INSIGHTS DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS + PIB SUMMARY- 12 DECEMBER 2019

GS Paper 1:

Topics Covered:

Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.

Subramaniya Bharathi

What to study?

For Prelims: Famous literary works.

For Mains: Contributions to social reforms.

Context: Dec 11 is the birth anniversary of Subramanian Bharati.

About Subramaniya Bharathiyar:>/em>

He was a poet, freedom fighter and social reformer from Tamil Nadu.
He was known as Mahakavi Bharathiyar and the laudatory epithet Mahakavi means a great poet.
His songs on nationalism and freedom of India helped to rally the masses to support the Indian Independence Movement in Tamil Nadu.
“Kannan Pattu” “Nilavum Vanminum Katrum” “Panchali Sabatam” “Kuyil Pattu”are examples of Bharathi’s great poetic output.
He published the sensational “Sudesa Geethangal” in 1908.

In 1949, he became the first poet whose works were nationalised by the state government.

Bharthi as a social reformer:

He was also against caste system. He declared that there were only two castes-men and women and nothing more than that. Above all, he himself had removed his sacred thread.

He condemned certain Shastras that denigrated women. He believed in the equality of humankind and criticised many preachers for mixing their personal prejudices while teaching the Gita and the Vedas.

Sources: pib.

GS Paper 2:

Topics Covered:

Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme

What to study?

For Prelims and mains: Key features, coverage and significance of the scheme.

Context: Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme for NBFCs gets cabinet nod.

Key features of the scheme:

It allows for purchase of high-rated pooled assets from financially-sound non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies (HFCs) by public sector banks (PSBs).
The scheme would cover NBFCs and HFCs that might have slipped into “SMA-0” category during the one-year period prior to August 1, 2018, and asset pools rated “BBB+” or higher.
The window for one-time partial credit guarantee offered by the government would remain open till June 30, 2020 or till such date by which Rs 1 lakh crore worth of assets get purchased by the banks, whichever is earlier.
The Finance Minister would have the power to extend the validity of the scheme by up to three months by taking into account its progress.

Significance:

The proposed Government Guarantee support and resultant pool buyouts will help address NBFCs/HFCs resolve their temporary liquidity or cash flow mismatch issues.

This will also enable them to continue contributing to credit creation and providing last mile lending to borrowers, thereby spurring economic growth.

Sources: pib.

Topics Covered:

Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.

Social Security code

What to study?

For Prelims: Features of the code.

For Mains: need for and significance of the code.

Context: Labour Minister has introduced the Code on Social Security, 2019, in the Lok Sabha.

Objectives:

To amalgamate a clutch of existing laws and proposes several new initiatives including universal social security for unorganized sector workers and, insurance and health benefits for gig workers.
To Corporatize of existing organizations like EPFO and ESIC headed by people other than the labour minister.

Key features of the code:

The Code will merge eight exiting labour laws includingEmployees’ Compensation Act, 1923; Employees‘ State Insurance Act, 1948, Employees‘ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952; Maternity Benefit Act, 1961.
The bill seeks to establish a social security fund and tap the corporate social responsibility fund to offer unorganized sector workers medical, pension, death and disability benefits via the employee’s state insurance corporation.
Exemption: It will empower the central government to exempt select establishments from all or any of the provisions of the code and makes Aadhaar mandatory for availing benefits under various social security schemes.
It proposes to offer gratuity to fixed term employees after one year of service on a pro-rata basis as against the current practice of five years.
Insurance, PF, life cover for unorganized sector employees:Central Government shall formulate and notify, from time to time, suitable welfare schemes for unorganised workers on matter relating to life and disability cover; health and maternity benefits; old age protection; and any other benefit as may be determined by the central government.

Sources: the Hindu.

GS Paper 3:

Topics Covered:

Infrastructure- roadways.

Infrastructure Investment Trust

What to study?

For Prelims: Features of InvIT, about NHAI and Bharatmala.

For Mains: Need for and significance of InvIT.

Context: Cabinet authorises NHAI to set up Infrastructure Investment Trust and monetize National Highway projects.

About the Infrastructure Investment Trust:

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will set up the Infrastructure Investment Trust(s) (InvIT) as per InvIT Guidelines issued by SEBI.

Under InvIT, highway projects will be bundled to form a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to be offered to investors.

The SPV would then be traded on the stock exchanges, and returns will be linked to the InvIT’s performance in the capital market.

Significance and expected outcomes:

This will enable the NHAI to monetize completed national highways that have a toll collection track record of at least one year and the NHAI reserves the right to levy toll on the identified highway.

Why InvIT?

InvIT as an instrument provides greater flexibility to investors and is expected to create specialized O&M concessionaires, attract patient capital for around 30 years to the highways market.

Need:

NHAI has received a total of Rs 36,691 crore as budgetary support and has been authorised to raise Rs 75,000 crores from the market in the current financial year.
Given the magnitude of the Bharatmala, the government’s flagship highway development program, NHAI would need adequate funds to complete the projects within the prescribed timelines.

What is Bharatmala project?

It is the second largest highways construction project in the country since NHDP, under which almost 50,000 km of highway roads were targeted across the country. Bharatmala will look to improve connectivity particularly on economic corridors, border areas and far flung areas with an aim of quicker movement of cargo and boosting exports.

About NHAI:

The National Highways Authority of India was constituted by an act of Parliament, the National Highways Authority of India Act,1988. It is responsible for the development, maintenance and management of National Highways entrusted to it and for matters connected or incidental thereto. The Authority was operationalised in Feb, 1995.

Sources: pib.

Topics Covered:

Awareness in space.

RISAT-2BR1

What to study?

For Prelims and mains: Features of RISAT- 2BR1, about PSLV and GSLV.

Context: India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its fiftieth flight (PSLV-C48), has successfully launched RISAT-2BR1 along with nine commercial satellites from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota.

This is PSLV’s 50th successful mission and the 75 thlaunch vehicle mission from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota.

What is RISAT-2BR1?

It is a radar imaging earth observation satellite.

It provides services in the field of agriculture, forestry and disaster management.

Its mission life is 5 years.

Other satellites on board:

The nine customer satellites were from Israel, Italy, Japan and the USA.

These satellites were launched under a commercial arrangement with New Space India Limited (NSIL).

Background:

The RISAT, which was first deployed in orbit on April 20, 2009 as the RISAT-2, uses synthetic aperture radars (SAR) to provide Indian forces with all-weather surveillance and observation, which are crucial to notice any potential threat or malicious activity around the nation’s borders.

Following the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, the launch of RISAT-2 was prioritised over RISAT- 1, as its C-band SAR radar was not yet ready and RISAT -2 carried an Israeli-built X-band radar.

What is PSLV?

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is an indigenously-developed expendable launch system of the ISRO.

It comes in the category of medium-lift launchers with a reach up to various orbits, including the Geo Synchronous Transfer Orbit, Lower Earth Orbit, and Polar Sun Synchronous Orbit.

Difference between PSLV and GSLV:

India has two operational launchers- Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).

GSLV was developed to launch the heavier INSAT class of geosynchronous satellites into orbit.

Different orbits:

There are three main types of Earth orbits- high Earth orbit, medium Earth orbit and low Earth orbit. Which orbit a particular satellite is placed in depends on its function.

When satellites are about 36,000 km from the Earth’s surface, they enter what is called the high Earth orbit.Here, it orbits in sync with the Earth’s rotation, crating the impression that the satellite is stationary over a single longitude. Such a satellite is said to be geosynchronous.
Just as the geosynchronous satellites have a sweet spot over the equator that allows them to stay over one spot on Earth, polar-orbiting satellites have a sweet spot that allows them to stay in one time. This orbit is a Sun-synchronous orbit,which means that whenever and wherever the satellite crosses the equator, the local solar time on the ground is always the same.

Sources: the Hindu.

Topics Covered:

Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.

Navic

What to study?

For Prelims: Navic and its key features.

For Mains: Significance, applications and potential of Navic.

Context: US Congress has consented to designate India’s Navigation in Indian Constellation (NavIC) as its “allied” navigational satellite system along with the Galileo of the European Union and QZSS of Japan.

What is NAVIC?

Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) is an independent regional navigation satellite system designed to provide position information in the Indian region and 1500 km around the Indian mainland.

Services provided:

IRNSS would provide two types of services, namely Standard Positioning Services available to all users and Restricted Services provided to authorised users.

Its applications include:

Terrestrial, Aerial and Marine Navigation.
Disaster Management.
Vehicle tracking and fleet management.
Integration with mobile phones.
Precise Timing.
Mapping and Geodetic data capture.
Terrestrial navigation aid for hikers and travellers.
Visual and voice navigation for drivers.

How many satellites does NAVIC consist of?

It is a regional system and so its constellation will consist of seven satellites. Three of these will be geostationary over the Indian Ocean, i.e., they will appear to be stationary in the sky over the region, and four will be geosynchronous – appearing at the same point in the sky at the same time every day.

This configuration ensures each satellite is being tracked by at least one of fourteen ground stations at any given point of time, with a high chance of most of them being visible from any point in India.

Why it is necessary to have indigenous global navigation system?

Having a global navigation system bolsters the ability of a nation to serve as a net security provider, especially through the guarantee of such assurance policies. It can also play a significant role in relief efforts post disasters such as the tsunami in the Indian Ocean region in 2004 and the Pakistan-India earthquake in 2005.

Sources: the Hindu.

INSIGHTS DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS + PIB SUMMARY- 12 DECEMBER 2019