PERIYAR IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS 28 AUGUST 2017
Topic: Salient
features of Indian Society, Diversity of India.
Nuakhai Juhar
Nuakhai Juhar was celebrated
across Odisha on August 26.
About Nuakhai Juhar:
Nuakhai is the chief festival
of Western Odisha. It is the harvest
festival of Odisha wherein farmers are in possession of new rice of the season.
They offer the first produce of their respective lands to Goddess Samaleswari
and then consume it personally. It is one of the major festivals celebrated
widely in the state.
Sources: pib.
Topic: Role of women and women’s
organization, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental
issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies.
Rural Games to take Place in Delhi
The first edition of Rural Games or Grameen Khel Mahotsav will kick-start from
Delhi and will take place between 28th August to 3rd September, 2017.
About Grameen Khel Mahotsav:
The Rural Games will aim at popularising the indigenous games like wrestling, athletics
etc. and will also have fun games like Matka Race, Tug of War for senior
citizens to add the fun element in the games.
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This festival will help participation of rural youth in large
numbers in popular sports and encourage them to achieve excellence and adopt
healthy life style.
§
These games are intended to act as a catalyst to promote sports in
rural areas across the country. The main objective is to deepen the sports
culture among the rural youth.
Sources: pib.
Paper 2:
Topic: Indian Constitution-
historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant
provisions and basic structure.
Niti Aayog favours simultaneous LS, assembly polls from 2024
The Niti Aayog has favoured
conducting synchronised two-phase Lok Sabha and assembly elections from 2024 in
“national interest”. All elections in India should happen in a free, fair and
synchronised manner to ensure minimum “campaign
mode” disruption to governance, the government think tank
said in its report released recently.
NITI Aayog has proposed the
following in this regard:
§
To implement this in the national interest, a focused group of stakeholders comprising constitutional
and subject matter experts, think tanks, government officials and
representatives of various political parties should be formed to work out
appropriate implementation related details.
§
This may include drafting appropriate Constitution and statutory
amendments, agreeing on a workable framework to facilitate transition to
simultaneous elections, developing a stakeholder communication plan and various
operational details.
§
It has made the Election
Commission the nodal agency to look into the suggestion and set a “timeline” of
March 2018 for this purpose.
Simultaneous elections is a
good idea?
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This will help save public money.
§
It will be a big relief for political parties that are always in
campaign mode.
§
It will allow political parties to focus more on policy and
governance.
Need for simultaneous
elections:
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Unnecessary expenditures: Elections are held all
the time and continuous polls lead to a lot of expenditure. More than Rs1,100
crore was spent on the 2009 Lok Sabha polls and the expenditure had shot up to
Rs4,000 crore in 2014.
§
Use of manpower: Also, over a crore
government employees, including a large number of teachers, are involved in the
electoral process. Thus, the continuous exercise causes maximum harm to the
education sector.
§
Security concerns: Security forces also have
to be diverted for the electoral work even as the country’s enemy keeps
plotting against the nation and terrorism remains a strong threat.
Significance of this proposal:
The recommendation of the Aayog
assumes significance as former president Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister
Narendra Modi have pitched for simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls.
Mukherjee in his speech on the eve of this year’s Republic Day had favoured
holding Lok Sabha and assembly elections together.
Way ahead:
The time is ripe for a
constructive debate on electoral reforms and a return to the practice of the
early decades after Independence when elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies
were held simultaneously. It is for the Election Commission to take this
exercise forward in consultation with political parties.
Sources: et.
Topic: Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.
Conflict of interest in appointment of GEAC members: Par panel
The department-related
parliamentary standing committee on science and technology and environment and
forest recently submitted its recommendations in its 301st report on ‘GM crop
and its impact on environment’.
Observations made by the panel
on GEAC:
§
The committee said, there is a conflict of interest in the appointment of some members of the
country’s biotech regulator- GEAC- with two of the top three
positions being held by bureaucrats of the environment ministry.
§
The committee expressed its concerns about the “ad hocism” in the
constitution of the committee and also about the criteria adopted by the
environment ministry for selection of the members of GEAC, their credentials,
etc.
§
The panel said that “it would be in fitness of things if GEAC is headed by an expert from the field of
biotechnology given the understanding of scientific data and analysis of
research and its implication before coming to a conclusion in the matter.”
Background:
Genetic Engineering Appraisal
Committee (GEAC) was first constituted on May 28, 1990 and it was last re-
constituted on March 11, 2013 for a period of three years. Subsequently, with
the approval of the competent authority, the tenure of the committee has been
extended till re-constitution of the new committee.
§
The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is the apex
body constituted in the Ministry of
Environment and Forests under ‘Rules for Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and
Storage of Hazardous Microorganisms/Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells
1989’, under the Environment Protection Act, 1986.
§
The GEAC is also responsible for approval of proposals relating to
release of genetically engineered organisms and products into the environment
including experimental field trials (Biosafety Research Level trial-I and II
known as BRL-I and BRL-II).
Sources: the hindu.
Topic: Statutory, regulatory and
various quasi-judicial bodies.
Serious Fraud Investigation Office has powers to arrest
The provision under the Companies Act, 2013 which provides powers of arrest to
the SFIO has been notified. The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) now has powers to
arrest people for violations of companies law.
Key facts:
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The director as well as additional or assistant director level
officials at the SFIO can arrest a person if they believe he or she is guilty
of any offence with regard to the case being probed. The reason for arrest
should be recorded in writing.
§
In case of an arrest being made by additional director or
assistant director, the prior written approval of the director SFIO shall be
obtained.
§
The SFIO director would be the competent authority for all
decisions pertaining to arrest.
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The arrest of a person in connection with a government or a
foreign company under investigation can be made by the SFIO only “with prior
written approval of the central government”. Besides, such arrest should be
intimated to the managing director or the person in-charge of the affairs of
the government company.
§
In case the person arrested is the managing director or person
in-charge of a government company, then the secretary of the administrative
ministry concerned should be intimated by the arresting officer.
About SFIO:
The Serious Fraud Investigation
Office (SFIO) is a fraud investigating agency. It is under the jurisdiction of
the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India. The SFIO is involved in
major fraud probes and is the co-ordinating agency with the Income Tax and CBI.
§
It is a multi-disciplinary organization having experts from
financial sector, capital market, accountancy, forensic audit, taxation, law,
information technology, company law, customs and investigation.
§
These experts have been taken from various organizations like
banks, Securities and Exchange Board of India, Comptroller and Auditor General
and concerned organizations and departments of the Government.
§
The Government approved setting up of this organization on 9
January 2003 on the basis of the recommendations made by the Naresh Chandra Committee which was set up by the
Government on 21 August 2002 on corporate governance.
Sources: et.
Topic: Important aspects of governance, transparency and
accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and
potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and
institutional and other measures.
Uttar Pradesh joins PM Narendra Modi’s Government e-Market portal
Uttar Pradesh has joined
central Government’s e-Market portal. It will now be making all its
procurements of goods and services through the central portal.
About GeM:
It aims to ensure that public procurement of goods and services in
India worth more than Rs. 5 lakh crore annually is carried out through the
online platform for transparency and to eliminate corruption.
§
It aims to transform the way in which procurement of goods and
services is done by the Government Ministries/Departments, PSUs, autonomous
bodies etc.
§
DGS&D with technical support of NeGD (MeitY) has developed GeM
portal for procurement of both Products & Services.
§
GeM is a completely paperless, cashless and system driven e-market
place that enables procurement of common use goods and services with minimal
human interface.
Sources: et.
Topic: Important aspects of
governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications,
models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency
& accountability and institutional and other measures.
Spice Digital gets RBI licence to operate under BBPS
Spice Digital Limited (SDL) has
received the final licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), allowing the
company to process bill payments as a Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit
(BBPOU) in the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS).
About BBPS:
The Bharat Bill Payment System
(BBPS) is an RBI conceptualised system driven by
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). It is a one-stop payment platform for all bills, providing
an interoperable and accessible “Anytime Anywhere” bill payment service to
customers across the country with certainty, reliability and safety of
transactions.
Payments through BBPS may be
made using cash, transfer cheques and electronic modes. Bill aggregators and
banks, who will function as operating units, will carry out these transactions
for the customers.
NPCI:
National Payments Corporation
of India (NPCI) is an umbrella organization for all retail payments system in
India. It was set up with the guidance and support of the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA). NPCI has ten promoter banks.
Sources: the hindu.
Paper 3:
Topic: Inclusive growth and issues
arising from it.
Govt notifies changes in Banking Regulation Act
The government has notified the
Banking Regulation (Amendment) Act under which it can authorise the RBI to
issue directions to banks to initiate insolvency resolution process to recover
bad loans.
Background:
The banking sector is saddled
with non-performing assets (NPAs) of over Rs. 8 lakh crore, of which Rs. 6 lakh
crore is with public sector banks (PSBs). To deal with this, Parliament had
approved the Act, which replaced an ordinance in this regard.
The government in May had
promulgated an ordinance authorising the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to issue
directions to banks to initiate insolvency resolution process under the
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. Following the ordinance, the RBI had
identified 12 accounts each having more than Rs. 5,000 crore of outstanding
loans and accounting for 25% of total NPAs of banks for immediate referral for
resolution under the bankruptcy law.
Highlights of the Banking
Regulation (Amendment) Bill:
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The Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2017 will amend The Banking Regulation Act 1949, giving the government power
to authorise the Reserve Bank of India to issue directions to banks in order to
initiate insolvency resolution in case of a default.
§
Under the provisions of the Bill, the government can also authorise the RBI to issue directions to
banks with regard to resolution of stressed assets and allow it to name one or
more committees to provide them with advice in order to do so.
§
The Bill will also give RBI the authority to
refer NPA cases to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board.
§
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code provides for a time-bound
resolution of defaults and stressed assets, either by restructuring a loan or
liquidating the borrower’s assets.
Sources: the hindu.
Topic: Issues related to direct and
indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices; Public Distribution System
objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer stocks and
food security; Technology missions; economics of animal-rearing.
Niti Aayog pitches to remove agriculture from Essential Commodities
Act
Premier think-tank NITI Aayog
has pitched for completely removing agriculture
commodities from the Essential Commodities Act, and a shift towards organised
trading wherein lower number of traders with enough capital will
dominate the market.
Benefits of this move:
§
This will reduce handling costs, bring economies of scale, reduce
prices and increase returns for farmers.
§
This will also lead to organised trading, improve scale and
logistics benefit and bring about more capital into trade with handful of big
traders competing with each other.
Background:
With frequent changes in rules
and stock limits, traders have no reason to invest in better storage
infrastructure. Also, stock limits curtail the functioning of food processing
industries which need to maintain large stocks of underlying commodity to run
their operations smoothly. In such a situation, large scale private investments
are unlikely to flow into food processing and cold storage facilities which are
essential for ensuring framers get better remuneration for their crops.
Way ahead:
The idea has been discussed at
the highest level of the government and the Centre is likely to reach out to
states for such an enabling provision after full consultation with the ministry
of consumer affairs.
Sources: et.
Topic: Conservation, environmental
pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
NITI Aayog suggests waste to energy plants to clean up solid
The NITI Aayog has suggested
setting up an authority which will take up installation of waste to energy
plants in public-private partnership (PPP) mode to clean up municipal solid
waste, which, it said, has become a “serious threat” to public health.
§
The Aayog made the recommendations in its Three Year Action
Agenda, 2017-18 to 2019-20, released recently.
Need for waste management:
Rapidly rising prosperity has
resulted in generation of vast volumes of solid waste in the cities. But,
Cities have been “slow to develop effective ways” to dispose municipal waste.
The mountains of waste, which can now be seen in nearly all cities, have become
a serious public health threat.
Proposed authority:
§
Such an authority can be called Waste
to Energy Corporation of India (WECI) and placed under the housing and urban
affairs ministry.
§
The WECI may set up world class waste to energy plants through PPP
mode across the country.
§
The authority can play a “key role in fast-tracking coverage” of
waste to energy plants across 100 smart cities by 2019.
Way ahead:
As per the 2011 census, 377
million people living in 7,935 urban centres generate 1,70,000 tonnes of
municipal solid waste daily. Urban local bodies spend about Rs 500 to Rs 1,500
per tonne on solid waste management. Out of this, about 60-70% is spent on the
collection of waste and 20-30% on transportation but almost nothing on its
treatment and disposal. The NITI Aayog said Waste to Energy is the best option
to tackle the problem.
Sources: et.
Topic: Infrastructure: Energy,
Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
Why does the 2022 target for rooftop solar seem ambitious?
The government has set itself a
target of 100 GW of solar power by 2022, of which 60 GW is to come from
utilities and 40 GW from rooftop solar installations. While the 60 GW target
seems achievable, the country is lagging behind on the target set for rooftop
solar.
What is rooftop solar?
Rooftop solar installations —
as opposed to large-scale solar power generation plants — can be installed on
the roofs of buildings. As such, they fall under two brackets: commercial and
residential. This simply has to do with whether the solar panels are being
installed on top of commercial buildings or residential complexes.
What are the benefits?
Rooftop solar provides
companies and residential areas the option of an alternative source of electricity to that provided by the grid. While the main benefit of
this is to the environment, since it reduces the dependence on fossil-fuel
generated electricity, solar power can also augment the grid supply in places
where it is erratic.
Rooftop solar also has the great benefit of being able to provide electricity to those
areas that are not yet connected to the grid — remote locations and
areas where the terrain makes it difficult to set up power stations and lay
power lines.
What is the potential for
rooftop solar in India?
The Ministry of New and
Renewable Energy has pegged the market potential for rooftop solar at 124 GW.
However, only 1,247 MW of capacity had been installed as of December 31, 2016.
That is a little more than 3% of the target for 2022, and 1% of the potential.
Why is it not being adopted
widely?
§
One of the major problems with rooftop solar — and what affects
solar energy generation in general — is the variability in
supply. Not only can the efficiency of the solar panels vary on any
given day depending on how bright the sunlight is, but the solar panels also
produce no electricity during the night. Arguably, night is when off-grid
locations most need alternative sources of electricity.
§
Storage is one solution. Storage technology
for electricity, however, is still underdeveloped and storage solutions are
expensive. So, while some companies will be able to afford storage
solutions for the solar energy they produce, most residential customers will
find the cost of installing both rooftop solar panels and storage facilities
prohibitive. Residential areas also come with the associated issues of use
restrictions of the roof — if the roof is being used for solar generation, then
it cannot be used for anything else.
§
Another major reason why rooftop solar is not becoming popular is
that the current electricity tariff
structure renders it an unviable option. Many states have adopted a
net metering policy, which allows disaggregated power producers to sell excess
electricity to the grid. However, the subsidised tariffs charged to residential
customers undermine the economic viability of installing rooftop solar panels.
The potential profit simply does not outweigh the costs.
Sources: the hindu.
Topic: Disaster and disaster management.
Ocean forecasting system unveiled
The Indian National Centre for
Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) of the Ministry of Earth Sciences
inaugurated the Ocean Forecasting System for Comoros, Madagascar, and
Mozambique at the third Ministerial Meeting of Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard
Early Warning System for Asia and Africa (RIMES), held recently at Port
Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Key facts:
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The ocean forecast and early warming information on high wave,
currents, winds, tides, sub-surface ocean conditions cater to users like
fishermen, coastal population, tourism sector, coastal defence officials,
marine police, port authorities, research institutions and offshore industries
of these countries. These ocean services are aimed towards safety at the sea.
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The system would offer oil spill advisory services, high wave
alerts, port warnings, forecast along the ship routes in addition to tsunami
and storm surge warnings and help in search and rescue operations.
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The INCOIS has already been providing these operational services
to the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Seychelles.
Benefits for India:
§
The Ocean Forecast System developed for the Indian Ocean countries
and the real-time data from their territories also help to improve the ocean
forecast and early warning system for the Indian coast too.
§
Wave surge and coastal flooding that occurred from July 28 to
August 3 in 2016 along Kerala and West Bengal were well predicted and real-time
data from Seychelles were highly beneficial for predicting these incidents, as
many of these remotely forced waves originated from the southern and western
Indian Ocean.
Background:
The ocean forecast and early
warning services were most essential for safe navigation and operations at sea
and the blue economic growth of many of these Indian Ocean rim countries and
island nations.
About RIMES:
The Regional Integrated
Multi-Hazard Early Warning System for Africa and Asia (RIMES) is an
international and intergovernmental institution, owned and managed by its
Member States, for the generation and application of early warning information.
RIMES provides regional early warning services and builds capacity of its
Member States in the end-to-end early warning of tsunami and
hydro-meteorological hazards.
Sources: the hindu.
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