Daily Prelims Notes 2 January 2021

January 2, 2021
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

Daily Prelims Notes 2 January 2021

Table Of Contents

Subject : Economy

Context : Given the need to accelerate hydrocarbon explorations in the country, the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas is considering creating an autonomous body that will mine the data, which is the key for improving India’s strike rate in the sector.

Concept :

At present, all data acquired from exploration and production (E&P) activities in sedimentary basins of the country is stored in the National Data Repository (NDR) in Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH).
Ministry intends to create an autonomous body, in the form of a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 which will retain the brand name of ‘National Data Repository’.

National Data Repository

The National Data Repository (NDR) is an integrated data repository of Exploration and Production (E&P) data of Indian sedimentary basins.
It is hosted at Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) in Noida. The DGH is a technical arm of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG).
The repository offers a unique platform to all E&P Operators, E&P Service Companies, E&P Investors and Academia to delve inside diverse E&P datasets of Indian sedimentary basins.
It is a step towards fulfilment of the Union Government’s ambitious project, which includes setting up of a National Knowledge Hub (NKH) alternatively called as National Knowledge Centre (NKC) in E&P area in coming few years.
The main objective is to set up National Data Repository of reliable exploration and production data for India with provisions for seamless access and online data management.

Proposed Autonomous Body

It is set up by the government for a specific purpose. It is independent in day-to-day functioning, but the government has some control over them.
The government funds them in some way — revenue expenditure, capital expenditure, or both.
The proposed branded NDR will enable acquisition and dissemination of exploration data to all stakeholders.
The intent is to transform NDR to scale up efficiency in data management, share E&P data with wider section of stakeholders, promote exploration activities by providing latest data to update resource mapping, trigger quality data generation and mature into a database platform where data science methods including big data analytics can be used to gain subsurface understanding and mitigate risks in exploration.
According to officials, the proposed NDR will generate, validate, archive, preserve, reproduce and disseminate all data and samples relating to prospecting, exploration, development and production of hydrocarbons.
The body will also promote and facilitate data disclosure, data reporting, data exchange and data trading between the Central Government or its nominee and other parties.
The proposed body will also create and maintain a modern platform for effective application of data analytics, reporting, mapping, and visualization techniques.
It will also encourage new prospecting, exploration, development and production activities by providing high quality and reliable geo-scientific and engineering data.

2. INFLATION EXPECTATIONS OF HOUSEHOLD SURVEY

Subject : Economics

Context : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the launch of the next round of household surveys to capture inflation expectations and consumer confidence, which provide useful inputs for its monetary policy.

Concept :

RBI said it aims to capture subjective assessments on price movements and inflation from about 6,000 households based on their individual consumption baskets across 18 cities.
The survey is conducted regularly across 13 cities — Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna and Thiruvananthapuram. The survey covers about 5,400 respondents across 13 cities.
The survey seeks qualitative responses from households on price changes (general prices as well as prices of specific product groups) in the next three months as well as in the next one year and quantitative responses on current, three-month ahead and one-year ahead inflation rates.
The RBI said the result of the surveys provides useful inputs for monetary policy. The next meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee, the rate-setting panel, is scheduled for February 3-5, 2021.

3. DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES

Subject : Governance

Context : The Finance Ministry has sought feedback from key stakeholders in the financial system on whether compliances under major Acts administered by the Department of Financial Services (DFS) can be rationalised.

Concept:

This exercise is aimed at making the regulatory framework simple and to rationalise the compliance burden for citizens and business.
The ministry, which sought feedback from banks, insurance companies, microfinance institutions and a couple of large non-banking finance companies, said the key objective of this exercise is to provide services in a time-bound, transparent, and predictable manner with minimum human interface.
The major Acts administered by the DFS that are being considered for rationalisation of compliances are: the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act, 1934; the Banking Regulation (BR) Act, 1949; the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) Act, 1999; the Insurance Act, 1938; the Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act, 2005; and the National Housing Bank (NHB) Act, 1987.

About the DFS

The Department of Financial Services covers Banks, Insurance, and Financial Services provided by various government agencies and private corporations.
It also covers pension reforms and Industrial Finance and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise. It started the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana.
PFRDA, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is a statutory body which also works under this department.

4. CENTRAL CONSUMER PROTECTION AUTHORITY

Subject : Governance

Context : Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) Chief Commissioner stated that 2,850 complaints pertaining to “transactions failed/cancelled but money not refunded” forming 20 per cent of grievances registered in the banking sector have been received through the government-run National Consumer Helpline (NCH).

Concept :

Central Consumer Protection Authority

The authority is being constituted under Section 10(1) of The Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
Aim: To protect the rights of the consumer by cracking down on unfair trade practices, and false and misleading advertisements that are detrimental to the interests of the public and consumers.
It will be headquartered in the National Capital Region of Delhi but the central government may set up regional offices in other parts of the country.

Powers and Functions:

Inquire or investigate into matters relating to violations of consumer rights or unfair trade practices suomotu, or on a complaint received, or on a direction from the central government.
Recall goods or withdrawal of services that are “dangerous, hazardous or unsafe.
Pass an order for refund the prices of goods or services so recalled to purchasers of such goods or services; discontinuation of practices which are unfair and prejudicial to consumer’s interest”.
Impose a penalty up to Rs 10 lakh, with imprisonment up to two years, on the manufacturer or endorser of false and misleading advertisements. The penalty may go up to Rs 50 lakh, with imprisonment up to five years, for every subsequent offence committed by the same manufacturer or endorser.
Ban the endorser of a false or misleading advertisement from making endorsement of any products or services in the future, for a period that may extend to one year. The ban may extend up to three years in every subsequent violation of the Act.
File complaints of violation of consumer rights or unfair trade practices before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, and the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.

Composition:

It will have a Chief Commissioner as head, and only two other commissioners as members — one of whom will deal with matters relating to goods while the other will look into cases relating to services.
The CCPA will have an Investigation Wing that will be headed by a Director General.
District Collectors too, will have the power to investigate complaints of violations of consumer rights, unfair trade practices, and false or misleading advertisements.

5. EMERGENCY USE AUTHORIZATION

Subject : Governance

Context : The government-appointed expert panel on Friday emergency use approval for the Oxford University-AstraZeneca Vaccine made and distribute by the Serum Institute of India.

Concept :

After Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) gives its approval India too will likely begin the mass immunisation programme with a dosing regimen that had shown an efficacy rate of 62 Percent.
AstraZeneca had said its vaccine had shown 90% efficacy in a small subset of volunteers — none older than 55 administered with a half dose followed by a full dose a month.

Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA)

Vaccines and medicines, and even diagnostic tests and medical devices, require the approval of a regulatory authority before they can be administered.
In India, the regulatory authority is the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation(CDSCO).
The approval is granted after an assessment of their safety and effectiveness, based on data from trials. In fact, approval from the regulator is required at every stage of these trials.
This is a long process, designed to ensure that medicine or vaccine is absolutely safe and effective.
The fastest approval for any vaccine until now — the mumps vaccine in the 1960s — took about four-and-a-half years after it was developed.

Accelerated Approval Process in India

Under this process, a new drug is approved based on data generated in clinical trials. The Rules provide a relaxation for skipping Phase III clinical trials, which crucially test for a vaccine or drug’s efficacy in preventing disease in the local population.
Phase III trial is allowed to be skipped if ‘remarkable efficacy’ is observed with a defined dose in the Phase II clinical trial of the new drug.
The regulator can then also grant market approval for the new drug or vaccine based on Phase II data to meet what the Rules call ‘unmet medical needs of serious and life threatening diseases in the country’.
The Rules also state that in such cases, additional studies ‘may’ be required after approval to generate data on a larger population to verify its benefits.
Unmet medical needs essentially means a situation where treatment or diagnosis of disease is not addressed adequately with the available therapy.
Further, the Rules provide for relaxations for unapproved or imported drugs or vaccines. The regulator relies on clinical trial data generated abroad to approve the vaccines in such scenarios and additional non-clinical or clinical data may be required to back the claims.

Exceptions for emergency

In emergency situations, like the current one, regulatory authorities around the world have developed mechanisms to grant interim approvals.
However, there should sufficient evidence to suggest a medical product is safe and effective.
Final approval is granted only after completion of the trials and analysis of full data; until then, EUA allows the medicine or the vaccine to be used on the public.
India’s drug regulations do not have provisions for a EUA, and the process for receiving one is not clearly defined or consistent.

6. DIGITAL PAYMENTS INDEX

Subject : National Report

Context : Digital payment transactions surge in lockdown to surpass pre-Covid levels according to the report.

Concept :

About the Index

The RBI has constructed a composite Digital Payments Index (DPI) with March 2018 as the base period to capture the extent of digitization of payments across the country.
It was recommended by a committee headed by Nandan Nilekani on deepening digital payment.
RBI-DPI will be published on the central bank’s website on a semi-annual basis from March 2021 onwards with a lag of four months.
It comprises of five broad parameters that enable measurement of deepening and penetration of digital payments in the country over different time periods.
The parameters are:

Payment enablers (weight 25 per cent)

Payment infrastructure–demand-side factors (10 per cent)

Payment infrastructure – supply-side factors (15 per cent)

Payment performance (45 per cent) and

Consumer centricity (5 per cent)

Each of these parameters has sub-parameters which, in turn, consist of various measurable indicators, RBI said.

Significance

Digital payments in India have been growing rapidly.
The DPI reflects accurately the penetration and deepening of various digital payment modes.

7. TSO KAR WETLAND COMPLEX

Subject: Geography

Context: One more wetland in India has been added to the list of recognised sites of international importance under the treaty of Ramsar Convention, taking the number of such wetlands in the country to 42, the highest in South Asia.

Concept:

The latest site to be added to the list is a high-altitude wetland complex of two connected lakes, Startsapuk Tso and Tso Kar, in Ladakh.
Last month, two wetlands — the Lonar lake in Maharashtra and Sur Sarovar, also known as Keethamlake, in Agra — were added to the list of Ramsar sites.

About Wetland Complex

The Tso Kar Basin is a high-altitude wetland complex, consisting of two principal waterbodies, Startsapuk Tso, a freshwater lake of about 438 hectares to the south, and Tso Kar itself, a hyper-saline lake of 1,800 hectares to the north, situated in the Changthang region of Ladakh.
It is called Tso Kar, meaning white lake, because of the white salt efflorescence found on the margins due to the evaporation of highly saline water.

Flora and Fauna

The inlets of the Tso Kar are a source of non-saline water; pondweeds and basic nettles grow there, forming floating islands of vegetation in the spring and dying off in the winter.
Sedge and large numbers of buttercups grow on the shores of Startsapuk Tso and of the tributaries of the Tso Kar, while some parts of the high basin are marked by steppe vegetation interspersed with tragacanth and pea bushes.
Due to the salinity of the Tso Kar, most of the resident fauna is found in its tributaries and in Startsapuk Tso.
There are large breeding colonies of grebes and brown-headed gulls, and some strip geese, rust geese and terns. In the vicinity of the lake black-necked cranes and Tibetan grouse are relatively common.
The basin of the Tso Kar and the adjoining More Plains constitute one of the most important habitats of the kiang, Tibetan gazelles, Tibetan wolves and foxes; there are himalayan marmots in the higher reaches. Yaks and horses are kept by the nomads.

Ramsar Site

Ramsar Convention on Wetlands is an intergovernmental treaty adopted in 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar, on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea.
It came into force for India on 1st February, 1982. Those wetlands which are of international importance are declared as Ramsar sites.
The Convention’s mission is “the conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local and national actions and international cooperation, as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development throughout the world”.
The Montreux Record is a register of wetland sites on the List of Wetlands of International Importance where changes in ecological character have occurred, are occurring, or are likely to occur as a result of technological developments, pollution or other human interference. It is maintained as part of the Ramsar List.
At present, two wetlands of India are in Montreux Record: Keoladeo National Park (Rajasthan) and Loktak Lake (Manipur).
Chilika Lake (Odisha) was placed in the record but later removed from it.

8. UMRED PAONI KARHANDALA SANCTUARY

Subject: Environment

Context: A tigress and her two cubs were found dead on Friday evening in Umred Paoni Karhandala Sanctuary, some 50 kilometres from Nagpur, an official said.

Concept:

About the Sanctuary

UmredKarhandla Wildlife Sanctuary, about 58 km from Nagpur and 60 km from Bhandaraspreed over PauniTahsil of Bhandara district and Umred, Kuhi and Bhivapur Taluka of Nagpur district, Maharashtra.
This Sanctuary has also connection with TadobaAndhari Tiger Reserve through forest along Wainganga river.
The sanctuary is home to resident breeding tigers, herds of Gaur, wild dogs and also rare animals like flying squirrels pangolins and honey badger.
It is bounded roughly by the Wainganga river and the GoseKhurd Dam on the northeast, State Highway 9 and Bhiwapur Town on the south,Umred on the west and a narrow 10 km long range of 600-800 m hills to the northwest.
It is located 40 km north of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve and 50 km southwest of Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary & 60 km from Nagpur, Maharashtra. Pench Tiger Reserve is 80 km to the northwest.

Wainganga River

Wainganga River is one of the key tributaries of the river Godavari.
The river rises in the Mahadeo Hills in the Seoni District of Madhya Pradesh.
It drains Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
The Wainganga after joining the Wardha River at Chaprala in Gadchiroli district (Maharashtra) is known as the Pranahita River.
Wardhariver originates in Satpura Range in Betul District, Madhya Pradesh.
- Penganga river is a major tributary of the Wardha river and rises in the Ajanta range.
Pranahitariver empties into the Godavari River at Kaleshwaram, Telangana.
Pranahitariver is the largest tributary of the Godavari river covering about 34% of its drainage basin.
Gosekhurdh irrigation project is being constructed on the Wainganga River.

9. NORTHEAST MONSOON

Subject: Geography

Context: The southern states recorded normal rainfall during the recently concluded Northeast monsoon season, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said.

Kerala, however, ended with a 26 per cent deficit of rainfall this season.

Concept :

In 2020, the onset of the Northeast monsoon, also known as winter monsoon, was delayed by 10 days over Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and was realised on October 28.
The season began on a good note but soon lost steam in November.
The Northeast monsoon came under the influence of weak La Nina conditions along with the neutral phase of the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD).

Northeast Monsoon

The Northeast monsoon occurs during October to December.
It is confined to the Southern peninsula.
It is also called the winter monsoon.
Northeast monsoon is important for Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karaikal, Yanam, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, north interior Karnataka, Mahe and Lakshadweep.
Tamil Nadu records about 48% of its annual rainfall during these months, making it the key factor for undertaking agricultural activities.
Some South Asian countries such as Maldives, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, too, record rainfall during October to December.

La Niña

La Niña (Spanish for ‘little girl’) refers to the large-scale cooling of the ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, along with changes in the tropical atmospheric circulation.
It usually has the opposite impacts on weather and climate as El Niño, which is the warm phase of the so-called El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

Indian Ocean Dipole

IOD is the difference between the temperature of eastern (Bay of Bengal) and the western Indian Ocean (Arabian Sea).
This temperature difference results into pressure difference which results in flowing of winds between eastern and western parts of Indian Ocean.
IOD develops in the equatorial region of Indian Ocean from April to May peaking in October.
A ‘positive IOD’ — or simply ‘IOD’ — is associated with cooler than normal sea-surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean and warmer than normal sea-surface temperatures in the western tropical Indian Ocean.
The opposite phenomenon is called a ‘negative IOD’, and is characterised by warmer than normal SSTs in the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean and cooler than normal SSTs in the western tropical Indian Ocean.

10. GLOBAL CORRUPTION PERCEPTION INDEX

Subject: International Reports

Context: India and China both share the 80th rank with a CPI score of 41 in the Global Corruption Perception Index 2019—an empirical measure for corruption accepted worldwide.

Concept:

Released by Transparency International from 1995.
This index is annually released (once a year.)
Corruption is defined as the misuse of public power for private benefit by Corruption Perception Index.
It ranks about 180 countries globally.
Transparency International undertakes multiple surveys and assessments from different international organizations including the World Bank.

11. INSIDER TRADING

Subject: Economics

Context: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) imposed penalties totaling Rs 70 crore on Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), its chairman & managing director and two other entities for alleged manipulative trading in the shares of erstwhile Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) in November 2007.

Concept:

The RPL case has been hanging fire for the last 13 years. RIL had sold 4.1 per cent of its stake in RPL. However, to prevent a plunge in the RPL share price, the equity was apparently sold first in the futures market and later in the spot market.
The crux of the Sebi notice is that the company was aware there would be a sale of shares in the spot market and hence, its sales in the futures market before that amounted to insider trading.

Insider Trading

Insider trading is the buying or selling of a publicly-traded company’s shares/debt papers by someone who has confidential information about that shares/debt papers.
Insider trading is defined as a malpractice wherein trade of a company’s securities is undertaken by people who by virtue of their work have access to the otherwise non-public information/confidential information which can be crucial for making investment decisions.
When insiders, e.g. key employees or executives who have access to the strategic information about the company, use the same for trading in the company’s stocks or securities, it is called insider trading.
An insider is a person who possesses either access to valuable non-public information about a corporation or ownership of stock equaling more than 10% of a firm’s equity. This makes a company’s directors and high-level executives insiders.

Mechanism to prevent insider trading

According to SEBI Promoters will be held responsible for violation of insider trading norms, if they possess unpublished price-sensitive information (UPSI) regarding the company without any “legitimate purpose”.
Legitimate purpose – Sharing of the UPSI by an insider with partners, collaborators, lenders, customers, suppliers, merchant bankers, legal advisors, auditors, insolvency professionals or other advisors or consultants, provided that such sharing has not been carried out to evade or circumvent the prohibitions of these regulations.

Recommendation of Kotak committee

The committee has recommended flow of unpublished price sensitive information (UPSI) shall be considered for ‘legitimate purpose’, and not an offence under the SEBI (Insider Trading) for those who:

Is part of the promoter group.

Has a nominee director on the board.

The information should be pursuant to a formal agreement in accordance with the regulations.
Communication of information must comply with the Insider Trading Regulations.

12. EMERGENCY USE LISTING

Subject: Science & tech

Context: The World Health Organization listed Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, in a move seeking to speed access in the developing world.

Concept:

The vaccine has gotten regulatory backing from the United Kingdom, the European Medicines Agency, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Health Canada, Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, Mexico, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Singapore.
Pfizer and BioNTech’s messenger RNA vaccine was found to be 95% effective after two doses 21 days apart.
The United Nations health agency said it will work with regional partners to tell national health authorities about the two-dose shot and its anticipated benefits.
The WHO’s review found Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine met the “must-have” criteria for safety and efficacy benefits outweigh its risks.
The UN health agency, with the GAVI Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), are spearheading a global effort called COVAX to secure and distribute vaccines to poorer countries, to ensure shots do not go only to wealthy nations.
The WHO-backed COVAX alliance has agreements for nearly 2 billion doses, with first deliveries due in early 2021. The alliance has been in talks with Pfizer and BioNTech to secure vaccine

Emergency Use Listing

Emergency Use Listing (EUL) is the procedure to streamline the process by which new or unlicensed products can be used during public health emergencies.
The EUL replaces the Emergency Use Assessment and Listing (EUAL) procedure, which was used during the West Africa Ebola outbreak of 2014-2016.
The WHO established its emergency use listing (EUL) process to help poorer countries without their own regulatory resources quickly approve medicines new diseases like Covid-19, which otherwise could lead to delays.

Global Alliance For Vaccines and Immunization

GAVI, officially Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is a public–private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunisation in poor countries.
GAVI has observer status at the World Health Assembly. It was founded in 2000 and is located at Geneva, Switzerland.
GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance as part of its mission to save lives, reduce poverty and protect the world against the threat of epidemics, has helped vaccinate more than 822 million children in the world’s poorest countries, preventing more than 14 million future deaths.

Additional Information

Union Minister of Health, HarshVardhan will be representing the South East Area Regional Office (SEARO)/ Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO) constituency on the GAVI Board.
Harsh Vardhan will be representing India from 1stJanuary 2021 until 31st December 2023.
The Board normally meets twice a year in June and November/ December and holds an annual retreat, normally in March or April.
The GAVI Board is responsible for strategic direction and policy-making, oversees the operations of the Vaccine Alliance and monitors programme implementation.

13. TiHAN-IIT HYDERABAD

Subject: Science & tech

Context: Union Minister of Education laid foundation stone of ‘TiHAN-IIT Hyderabad’, India’s first Test bed for Autonomous Navigation Systems (Terrestrial and Aerial).

Concept:

The Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, has sanctioned Rs. 135 crores to IIT Hyderabad under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) to set up a Technology Innovation Hub on Autonomous Navigation and Data Acquisition Systems (UAVs, RoVs, etc.).
The Technology Innovation Hub on Autonomous Navigation Systems for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Remotely Operated Vehicles at IIT Hyderabad, known as ‘TiHAN Foundation’ has been incorporated as a Section-8 company by the institute in June 2020.
TiHAN Foundation is a multi-departmental initiative, including researchers from Electrical, Computer Science, Mechanical and Aerospace, Civil, Mathematics, and Design at IIT Hyderabad with collaboration and support from reputed institutions and industry.
Special Features of this Facility include Test Tracks, Emulation of Real-World Scenarios, State of the Art Simulation Technologies, Road Infrastructure, V2X Communication, Drone Runways and Landing Area, Mechanical Integration Facility, Centralized Control Room/Ground Control Station, Hangars and many more.

National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS):

Union Cabinet approved the launch of National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) in 2018.
It had a total outlay of INR 3,660 crores for a period of five years.
The mission implementation would develop and bring:

Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) and associated technologies within reach in the country,

adoption of CPS technologies to address India specific National / Regional issues,

produce Next Generation skilled manpower in CPS,

catalyze Translational Research,

accelerate entrepreneurship and start-up ecosystem development in CPS,

give impetus to advanced research in CPS, Technology development and higher education in Science, Technology and Engineering disciplines, and

place India at par with other advanced countries and derive several direct and indirect benefits.

14. Zero Interconnection Usage Charges (IUC)

Context:

From January 1 onwards, the termination charge for wireless to wireless domestic calls has become zero .Until now operators paid Interconnection Usage Charges (IUC) of 6 paise per minute on mobile calls.

Concept:

IUC is the cost that a mobile operator pays to another operator for carrying through/ terminating a call. If a customer of Mobile Operator A calls a customer of Mobile Operator B and the call is completed, then A pays an IUC charge to B for carrying/facilitating the call. Essentially, it is the originating network compensating the receiving network for cost of carrying the call. In India IUC is set by the TRAI