Daily Current Affairs Of 7 and 8 September 2020 | UPSC Current Affairs 2020

 Current Affairs Of Today Are

1) ZERO-BUDGET NATURAL FARMING (ZBNF) BROUGHT BIG GAINS FOR ANDHRA FARMERS 

• Findings were part of a study that compared ZBNF and non-ZBNF techniques in crops like paddy, groundnut, etc. It compared 6 parameters: Water, electricity, energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, yield, and net revenue. 
• ZBNF provided a saving of 1,400 to 3,500 cubic meters of water per acre per paddy cropping period. If all of India's paddy area is brought under ZBNF, 150-400 billion cubic meters of water can potentially be saved. 
• Electricity consumption of farms relying on groundwater reduced by 
• 1500-3900 units per acre and saved Rs 6000-16000
• ZBNF hindered microbial activity and cut methane emissions by 88%. 
• The study did not observe much impact on crop yield. 
• ZBNF is a method of chemical-free agriculture drawing from traditional Indian practices. It was originally promoted by Maharashtrian agriculturist Subhash Palekar. ZBNF was introduced in Union Budget 2019-20. 
• ZBNF is based on 4 pillars 
• One, 'beejamrutham', or microbial coating of seeds using cow dung and urine-based formulations 
• Two, jeevamrutham', or application of a concoction made with cow dung, cow urine, jaggery, pulse flour, water, and soil, to multiply soil microbes 
• Three, mulching or applying a layer of organic material to the soil surface, to prevent water evaporation and contribute to soil humus formation 
• Four, 'waaphasa' or soil aeration through favorable microclimate in the soil 
• Benefits of ZBNF: Requires very less amount of water and electricity than what is required under chemical farming, reduces farming costs by using in-situ resources, manage soil nutrition, fertility, pests, and seeds. 

Source: Down To Earth

2) EASE OF DOING BUSINESS (EODB) RANKINGS FOR STATES RELEASE 

• Released by the Department of Industrial Promotion and Internal Trade (DPIIT in collaboration with the World Bank to improve the overall business environment in States. This is 4th annual edition starting 2015. 
• Ranking of states for the year 2019 is based on the implementation of the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP). 
• BRAP 2018-19 released by DPIIT includes 180 reform points covering 12 business regulatory areas such as Access to Information, Single Window System, Labour, Environment, etc. 
• Ranking categorizes states as: Top Achievers (Above 95% compliance); Achievers (90 - 95%); Fast 
• Movers (80 - 90%); Aspirers (Below 80%) 
• In 2019 ranking 
• Andhra Pradesh is at the top, followed by Uttar Pradesh. 
• Uttar Pradesh from North India, Andhra Pradesh from South India, West Bengal from East India, Madhya Pradesh from West India, and Assam from North East India topped the ranking. Among Union Territories, Delhi bagged the top spot. 
• Tripura at 36th (ranked at the bottom). 
• These rankings represent the EoDB in State with increased transparency, efficiency, and effectiveness of government regulatory functions vis-a-vis business enterprises. 
• State rankings will help attract investments, foster healthy competition, and increase EODB in each State. 

Source: The Hindu

3) IMAGES SENT BY CHANDRAYAAN-I INDICATE POSSIBLE IMPACT OF EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE ON MOON 

• Images show that Moon may be rusting at poles. Also, Chandrayaan-l data indicates that Moon's poles are home to water. 
• Since the surface of the Moon is known to have iron-rich rocks, and not water and oxygen, NASA believes that the atmosphere might be partly responsible for the same. About Chandrayaan-l 

About Chandrayaan-l 

• Launched in 2008. It carried 11 scientific instruments built in India, the USA, UK, Germany, Sweden, and Bulgaria. 
• Payloads from India: Terrain Mapping Camera, Hyper Spectral Imager, Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument, High Energy X-ray Spectrometer, Moon Impact Probe. 
• Payloads from abroad: Chandrayaan-l X-ray Spectrometer, Near-Infrared Spectrometer, Sub keV Atom Reflecting Analyzer, Miniature Synthetic Aperature Radar, Moon Mineralogy Mapper, Radiation Dose Monitor. 
• It aimed at conducting chemical and mineralogical mapping of the entire lunar surface for the distribution of mineral and chemical elements. 
• Key findings: Detected water in vapor form in trace amounts, confirmed Ocean Magma Hypothesis, detected x-ray signals during weak solar flares thus indicating the presence of magnesium, aluminum, silicon, and calcium on the lunar surface. 
• Union Minister of State for Space informed that the launch of Chandrayaan-3 may take place in early 2021. 

Source: PIB

4) CONSUMER AFFAIRS MINISTRY RELEASED DRAFT GUIDELINES FOR ADVERTISEMENTS 

• Under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, Central Consumer Protection Authority is empowered to issue necessary guidelines to prevent unfair trade practices and protect consumers' interest. 
• Guidelines cover all advertising and marketing communications regardless of form, format, or medium. 
•  Key guidelines: 
• For disclaimers: If not easily noticeable, legible, understandable to an ordinary consumer, they will be treated as misleading advertisements. 
• For Endorser: All descriptions, claims, and comparisons that they endorse or that are made in advertisements they appear in are capable of being objectively ascertained and are capable of substantiation. 
• On Surrogate advertising: Goods or services whose advertising is otherwise prohibited shall not circumvent such restrictions by advertising other goods or services of which is not prohibited. 
• Free claims: An advertisement should not describe a good or service as free, without charge or other similar terms, if a consumer has to pay anything other than cost while buying the product. 
• On Bait advertisement: Advertisement shall not seek to entice consumers to purchase a good or service without a reasonable prospect of selling the advertised goods or services at the price offered. 

Source: The Hindu

5) DEFENCE MINISTERS OF INDIA AND IRAN MEET AT TEHRAN 

Key outcome 

• On-trade: Called for diversification and expansion of trade and commerce and expediting the conclusion of the Preferential Trade Agreement. 
• On Afghanistan: Explored revival of regional approach model involving India-Iran to stabilize Afghanistan as the US plans to exit Afghanistan and give the Taliban a stake in governance. 
• Earlier, India and Iran along with Russia had collaborated to safeguard their interests by supporting the Northern Alliance when the Taliban was in power between 1996-2001. 
• US sanctions on Iran: Iran hoped for India to take an impartial stand during its two-year term at UNSC.

Importance of Iran for India 

• Gulf region is home to nine million Indian nationals and meets large parts of India's energy needs. 
• Gateway to Afghanistan and Central Asia bypassing Pakistan. Also, Iran is key to the International North-South Transport Corridor. 
• Important regional power in the Gulf region. 

Recent issues 

• Iran's insistence to give Chahbahar-Zahedan railway contract to Khatam al-Anbiya constructions. 
• The entity is under US secondary sanctions which means companies who deal with it could also face restrictions. 
• Increasing Chinese inroads into Iran 
• US sanctions against Iran affecting India Iran partnership, trade. 

 Source: Mint

6) GOVERNMENT PLANS TO REVIVE DEVELOPMENT FINANCE INSTITUTIONS (DRS) FOR BIG INFRA FUNDING 

• A DFI or "development bank" is an institution promoted by the Government mainly to provide development finance to various sectors of the economy. 
• In the post-liberalization era, government support to DFls was declining either for fiscal reasons and in favor of building market efficiency. 
• Now, the government plans to revive the DFls due to rising non-performing assets in the banking sector, which dominated infrastructure funding. 
• Proposed DFI will be used to finance both social and economic infrastructure projects identified under the National Infrastructure Pipeline. 
• The government is exploring two options to revive DFIs 
• Whether DFI should be promoted by the government or, 
• Whether it should be given a private sector character with the government restricting its holding to 49%. 
• If DFl is fully held by the government, fund-raising would become easier, but there would be a concern of scrutiny by bodies like CBI, CVC, and CAG. 
• DFI with a private sector character can work without fear of such scrutiny. 
• A DFI with a private sector character will require the government to trust the private sector and extend such benefits to the institution as it would normally to a state-owned DFI 
  

Source: Indian Express

7) DRDO SUCCESSFULLY FLIGHT TESTS HYPERSONIC TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATOR VEHICLE (HSTDV) 

• With the flight test of HSTDV, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully demonstrated the hypersonic air-breathing scramjet technology. 
• India became the fourth country after the US, Russia, and China to develop such technology. 
• • HSTDV is an unmanned scramjet demonstration aircraft for hypersonic speed flight. Hypersonic flight means a speed greater than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5). 
• Ramjets are a variant of a category of jet engines called the air-breathing engines. A ramjet engine does not have any turbines, unlike the turbojet engines. It achieves compression of intake air just by the forward speed of the air vehicle. 
• Most missiles use ramjet technology, which is efficient at supersonic speeds of around Mach 3 but their performance drops when the vehicle hits hypersonic speeds. 
• The scramjet engine is an improvement over the ramjet engine as it efficiently operates at hypersonic speeds and allows supersonic combustion. Thus it is known as Supersonic Combustion Ramjet or Scramjet. 
• Benefits: Besides its utility for long-range cruise missiles of the future, technology will have multiple civilian applications, including launching satellites at low cost.

Source: The Hindu

8) NITI AAYOG TO LEVERAGE MONITORING MECHANISM OF GLOBAL MULTIDIMENSIONAL POVERTY INDEX (MPI) 

• The government has decided to monitor the performance of the country in 29 select Global Indices through "Global Indices to Drive Reforms and Growth (GIRG)" exercise. 
• Global MPI is part of this and NITI Aayog as the nodal agency of MPI has been assigned the responsibility of leveraging the monitoring mechanism of MPI to drive reforms. 
• It has also set up MPI Coordination Committee (MPICC) in this regard. 
• The objective of GIRG exercise is to 
• Measure and monitor India's performance on various important social and economic parameters. 
• Use these indices for self-improvement, bring about reforms in policies, improving last-mile implementation of government schemes, etc. 
• About Global MPI
• It is an international measure of multi-dimensional poverty covering 107 developing countries. It identifies both who is poor and how they are poor. 

Source: Mint

9) Resolution Plan by RBI for Covid-19 Stressed Assets

• The Re­serve Bank of India (RBI) has specified five fi­nan­cial ra­tios and sec­tor-spe­cific thresh­olds for res­o­lu­tion of Covid-19 re­lated stressed as­sets in 26 sec­tors.
• Recommended by: This resolution plan is based on the recommendations of the K.V. Ka­math com­mit­tee.
• Financial Ratios: The key fi­nan­cial ratios to be considered in the restructuring of loans impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic are:
• Total Outside Liability to Adjusted Tangible Net Worth Ratio: This ratio is arrived at by the addition of long-term debt, short term debt, current liabilities, and provisions and deferred tax liability divided by a tangible net worth net of the investments and loans. It indicates a company's financial leverage over the total net worth of the company.
• To­tal debt to EBIDTA ratio: It is total debt divided by Earnings Before Interest, Depreciation, Taxes, and Amortisation (EBIDTA). This ratio indicates the cash position of a company to pay back its debt. A higher ratio means the company has more leverage.
• Cur­rent ra­tio: Cur­rent as­sets divided by cur­rent li­a­bil­i­ties. The current ratio indicates the company's ability to pay short term debt and other liabilities which are due within a year.
• Debt Ser­vice Cov­er­age Ra­tio: It is the available cash to pay current debt.
• Av­er­age Debt Ser­vice Cov­er­age Ra­tio.
• Sectors: The 26 sec­tors spec­i­fied by the RBI in­clude au­to­mo­biles, power, tourism, ce­ment, chem­i­cals, gems and jew­ellery, lo­gis­tics, min­ing, man­u­fac­tur­ing, real es­tate, and ship­ping among oth­ers.
• Eligibility: The resolution under this framework applies only to those borrowers who have been impacted on account of Covid.
• Only those borrowers which were classified as standard and with arrears less than 30 days as of March 1, 2020, are eligible under the Framework.
• The res­o­lu­tion plans shall take into ac­count the pre-Covid-19 op­er­at­ing and fi­nan­cial per­for­mance of the bor­rower and im­pact of Covid-19 on its op­er­at­ing and fi­nan­cial per­for­mance.
• Graded Approach: The lend­ing in­sti­tu­tions may, at their dis­cre­tion, adopt a graded ap­proach de­pend­ing on the sever­ity of the im­pact on bor­row­ers while im­ple­ment­ing the res­o­lu­tion plan.
• The banks can classify the accounts into mild, moderate, and severe as recommended by the committee.
• The simplified restructuring may be done for mild and moderate stress. Severe stress cases would require comprehensive restructuring.

Background:

• The RBI took several steps to give relief to companies affected by Covid-19 in its Monetary Policy Report.
• It permitted lenders a one-time restructuring of loans without classifying these as Non-Performing Assets.
• It allowed lenders to grant a loan moratorium for three months on Equated Monthly installments (EMIs) falling due between March 1 and May 31, 2020. Later, it extended this for another three months until August 31.
• According to a report by India Ratings and Research, a high proportion of debt from the real estate, airlines, hotels, and other sectors had been restructured, the largest contribution had been from infrastructure, power, and construction.
• Banks are likely to restructure up to Rs. 8.4 lakh crore of loans, or 7.7% of the overall system's credit.
• The restructuring quantum from the corporate sector in FY21 could range between 3% and 5.8% of the banking credit, amounting to Rs 3.3-6.3 lakh Crores.
• At least Rs. 210,000 crore (1.9% of banking credit) of non-corporate loans is likely to undergo restructuring after the announcement, which would have otherwise slipped into the Non-Performing Asset category.
• India Ratings and Research is a credit rating agency that provides credit opinions regarding India's credit markets.

Source: The Week