Current Affairs 27-06-2020

Preferential Allotment Pricing Norms

What is in news?

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has relaxed the preferential allotment pricing norms for companies while tightening the insider trading regulations as part of its attempts to minimise instances of unpublished, price-sensitive information getting leaked.

About :

• It also amended the settlement proceeding norms to enable a faster disposal of cases while tweaking the Takeover Regulations as well.
• Companies with frequently traded shares can take into account the average of the weekly high and low over the past 12 weeks or two weeks, whichever is higher, and price the preferential allotment above that mark.
• While the existing pricing mechanism will continue, the relaxed pricing option will be available for all preferential allotments made between July 1 and December 31, 2020.

Important Info :

Insider trading

• SEBI also amended the SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations making it mandatory for companies to maintain a structured, digital database containing the nature of unpublished price-sensitive information (UPSI) and the names of persons who have shared the information.
• This assumes significance as the SEBI has been probing various matters wherein UPSI was shared by company officials with outsiders through applications like WhatsApp.

Global Education Monitoring Report 2020

UNESCO has released the 2020 Global Education Monitoring Report.

About:

• The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated inequalities in education systems across the world.
• About 40% of low- and lower-middle-income countries have not supported learners at risk of exclusion during this crisis, such as the poor, linguistic minorities and learners with disabilities.
• As substitutes for classroom instruction, while many poorer countries opted for radio and television lessons, 55% of low-income, 73% of lower-middle-income and 93% of upper-middle-income countries adopted for online learning platforms for primary and secondary education.
• School closures also interrupted support mechanisms from which many disadvantaged learners benefit. For poor students who depend on school for free meals or even free sanitary napkins, closures have been a major blow. Higher drop-out rates are also a concern.
• In order to combat the situation, 17% of low and middle-income countries are planning to recruit more teachers, 22% to increase class time and 68% to introduce remedial classes when schools reopen.

Consolidated Notification for Classification and Registration MSMEs

What is in news?

Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) has come out with a consolidated notification in the form of guidelines for classification and registration of MSMEs.

About:

• This notification supersedes all earlier notifications issued with regard to classification or registration of MSMEs. Now, the entrepreneurs, enterprises and the MSMEs have to refer to just this notification for matters relating with classification or registration.
• As per the notification, an MSME will be known as Udyam, as this is more closer to the word Enterprise and accordingly, the registration process will be known as Udyam Registration.
•  It can be filled online based on self-declaration with no requirement to upload documents, papers, certificates or proof. An enterprise can be registered just on the basis of Aadhaar number.
• Investment in ‘Plant and Machinery or Equipment’ and ‘Turnover’ are the basic criteria for classification of MSMEs now.
• Exports of goods or services or both shall be excluded while calculating the turnover of any enterprise whether Micro, Small or Medium.
• In another first, the Ministry of MSME has established a strong facilitation mechanism for the MSMEs. This process is in the form of Single Window Systems at the district level and regional level.
• Similarly, Ministry’s recent initiative of Champions Control Roomsacross the country have been made legally responsible for facilitating such Entrepreneurs in registration and even thereafter.

Nasha Mukt Bharat: Annual Action Plan (2020-21)

What is in news?

Nasha Mukt Bharat: Annual Action Plan (2020-21) for 272 Most Affected Districts was e-launched by Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment on the occasion of “International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking”.

About:

• The Nasha Mukt Bharat Annual Action Plan for 2020-21 would focus on 272 most affected districts and launch a three-pronged attack combining efforts of Narcotics Bureau, Outreach/Awareness by Social Justice and Treatment through the Health Dept.
• The Action Plan has the following components: Awareness generation programmes; Focus on Higher Educational institutions, University Campuses and Schools; Community outreach and identification of dependent population; Focus on Treatment facilities in Hospital settings; and Capacity Building Programmes for Service Provider.

Important facts:

• The Ministry has also prepared a National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction for the period 2018-2025 which aims at reduction of adverse consequences of drug abuse through a multi-pronged strategy involving education, de-addiction and rehabilitation of affected individuals and their families.

Kala Azar

What is in news?

• The only drug available against leishmaniasis, miltefosine, is rapidly losing its effectiveness because of emerging resistance to this drug due to a decrease in its accumulation inside the parasite, which is necessary for the drug to kill the parasite.
• So, a team of researchers had been exploring ways to tackle miltefosine resistance. This team has now shown allosteric modulation of transporter proteins of Leishmania using computationally-designed synthetic peptides.
• These promising research outcomes indicate that this approach could prove useful in the long run to develop novel therapeutics against drug-resistant Leishmania parasites.

About:

• Visceral leishmaniasis (VL), also known as kala-azar, black fever, and Dumdum fever, is the most severe form of leishmaniasis and, without proper diagnosis and treatment, is associated with high fatality.
• Caused by protozoan parasites of the Leishmania genus, migrates to the internal organs such as the liver, spleen (hence “visceral”), and bone marrow.
• Signs and symptoms include fever, weight loss, fatigue, anemia, and substantial swelling of the liver and spleen.

Important facts:

• Leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease affecting almost 100 countries including India.
• It is caused by a parasite called Leishmania, which is transmitted through the bite of sand flies.
• There are three main forms of leishmaniasis – visceral, which affects multiple organs and is the most serious form of the disease, cutaneous, which causes skin sores and is the most common form); and mucocutaneous, which causes skin and mucosal lesion).

Decarbonizing Transport Project

What is in news?

NITI Aayog and the International Transport Forum (ITF) of OECD jointly launched the ‘Decarbonizing Transport in Emerging Economies’ (DTEE) project in India on 24June.

About:

• The ambitious five-year project will help India develop a pathway towards a low-carbon transport system through the development of modelling tools and policy scenarios.
• The project will design a tailor-made transport emissions assessment framework for India.
• The India project is carried out in the wider context of the International Transport Forum’s Decarbonizing Transport initiative.

Decarbonising Transport in Emerging Economies (DTEE):

• It supports transport decarbonisation across different world regions.
• Current participants: India, Argentina, Azerbaijan, and Morocco.
• Implementation: The DTEE is collaboration between the International Transport Forum (ITF) and the Wuppertal Institute, supported by the International Climate
• Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.

International Transport Forum (ITF):

• It was created in 2006 by ministers from 43 countries.
• It is an intergovernmental organisation within the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with 60 member countries.
• It acts as a think tank for transport policy and organises the Annual Summit of transport ministers.
• ITF is the only global body that covers all transport modes.
• The ITF is administratively integrated with the OECD, yet politically autonomous.
• It is headquartered in Paris, France.

Global report on the illegal wildlife trade

What is in news?

• First global report on the illegal wildlife trade was recently released by FATF. It is called the “Money Laundering and the Illegal Wildlife Trade” report.
• Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has described illegal wildlife trade as a “global threat”, which also has links with other organised crimes like modern slavery, drug trafficking and arms trade.

About :

• The illegal trade is estimated to generate revenues of up to $23 billion a year.
• Criminals are frequently misusing the legitimate wildlife trade, as well as other import-export type businesses, as a front to move and hide illegal proceeds from wildlife crimes.
• They also rely regularly on corruption, complex fraud and tax evasion.
• There is a growing role of online marketplaces and mobile and social media-based payments to facilitate movement of proceeds warranting a coordinated response from government bodies, the private sector and the civil society.
• According to the 2016 UN World Wildlife Crime report, criminals are illegally trading products derived from over 7,000 species of wild animals and plants across the world.

What is the Order of the Nine Angles?

Why in News?

A US Army private has confessed to plotting an attack on his own unit by sharing secret information with this obscure satanic neo-Nazi group.

About:

• O9A is considered to be a satanic, anarchist group founded in the UK in the 1970s that now operates around the world, including in the US.
• The group describes itself as “a diverse, and world-wide, collective of diverse groups, tribes, and individuals, who share and who pursue similar sinister, subversive, interests, aims and life-styles, and who cooperate when necessary for their mutual benefit and in pursuit of their shared aims and objectives…”

Nation’s top wheat contributor:

What is in news?

Madhya Pradesh (MP) this year surpassed Punjab to become the number one contributor of wheat.

About:

• Punjab, however, is still a way ahead from MP as far as per hectare productivity of wheat is concerned, which is around 52 per cent more (per hectare) than MP.
• This year wheat was sown on 2 LH across the country against 296.98 LH last year.
• Of the total wheat area in the country, MP’s share was 31 percent, while Punjab cultivated wheat on 10.6 percent of the total national area.