Current Affair 1:

Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA)

 

The Indian Ocean Rim Association is an inter-governmental organisation which was established on 7 March 1997.

The vision for IORA originated during a visit by late President Nelson Mandela of South Africa to India in 1995, where he said:

Member States:

Current Affair 2:

National Commission for Backward Classes

 

National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) was initially constituted by the Central Govt by the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993 and so far, the Commission had been reconstituted 7 times up to 2016.

The National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993 (27 of 1993) has been repealed through the National Commission for Backward Classes (Repeal) Act, 2018 dated 14.08.2018.

The present Commission (8th) has been accorded Constitutional Status and constituted through “The Constitution (One Hundred and Second Amendment) Act, 2018” Act dated 11.8.2018, whereby Article 338B has been inserted, forming a Commission for the socially and educationally backward classes to be known as National Commission for Backward Classes.

The Commission consists of a Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and three other Members in the rank & pay of Secretary to the Govt of India and their condition of service and tenure of office has been notified vide Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment Notification dated 23.08.2018.

Current Affair 3:

United Nation Commission on Human Rights.

 

The headquarters of UN Human Rights is located in Geneva, Switzerland.

Current Affair 4:

Primary Agriculture Credit Societies (PACS)

 

The rural co-operative credit system in India is primarily mandated to ensure flow of credit to the agriculture sector. It comprises short-term and long-term co-operative credit structures. The short-term co-operative credit structure operates with a three-tier system - Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) at the village level, Central Cooperative Banks (CCBs) at the district level and State Cooperative Banks (StCBs) at the State level.

PACS are outside the purview of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and hence not regulated by the Reserve Bank of India.

StCBs/DCCBs are registered under the provisions of State Cooperative Societies Act of the State concerned and are regulated by the Reserve Bank. Powers have been delegated to National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD) under Sec 35 (6) of the Banking Regulation Act (As Applicable to Cooperative Societies) to conduct inspection of State and Central Cooperative Banks.

PACS are village level cooperative credit societies that serve as the last link in a three-tier cooperative credit structure headed by the State Cooperative Banks (SCB) at the state level. Credit from the SCBs is transferred to the district central cooperative banks, or DCCBs, that operate at the district level. The DCCBs work with PACS, which deal directly with farmers. Since these are cooperative bodies, individual farmers are members of the PACS, and office-bearers are elected from within them.

The Union Budget has announced Rs 2,516 crore for computerisation of 63,000 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) over the next five years, with the aim of bringing greater transparency and accountability in their operations and enabling them to diversify their business and undertaking more activities.

Computerization of PACS, besides serving the purpose of financial inclusion and strengthening service delivery to farmers especially Small & Marginal Farmers, will bring transparency, efficiency, enhance trustworthiness in the working of PACS among farmers.

PACS should enable their farmer members strive towards better returns on agricultural produce, adopt latest technology to increase agricultural production, use new technology & High-Yielding Variety (HYV) seeds store their produce in a scientific way to minimise storage losses and also provide pledge loan against this scientifically stored produce to bridge their credit gap. In order to enable PACS to provide more services to their members and generate income for themselves, an initiative has been taken to develop PACS as Multi Service Centers. This will enable PACS to provide ancillary services to their members and diversify their activities.

Maharashtra (20,788) has the maximum number of registered PACS.

 

 

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