Goaltide Daily Current Affairs 2022
Current Affair 1:
NITI Aayog report: Harnessing Green Hydrogen: Opportunities for Deep Decarbonisation in India
A new report released by NITI Aayog highlights that green hydrogen can substantially spur industrial decarbonisation and economic growth for India in the coming decades.
Harnessing Green Hydrogen: Opportunities for Deep Decarbonisation in India provides a pathway to accelerate the emergence of a green hydrogen economy, which is critical for India to achieve its net-zero ambitions by 2070.
We can’t cover everything, but we will cover important things from report relevant for Prelims exam.
Production
Although hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant element in the universe, it is rarely found in nature in its elemental form and always must be extracted from other hydrogen-containing compounds. It also means that how well hydrogen contributes decarbonization depends on how clean and green the method of production is. Based on the sources and processes, hydrogen can be classified into various colours:
Central to the green hydrogen production process is the electrolyser technology. Alkaline and polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysers are two commercially available technologies for green hydrogen production today. Advanced electrolyser technologies like solid oxide and anion exchange membrane nearing commercial deployment as well
Transportation and Storage.
Current Affair 2:
Government recasts Banks Board Bureau into Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB)
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved a government resolution for establishing the Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB) in place of the Banks Board Bureau (BBB). The FSIB will now select the chiefs of public sector banks and insurance companies.
To Nationalize the banks in 1970s and 80s, Govt. of India had brought in an act called "Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act 1970 and 1980. And under the provisions of this Act, Govt. has made a scheme called, "Nationalized Banks (Management & Miscellaneous Provisions) Scheme, 1970 & 1980" which had provisions related to Directors but this was only for "Banks".
The BBB was originally set up in 2016 to select top officials and Directors of Public sector banks. But later on, government entrusted BBB to select the chiefs/Directors of insurance companies as well.
As "Nationalized Banks (Management & Miscellaneous Provisions) Scheme, 1970 & 1980" had provisions for banks only, this could be the reason that Delhi High Court struck down the power of BBB to appoint chiefs/directors of public sector insurance companies. That is why the "Department of Financial Services" under Ministry of Finance has been asked to carry out necessary modifications in the "Nationalized Banks (Management & Miscellaneous Provisions) Scheme, 1970 & 1980" and then give an official notification regarding the Government Resolution for establishing "Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB)" as a single entity for making recommendations for appointment of chiefs/Directors in Public Sector Banks, Public Sector Insurance companies and other public sector financial institutions.
Now you could ask that why a new body (FSIB) was required and why not just make modifications in the scheme and let BBB exist. The reason could be in 'Banks Board Bureau', the name represents banks but it appoints chiefs/directors of all financial public sector entities including banks and non-banks (insurance etc.). That is why "Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB)" would be better.
Current Affair 3:
Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Scheme
First of all, read introduction.
With the aim of reforming Government delivery system by re-engineering the existing process in welfare schemes for simpler and faster flow of information/funds and to ensure accurate targeting of the beneficiaries, de-duplication and reduction of fraud Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) was started on 1st January, 2013.
DBT Mission was created in the Planning Commission to act as the nodal point for the implementation of the DBT programmes. The Mission was transferred to the Department of Expenditure in July, 2013 and continue to function till 14.9.2015.
To give more impetus, DBT Mission and matters related thereto has been placed in Cabinet Secretariat under Secretary (Co-ordination & PG) w.e.f. 14.9.2015.
If it is asked, DBT runs currently only for one- two schemes, you will say NO.
Currently, According to Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE), the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) will now be a part of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme.
If we see ranking for 2021-22, Haryana tops in DBT Performance ranking.
Current Affair 4:
Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP), 2020
On June 30, 2022, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman released the ‘Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP), 2020.
The BRAP 2020 includes: Parameters,
- 301 reform points covering 15 business regulatory areas such as Access to Information, Single Window System, Labour, Environment, Land Administration & Transfer of Land and Property, Utility Permits and others. 118 new reforms were included to further augment the reform process.
- Sectoral reforms with 72 action points spread across 9 sectors namely Trade License, Healthcare, Legal Metrology, Cinema Halls, Hospitality, Fire NOC, Telecom, Movie Shooting and Tourism were introduced for the first time to expand the scope of reform agenda.
What is the aim?
The broader aim is to boost investor confidence, foster business friendly climate and augment Ease of Doing Business across the country by introducing an element of healthy competition through a system of assessing states based on their performance in the implementation of Business Reforms Action Plan.
In a departure from the previous years, where States/UTs were ranked, this year they have been placed under the four categories viz. Top Achievers, Achievers, Aspirers and Emerging Business Ecosystems.
The objective of assessing the States/UTs is not to create a hierarchy amongst States/UTs but to rather create an enabling framework wherein learnings can be shared amongst States/UTs which in turn will lead to a nationwide spill over of good practices.
The assessment gives full weightage to the feedback obtained from actual users/respondents at the ground level, who provided their feedback about the effective implementation of reforms.
DPIIT since 2014 has been assessing States/UTs based on their performance in implementation of prescribed reforms in Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP) exercise. Till date, assessment of States/UTs have been released for the years 2015, 2016, 2017-18 and 2019.
<< Previous Next >>
