Current Affair 1:

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

 

How it was formed?

What it does?

If we see OCHA in respect to India:

2022 OCHA PRESENCE​: NOT VISIBLE IN INDIA.

As per the information on website, India is also not a contributor to OCHA:

It has two headquarters locations, Geneva and New York, which act as centres of global operations.

Current Affair 2:

South and Central Asian Biosphere Reserve Network Meeting (SACAM)

 

The 10th South and Central Asian Biosphere Reserve Network Meeting (SACAM) with the theme ‘From Ridge to Reef’ will be held in Chennai, India during 1st-3rd November, 2023.

It aims at contributing to peace and good relationships between participating Member States, as well as, for the first time arranging for the active participation of the private sector, that has a responsibility and a will, to make contributions to nature conservation, climate resilience, and people living in harmony with nature.

About The World Network of Biosphere Reserves

The World Network of Biosphere Reserves of the MAB Programme consists of a dynamic and interactive network of sites of excellence.

Biosphere reserves are nominated by national governments and remain under the sovereign jurisdiction of the states where they are located. Biosphere Reserves are designated under the intergovernmental MAB Programme by the Director-General of UNESCO following the decisions of the MAB International Coordinating Council (MAB-ICC). Their status is internationally recognized.

UNESCO’s General Conference approved the Seville Strategy for Biosphere Reserves and the Statutory Framework of the World Network of Biosphere for the development and formal recognition of Biosphere Reserves.

There are 748 biosphere reserves in 134 countries, including 23 transboundary sites. They are distributed as follows:

Current Affair 3:

Payment Aggregator-Cross Border (PA-CB)

 

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has brought under its direct regulation all entities facilitating cross-border payments for import and export of goods and services and termed them Payment Aggregator-Cross Border (PA-CB).

About Payment Aggregator-Cross Border (PA-CB):

PAs-CB facilitates cross-border online payments for the import and export of permissible goods and services. The RBI has set a minimum net worth requirement of Rs 15 crore for these entities, which will be categorised as PA-CB.

They will be accountable for ensuring that they do not facilitate payment transactions for the import of any restricted or prohibited goods and services.

If the amount involved exceeds Rs 2.5 lakh, the PA-CB must carry out due diligence on the buyer as well.

What is a Payment Aggregator (PA)?

A PA (also known as a merchant aggregator) is a third-party service provider that allows merchants to accept payments from customers by integrating it into their websites or apps.

1. It facilitates different types of payment transactions, including cash and cheques, online payments through multiple payment sources, or offline touchpoints.
2. It allows merchants to accept bank transfers without setting up a bank-based merchant account. It means a merchant need not have a merchant account directly with the bank.
3. A PA in India is incorporated under the Companies Act 2013.
4. A PA can be a bank or a non-bank entity.
5. Since a PA handles funds, it requires a license from the RBI.

Only non-bank payment aggregators require unique authorization from the RBI, as ‘handling funds’ is considered a part of the normal banking relationships for bank PAs.

Examples: Amazon (Pay) India, Google India, Razorpay, Pine Labs, etc.

What is a Payment Gateway?

It is a software service that connects your bank account to the platform where you need to transfer your money.

It authorises you to conduct an online transaction through different payment modes like net banking, credit card, debit card, UPI, or other online wallets.

A Payment gateway plays the role of a third party that securely transfers your money from the bank account to the merchant’s payment portal.

Payment Aggregator vs. Payment Gateway:

A payment gateway is software that allows online transactions to take place, while a payment aggregator is the inclusion of all these payment gateways.

While a payment gateway is an intermediary, the payment aggregator is the interface where the payment gateway processes the transactions.

Most payment aggregators own payment gateways to offer various exclusive services to their merchant customers.

Current Affair 4:

White hydrogen

 

A deposit between six million to 250 million metric tonnes of hydrogen, or naturally occurring hydrogen gas was found in France.

White hydrogen is also referred to as “natural,” “gold” or “geologic” hydrogen.

It is naturally produced in the Earth’s crust and is considered a potential source of clean energy. It generally exists combined with other molecules.

White hydrogen has several advantages over other types of hydrogen:

1. It causes no CO2 emissions when used as a fuel.
2. It is compatible with existing infrastructure and technologies for hydrogen production and utilisation.
3. It is cheaper and more efficient than steam reforming or electrolysis.
4. It is abundant and renewable.

Other types of Hydrogen:

Grey Hydrogen: It is produced via coal or lignite gasification (black or brown), or via a process called steam methane reformation (SMR) of natural gas or methane (grey). These tend to be mostly carbon-intensive processes.

Blue Hydrogen: It is produced via natural gas or coal gasification combined with carbon capture storage (CCS) or carbon capture use (CCU) technologies to reduce carbon emissions.

Green Hydrogen: It is produced using electrolysis of water with electricity generated by renewable energy.

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