Current Affair 1:

Financial Intelligence Unit - India (FIU-IND)

Virtual Digital Assets Service Providers (VDA SPs) were brought into the ambit of Anti Money Laundering/Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML-CFT) framework under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PML) Act, 2002 in March 2023.

What are Virtual Digital Assets?

According to the Income Tax Act, 'virtual digital asset' refers to any information, code, number, or token (not being Indian currency or foreign currency) generated through cryptographic means and blockchain technologies.

It can be transferred, stored, or traded electronically and its definition specifically includes a non-fungible token (NFT) or any other token of similar nature, by whatever name is called.

About: Financial Intelligence Unit – India (FIU-IND)

Financial Intelligence Unit – India (FIU-IND) was set by the Government of India vide O.M. dated 18th November 2004 as the central national agency responsible for receiving, processing, analyzing and disseminating information relating to suspect financial transactions.

FIU-IND is an independent body reporting directly to the Economic Intelligence Council (EIC) headed by the finance minister.

Functions of FIU-IND:

Current Affair 2:

National Transit Pass System (NTPS) pan-India

The system provides seamless issuance of transit pass. This system helps in monitoring and keeping records of transit permits for inter-state and intra-state transportation of timber and bamboo from private lands/government/private depot and other minor forest produce.

The NTPS is envisioned as a "One Nation-One Pass" regime, which will enable seamless transit across the country.

It is a role based and work flow-based application available as desktop-based web portal as well as mobile application.

Key benefits of National Transit Pass System

1. Expedite issuance of transit permits for timber, bamboo and other minor forest produce without physically going to forest offices.
2. Replace manual paper-based transit system by online transit system
3. One permit for whole India for transit of timber, bamboo and other minor forest produce for ease of doing business.
4. Seamless movement across state borders from origin to destination through help of Mobile App.
5. Prevent hardships of timber and bamboo producers, farmers and transporters in obtaining permits and at forest check posts.
6. Promotion of agro-forestry activities.
7. Saving of transportation cost and time which will benefit farmers and traders and will in turn help in increasing farmer's income

Current Affair 3:

What is eSoil?

Researchers have developed a new electronic soil that was found to increase the growth of barley seedlings by 50 per cent in a new study.

According to the study, in hydroponic environments, eSoil is a low-power bioelectronic growth substrate that can electrically stimulate the root system and growth environment of plants.

The e-Soil allows nutrients to get recycled, from secondary streams of food-production and residues, as fertilizers to produce high-value superfoods in soil-less agriculture.

It is based on the action of electroactive microbial species and on innovative biomaterials with tailored electrochemical properties. Such electrochemical cell stimulated microbes towards mineralization, to recycle nutrients for plants or microalgae.

e-Soil is applied to different technologies for circular-economy:

1. Food/feed-grade microalgae cultivation.
2. Non-food microalgae cultivation for biofertilizers production.
3. Hydroponic vertical farming.

 

Current Affair 4:

Essequibo dispute: Venezuela and Guyana

The land boundary between Guyana and Venezuela has been disputed since its colonial inception between British and Spanish powersin South America.

The bone of contention lies in the densely forested Essequibo region of Guyana, which Venezuela claims as its territory.

Venezuela’s claim along the Essequibo River extends for 1,034 kilometersbefore reaching Brazilian territory.

At stake is approximately 142,795 square kilometersthat is currently administered by Guyana.

Guyana submitted the dispute to the International Court of Justice in 2018.Despite Venezuela’s withdrawal from the case, proceedings are currently ongoing.

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