National Current Affairs – UPSC/IAS Exams- 24th July 2019

Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2019

Topic: Governance

In News: In a bid to save gullible investors from ponzi schemes, Lok Sabha on passed the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2019 that seeks to put in place a mechanism by which poor depositors get back their hard earned money.

More on the Topic: 

• The proposed laws would have provisions to combat three different types of offences running unregulated deposit schemes, fraudulent default in regulated deposit schemes, and wrongful inducement in relation to unregulated deposit schemes.
• It also provides for attachment of properties or assets and subsequent realisation of assets for repayment to depositors. Clear-cut timelines have been provided for attachment of property and restitution to depositors.
• In the recent past, there have been rising instances of people in various parts of the country being defrauded by illicit deposit taking schemes.
• The worst victims of these schemes are the poor and the financially illiterate, and the operations of such schemes are often spread over many States.

About Ponzi scheme:

• It is a form of fraud in which belief in the success of a non-existent enterprise is fostered by the payment of heavy returns to the first investors from money invested by later investors.
• The scheme leads victims to believe that profits are coming from product sales or other means, and they remain unaware that the later investors are the source of their returns.
• A Ponzi scheme can maintain the illusion of a sustainable business as long as new investors contribute to funds and as long as most of the investors do not demand full repayment and still believe in the non-existent assets of the enterprise.

Source: Economic times, Wikipedia

Global innovation ranking

Topic: Important Indices

In News: India has jumped five places to rank 52 in the Global Innovation Index 2019, up from the 57 it had in last year’s rankings. Switzerland continued to top the ranking, China further improved its ranking to 17th position from 20th last year.

More on the Topic:

• India continues to be the most innovative economy in central and southern Asia.
• The report also highlighted that India stands out in the world’s top science and technology clusters, with Bengaluru, Mumbai, and New Delhi featuring among the top 100 global clusters.
• It also outperformed on innovation relative to its GDP per capita for nine consecutive years.
• In the “knowledge and technology outputs” pillar, which saw the highest 11 spot jump, India’s ranking improved for Intellectual Property-related variables and maintained its top position in ICT (information and communications technology) services exports, where it ranks 1st in the world, and in labor productivity growth with 4th position.
• The nation is consistently among the top in the world in innovation drivers such as ICT services exports, Graduates in science & engineering, the quality of universities, Gross capital formation.
• When it comes to quality of innovation which includes quality of local universities, internationalisation of patented inventions and quality of scientific publications, China, India, and the Russian Federation hold the top 3 positions among middle income countries with India ranking 26th globally.
• The performance was weak in logistics performance (down 9 spots to 43rd), Females employed with advanced degrees (down 10 spots to 103rd) and Printing and other media (down 12 spots to 88th).
• It fared poorly in Environmental performance (125), New businesses (100), and Entertainment and media market 60).

About Global Innovation Index:

• The Global Innovation Index (GII) is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for, and success in, innovation.
• It is published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization, in partnership with other organisations and institutions.

Source: PIB, Wikipedia

Swadesh Darshan scheme

Topic: Government schemes

In News: Ministry of Tourism under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme has identified Tirthankar Circuit as one of the fifteen thematic circuits for development in the country. All the sites associated with Jainism are covered under this circuit. It will cover Vaishali-Arrah-Masad-Patna-Rajgir-Pawapuri-Champapuri in Bihar.

About Swadesh Darshan Scheme:

• Ministry of Tourism (MoT) launched the Swadesh Darshan Scheme (Central Sector Scheme) for integrated development of theme based tourist circuits in the country .
• It is 100% centrally funded for the project components undertaken for public funding.
• To leverage the voluntary funding available for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives of Central Public Sector Undertakings and corporate sector.
• Funding of individual project will vary from state to state and will be finalised on the basis of detailed project reports prepared by PMC (Programme Management Consultant).
• Under this scheme, 15 thematic circuits have been identified for development
• They are Buddhist Circuit, North-East India Circuit, Coastal Circuit, Himalayan Circuit, Krishna Circuit, Desert Circuit, Eco Circuit, Wildlife Circuit, Tribal Circuit, Rural Circuit, Spiritual Circuit, Ramayana Circuit ,Heritage Circuit, Sufi and Thirthankar circuit.

Source: PIB, wikipedia.

e-cigarettes

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: The health ministry has taken a call to take nicotine inhalers, also called electronic nicotine delivery systems, off the market.

More on the Topic:

• Vapes or electronic cigarettes operate on the base of nicotine infused liquid contained in hardware powered by a chargeable battery which uses heat to vaporise the liquid and emulate smoke minus particulate matter in paper and tobacco cigarettes.
• Introduced about 10 years ago in India, e-cigarettes rapidly gained popularity, especially among the youth. A misconception among students, parents and teachers that these cigarettes are free of nicotine also contributed to their appeal.
• The reality is that the tobacco industry, hit by the success of the state’s efforts to reduce tobacco use, had developed such products to hold on to customers who would have otherwise quit.
• While the tobacco companies promote e-cigarettes as a ‘less risky’ smoking option, some industry documents show that their real goal is to introduce ENDS products as an alternative to quitting.
• ENDS users are almost at the same risk of contracting lung diseases and cancer as conventional cigarette users. In fact, ‘dual users’ (Conventional cigarette and ENDS)are at greater risk of heart attacks.
• All these points make it clear that the Central government has shown great foresight in bringing out the ban proposal, a move that is likely to avoid causing another epidemic of nicotine addiction in the country.

Source: Hindu, Wikipedia

Gharial

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: Odisha has renewed its effort to revive the population of gharial.

More on the Topic:

• They are critically endangered” species of crocodile.
• Gharials were abundant in the main rivers and tributaries of the Indus, Ganga, Brahmaputra and Mahanadi-Brahmani, are now limited to only 14 widely spaced and restricted locations in India and Nepal.
• Odisha is the only State in India having all three specie of crocodile nalgharial, mugger and saltwater crocodile.
• The Odisha State forest department began conservation of these crocodile species in 1975 by establishing three rearing centres namely Tikarpada for gharials ,Ramatirtha for muggers in Mayurbhanj and Bhitarkanika for saltwater crocodiles.
• National Chambal Sanctuary and Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary are protected areas for gharials.

Source: Hindu, Wikipedia

Milky Way

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: New studies shows that The Milky Way, home to our sun and billions of other stars, merged with another smaller galaxy Gaia-Enceladus, in a colossal cosmic collision roughly 10 billion years ago.

More on the Topic:

• Galaxies of all types, including the Milky Way, began to form relatively soon after the Big Bang explosion that marked the beginning of the universe some 13.8 billion years ago, but were generally smaller than those seen today and were forming stars at a rapid rate.
• Subsequent galactic mergers were instrumental in configuring galaxies existing now.
• High-precision measurements of the position, brightness and distance of around a million stars within 6,500 light years of the sun, obtained by the Gaia space telescope, helped pinpoint stars present before the merger and those that formed afterward.
• Certain stars with higher content of elements other than hydrogen or helium arose in the Milky Way, they found, and others with lower such content originated in Gaia-Enceladus, owing to its smaller mass. While the merger was dramatic and helped shape the Milky Way, it was not a star-destroying calamity.

About Milky Way:

• Milky Way is just one of many galaxies.
• The Milky Way contains at least 100 billion stars and its centre contains an intense radio source believed to be the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A.
• The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy’s appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye.
• From Earth, the Milky Way appears as a band because its disk-shaped structure is viewed from within.
• Stars and gases at a wide range of distances from the Galactic Center orbit at approximately 220 kilometers per second.
• The general assumption is that much (about 90%) of the mass of the Milky Way is invisible to telescopes, neither emitting nor absorbing electromagnetic radiation. This conjectural mass has been termed “dark matter.”

Source: Hindu, Space.com

Challenges to Nagaland’s RIIN Initiative

Topic: Governance

In News: The Nagaland government has initiated a move to compile a Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN). Various stake holders expressed concerns on this matter.

More on the Topic:

Naga peace talks:

• The negotiators engaged in the ongoing Naga peace talks could now articulate new and hardened positions.
• The talks on the contentious issue of integration of contiguous Naga-inhabited areas (of Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh) could take pace now.
• The National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) is engaged in peace talks with the government of India since 1997.
• The self-styled government of the People’s Republic of Nagalim is the parallel government run by the NSCN(I-M).
• This has opposed the compilation of RIIN, saying that all Nagas, wherever they are, were indigenous in their land by virtue of their common history.
• So it sees the RIIN process as being contradictory to the inherent rights of the Nagas.

Cut-off date:

• Since 1977, to be eligible to obtain a certificate of indigenous inhabitants of Nagaland, a person has to fulfil either of the below conditions:
• The person must be settled permanently in Nagaland prior to December 1, 1963
• His or her parents or legitimate guardians were paying house tax prior to the cut-off date (December 1, 1963)
• The applicant, or his/her parents or legitimate guardians, acquired property and a patta (land certificate) prior to this cut-off date
• The compilation of RIIN involves the complexities of deciding on the claims of the children of non-Naga fathers as well as non-Naga children adopted by Naga parents.
• In this regard, the Nagaland government may choose to go ahead with the above cut-off date.
• In such case, all Naga people who have migrated to the State after this day will have to be excluded.
• These include migrants from the neighbouring Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh and elsewhere in India.
• The public opinion is still divided on compiling RIIN without a consensus on the cut-off date.

ILP :

• There is a proposal to link RIIN with the ILP (Inner Line Permit) system.
• [The ILP is a travel document issued by the government of India to allow a ‘domestic tourist’ to enter Nagaland, and is valid for 30 days.]
• The complexity is that unless otherwise officially clarified, the RIIN proposal may require large numbers of non-indigenous inhabitants to obtain an ILP to carry out day-to-day activities.
• Notably, most of them are migrated ones from other States and have been carrying out trade, business and other activities for decades, especially in the Dimapur district.

Certificates:

• There is the limitation of non-issuance of domicile certificates or permanent residence certificates to a large number of non-Naga, non-indigenous inhabitants.
• This could also make the RIIN task even more difficult for the Nagaland government.

Model Mains Question: Comment on Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN) initiative and the challenges ahead of Nagaland’s government.