Daily Prelims Notes 3 October 2020
- October 3, 2020
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN
Table Of Contents
- Kisan rail
- Suspicious Transaction Report and FIU
- Exports rise and trade deficit
- Atal tunnel
- Carbon-net zero
- IBBI
- Indian-Germany bubble
- Immunization program
- Green fireworks
1. Kisan rail
Subject: Schemes
Context:
Kisan Rail started to function
Concept:
- Mango special, Banana Special, Onion Special, Sapota Special are some of the routes of Kisan Rail
- Thesespecial seasonal trains identified by the government for farmers to send fresh fruits, vegetables and other perishable goods to buyers across India.
- Rail and Agriculture ministries are working to institutionalise these “corridors”, or dedicated routes, to make them season-specific to a fruit or vegetable. The plans also include carrying fish and meat in refrigerated containers at some point in the future.
- Kisan Rail shall be trains with multi commodities, multi-consignors and multi consignees. These trains shall run between fixed Origin–Destination pairs with en-route stoppages, and loading/ unloading shall be permitted at any of the en-route stoppage.
- The Origin–Destination pairs, routes, stoppages, and frequency of the train shall be decided jointly by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare and Ministry of Railways
2. Suspicious Transaction Report and FIU
Subject: Economy
Context:
Amid a surge in investor inflows that have pushed stock market indices to new highs over the past six months, the Finance Ministry has flagged specific concerns over “low filing” and “poor quality” of Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) by brokers.
Concept:
- The FinCEN Files refer to a set of over 2,100 “Suspicious Activity Reports” (SARs) filed by banks with the United States Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crime Enforcement Network, the agency that serves as the leading global regulator in the battle against money laundering.
- The files identify at least $2 trillion in transactions between 1999 and 2017 flagged as possible evidence of money laundering or other criminal activity by compliance officers of banks and financial institutions.
- SAR or Suspicious Activity Report is a document filed by banks and financial institutions to report suspicious activity to US authorities, in this case, FinCEN. These are confidential, so secret that banks are not allowed to confirm their existence. Indeed, even the account holder is unaware when an SAR is filed related to a transaction in that account.
- A SAR is not an accusation, it is a way to alert regulators and law enforcement to possible irregular activity and crimes.
Financial Intelligence Unit-India
- Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) performs the same functions as FinCEN in the US.
- Under the Finance Ministry, this was set up in 2004 as the nodal agency for receiving, analyzing and disseminating information relating to suspect financial transactions.
- The agency is authorised to obtain cash transaction reports (CTRs) and suspicious transaction reports (STRs) and cross border wire transfer reports from private and public sector banks every month under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
- It is mandatory for banks in India to furnish a monthly CTR to the FIU on all transactions over Rs 10 lakh or its equivalent in foreign currency or a series of integrally connected transactions that add up to more than Rs 10 lakh or its equivalent in foreign currency.
- The STRs and CTRs are analysed by FIU and suspicious or doubtful transactions are shared with agencies like the Enforcement Directorate, the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Income Tax for the purpose of launching probes to check possible instances of money laundering, tax evasion and terror financing.
3. Exports rise and trade deficit
Subject: Economy
Context:
After contracting for six months in a row, the country’s exports grew by 5.27 per cent year-on-year to $27.4 billion in September, and the trade deficit narrowed to a three-month low of $2.91 billion, as per the Commerce Ministry data
Concept:
- A trade deficit is an economic condition that occurs when a country is importing more goods than it is exporting.
- The trade deficit is calculated by taking the value of goods being imported and subtracting it by the value of goods being exported.
4. Atal tunnel
Subject: Geography
Context:
Prime Minister will inaugurate the strategically important Atal Tunnel in Himachal Pradesh.
Concept:
- The 9.02-km tunnel, the longest highway tunnel in the world above the height of 3,000 metres cuts through a mountain west of the Rohtang La.
- It will shorten the distance between Solang Valley and Sissu by around 46 km and will take around 15 minutes to cover. Earlier, it would take nearly 4 hours to travel between the two points.
- The double-laned tunnel — one of the longest road tunnels in the country — can handle around 3,000 cars and 1,500 trucks per day, with a maximum speed of 80 km per hour.
Subject: Environment
Context:
Chinese President Xi Jinping has promised China would be carbon net-zero by 2060
Concept:
- Net-zero is a state in which a country’s emissions are compensated by absorptions and removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
- Absorption can be increased by creating more carbon sinks such as forests, while removal involves application of technologies such as carbon capture and storage.
6. IBBI
Subject: Economy
Context:
The Corporate Affairs Ministry and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) have written to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), asking the central bank to permit Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) to bid for stressed assets under the Insolvency And Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
Concept:
- Under current regulations, Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) are not allowed to bid for equity in stressed companies directly, though they can acquire equity through conversion of debt into equity.
- Allowing ARCs to participate would improve the probability of distressed companies receiving resolution plans.
IBBI
- The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India was established on 1st October, 2016 under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.
- It is a key pillar of the ecosystem responsible for implementation of the Code that consolidates and amends the laws relating to reorganization and insolvency resolution of corporate persons, partnership firms and individuals in a time bound manner for maximization of the value of assets of such persons, to promote entrepreneurship, availability of credit and balance the interests of all the stakeholders.
- It is a unique regulator: regulates a profession as well as processes.
- It has regulatory oversight over the Insolvency Professionals, Insolvency Professional Agencies, Insolvency Professional Entities and Information Utilities.
- It writes and enforces rules for processes, namely, corporate insolvency resolution, corporate liquidation, individual insolvency resolution and individual bankruptcy under the Code.
Subject: IR
Context:
India’s air transport bubble with Germany has been suspended after the European country prohibited national carrier Air India from flying to its airports
Concept:
- Air bubbles refer to bilateral agreements India has struck or is in the process of finalising with specific countries to allow their national carriers to ferry passengers back and forth from India
Subject: Schemes
Context:
India had “broken its inertia” in vaccine development after 2014 and had introduced four new vaccines into the country’s immunization programme.
Concept:
- Immunization Programme in India was introduced in 1978 as ‘Expanded Programme of Immunization’ (EPI) by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
- In 1985, the programme was modified as ‘Universal Immunization Programme’ (UIP) to be implemented in phased manner to cover all districts in the country by 1989-90 with the one of largest health programme in the world.
- Ministry of Health and Family Welfare provides several vaccines to infants, children and pregnant women through the Universal ImmunisationProgramme.
- Through UIP, Government of India is providing vaccination free of cost against vaccine preventable diseases include diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles, severe form of childhood tuberculosis, hepatitis B, meningitis and pneumonia (Hemophilus influenza type B infections), Japanese encephalitis (JE) in JE endemic districts with introduction of newer vaccines such as rotavirus vaccine, IPV, adult JE vaccine, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) and measles-rubella (MR) vaccine in UIP/national immunization programme.
Mission Indradhanush
- Mission Indradhanush was launched in 2014 to strengthen and re-energize the programme and achieve full immunization coverage for all children and pregnant women at a rapid pace.
Intensified Mission Indradhanush
- To further intensify the immunization programme Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) was launched on 2017. Through this programme, Government of India aims to reach each and every child up to two years of age and all those pregnant women who have been left uncovered under the routine immunisation programme/UIP.
- The focus of special drive was to improve immunisation coverage in select districts and cities to ensure full immunisation to more than 90% by December 2018.
Subject: Environment
Context:
Manufacturers in Sivakasi – the country’s fireworks manufacturing capital – have produced environmentally friendly fireworks as per Supreme Court order on ‘green’ crackers.
Concept:
- Traditionally, firecrackers have been made with barium nitrate, antimony and a range of metals that, over the years, have been linked to respiratory diseases and even cancer.
- Green crackers are those crackers which do not contain harmful chemicals that would cause air pollution.
- They are environmentally friendly and less harmful as compared to conventional firecrackers and less pollution emission will result in reduced air pollution.
- In it commonly used polluting chemicals like aluminium, barium, potassium nitrate and carbon have either been removed or sharply reduced to slow down the emissions by 15 to 30%.
- CSIR scientists have developed Less Polluting Firecrackers which are not only environment friendly but 15-20 % cheaper than the conventional ones
- These crackers have been named as safe water releaser (SWAS), safe minimal aluminium (SAFAL) and safe thermite cracker (STAR).