May 12th Current Affairs

1. National Technology Day

IN NEWS:

• The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has praised the scientists and those passionate about technology on National Technology Day.
• On National Technology Day, we salute the hardwork and tenacity of our scientists and those passionate about technology. We remember with pride the 1998 Pokhran Tests, which demonstrated India’s scientific and technological prowess.

KEY POINTS:

The day which was first observed on 11 May, 1999, aims to commemorate the scientific and technological achievements of Indian scientists, engineers. The day was named by the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Every year, the Technology Development Board of India (a statutory body under the Ministry of Science and Technology) celebrates the day by awarding individuals with National Award for their contribution to science and technology in India.

Theme: Science and Technology for a Sustainable Future

SIGNIFICACE:

• It is the day India successfully tested nuclear bombs in Pokhran on May 11, 1998.
• India successfully test-fired its Shakti-1 nuclear missile in operation called Pokhran-II, also codenamed as Operation Shakti.
• The nuclear missile was tested at the Indian Army’s Pokhran Test Range in Rajasthan. This was the second test which was conducted after Pokhran-I codenamed Operation Smiling Buddha, in May 1974.
• On the same day, India performed a successful test firing of the Trishul Missile (surface to air short range missile) and had test flown the first indigenous aircraft – ‘Hansa – 3’.

SOURCE:PIB

2. Agarbatti sector to bring back livelihoods for local communities

IN NEWS:

• Agarbatti sector to bring back livelihoods for local communities
• Efforts are on for Indian Agarbatti to go global
• National Bamboo Mission launches MIS module for strengthening domestic Agarbatti industry.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS:

• With the help of this module, the linkages with the industry will be synergised better to enable seamlessly procurement from production units and information gaps can be plugged. All NBM States are in the process of documenting all the units to assess better how further support can be given for ‘Vocal for Local’ and ‘Make for the World’ since Indian agarbatti are much sought after in global markets.
• National Bamboo Mission (NBM), Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) schemes as well as States, together are with industry partners have stepped up focused support to enable India to become Atma Nirbhar in the agarbatti sector, to bring back livelihoods for the local communities while at the same time modernising the sector too.
• The agarbatti sector traditionally provided large scale employment to the local workforce, which however dwindled due to various factors including the ingress of cheap imports of round sticks and raw batti.
• A comprehensive study was carried out by NBM in 2019 following which policy measures taken by the Government of moving raw batti imports from free to restricted category in Aug 2019 and increasing import duty on round stick uniformly to 25% in June 2020 came as a boost to the domestic units.

NATIONAL BAMBOO MISSION

• Launched in 2018-19 for holistic development of the bamboo sector through a cluster-based approach in a hub (industry) and spoke model to harness the opportunities by providing backward and forward linkages among the stakeholders – linking farmers to markets.
• There is a huge potential to place Indian bamboo products in the domestic as well as global markets with the latest technologies, modern processing and by generating awareness on compliance requirements for destination countries.
• The Mission is streamlining its interventions to enhance domestic industrial activities as well as augmenting the farmer’s income with support from technical agencies and facilitative steps.
• Direct subsidy of 50% is given to farmers at Rs 1.00 lakh per ha, 100% to Government agencies and also to entrepreneurs for setting up various product development units, etc.
• The Mission is presently being executed by 21 States, including all the 9 States of NER through the respective State Bamboo Missions.
• NBM is also advising States to make available quality planting material to the farmers out to carry out plantations of commercially required species, set up common facility centres and other post-harvest units in complete sync with the requirement of existing and sunrise industries for a win-win situation for farmers and Indian bamboo industry.

SOURCE:PIB

3. Tocilizumab

IN NEWS:

Additional 45000 vials of Tocilizumab have been allocated to States/UTs to meet the increased demand across country. This was announced by the Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Shri D.V.Sadananda Gowda.

KEY POINTS:

• Tocilizumab  is not manufactured in India and is sourced from Hoffman La Roche, a Swiss pharmaceutical company.
• In a goodwill gesture, Roche has donated 50,000 vials (80 mg strength) for Covid patients in India through Indian Red Cross Society on 10th May, 2021 and which has been allocated by Government of India to States/UTs and Central Government Hospitals.

Tocilizumab import

• In the case of Tocilizumab, as the country was entirely dependent on imports, out of the limited stock of vials imported on April 26, 3,245 were allocated to States the next day and an additional allocation of 6,655 vials was done on April 30 to States. It is stated that about 6,478 vials have been supplied till May 7.
• Efforts are underway to procure, import more Tocilizumab.
• The DCGI (Drugs Controller General of India) has instructed State Drugs Controllers (SDCs) to conduct a special investigation drive to prevent hoarding/black marketing of Remdesivir.
• There would be zero tolerance to any kind of hoarding/ black marketing of drugs, it warned.

SOURCE:TH

4. China’s population growth slows to the lowest rate in decades

IN NEWS:

China’s once-in-a-decade population census has recorded a slowing population growth rate that will likely see China’s population peak — and be overtaken by India’s — by as early as 2025, experts said, with the number of births falling for the fourth consecutive year.

Key Highlights:

• The seventh census, released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in Beijing, noted 12 million babies were born last year, the lowest number since 1961, a year when China was in the midst of a four-year famine unleashed by Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward policy in 1958 that devastated the farm sector and claimed millions of lives.
• China’s population was 1.41 billion in 2020, according to the census, increasing by 72 million since the last census in 2010, recording a 5.38% growth in this period. The average annual growth was 0.53%.
• The slowing growth rate, a consequence of China’s stringent family planning rules over decades — known as the “one-child policy” but involving a range of varying restrictions across urban and rural areas — has evoked concerns about a rapidly ageing society and the impact on China’s labour force, and fears that China will, as some experts have said, “get old before it gets rich”.
• The census recorded 264 million in the age group of 60 and over, up 5.44% since 2010 and accounting for 18.70% of the population.
• Those in the 15-59 age group were 894 million persons, down by 6.79% since 2010 and accounting for 63.35% of the population.

One Child Policy:

• Chinese experts acknowledged the seriousness of the problem, without linking it directly to the history of the Communist Party’s harsh family planning policies, at a time when it is planning to mark its 100th anniversary in July.
• China loosened family planning rules and allowed couples to have two children in 2016, but that has failed to mark a boom amid changing lifestyles and declining preferences, particularly in urban areas, for larger families.
• China will likely enter a period of population decline soon. This might be the biggest challenge the nation faces in the next century.

SOURCE:TH

5. SEBI PITCHES FOR ‘PERSON IN CONTROL’ OVER ‘PROMOTER’

IN NEWS:

Markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) proposed to rationalise the definition of ‘promoter group’ and move to the concept of ‘person in control’ as well as lower the minimum lock-in periods for promoters and other shareholders after an IPO.

KEY POINTS:

Promoter:

• The meaning of ‘promoter’ and ‘promoter group’ is defined in Companies Act, 2013 and SEBI (ICDR) Regulations, 2018.
• Generally, a promoter conceives an idea for setting-up a particular business at a given place and performs various formalities required for starting a company.

Promoter group includes:

• Any body corporate in which a group of individuals or companies or combinations thereof acting in concert, which hold 20% or more of the equity share capital in that body corporate and
• Such a group of individuals or companies or combinations thereof also holds 20% or more of the equity share capital of the issuer and are also acting in concert.
• An issuer is a legal entity that develops, registers and sells securities to finance its operations.

Promoter to Person in Control Concept

• The shift is necessitated by the changing investor landscape in India where concentration of ownership and controlling rights do not vest completely in the hands of the promoters or promoter group because of the emergence of new shareholders such as private equity and institutional investors.
• Investor focus on the quality of board and management has increased, thereby reducing the relevance of the concept of promoter.
• The current definition focuses on capturing holdings by a common group of individuals or persons and often results in capturing unrelated companies with common financial investors.

Significance:

• This move will lighten the disclosure burden for firms.
• The changes in nature of ownership could lead to situations where the persons with no controlling rights and minority shareholding continue to be classified as a promoter.
• By virtue of being called promoters, such persons may have influence over the listed entity disproportionate to their economic interest, which may not be in the interests of all stakeholders.
• A three-year transition period for moving from the promoter to person in control concept has been suggested.

SOURCE:IE