One Nation One Ration Card - inter-State portability                                               

Every child will now get Rotavirus Vaccine                                                               

Samagra Shiksha-Jal Suraksha’ Drive                                                                       

Home buyers can start bankruptcy cases against errant builders                         

Centre will not touch Article 371F, Sikkim CM assures people                               

Ocean warming, overfishing increase methylmercury toxin in fish                        

Govt announces revised procedure for angel tax assessment of start-ups          

RBI task force submits report on offshore rupee markets                                       

One Nation One Ration Card - inter-State portability

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context :

• In a major step towards achieving ‘One Nation One Ration Card’, Union Minister inaugurated inter-State portability in two clusters of adjoining States of Andhra Pradesh & Telangana and Gujarat & Maharashtra.

Intra - state Portability:

• seven states -- Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan and Tripura -- at present are testing intra-portability of ration card, which means beneficiaries can lift their quota of ration from any PDS located within a state.

1. By January 2020, these 11 states will be formed as one grid where ration card will be made portable. It means beneficiaries can buy ration from any one of these 11 states

2. All other states and UTs shall be integrated in a phased manner.

• The government is targeting to roll out 'One Nation, One Ration Card' across the country by 1 June, 2020.

Benefits :

• This move will enable beneficiaries from either States’ cluster to avail the benefits accruing to them under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) from any of the two States.

• The move is especially beneficial for migrant population of the country who move from one part of the country to another in search of employment, for marriage, etc.

                                                                                                                                                        Source :- PIB

Every child will now get Rotavirus Vaccine

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Context :

• The Government has been decided to provide Rotavirus vaccine to every child across all 36 states and UTs by September, 2019.

More in the news:

• The government has decided to provide Rotavirus vaccine to every child in 36 states and UTs.

• This is in accordance with the government’s commitment to end morbidity and mortality in children due to diarrhoea by 2022.

Key facts and Datas:

• In India, every year 37 out of every 1000 children born are unable to celebrate their 5th birthday, and one of the major reasons for this is diarrheal deaths.

• Out of all the causes of diarrhoea, rotavirus is a leading cause of diarrhoea in children less than 5 years of age.

• It is estimated that rotavirus cause 8,72,000 hospitalizations; 32,70,000 outpatient visits and estimated 78,000 deaths annually in India.

• Rotavirus diarrhoea presents in similar manner like any other diarrhoea but can mainly be prevented through rotavirus vaccination.

Rotavirus Vaccine in India :

• Rotavirus vaccine was introduced in 2016 in a phased manner.

• Starting with 4 states, it expanded to 11 states by 2018.

• Currently, it is available in 28 states.

                                                                                                                                                      Source :- PIB

Samagra Shiksha-Jal Suraksha’ Drive

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT  - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

• Union HRD Minister and Union Minister for Jal Shakti launched ‘Samagra Shiksha-Jal Suraksha’ drive for school students.

‘Samagra Shiksha-Jal Suraksha’ :

• The Department of School Education & Literacy, MHRD has launched the ‘Samagra Shiksha-Jal Suraksha’ drive.

1. to promote water conservation activities for School Students, so that they can become competent, conscientious and committed water citizens of our nation.

• The Department has prepared a detailed outline to implement this programme in all the schools of the country.

5 Major Objectives of this Drive :

• To educate Students learn about conservation of water

• To sensitize Students about the impact of scarcity of water

• To empower Students to learn to protect the natural sources of water

• To help every Student to save at least one litre of water per day

• To encourage Students towards judicious use and minimum wastage of water at home and school level

                                                                                                                                              Source :- PIB

Home buyers can start bankruptcy cases against errant builders

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.

Context :

• The Supreme Court has upheld a central law ( Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code(IBC)) which empoweres harassed home buyers to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against errant real estate builders.

• The SC has approved homebuyers’ status as financial creditors.

More in the news:

• A three-judge Bench led by Justice Rohinton Nariman confirmed the constitutional validity of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Second Amendment) Act of August 2018.

1. The Act gives home buyers the status of “financial creditors” with power to vote in the Committee of Creditors.

• The SC asserted that the IBC and the RERA operate in different spheres and can be used harmoniously for the interest of home buyers.

1. The IBC deals with the replacement of the bankrupt builder from the helm of affairs and hit upon a resolution plan to benefit all the stakeholders.

2. The RERA’s purpose is to protect individual homebuyers by requiring the promoter to strictly adhere to the purchase deal and complete the project within a stated period.

• The court further reasoned that no home buyer would frivolously move the National Company Law Tribunal under the IBC, because ironing out a resolution plan under the IBC is a long-drawn process.

• The court further directed the Centre to fill up the vacancies in the NCLT and its appellate tribunals so as to deal with the rising number of bankruptcy litigation in the real estate sector.

Significance of the Judgement :

• The judgment gains significance as many real estate builders have been under fire for incomplete projects leaving homebuyers in dire straits.

• The Act had brought the home buyers on par with the creditor banks of the property builder.

• Prior to the law, the home buyers were often left in the lurch. They were made to wait for a solution to come up, either in the form of a completed apartment or a refund.

• Now, an aggrieved homebuyer has the option to seek relief under three laws—Rera, Consumer Protection Act and IBC.

                                                                                                                                      Source :- The Hindu

Centre will not touch Article 371F, Sikkim CM assures people

GS PAPER - 02 POLITY - Indian Constitution- historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure.

Context :

• Sikkim Chief Minister has said that the Centre had assured that Article 371F would remain intact and safe.

Background :

• Opposition parties in Sikkim on Tuesday sought an assurance from the Centre that the state's special status enshrined under the Article 371(F) will not be disturbed following the revoking of provisions of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

Article 371(F) :

• Article 371F bestows on Sikkim government the right of ownership of all land in the state, even if it was owned by private individuals prior to the state’s merger with India.

• The same Constitutional provision mandates a four-year term for the Sikkim state assembly, though assembly elections in the state have violated that clause as they have been held every 5 years.

• Moreover, Article 371F states that “neither the Supreme Court nor any other court shall have jurisdiction in respect of any dispute or other matter arising out of any treaty, agreement, engagement or other similar instrument relating to Sikkim”,however, a specific condition allows the President to step in if the need arises related to constitutional law.

                                                                                                                                           Source :- The Hindu

 Ocean warming, overfishing increase methylmercury toxin in fish

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

• According to a study published in the journal Nature, increase in sea temperatures and overfishing impacts the level of methylmercury in fish.

Key Highlights :

• The study observed there has been up to 23% increase in methylmercury concentration in Atlantic cod fish in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean.

• The amount of methylmercury in fish higher in the food chain can change due to two reasons — ocean warming and dietary shifts due to overfishing by humans.

• The increase in the methylmercury concentration in codfish has been due to changes in the diet caused by overfishing.

• As a result of diet change, cod fish relied more on larger herring and lobster, which have higher concentrations of methylmercury.

• The study further noted that ocean warming causes changes in the methylmercury accumulation in fish. This is because fish metabolism is temperature dependent.

• The Gulf of Maine is one of the fastest warming bodies of water in the world. The researchers found that between 2012 and 2017, methylmercury levels in Atlantic Bluefin tuna increased by 3.5% per year despite decreasing emissions of mercury.

• Methylmercury is a harmful neurotoxicant. It causes central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) damage.

                                                                                                                                          Source :- The Hindu

Govt announces revised procedure for angel tax assessment of start-ups

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY- mobilization of resources.

Context :

• Giving a relief to startups, the government has laid out a procedure to address pending angel tax assessments.

1. The procedure has followed the announcement made by the Finance Minister in Budget 2019-20. The Finance Minister proposed a host of incentives, including a special arrangement for resolution of pending assessments of income tax cases, with a view to encouraging startups.

New Procedure :

• No verification will be done by an assessing officer if a startup has been recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and the case is selected under limited scrutiny.

1. If a startup is not recognised by the DPIIT, then too the inquiry would be carried out after the approval of a supervisory officer.

2. In the event that a startup is recognised by DPIIT, but the assessing officers are scrutinising it for multiple issues, the officials cannot pursue scrutiny under an anti-evasion provision of the Income Tax Act, 1961, in its assessment proceedings.

• The applicability of angel tax would not be pursued during the assessment proceedings and "inquiry or verification with regard to other issues in such cases shall be carried out by the assessing officer only after obtaining approval of his/her supervisory officer.     

                                                                                                                                                            Source :- Business Standard

RBI task force submits report on offshore rupee markets

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.

Context :

• The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) task force, chaired by Usha Thorat, set up to examine the issues relating to the offshore rupee markets has submitted its report to the governor, the central bank.

Background :

• The Task Force was set up to examine the issues relating to the offshore Rupee markets and recommend appropriate policy measures while factoring in the requirement of ensuring stability of the external value of the Rupee including measures for incentivising non-residents to access the onshore foreign exchange market.

Key Recommendations :

• The key recommendations of the task force include extending onshore market hours to improve access of overseas users and permitting Indian banks to freely offer prices to global clients around the clock.

1. Banks should be allowed to freely offer prices to non-residents at all times either by a domestic sales team or by using staff located at overseas branches.

2. Also, wide access to the forex-retail trading platform to non-residents would be a major incentive to use the onshore market.

• Enabling rupee derivatives (settled in foreign currency) to be traded in the International Financial Services Centers (IFSC)in India.

• To allow users to undertake forex transactions up to USD 100 million in over the counter (OTC) currency derivative market without the need to establish underlying exposure (security that must be delivered when a derivative contract is exercised).

• To facilitate non-residents to hedge their foreign exchange exposure onshore by:

1. Establishing a central clearing and settlement mechanism for non-resident transactions in the onshore market;

2. Implementing margin requirements for non-centrally cleared OTC derivatives and allowing Indian banks to post margins abroad;

3. Aligning the tax treatment of foreign exchange derivatives with that in major international centres; and

4. Centralising the KYC requirements across financial markets with uniform documentation requirement.

                                                                                                                                                                                     Source :- Indian Express

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