National Current Affairs – UPSC/KAS Exams- 26th March 2020

States asked to use cess fund to help construction workers

Topic: Economy

In News: The union government Tuesday asked all states to dip into the ₹52,000 crore Construction Cess fund to give financial and allied benefits to the construction workers through direct benefit transfer (DBT).

More on the Topic:

• The fund could be used to give financial and allied benefits to the construction workers.
• The development comes as Corona outbreak spreads and the country is facing an unprecedented lockdown hampering livelihood of millions of informal workers.
• The Cess fund was collected by the Labour Welfare Boards under the Building and other construction workers (regulation of employment and condition of Services) Act.
• The fund is collected and managed by the state government.
• At present 35 million workers are registered under the Construction welfare Boards.

Background:

• With a near universal lockdown, the construction activity has come to a grinding halt and daily wagers employed in that sector have no source of livelihood.
• India layered labour market comprises of over 470million people and every year an estimated 12 million enter the job market afresh. Of the total labour force more than 90% are in the informal sector.
• A higher unemployment rate due to economic slowdown in the recent past in India, and the present pandemic has been hitting hard the working class.
• Recently, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) had predicted that 25 million jobs could be lost worldwide due to the coronavirus pandemic, but an internationally coordinated policy response can help lower the impact on global unemployment.

Cess: ·         A cess is levied on the tax payable and not on the taxable income. In a sense, for the taxpayer, it is equivalent to a surcharge on tax. ·         A cess can be levied on both direct and indirect taxes. The revenue obtained from income tax, corporation tax, and indirect taxes can be allocated for various purposes. ·         The proceeds of all taxes and cesses are credited in the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI), an account of the Government of India. ·         Unlike a tax, a cess is levied to meet a specific purpose; its proceeds cannot be spent on any kind of government expenditure. While the tax proceeds are shared with the States and Union Territories according to the guidelines by the Finance Commission, the cess proceeds need not be shared with them. ·         Example: clean environment cess, Krishi Kalyan cess

Source: Livemint

Regional Rural Banks

Topic: Government Schemes

In News: The Centre has approved a ₹1,340-crore recapitalisation plan for regional rural banks (RRBs) to improve their capital-to-risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR), strengthening these institutions that are critical to the provision of credit in rural areas.

More on the Topic:

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave its nod for an outlay of ₹670 crore as the central share for the scheme on the condition that the release of the funds will be contingent upon the release of the proportionate share by the sponsor banks.
• This would provide minimum regulatory capital for one more year viz. up to 2020-21 for those RRBs that are unable to maintain the minimum CRAR of 9%. This has been an ongoing scheme since 2011.

Regional rural banks: ·         Regional Rural Banks were established under the provisions of an Ordinance passed in September 1975 and the RRB Act 1976 to provide sufficient banking and credit facility for agriculture and other rural sectors. ·         These were set up on the recommendations of the M. Narasimham Working Group during the tenure of Indira Gandhi’s government with a view to include rural areas into economic mainstream since that time about 70% of the Indian population was of rural orientation. ·         Regional Rural Banks are local level banking organizations operating in different States of India. They have been created with a view to serve primarily the rural areas of India with basic banking and financial services. However, RRBs may have branches set up for urban operations and their area of operation may include urban areas too. ·         The area of operation of RRBs is limited to the area as notified by Government of India covering one or more districts in the State. RRBs also perform a variety of different functions. RRBs perform various functions in following heads: ·         Providing banking facilities to rural and semi-urban areas. ·         Carrying out government operations like disbursement of wages of MGNREGA workers, distribution of pensions etc. ·         Providing Para-Banking facilities like locker facilities, debit and credit cards. ·         Stakeholders: The equity of a regional rural bank is held by the Central Government, concerned State Government and the Sponsor Bank in the proportion of 50:15:35. ·         The RRBs are required to provide 75% of their total credit as priority sector lending.

·         CRAR or Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) is the ratio of a bank’s capital in relation to its risk weighted assets and current liabilities. ·         It is decided by central banks and bank regulators to prevent commercial banks from taking excess leverage and becoming insolvent in the process. ·         The Basel III norms stipulated a capital to risk weighted assets of 8%. ·         However, as per RBI norms, Indian scheduled commercial banks are required to maintain a CRAR of 9%.

Source: Hindu

Coronavirus | Why 21-day lockdown period?

Topic: Health

In News: Rich scientific data has fed the decision to announce a 21-day lockdown period.

More on the topic:

• According to epidemiologists, Virus’ incubation period is 14 days, another week for the residual infection to die out, for the tail end, to be entirely safe, and you arrive at 21 days.
• Covid-19 being a new coronavirus, researchers have estimated that the median incubation period (the time between the entry of virus to the onset of symptoms/ disease) falls within this period.
• This is the most effective way of preventing the spread of the infection from those already infected into the community.
• In the interim, the lockdown or quarantine also creates some breathing space — to convince people of the seriousness of the situation and build positive public opinion, carry out disinfection of all buildings, vehicles and surfaces, and allows hospitals to prepare themselves for the next phase of operations.

Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution, patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in defined populations.

Source: Hindu

Yakshagana

Topic: Culture

In News: More than 900 Yakshagana scripts, including the ones printed in 1905 and 1907, have now been digitised and made available online for free.

More on the Topic:

• The ‘Prahlada Charitre’ printed in 1905 and ‘Ramashwamedha’ printed of 1907, ‘Putrakamesti’ published of 1913, ‘Kanakangi Kalyana’ of 1929, Kumudhwati Kalyana of 1931 and Sampoorna Ramayana printed in 1938 are among the ones digitised.

Yakshagana: ·         Yakshagana is a traditional theatre form that combines dance, music, dialogue, costume, make-up, and stage techniques with a unique style and form. ·         Yakshagana literally means the song (gana) of the yaksha (nature spirits). It developed in Udupi, in the state of Karnataka. It is popular in the Karnataka. ·         This folk art is believed to have originated somewhere in between the 10th and 16th century. ·         Yakshagana is strongly influenced by the Vaishnava Bhakti movement. Its stories are mainly drawn from Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavata and other Hindu epics. ·         A typical Yakshagana performance consists of background music played by a group of musicians (known as the himmela); and a dance and dialog group (known as the mummela), who together enact poetic epics on stage. ·         Yakshagana is traditionally presented from dusk to dawn.

Source: Hindu

Germany’s Kurzarbeit scheme

Topic: Economy

In News: Amid the all-round disruption caused to the economy by the novel coronavirus outbreak, a concern across the world is the possibility of loss of jobs. To address such concerns, one of the most talked scheme is Kurzarbeit, Germany’s existing scheme that provides for partial compensation for a worker’s earnings in such situations, and now modified to account for the current crisis.

More on the Topic:

• Kurzarbeit is German for “short-work”. The policy provides for a short-time work allowance, called kurzarbeitgeld, which partially compensates for lost earnings during uncertain economic situations.
• The policy was rolled out during the 2008 economic crisis while its origins date back as far as the early 20th century, before and after World War I.
• The Kurzarbeit scheme aims to address workers who are impacted by loss of income due to shortened work hours during such times.
• They can apply for short-term work benefits under the scheme, with the government stepping in to pay employees a part of their lost income.
• This helps the companies retain their employees instead of laying them off, and allows the latter to sustain themselves for a period of up to 12 months.

Quantum of payment:

• Payment under Kurzarbeit is calculated on the basis of net loss of earnings. As per Germany’s Federal Agency for Work, short-time employees generally receive about 60 per cent of the flat-rate net wage, In case there is at least one child in the house of the short-time worker, he/she receives 67 per cent of the flat-rate net wage.

Source: Indian Express

Relocate Desalination plant project :Gulf of Mannar

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: The Ministry of Environment and Forests’ Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) has directed the Tamil Nadu Water and Drainage Board (TWAD) to shift its project site for setting up a 60 MLD Sea and Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) plant away from the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park.

More on the Topic:

• The EAC noted that the project site is within the eco-sensitive zone of the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park and approximately only about 25 metres from its boundary.
• It was observed that fishermen are dependent on the Gulf of Mannar for their livelihood and the release of brine certainly will impact not only the fish catch but also reefs, seaweeds, seagrass and the overall ecosystem of the area.
• The EAC also found that no detailed marine environmental impact assessment had been carried out for the project and the EIA report that was submitted before it had no information on the impact of the proposed project on the marine ecosystem, including flora, fauna, coral reefs among others.
• **Expert appraisal committees (EAC) exist at the Union as well as state levels (state expert appraisal committee or SEAC) to advise the government on environmental clearance of development projects

Brine, also known as concentrate or reject, is the highly concentrated saline water produced as a by-product in desalination processes.

Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve:

• The Gulf of Mannar is a large shallow bay forming part of the Laccadive Sea in the Indian Ocean. It lies between the west coast of Sri Lanka and the southeastern tip of India, in the Coromandel Coast region.
• The chain of low islands and reefs known as Ramsethu, also called Adam’s Bridge, which includes Mannar Island, separates the Gulf of Mannar from Palk Bay, which lies to the north between Sri Lanka and India.
• The dugong (sea cow) is found here.
• The Gulf of Mannar is known to harbour over 3,600 species of flora and fauna, making it one of the richest coastal regions in Asia. 117 hard coral species have been recorded in the Gulf of Mannar. Sea turtles are frequent visitors to the gulf as are sharks, dugongs, and dolphins.

Source: Hindu