Current Affair 1:

National land Monetization Corporation

 

The Union Cabinet’s clearance on March 10 for the setting up of the National Land Monetization Corporation.

• National Land Monetization Corporation (NLMC) will be set up as a wholly owned Govt. of India company under Dept. of Public Enterprise, Ministry of Finance.
• NLMC will undertake monetization of  "surplus land and building assets" (which are basically non-core assets) of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) and other Govt. agencies. (Core assets of BSNL would be telecom towers, and non-core assets will be land and buildings/offices)
• The surplus land and building assets of the CPSEs and Govt. agencies will be transferred to the NLMC which will then hold, manage and monetize them. Monetization will enable productive utilization of these under-utilized assets to trigger private sector investments, new economic activities, boost local economy and generate financial resources for economic and social infrastructure.
• NLMC will also advise and support other Government entities (including CPSEs) in identifying their surplus non-core assets and monetizing them in a professional and efficient manner to generate maximum value realization.

Monetization of surplus land and building can be done in different ways:

1. Outright sale (less preferred)
2. Giving on lease to some private player for some upfront payment
3. Giving on lease to some private player in return of some regular payment

Current Affair 2:

Forex Intervention operations of RBI

 

Foreign exchange intervention can be defined as a transaction by an official agent of the government, to influence the value of the exchange rate. Put simply, it can be defined as the official purchase or sale of foreign assets against domestic assets in the foreign exchange market.

According to Section 40 of the RBI Act, Reserve Bank can buy or sell foreign currency to any authorized person. In addition to US dollar, RBI has the option to use the Euro as an intervention currency. Generally, intervention is used as a tool for regulating the external value of rupee. However, intervention can also be used as a tool of monetary policy because of its impact on liquidity. When the central bank buys foreign exchange from the market, it infuses an equivalent amount of rupee funds into the system (injection of liquidity); the opposite happens when it sells foreign exchange in the domestic market. Over the years RBI has intervened in the forex markets either directly or indirectly

Direct intervention - Banks are contacted directly and asked to quote a price and the RBI buys or sells at the quoted rate. In 1995-96, most of the transactions were done directly with the authorized dealers.

Indirect intervention - RBI intervenes indirectly through select public sector banks. These banks, in turn, buy or sell on behalf of RBI in the market. Indirect interventions became the primary mode of intervening in the forex market by RBI since 1997-98.

Interventions are ordinarily done in the spot market. But, RBI sometimes intervenes in the forward and swap markets also (no need to go into all this).

 

Current Affair 3:

Ban on single use plastics

 

The Plastic Waste Management Rules (PWMR), 2016, provides the statutory framework for plastic waste management in an environmentally sound manner throughout the country.

Thirty-Four States/UTs have issued notifications/orders introducing regulations pertaining to complete or partial ban on plastic carry bags and/or identified single-use plastic items, over and above the Plastic Waste Management (PWM) Rules, 2016, as amended.

The following steps have been taken to strengthen implementation of Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 and also to reduce the use of identified single use plastic items:

 

1. The States/UTs have been requested to constitute a Special Task Force under Chairpersonship of Chief Secretary/Administrator for elimination of single use plastics and effective implementation of PWMR, 2016.
2. Thirty-two States/UTs have constituted the Special Task Force till date.
3. A National Level Taskforce has also been constituted by the Ministry in this regard.
4. The State /UT Governments and concerned Central Ministries/Departments have also been requested to develop a comprehensive action plan and implement it in a time bound manner. Fourteen States/UTs and twelve central ministries have developed their comprehensive action plans.
5. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has notified the Guidelines on the Extended Producer Responsibility for plastic packaging vide Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2022, on 16th February, 2022.
6. Additional Central Assistance is also provided to States and Union territories for solid waste management including plastic waste management, under Swachh Bharat Mission Urban (SBM (U)) and Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen.
7. As per the Plastic Waste Management (PWM) Rules, 2016, there is complete ban on sachets using plastic material used for storing, packing or selling gutkha, tobacco and pan masala.
8. Based on high littering potential and low utility, the Ministry has also notified the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021, on 12th August 2021, prohibiting manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of the following identified single use plastic items, which have low utility and high littering potential with effect from the 1st July, 2022:

• ear buds with plastic sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, plastic flags, candy sticks, ice-cream sticks, polystyrene [Thermocol] for decoration;
• plates, cups, glasses, cutlery such as forks, spoons, knives, straw, trays, wrapping or packing films around sweet boxes, invitation cards,  and cigarette packets, plastic or PVC banners less than 100 micron, stirrers.

Current Affair 4:

Lithium Import And Production

 

Lithium is used mainly in battery industry. The Government on 12.5.2021 approved the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for manufacturing of Advance Chemistry Cell (ACC) in the country. The total outlay of the scheme is Rs. 18,100 crores for a period of five years.

 

<< Previous Next >>