Daily Current Affairs :  25-11-2020

Table of Contents :

1. Ministry of Environment , Forest and climate change (MOEFCC) Issues
2.  27 E-Lok Adalats organized in 15 states leading to Disposal of 2.51 lakh cases from June to October
3. Government Aims to create Ecosystem to Accelerate uptake to Electric Vehicles (EVS) in India
4. Corporated Owning Bankes: S&P, Raghuram Rajan Red-Flag Concerns
5. Negative yield Bond
6. National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC)
7. Cyclone "Nivar"
8. Megaflood on Mars Gale crater
9. Martyrdom Day of Guru Tegh Bahadur ji
10. Tribes India

1.Ministry of Environment, Forest and climate change (MOEFCC) Issues

• New guidelines aim to expedite environmental appraisal of industrial projects.
•  Appraisals are done by the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) that has representatives from government and outside, trained in matters of ecology, wildlife, and habitat preservation.
• Their advice is critical to MoEFCC's decision to either dear or red flag a project.
• There are separate EAC committees for industrial projects, coal mining, non-coal mining. river and hydroelectric projects.
• Highlights of new guidelines:
•  Ensure EAC meetings are held at least once in 15days.
•  All proposals that are placed for approval  10 days before a  meeting ought to be considered.
• However, there are concerns raised that accelerated approvals don't allow for good environmental decisions and do not necessarily ensure a good economy.
• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a process of evaluating likely environmental impacts of a proposed project or development and is statutorily backed by the Environment Protection Act, 1986.(Refer infographics)

2. 27 E-Lok Adalats organized in 15 states leading to Disposal of 2.51 lakh cases from June to October

• In the period of turbulence caused by the pandemic, Legal Services Authorities creatively adapted to the new normal and moved Lok Adalat to the virtual platform called Online Lok Adalat or e·Lok Adalat.
•  e-Lok Adalat has the potential to transform the legal landscape of India by settling people's grievances at their places.
• They are also cost-effective as it eliminates the need for organizational expenses.

About Lok Adalat

• Lok Adalat is one of the alternative dispute redressal mechanisms where disputes pending in the court of law or at the pre-litigation stage are settled amicably without any expense on litigants.
• They have been given statutory status under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987.
• It generally consists of a judicial officer as the chairman and a lawyer and a social worker as members.
• They are instrumental in reducing the burden on arrears of the court disposal of long-pending litigation between the parties.
•  Awards are deemed to be a decree of a civil court and are final and binding on all parties and no appeal against such an award lies before any court of law.

3.Government Aims to create Ecosystem to Accelerate uptake to Electric Vehicles (EVS) in India

• The government is planning to set up at least one electric vehicle charging kiosk at around 69000 Petrol Pumps across the country to induce people to go for electric mobility.
•  The government is also working towards making India a global automobile manufacturing hub in the next five years and malting e-Highway on Delhi and Mumbai Expressway.
• Various steps were taken till now by the government to promote EVs
• Reduction in GST to 5% on EVs
• Allowing delinking of battery cost of 2-3 wheelers
• from vehicle cost as it accounts for nearly 30% of the cost.
• Launched the FAME  India  Scheme  [ Faster Adoption of Electric (& Hybrid) Vehicles in India) (refer to the infographics)
• The government has earmarked over Rs 51000 crore for the EV sector under Production Linked Incentive (Pll).

4.Corporated Owning Bankes: S&P, Raghuram Rajan Red-Flag Concerns

• R&ently, P.K Mohanty committee of RBI had recommended allowing large industrial houses and corporates as promoters of banks like:
•  Cap on promoters' stake in the long run (15
• years) maybe raised from the current level of 15% to 26% of the paid-up voting equity share capital of the bank.
• Currently, banking regulations make it mandatory for promoters of private sector banks to reduce their ownership to 40% within three years and to 15% in 15 years.

Objective was to

• Ensure greater financial inclusion,
• Brings more capital to the banking sector.
• During the last five years, private banks have been able to raise an aggregate capital of Rs 1,15,328 crore from the market as compared to Rs 70,823 by PSBs.
•  Bring management expertise, experience, and strategic direction to banking.
• Issues with banking licenses to big businesses Corporate ownership of banks raises the risk of inter-group lending, diversion of funds, and reputational exposure.
• TI1e  issue is exacerbated owing to weak corporate governance in India.
• Further concentration of economic and political power in certain business houses.

5.Negative yield Bond

• These are debt Instruments that offer to pay the investor a maturity amounts lower than the purchase price of the bond.
• These are generally issued by central banks or governments, and investors pay interest to the borrower to keep their money with them.
• Negative-yield bonds attract investments during times of stress and uncertainty as investors look to protect their capital from significant erosion.
• Recently, China sold negative-yield debt for the first time, and this saw high demand from investors across Europe.

6.National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC)

• Recently; an NCMC meeting was held to review the status of the impending cyclone.
• NCMC was set up in the wake of a natural calamity for effective coordination and implementation of relief measures and operations.
• It functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs and is an integral part of the Natural Disaster Management System.
• NCMC gives direction to the Crisis Management Group as deemed necessary.
• It is headed by the Cabinet Secretary and Secretaries of all concerned Ministries /Departments as well as organizations are members of Committee.

7.Cyclone "Nivar"

• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast the development of a cyclone in the Southwest region of the Bay of Bengal, off the Tamil Nadu coast.
• After cyclone Gaja in 2018, this will be the second cyclone to cross Tamil Nadu in the last two years.
• The name of the cydone'Nivar; has been proposed by Iran and Cyclone may acquire the speed of 1l Okm/hr.
• Tamil Nadu and Puducherry have been put on alert.

8.Megaflood on Mars Gale crater

• Recently, data collected by NASA's Curiosity rover found that mega flash floods washed through the Gale crater of Mars some four billion years ago.
• This discovery hints that Mars was capable of sustaining life a long time ago.
• Megaflood event may have been resulting in heat produced by a meteoric impact which let loose ice stored on Mars' surface and led to gigantic ripples. These similar features were formed by melting ice on earth two million years ago.

9.Martyrdom Day of Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji

• Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji was the ninth Guru of Sikhs who sacrificed his life to protect religion and human values and is thus affectionately known as 'Hind di Chadar'.
• He resisted forced conversions of non-Musli ms to Islam during Aurangzeb's rule and was thus publicly killed in the 1675on order of Aurangzeb.
• In his lifetime, he set up community kitchens for local people and founded the city of Anandpur Sahib in Punjab.

10.Tribes India

• Tribes India is a shop by the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India, (TRIFEO) under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
• It is engaged in the marketing development of tribal products including art and craft items.
• The initiative aims to onboard 5 lakh tribal producers for sourcing of various handicraft, handloom, natural food products across the country:

Jai Hind!

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