Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 21st Dec 2021

NEWS

Karnataka has begun issuing BH ('Bharat') series of registration numbers for a select group of vehicle owners, to enable smooth transfer of government employees from one state to another.

DETAILS

• A vehicle bearing BH registration mark shall not require assignment of a new registration mark when the owner of the vehicle shifts from one State to another.
• Under section 47 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, a person is allowed to keep the vehicle for not more than 12 months in any state other than the state where the vehicle is registered.
• Available on voluntary basis to Defense personnel, employees of Central Government/ State Government/ Central/ State PSUs and private sector companies/organizations.
• The motor vehicle tax will be levied for two years or in multiple of two.
• This scheme will facilitate free movement of personal vehicles across States/UTs of India upon relocation to a new State/UT.
• After completion of the fourteenth year, the motor vehicle tax shall be levied annually which shall be half of the amount which was charged earlier for that vehicle.

NEWS

Karnataka ranked among the top states for the highest disposal rates of workplace sexual harassment cases filed against government officials. Complaints were registered at the Sexual Harassment Electronic Box (SHe-Box), the online complaint system mandated under the ‘The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013

DETAILS

• Online complaint management system
• For registering complaints related to sexual harassment at workplace
• Launched by the Ministry of Women and Child Development
• Developed to ensure the effective implementation of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act (the SH Act), 2013.
• How it works : Once a complaint is submitted to the portal, it will be directly sent to the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) of the concerned Ministry/Department/PSU/Autonomous Body etc. having jurisdiction to inquire into the complaint. Through this portal, WCD as well as complainant can monitor the progress of inquiry conducted by the ICC.

NEWS

Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has kick-started the process of drafting a fresh master plan for the city by revising the horizon period to 2041.

DETAILS

The vision document —

• Focused on planning and regulating developmental activity especially on the outskirts of Bengaluru — is e
• Expected to steer growth on the principle of creating a 'compact city'
• Authority follows the RMP 2015, and there are concerns over unchecked and uncontrolled development activities in the city’s peripheral areas.
• RMP is expected to run into seven volumes
• Later volumes will have a bouquet of surveys: on ecology, hydrology, land capacity analysis, heritage and culture.
• Consultant is also expected to provide a city-wide stakeholder consultation report. Another major component will be land-use forecasting.
• Previous master plans did showcase a grand strategy for the city, there were lacunae in their implementation.

NEWS

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPPCB) data say the gap between sewage generation and treatment is the major reason behind the pollution of rivers.

DETAILS

• Karnataka generates 4,458 million litres per day (MLD) of sewage and has an installed treatment capacity of 2,712 MLD from 140 sewage treatment plants (STP) located across the state. It is 60.83 per cent of the sewage generated every day.
• Of 2,712 MLD of treatment capacity, the operational treatment capacity is only 1,922 MLD.
• 32 STPs are non-operational. The remaining untreated sewage discharges directly into rivers and other water bodies.
• Arkavathi, Lakshmantirtha, Malprbha, Tungabhadra, Bhadra, Cauvery, Kabini, Kagina, Kali, Krishna, Shimsha, Asanginalla, Bhima, Kumardhara, Netravathi, Tunga, Yagachi rivers in the state are the ones polluted. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPPCB) data say the gap between sewage generation and treatment is the major reason behind the pollution of rivers.
• Majority of the lakes and rivers in the state are sewage-fed and require attention.

NEWS

The draft paper of the Delimitation Commission has proposed seven additional Assembly seats for Jammu and Kashmir — six in Jammu division and one in Kashmir valley. For the first time, the commission proposed reserving nine seats for Scheduled Tribes (STs) on the basis of population. Seven seats are proposed for the Scheduled Caste (SC) community.

DELIMITATION

Delimitation

• Act of redrawing boundaries of Lok Sabha and state Assembly seats to represent changes in population.
• In this process, the number of seats allocated to different states in Lok Sabha and the total number seats in a Legislative Assembly may also change.
• Main objective - is to provide equal representation to equal segments of a population.
• Fair division of geographical areas so that one political party doesn’t have an advantage over others in an election.
• Under Article 82, the Parliament enacts a Delimitation Act after every Census.
• Carried out by an independent Delimitation Commission.

Delimitation Commission

• The Constitution mandates that its orders are final and cannot be questioned before any court as it would hold up an election indefinitely.
• Composition: Retired Supreme Court judge, the Chief Election Commissioner and the respective State Election Commissioners.
• Functions:
  • Determine the number and boundaries of constituencies in a way that the population of all seats, so far as practicable, is the same.
  • Identifying seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes; these are where their population is relatively large.
• All this is done on the basis of the latest Census and, in case of difference of opinion among members of the Commission, the opinion of the majority prevails.

NEWS

Centre has decided to amend the Multi State Cooperative Societies (MSCS) Act, 2002 to plug the loopholes in the Act

ACT & MULTISTATE COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES

• The Act was passed to govern cooperatives
• Cooperatives are a state subject
• There are many societies such as those for sugar and milk, banks, milk unions etc whose members and areas of operation are spread across more than one state. For example, most sugar mills along the districts on the Karnataka-Maharashtra border procure cane from both states.
• They draw their membership from both states, and they are thus registered under the MSCS Act. Their board of directors has representation from all states they operate in. Administrative and financial control of these societies is with the central registrar, with the law making it clear that no state government official can wield any control on them.

WHY DOES THE GOVERNMENT PLAN TO AMEND THE ACT

• Exclusive control of the Central registrar, who is also the Central Cooperative Commissioner has no interference of state authorities so that these societies are able to function in multiple states  has created obstacles.
• While the system for state-registered societies includes checks and balances at multiple layers to ensure transparency in the process, these layers do not exist in the case of multistate societies
• Board of directors has control of all finances and administration. For expenditure above a certain level, the annual general body meeting of the society has to be called.

ISSUES WITH THE ACT

• Lack of day-to-day government control on such societies
• Unlike state cooperatives, which have to submit multiple reports to the state registrar, multistate cooperatives need not
• Central registrar can only allow inspection of the societies under special conditions — a written request has to be sent to the office of the registrar by not less than one-third of the members of the board, or not less than one-fifth of the number of members of the society.
• Inspections can happen only after prior intimation to societies.
• The on-ground infrastructure for central registrar is thin — there are no officers or offices at state level, with most work being carried out either online or through correspondence. For members of the societies, the only office where they can seek justice is in Delhi, with state authorities expressing their inability to do anything more than forwarding their complaints to the central registrar.

NEWS

A committee examining the income criteria for determining EWS is likely to submit its report to the Centre soon.

WHY WAS THE COMMITTEE SET UP?

• After the Supreme Court questioned the income criteria for defining EWS, and termed it “arbitrary”
• SC noted that the ceiling for determining EWS (Rs 8 lakh) is the same as the limit for determining the other backward classes (OBC) “creamy layer” for reservation for the children of people outside of government.
• Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment announced the committee to “revisit the criteria for determining the economically weaker sections” in terms of the provisions of the explanation to Article 15 of the Constitution. It comprises former finance secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey, Indian Council for Social Sciences Research (ICSSR) member secretary V K Malhotra, and Principal Economic Advisor to the Government of India Sanjeev Sanyal.

WHEN WAS THE INCOME CRITERIA FIXED?

• 103rd Amendment to the Constitution
• Persons who are not covered under the scheme of reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs, and whose family has gross annual income below Rs 8 lakh, are to be identified as EWSs for benefit of reservation. It also specifies what constitutes “income”, and excludes some persons from the EWS category if their families possess assets specified in the notification
• Reservation was granted based on the recommendations of a commission headed by Major General (retd) S R Sinho. The commission had been constituted by the then UPA government in March 2005, and submitted its report in July 2010.
• Sinho Commission recommended that all below poverty line (BPL) families within the general category as notified from time to time, and also all families whose annual family income from all sources is below the taxable limit, should be identified as EBCs (economically backward classes).
• Present income ceiling of Rs 8 lakh fixed for EWS is the same as that for OBCs for quotas for people outside of government. For the OBC quota in government, there is a different criteria based on the ranks of the parents of the candidate. Outside of government, there is an income criteria, which was raised from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 8 lakh in 2017.

DEFENITION OF EWS

ECONOMY

NEWS

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Monday issued an order suspending futures trading in paddy (non-basmati), wheat, Bengal gram (chana dal), mustard seeds and its derivatives, soyabean and its derivatives, crude palm oil and green gram (moong dal) for a year, in a move believed to stem rising prices.

DETAILS

Futures Contract

• Agreement between buyer and seller
• Buy or sell an asset
• At a certain time in the future
• At a certain price
• Has to be honored by both parties on the due date.
• Used by traders or speculators who are engaged in arbitrage.
• Regulated by SEBI.

ARBITRAGE means that the trader shall buy the stock at a low price today as he wants to sell it on a future date at a high price.

NEWS

India signs loan agreements with ADB for various projects

WHICH ARE THEY

• $350 million policy-based loan to improve access to urban services in India by accelerating policy actions and reforms to enhance service delivery and promote performance-based central fiscal transfers to urban local bodies (ULBs)
• $150 million loan to provide affordable housing for urban poor in Tamil Nadu
• $112 million loan for establishing skill university in Assam

ABOUT ADB

• Regional development bank
• Official United Nations Observer
• Established on 19 December 1966.
• Headquarters — Manila, Philippines.
• Admits the members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP, formerly the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East or ECAFE) and non-regional developed countries.
• Modeled closely on the World Bank, and has a similar weighted voting system where votes are distributed in proportion with members’ capital subscriptions.
• Functions
  • Social development organization
  • Dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration.
  • Carried out through investments – in the form of loans, grants and information sharing – in infrastructure, health care services, financial and public administration systems, helping nations prepare for the impact of climate change or better manage their natural resources, as well as other areas.

• The Karnataka Assembly on Monday passed four Bills, including one that proposes to upgrade the iconic University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE) into an autonomous institution like an IIT.  Sir M Visvesvaraya in 1917, is currently a constituent college of the Bangalore University.
• The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) has been re-accredited for five years by EQUIS. EQUIS is an institutional assessment, improvement and accreditation system for business and management schools This is the second time that IIMB has received accreditation for five years, the longest period that EQUIS offers
• Ministry of External Affairs on Monday said Pradeep Kumar Rawat, a Mandarin-speaking career diplomat, will take over as envoy in Beijing.
• Team TVS Racing finished the season on a high winning all the four categories it had participated in the sixth and final round of the MRF MOGRIP FMSCI 2W National Rally Championship (INRC) for two wheelers at Nashik, Maharashtra
• India’s biggest drone show organised in Lucknow as part of Amrit Mahotsav series of events on First War of Independence of 1857