Daily Current Affairs - 29-07-2021

The Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Amendment Bill has been passed. This bill seeks to increase the role of additional district magistrates and district magistrates regarding the matters which concern adoption and child care.

Key Points

Offences committed by juveniles

The Act of 2015 has stated that the various offences which are committed by the juveniles of the country have to be categorised under three categories of serious offences, petty offences and heinous offences. Serious offences are those offences that allow imprisonment of three to seven years. Henceforth, serious offences will have maximum punishment which is more than seven years of imprisonment and for the minimum punishment it is less than seven years.

Why was this amendment necessary?

As of the month of July 2018, across the country, there were 629 pending adoption cases in various courts. In order to fasten the adoption proceedings this decision has been taken.

The United States has announced 25 million USD assistance to India to support the COVID-19 vaccination efforts across the country.

Highlights

Previous aids received by India

Since the year 2020, USAID has allocated more than $226 million as COVID-19 relief to India. This includes more than $100 million to support India’s response to the recent second wave surge and more than $50 million has been given in emergency supplies.

 

 

Raja Mircha, also known as Naga King Chilli, was exported to London from Nagaland. This the first time Raja Mirch is being exported from the state of Nagaland that too during the the Covid-19 pandemic along with a drought-like situation in Nagaland.

Key Points

About Scoville Heat Units

Scoville Heat Units is the measurement that is done to measure hotness of a pepper or a hot sauce. It is generally done by checking the number of times capsaicin needs to be dissolved in water filled with sugar. The number of Scoville Heat Units (SHU) in hot sauce or a pepper indicates the amount of capsaicin present in the pepper or the hot sauce. The higher the rating the hotter is the pepper.

 

 

Kenya and United Kingdom are co hosting a Global Education Summit in the city of London with the objective to raise 5 billion USD for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). GPE funds public education in up to 90 territories and countries.

Key Points

What needs to be done?

All the partner countries, recipients as well as donors, should collectively implement policies that will benefit all the children of their countries. Education ministries should guarantee free secondary and primary education and reverse policies that are undermining the education of the children.

The government has launched the Secured Logistics Document Exchange. A Calculator for Green House Gas Emissions has also been launched.

Highlights

Why was this initiative launched?

The initiative was launched so that a digital transformation can be done in the logistics sector of the country to achieve the targets of improving the country’s ranking in Logistics Performance Index, establishment of indigenous India-specific metrics and reduction in logistics cost which will help in the improvement Of India’s logistics.

Logistics Division

The Logistics Division has planned digital initiatives with the aim of integrating various digital systems across the various departments and ministries.

SLDE platform

SLDE platform for the digital exchange of logistics related documents and a Calculator for GHG emissions have been developed. The SLDE platform will look to replace the present manual process of exchange, generation and compliance of the related logistics documents with a secure, digitized and a seamless document exchange system. This will enable the storage, generation, and interchange of logistics-related documents digitally using Blockchain and Aadhaar based security protocols for data authentication and security. It will also help in lowering shipping cost and reducing carbon footprint.

Calculator for GHG emissions

The GHG Calculator is a user-friendly tool that provides for comparing and calculating GHG emissions across different modes. This calculator allows for a comparison which will be made commodity wise of GHG emissions, total cost of transportation, including the environmental cost, between movement by rail and road.

The Department of Defence Production which comes under the Ministry of Defence has given its approval for a central sector scheme named ‘Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX)’ and a Rs. 498.80 crore budgetary supports has been provided for the next 5 years starting from 2021-22 to the year 2025-26.

Key Points

Criteria to avail the grants of Support for Prototype and Research Kickstart (SPARK)

To avail the grants of Support for Prototype and Research Kickstart (SPARK) under the mechanism of iDEX, some eligibility criteria will have to be followed. They are Start-ups which have been recognized and defined by Department of Industrial Policy Promotion (DIPP). Any Indian company which has been incorporated under the Companies Act, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) which have been defined in the MSME Act, 2006. Individual innovators (research and academic institutions) are also encouraged to apply.

Criteria for Incubators

To avail grants as an iDEX Partner Incubator, certain eligibility criteria has to be followed.  The applicant must be registered in India as a legal entity in private, public or PPP mode. They should have received grant or establishment support from a Ministry of the Government of India The incubator must have been in operation for at least 3 years and should have experience of supporting minimum 25 start-ups. In the past 3 years these incubators should have successfully graduated at least 5 start-ups. The incubators should have experience of partnering with the research and academia.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has planned to launch a satellite that will be used for monitoring natural disasters.

Key Points

About Space Activities Bill

Space Activities Bill, which pertains to the promotion and regulation of private players in the country’s space sector, is under consideration by the government. The government wants to create an ecosystem that will encourage more private participation in the indigenous production of space technologies, devices and services.

About Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe)

In the month of June, 2020, the government had announced several reforms related to the space sector and had also created the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe). It is an independent nodal agency which falls under the ambit of the Department of Space. It has the aim of promoting, licensing, handholding, monitoring and authorising the private space activities in the country.

Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh has said that the Government is taking various steps to undertake the large scale production of COVID BEEP.

Highlights

COVID BEEP

COVID BEEP which stands for ‘Continuous Oxygenation & Vital Information Detection Biomed ECIL ESIC Pod’ first cost effective indigenously made wireless physiological parameters monitoring system for the patients who are suffering from COVID-19. COVID BEEP has been developed by the ESIC Medical College Hyderabad in association with the Department of Atomic Energy and Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. (ECIL)

COVID BEEP’s latest version has

NIBP monitoring

Aged people who are affected have the highest COVID-19 death rates and hence, NIBP monitoring is necessary.

ECG monitoring

The drugs which are being used such as prophylaxis or Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin etc have effects on the patient’s heart and hence, it is important for the ECG monitoring.

The Respiratory Rate

COVID BEEP calculates the respiratory rate by the Bio Impedance method.

COVID BEEP will help in reducing of transmission and will help in saving resources like PPE kits, etc.

On 29th July, 2021, International Tiger Day which is also known as World Tiger Day is observed annually.

Key Points

History of International Tiger Day

In the year 2010, in Russia, the first World Tiger Day was observed at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit. A total of thirteen countries with tiger range banded together and decided upon a global goal to double wild tigers population by the year 2022.

Significance of International Tiger Day

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says that at the beginning of the 20th century there were around 1,00,000 tigers. In the year 2010, it was observed that the number has drastically reduced to 3,200. Therefore, it is very important to save the tiger population of the world. Hence, the International Tiger Day plays an important role by creating and spreading awareness and works for the conservation of tigers.

Tiger Population in India

According to the All India Tiger Estimation Report of 2018 the tiger population in India is 2967.

On 28th July, 2021 finance ministry invited entries from the citizens of the country for tagline, name and logo for the new Development Financial Institution (DFI). The finance minister, in the budget of 2021-22, announced about the setting up of a DFI.

Highlights

About Development Financial Institution (DFI)

Infrastructure plays an important role in building of a new India. This means new projects, revitalizing and expanding the existing infrastructure is a must. Hence, to maintain this infrastructural need over 7000 projects have been identified and the National Infrastructure Pipeline of Rs 111 lakh crore was set up. However, the completion and execution of these projects will require funds in a large and timely manner. This is where the Infra DFI comes in. It will be a development bank following a particular mandate through government support. Its operations will be to prioritize product innovation, risk mitigation, accessing ethical and green funds and will also help in developing a vibrant and broad bond market.

RBI data has showed that digital payments in India have recorded a growth of 30.19% during the financial year which ended on March 2021,

Highlights

About Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI)

The Reserve Bank announced the construction of a composite Reserve Bank of India – Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI) to look into digital payments data of the country. March 2018 was selected as the base year to capture the digitalisation data.

Parameters of RBI-DPI

The RBI-DPI comprises of five parameters that enables the measurement of penetration and deepening of digital payments across the country.

These parameters are:

Conclusion

RBI has announced that this index will be published on a semi-annual basis starting from the month of March 2021 and will be published after a time gap of four months. This report shows that the country is going towards a digital and cashless economy.

 

 

 

 

On 28th July, 2021, Lok Sabha has passed the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill 2021. This Bill replaces the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 which was implemented on 4th April, 2021.

Key Points

What is pre-packed insolvency resolution mechanism?

Pre-packed insolvency resolution mechanism is a procedure in which a resolution arrangement is decided upon between the lender and the debtor before approaching the NCLT for receiving an approval. Under this pre-pack framework, a debtor will initiate and participate in the resolution proceedings in tandem with the lender. This is done through an informal process that helps in avoiding costly and lengthy court procedures.

Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP)

As stated in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), under the existing corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP), a maximum number of 270 days is provided for the resolution process to be completed. To take control of the administration a resolution professional (RP) is appointed and the promoters have to step down. The appointed RP then manages the resolution and bidding process, which generally takes several months. Under the new pre-pack scheme, the time limit for the resolution will be reduced and the participants will get 90 days to submit resolution plans and NCLT will to approve them in another 30 days.

Rule for MSME

An MSME not having met its Rs 10 lakh payment obligation, could either initiate a pre-pack bankruptcy resolution scheme on its own with the approval of the lenders or the lenders who are representing the 66% debt of the business could themselves initiate the process.

On 28th July, 2021, the Union Cabinet cleared changes to the deposit insurance laws of the country. According to these changes up to Rs 5 lakh of funds will be provided to an account holder within 90 days in the event of a bank being put under moratorium by the RBI.

Key Points

Who all are insured by DICGC?

DICGC insures deposits in private and public banks, small finance banks, local area banks, cooperative banks, regional rural banks, payment banks as well as Indian branches of foreign banks.

About DICGC

DICGC is a fully owned subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and was established in the year 1978. DICGC insures all the banks functioning in India and the current chairperson in Michael Patra who is a deputy governor of the RBI.