Goaltide Daily Current Affairs 2020
Current Affair 1:
Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) ranking of states
India announced the 4th edition of Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) ranking of states. So, this is not first edition remember this. The ranking is based on the implementation of the business reform action plan 2019 by States and UTs. Andhra Pradesh has bagged the first rank among all the states in the country in the state business reforms action plan-2019 (BRAP-2019), representing ease of doing business for Atmanirbhar Bharat.
- Till date, State Rankings have been released for the years 2015, 2016 and 2017-18.
- The DPIIT in collaboration with the World Bank conducts an annual reform exercise for all States/UTs under the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP).
- The Business Reform Action Plan 2019 includes 180 reform points covering 12 business regulatory areas such as Access to Information, Single Window System, Labour, Environment, etc.
- The larger objective of attracting investments and increasing Ease of Doing Business in each State was sought to be achieved by introducing an element of healthy competition through a system of ranking states based on their performance in the implementation of Business Reform Action Plan.
- The ranking this time gives full weightage to the feedback from over thirty thousand respondents at the ground level, who gave their opinion about the effectiveness of the reforms.
- State rankings will help attract investments, foster healthy competition and increase Ease of Doing Business in each State.
Ranking:
Since ranking has been announced recently by the Department of Industrial Promotion and Internal Trade (DPIIT), we will see DPIIT:
Current Affair 2:
Low ozone found over Brahmaputra river valley
The only prelims question which can appear in exam from here is:
Recent study over valley in India suggested low concentration of ozone as compared to other regions. Which region has been talked about? Its Brahmaputra Valley.
Scientists at the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital an autonomous research institute under the Department of Science and Technology (DST) Government of India have evaluated the near-surface ozone in the Brahmaputra River Valley (BRV) and found a relatively low concentration of Ozone over Guwahati compared to the other urban locations in India.
What is the normal case?
Tropospheric, or ground-level ozone, is created by chemical reactions between oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC). It usually increases when pollutants emitted by cars, power plants, industrial boilers, refineries, chemical plants, and other sources chemically react in the presence of sunlight, impacting human health.
The study also assessed seasonal, day of week, and characteristics of ozone to identify the emission source of ozone and its precursors, especially methane (CH4) and NMHCs, along with studying the relationships between the meteorological parameters, ozone and its precursors in a tropical setting.
Reasons sited for such different condition over Brahmaputra:
The examination of nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone concentrations in this study suggested that this site is well influenced by local sources such as adjacent major national highway. During the daylight hours, the site is in or nearly in a photo-stationary state, indicating a low impact of organic species on the ozone concentrations.
Their present work has been published recently in the journal ‘Atmospheric Pollution Research’.
Current Affair 3:
Kamath Committee’s parameters accepted
The Reserve Bank had, on August 7, 2020, announced the constitution of an Expert Committee under the chairmanship of Shri K.V. Kamath to make recommendations on the required financial parameters to be factored in the resolution plans under the ‘Resolution Framework for Covid19-related Stress’ along with sector specific benchmark ranges for such parameters.
The Committee has since submitted its report to the Reserve Bank on September 4, 2020. The recommendations of the Committee have been broadly accepted by the Reserve Bank.
Recommendations: Very tough recommendations. You can skip too if you are not able to understand for now. But read once.
Before reading recommendations, read this: These definitions you will see once. Difficult too. Basic idea of terms. No worries.
- The committee has recommended financial ratios for 26 sectors, which could be factored by lending institutions while finalizing a resolution plan for a borrower.
- RBI also issued a circular specifying five specific financial ratios and the sector-specific thresholds for each ratio in respect of 26 sectors to be taken into account while finalizing the resolution plans.
- These five ratios are: Total outside liabilities/adjusted tangible net worth (TOL/ATNW), total debt/EBITDA, current ratio, debt service coverage ratio (DSCR), average debt service coverage ratio (ADSCR).
- The current ratio and DSCR in all cases shall be 1.0 and above, and ADSCR shall be 1.2 and above, the central bank specified.
- While these ratios are intended as floors or ceilings, as the case may be, the resolution plans should take into account the pre-Covid-19 operating and financial performance of the borrower and impact of Covid-19 on its operating and financial performance at the time of finalizing the resolution plan, to assess the cash flows in subsequent years, while stipulating appropriate ratios in each case.
- It added that lending institutions are free to consider other financial parameters as well while finalizing the resolution assumptions in respect of eligible borrowers apart from the prescribed mandatory key ratios and sector-specific thresholds.
- RBI said that given the differential impact of the pandemic on various sectors/entities, the lending institutions may adopt a graded approach depending on the severity of the impact on the borrowers, while preparing or implementing the resolution plan.
Such graded approach may also entail classification of the impact on the borrowers into mild, moderate and severe, as recommended by the committee.
Current Affair 4:
Yanomami Tribe of South America
Name of Tribe and Where such incident has taken place. These two things become important.
The Yanomami tribe has launched a global campaign to expel 20,000 gold miners from their land amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Yanomami Park covers 37,000 square miles in the Brazilian Amazon on the Venezuelan border; it is inhabited by 27,000 Yanomami. Soaring gold prices have resulted in a massive ongoing invasion of the indigenous territory by gold miners who are well supported with monetary backing, heavy equipment and aircraft.
Current Affair 5:
National Guidance for Plastic Pollution Hot spotting and Shaping Action
This report was somewhere in July 2020. Covering it today as we have missed it.
Just remember the name of two organizations involved and two images below.
Plastic pollution is a key environmental challenge that has received significant public attention in recent years. While it is often attributed to a “take-make-dispose” economic model, plastic leakage is a complex issue with multiple sources and actors involved. Addressing this challenge requires all stakeholders joining forces to intervene at various levels.
Co-developed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the National Guidance for Plastic Pollution Hotspotting and Shaping Action contributes to filling this gap. The Guidance provides a methodological framework and practical tools applicable at different geographical scales.
Current Affair 6:
Moplah rioters’ not freedom fighters
What’s the issue?
In the ‘Dictionary of Martyrs’, published by the Union Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the Indian Council of Historical Research, Variankunnath Kunhamad Haji and Ali Musliyar, the chief architects of the Moplah Massacre, were deemed to be martyrs. The book was published in 2019. However, a report by the ICHR-constituted committee has sought the removal of names of 387 ‘Moplah rioters’ (Including leaders Ali Musliyar and Variamkunnath Ahmad Haji) from the list of martyrs.
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The Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) is an autonomous body of the Ministry of Education (Earlier called Ministry of Human Resource Development). The body has provided financial assistance to historians and scholars through fellowships, grants, and symposia.
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Why?
The report describes Haji as the “notorious Moplah Riot leader” and a “hardcore criminal,” who “killed innumerable innocent Hindu men, women, and children during the 1921 Moplah Riot, and deposited their bodies in a well, locally known as Thoovoor Kinar”. It also noted that almost all the Moplah outrages were communal. They were against Hindu society and done out of sheer intolerance. Thus, their names should be deleted.
Mopillah Rebellion
The Mapilla rebellion or Moplah Rebellion (Moplah Riots) of 1921 was the culmination of a series of riots by Moplahs (Muslims of Malabar) in the 19th and early 20th centuries against the British and the Hindu landlords in Malabar (Northern Kerala).
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