National Current Affairs – UPSC/IAS Exams- 4th September 2019

Steering Committee on Fintech

Topic: Economy

In News: The Steering Committee on Fintech (Financial Technology) related issues submitted its report to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Recommendations: 

• Adopt regulation technology by all financial sector regulators to develop standards and facilitate adoption by financial services providers.
• Financial sector regulators should develop an institutional framework for specific use-cases of supervisory technology, testing, deployment, monitoring and evaluation.
• A dedicated team on digital economy and fintech should be operationalised in the Investment Division, Department of Economic Affairs for coordination on fintech with relevant ministries.
• Insurance companies and lending agencies should be encouraged to use drone and remote sensing technology for crop area, damage and location assessments to support risk reduction in insurance and lending business.
• Department of Financial Services should work with PSU banks to bring in more efficiency to their work and reduce fraud and security risks.
• A special drive for modernization and standardization of land records should be initiated by setting up a dedicated National Digital Land Records Mission.
• Fintech should be leveraged to enhance financial inclusion of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). In this pursuit, it is recommended that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may consider the development of a cash-flow based financing for MSMEs.
• National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to take immediate steps to create a credit registry for farmers with special thrust for use of fintech.
• A comprehensive legal framework for consumer protection in the context of the rise of fintech and digital services.
• The adoption of Regulation Technology (RegTech) and Supervisory technology (SupTech) by all financial sector regulators.

Source: The Hindu

MUDRA Scheme and Employment

Topic: Government Policies

In News: Recently, Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana Survey has been conducted by the Labour Bureau under the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

More on the Topic:

• The survey studied as many as 97,000 beneficiaries and was conducted between April-November 2018. Its salient findings are:
• Just one out of five beneficiariese. 20.6% from the sample survey availed Mudra loan for setting up a new establishment, the rest used the funds for expanding their existing business.
• A total of Rs 5.71 lakh crore in loans was sanctioned under three categories of Mudra: Shishu, Kishor and Tarun, whereas the average size of a loan was Rs 46,536.

The share of three types of loans out of total loan sanctioned under MUDRA in 2018-17 is as follows:

• Shishu loans: 42%
• Kishor loans: 34%
• Tarun loans: 24%

The share for creation of new jobs by three types of loans under MUDRA in 2018-17 is as follows:

• Shishu loans: 66%
• Kishor loans: 18.85%
• Tarun loans: 15.51%
• The loan extended for every additional job created works out to Rs 5.1 lakh.

Sector-wise additional job creation under MUDRA is:

• Services: 34.34 %
• Trading: 33.23%
• Allied agriculture: 20.33%
• Manufacturing: 11.7 %
• Services and trading accounted for more than two-thirds of the additional jobs created.
• The survey defines “Self Employed” as persons who engaged independently in a profession or trade.
• Employees or hired workers refer to persons engaged, excluding self-employed, by the unit whether for wages or not, in work connected directly or indirectly with the process including all administrative, technical and clerical staff.

Model Mains Question: Comment on the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Mudra Yojana on improving Growth of MSME Sector.

Source: Indian Express

Rabies

Topic: Health

In News: The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has asked manufacturers and marketers to increase the stocks of anti-rabies vaccine to address its shortage.

More on the Topic:

• Rabies is caused by a Ribonucleic Acid(RNA) virus that is present in the saliva of a rabid animal (dog, cat, monkey, etc).
• It is invariably transmitted following a bite of a rabid animal that leads to deposition of the saliva and the virus in the wound.
• The death invariably occurs in four days to two weeks due to cardio-respiratory failure.
• However, the time interval between the bite and occurrence of symptoms/signs of rabies i.e. incubation period varies from four days to two years or rarely even more.
• Thus, it is important to remove the virus from the wound as early as possible by immediately washing the wound with water and soap followed by application of antiseptics that reduce/eliminate chances of nerve infection.
• According to the Health Ministry’s data, India is the hotbed of human rabies.
• India accounts for more than one-third of the world’s rabies deaths.
• Each year, as many as 20,000 people die due to the vaccine-preventable fatality.
• India has a population of 30 million stray dogs which cause 96% of rabies in humans.

Source: PIB

Apache Helicopter

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: Recently, Indian Air Force has formally inducted the AH-64E Apache Attack Helicopter into its inventory at Air Force Station Pathankot.

More on the Topic:

• It is known as attack helicopter and are received from the Boeing production facility in Mesa, Arizona, USA.Apache will replace Russian origin MI-35 helicopters that are on the verge of retirement.
• These are all-weather capable, easily maintainable and have high agility and survivability against battle damage.
• It can carry out precision attacks at standoff ranges and operate in hostile airspace with threats from the ground.
• It can transmit and receive battlefield picture through data uplinking and networking.
• It can also shoot fire and forget anti-tank guided missiles, air to air missiles, rockets while providing versatility to helicopter in network-centric aerial warfare.
• It also carries fire control radar, which has a 360° coverage and nose-mounted sensor suite for target acquisition and night vision systems.

Source: The Hindu

Asiatic Society of Mumbai

Topic: Important Institutions

In News:  Recently, the Asiatic Society of Mumbai, elected it’s 1st woman president (‘Prof. Vispi Balaporia’) in 215 years of its existence.

More on the Topic:

• The Asiatic Society began its journey in 1804 as the Literary Society of Bombay.
• It was founded by ‘Sir James Mackintosh’, a Scottish colonial administrator who had a keen interest in Oriental studies.
• In 1826, the Literary Society became the Mumbai arm of the London-based Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
• It came to be called the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (BBRAS).
• In its early days, membership of the Society was restricted to Europeans and the natives were not allowed to join until 1841.
• In 1954, the institution was severed from its London parent and became the Asiatic Society of Bombay.
• In 2002, it acquired its present name and its journal has been in publication since 1841.
• It’s activities include conducting historical research, awarding historians, and running an institute of post-graduate studies.
• It’s library, home to over 1 lakh books, consists of rare manuscripts contributed to it by the East India Company.
• It also the prized collections of,Original copy of Dante’s Divine Comedy and Coins issued by ‘Kumaragupta’ (5th century), ‘Akbar’ (16th century) and ‘Shivaji’ (17th century).

Source: The Hindu

Asteroid Impact Deflection Assessment (AIDA)

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and European Space Agency (ESA) asteroid researchers and spacecraft engineers, along with other researchers from around the world will meet in Rome and check the progress in the mission which is known as Asteroid Impact Deflection Assessment (AIDA).

More on the Topic:

• This mission aims to deflect the smaller part of a double asteroid dubbed Didymos.
• Didymos was carefully selected due to the relatively small mass and gravities of these bodies, the smaller asteroid orbits its parent at a comparatively low velocity of a few centimetres per second, making it feasible to shift its orbit in a measurable way – something which would not be achievable so precisely with a lone asteroid in a much more rapidly moving solar orbit.
• Double Asteroid Impact Test (DART) by NASA, and Hera by ESA are the important components of the mission.
• DART will collide with the asteroid at speed of 6.6km per second in September 2022. An Italian satellite called Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids (LICIACube) will travel along with DART to monitor the impact.
• After this, Hera will perform “close-up survey of the post-impact asteroid, acquiring measurements such as the asteroid’s mass and detailed crater shape.
• The results provided by Hera will help ascertain the effectiveness of the collision and verify if this experiment can actually be used as a reliable method to dissipate a real threat. Hera will be launched in October 2024 and will reach the asteroid after about two years.

Source: NASA

Terracotta Grinder and Project REPLAN

Topic: Government Initiatives

Why in News: The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has launched Project REPLAN (REducing PLastic in Nature) and the first-ever ‘Terracotta Grinder’ at Varanasi.

More on the Topic:

• Project REPLAN aims to make carry bags by mixing processed and treated plastic waste with cotton fibre rags in the ratio 20:80.
• The made paper is found to have good strength and durability.
• It can be used to make paper bags, fine tissues and other paper-based items.
• Terracotta Grinder will grind the wasted and broken pottery items for re-using in pottery-making.
• It will reduce the cost of production, and will also help to solve the problem of shortage of clays for pottery making.

Source: PIB