Daily Prelims Notes 30 September 2020
- September 30, 2020
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN
Table Of Contents
1. Capital conservation Buffer
Subject: Economy
Context:
- RBI defers CCB implementation by six months due to Covid-19 pandemic
- The implementation of the regulations was to happen by September 30, and the same has been now deferred to April 1, 2021
Concept:
- The capital conservation buffer (CCB) is designed to ensure that banks build up capital buffers during normal times (i.e., outside periods of stress) which can be drawn down as losses are incurred during a stressed period.
- As per Basel standards, the CCB was to be implemented in tranches of 0.625% and the transition to full CCB of 2.5% was set to be completed by 31 March 2019. It was subsequently decided to defer the implementation of the last tranche of 0.625% of the CCB from 31 March 2019 to 31 March 2020.
- Considering the potential stress on account of COVID-19, it has been decided to further defer the implementation of the last tranche of 0.625% of the CCB from 31 March 2020 to 30 September 2020.
2. WMA
Subject: Economy
Context:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to extend the interim relaxation in WMA (Ways and Means Advances) limits for States/ Union Territories (UTs) for another six months till March 31, 2021.
Concept:
- On April 17, the RBI had announced an increase in WMA limit of the States/UTs by 60 per cent over and above the level as on March 31.
- 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
Subject: Environment
Context:
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has set a fresh deadline of December 31 for the Union environment ministry to finalise the notification of eco-sensitive zones in the Western Ghats pending for eight years.
Concept:
- The basic aim of ESZ is to regulate certain activities around National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries so as to minimise the negative impacts of such activities on the fragile ecosystem encompassing the protected areas
- ESZs are notified by MoEFCC, Government of India under Environment Protection Act 1986
- The guidelines include a broad list of activities that could be allowed, promoted, regulated or promoted. This is an important checklist for conservationists to keep in mind while identifying threats in ESZs.
- For this purpose, the ministry has asked all states to constitute a committee comprising the wildlife warden, an ecologist and a revenue department official of the area concerned to suggest the requirement of an eco-sensitive zone and its extent.
- The width of the ESZ and type of regulation may vary from protected area to area. However, as a general principle, the width of the ESZ could go up to 10 kms around the protected area.
Western Ghats:
- Still there is no consensus among six states and union over notification of ESZ in western ghats, as there is need for balance between ecology and economic growth
- Union Government in 2010 had set up the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel headed by DrMadhavGadgil. In his report submitted in 2011, DrGadgil had recommended that large swathes of areas falling within the Western Ghats be marked as ecologically sensitive areas and excluded from damaging activities.
- However, owing to opposition from states, the MoEF set up another committee in August 2012 called the High Level Working Group headed by former ISRO Chief Dr K Kasturirangan who further reduced the area to be notified as ESAs. However, this report too was rejected by many states.
4. Bilateral Investment treaty
Subject: IR
Context:
- India will try and keep its taxation laws out of the ambit of all Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) and comprehensive economic pacts that it negotiates.
- In-principle decision was taken some time back to phase out all “unequal bilateral investment treaties” which could see companies like Vodafone, Cairn, etc., seeking arbitration against Indian tax demands.
Concept:
- Bilateral investment Treaties (BITs) or Bilateral Investment Protection Agreements (BIPAs) are agreements between two countries for the reciprocal promotion and protection of investments in each other’s territories by individuals and companies situated in either State.
- They provide treaty based protection to foreign investment.
- The BITs are thus bilateral agreements by countries to protect the investment by each country’s investors in the other country. Though they are signed by governments, their beneficiaries are business entities.
- India has inked 86 such bilateral treaties, the latest being with Brazil in 2020.
- However, there have been many cases of the penalty awarded by an International Dispute Settlement (ISDS) tribunal served against India.
- This led to a review of the BITs and in 2016 India launched the Model BIT.
- It aims to act as a base for negotiating new BITs with other States, as well as for re-negotiation of the existing ones.
- Main reason for bringing the Model BIT was the constant suing of the country by foreign firms. India was one of the most sued country during 2015 and 2016.
5. Sero survey
Subject: Science and tech
Context:
Around 7% of India’s adult population may have been exposed to the coronavirus till the last fortnight of August, according to the second national sero-survey by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Concept:
- Sero-surveys use tests that examine the liquid part of blood, or ‘serum’.
- And these tests detect an immune response to the virus material, not SARS-CoV-2 virus material itself.
- Upon virus infection, the body comes up with many immune responses.
- One of these is making proteins called antibodies that stick (or ‘bind’) to the virus – these show up within a few days after infection.
- The infection itself typically disappears after a couple of weeks. But the anti-virus antibodies, especially the IgG kind, stay around in the blood for a fairly long time, at least for months.
- So, if a person was infected, virus material would be detectable in their nose, throat and mouth fluid for a couple of weeks at most. If testing was not done in that time, we would never know if the person had been infected by the virus. But IgG antibodies stay in the blood of such a person for a long time. So, if we test the blood for these antibodies at any point and find them (making the person ‘sero-positive’), it can be said that this person had indeed been infected in the recent weeks/months.
- Sero-surveys test blood samples of healthy people for anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies. Everybody cannot be tested, only a few people chosen at random are tested. The results are an estimate of the proportion of people who have been infected in the past. This information gives a wide-angle picture over time of how the virus has spread in the community.