10 PM Daily Current Affairs Quiz | June 25 2021

Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER) 

• It is the weighted average of a country’s currency in relation to an index or basket of other major currencies. The weights are determined by comparing the relative trade balance of a country’s currency against that of each country in the index.  
• An increase in a nation’s REER is an indication that its exports are becoming more expensive and its imports are becoming cheaper. It is losing its trade competitiveness. 

Source: Livemint 

About Savitribai Phule: 

• Savitribai Phule was an Indian activist, thinker, social reformer and writer from Maharashtra. 
• Savitrabai along with her husband Jyotirao Phule had played an important role in improving women’s rights in India.  

Contributions: 

• She established the Mahila Seva Mandal to raise awareness for issues concerning women’s rights. 
• She became the first female teacher in India in 1848 and opened a school for girls along with her husband Jyotirao Phule. 
• She opened a women’s shelter called the Home for the Prevention of Infanticide where Brahmin widows could safely deliver their children and leave them there to be adopted if they so desired. 

Note: Muktabai Salve wrote ‘Mang Maharanchya Dukhavisatha (About the Grief of Mahar and Mangs)’ at the mere age of fourteen. She was a student of school for girls set up by Savitribai Phule and Jyotiba Phule.  

Source: Indian Express 

Read more: Savitribai Phule 

All countries border Black Sea 

• Six countries border with the Black Sea, including Ukraine to the north, Russia and Georgia to the east, Turkey to the south, and Bulgaria and Romania to the west. 

 Source: Article 

• ARC is a company registered under the Companies Act and registered with Reserve Bank of India under section 3 of The Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act, 2002.

• Securitization refers to the conversion of loans such as auto, house, credit cards, etc. of banks and lenders into debt instruments

• Legal basis of an ARC: SARFAESI Act provides the legal basis of setting up an Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC) in India
• Regulation: ARCs are regulated by RBI as a Non-Banking Financial Company [NBFC] (under RBI Act, 1934). They function under the supervision and control of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
• 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) under the automatic route.
• ARCs are not permitted to undertake lending activities. They can only do securitization and reconstruction activities.
• One ARC can be a sponsor or investor in another ARC or it can acquire debt from another ARC.

• Read in-depth about ARC

Source: Article

Recently, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) released the ‘Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2020’ report.

Key findings of the report:

• The year 2020 (with 261 GW installed) was a record year for renewables deployment despite the Covid-19- pandemic. The addition was almost 50% higher than that made in 2019 and represented 82% of the global new power capacity.
• Replacing Coal with Renewables will save operators USD 32 billion a year and reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by around three billion tonnes.

• Reducing Cost of Renewables: In about 10 years (2010-2020), the cost of power produced from commercial solar PVs fell by 85%, concentrating solar power (CSP) 68%, onshore wind 68% and offshore wind 48%.

Source: DTE

• NFT stands for non-fungible token. In economics, a fungible asset is something with units that can be readily interchanged – like money. However, if something is non-fungible, this is impossible – it means it has unique properties so it cannot be interchanged with something else. The digital tokens can be thought of as certificates of ownership for virtual or physical assets.

• NFTs can also contain smart contracts that may give the artist, for example, a cut of any future sale of the token.

• Most NFTs are part of the Ethereum blockchain. Ethereum is a cryptocurrency, like bitcoin or dogecoin, but its blockchain also supports these NFTs, which store extra information that makes them work differently from, say, an ETH coin. It is worth noting that other blockchains can implement their own versions of NFTs.

Source: Article

• Statement 1 is incorrect: NCLT is a quasi-judicial and a statutory body established under Companies Act 2013

• Statement 2 is correct: National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) was constituted under the Companies Act, 2013. It was established for hearing appeals against the orders of (a) National Company Law Tribunal(s) (NCLT) (b)Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India and (c)Competition Commission of India (CCI).

Source: Article

The Enforcement Directorate has transferred assets worth Rs. 8,441.50 crore to public sector banks that suffered losses to the tune of Rs. 22,585.83 crore due to frauds committed allegedly by Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.

• All the three have been declared ‘Fugitive Economic Offenders’ by PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) Court in Mumbai.

About Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018:

• It seeks to confiscate properties of economic offenders who have left the country to avoid facing criminal prosecution or refuse to return to the country to face prosecution.
• Fugitive Economic Offender (FEO): A person against whom an arrest warrant has been issued for committing an offence listed in the Act and the value of the offence is at least Rs. 100 crore.
• After hearing the application, a special court (designated under the PMLA, 2002) may declare an individual as a fugitive economic offender.

• It may confiscate properties which are proceeds of crime, Benami properties and any other property, in India or abroad.
• Upon confiscation, all rights and titles of the property will vest in the central government, free from encumbrances (such as any charges on the property).
• The central government may appoint an administrator to manage and dispose of these proper

Source: The Hindu

• Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB) is a joint initiative of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) supporting countries in building tax audit capacity.
• TIWB Programmes complement the broader efforts of the international community to strengthen co-operation on tax matters and contribute to the domestic resource mobilization efforts of developing countries.

Source: Pib

A new variant of the coronavirus has been detected in some states. It is a further mutation of prevalent Delta variant which had a huge role to play in the country’s second covid-19 wave. Health authorities here have termed the Delta Plus, or B.1.617.2.1, a variant of concern.

About Delta plus variant:

• More transmissible: This version evolved from its predecessor Delta. Further, Delta Plus also has the same mutation that was first seen in the Beta Variant in South Africa. This combination can make it all the more transmissible.
• The health ministry says this variant binds more easily to lung cells and is potentially resistant to monoclonal antibody therapy.
• There is also no data on how existing treatments or even vaccines will work against this variant.

• Vaccine escape is possible if this variant evades the antibodies produced against the surface spike protein by developing shape-changing mutations in that protein.

Source: Livemint