1. MISSION VATSALYA SCHEME
The Union government plans to partner with the private sector and volunteer groups for its scheme for the protection of vulnerable children such as those abandoned or missing.
About:
- The Ministry of Women and Child Development sent its draft guidelines for Mission Vatsalya Scheme to States and Union Territories and sought suggestions by April 18, 2022.
- Mission Vatsalya is essentially renaming of a pre-existing scheme called Child Protection Services, and also includes child welfare services.
- To encourage public participation and utilise the resources available for success of the mission, the civil society, people’s groups and various volunteering organisations can be encouraged to participate under Mission Vatsalyain a systematic and planned manner.
- These could include organisations under government initiatives such as Bharat Scout and Guide, NSS Volunteers, and Nehru Yuva Kendras. More NGOs and Self-Help Groups could be identified.
- The Ministry has also proposed a Vatsalya portal that will allow volunteers to register so that State and District Authorities can engage them for executing various schemes.
- Child protection programme components include institutional services through child care institutions (CCI) and family-based non-institutional care through sponsorship, foster care and adoption.
- It also supports after-care programme for children at CCIs once they turn 18, and emergency outreach service through Childline or the national helpline 1098 for children.
Source: The Hindu
2. BUDGET SESSION ENDS
The Budget session of Parliament concluded, with both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha registering impressive productivity numbers and fewer disruptions.
About:
- In one of the most productive sessions, the Lok Sabha passed 13 Bills, including the Finance Bill, Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill and the Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill.
- The Rajya Sabha passed 11 Bills, including six Appropriation Bills and Finance Bills that were returned.
- The total productivity of the eighth session of the 17th Lok Sabha was 129%.
- The Rajya Sabha too recorded impressive functioning, clocking 99.8% productivity.
Source: The Hindu
3. NEW TAX ON EMPLOYEES’ PROVIDENT FUND INCOME
In the Union Budget of 2021-22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced a new provision to tax income on provident fund contributions from employees beyond ₹2.5 lakh a year.
About:
- An Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) account is mandatory for formal sector workers earning up to ₹15,000 a month in firms with over 20 employees, as a means of ensuring retirement income.
- The Finance Ministry had rationalised the tax move by arguing that the ₹2.5 lakh cap on contributions will cover about 93% of EPF members, and the tax-free, assured income was being milked by the super-rich and high net-worth individuals.
- On August 31, 2021, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) notified rules to calculate the taxable income on PF contributions exceeding the specified limits, starting from the financial year 2021-22.
- The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) issued a circular in April 2022 to explain the operational details of the tax.
- the EPFO will maintain a non-taxable account for contributions up to ₹2.5 lakh a year, and a taxable account for members who contribute over that threshold.
- Tax will be levied at 20% on such income for EPF members whose retirement savings accounts have not been linked to their Permanent Account Number (PAN), while the rate will be 10% for those who have linked their tax and EPF accounts.
Source: The Hindu
4. UNIQUE IDENTIFICATION AUTHORITY OF INDIA (UIDAI)
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, has pulled up the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for “deficient data management”.
About:
- UIDAI is the statutory authority established in 2016 to issue Aadhaar to all residents of the country. As of October 31, 2021, UIDAI had issued 131.68 crore Aadhaar numbers.
- There are issues of data-matching, errors in authentication, and shortfall in archiving, the CAG has said in its audit report on the functioning of the UIDAI.
- The CAG has said the data of Aadhaar card holders have not been matched with their Aadhaar number even after 10 years in some cases.
- It has also criticised the absence of a system to analyse the factors leading to authentication errors.
- even though UIDAI was maintaining one of the largest biometric databases in the world, it did not have a data archiving policy, which is considered “a vital storage management best practice.
Source: Indian Express
5. INDONESIA’S PALM OIL CRISIS
Indonesia, the largest producer and exporter of Palm Oil is experiencing domestic shortages of it — so much so as to force its government to introduce price controls and curbs on shipments.
About:
- The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has estimated the archipelago’s palm oil production for 2021-22 (October-September) at 45.5 million tonnes (mt). That’s almost 60% of the total global output and way ahead of the next bigger producer: Malaysia (18.7 mt).
- It is also the world’s No. 1 exporter of the commodity, at 29 mt, followed by Malaysia (16.22 mt).
- Yet, the country has seen domestic prices of branded cooking oil spiral, from around 14,000 Indonesian rupiah (IDR) to 22,000 IDR per litre between March 2021 and March 2022.
There are two possible reasons.
- The first has to do supply disruptions — manmade and natural — in other cooking oils, especially sunflower and soyabean.
- The second factor is linked to petroleum, more specifically the use of palm oil as a bio-fuel. The Indonesian government has, since 2020, made 30% blending of diesel with palm oil mandatory as part of a plan to slash fossil fuel imports.
Impact on India
- India is the world’s biggest vegetable oils importer. Out of its annual imports of 14-15 mt, the lion’s share is of palm oil (8-9 mt), followed by soyabean (3-3.5 mt) and sunflower (2.5).
- Indonesia has been India’s top supplier of palm oil, though it was overtaken by Malaysia in 2021-22.
Source: Indian Express
6. THIRD POSITIVE INDIGENISATION LIST
Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh released the third positive indigenisation list of 101 items, comprising major equipment/platforms on April 07, 2022.
About:
- The list, notified by Department of Military Affairs, Ministry of Defence (MoD), lays special focus on equipment/systems, which are being developed and likely to translate into firm orders in next five years.
- These weapons and platforms are planned to be indigenised progressively with effect from December 2022 to December 2027. These 101 items will, henceforth, be procured from local sources as per provisions of Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020.
- This follows issue of first list (101) and second list (108) that were promulgated on August 21, 2020 and May 31, 2021 respectively.
- The third list comprises Light Weight Tanks, Mounted Arty Gun Systems (155mmX 52Cal), Guided Extended Range (GER) Rocket for PINAKA MLRS, Naval Utility Helicopters (NUH), Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessels (NGOPV) etc.
Source : PIB
7. INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY (IEA)
India has welcomed the decision by the International Energy Agency (IEA) to release 120 million barrels of crude oil from its strategic reserves, in addition to the release of 180 million barrels of crude oil from the strategic reserves of the US.
About:
- The move is aimed at calming crude oil prices that hit a 14 year-high of $139 per barrel in March.
- India had in November 2021 announced that it would release 5 million barrels from the strategic reserve as part of a coordinated effort with other crude oil importing countries to stabilise the price of crude oil.
International Energy Agency (IEA)
- The International Energy Agency (IEA) is a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organisation.
- It was established in the framework of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1974 in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis.
- The IEA was initially dedicated to responding to physical disruptions in the supply of oil, as well as serving as an information source on statistics about the international oil market and other energy sectors.
- It is best known for the publication of its annual World Energy Outlook.
- Membership: Only OECD member states can become members of the IEA. In 2022, Lithuania joined the IEA and became its 31st member.
Source : Indian Express
8. INDIAN TENT TURTLES
Ministry of Environment informed Rajya Sabha about the Indian Tent Turtles.
About:
- The Indian tent turtle (Pangshura tentoria) is a species of turtle in the family Geoemydidae. The species is endemic to India and Bangladesh.
- The preferred habitats of P. tentoria are freshwater rivers and swamps.
- Indian tent turtle is listed in Schedule –I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 and is thereby provided the highest degree of protection.
- There are no reports to indicate that the Indian tent turtle is on the verge of extinction due to illegal mining in Narmada River.
- IUCN Status: Least Concern.
- CITES Status: Appendix II.
Source: PIB
9. EOS-02 SATELLITE
Union Minister of Science & Technology said that EOS-02 satellite will be launched in second quarter of 2022.
About:
- EOS-02 is Technology demonstration satellite for various new technologies with applications that include agriculture, forestry, geology, hydrology, miniaturised power electronics, reaction wheels etc. and forming the payload for SSLV-1.
The details of the satellites included in the EOS series are as follows
- EOS-01: Earth Observation satellite meant for Agriculture, Forestry & disaster management support
- EOS-02: Technology demonstration satellite for various new technologies with applications that include agriculture, forestry, geology, hydrology etc. and forming the payload for SSLV-1.
- EOS-03 : First Agile Earth Observation satellite in Geostationary orbit and applications which include near real time imaging, quick monitoring of natural disasters, spectral signatures for agriculture, forestry etc.
- EOS-04 : Radar Imaging satellite meant to provide high quality images under all weather conditions for applications such as Agriculture, Forestry & Plantations, Soil Moisture & Hydrology and Flood Mapping.
- EOS-05 : Earth Observation Satellite in the Geostationary Orbit.
- EOS-06 : Earth Observation satellite meant for applications, which include ocean related services and advisories towards potential fishing zone forecast , ocean state forecast