CURRENT AFFAIRS :  14-11-2020

Table of Content :

1. Changes in Land Laws of Jammu & Kashmir

2.Technical Recession 

3.Sarhad Vistar Vikasotsav 2020 

4.INS Vagir 

5.India Post Payment Bank

1.Changes in Land Laws of Jammu & Kashmir

Recently, the Ministry of Home Affairs has introduced amendments to 14 laws of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and repealed 12 others.

Key Amendments in Land Laws of Jammu & Kashmir

• The amendments were made to four major state laws that governed ownership, sale, and purchase of land in the erstwhile state i.e. The J&K Development Act, 1970, The J&K Land Revenue Act, 1996, The Agrarian Reforms Act, 1976 and The J&K Land Grants Act, 1960.

• The amendments to The J&K Development Act has removed the phrase “permanent resident of the State” without specifying any substitute such as domicile, or any other clause to regulate land ownership.

  • The people as well as investors outside Jammu and Kashmir can now purchase land in the Union Territory (UT) of J&K.

• The changes defined the 'strategic areas in J&K' under Section 3 of the Act which states that the government may on the written request of an Army officer not below the rank of Corps Commander, declare an area as Strategic Area within a local area, only for direct operational and training requirements of armed forces.

• The Jammu and Kashmir Alienation of Land Act, 1938, and The Big Landed Estates Abolition Act, 1950 were repealed by the Union which provided protections on land holdings for permanent residents or “permanent resident certificate holders” as defined by laws of the erstwhile state of J&K.

  • The Section 4 of The J&K Alienation of Land Act stated that transfer of land in favour of any person who is not a State Subject, is prohibited.

  • The State subjects were permanent resident certificate holders as defined in the now abrogated Article 35A of the Constitution.

Provisions regarding sale of agricultural land

• The Section 133-A of The J&K Land Revenue Act, 1996, states, “no land used for agriculture purposes shall be used for any non-agricultural purposes except with the permission of the District Collector”.

• The sub-section 2 of Section 113-A adds that an owner or occupant who wishes to put his agricultural land to non-agricultural uses as provided in the regional plan, development plan or master plan as the case may be, “shall do so it after payment of conversion charges as prescribed by the Board from time to time”.

Arguments given by governments for changes in land laws of Jammu & Kashmir

• The government has stated that the recent changes in land laws issued by it comes with objective of integrating the UT with the rest of the country.

• The J&K administration led by L-G Manoj Sinha has argued that the old laws were a product of an old order and were made to serve the old agrarian based economy.

• The UT administration has termed the laws “regressive” and said that the 12 laws that have been repealed were “either redundant or obsolete”.

• The administration has also argued that the move is aimed at providing the people of J&K a “modernised” land management system that is people-friendly, and brings greater transparency in land management.

Provisions for J&K Industrial Development Corporation

• The J&K Development Act has provided provisions for setting up an Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) to ease the setting up of industries in the region.

• The purpose of the corporation will be “securing and assisting in the rapid and orderly establishment, and organisation of industries in industrial areas and industrial estates” in the UT.

• The IDC is aimed to establish commercial centres in connection with the establishment and organisation of such industries.

• The IDC will also have the power to “acquire and hold” such property, both movable and immovable, as it may deem necessary for the performance of any of its activities.

Concerns in J&K with regard to the changes in the land laws

• The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration has termed the government’s reassurances on the land laws as a “bizarre attempt to distort facts, weave lies and mislead people”.

• The alliance has said that the real objective of repealing the basic land laws and carrying out massive amendments to the other laws was to push through and implement the agenda of effecting demographic change, and disempower the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Source: The Indian Express

2.Technical Recession

Recently, the Reserve Bank of India has released its latest bulletin which projects contraction for a second consecutive quarter (Quarter 2).

• The contraction of Q2 is crucial because it implies that India has entered a “technical recession” in the first half of 2020-21 for the first time in its history.

What is a recessionary phase?

• In an economy, a recessionary phase is the counterpart of an expansionary phase.

  • When the overall output of goods and services (measured by the GDP) increases from one quarter (or month) to another, the economy is said to be in an expansionary phase.

  • When the overall output of goods and services (measured by the GDP) decreases from one quarter (or month) to another, the economy is said to be in a recessionary phase.

• In a recessionary phase, the GDP contracts from one quarter to another.

• In an economy, the expansionary phase and recessionary phase together are called a “business cycle”.

How is a recession different?

• In an economy, when a recessionary phase sustains for long enough, it is called a recession i.e. when the GDP contracts for a long enough period, the economy is said to be in a recession.

• There is no universally accepted definition of a recession but most economists agree with the definition that the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in the United States uses.

  • According to NBER, “During a recession, a significant decline in economic activity spreads across the economy and can last from a few months to more than a year”.

About Technical Recession

• The commentators often consider a recession to be in progress when real GDP has declined for at least two consecutive quarters in order to get around the empirical technicalities associated with the recession.

• The real quarterly GDP has been accepted as a measure of economic activity and a benchmark for ascertaining a “technical recession”.

Source: The Indian Express

3.Sarhad Vistar Vikasotsav 2020

Recently, the Union Home Minister inaugurated the 'Sarhad Vistar Vikasotsav 2020' in Kutch district of Gujarat.

About Sarhad Vistar Vikasotsav 2020

• The government has decided to organise Sarhad Vikasotsav at many places to foster developmental dialogue with villagers and last village on Kutch border, Dhordo is the first destination on this series of programmes.

• Under Sarhad Vistar Vikasotsav 2020, all villages along the border will be provided all basic amenities to check the migration.

• It is aimed to address the problems relating to health, education and road connectivity in remote and border villages.

• Under the programme, the Border Security Force (BSF) dispensaries and hospitals will now provide medical treatment to the people from border villages.

Need for Sarhad Vistar Vikasotsav 2020

• The minister stressed that the infrastructure development carried out in border villages in the last six years under Narendra Modi government is much more than what was done in the previous 50 years.

• The minister said that the country cannot march ahead on the path of development without strengthening its internal security.

Source: All India Radio

4.INS Vagir

Recently, the Indian Navy has launched a submarine ’Vagir’ at Mumbai’s Mazagon Dock.

About INS Vagir

• It is fifth Scorpene class submarine of the Indian Navy under Project-75.

• • Under Project-75, six submarines of Scorpene design are being built at Mazagon Dock, Mumbai.

  • The first submarine Kalvari was commissioned in December 2017, the second is Khanderi, followed by Karanj, Vela, Vagir and Vagsheer.

• It has been named after a submarine from Russia which was commissioned into the Indian Navy in 1973 and was decommissioned in 2001.

• It is part of the six Kalvari-class submarines being built in India by French Naval Defense and Energy Company DCNS.

Significance of Scorpene-class Submarine

• The Scorpene submarines have superior stealth features like the advanced acoustic absorption technique, low radiated noise levels and hydro-dynamically optimized shape.

• The Scorpenes have the ability to undertake missions like anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, mine laying and area surveillance.

• The Scorpene submarines are a category of diesel-electric attack submarines meant to stay submerged for extended durations and undertake operations like intelligence gathering.

• The air-independent propulsion (AIP) system gives the submarine the ability to stay silent and quiet and not give away its position while patrolling near enemy waters.

Source: The Indian Express

5.India Post Payment Bank

Recently, the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has successfully launched the initiative of doorstep service for submission of Digital Life Certificate through Postman.

About India Post Payment Bank

• The India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) was setup under the Department of Post, Ministry of Communication.

• The IPPB was launched as a pilot project in 2017 in Ranchi (Jharkhand) and Raipur (Chhattisgarh) with the objective of being present across India by the FY 2018-2019.

• The 100% equity of the IPPB is owned by Government of India.

Importance of India Post Payment Bank

• The IPPB aims to provide every household in India an access to efficient banking services and enable them to become financially secure and empowered.

• It is a unique bank in the sense that its focus is on providing doorstep banking services to its customers, even in the remotest areas of the nation.

• The IPPB presents banking with a difference which aims to provide simple, inclusive, convenient and efficient banking system to the nation.

• The IPPB’s economic and premium technology setup for payment and settlements provides the masses with affordable solutions delivered to the last mile.

• The IPPB offers best in industry compensation and benefits that include comprehensive medical coverage for your family, leased accommodation, bouquet of allowances and necessary reimbursement as per scale.

Services provided by India Post Payment Bank

• The IPPB will offer a range of products such as savings and current accounts, money transfer, direct benefit transfer, bill and utility payments, enterprise and merchant payments.

• The customers will be able to access all products and services across various channels including over-the-counter services, micro ATM, mobile banking app, text messages, phone calls.

• The payments bank will also provide access to third-party financial services such as insurance, mutual funds, pension, credit products and forex.

How India Post Payments Bank different from traditional banks?

• A payments bank is a differentiated bank, offering a limited range of products.

• • The payment banks can accept deposits of up to ₹ 1 lakh per customer.

• Unlike traditional banks, the payment banks cannot issue loans and credit cards.

Source: All India Radio

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