‘Make in India’ Initiative in Defence Sector                                                                

Public Sector Banks                                                                                                     

Centre proposes to integrate FASTag bank mechanism with E-way bill to check GST evasion                                                                                                                 

Government schools to introduce self defence training programmes for girls     

Second Edition of “Healthy States, Progressive India” Report                               

Universal Smart Card Driving License                                                                     

Draft National Policy on Domestic Workers                                                            

Rivigo launches national freight index                                                                   

Aadhaar Bill introduced amid Opposition protests                                                

ILS develops antibodies against Chikungunya infection                                       

Passports with advanced security features soon                                                   

RBI’s customer-complaint processing goes digital                                                

 

Make in India’ Initiative in Defence Sector

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.

Context :

• ‘Make in India’ programme is being used by the Government for defence procurements by categorising the capital acquisition proposals under ‘Buy (Indian-IDDM)’, ‘Buy (Indian)’, ‘Buy and Make (Indian)’, ‘Make’ and ‘Strategic Partnership Model’ categories of Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP)-2016.

• Government has issued 439 licenses covering 264 companies till March 2019. Industrial Licenses are issued for manufacturing of tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, defence aircraft, space craft and parts thereof, warship, arms and ammunition and allied items of defence equipment, parts and accessories thereof. In addition, for a large number of defence components, no license is required.

• The percentage of expenditure on purchase of defence equipment (both Capital & Revenue) by the three Services from Indian companies was 54% of total expenditure in the financial year 2018-19.

Measures have been taken to achieve substantive self-reliance in defence production:

• Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) :

  •  A new category of procurement ‘Buy {Indian-IDDM (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured)}’ has been introduced in DPP-2016 to promote indigenous design and development of defence equipment.

  • Preference has been accorded to ‘Buy (Indian)’,‘Buy and Make (Indian)’ & ‘Make’ categories of capital acquisition over ‘Buy (Global)’ & ‘Buy &Make (Global)’ categories.

•  Strategic Partnership (SP) Model :

  • It envisages establishment of long-term strategic partnerships with Indian entities through a transparent and competitive process, wherein they would tie up with global Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to seek technology transfers to set up domestic manufacturing infrastructure and supply chains.

•  ‘Make’ Procedure : has been simplified with provisions for funding of 90% of development cost by the Government to Indian industry and reserving projects not exceeding development cost of Rs.10 Crore (Government funded) and Rs.3 Crore (Industry funded) for MSMEs.

• ‘Make-II’    :

  • It has been notified wherein a number of industry friendly provisions such as relaxation of eligibility criterion, minimal documentation, provision for considering proposals suggested by industry/individual etc., have been introduced.

•  Establishment of  two defence industrial corridors :

  • To serve as an engine of economic development and growth of defence industrial base in the country.

• Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX)  :

  • iDEX is aimed at creation of an ecosystem to foster innovation and technology development in Defence and Aerospace by engaging Industries including MSMEs, Start-ups, Individual Innovators, R&D institutes and Academia and provide them grants/funding and other support to carry out R&D which has potential for future adoption for Indian defence and aerospace needs.

• Mission Raksha Gyan Shakti :

  • Aims to provide boost to the IPR culture in indigenous defence industry.

• Government has notified a Policy for indigenisation of components and spares used in Defence Platforms :

  • Objective to create an industry ecosystem which is able to indigenize the imported components (including alloys & special materials) and sub-assemblies for defence equipment and platform manufactured in India. 

•  Defence Investor Cell  :

  • It has been created in the Ministry to provide all necessary information including addressing queries related to investment opportunities, procedures and regulatory requirements for investment in the sector.

• Revision of FDI Policy :

  • FDI is allowed under automatic route upto 49% and beyond 49% through Government route wherever it is likely to result in access to modern technology or for other reasons to be recorded.

•  Government has set up the Technology Development Fund (TDF) :

Tto encourage participation of public/private industries especially MSMEs, through provision of grants, so as to create an eco–system for enhancing cutting edge technology capability for defence applications.

                                                                                                                                      Source :- PIB

Public Sector Banks

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth.

Context :

• To address  the underlying causes behind the build-up of stress in PSBs Government of India has taken comprehensive steps under its 4R’s strategy.

4R’s Strategy :

• Recognising NPAs transparently,

• Resolving and recovering value from stressed accounts through clean and effective laws and processes,

• Recapitalising banks, and

• Reforming banks through the PSB Reforms Agenda.

Other steps taken by the Government to improve the condition of banks :

• Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC)  -

  • In 2016 (IBC) has been enacted, which has provided for the taking over management of the affairs of the corporate debtor at the outset of the corporate insolvency resolution process.

  • Coupled with debarment of wilful defaulters and persons associated with NPA accounts from the resolution process, this has effected a Fundamentally changing the creditor-borrower relationship,

  • Taking away control of the defaulting company from promoters/owners and

  • Debarring wilful defaulters from the resolution process and debarring them from raising funds from the market.

• Fugitive Economic Offenders Act :

  • has been enacted enabling confiscation of fugitive economic offenders’ property.

•  National Financial Reporting Authority  : has been established as an independent Regulator for enforcing auditing standards and ensuring audit quality.

Key reforms have been instituted in PSBs  :

• Board-approved Loan Policies of PSBs now mandate tying up necessary clearances/approvals and linkages before disbursement, scrutiny of group balance-sheet and ring-fencing of cash flows, non-fund and tail risk appraisal in project financing.

• Use of third-party data sources for comprehensive due diligence across data sources has been instituted, thus mitigating risk on account of misrepresentation and fraud.

• Monitoring Of Loans :

  • For effective monitoring loans above Rs. 250 crore - Monitoring has been strictly segregated from sanctioning roles in high-value loans, and specialised monitoring agencies combining financial and domain knowledge have been deployed.

• Online end-to-end OTS platforms    :

  • It has been set up To ensure timely and better realisation in one-time settlements (OTSs).

•  For faster processing of loan proposals, Loan Management Systems (LMS) have been put in place for personal segment and MSME loans.

• Bifurcation of Positions :

  • To strengthen governance at the Board level, the position of Chairman and Managing Director has been bifurcated into a non-executive Chairman and an MD & CEO.

• A professional Banks Board Bureau has been created for arm’s length selection of non-executive Chairman and whole-time directors (WTDs).

Impact on PSBs of Government’s 4R’s approach :

• Robust recovery of loans

• Assets quality has improved as reflected in 45% year-on-year reduction in slippage into NPAs in FY 2018-19

• With substantial cleaning up accompanied by capitalisation of banks, the overall credit growth of PSBs has picked up substantially

                                                                                                                                                                  Source :- PIB

Centre proposes to integrate FASTag bank mechanism with E-way bill to check GST evasion

GS PAPER - 02  Economy - Money Laundering and its prevention.

Context :

• The Government proposes to integrate a FASTag Bank Mechanism with e-way bill and Logistic Data Services to track movement of goods and check GST evasion.

• The Government is contemplating integration of E-Way Bill mechanism of GST with FASTag System of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

More about the news:

• Recently a Committee of Officers comprising of officers from Central Government, State Governments, GSTN (Goods and Services Tax Network), NIC (National Informatics Centre), GST Council, to examine the issue of use of RFID data for strengthening of E-Way Bill mechanism under GST was formed by GST Council.

• The Committee of Officers has submitted its report to the GST Council, recommending integration of FASTag system with E-Way Bill mechanism.

Significance of Integration of FASTag system with E-Way Bill mechanism :

• The proposal, according to officials, will improve operational efficiencies across the country’s logistics landscape.

  • Currently, lack of harmonisation under the ‘track and trace’ mechanism in terms of sharing information among different agencies is affecting the ease of doing business in the country.

  • Besides, it is also impacting the logistic costs of the companies.

• The proposal will also help in preventing goods and services tax (GST) evasion by unscrupulous traders who take advantage of the loopholes in the supply chain

• The integration of the e-way bill system with FASTag and LDB is expected to help boost tax collections by clamping down on trade that currently happens on cash basis.

• Integration of e-way bill with FASTag will help revenue authorities track the movement of vehicles and ensure that they are travelling to the same destination as the transporter or the trader had specified while generating the e-way bill.

• It will also help the suppliers locate the goods through the e-way bill system.

  • Transporters, too, would be able to track their vehicles through SMS alerts that would be generated at each toll plaza.

                                                                                                                              Source :- PIB

Government schools to introduce self defence training programmes for girls

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes.

Context :

• The government has introduced a self defence training programme for girls under Samagra Shiksha so as to make them strong.

Self Defence Training Programme for Girls :

• Self Defence training is imparted to girls of class VI to XII belonging to Government Schools.

• The self-defence training is also being provided in Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) which are residential schools meant for girls of class VI to XII and belonging to disadvantaged groups.

• Funds for this purpose are provided for three months @ Rs. 3000/- per school per month for inculcating self-defence skills including life skills for self-protection and self-development among the girls.’

• The  States  have been advised  for  convergence  for availing  funding  for  Self-Defence training  under  the  Nirbhaya  Fund  under  Ministry  of  Woman  and  Child  Development, Government of India or with other State Government schemes.

Need :

• The crime rate in India has been rising and especially crime against women, therefore, safety and security of girls is really a concern for the government.

         

Nirbhaya Fund : Nirbhaya Fund is a dedicated fund set up by the Government of India in 2013, for the implementation of initiatives aimed at enhancing the safety and security of women in the country. This is a non lapsable amount. The Fund is administered by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance.

 

Samgra Siksha : Samagra Shiksha is an overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to class 12. The scheme has been prepared with the broader goal of improving school effectiveness measured in terms of equal opportunities for schooling and equitable learning outcomes.  It subsumes the three Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE). Objective : Provision of quality education and enhancing learning outcomes of students; Bridging Social and Gender Gaps in School Education; Ensuring equity and inclusion at all levels of school education; Ensuring minimum standards in schooling provisions; Promoting Vocationalisation of education; Support States in implementation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009; and Strengthening and up-gradation of SCERTs/State Institutes of Education and DIET as a nodal agencies for teacher training.

                                                                                                                                    Source :- PIB

Second Edition of “Healthy States, Progressive India” Report

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential;

Context :

• NITI Aayog released the Second Edition of “Healthy States, Progressive India”.

Healthy States, Progressive India :

• The report has been developed by NITI Aayog, with technical assistance from the World Bank, and in consultation with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

• The Report focuses on measuring and highlighting the overall performance and incremental improvement over a two year period (2016-17 and 2017-18) in the States and UTs.

• The report ranks states and Union territories innovatively on their year-on-year incremental change in health outcomes, as well as, their overall performance.

• The ranking is categorized as Larger States, Smaller States and Union Territories (UTs), to ensure comparison among similar entities.

• The Health Index is a weighted composite Index based on 23 indicators grouped into the domains of Health Outcomes, Governance and Information, and Key Inputs/Processes.

  • Each domain has been assigned weights based on its importance and has been equally distributed among indicators

Key Findings of the Report :

• Categorization of Larger States on incremental performance and overall performance

  • Among the Larger States, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh & Maharashtra ranked on top in terms of overall performance, while Haryana, Rajasthan and Jharkhand are the top three ranking States in terms of annual incremental performance. Haryana, Rajasthan and Jharkhand showed the maximum gains in improvement of health outcomes

Incremental Performance	Overall Performance
	Aspirants	Achievers	Front-runners
Not improved (0 or less)	Madhya Pradesh Odisha Uttarakhand Uttar Pradesh Bihar	West Bengal	Kerala Punjab Tamil Nadu
Least Improved (0.01-2)	__	Chhattisgarh	Gujarat Himachal Pradesh
Moderately Improved (2.01-4.0)			Maharashtra Jammu & Kashmir Karnataka Telangana
Most Improved (more than 4.0)	Rajasthan	Haryana Jharkhand Assam	Andhra Pradesh

 

•  Categorization of Smaller States on incremental performance and overall performance:

  • Among Smaller States, Mizoram ranked first followed by Manipur on overall performance, while Tripura followed by Manipur were the top ranked States in terms of annual incremental performance.

  • Manipur registered maximum incremental progress on indicators such as full immunization coverage, institutional deliveries, total Case Notification Rate of Tuberculosis

  •  

Incremental Performance	Overall Performance
	Aspirants	Achievers	Front-runners
Not improved (0 or less)	Arunachal Pradesh Sikkim	Meghalaya Goa	-
Least Improved (0.01-2)	Nagaland		Mizoram
Moderately Improved (2.01-4.0)	Tripura	Manipur	-
Most Improved (more than 4)	-	-	-

 

•   Categorization of UT on incremental performance and overall performance:

  • Among UTs, Chandigarh and Dadra and Nagar Haveli were ranked on top in terms of overall performance (Chandigarh-1 and Dadra and Nagar Haveli-2) as well as annual incremental performance (Dadra and Nagar Haveli-1 and Chandigarh-2).

 

Incremental Performance	Overall Performance
	Aspirants	Achievers	Front-runners
Not improved (0 or less)	Andaman and Nicobar	Delhi Lakshadweep
Least Improved (0 or less)
Moderately Improved (0 or less)		Puducherry
Most Improved (0 or less)	Daman and Diu		Chandigarh Dadra and Nagar Haveli

                                                                                                                           Source   :- PIB

Universal Smart Card Driving License

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential;

Context :

• Indian government to issue Universal Smart Card Driving License nationwide: To follow standardised format and design.

Universal Smart Card Driving License :

• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has decided to modify the format of driving licenses to laminated card without chip or smart card type driving licences.

• The Ministry has prescribed a common standard format and design of the Driving Licence for whole of the country which includes the placement of information, standardization of fonts etc.

Key Facts and Datas:

• In the past that around 30% of Indians drive with fake or bogus licenses.

• . Additionally, police reports suggest that in just the region of Delhi NCR, cases of underage driving has jumped to 589% and in the first 15 days of January 2019, 61 unpermitted juvenile cases were registered and issued with challans.

Common countrywide database of all driving license holders - SARATHI :

• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways through its flagship application called SARATHI (for Driving License) developed by NIC (National Informatics Centre) have a common countrywide database of all driving license holders.

• Almost 15 crore driving license records are available in its central repository (National Registry).

• The SARATHI application has the feature to identify duplicate records in real time online basis and access information about the challans if any, which facilitates the licencing authority that delinquent drivers do not get a duplicate driving licence.

                                                                                                                                              Source :- PIB ; Times of India

Draft National Policy on Domestic Workers

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Mechanism , laws institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.

Context :

• A draft National Policy on domestic workers is under consideration of the Central Government.

Key Features :

• Inclusion of Domestic Workers  in the existing legislations

• Domestic workers will have the right to register as workers.

  • Such registration will facilitate their access to rights & benefits accruing to them as workers.

• Right to form their own associations , trade unions

• Right to have minimum wages, access to social security, protection from abuse, harassment, violence

• Right to enhance their professional skills

• Protection of Domestic Workers  from abuse and exploitation

• Domestic Workers to have access to courts, tribunals, etc.

• Establishment of a mechanism for regulation of concerned placement agencies

                                                                                                                                                      Source :- PIB

Rivigo launches national freight index

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential;

Context :

• The logistics start-up Rivigo has launched National Freight Index(NFI) that will provide live freight rates for different lanes and vehicles across the country.National Freight Index(NFI) :

• The NFI will offers an aggregated picture of both live rates and historical trends of spot price movements in the road freight industry.

• The index is represented in two forms

  • actual freight rates condensed to rupees per tonne-km and

  • relative movement with respect to a base month.

• This index will be a step towards easing the crisis in the freight sector and streamlining the sector by giving live spot rates on over 7 million lane and vehicle type combinations in the country.

• Further,the rates on the exchange and the index are computed using millions of data points from historical transactions,current market dynamics,micro market insights and other factors with the purpose of giving fair and precise representation of the state of the spot market.

                                                                                                                       Source :- Livemint

Aadhaar Bill introduced amid Opposition protests

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE  - Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential;

Context :

• Union law minister has introduced the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019 in the Lok Sabha.

• The legislation will now replace an ordinance issued in March this year, and proposes to impose strict penalties for violation of norms.

Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019 :

• The bill envisages strengthening of the Aadhaar Act as per the directions of the Supreme Court and recommendations of Justice B.N.Srikrishna.

• The bill says that no individual will be compelled to provide proof of possession of Aadhaar number or undergo authentication for the purpose of establishing his identity unless it is so provided by a law made by Parliament.

• For the convenience of the general public in the opening of bank accounts,the bill will allow the use of Aadhaar number for authentication on a voluntary basis as an acceptable KYC document under the Telegraph Act,1885 and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act,2002.

• The bill also gives an option to children who are Aadhaar number holders to cancel their Aadhaar number on attaining the age of eighteen years.

• The bill proposes deletion of section 57 of the Aadhaar Act relating to use of Aadhaar by private entities.

• The bill prevents denial of services for refusing to, or being unable to, undergo authentication.

• It provides for the establishment of Unique Identification Authority of India Fund.

• Further,the bill provides for civil penalties, its adjudication,appeal thereof in regard to violations of Aadhaar Act and provisions by entities in the Aadhaar ecosystem.

                                                                                                                                                            Source :- The Hindu

ILS develops antibodies against Chikungunya infection

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Awareness in the fields of bio-technology.

Context :

• The Institute of Life Sciences(ILS) has successfully developed antibodies against the Chikungunya virus(CHIKV) infection.

More about the news:

• The antibodies were developed following decade-long research on the CHIKV infection at the ILS laboratory.

• With no prior antibodies reported against CHIKV,the group was the first to develop antibodies against the non-structural proteins – nsP1,nsP3 and nsP4 of CHIKV.

Significance :

• Generation of antibodies has had significant impact on the progress of CHIKV-based research. It will help researchers unravel myriad aspects of virus pathogenesis.

• This will also pave the way for the development of antiviral drugs and control strategies against the infection.

Chikungunya :

• Chikungunya is a viral disease (genus Alphavirus) which is transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes – including Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus.

• The name chikungunya originates from a verb in the Kimakonde language, meaning 'to become contorted'. This refers to the 'stooped' appearance of those suffering with joint pain.

                                                                                                                      Source :- The Hindu

Passports with advanced security features soon

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential

Context :

• External affairs minister has said that the manufacture of e-passports will be pursued on priority so that a new passport booklet with advanced security features can be rolled out in the near future.

• The minister also said that the ministry is soon going to have a chip based passport.

  • The process for the e-passport was initiated in 2017.

Chip Based Passport :

• The Ministry of External Affairs is soon going to have a chip based passport, the software for which has been developed by IIT-Kanpur and the National Informatics Centre (NIC).

• This passport will have a better quality of paper, better printing and be enabled with advanced security features.

• Also, authorization for floating a three-stage global tender to get the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)-compliant electronic contactless inlays along with its operating system.

• The personal details of the applicants will be digitally signed and stored in the chip.

• According to officials, in case it is tampered, the system will be able to identify it and the passport will not be authenticated.

• The chip is protected in a way that without physical protection, the details cannot be read.

                                                                                                                     Source :- The Hindu

RBI’s customer-complaint processing goes digital

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential

Context :

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched a Complaint Management System (CMS) on its website.

Complaint management System :

• This will now enable the public to lodge their complaints on its website against any of the regulated entities such as commercial banks, urban co-operative banks, and non-banking financial companies.

• This system will be accessible on desktop as well as mobile devices.

• The system provides features such as

  • acknowledgement through SMS/e-mail notification(s),

  • status tracking through unique registration number,

  • Receipt of closure advises, and

  • Filing of appeals, where applicable.

  • It also solicits voluntary feedback on the customer’s experience.

  • The Reserve Bank also plans to introduce a dedicated Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System for tracking the status of complaints.

• The system provides facilities for the generation of a diverse set of reports to monitor and manage grievances by the Regulated Entities.

• They can use the information from CMS for undertaking root cause analyses and initiating appropriate corrective action, if required.

• The CMS also has facilities for RBI officials handling the complaints to track the progress of redressal.

• The information available in CMS could also be used for regulatory and supervisory interventions, if required.

                                                                                                          Source :- Hindu Business Line

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