09 JUNE 2021 CURRENT AFFAIRS

1.PERFORMANCE GRADING INDEX (PGI) FOR SCHOOL EDUCATION

The Education Ministry released the latest edition of the Performance Grading Index or PGI. The Education Ministry released the first PGI in 2019 for the reference year 2017-18.

Methodology

• States are scored on a total of 1,000 points across 70 parameters, which are grouped under five broad categories: access; governance and management; infrastructure; equity and learning outcomes.

States are graded under it. The PGI grading system has 10 levels.

• Level 1 indicates top-notch performance and a score between 951 and 1,000 points.
• Level II, also known as Grade 1++, indicates a score between 901 and 950.
• Those with Grade 1+ (or Level III) have scored between 851 and 900.
• The lowest is Grade VII, and it means a score between 0 and 550 points. 

Important Info :

How have states performed this time?

• In PGI 2019-20, no state or Union Territory could achieve the highest grade, that is Level I.
• Punjab, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Kerala have scored more than 90% and obtained Grade 1++ (or Level II), which makes them the best performing states.
• The top-performing states of Gujarat, Chandigarh, and Kerala in 2018-19 were given Grade 1+ (or Level III), that is, a score between 851 and 900 points.
• Only the UT of Ladakh has been placed in the lowest grade, that is Grade VII, but that’s because it was the first time it was assessed after it was carved out of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019. 

Source : The Hindu

2.NATIONAL ASSET RECONSTRUCTION COMPANY LTD (NARCL)

Banks in India have identified about 22 bad loans worth ₹89,000 crore to be transferred to the National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd. (NARCL) in the initial phase.

About:

• National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL), the name coined for the bad bank announced in the Budget 2021-22, is expected to be operational in June.
• Bad bank refers to a financial institution that takes over bad assets of lenders and undertakes resolution.
• The new entity is being created in collaboration with both public and private sector banks. It will be established on the asset reconstruction company (ARC) and asset management company (AMC) model.
• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Budget 2021-22 announced that the high level of provisioning by public sector banks of their stressed assets calls for measures to clean up the bank books.
• NARCL will pay up to 15 per cent of the agreed value for the loans in cash and the remaining 85 per cent would be government-guaranteed security receipts.
• The government guarantee would be invoked if there is loss against the threshold value
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that loans classified as fraud cannot be sold to NARCL. As per the annual report of the RBI, about 1.9 lakh crore of loans have been classified as fraud as on March 2020.

Source : The Hindu

3.ARAVALLI

The Supreme Court ordered the Haryana government and the Faridabad Municipal Corporation to take “all essential measures” to remove encroachments, including about 10,000 residential constructions, in the ecologically fragile Aravali forest land near Lakarpur Khori village.

About:

• The Aravalli Range (also spelled Aravali) is a mountain range in Northwestern India.
• It runs approximately 670 km (430 mi) in a south-west direction, starting near Delhi, passing through southern Haryana and Rajasthan, and ending in Gujarat.
• The highest peak is Guru Shikhar at 1,722 metres (5,650 ft). Guru Shikhar is a peak in the Arbuda Mountains of Rajasthan. It is 15 km from Mount Abu.
• Three major rivers and their tributaries flow from the Aravalli, namely Banas and Sahibi rivers which are tributaries of Yamuna, as well as Luni River which flows into the Rann of Kutch. 

Source : The Hindu

4.INS SANDHAYAK

INS Sandhayak, the Indian Navy's oldest Hydrographic Survey Vessel was decommissioned at Naval Dockyard in Visakhapatnam after serving the nation for 40 glorious years.

About:

• INS Sandhayak undertook over 200 major hydrographic surveys.
• The ship also took part in important operations like
• Op Pawan in Sri Lanka, 1987,
• Op Rainbow for Humanitarian Assistance in the aftermath of the Tsunami in 2004 and
• the maiden Indo-US HADR Exercise Tiger-Triumph in 2019.
• The Sandhayak-class survey ships are a series of eight vessels built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata and Goa Shipyard, Ltd., Vasco for the Indian Navy. 

Source : LiveMint

5.LANCANG-MEKONG COOPERATION

China is hosting Foreign Ministers from the 10 ASEAN countries. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi will also chair a meeting of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) with Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

About:

• Lancang-Mekong Cooperation is a multilateral format established in 2016 for cooperation between the riparian states of the Lancang River and Mekong River.
• The Lancang is the part of the Mekong that flows through China.
• Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand are five downstream countries of the Mekong River.

Source : LiveMint

6.UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL (ECOSOC)

India has been elected to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, ECOSOC for the term 2022-24.

About:

• The UN Charter established ECOSOC in 1945 as one of the six main organs of the United Nations.

Members:

• The Council consists of 54 Members States, which are elected yearly by the General Assembly for overlapping three-year terms.
• Seats on the Council are allotted based on geographical representation with 14 allocated to African states, 11 to Asian states, six to eastern European states, 10 to Latin American and Caribbean states and 13 to western European and other states.

Mandate:

• It is the central platform for fostering debate and innovative thinking, forging consensus on ways forward, and coordinating efforts to achieve internationally agreed goals.
• It is also responsible for the follow-up to major UN conferences and summits.

ECOSOC’s annual High-Level Segment includes:

• High-Level Political Forum, which reviews implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, is convened under the auspices of the Council every July.
• Development Cooperation Forum reviews trends and progress in development cooperation.
• Specialised agencies: The specialized agencies of the United Nations are autonomous organizations working within the United Nations System, meaning that while they report their activities to the Economic and Social Council, they are mostly free to their own devices.

Source : The Hindu

7.BURKINA FASO

The death toll from the worst militant attack in Burkina Faso in recent years has risen to 132, after armed assailants laid siege overnight to a village in the jihadist-plagued northeast.

About

• Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa and is bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and the Ivory Coast to the southwest.
• It was previously called Republic of Upper Volta.
• Its capital is Ouagadougou.
• The country owes its former name of Upper Volta to three rivers which cross it: the Black Volta (or Mouhoun), the White Volta (Nakambé) and the Red Volta (Nazinon).
• The basin of the Niger River also drains 27% of the country's surface. 

Source : Indian Express

8.DRAFT MODEL RULES FOR LIVE-STREAMING AND RECORDING OF COURT PROCEEDINGS

The e-Committee of Supreme Court of India has released the Draft Model Rules for Live-Streaming and Recording of Court Proceedings and has invited feedback on them.

About:

• The e-Committee of the Supreme Court of India along with the Department of Justice, Government of India is working under the National Policy and Action Plan for implementation of Information and Communication Technology ICT in the Indian Judiciary.
• Justice Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud is the Supreme Court Judge and Chairperson of e-Committee.
• The right of access to justice, guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution encompasses the right to access live court proceedings. 

Important Info :

Features

• According to the draft rules, all proceedings in high courts can be telecast except for cases relating to matrimonial disputes, gender-based violence, those involving minors and “cases, which in the opinion of the Bench, may provoke enmity amongst communities likely to result in a breach of law and order”.
• “The final decision as to whether or not to allow the Live-streaming of the Proceedings or any portion thereof will be of the Bench, however, the decision of the Bench will be guided by the principle of an open and transparent judicial process. The decision of the Bench shall not be justiciable.”

Source : The Hindu

9.RATLE HYDRO POWER PROJECT

NHPC limited, India’s premier hydropower company under Ministry of Power has formed a joint venture company, “Ratle Hydroelectric Power Corporation Limited” for the implementation of 850 MW Ratle Hydroelectric Project.

About:

• The JVC has been incorporated on 01.06.2021 with NHPC and Jammu & Kashmir State Power Development Corporation Ltd (JKSPDC) holding equity share of 51% and 49% respectively.
• Ratle Hydoelectric Project (850 MW), is a Run of River Scheme located on River Chenab, Kishtwar district, Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
• In January 2021, the Union Cabinet has given its approval for the investment of Rs.5281.94 crore for 850 MW Ratle Hydro Electric (HE) Project. It shall be commissioned within a span of 5 years. 

Source : PIB

10.RAISING AND ACCELERATING MSME PERFORMANCE (RAMP) PROGRAM

The World Bank has approved a USD 500 million program to help boost India’s MSME sector.

About:

• The USD 500 million Raising and Accelerating Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Performance (RAMP) Program is the World Bank’s second intervention in this sector.
• The first being the USD 750 million MSME Emergency Response Program, approved in July 2020 to address the immediate liquidity and credit needs of millions of viable MSMEs severely impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Features

• The programme targets improvements in the performance of 5.5 lakh MSMEs and is expected to mobilise financing of USD 15.5 billion, as part of the government's USD 3.4 billion MSME Competitiveness - A Post-COVID Resilience and Recovery Programme (MCRRP).
• The RAMP program will provide better access to finance and working capital for MSMEs by strengthening the receivable financing markets.
• It will also scale up online dispute resolution mechanisms to address the problem of delayed payments.
• The USD 500 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), has a maturity of 18.5 years including a 5.5-year grace period.

Source : Business Standard