Daily Prelims Notes 28 August 2020

Table Of Contents

1. Tribes of Andaman and Nicobar Islands
2. Rohtang Tunnel
3. National Land Bank Portal
4. State borrowing

1. Tribes of Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Subject: Geography

Context:

At least five members of the Great Andamanese tribe have tested positive for Covid-19.

Concept:

• There are 6 aboriginal tribes in Andaman & Nicobar islands.
• On the basis of features, they can be divided into Negrito and Mongoloid. Great Andamanes, Onge, Jarawa and Sentinelese are negrito while Nicobarese and Shompen are mongoloid.
• The tribe-wise population of Scheduled Tribes in Andaman and Nicobar Islands as per Census 2011 is given below: –

• Most of the areas in the island are placed under Protected/Restricted area .
• Restricted area permit under Foreigners (Restricted Areas) Order, 1963 is required by foreigner to visit this protected areas.

2. Rohtang Tunnel

Subject: Geography

Context:

The Atal Tunnel at Rohtang, near Manali, is almost complete and was scheduled to be completed by May 2020, in a revised estimate, but the Covid-19 pandemic pushed back the completion by a few months due to lockdown conditions.

Concept:

• The 9-km-long tunnel under the PirPanjal range, named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, will be the world’s longest highway tunnel above the altitude of 10,000 feet (3000 metres).
• Cutting through the PirPanjal range, the tunnel will reduce the distance between Manali and Leh by 46 km.
• While the tunnel will be a boon to the residents of the Lahaul and Spiti Valley who remain cut off from the rest of the country in winters for nearly six months due to heavy snowfall, the tunnel will provide almost all-weather connectivity to the troops stationed in Ladakh.

3. National Land Bank Portal

Subject: Economy

Context:

Commerce and Industry minister virtually launched a first-of-its kind GIS-enabled national land bank portal

Concept:

• It will help investors zero in on land located in various states for potential projects.
• As much as 4.2 lakh hectares of land has been mapped across 3,275 industrial clusters in India, of which about 1.13 lakh hectares of land is available for investors, as the government looks to lure investors.
• Investors will also get access to details of logistics, land, rail & air connectivity, tax incentives, drainage system, power supply and raw material availability from the portal on various industrial belts.

4. State borrowing

Subject: Economy

Context:

The Centre offered two borrowing options to states to make up for the shortfall in the goods and services tax (GST) compensation cess fund.

Concept:

• Option 1: States can borrow the full compensation deficit of Rs 2.35 lakh crore, which includes revenue loss due to transition to GST and also the Covid-led slowdown, from the markets, facilitated by the Centre and the RBI
• Option 2: shortfall that’s purely due to GST implementation of Rs 97,000 crore via the RBI special window.

Ways and means advance

• The WMA facility enables the government to take a temporary short term loan from the central bank, mainly to address the mismatch between its inflow of revenues and outflow of expenditure.
• A higher limit provides the government flexibility to raise funds from RBI without borrowing them from the market.
• Under Section 17(5) of RBI Act, 1934, the RBI provides Ways and Means Advances (WMA) to the States banking with it to help them to tide over temporary mismatches in the cash flow of their receipts and payments. Such advances are under the Act, ‘repayable in each case not later than three months from the date of making that advance’.
• There are two types of WMA – normal and special
• While normal WMA are clean advances, special WMA are secured advances provided against the pledge of Government of India dated securities.