Daily Prelims Notes 25 January 2021

January 25, 2021
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

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Daily Prelims Notes 25 January 2021

By

Santosh Sir

All 6 Prelims qualified

4 CSE Mains qualified

If I can do it, you can too

Table Of Contents

1. RISA CLOTH

Subject : Culture

Context : Tripura government have been promoting the traditional risa, a handwoven cloth used by the state’s indigenous communities, as a signature identity of the state

Concept :

Risa is one of the three parts of customary Tripuri female attire, the other two being the Rignai and Rikutu.
The Risa, which is essentially a customary hand-woven cloth, is used as headgear, stole, female upper cloth or presented to honour a distinguished recipient.
The Rignai is primarily used to cover the lower part of the body and literally translates into ‘to wear’. The Rituku covers the upper half of the body, wrapping it all around.
However, it is also used as a ‘chunri’ or a ‘pallu’ of the Indian saree. It is also used to cover the head of newly married Tripuri women.

Cultural significance

Apart from its beautiful designs, the Risa plays a host of crucial social utilities.
Adolescent Tripuri girls are first given Risa to wear when she reaches 12-14 years in an event called RisaSormani.
The event involves prayers to a Lampra god, where her elder women pray for her wellbeing throughout her life.
However, it is also used in religious festivals like the Garia Puja, a customary festival of the tribal communities, or as a head turban by male folks during weddings and festivals, as a cummerbund over dhoti or headscarf.
The cloth is even used as a makeshift baby carrier on the mother’s back.

2. SUNDERBANS

Subject : Environment

Context : The Indian Sunderbans, which is part of the largest mangrove forest in the world, is home to 428 species of birds, a recent publication of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) states.

Concept :

The scientists said of the 428 birds listed, some, like the masked finfoot and the Buffy fish owl, are recorded only from the Sunderbans.
The area is home to nine out of 12 species of kingfishers found in the country as well rare species such as the Goliath heron and the spoon-billed sandpiper.
The mudflats exposed in the low tides, rich in microorganism deposited during tidal activity, are ideal feeding for migratory birds. The mudflats and wetlands of the Sunderbans act as a stopover site for migratory flight south [southwards] and back.

About Sunderbans

It is a vast contiguous mangrove forest ecosystem in the coastal region of Bay of Bengal spread over India and Bangladesh on the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers.
The site is intersected by a complex network of tidal waterways, mudflats and small islands of salt-tolerant mangrove forests and presents an excellent example of ongoing ecological processes.
It constitutes over 60% of the country’s total mangrove forest area.
Indian Sundarbans was recognised as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, ‘Wetland of International Importance’ under the Ramsar Convention in January 2019 and also a Biosphere Reserve in 1989.
The area is known for its wide range of fauna, and is home to many rare and globally threatened wildlife species such as the Estuarine Crocodile, Royal Bengal Tiger, Water Monitor Lizard, Gangetic Dolphin and Olive Ridley Turtles.
The Sunderbans Delta is the only mangrove forest in the world inhabited by tigers.
For its preservation, Discovery India and World Wide Fund (WWF) India partnered with the Government of West Bengal and local communities in the Sundarbans in 2019.

3. NATIONAL VOTER DAY

Subject : Current Events

Concept :

The National Voters’ Day has been celebrated on January 25 every year since 2011, all across the country to mark the foundation day of the Election Commission of India on January 25, 1950.
The main purpose of the NVD celebration is to encourage, facilitate and maximise enrolment, especially for the new voters.
The theme for this year’s NVD, ‘Making Our Voters Empowered, Vigilant, Safe and Informed’, envisages active and participative voters during elections.

e-EPIC

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will launch the e-EPIC programme and distribute e-EPICs and Elector Photo Identity Cards to five new voters.
e-EPIC is a non-editable secure portable document format (PDF) version of the EPIC and will have a secured QR code with image and demographics like serial number, part number, etc
e-EPIC can be downloaded on a mobile or a computer and can be digitally stored. This is in addition to physical IDs being issued for fresh registration.
The e-EPIC initiative would be launched in two phases.
In the first phase from January 25 to 31, all new voters who have applied for the voter-ID card and registered their mobile numbers in Form-6 will be able to download the e-EPIC .
The second phase will start from February 1. It will be open for the general voters.

‘Hello Voters’

ECI’s Web Radio ‘Hello Voters’ is an online digital radio service which will stream voter awareness programmes.
It will be accessible through a link on the Election Commission of India website.
It will provide information and education on electoral processes through songs, drama, discussions, spots, stories of elections, etc. in Hindi, English and regional languages from all over the country.

4. MCLR vs EXTERNAL BENCHMARK RATE

Subject : Economics

Concept :

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.

External Benchmark

So, RBI mandated all banks to link their floating rate loans to an external benchmark instead of the marginal cost-based lending rate (MCLR).
This was done to make sure that the RBI’s action on key policy rates at transmitted in a timely and transparent manner to the ender user, i.e., the borrower.
Banks can choose from one of the four external benchmarks — repo rate, three-month treasury bill yield, six-month treasury bill yield or any other benchmark interest rate published by Financial Benchmarks India Private Ltd.

Financial Benchmarks India Private Ltd

It was incorporated on 9th December 2014 under the Companies Act 2013.
It was recognised by the Reserve bank of India as an independent Benchmark administrator on 2nd July 2015.
The main objective of the company is to act as the administrators of the Indian interest rate and foreign exchange benchmarks and to introduce and implement policies and procedures to handle the benchmarks.
It is located in Mumbai.

5. INEQUALITY REPORT

Subject : International Reports

Context : A new report by Oxfam has found that the Covid pandemic deeply exacerbated existing inequalities in India and around the world.

Concept :

The report, titled ‘The Inequality Virus’, has found that as the pandemic stalled the economy, forcing millions of poor Indians out of jobs, the richest billionaires in India increased their wealth by 35 per cent.
In stark contrast, 170,000 people lost their jobs every hour in the month of April 2020, the report points out.
Sectorally, India’s large informal workforce was the worst hit as it made up 75 per cent of the 122 million jobs lost. Informal workers had relatively fewer opportunities to work from home and suffered more job loss compared to the formal sector.
Oxfam has argued the urgent need for policymakers to tax the wealthy individuals and rich corporates and use that money to “invest in free quality public services and social protection to support everyone, from cradle to grave”.

6. ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY

Subject : Current events

Context : The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) will bury a time capsule recording the evolution of the varsity over the last 100 years of its existence on Republic Day as part of its centenary celebrations.

Concept :

The capsule, which weighs around 1.5 tonnes, will contain documents showcasing the rich history of the AMU.
The time capsule will contain documents showcasing the history of the varsity and its journey over the past 100 years.
It will also have the biography of founder Sir Syed Ahmed and his addresses. It will also have texts of speeches of prominent people from pre-Independence era.
The capsule has been built with high tempered steel and is around four feet deep. It will be buried 30 feet deep into the earth.

About AMU

AMU became a University in 1920, through an Act of Indian Legislative Council by elevating the Mohammedan Anglo Oriental (MAO) College to the status of a Central University.
MAO College was set up in 1877 by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan.
The University campus is located in the city of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. It also has three off-campus centres in Malappuram (Kerala), Murshidabad-Jangipur (West Bengal) and Kishanganj (Bihar).

Contributions of Syed Ahmed Khan

He started his career as a civil servant and served the British before the revolt of 1857.
The 1857 revolt was one of the turning points in Syed Ahmed’s life and he penned a pamphlet titled “The Causes of the Indian Revolt” to explain the reasons of the revolt from a “native perspective”.
He supported the British during the 1857 revolution.
He raised voice against the existing religious intolerance, ignorance and irrationalism prevailing in the society at that time.
He denounced the orthodox systems of purdah, polygamy and easy divorce of the Muslim community.
TahzebulAkhlaq (Social Reformer in English), a magazine founded by him, tried to awaken people’s consciousness on social and religious issues in very expressive prose.
He instituted the Scientific Society in 1863 to instill a scientific temperament into the Muslims and to make the Western knowledge available to Indians in their own language.
He launched The Aligarh Institute Gazette, an organ of the Scientific Society in March 1866 and succeeded in agitating the minds in the traditional Muslim society.
In 1875, Sir Syed founded the MadarsatulUloom in Aligarh and patterned the MAO College after Oxford and Cambridge universities that he went on a trip to London. His objective was to build a college in line with the British education system but without compromising its Islamic values.

The Aligarh Movement:

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan is best known for the Aligarh Movement a systemic movement aimed at reforming the social, political and educational aspects of the Muslim community.
In 1886, he set up the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental Education Congress which was later renamed the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental Educational Conference. It aimed to bring together education and culture.
He also emphasised the need for an autonomous Muslim institution free of any government funding.
It undertook to modernise Muslim’s education by adapting English as a medium of learning and western education rather than just focusing on traditional teachings.
The movement helped the Muslims revival and gave them a common language Urdu.

7. PREFERENTIAL TRANSACTION IN IBC

Subject : Economics

Concept :

Under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy code 2016, section 43 is dealt with Preferences if any given by the Corporate Debtor before and during the insolvency.
Success of the insolvency depends upon timely completion of the process of insolvency and also ensures the corporate debtor should not alienate the property to others during twilight period.
Twilight period means that time during which Directors have to come understand that they cannot avoid the commencement of insolvency and actual date of commencement of insolvency.
Generally Directors will transfer certain properties to their nearby relatives. To avoid this, National Company Law Tribunal was given certain powers to undo these transactions and retransfer the properties to the control of insolvency Professional.
A transaction is said to be a ‘preferential transaction’ if:

(a) the transaction relates to transfer of the property or interest of the corporate debtor for the benefit of a creditor, surety or guarantor in relation to an antecedent / past liability; and

(b) the transaction has the effect of giving such creditor, surety or guarantor a beneficial position in the distribution of assets in the event of liquidation under Section 53 of the IBC.

(c) This transfer should be done within the relevant period. The relevant period should be 2 years for related party and 1 year for other parties preceding the date of commencement of insolvency of the corporate debtor.

But the following transfers made by the corporate debtor will not be considered as preferential transfer.

(a) If the transfer of property or interest has been done in the ordinary course of the business or financial affairs of the corporate debtor or transferee

(b) Any transfer creating a security interest in property acquired by the corporate debtor.

8. POCSO ACT

Subject : Important Legislations

Context : The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court acquitted a man of charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and convicted him under a “minor offence” of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Concept :

Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012

It was enacted to protect the children from offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography with due regard for safeguarding the interest and well-being of children.
It defines a child as any person below eighteen years of age and regards the best interests and welfare of the child as a matter of paramount importance at every stage, to ensure the healthy physical, emotional, intellectual and social development of the child.
It defines different forms of sexual abuse, including penetrative and non-penetrative assault, as well as sexual harassment and pornography.
It deems a sexual assault to be “aggravated” under certain circumstances, such as when the abused child is mentally ill or when the abuse is committed by a person in a position of trust or authority like a family member, police officer, teacher, or doctor.
It also casts the police in the role of child protectors during the investigative process.
The Act stipulates that a case of child sexual abuse must be disposed of within one year from the date the offence is reported.
It was amended in August 2019 to provide more stringent punishment, including the death penalty, for sexual crimes against children.

9. USENET POLICY

Subject : Governance

Context : The proposed UdyogSahayak Enterprises Network framework draft has been put together by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and Azim Premji University.

Concept :

USENET Framework approach:

The approach is based on the belief that India rather than creating more nano-entrepreneurs, should rather focus on helping existing MSEs grow in size.
The framework is aimed at providing a slew of growth-driven services to over 62 million nano and micro-enterprises that currently employ over 100 million people in India.
The USENET framework aims to create a countrywide entrepreneurial network. The platform will give the nano and micro-enterprises, facing growth challenges, information on policies, government schemes and credit options, and visibility to lenders and customers and thereby help them grow.
The Union government is likely to sanction upto ₹5,000 crore to part-fund CAPEX to set up at least 19 lakh USENET centres.
Each of these centres will be headed by a UdyogSahayak, who will have a mandate to help and monitor the growth of 15 to 50 enterprises.