PERIYAR IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS 20-DECEMBER-2017
Topic:
Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and
issues arising out of their design and implementation.
IIM
Bill
Context: Parliament
has unanimously passed the IIM Bill, 2017 that grants the Indian Institutes of
Management the power to grant degrees instead of post-graduate diplomas.
Key
features of the Bill:
§ IIMs
would become institutes of national importance with power to grant degrees.
§ The
boards of the institutes are proposed to be vested with full autonomy including
the power to appoint chairperson as well as the director.
§ Power
to review the performance of each IIM is also vested with the board.
§ Board
to be the principal executive body of each institute.
§ Chairperson
of the board will be appointed by the board for a period of four years.
§ Director
of each IIM will be appointed by the board for a period of five years via a
search-cum-selection panel. Once the bill becomes an act, the board is not
required to seek the human resource development ministry’s approval for this.
§ The
Board will have the power to remove a director.
§ The
IIMs’ accounts will be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
§ There
will be an IIM Coordination Forum to be notified by the central government. It
shall function as an advisory body and will be headed by an eminent person.
§ The
bill says the central government may frame rules to give additional powers and
duties to the IIM Boards and, it will decide the terms and condition of service
of directors although the appointment will be made by the board. It will notify
the IIM coordination forum to be headed by a eminent person.
§ All
rules and regulations framed either by the central government or the IIM Boards
will need to be tabled in parliament.
Sources:
the hindu.
Topic:
Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and
issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Central
Road Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2017
The
Lok Sabha has passed the Central Road Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2017. The Bill
seeks to amend the Central Road Fund Act, 2000, through which the cess levied
and collected on high speed petrol and diesel is distributed for development of
rural roads, national highways, railways, state roads and border area roads.
Highlights
of the Bill:
Inclusion
of inland waterways: The Bill defines national
waterways as those that have been declared as ‘national waterways’ under the
National Waterways Act, 2016. Currently, 111 waterways are specified
under the 2016 Act.
Utilisation
of fund: Under the 2000 Act, the
fund can be utilised for various road projects including: (i) national
highways, (ii) state roads including roads of inter-state and economic
importance, and (iii) rural roads. The Bill provides that in addition to
these the fund will also be used for the development and maintenance of
national waterways.
Powers
of central government: Under the Act, the
central government has the power to administer the fund. The central
government will make decisions on the: (i) investments on national highways and
expressways projects, (ii) raising funds for the development and maintenance of
national highways, and rural roads, and (iii) disbursement of funds for
national highways, state roads and rural roads. The Bill provides that
central government will make all the above decisions for national waterways as
well.
Allocation
of cess: Under the Act, the cess
on high speed diesel oil and petrol is allocated towards different types of
roads. The Bill seeks to decrease the allocation of cess towards the
development and maintenance of national highways from 41.5% to 39%. It
allocates 2.5% of the cess towards the development and maintenance of national
waterways.
About
Central Road Fund:
The
Central Road Fund was established by the government as per the Central road
fund act 2000 to fund the development and maintenance of National Highways,
State Highways and Rural roads.
In
order to mobilise the fund, the Central Road Fund Act 2000 proposed to levy and
collect by way of cess, a duty of excise and duty of customs on petrol and high
speed diesel oil. The fund is utilised for the development and maintenance of
National highways, State roads, Rural roads and for provision of road overbridges/under
bridges and other safety features at unmanned Railway Crossings.
Sources:
pib.
Topic:
Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services
relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
E-cigarettes
Context: The
government is examining the legal implications and health effects of
e-cigarettes.
The
Health Ministry has constituted three groups to study the various aspects of
e-cigarettes. One was to study the legal implications of this e-nicotine drug
induce system, another was to go into the health effects and the other was to
study advocacy.
What
are e-cigarettes?
An
electronic cigarette (or e-cig) is a battery-powered vaporizer that mimics
tobacco smoking. It works by heating up a nicotine liquid, called “juice.”
Nicotine juice (or e-juice) comes in various flavors and nicotine levels.
e-liquid is composed of five ingredients: vegetable glycerin (a material used
in all types of food and personal care products, like toothpaste) and propylene
glycol (a solvent most commonly used in fog machines.) propylene glycol is the
ingredient that produces thicker clouds of vapor.
Proponents
of e-cigs argue that the practice is healthier than traditional cigarettes
because users are only inhaling water vapor and nicotine.
Need
for regulation:
§ In
India smoking devices are easily available through online shopping portals and
with little information out in the public domain about the ill-effects of
e-cigarettes there is a misconception that it is less harmful than traditional
cigarettes.
§ Smart
marketing and inadequate information on the nicotine content in e-cigarettes
has created a false impression that these devices are not as harmful as regular
cigarettes. In the absence of a regulation the use of e-cigarettes has grown;
they are easily accessible to even the non smokers.
§ Along
with the traditional cigarette manufacturing, there is a parallel industry of
e-cigarette like devices growing in India, which is under-regulated.
Harmful
effects of e cigarettes:
Although
they are generally thought to be less harmful than smoking real cigarettes,
because they contain no tobacco, they do still contain the addictive chemical
nicotine. Scientists have confirmed that e-cigarette vapours to contain the
same potentially dangerous chemicals.
Research
has also confirmed that e-cigarette vapours contain free radical chemicals
previously thought only to be found in tobacco cigarettes and air pollutants.
Free radicals are highly reactive agents that can damage DNA or other molecules
within cells, resulting in cell death. Cigarette smoke contains 1014 free
radicals per puff. Though e-cigarette vapour contains far fewer free radicals
than cigarette smoke – one percent as much – their presence in e-cigarettes
still suggests potential health risks.
Sources:
the hindu.
Paper
3:
Topic: Effects
of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their
effects on industrial growth.
Amendments
to Companies Act
Context: The
Rajya Sabha has passed the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2017. It was adopted by
the Lok Sabha in July this year. The Bill provides for more than 40 amendments
to the Companies Act, 2013.
Highlights
of the Bill:
§ The
amendment seeks to strengthen corporate governance standards, initiate strict
action against defaulting companies and help improve ease of doing business in
the country.
§ The
major changes include simplification of the private placement process; rationalization
of provisions related to loans to directors; replacing the requirement of
approval of the central government for managerial remuneration above prescribed
limits by approval through special resolution of shareholders and aligning
disclosure requirements in the prospectus with the regulations made by Sebi
(Securities and Exchange Board of India).
§ The
Bill also provides for maintenance of register of significant beneficial owners
and makes offence for contravention of provisions relating to deposits as
non-compoundable.
§ It
also provides for stringent penalties in case of non-filing of balance sheet
and annual return every year, which will act as deterrent to shell companies.
This would facilitate ease of doing business, and result in harmonization with Sebi,
RBI (Reserve Bank of India) and rectify certain omissions and inconsistencies
in the existing Act.
Sources:
the hindu.
Topic:
money-laundering and its prevention.
Crackdown
against Bitcoins
Context: The
rising craze for bitcoin, a cryptocurrency that has rocketed to shocking highs,
has come under the government’s lens. The government has begun a crackdown on
illegal uses of this unregulated virtual currency.
Widening
its probe into bitcoin investments and trade, the Income Tax (IT) department is
set to issue notices to 4 to 5 lakh high networth individuals (HNI) across the
country who were trading on the exchanges of this unregulated virtual currency.
Concerns
associated with the use of bitcoins:
§ Bitcoin
can be an easy way to evade tax or snare unsuspecting small investors in ponzi
schemes. The regulators are worried about their use for illicit and illegal
activities, subjecting the users to an unintentional breach of laws against
money laundering and terror finance.
§ Concerns
also emanate from some unscrupulous entities indulging in illicit money-pooling
activities—commonly known as ponzi schemes—with the promise of huge returns
from investment in bitcoins and other variants, which they claim are minted
through blockchain, a distributed ledger technology that was created to mint
bitcoins and comprises of extremely complex algorithms with several thousand
nodes for each chain.
§ There
is a suspicion that some so-called cryptocurrencies and bitcoin investments may
actually have nothing to do with any blockchain-developed virtual currency and
are just new ways devised by scamsters to ride the wave and what they may be
offering could be ‘e-ponzi’ schemes.
Background:
While
some of the countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan have declared
Bitcoins as a means of payment illegal and in violation of the state law, a
majority are yet to take a stand on it. In December 2013, RBI issued a warning
with caution to users, holders and traders of virtual currencies, including
Bitcoins, about the potential financial, operational, and legal, customer
protection and security related risks that they are exposing themselves to.
Bitcoins are currently unregulated in India. There are no specific legal
frameworks for Bitcoins and cryptocurrencies in India yet.
Sources:
the hindu.
Topic:
Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology,
bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.
Blockchain
technology
Context:
The West Bengal government is planning to introduce the blockchain technology
to protect its documents from cyber attacks.
Key
facts:
§ The
state government’s proposed Cyber Security Centre of Excellence would be
entrusted to execute the new ‘blockchain’ mechanism at various departments.
§ The
cyber security centre will bring the best in academic, law enforcement and
other sections under one roof for the best practices to counter cyber crimes.
§ The
centre will also conduct research and development on cyber crimes for which the
state government will partner with private firms.
Background:
Recently,
computers at some offices of the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution
Company Limited were crippled by ‘WannaCry’ virus, a global ransomware.
Ransomware is a type of malicious software designed to block access to a
computer system until a sum of money is paid.
What
is Blockchain?
Blockchain
is an online ledger of digitally recorded transactions which is encrypted in
the form of blocks, each of which is connected by a network of computers.
How
it works?
Blockchain
enables two entities that do not know each other to agree that something is
true without the need of a third party. As opposed to writing entries into a
single sheet of paper, a blockchain is a distributed database that takes a
number of inputs and places them into a block. Each block is then ‘chained’ to
the next block using a cryptographic signature. This allows blockchains to be
used as a ledger which is accessible by anyone with permission to do so.
If everyone in the process is pre-selected, the ledger is termed
‘permissioned’. If the process is open to the whole world, the ledger is called
unpermissioned.
Benefits
of blockchain technology:
A
blockchain is anonymous, protecting the identities of the users. This makes
blockchain a more secure way to carry out transactions. The algorithm used in
blockchain reduces the dependence on people to verify the transactions.
Sources:
the hindu.
Topic:
conservation.
Methanol
Economy Fund
Context: Niti
Aayog is planning to set up a Methanol Economy Fund worth Rs 4,000-5,000 crore
to promote production and use of the clean fuel. The government think-tank is
aiming at generation of the fuel by converting high ash content coal into
methanol and such a plant is expected to be set up by Coal India.
Niti
Aayog plans to move a Cabinet note soon on the methanol economy and the plans
to set up production plants. It expects that two plans can be commissioned in
the next 3-4 years.
Methanol
as an alternative fuel:
Methanol
is a promising fuel as it is clean, cheaper than fossil fuels and a good
substitute for heavy fuels. India imports methanol from Saudi Arabia and Iran
at present. Across the world, methanol is emerging as a clean, sustainable
transportation fuel of the future.
Methanol
can be blended with gasoline in low-quantities and used in existing road
vehicles, or it can be used in high-proportion blends such as M85-M100 in
flex-fuel or dedicated methanol-fueled vehicles. Technology is also being
commercialized to use methanol as a diesel substitute.
Why
Methanol?
§ Methanol
can be used as an energy producing fuel, transportation fuel and cooking fuel,
cutting down India’s oil import bill by an estimated 20% over the next few years.
Unlike CNG, using methanol as a transportation fuel would require minimal
alteration in the vehicles.
§ Methanol
is a clean-burning fuel that produces fewer smog-causing emissions — such as
sulphur oxides (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter — and can
improve air quality and related human health issues.
§ Methanol
is most commonly produced on a commercial scale from natural gas. It can also
be produced from renewable sources such as biomass and recycled carbon dioxide.
§ As
a high-octane vehicle fuel, methanol offers excellent acceleration and power.
It also improves vehicle efficiency.
Sources:
Indian express.
Facts
for Prelims:
HAMESHA
VIJAYEE:
What
is it? It is an exercise by armed forces being conducted in the deserts of
Rajasthan to evaluate the capability of the armed forces to strike deep into
enemy territory in an integrated air-land battle.
Significance
of the exercise: Unique in scope and scale, the exercise being conducted in
battle like conditions, aims at fine tuning surveillance and destruction
mechanisms to support precision strikes and manoeuvres by network enabled
forces. With emphasis on joint operations, the exercise would test robust
sensor to shooter grids by employing a vast array of surveillance and air
assets networked with land based strategic and tactical vectors.
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