Daily Current Affairs: 28-08-2020

1. RBI Annual Report

Key Highlights of the RBI's Annual Report

No effect of Corporate Tax rate cute

• The report said that the sharp cut in corporate tax rate announced by the government did not help in restarting the investment cycle as was intended, but has been used by companies to reduce debt and build up cash balances.

Weakness in Gross Fixed Capital Formation

• The data on Gross Capital Formation are not yet available for 2019-20 but the underlying indicators point to investment having weakened further.

• The ratio of real gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) to GDP declined to 29.8 per cent in 2019-20 from 31.9 per cent in 2018-19 on account of waning business confidence.

Data on production of capital goods

• The data on production of capital goods which is an indicator of investment demand shows a contraction of 36.9 per cent in June 2020 (-64.4 per cent in April-June 2020) and import of capital goods contracted by 24.7 per cent in July 2020 (-46.7 per cent in April-June 2020).

Probability of Headline Inflation

• The RBI expects headline inflation to firm up further in the coming months due to food and manufactured items’ supply chain disruptions which could amplify sectoral price pressures.

Bank Frauds

• The bank frauds, in value terms involving an amount of Rs 1 lakh and above, have more than doubled in 2019-20 period to Rs 1.85 trillion from Rs 71,543 crore in 2018-19 period, up 159 per cent.

• The total fraud cases have jumped 28 per cent to 8,707 in 2019-20 from 6,799 in 2018-19.

• The public sector banks constituted almost 80 per cent of the total fraud amount reported in 2019-20, followed by private banks with 18.4 per cent.

• The RBI has noted that the delay in detection of frauds are dure to the following:

  • weak implementation of Early Warning Signals (EWS) by banks,

  • non-detection of EWS during internal audits,

  • non-cooperation of borrowers during forensic audits,

  • inconclusive audit reports and

  • lack of decision making in joint lenders' meetings

Circulation of Fake Notes

• The number of fake notes in the system has fallen but their number remains significant.

• There was an increase of 144.6 per cent, 28.7 per cent, 151.2 per cent and 37.5 per cent in counterfeit notes detected in the denominations of Rs 10, Rs 50, Rs 200 and Rs 500 respectively.

• The value and volume of banknotes in circulation increased by 14.7 per cent and 6.6 per cent, respectively, during 2019-20.

Suggestions provided by RBI

• The RBI has suggested “targeted public investment” funded by asset monetisation and privatisation of major ports as a viable way to revive the economy.

  • The targeted public investment funded by monetisation of assets in steel, coal, power, land, railways and privatisation of major ports by central and state governments under an independent regulator can be the way forward to revive and crowd in private investment.

• It suggested that there was a need for a government-led investment revival while pointing to the weakness in indicators of investment demand and capital expenditure in the economy.

• It is time to identify sunrise export categories that are reaping productivity gains and have dynamic linkages, both horizontal and vertical, that can strengthen footholds in emerging global value chains.

Source: Indian Express

2. Fish Mahseer

Recently, a team of researchers from the Department of Zoology, Andhra University have sighted and fished out a rare fish 'Mahseer' from the upper part of Sileru river.

About Mahseer

• It is a rare fish having its scientific name as 'Tor'.

• It is listed as 'Endangered' under the IUCN List of Threatened Species.

• It is normally found in the Himalayan region in the rivers running through the cooler climes of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Nepal and Bhutan.

• Golden Mahseer is a species of a rare Mahseer fish which is found in the Himalayan region, where the temperature around year does not exceed 20° Celsius.

• In the Godavari River there are about 135 recorded fish species and the Grey Mahseer is one of them.

Sileru River

-It rises as the Machkund River in the Eastern Ghats in northeastern Andhra Pradesh and flows northward into Jalaput Reservoir on the border with Odisha.

-The Sileru River empties into the Sabari River at the tri-junction boundary point of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

-The Balimela Reservoir is on the River Sileru which is situated in the Maikangiri District of Odisha.

Source: The Hindu

3. India’s AstroSat

Recently, the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) has said that the India’s AstroSat has detected an extreme ultraviolet (UV) light from a galaxy which is 9.3 billion light-years away from Earth.

About AstroSat

• It is first multi-wavelength satellite observatory of India.

• It is the first dedicated Indian astronomy mission aimed at studying celestial sources in X-ray, optical and UV spectral bands simultaneously.

• The payloads cover the energy bands of Ultraviolet (Near and Far), limited optical and X-ray regime (0.3 keV to 100 keV).

• The simultaneous multi-wavelength observations of various astronomical objects with a single satellite are a unique feature of AstroSat mission.

• The scientific objectives of AstroSat mission are:

  • To understand high energy processes in binary star systems containing neutron stars and black holes;

  • Estimate magnetic fields of neutron stars;

  • Study star birth regions and high energy processes in star systems lying beyond our galaxy;

  • Detect new briefly bright X-ray sources in the sky;

  • Perform a limited deep field survey of the Universe in the Ultraviolet region.

• ISRO, in collaboration with the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune has set up an AstroSat Support Cell (ASC) to facilitate the proposal making process and the use of AstroSat data.

Source: Indian Express

4. UN World Tourism Organisation

Recently, the UN World Tourism Organisation has provided that that global tourism sector has lost USD 320 billion from January through May which is three times what was lost during the year 2009 at the height of the last global financial crisis.

About UN World Tourism Organisation

• It is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.

• It was established in 1974 with its headquarters based in Madrid, Spain.

• It promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide.

• It encourages the implementation of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, to maximize tourism’s socio-economic contribution while minimizing its possible negative impacts.

• It releases the World Tourism Barometer annually.

Source: All India Radio

5. California Forestfires

Recently, more than 400,000 acres have been burned in Northern and Central California, with many of the fires set off by nearly 11,000 lightning strikes.

Reasons for Wildfires in California Forest

California’s Climate Change

• California, similar to the climate of West, gets most of its moisture in the fall and winter.

• Its vegetation then spends much of the summer slowly drying out because of a lack of rainfall and warmer temperatures.

• The California’s climate has always been fire-prone as the link between climate change and bigger fires is inextricable.

Encroachment by People

• There are many large fires in Southern California which impact the areas where people are living are human-caused.

• The 2018 Carr Fire, the state’s sixth-largest on record, started when a truck blew out its tire and its rim scraped the pavement, sending out sparks.

• The people are increasingly moving into areas near forests, known as the urban-wildland interface, that are inclined to burn.

Effect of Santa Ana Winds

• The strong gusts known as the Santa Ana winds bring dry air from the Great Basin area of the West into Southern California.

• The 2015 study that suggests that California has two distinct fire seasons:

  • The Western fire season runs from June through September and is driven by a combination of warmer and drier weather.

  • The second season of California Fire runs from October through April and is driven by the Santa Ana winds.

Santa Ana Winds

-These are dry, warm (often hot) winds that blow westward through Southern California toward the coast.

-They are usually seasonal, and typically occur between October and March and peak in December.

-They originate when high pressure systems form over the high-elevation deserts of the Great Basin between the Sierra Nevadas and the Rocky Mountains.

Source: The Indian Express

6. Structured Finance and Partial Guarantee Programme

Recently, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has launched Structured Finance and Partial Guarantee Programme to NBFC-MFIs.

About Structured Finance and Partial Guarantee Programme to NBFC-MFIs

• It will help facilitate ₹2,500 crore funding in the initial phase and is expected to be scaled up.

• The programme is expected to cover over 1 million households across 28 states and 650 districts.

• The pooled loan issuance (PLI) structure provides the lending bank adequate comfort through NABARD’s partial credit protection.

• NABARD has signed agreements with Vivriti Capital and Ujjivan Small Finance Bank to roll out the initiative.

Significance of Structured Finance and Partial Guarantee Programme

• It is a dedicated debt and credit guarantee product to ensure unhindered flow of credit in rural areas hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

• It entails providing partial guarantee on pooled loans extended to small and mid-sized micro finance institutions (MFIs).

• It will enhance access to sustainable finance for micro-enterprises and low-income households.

• The PLI structure will pool together the risk of multiple borrowers and add a layer of partial first loss credit enhancement from a highly rated guarantor.

• The partially guaranteed loan facility will catalyse much-needed financing to millions of households, agricultural and business markets to sustain in the post COVID-19 environment.

Source: The Hindu

7. Fujiwhara Effect

Recently, two tropical storms namely Marco and Laura have been formed in the western Atlantic Ocean, are likely to impact the Gulf of Mexico, sparking concerns of the rare Fujiwhara effect.

What is Fujiwhara Effect?

• It is named for Japanese meteorologist Sakuhei Fujiwhara, who originally described it in 1921.

• It occurs when two tropical systems come near, then orbit each other, or possibly merge into one system.

• The term “Fujiwhara effect” refers to the interaction between the two tropical weather systems.

Source: Down To Earth

Also in News

1. Electronic Pension Payment Order

"Department of pension & pensioners" welfare has decided to the Integrate Electronic Pension Payement Order with Digilocker.

Digilocker is a Flagship Initiative of Ministry of Electronics & IT under Digital India Programme.

2. Pulikkali (Tiger Dance)

Pulikkali (Tiger Dance) is a folk art form of kerala. This year it will be celebrated online due to ongoing COVID19 Pandemic.

3. 7 New circles of ASI

Minstry of culture announces 7 new circles of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). The new circles are : Trichy, Raiganj, Rajkot, Jabalpur, Jhansi, , Meerut & Hampi.

JaiHind!

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