National Current Affairs – UPSC/KAS Exams- 27th December 2018

Andhra Pradesh, Telangana to have separate High Courts

Topic: Polity and Governance

IN NEWS:  Following a Supreme Court order to the Centre to notify the bifurcation of the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana High Courts by January 1, President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday ordered the separation of the “common” Hyderabad High Court into the two separate High Courts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

More on the Topic:

• The Presidential notification quoted Article 214 of the Constitution which provides that there shall be a High Court for each State.
• The Presidential notification pointed out that under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, both States were to have a common high court, till separate ones were formed.

Procedure for formulating High courts:

• High Court can be formed as per the procedure prescribed in Article 214, 216, and 217 of the Constitution of India.
• Article 214 provides that every State shall have a High Court, however, Article 231 states that Article 214 shall not be a bar for constituting a common high court for two or more States.
• Although, only Parliament may by law establish a Common High Court for two or more States. This means that, unless Parliament by law establishes a Common High Court for two or more States, every State has to have a High Court, i.e., upon formation of a new State a new High Court is also formed.
• Article 216 provides that every High Court shall consist of a Chief Justice and such other number of judges as the President may from time to time deem necessary to appoint.
• Article 217 relates to appointment of HC judges. Every judge of an HC is appointed on the recommendation of a SC Collegium by the President. Although the provisions says that after consultation with CJI, Governor of that State, and the CJ of that HC, but SC rulings have made recommendation of SC Collegium consisting of CJI and 4 seniormost SC judges mandatory in terms of judicial appointments in higher judiciary.

Source: The Hindu

RBI’s economic capital framework

Topic: Indian Economy

IN NEWS: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in consultation with the government, has set up a six-member committee to review the economic capital framework of the central bank.

More on the Topic:

• The terms of reference of the committee would be to review status, need and justification of various provisions, reserves and buffers presently provided for by the RBI, keeping in mind ‘public policy mandate of the RBI, including financial stability considerations.’
• The committee will also review best practices followed by the central banks globally in making assessment and provisions for risks, to which central bank balance sheets are subjected.
• The panel would also suggest an adequate level of risk provisioning that the RBI needs to maintain, and to determine whether it is holding provisions, reserves and buffers in surplus or deficit of the required level.
• The committee would also propose a suitable profit distribution policy taking into account all the likely situations of the RBI, including holding more provisions than required and the RBI holding less provisions than required.

About RBI’s economic capital framework:

• Economic Capital Framework(ECF) is a body of RBI who handle capital requirement for operation.
• ECF amount can be used for critical situation faced by the country. RBI holds ECF reserve 27% , around 9.5 lakh crore as total amount around 34 lakh crore.

Benefits of ECF:

• This amount can be used at the time of economic depression in the country.
• As after much big crisis faced by Indian government like IL & FS and NPA, NBFS. ECF can push more liquidity in the market to handle capital requirement.
• As the central government needs more liquidity in the market to improve the strength of the business. They want to reduce ECF reserve to 14% from 27 %, as the Central government wants more liquidity for MSME, power, banks and etc sector.

Source:The Hindu

Centre tightens rules for e-Commerce

Topic: Indian Economy

In news: The government issued a number of guidelines for e commerce firms.

More on the Topic:

• e-commerce companies would be barred from selling products sourced from firms in which they have stake in or control over.
• 100% FDI under automatic route is permitted in marketplace model of e-commerce but FDI is not permitted in inventory-based model of e-commerce.
• E-commerce marketplace entity will be required to furnish a certificate along with a report of statutory auditor to Reserve Bank of India, confirming compliance of the guidelines, by September 30 every year for the preceding financial year.
• The inventory-based model of e-commerce is when the inventory of goods and services is owned by the e-commerce entity and sold to consumers directly. The marketplace model is when an e-commerce company simply provides an information technology platform in order to act as a facilitator between the buyer and the seller.

Source: The Hindu

New olive ridley nesting site

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In news:   Beach at Bahuda river mouth in Odisha is all set to added as another olive ridley mass nesting site .

More on the Topic:

• This year, a few hundred olive ridleys had nested at Bahuda river mouth . This encouraged the forest department to develop it as a second mass nesting site for the turtles on the Ganjam coast.
• At present, mating olive ridleys are being sighted near the Bahuda rookery. It is being hoped that the turtles will find the beach conducive and their mass nesting number at Bahuda will increase in 2019.
• Marine fishermen in the area have been requested to refrain from using gill nets during fishing as that can kill the turtles.
• Fishermen near Rushikulya rookery do not use such nets. With the support of local residents, efforts are being made to reduce polythene pollution caused by tourists and picnickers at Bahuda river mouth to keep the sand clean for mass nesting.

About Olive Ridley Turtle:

• The olive ridley sea turtle also known as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, are the smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in the world; this species of sea turtle is found in warm and tropical waters, primarily in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. They can also be found in the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
• These turtles, along with the related Kemps ridley turtle, are best known for their unique mass nesting called arribada, where thousands of females come together on the same beach to lay eggs.
• The species is listed as vulnerable under IUCN.

Source:The Hindu

Khelo India Scheme

Topic: Government Policies

In news: The revamped Khelo India Scheme was launched during the financial year 2017-18 with a view to achieving the twin objectives of mass participation and promotion of excellence in sports. The vision of the revamped Khelo India is to infuse sports culture and achieve sporting excellence in the country.

More on the Topic:

• The mission as stated in the revamped scheme is to encourage sports for all thus allowing the population across gender and all age groups to harness the power of sports through its cross-cutting influence, namely, holistic development of children & youth, community development, social integration, gender equality, healthy lifestyle, national pride and economic opportunities related to sports development.
• Under the Khelo India the identified sports talents will be given the option to join SAI National Sports Academies, State Sports Academies or Sports Academies established by private sector.
• Grants-in-aid will be provided for establishment, operation and maintenance of sports academies in respect of identified disciplines to Sports Authority of India, State Governments or to private sector or sports person under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode for facilitating and supplementing Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) programme (for 8 years).
• The best academies might be at National, Regional or State level, both in public and private sector.
• Academies will be identified for need-based support, both recurring and non-recurring, by inviting proposals from suitable entities.
• A system would be developed for rating of academics to facilitate selection of appropriate academics for support. At least one academy for Para Athletes will be supported.

Source: PIB                                          

Neid Scheme

Topic: Government Schemes

In news: North East Industrial Development Scheme (NEIDS), 2017 covers eligible industrial units in the manufacturing and service sectors Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim to promote industrialization and boost employment and income generation. The Scheme is valid from 01.04.2017 to 31.03.2022. More on the Topic:

The scheme provides

•  Central Capital Investment Incentive (30% of the investment in plant & machinery with an upper limit of Rs. 5 crore),
• Central Interest Incentive (3% interest on working capital for 5 years),
• Central Comprehensive Insurance Incentive (Reimbursement of 100% insurance premium for 5 years),
• Income Tax Reimbursement of centre’s share for 5 years,
• GST reimbursement of Central Govt. share of CGST & IGST for 5 years,
• Employment Incentive under which additional 3.67% of the employer’s contribution to EPF in addition to Govt. bearing 8.33% Employee Pension Scheme (EPS) contribution of the employer in PMRPY and
• Transport incentive on finished goods movement by Railways(20% cost of the transportation), by Inland Waterways Authority (20% of the cost of transportation) & by air (33% of cost transportation of air freight) from the station/port/airport nearest to unit to the station/port/airport nearest to the destination point. Also, under this scheme, a single unit can avail overall benefits up to Rs. 200 Crores.

Source: PIB