Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 15th September 2021

What is in news : Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana will be restarted in 36000 villages of India with focus on ST

Details :

• Scheme was launched in March, 2010 on a pilot basis for the integrated development of 1000 villages each with more than 50% SC population.
• Aim - overall development of selected SC majority villages
• Provide the villages with all the necessary facilities in order to ensure that the disparity between SC and non-SC population is eliminated in terms of common socio-economic indicators.
• Performance will be monitored in terms of achievement of the targets that are listed in Village Development Plan (VDP) prepared for each village.
• “National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj (NIRD&PR)” will provide technical expertise

Vision of an “Adarsh Gram” (Model Village)

A Model village is one which has adequate physical and institutional infrastructure, in which minimum needs of all sections of the society are fully met; they live in harmony with each other, as also with the environment, and a village which is progressive and dynamic. These villages should be covered with all the facilities necessary for dignified living, creating thereby an environment in which all its residents are enabled to utilise their potential to the fullest.

ECONOMY

What is in news : The Union Steel Minister chaired a meeting  to review the progress of capital expenditure (CAPEX) by Steel CPSEs

ABOUT

Definition : Capital expenditures (CapEx) are funds used by a company to acquire, upgrade, and maintain physical assets such as property, plants, buildings, technology, or equipment.

INFO

• Often used to undertake new projects
• Made to increase the scope of their operations or add some economic benefit to the operation

Things to remember :

Capital expenditure (CapEx)

• Is a payment for goods or services recorded—or capitalized—on the balance sheet instead of expensed on the income statement.
• Spending is important for companies to maintain existing property and equipment, and invest in new technology and other assets for growth.

If an item has a useful life of less than one year, it must be expensed on the income statement rather than capitalized (i.e., cannot be considered CapEx).

Formula and Calculation of CapEx

CapEx=ΔPP&E+Current Depreciation

Where:

• CapEx=Capital expenditures
• ΔPP&E=Change in property, plant, and equipment

​What CapEx Can Tell You

• How much a entity is investing in existing and new fixed assets to maintain or grow the business.
• The amount of capital expenditures a company is likely to have is dependent on the industry
• Can be found in the cash flow from investing activities in a company's cash flow statement.
• Locate the entity's prior-period PP&E balance, and take the difference between the two to find the change in the company's PP&E balance.

The Difference Between CapEx and Operating Expenses (OpEx) :

• Operating expenses are shorter-term expenses required to meet the ongoing operational costs of running a business.
• Unlike capital expenditures, operating expenses can be fully deducted from the company's taxes in the same year in which the expenses occur.
• The key difference between capital expenditures and operating expenses is that operating expenses recur on a regular and predictable basis, such as in the case of rent, wages, and utility costs.
• Capital expenses, on the other hand, occur much less frequently and with less regularity.
• Operating expenses are shown on the income statement and are fully tax-deductible, whereas capital expenditures only reduce taxes through the depreciation that they generate

What is in news : The wholesale price-based inflation (WPI) increased marginally to 11.39 per cent in August 2021 due to higher prices of manufactured goods, even though the prices of food articles softened.

MAHITI FOR PRELIMS

Wholesale Price Index

• It measures the changes in the prices of goods sold and traded in bulk by wholesale businesses to other businesses.
• Published by the Office of Economic Adviser, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• It is the most widely used inflation indicator in India.
• The major criticism for this index is that the general public does not buy products at wholesale prices.
• The base year of All-India WPI has been revised from 2004-05 to 2011-12 in 2017.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

What is in news : Greater Noida Authority has planned to introduce innovative ways for door-to-door waste collection efficiently. Innovative methods comprise of high-tech features such as pasting QR codes outside houses, installation of GPC & CCTV on vehicles carrying garbage.

Details :

• Authority has made several changes in present method of garbage collection.
• It will keep a close eye on the process of collection of garbage by digital means.
• CCTV cameras will also be installed at the waste processing plant to monitor the movement of vehicles engaged in carrying garbage.
• How QR codes will work: Every house will comprise of a QR code. Whenever the waste picker will pick up the garbage from particular house, he will scan the code through mobile scanner. As and when scan is done, its information will reach to the vendor. The vendor will compile the information and provide monthly information to the authority.
• Role of GPS: Global Positioning System (GPS) will help in monitoring the vehicles engaged in garbage collection. As of now, GPS was being used only in vehicles doing mechanical sweeping of roads.

What is in news : The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Reserve Bank of India have announced their intent to link Singapore’s PayNow and India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) real-time payment systems by July 2022.

Aim : The goal is to provide instantaneous, low-cost fund transfers directly from one bank account to another between the two countries.

About UPI: It is a mobile-based fast payment system, facilitating the customers to make round the clock payments instantly by using a Virtual Payment Address (VPA). VPA is created by the customer. This system eliminates the risk of sharing bank account details by remitter. This mechanism supports Person-to-Person (P2P) as well as Person-to-Merchant (P2M) payments and enables users to send or receive money.

About PayNow: It is the fast payment system of Singapore, enabling peer-to-peer funds transfer service. It is available for retail customers with the help of participating banks & Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NFIs) in Singapore. It provides the users to send and receive instant funds from one bank or e-wallet account to another by using their mobile number, Singapore NRIC/FIN, or VPA.

PERSONS IN NEWS

What is in news : PM Modi lays foundation stone of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh University in UP's Aligarh

About :

• Born into the ruling Jat family of Mursan estate in Hathras in 1886.
• In 1907, the young Raja proceeded on a world tour with his wife, who was Sikh.
• On his return, the Raja gave up his own residence in Mathura to be converted into a technical school named Prem Mahavidyalaya in 1909. It is said to have been the country’s first polytechnic.
• After studying at the Government School in Aligarh, Raja Mahendra Pratap went to the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College in Aligarh, which later came to be called Aligarh Muslim University.
• Although he was unable to complete his graduation from the institution, Raja Mahendra Pratap’s name is counted among the prominent alumni of the university.
• As prominent notables of the area, Mahendra Pratap’s father and grandfather were close to the educationist and reformer Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, the founder of Aligarh Muslim University.
• Like many others in the region, the family contributed to Sir Syed’s efforts to set up the university. The family is said to have given land to AMU, some parts of which were donation, while other parts were granted on lease. Raja Mahendra Pratap too, gave land to various educational institutions.

Contribution to Freedom struggle

• On December 1, 1915, he proclaimed the first Provisional Government of India outside India at the historic Bagh-e-Babur in Kabul. He declared himself president, and his fiery fellow revolutionary Maulana Barkatullah of Bhopal, prime minister, of the Provisional Government.
• Mahendra Pratap subsequently travelled to various countries to gather support for the revolutionaries fighting for independence in India. He went to Germany, Japan, and Russia, and met the political leaders of those countries. He is said to have met Vladimir Lenin in 1919, two years after the Bolshevik Revolution.
• In 1929, Mahendra Pratap launched the World Federation in Berlin. He was nominated for the 1932 Nobel Peace Prize by the Swedish doctor N A Nilsson, who was a member of the Commission of the Permanent International Peace Bureau.

Later phase: In 1957, Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh contested the Lok Sabha election from Mathura, and was elected Member of Parliament after he defeated Chaudhary Digambar Singh, the Jat leader of the Congress, and the young Vajpayee. Mahendra Pratap Singh won over 40 per cent of the votes in that election.

INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

What is in news : According to Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in Quad leaders’ summit in Washington

About QUAD

• The quadrilateral security dialogue includes Japan, India, United States and Australia.
• All four nations find a common ground of being the democratic nations and common interests of unhindered maritime trade and security.
• The idea was first mooted by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007. However, the idea couldn’t move ahead with Australia pulling out of it.

Significance of the grouping:

• Quad is an opportunity for like-minded countries to share notes and collaborate on projects of mutual interest.
• Members share a vision of an open and free Indo-Pacific. Each is involved in development and economic projects as well as in promoting maritime domain awareness and maritime security.
• It is one of the many avenues for interaction among India, Australia, Japan and the US and should not be seen in an exclusive context.

• Ruth Clare D’Silva of Mangaluru has emerged national topper in the Chartered Accountants final exam (old course) for 2021, conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
• Department of Space has signed a MoU with Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace Pvt Ltd. This MoU enables the startup to undertake several tests and access facilities across the ISRO centres. It will also enable the Skyroot to avail technical expertise of ISRO in order to test and qualify their space launch vehicle systems and subsystems.
• National Hindi Day celebrated on September 14
• Indian Navy has handed over a passenger variant Dornier (PVD) aircraft on lease to the Maritime Air Squadron of the National Coast Guard, Mauritius.
• The International Day for South-South Cooperation is observed on September 12, every year by the United Nations.