Daily Current Affairs 19 July 2020 | UPSC Current Affairs 2020

Current Affairs Of Today Are

1) Mobile App KURMA Helps to conserve turtle 🐢 

• On May 23, 2020, world Turtle Day, several conservation agencies launched a citizen science initiative, a mobile-based application called KORMA, aimed at turtle conservation 
• The application, developed by the Indian Turtle Conservation Action Network (ITCAAN) collaboration with the Turtle Survival Alliance India and Wildlife Conservation Society-India, not only provides users a database to identify a species but also provides the location of the nearest rescue center turtles across the country. 
• "The KERMA App is free to download. It serves as a digital database, with a built-in digital field guide covering 29 species of freshwater turtles and tortoises of India, and information on turtle identification, distribution, vernacular names, and threats," 
• Tortoise and freshwater turtles are among the most trafficked in the country. A report released in 2019 by TRAFFIC, an international wildlife trade monitoring organization, showed that at least 200 tortoises and freshwater turtles fall to illicit poaching and smuggling every week, or 11000 each year, adding up to over turtles poached or smuggled between September 2009 and September 2019. 
• One Of the major for freshwater turtle conservation in the country is that wildlife crime prevention agencies are not sufficiently equipped to know how to distinguish one species from the other, or their protection status in With CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) and the Wildlife Protection Act. 
• Suppose turtles are recovered at Kolkata Airport, then KORMA Will help you reach five places in Kolkata that one can approach for help. Different rescue centers are also registered on the app, and also several experts Who can provide more information on the species
• Within only a few weeks, 90 assistance facilities have been registered on the app. If anyone reports a turtle from any part of the Country using KURMA, he or she advises about the species and its conservation. 
  

Source: The Hindu

2) Equalisation Levy on digital services

• India — in amendments to the finance act,2020inMarchend — had expanded the ambit of the equalization levy for nonresident e-commerce operators involved in the supply of services, including the online sale of goods and provision of services, with the levy at the rate of 2 percent. Equalization levy at 6 percent has been in force since 2016 on payment exceeding Rs 1 lakh a year to a non-resident service provider for online advertisements. This is applicable for e-commerce companies that are sourcing revenue from Indian customers without having a tangible presence here in the country.
• The office of the United States Trade Representative(USTR)last month initiated investigations into taxes adopted or under consideration by 10 nations, including India, on revenues of American digital service companies like Netflix, Airbnb, Uber, and Spotify.

Equalisation Levy.

• Before 2016, only those companies who were registered in India (resident status) used to pay tax in India as per the Income Tax Act 1961. This is because those companies who used to earn from a business activity in India, they had to register their business/office here, then only they could do business in India.
• But with the advent of Information Technology, it became possible that "Google" corporation is registered in the US and has resident status in the US but their source of Revenue is from India through digital ads on their websites and others. So, the Income Tax Act 1961 did not apply to the income generated to "Google" (as they did not have any registered office in India and their status was Non-resident in India) through the sale of advertisements in India. So, to tax such income generated to such firms, in 2016 India brought "EQUALISATION LEVY" also called "GOOGLE TAX".
• There are various kinds of services under it and the clauses of "EQUALISATION LEVY" under the "Income Tax Act 1961" has been made effective with different dates. Three years back, the "sale of digital services (ads)" was notified.  And now from 1st April 2020, "EQUALISATION LEVY" applies to e-commerce firms also. 
• So, if an e-commerce firm (say Amazon which is registered in the US, and in India its status is non-resident) earns a REVENUE (and not profit) of say Rs. 100 from its online platform by sale to Indian people (Indian residents) then out of Rs. 100 they need to give Rs. 2 (2%) to Govt. of India as Tax. ON digital ads the rate was 6% (pls don't go into rates).
• See, if Amazon would be registered in India then they would automatically pay "Corporate Income Tax" on their profits as per the Income Tax Act 1961.
• "EQUALISATION LEVY" is a Direct Tax and is levied on "REVENUE" and not "Profit". As for India, it will be very difficult to check the profit of amazon as it has a lot of operations in the US and other countries.
• And, as per todays news, Govt through Finance Act 2020 has introduced "Equalisation Levy" for e-commerce companies at the rate of 2%. 
• Now the doubt is whether this 2% on e-commerce will include Digital products like online books, movies, games offered by non-resident entities OR/AND Goods and Services supplied by non-resident entities using the digital medium as a mode of delivery or for transacting (For example. we purchase grocery from online platforms) 

Source: Indian Express

3) INSOLVENCY/BANKRUPTCY of MSMEs.

• PROMOTERS OF Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) will be able to retain control of their companies, even as they undergo insolvency proceedings, under a special insolvency framework for MSMEs, according to government officials.
• .The proposed framework for MSMEs will follow a “debtor in control” model for insolvency proceedings, while ordinarily, the corporate insolvency resolution process follows a “creditor in control” system
• Only MSMEs themselves will be able to apply to initiate bankruptcy proceedings
• through this mechanism, meaning that lenders and operational creditors will not be able to initiate insolvency under this framework. The Corporate AffairsMinistryhasalreadysuspended initiation of insolvency proceedings by lenders, operational creditors, and corporate debtors under Sections 7,9 and 10 of the IBC, respectively, till September25toprotectcompanies impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic from insolvency proceedings.
• The government under the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat package said that it will draft a separate framework for handling INSOLVENCY/BANKRUPTCY of MSMEs.
• Some of the features of that new framework may be (it's still in draft stage)
• For normal companies, the Lender/Creditor (banks) can drag the company to NCLT (under IBC) or the promoter/owner can also move to NCLT. BUT, in the case of MSMEs, the lenders/Creditors would not be able to move to NCLT (under IBC), and only the promoters can initiate the insolvency of their firm.
• For normal companies, during the insolvency proceedings, the management of the company is taken from the promoters (debtors) and is under Insolvency Professionals so that to avoid any kind of funds diversion or fraud.  BUT, for MSMEs, the management may remain under the control of promoters/owners of MSMEs during insolvency proceedings.

Source: Indian Express

4) COVID Protection System (COPS) for Workplace

• CSIR-CMERI, Durgapur, unveiled the  COVID Protection System (COPS) for Workplace as a game-changer in the current Pandemic Scenario.
• The COPS for Workplace includes contactless Solar Based Intelligent Mask Automated Dispensing Unit cum Thermal Scanner (IntelliMAST), Touchless Faucet (TouF), and 360° Car Flusher are now available for Technology Transfers and Product Orders.”

The COPS is a conglomeration of the following technologies:

• Solar Based Intelligent Mask Automated Dispensing Unit cum Thermal Scanner (IntelliMAST)-
• The Solar Based IntelliMAST is an Intelligent surveillance kiosk that identifies the body temperature and whether an individual is wearing Face Mask or not through customized Software solutions. The information about an employee not wearing a Face Mask is provided to the Administration for Cashless delivery of the Mask and later deduction of the price from the Salary. In this regard, the system seamlessly harnesses Internet-of-Things. The in-built Thermal Scanner detects a probable rise in Body Temperature through forehead scanning and audiovisual alert the Security Guards. The IntelliMAST will help ensure the safety of supervising staff and implementation of the precautionary measure in any large organization. The IntelliMAST will also facilitate the Identity Card-based Mask Dispensing & Attendance System. Facial Recognition based &ID Card based Attendance System will be incorporated into the system soon and therefore may act as a comprehensive solution for Office & Industrial Complexes as well as School & College campuses. This system uses Artificial Intelligence and Information Technology to give real-time results and can be synchronized with the Human Resource Data of any organization for any real-time data response and dissemination of information. The IntelliMAST system is backed up by Solar Power for uninterrupted Power Supply during blackouts. The power supply requirement of the IntelliMAST is 40-50 Watts sourced through a Hybrid combination of Solar Power & Electricity.
• Touchless Faucet (TouF)-
• The Touchless Faucet (TouF) is being launched for households and Office Spaces. The system dispenses Liquid Soap and Water from the same Faucet with a time-gap of 30 seconds, which is as per the latest Government guidelines. The Faucet can be very easily mounted on top of any Wash-Basin and will be available in Plug and Play mode for very easy installation. This System dispenses Water 30 seconds after dispensing Soap in a Touch-free Mechanism as per Local Government guidelines and can be very easily mounted on top of household washbasins. This domestic variant of the Dispensing system will help in arresting the contamination and help in further containing the spread of infection among the family members, for any asymptomatic individual. The technology has a power supply requirement of only 10 Watts.
• 360° Car Flusher: 
• The CSIR-CMERI developed 360° Car Flusher is a Sodium Hypochlorite Water Screen which uses specialized Nozzle Design to ensure that the Sanitizer Diffused Water is evenly spread over and under the Car Body/Wheels with adequate Water Force and coverage. The Architecture of the 360° Car Flusher is based upon a Water Channel Frame with an appropriate number of specialized Nozzles which can be customized and modified as per the specific requirements of any particular organization. The Water Channel Frame and Nozzle Design of the Flusher have been optimized to ensure Water Efficiency and Reduce Water Wastage. It requires 750 watts of power required to run a pump.

Source: PIB

5) CBDT to start e-campaign on Voluntary Compliance of Income Tax for FY 2018-19 

• The Income Tax Department is all set to start an e-campaign on the voluntary compliance of Income Tax for the convenience of taxpayers from Monday, the 20th of July, 2020. The 11 days campaign ending on 31st July 2020 focuses on the assessees/taxpayers who are either non-filers or have discrepancies/deficiency in their returns for the FY 2018-19.
• The objective of the e-campaign is to facilitate taxpayers to validate online their tax/financial transaction information available with the I-T Department, especially for the assessments for FY 2018-19, and promote voluntary compliance so that they do not get into notice and scrutiny process, etc.
• This e-campaign is being run for the benefit of the taxpayers. Under this e-campaign, the Income Tax Department will send email/SMS to identified taxpayers to verify their financial transactions related information received by the I-T Department from various sources such as Statement of Financial Transactions (SFT), Tax Deduction at Source (TDS), Tax Collection at Source (TCS), Foreign Remittances (Form 15CC), etc. The Department has also collected information related to GST, exports, imports, and transactions in securities, derivatives, commodities, mutual funds, etc., under information triangulation set up and data analytics.
• It is stated that data analysis has identified certain taxpayers with high-value transactions who have not filed returns for AY 2019-20 (relevant to FY 2018-19). In addition to the non-filers, another set of return filers have also been identified wherein the high-value transactions do not appear to be in line with their Income Tax Return.
• Under the e-campaign, the taxpayers will be able to access details of their high-value transaction-related information on the designated portal. They will also be able to submit an online response by selecting among any of these options: 
• Information is correct, 
• Information is not fully correct, 
• Information related to other people/year, 
• Information is duplicate/included in other displayed information, and 
• Information is denied. 
• There would be no need to visit any Income Tax office, as the response has to be submitted online.

Source: PIB

6) US’ Trinity Test

• On 16th July, exactly 75 years ago, scientists tested Gadget — the world’s first atomic bomb — in what was dubbed as the ‘Trinity Test’.
• Less than a month later, an identical nuclear bomb called ‘Fat Man’ was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, killing tens of thousands of people.

What you need to know?

• The super bomb, nicknamed ‘Gadget’, was developed as part of the US-led Manhattan Project.
• Manhattan Project sought to build nuclear weapons to give the allied forces an edge over Germany, Japan, and Italy in World War 2.
• The super bomb was designed and conceptualized by a team of scientists headed by J Robert Oppenheimer, a physics professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Oppenheimer later came to be known as the “father of the atomic bomb”. 
• The test was carried out at the Alamagordo Bombing Range, which was located around 337 km away from Los Alamos. 

What were the repercussions of the Trinity Test?

• Residents of New Mexico were not warned about the test.
• And the adverse impact of radiation caused by the detonation was ignored for years after the test.
• There was a sudden rise in infant mortality.
• Several residents also complained that the number of cancer patients went up after the Trinity Test.
• The dust outfall from the explosion was expected to have traveled nearly 100 miles from the test site, posing a serious threat to residents in the area.
• Many families complained that their livestock suffered skin burns, bleeding, and loss of hair.
• It was only in 1990, when the federal government passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), that residents of North Mexico who contracted Cancer and other illnesses due to radiation exposure received compensation.

How many countries worldwide now have nuclear weapons?

• Seventy-five years after the Trinity Test, as many as nine countries around the world are currently in possession of nuclear weapons.
• These include the US, the UK, Russia, France, India, China, Israel, Pakistan, and North Korea.
• At least eight countries have detonated over 2,000 nuclear test explosions since 1945.
• The most recent instance of nuclear bomb test explosions conducted by India was the series of five explosions done as part of the Pokhran-II tests in May 1998. The first test, code-named Smiling Buddha, took place in May 1974.

Source: Indian Express

7) PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi)

• Mobile App of PM SVANidhi launched to bring Microcredit facility for street vendors at their doorsteps.
• This App aims to provide a user-friendly digital interface for Lending Institutions (LIs) and their field functionaries for sourcing and processing loan applications of street vendors under the Scheme.

Implementing agency:

• Last month, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs signed MoU with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to engage SIDBI as the Implementation Agency for the scheme.
• SIDBI will manage the credit guarantee to the lending institutions through Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE).

Overview of the scheme:

• It is a special micro-credit facility plan to provide affordable loans of up to ₹10,000 to more than 50 lakh street vendors, who had their businesses operational on or before 24 March 2020.
• The scheme is valid until March 2022.
• Small Industries Development Bank of India is the technical partner for the implementation of this scheme.
• It will manage the credit guarantee to the lending institutions through Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises.

Loans under the scheme:

• Under the scheme, vendors can avail working capital loan of up to ₹10,000, which is repayable in monthly installments within one year.
• On timely/early repayment of the loan, an interest subsidy of 7% per annum will be credited to the bank accounts of beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) on a six-months basis.
• There will be no penalty on the early repayment of loans.

Eligibility:

• The scheme applies to vendors, hawkers, thelewalas, rehriwalas, theliphadwalas in different areas/contexts who supply goods and services. Street vendors belonging to the surrounding peri-urban/rural areas are also included.

Need for:

• The lockdown has affected the lives and livelihoods of many especially daily wagers including street vendors whose businesses were affected due to the restrictions.
• Street vendors usually work with a small capital base taken on very high-interest rates from informal sources. Further, they might have consumed their savings and high-cost capital during the lockdown.
• Therefore, there is an urgent need to provide affordable credit for working capital through formal banking channels to street vendors to help them resume the business.

Source: PIB

8) UN ECOSOC Meet

• Recently, the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has held a high-level dialogue on the subject ‘Multilateralism after Covid-19: What kind of UN do we need at the 75th Anniversary?’
• The Prime Minister of India gave a speech focusing on India’s battle against the Covid-19 pandemic and emphasized upon the need for multilateralism in achieving sustainable peace and prosperity.
• He also indicated India’s push for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.
• The UN will celebrate its 75th anniversary on 24th October 2020.

Key Points

• Covid-19 and Current Indian Scenario:
• India has crossed the 1 million mark for Covid-19 cases recently, making it the third-highest incidence in the world.
• India also has the third-highest recoveries at about 644,000, after the USA and Brazil.
• However, its recovery rate is about 63%, which ranks India at number 42 in the world.
• India’s Efforts Against Covid-19:
• India has extended assistance to more than 150 countries.
• For example, assistance in materials and services to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives (Operation Sanjeevani), Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
• India set up a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Covid-19 Emergency Fund in the South Asian neighborhood.
• PM Cares Fund to deal with any kind of emergency or distress situation like posed by the current pandemic.
• Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan with various economic stimulus packages worth Rs. 20 lakh crore aimed towards achieving the mission of self-reliance.

Multilateralism

• It is the process of organizing relations between groups of three or more states.
• It generally comprises certain qualitative elements or principles that shape the character of the arrangement or institution. These principles are:
• Indivisibility of interests among participants.
• Commitment to diffuse reciprocity, i.e. not an equivalence of obligations or concessions in any one exchange but a balance in an ongoing, potentially indefinite, series of exchanges with a group of partners instead of expectations of direct obligations or concessions by a particular member.
• System of dispute settlement intended to enforce a particular mode of behavior.
• Multilateralism has a long history but it is principally associated with the era after World War II, during which there was a rapid growth of multilateral agreements.
• The organizations most strongly embodying the principle of multilateralism are to be found in a trade like the World Trade Organization (WTO) and security like the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
• Multilateral institutions have played a significant role in postwar global governance and are arguably more stable than other forms of the organization because the principles underlying them appear to be more durable and more able to adapt to external changes.

Economic and Social Council

• It is the principal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on economic, social, and environmental issues, as well as the implementation of internationally agreed development goals.
• It has 54 members, elected by the General Assembly for overlapping three-year terms.
• It is the UN's central platform for reflection, debate, and innovative thinking on sustainable development.
• Each year, ECOSOC structures its work around an annual theme of global importance to sustainable development. This ensures focused attention, among ECOSOC’s array of partners and throughout the UN development system.
• It coordinates the work of the 14 UN specialized agencies, ten functional commissions, and five regional commissions, receives reports from nine UN funds and programs, and issues policy recommendations to the UN system and to member states.
• Few important bodies under the purview of ECOSOC:
• International Labor Organization (ILO)
• Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
• World Health Organization (WHO)
• Bretton Woods Twins (World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund)
• United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
• Apart from these, there are various Functional and Regional Commissions, Standing Committees, Ad Hoc, and Expert Bodies as well.

Way Forward

• India called on the UN members to pledge for reform within the world body and held that the multilateral system needs to be more representative.
• The United Nations was originally born from the furies of World War II and the current fury of the pandemic provides the context for its rebirth and reform.
• At this pivotal moment, with Covid-19 still spreading, geopolitical tensions rising and the cry for racial justice, social justice, and climate justice ever more urgent, the UN and world leaders have a responsibility to respond to the anxieties, fears, and hopes of the people.

Source: The Hindu