoing Integrated Coastal Management Programme.
Sources:
toi.
Facts
for Prelims:
‘Mission
Seven Summits’:
What
is it? After scaling of Mt Everest in 2005, IAF launched a unique and
unprecedented series of mountaineering expedition ‘Mission Seven Summits’ with
an aim to fly the tricolour and the IAF flag on the highest peaks in every
continent. With this, the IAF has become the first organisation in India to
achieve this unique feat.
The
highest peak on each continent – Asia Mt. Everest, Australia Mt. Kosciuszko,
South America Mt. Aconcagua, Antarctica Mt. Vinson Massif, North America Mt.
Denali, Europe Mt. Elbrus and Africa Mt. Kilimanjaro – are part of
Misson7Summit.
Yaogan
30 project:
Context:
China has launched its Long March 2C rocket with a trio of Yaogan-30 satellites
into space. Developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the Yaogan-30
03 trio consists of three identical satellites equipped with two deployable
solar arrays.
Yaogan
is a series of Earth-observing satellites launched by China since 2006. The
satellites are intended for scientific experiments, land survey, crop yield
assessment and disaster monitoring.
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