May 6th Current Affairs

1. India begins exports of organic millets grown in Himalayas to Denmark

IN NEWS:

In a major boost to organic products exports from the country, first consignment of millets grown in Himalayas from snow-melt water of Ganges in Dev Bhoomi (Land of the God), Uttarakhand would be exported to Denmark.

KEY POINTS:

• APEDA, in collaboration with Uttarakhand Agriculture Produce Marketing Board (UKAPMB) & Just Organik, an exporter, has sourced & processed ragi (finger millet), and jhingora(barnyard millet) from farmers in Uttarakhand for exports, which meets the organic certification standards of the European Union.
• UKAPMB procured millets directly from these farmers which have been processed in the state-of-art processing unit built by mandi board and operated by Just Organik.
• Millets are unique agricultural products from India which have significant demand in the global market.
• India’s export of organic food products rose by more than 51% to Rs 7078 crore ($ 1040 million) during April-February (2020-21) compared to the same period in the previous fiscal (2019-20).
• Oil cake meal is a major commodity of the organic product exports from the country followed by oil seeds, fruit pulps and purees, cereals & millets, spices, tea, medicinal plant products, dry fruits, sugar, pulses, coffee, essential oil etc.
• India’s organic products have been exported to 58 countries including USA, European Union, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Switzerland, Israel and South Korea.
• At present, organic products are exported provided they are produced, processed, packed and labelled as per the requirements of the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP).

National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP).

• The NPOP has been implemented by APEDA since its inception in 2001 as notified under the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulations) Act, 1992.
• The NPOP certification has been recognized by the European Union and Switzerland which enables India to export unprocessed plant products to these countries without the requirement of additional certification.
• NPOP also facilitates export of Indian organic products to the United Kingdom even in the post Brexit phase.
• NPOP has also been recognized by the Food Safety Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) for trade of organic products in the domestic market. Organic products covered under the bilateral agreement with NPOP need not to be recertified for import in India.

SOURCE:TH

2. Section 142 of the Social Security Code – 2020 Notified

IN NEWS:

The Ministry of Labour and Employment recently notified Section 142 of the Social Security Code, 2020. The Section covers applicability of the Aadhhar.

KEY POINTS:

• The notification of section will enable Ministry of Labour and Employment to collect Aaadhar details for the database of beneficiaries under various social security schemes.
• National Data Base for unorganised workers (NDUW) is at an advanced stage of development by National Informatics Centre. 
• The portal is aimed at collection of data for unorganised workers including migrant workers for the purpose of giving benefits of the various schemes of the Government. 
• An inter-state migrant worker can register himself on the portal on the basis of submission of Aaadhar alone.

Section 142

It says that Aadhaar details are compulsory for an employee or unorganised person or any other person to get benefits of government schemes. The benefits can be in kind of cash for medical sickness, availing services of career centre, maternity benefits, receiving payment as insured person, etc.

Social Security Code

• The Social Security Code was introduced in 2019.
• The main objectives of the code was to club the existing laws.
• It introduced universal social security for unorganised workers and also health and insurance benefits for gig workers.
• It merged eights existing laws. This included Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, Employment Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, Employees State Insurance Act, 1948, Compensation Act, 1923.
• It also established a social security fund and also tapped the corporate social responsibility fund to offer medical, disability and pension benefits to the unorganised sector workers.

SOURCE:PIB

3. BVLOS

IN NEWS:

• Exemption to conduct Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) experimental flights of drones
• 20 entities granted permission

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

• BVLOS trials will help create framework for future drone deliveries and other major applications using drones.
• The Central Government had constituted the ‘BVLOS Experiment Assessment and Monitoring (BEAM) Committee’ to invite Expression of Interest (EOI) to undertake BVLOS experimental flights of drones.

What is Beyond Visual Line of Sight?

• It is the distances where the drones and UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) operate outside the normal visible range. It is the second stage in the testing of drones. In the first phase of testing, the drones are operated within the visual line of sight.
• If two stages of testing is complete, the permitted entities will seek permission for further clearance to explore the possibility of vaccine delivery using drones.
• Telangana Government recently got permission to use drones to deliver vaccines.
• The Indian Council of Medical Research and IIT Kanpur were recently permitted by GoI to study COVID-19 vaccine delivery using drones.

About BLVOS

• BVLOS is cost effective and has numerous applications.
• It allows drones to collect more data in fewer deployments.
• The cost of deploying a drone is less than the traditional methods such a manned helicopters and airplanes.
• The BLVOS drones are controlled by data provided by on-board instruments. Here, the information is transmitted to the operator through telemetry link. The information includes altitude, speed, position and direction of flight.

Delivering COVID-19 vaccine through drones

The Indian Armed Forces have been using drone to deliver payloads since 2000. The major challenge in transporting COVID-19 vaccines through drones is maintaining low temperature during the transportation of vaccines.

SOURCE:MINT

4. Global Innovation Partnership

IN NEWS:

Cabinet gives ex-post facto approval to MoU between India and UK on Global Innovation Partnership.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

Objectives:

• Through this MoU, India and UK agree to launch the Global Innovation Partnership.
• GIP will support Indian innovators to scale up their innovations in third countries thereby helping them explore new markets and become self sustainable.
• It will also foster the innovative ecosystem in India. 
• GIP innovations will focus on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) related sectors thereby assisting recipient countries achieve their SDGs.
• Through seed funding, grants, investments and technical assistance, the Partnership will support Indian entrepreneurs and innovators to test, scale up and take their innovative development solutions to select developing countries.
• The innovations selected under GIP would accelerate the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals and benefit the base of the pyramid populations thus promoting equity and inclusivity in recipient countries.
• GIP will also develop an open and inclusive e-market place (E-BAAZAR) for cross border innovation transfer and will focus on results based impact assessment thereby promoting transparency and accountability.

SOURCE:TH

5. Migration and Mobility Partnership

IN NEWS:

Cabinet approves MoU between India and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on Migration and Mobility Partnership.

KEY POINTS:

Objectives:

• The MoU is aimed at Liberalising issuance of visas promoting mobility of students, researchers and skilled professionals and strengthen cooperation on issues related to irregular migration and human trafficking between the two sides.
• The MoU would benefit Indian students, academics, and researchers, migrants for professional and economic reasons and those willing to contribute through various projects to the economic development of both countries without consideration of caste, creed, religion or gender.
• This MoU can support the innovation ecosystem in both countries by facilitating free flow of talent.
• Ministry of External Affairs would closely monitor the effective implementation of the MoU through Joint Working Group mechanism.

SOURCE:PIB

6. Maratha quota unconstitutional, says SC

IN NEWS:

A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court has struck down the Maharashtra law granting reservation to the Maratha community in admissions and government jobs in the state

KEY POINTS:

Background:

• 2017: A 11-member commission headed by Retired Justice N G Gaikwad recommended Marathas should be given reservation under Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC).
• 2018: Maharashtra Assembly passed a Bill proposing 16% reservation for Maratha community.
• 2018: The Bombay High Court while upholding the reservation pointed out that instead of 16% it should be reduced to 12% in education and 13%in jobs.
• 2020: The SC stayed its implementation and referred the case to Chief Justice of India for a larger bench.

Current Ruling:

Violation of Fundamental Rights:

• A separate reservation for the Maratha community violates Articles 14 (right to equality) and 21 (due process of law).
• Reservation breaching the 50% limit will create a society based on “caste rule”.
• The Maratha reservation of 12% and 13% (in education and jobs) had increased the overall reservation ceiling to 64% and 65%, respectively.
• In the Indira Sawhney judgment 1992, SC had categorically said 50% shall be the rule, only in certain exceptional and extraordinary situations for bringing far-flung and remote areas’ population into mainstream said 50% rule can be relaxed.

No Further Benefits:

• Appointments made under the Maratha quota following the Bombay High Court judgment endorsing the State law would hold, but they would get no further benefits.
• Deprived States of the Power to Identify SEBCs:
• There will only be a single list of SEBC with respect to each State and Union Territory notified by the President of India, and that States can only make recommendations for inclusion or exclusion, with any subsequent change to be made only by Parliament.
• The Bench unanimously upheld the constitutional validity of the 102nd Constitution Amendment but differed on the question whether it affected the power of states to identify SEBCs.

Direction to NCBC:

Asked the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) to expedite the recommendation of SEBCs so that the President can publish the notification containing the list of SEBCs in relation to States and Union Territories expeditiously.

SOURCE:TH

7. RBI measures to protect small and medium businesses

IN NEWS:

The Reserve Bank of India has announced measures to protect small and medium businesses and individual borrowers from the adverse impact of the intense second wave of COVID-19 buffeting the country.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS:

• The RBI has decided to conduct special three-year long-term repo operations (SLTRO) of ₹10,000 crore at the repo rate for Small Finance Banks. The SFBs would be able to deploy these funds for fresh lending of up to ₹10 lakh per borrower.
• SFBs are now being permitted to reckon fresh lending to smaller MFIs (with asset size of up to ₹500 crore) for onlending to individual borrowers as priority sector lending.
• To enable the State governments to better manage their fiscal situation in terms of their cash flows and market borrowings, maximum number of days of overdraft (OD) in a quarter is being increased from 36 to 50 days and the number of consecutive days of OD from 14 to 21 days.

Who is eligible?

• Those with aggregate exposure of up to ₹25 crore, who had not availed restructuring under any of the earlier restructuring frameworks (including under last year’s resolution framework), and whose loans were classified as ‘standard’ as on March 31, 2021, were eligible for restructuring under the proposed framework.
• In respect of individual borrowers and small businesses who had already availed restructuring under Resolution Framework 1.0, lenders have been permitted to use this window to modify such plans to the extent of increasing the period of moratorium and/or extending the residual tenor up to a total of two years.
• In respect of small businesses and MSMEs restructured earlier, lending institutions have been permitted as a one-time measure, to review the working capital sanctioned limits, based on a reassessment of the working capital cycle and margins.

SOURCE:TH