Daily Prelims Notes 26 March 2021

March 26, 2021
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

Daily Prelims Notes

26 March 2021

Table Of Contents

Subject: Environment

Context: Sundari has left but Satkosia Tiger Reserve management still nurses hope of revival of the inter-State tiger reintroduction project.

Concept:

Satkosia Tiger Reserve, Bhubaneswar comprises two adjoining sanctuaries of central Odisha named as Satkosia Gorge Sanctuary and Baisipalli Sanctuary.
It is located in the Angul district of Odisha where the Mahanadi River passes through a 22 km long gorge in the Eastern Ghats mountains. The area is also a part of the Mahanadi elephant reserve.
These two sanctuaries together covering an area of 963.87 sq km were notified as Tiger Reserve in December 2007.
Lying in a transitional zone extending between the Chhota Nagpur Plateau and the Deccan Plateau, the tiger reserve exhibits endemic life forms of both biotic provinces.

Flora and Fauna:

The area supports moist deciduous forest, dry deciduous forest and moist peninsular Sal forest.
This area is the home for Tiger, Leopard, Elephant, Gaur, Chousingha, Sloth bear, Wild dog, varieties of resident and migratory birds, reptilian species, etc.

2. Index FRAMEWORK

Subject: Defence

Context: Starting-up for defence: Government plans to fund at least 250 defence start-ups.

Concept:

iDEX is an initiative taken by the government to contribute towards modernization of the Defence Industry.
To reduce India’s reliance on defence imports, the defence ministry launched the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) initiative.It was launched by the Government in April 2018.
The ministry has earmarked Rs 500 crore to support MSMEs and start-ups through the iDEX.
iDEX aims to promote innovation and technology development in Defence and Aerospace by engaging Industries (which includes MSMEs, start-ups, individual innovators, R&D institutes & academia).
iDEX will provide the engaging industries with funding and other support to carry out Research & Development.
iDEX will be funded and managed by Defence Innovation Organization (DIO), and will function as the executive arm of DIO.

3. UIDAI

Subject: National Organisations

Context: Senior bureaucrat Saurbah Garg has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) as part of a bureaucratic reshuffle effected by the Centre.

Concept:

The Unique Identification Authority of India or UIDAI is an agency under the central government of India mandated to collect demographic and biometric information of the country’s residents, store the data in a central database.
The UIDAI is mandated to assign a 12-digit unique identification (UID) number (Aadhaar) to all the residents of India
UIDAI was established as per the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016. The act is also called the Aadhaar Act 2016 in short.
It comes under the Electronics & IT ministry.
As per the 2016 Act, UIDAI is accountable for the authentication and enrolment of Aadhaar, and also to safeguard the data protection of identity information of individuals.

4. NATIONAL BANK FOR FINANCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE & DEVELOPMENT

Subject : National organisations / Legislations

Context : Parliament passes bill to set up National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development.

Concept :

The NaBFID Bill, 2021 was introduced in Lok Sabha on March 22, 2021.
The Bill seeks to establish the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NBFID) as the principal development financial institution (DFIs) for infrastructure financing.

What are DFIs?

DFIs are set up for providing long-term finance for such segments of the economy where the risks involved are beyond the acceptable limits of commercial banks and other ordinary financial institutions.
Unlike banks, DFIs do not accept deposits from people.
They source funds from the market, government, as well as multi-lateral institutions, and are often supported through government guarantees.

5. INNOVATORS GROWTH PLATFORM FRAMEWORK

Subject : Current Events

Context: Sebi makes it easier for startups to list on Innovators Growth Platform. It has reduced the requirement for issuers to have 25% of pre-issue capital held by eligible investors to one year from two years.

Concept :

Securities and Exchange Board of India launched ‘Innovators Growth Platform’ erstwhile known as ‘Institutional Trading Platform’ for listing of issuers which are in intensive use of technology, information technology, intellectual property, data analytics, bio-technology or nano-technology to provide products, services or business platforms with substantial value addition.
It is a platform on stock exchanges where start-ups can list and trade on their shares.
It is a platform where listing norms such as IPO norms, pre-issue capital etc are eased for start up.

6. PESA

Subject : Polity

Context : 25 years on, many Indian states haven’t implemented a law that empowers Adivasi communities.

Concept :

PESA is a law enacted by Government of India to cover the “Scheduled Areas”, which are not covered in the 73rd Constitutional amendment.
This particular act extends the provisions of Part IX to the Scheduled Areas of the country. PESA brought powers further down to the Gram Sabha level.
The Gram Sabha in the Panchayat Act were entrusted with wide ranging powers starting from consultation on land acquisition to that of ownership over minor forest produces and leasing of minor minerals.
PESA became operative at a time when Indian economy was opening up all its frontiers to foreign direct investment.
The mining sector, which is mostly located in the scheduled areas of the country where PESA operates, were made open to MNCs and the Indian Corporate sector for exploitation of mineral resources at a throwaway price.
One of the highlighting features of PESA is its suggestion that, every Gram Sabha shall be competent to safeguard and preserve the traditions and customs of the people, their cultural identity, community resources and the customary mode of dispute resolution.

It has further provided that the Gram Sabha or Panchayats at appropriate level shall have the following powers:

To be consulted on matters of land acquisition and resettlement.
Grant prospecting license for mining lease for minor minerals and concessions for such activities.
Planning and management of minor water bodies.
The power to enforce prohibition or to regulate or restrict the sale and consumption of any intoxicant.
The ownership of minor forest produces.
The power to prevent alienation of land and to restore any unlawfully alienated land of a scheduled tribe.
The power to manage village markets.
The power to exercise control over money lending to scheduled tribes.
While giving such wide-ranging powers to Gram Sabhas or Panchayats, PESA has further given an added responsibility to States that they may endow Panchayats with powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as institutions of self-government.

7. ADJOURNMENT SINE DIE

Subject : Polity

Context : Recently, the Rajya Sabha has been adjourned sine die at the end of the Budget session of Parliament after the Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die which brought the nearly two-month long Budget session to an end.

Concept :

The phenomenon of Adjournment Sine Die means terminating a sitting of Parliament for an indefinite period.
It implies that when the House is adjourned without naming a day for reassembly, it is called adjournment sine die.
The power of adjournment as well as adjournment sine die lies with the presiding officer of the House.
The presiding officer can also call a sitting of the House before the date or time to which it has been adjourned or at any time after the House has been adjourned sine die.
The presiding officer (Speaker or Chairman) declares the House adjourned sine die, when the business of a session is completed.

8. APPOINTMENT OF JUDGES

Subject : Polity

Context : The Supreme Court asked the government to clarify on the status of 55 recommendations made by the Collegium for judicial appointments to High Courts six months to nearly a year-and-a-half ago.

Concept :

Appointment of Judges

Article 124(2) says that the President of India Shall appoint the judges after consultation with such number of Judges of the SC/HC as he deems necessary. For appointment of any Judge of SC (other than CJI), the CJI must be consulted.
The three Judges case of 1981, 1993 & 1998 has formalised the collegium system for the purpose of consultation.
The collegium for appointing SC judge consists of the CJI and 4 senior-most judges of SC.
Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) was set up after the Third Judge Case of 1998 to provide the process of how the Collegium would recommend names to the Executive.
The President of India can either accept the recommendation or send it back for reconsideration. The reconsidered advice must be accepted by the President.

9. GAVI & COVAX

Subject : International Relations

Context : According to Global vaccine alliance GAVI, which runs the COVAX programme, Indian vaccine supplies to lower income countries are being delayed “as the Government of India battles a new wave of COVID-19 infections”.

Concept :

About COVAX

COVAX is one of three pillars of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, which was launched in April 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Commission and France in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The ACT Accelerator is a framework for collaboration to accelerate the development, production, and equitable access to Covid-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines. It is built on three main pillars: Vaccines (COVAX), Therapeutics, Diagnostics.
COVAX is an effort to ensure that people in all corners of the world will get access to Covid-19 vaccines once they are available, regardless of their wealth.
The initial aim is to have 2 billion doses available by the end of 2021, which should be enough to protect high risk and vulnerable people, as well as frontline healthcare workers.
It is co-led by Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), working in partnership with developed and developing country vaccine manufacturers.
The COVAX facility continually monitors the Covid-19 vaccine landscape to identify the most suitable vaccine candidates, based on scientific merit and scalability, and works with manufacturers to incentivise them to expand their production capacity in advance of vaccines receiving regulatory approval.
Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC), a mechanism within the COVAX facility, is to ensure that the 92 middle- and lower-income countries that cannot fully afford to pay for Covid-19 vaccines themselves get equal access to Covid-19 vaccines as higher-income self-financing countries and at the same time.
India is a Gavi beneficiary and will, therefore, receive a certain proportion of the vaccines from the COVAX facility.

GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance

Created in 2000, Gavi is an international organisation – a global Vaccine Alliance, bringing together public and private sectors with the shared goal of creating equal access to new and underused vaccines for children living in the world’s poorest countries.
Its core partners include the WHO, UNICEF, the World Bank and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
In June 2019, the Gavi Board approved a new five-year strategy (‘Gavi 5.0’) with a vision to ‘leave no-one behind with immunisation’ and a mission to save lives and protect people’s health by increasing equitable and sustainable use of vaccines.

Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations

CEPI is a global partnership launched in 2017 to develop vaccines to stop future epidemics.
CEPI was founded in Davos (Switzerland) by the governments of Norway and India, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, and the World Economic Forum.

10. BALLISTIC MISSILE

Subject : Defence

Context : North Korea fired two suspected ballistic missiles into the sea on Thursday in its first substantive provocation to the new U.S. administration of Joe Biden.

Concept :

A ballistic missile follows a ballistic trajectory to deliver one or more warheads on a predetermined target.
A ballistic trajectory is the path of an object that is launched but has no active propulsion during its actual flight (these weapons are guided only during relatively brief periods of flight).
Consequently, the trajectory is fully determined by a given initial velocity, effects of gravity, air resistance, and motion of the earth (Coriolis Force).
Shorter range ballistic missiles stay within the Earth’s atmosphere.
Longer-ranged intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), are launched on a sub-orbital flight trajectory and spend most of their flight out of the atmosphere.

Types of ballistic missiles based on the range

Short-range (tactical) ballistic missile (SRBM): Range between 300 km and 1,000 km.
Medium-range (theatre) ballistic missile (MRBM): 1,000 km to 3,500 km.
Intermediate-range (Long-Range) ballistic missile (IRBM or LRBM): 3,500 km and 5,500 km.
Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM): 5,500 km +.
Ballistic missiles of India: Agni, K-4 (SLBM), Prahaar, Dhanush, Prithvi and Trishul.

11. DIVIDEND POLICY

Subject : Economics

Context: To strengthen corporate governance practices and disclosure requirements, markets regulator SEBI on Thursday decided that the top 1,000 listed firms listed on the stock exchanges should formulate a dividend distribution policy.

Concept :

Dividend policy is an important element in financial management. This policy is associated with financial policies about paying cash dividend in the present or paying an increased dividend at a later stage.
The term dividend denotes to that portion of profit which is distributed among the proprietors/shareholders of the firm.
Whether to issue dividends, and what amount, is determined primarily on the basis of the company’s unappropriated profit (excess cash) and influenced by the company’s long-term generating revenues.