Daily Prelims Notes 14 May 2021

May 14, 2021
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

Daily Prelims Notes

14 May 2021

Table Of Contents

Subject : Governance

Context : Union Home Ministry said that people in the 18-44 age group living in semi-urban and rural areas could make use of Common Service Centres (CSC) to register on the CoWin platform for their shot.

Concept :

Common Services Centers (CSCs) are a strategic cornerstone of the Digital India programme. They are the access points for delivery of various electronic services to villages in India, thereby contributing to a digitally and financially inclusive society.
They are multiple-services-single-point model for providing facilities for multiple transactions at a single geographical location.
They are the access points for delivery of essential public utility services, social welfare schemes, healthcare, financial, education and agriculture services, apart from host of B2C services to citizens in rural and remote areas of the country.

CSCs enable the three vision areas of the Digital India programme:

Digital infrastructure as a core utility to every citizen.
Governance and services on demand.
Digital empowerment of citizens.

Significance of CSCs:

CSCs are more than service delivery points in rural India. They are positioned as change agents, promoting rural entrepreneurship and building rural capacities and livelihoods.
They are enablers of community participation and collective action for engendering social change through a bottom-up approach with key focus on the rural citizen.

CSC 2.0 Scheme:

Based on the assessment of CSC scheme, the Government launched the CSC 2.0 scheme in 2015 to expand the outreach of CSCs to all Gram Panchayats across the country.
Under CSC 2.0 scheme, at least one CSC will be set up in each of the 2.5 lakh GPs across the country by 2019. CSCs functioning under the existing scheme will also be strengthened and integrated with additional 1.5 lakh CSCs across the country.

2. SWAMIH

Subject : Government Schemes

Context : The residential project – ‘Rivali Park’, situated in suburban Mumbai, was the first housing project in the country to have received funding under the government’s SWAMIH Fund.

Concept :

SWAMIH(Special Window for Affordable and Mid-Income Housing) Investment Fund has been formed to complete construction of stalled, RERA-registered affordable and mid-income category housing projects which are stuck due to paucity of funds.
The fund was set up as a Category-II AIF (Alternate Investment Fund) debt fund registered with SEBI.
The Investment Manager of the Fundis SBICAP Ventures, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SBI Capital Markets, which in turn is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the State Bank of India.
The Sponsor of the Fundis the Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India on behalf of the Government of India.

Who will be the investors of the fund?

AIFs created/funded under the Special Window would solicit investment into the fund from the Government and other private investors including cash-rich financial institutions, sovereign wealth funds, public and private banks, domestic pension and provident funds, global pension funds and other institutional investors.

3. CBI DIRECTOR APPOINTMENT

Subject : Governance

Context: PM Modi-led panel to decide next CBI chief, Rakesh Asthana, YC Modi among frontrunners.

Concept :

The CBI is headed by a Director.
The Director of CBI as Inspector General of Police, Delhi Special Police Establishment, is responsible for the administration of the organisation.
With the enactment of CVC Act, 2003, the superintendence of Delhi Special Police Establishment vests with the Central Government to save investigations of offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, in which, the superintendence vests with the Central Vigilance Commission.
The Director of CBI has been provided security of two-year tenure in office by the CVC Act, 2003.

Appointment:

The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act (2013) amended the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act (1946) and made the following changes with respect to appointment of the Director of CBI:
The Central Government shall appoint the Director of CBI on the recommendation of a three-member committee consisting of the Prime Minister as Chairperson, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India or Judge of the Supreme Court nominated by him.
Later, the Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Act, 2014 made a change in the composition of the committee related to the appointment of the Director of C.B.I.
It states that where there is no recognized leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, then the leader of the single largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha would be a member of that committee.

4. INDICATIVE NOTES

Subject : Polity

Context : Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana launched a new feature in the Supreme Court’s official website called ‘Indicative Notes’.

Concept :

This feature is aimed at providing concise summaries of landmark judgments in an easy-to-understand format.
This will serve as a useful resource for media persons and the general public who wish to be better informed about the rulings of the court.
SC was also actively considering the proposal to live telecast proceedings of the Supreme Court, but there would have to be a consensus among the judges before concrete steps were initiated in this regard.

5. NRC

Subject : Governance

Context : Assam State National Register of Citizens (NRC) Coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma has petitioned the Supreme Court seeking a comprehensive re-verification of the draft NRC, saying it was needed in view of the serious irregularities detected in the final draft as well as the supplementary list.

Concept :

About NRC

The NRC is the list of Indian citizens and was prepared in 1951, following the census of 1951.
The process of NRC update was taken up in Assam as per a Supreme Court order in 2013.
In order to wean out cases of illegal migration from Bangladesh and other adjoining areas, NRC updation was carried out under The Citizenship Act, 1955, and according to rules framed in the Assam Accord.
It set March 25, 1971, as the cut-off date for the deportation of illegal migrants.
Since the cut-off date prescribed under articles 5 and 6 of the Constitution was July 19, 1949 – to give force to the new date, an amendment was made to the Citizenship Act, 1955, and a new section was introduced.
It was made applicable only to Assam.

6. TRAI

Subject : National Organisations

Context : Jio tops in 4G download speed, Vodafone in upload in April: Trai

Concept :

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

It was established by an Act of Parliament (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997) to regulate telecom services, including fixation/revision of tariffs for telecom services.
It provides a fair and transparent policy environment which promotes a level playing field and facilitates fair competition.
The TRAI Act was amended to establish a Telecommunications Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) to take over the adjudicatory and disputes functions from TRAI.
TDSAT was set up to adjudicate any dispute between a licensor and a licensee, between two or more service providers, between a service provider and a group of consumers, and to hear and dispose of appeals against any direction, decision or order of TRAI.

7. VENTURE CAPITAL FUND

Subject : Economics

Context : India received venture capital and private equity investments worth $7.5 billion across 67 deals in April, a sixfold rise over the same month last year on low base effect, as per the Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association-EY report.

Concept :

Entrepreneurs need investments for their start-up companies. The investments or the capital that these entrepreneurs receive from wealthy investors is called Venture Capital and the investors are called Venture Capitalists.
VC firms reduce the risk of investments by co-investing with other VC firms. Usually, there will be the main investor called the ‘lead investor’ and other investors will be called ‘followers’.

How does Venture Capital Fund work?

Venture Capital Fund is made up of investments from wealthy individuals or companies who give their money to a VC firm to manage their investment portfolios for them and to invest in high-risk start-ups in exchange for equity.
The basic idea is to invest in a company’s balance sheet and infrastructure.
Venture Capitalist nurtures the idea of an entrepreneur for a short period of time and exits with the help of an investment banker.
In a start-up company, VC will receive an equity partnership in exchange for investments in the start-up company.
VC’s receive liquidation preference, it means in the worst-case scenario where the company fails, VCs are given the first claim to all the company’s assets and technology.
It also offers voting rights over key decisions like Initial Public Offer (IPO) or even sale of the company.

8. HOUSING FINANCE COMPANIES vs BANKS

Subject : Economy

Context : Even as Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) have come under the direct supervision of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) since August 2019, existing home loan customers are getting differential treatment from banks and HFCs.

Concept :

Over the last 18 months to 5 years, if bank customers have seen better transmission of rate cuts in their home loan rates on account of cut in marginal cost of lending rate (MCLR), HFC customers have had limited benefit because of relatively smaller cuts in the prime lending rate (PLR).
While HFCs and banks compete hard on rates to attract new customers, the cut in rates for existing customers depends on the reduction in MCLR by banks and in PLR by HFCs in response to a repo cut by RBI.
HFCs base their lending rates on PLR and offer a discount on it to customers. While the discount is fixed for the term of the loan, an upward or downward revision in PLR (in line with repo rate movement) impacts the lending rate of the existing customer.
As for new customers, the HFC can increase the discount on the PLR to offer a more attractive rate. A cut in PLR is reflected in the effective rate for the customer within three months.
In the case of banks, lending rates are based on either MCLR or on the repo rate (since October 2019).

Marginal Cost of Lending Rate

It is a benchmark lending rate for floating-rate loans which came into effect in 2016.
This is the minimum interest rate at which commercial banks can lend.
This rate is based on four components—the marginal cost of funds, negative carry on account of cash reserve ratio, operating costs and tenor premium.
MCLR is linked to the actual deposit rates. Hence, when deposit rates rise, it indicates the banks are likely to hike MCLR and lending rates are set to go up.
The transmission of policy rate changes to the lending rate of banks under the current MCLR framework has not been satisfactory.

Prime Lending Rate

A prime rate or prime lending rate is an interest rate used by banks, usually the interest rate at which banks lend to customers with good credit.
Some variable interest rates may be expressed as a percentage above or below prime rate

9. HOUSE ARREST

Subject : Governance

Context : The Supreme Court has thrown open the door to the legislature to “ponder” over the idea of placing convicts under house arrest to avoid overcrowding of prisons.

Concept :

A Bench of Justices U.U. Lalit and K.M. Joseph, in a judgment, highlighted the “alarming” statistics of prisons. The suggestion is relevant considering the spread of COVID-19.
A few days ago, a Bench, led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, issued a series of directions, including the grant of interim bail and parole to prisoners to decongest prisons.
Justice Joseph said the occupancy rate in prisons had climbed to 118.5% in 2019. The court referred to the National Crime Records Bureau’s figures of 2019 to show that 18,86,092 inmates were admitted in jails.
The number of under trial prisoners in 2019 was 3,30,487, which, in fact, constituted 69.05% of the total number of prisoners. Secondly, a very large sum (₹1 crore) was the budget for prisons.
The “tremendous” overcrowding of prisons and the huge budget were both “relevant in the context of the possibilities that house arrest offers”, the court noted.

Background

There is a “long” history of house arrests starting with that of St. Paul the Apostle in Rome.
Societies found in Poland, South Korea, India, and the Soviet Union are known to employ ‘house arrest’ primarily to deal with troublesome political dissenters. ‘House arrest’ in India has its roots in laws providing for preventive detention.