9 PM Current Affairs Brief – June 27, 2019

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Surjit Bhalla Committee on Trade and Policy

1. Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs has informed Rajya Sabha about the Surjit Bhalla Committee on Trade and Policy.
2. The Union commerce ministry had constituted a high-level advisory group on Foreign trade policy. The group has submitted its report to the government.
3. The panel has recommended the centre to cut down corporate tax rate and set a target to double the exports by 2025.
4. The Committee has recommended Elephant Bonds as a specialised security product providing funds towards Long Term Infrastructure.
5. Elephant Bonds will be a 25-year sovereign bonds in which people declaring undisclosed income will be bound to invest 50%.The fund will be utilised only for infrastructure projects.
6. The suggestions made by the group also includes (a) creating pan India Tourism board and medical tourism campaign (b) modify labour laws to remove the limitation on firm size and (c) establish industrial parks to cater to the needs of electronics manufacturing.
7. Besides, the group has recommended (a) increasing capital base of EXIM Bank by another Rs 20,000 crore by 2022 (b) setting up of empowered investment promotion agency and (c) seeking input from industry and MSMEs before signing free trade agreements(FTAs).

Consider landless beekeepers as farmers, suggests beekeeping development committee

1. The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister had set up a Beekeeping Development Committee under the Chairmanship of Professor Bibek Debroy.
2. The committee was constituted with the objective of identifying ways of advancing beekeeping in India that can help in improving agricultural productivity, enhancing employment generation, augmenting nutritional security and sustaining biodiversity.
3. The committee has recommended that there is a need to recognise honeybees as inputs to agriculture and consider landless beekeepers as farmers.
4. The report also recommended that government should institutionalised the National Bee Board and rechristen it as the Honey and Pollinators Board of India under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
5. The aim of such a board would be to engage in advancing beekeeping through multiple mechanisms such as setting up of new integrated bee development centres and strengthening the existing ones.
6. Further, the report said that national and regional infrastructure should be developed for storage, processing and marketing of honey and other bee products.
7. The report also suggested simplified procedures and clear standards for ease of exporting honey and other bee products.
8. As per Food and Agricultural Organization database, Indian ranked eighth in 2017-18 in the world in terms of honey production at 64.9 thousand tonnes while China stood first with a production level of 551 thousand tonnes.

UNSC non-permanent seat: India’s candidature receives unanimous endorsement by Asia-Pacific group

1. The 55 countries of the Asia-Pacific group at the United Nations has unanimously endorsed India’s candidature for a non-permanent seat on the Security Council for a two-year term in 2021-2022.
2. The development is particularly significant given that Pakistan and China both countries with which India has had diplomatic challenges at the UN has supported the move.
3. The Asia-Pacific Group gets to nominate one of its members for the June 2020 elections to a non-permanent seat on the UNSC.
4. No challenges to India’s candidacy are expected with regard to acquiring the support of other UN members. India will need the vote of two-thirds of the 193 UN General Assembly members to win a non-permanent seat.
5. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The Security Council consists of fifteen members. Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China and the United States serve as the body’s five permanent members. The Security Council also has 10 non-permanent members elected on a regional basis to serve two-year term
6. Each year, the UN General Assembly elects five non-permanent members for a two-year term. These 10 seats are distributed on a regional basis (a) 3 for African countries (b) 2 for Asia-Pacific countries (c) one for Eastern European countries (d) two for Latin American and Caribbean countries (e) two for Western European and other countries.
7. Further, India is also at the forefront of efforts at the UN to push for the long-pending reform of the Security Council emphasising that it rightly deserves a place at the UN high table as a permanent member.

At Osaka G20 summit, PM Modi to talk global meet on terror

1. Prime Minister is going for the 2019 G20 Summit to be held in Osaka, Japan. The summit will be the 14th such gathering. The theme of the G20 summit 2019 is human-centred future society.
2. There will be four key sessions at the summit (a) Global Economy: Trade and Investment (b) Innovation in Digital Economy and Artificial Intelligence (c) Addressing Inequalities and Realising an Inclusive Sustainable World and (d) Climate Change, Energy and Environment.
3. India will raise issues such as return of fugitive economic offenders, terrorism, portable social security schemes, disaster-resilient infrastructure and food security.
4. Indian PM is likely to make a case for countering terrorism.PM had raised the issue in a major way in the G-20 meet in Hamburg in 2017.
5. Indian PM had equated Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad with the IS and al-Qaeda. He had suggested that government functionaries of countries which support terrorists should be barred from entering G-20 countries.
6. The Osaka communique is going to look at terrorism in a strong manner since the Japanese are also keen after their nationals became victims of attacks perpetrated by the IS in Bangladesh and Syria.
7. G20 is an international forum of the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies formed in 1999.The group accounts for 85% of world GDP and two-thirds of the population. They have no permanent staff of its own and its chairmanship rotates annually between nations divided into regional groupings.

Centre expands terms of reference of direct tax law body

1. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has decided to expand the terms of reference for the committee that has been formed to re-write the Direct Tax Code (DTC).
2. The committee will now have to consider five more areas while drafting their recommendation making the total terms of reference nine.
3. The existing terms of reference included drafting a direct tax law in line with the norms prevalent in other countries, incorporating international best practices and keeping in mind the economic needs of the country.
4. The new additions include the creation of a faceless and anonymised verification and scrutiny system and the sharing of information between GST, Customs, CBDT and the Financial Intelligence Unit.
5. Further, the other terms of reference added includes setting up a mechanism for cross-verification of financial transactions and reduction in tax-related litigation.
6. Direct taxes are levied on a person’s or a firm’s income or wealth. The incidence and impact of the direct tax fall on the same person. Example: Income Tax, Corporation Tax, capital gains tax and Wealth Tax. The impact of direct tax is not Inflationary.
7. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is a statutory authority on direct taxes. It functions under the Central Board of Revenue Act,1963. It is a part of the Department of Revenue in the Ministry of Finance.
8. CBDT provides inputs for policy and planning of direct taxes in India and is also responsible for the administration of direct tax laws through the Income Tax Department.

Research on Proton Therapy

1. The Minister of State of Health and Family Welfare has informed Rajya Sabha about the present status of Research on Proton Therapy in India.
2. Proton therapy also called proton beam therapy is a type of radiation therapy. It uses protons rather than x-rays to treat cancer.
3. A proton is a positively charged particle. At high energy, protons can destroy cancer cells.
4. Like x-ray radiation, proton therapy is a type of external-beam radiation therapy. It painlessly delivers radiation through the skin from a machine outside the body.
5. Doctors may use proton therapy alone. They may also combine it with x-ray radiation therapy, surgery, chemotherapy, and/or immunotherapy.
6. With proton therapy, there is less radiation dose outside of the tumor. In regular radiation therapy, x-rays continue to give radiation doses as they leave the person’s body .This means that radiation damages nearby healthy tissues, possibly causing side effects.

RBI begins monitoring HFCs

1. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has started monitoring the liquidity position, asset-liability gap and repayment schedules of housing finance companies(HFCs) on a daily basis.
2. The move to monitor HFCs on a daily basis comes after some HFC had gone into liquidity crisis which had resulted in defaults. This crisis had started since the debt default by IL&FS in September last year.
3. Housing finance companies (HFCs) are regulated by the National Housing Bank (NHB).
4. But the RBI has said that since the liquidity crisis of the HFCs could have a spill over effect on the other segments in the financial sector including banks which could affect financial stability
5. Hence, it was necessary to monitor these entities on a regular basis. For this purpose, a general manager in NHB has been asked to be in regular communication with a chief general manager in the department of non banking supervision (DNBS) of the RBI.
6. The National Housing Bank (NHB) was set up in 1988 under the National Housing Bank Act,1987.NHB is an apex financial institution for housing.
7. Its objective is to operate as a principal agency to promote housing finance institutions both at local and regional levels and to provide financial and other support incidental to such institutions and for matters connected therewith.
8. Recently, RBI had divested its stake in National Housing Bank(NHB) and National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (Nabard) by making them fully government-owned.

Payments data must be saved locally: RBI

1. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has clarified that payment system providers need to store entire payments data in a system only in India.
2. The data should include end-to-end transaction details and information pertaining to payment or settlement transaction that is gathered, transmitted as part of a payment message or instruction.
3. The data could be pertaining to customer data like name mobile number, Aadhaar number, payment-sensitive data like customer and beneficiary account details and transaction data among others.
4. Further, the RBI clarified that in case the processing is done abroad, the data should be deleted from the systems abroad and brought back to India within one business day or 24 hours from the payment processing whichever is earlier.
5. In April 2018, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had asked payment firms to ensure their data are stored exclusively on local servers. RBI had also set a deadline of six months for compliance which some foreign firms such as Mastercard and Visa had missed.
6. The main intent behind data localisation is to protect the personal and financial information of the country’s citizens and residents from foreign surveillance and give local governments and regulators the jurisdiction to call for the data when required.

India and U.S. resolve to work through their trade differences

1. India and the U.S has said that both countries will resolve their differences through talks which had led to deadlock on trade issues.
2. The two countries had discussion of a host of bilateral and global issues such as (a) purchase of S-400 defence system (b) trade irritants (c) Gulf situation (d) Iran crisis (e) counter-terror partnership and (f) India’s proposed laws on e-commerce and data localisation.
3. However, the U.S. decision to withdraw India’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) status did not come up for discussion.
4. On the S-400 missile defence system deal with Russia, India has made it clear to the US that India will give priority to its national interests and honour many bilateral relationships such as its strong defence ties with Russia.
5. Indian government has also called for predictability in the global oil market amid US-Iran tensions and sought to differ on US  policy on Iran where US has described Iran as a state sponsor of terror.
6. Further, US and India has agreed to increase efforts to combat militant activity in the region after deadly suicide bomb blasts in Sri Lanka.

NEC to hold plenary session in Guwahati on Aug 3 & 4

1. Union Home Minister will chair the two-day Plenary meeting of the North Eastern Council (NEC) at Guwahati, Assam.
2. The meeting will be co-chaired by Union Minister for Development of North-Eastern Region and will be attended by the Governors and Chief Ministers of all the eight States of the North Eastern region.
3. North Eastern Council (NEC) was constituted as a statutory advisory body under the NEC Act, 1971 and came into being on the 7th November,1972 at Shillong.
4. The eight States of Northeast India are members of the council with their respective Chief Ministers and Governors representing them. Sikkim was added to the council in the year 2002.
5. The headquarters of the council is situated in Shillong and functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India.
6. The Council was initially set up as an advisory body but now sanctioned as a Regional planning body since 2002.They now discuss any matter in which the North Eastern States have a common interest and decide the action to be taken on any such matter.
7. This was done so as to take care of the economic and social planning of these states as well as to provide mediation in the event of inter-State disputes.

APEDA Organizes buyers-sellers meet

1. Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) in association with North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation (NERAMAC) has organised the International Buyers-Sellers Meet in Imphal, Manipur.
2. APEDA chairman said that India’s total agricultural product exports is valued at 38 billion USD for the financial year 2017-18 out of which 50% is contributed through APEDA’s products.
3. APEDA was established by the Government of India under the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act passed by the Parliament in 1985.APEDA has replaced the Processed Food Export Promotion Council (PFEPC).
4. APEDA comes under the Ministry of Commerce and Industries. APEDA is mandated with the responsibility of promotion and development of the export of agricultural and its allied products.
5. APEDA provides support to exporters to set up infrastructure like pack houses and cold storages. APEDA also helps exporters to exhibit their products in several national and international expos and exhibitions.

U.S.-China trade war may reduce global growth rate

1. According to Fitch Ratings ,the on going U.S.-China trade war escalation could reduce the World GDP growth by 0.4% points till 2020 and possibly lead to the lowest growth since 2009.
2. Trade war is a situation where countries restrict each other’s trade by imposing tariffs or quotas on imports. The United States and China are discussing a trade deal to end the trade war. However, the latest round of US-Chinese trade negotiations had ended without a deal.
3. Fitch has said that slowdown in global growth would happen if U.S. imposes import tariffs at 25% on $300 billion of goods from China and China retaliates by imposing a 25% tariff on $20 billion of U.S. imports.
4. Fitch has also revised its global GDP estimates downward from 2.8% to 2.7% for 2019 and from 2.7% to 2.4% for 2020.
5. The trade tensions would also lead to China’s growth rate to be reduced by 0.6% points and U.S. growth by 0.4% points in 2020.
6. The countries which are not directly involved in the trade war would also see their GDP falling below baseline. South Korea would be the most severely hit with GDP more than 10 basis points below baseline in 2020.
7. Further, India along with Turkey, France and Spain would be the least impacted by this trade war.

Giving up wheat, rye may help beat that mystery illness but don’t try it at home

1. The Indian Journal of Medical Research has described celiac disease which is caused due to an allergy to gluten as an impending epidemic in 2011.It has also been revealed that one of every 140 persons in India is estimated to have celiac disease.
2. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder that can occur in genetically predisposed people where the ingestion of gluten leads to damage in the small intestine.
3. The disease is a lifelong digestive and auto-immune disorder that results in damage to the lining of the small intestine when foods with gluten such as wheat, rye, barley and oats are eaten.
4. The affected individuals display symptoms like prolonged diarrhea, abdominal, fullness and anemia owing to decreased absorption of nutrients by the intestine.
5. Currently, the only treatment for celiac disease is lifelong adherence to a strict gluten-free diet which is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye.

Govt eyes strict emission rules to boost EVs

1. The government is planning to make emission standards stringent to discourage the production and purchase of vehicles that are fitted with internal combustion engines (ICE).
2. NITI Aayog has proposed the mandatory sale of two and three-wheelers Electric Vehicles (EVs) from 2025 but the industry representatives have resisted the shift towards EVs.
3. The government officials are planning of tightening the CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) norms to compel the industry to invest more in electric vehicles.
4. CAFE standards aim to improve the fuel efficiency of the automobiles in the wake of rising costs of importing oil led by an increasing demand for fuel primarily by the automobiles.
5. The government is also finalising to fix targets by regulating carbon dioxide emissions and fuel efficiency for automakers. Among the options being explored is to mandate limits and targets for vehicle emission intensity by every vehicle for automakers.
6. Besides, the government is looking to focus more on polluter pays principle which will make ICE vehicles less attractive for buyers through higher taxes and registration and other charges. The money raised via this route is proposed to be used to incentivize the EV sector.
7. Further, to make the EVs more attractive incentives such as registration fee waiver and removal of requirement for permits for commercial vehicles have already been notified. The Centre has also asked the states to lower the road tax paid by EVs.

Govt. to start Jal Shakti Abhiyan for 255 water-stressed districts from July 1

1. The central government has decided to launch Jal Shakti Abhiyan in 255 water-stressed districts. The programme will run from July 1^st to September 15^th 2019.
2. Jal Shakti Abhiyan is a time-bound, mission mode, water conservation and irrigation efficiency campaign for water security in rural India.  
3. It aims at making water conservation and promotion of irrigation efficiency a ‘jan andolan’ (public campaign) through asset creation and communication campaigns.
4. The intervention areas include: a) Water conservation and rainwater harvesting, b) Renovation of water bodies, c) Renovation of bore well recharge structures, d) Watershed development and e) intensive afforestation.
5. 255 officers, including additional and joint secretaries, have been appointed as ‘central prabhari officers’. They have been made in-charge of the chosen districts to plan ways to conserve water.

What is Lunar Evacuation System?

1. The European Space Agency (ESA) recently tested a device which is designed to assist in astronaut rescue missions on the surface of the Moon. The test was among preparations for NASA’s 2024 Artemis Mission
2. The device is called the Lunar Evacuation System Assembly (LESA). LESA is a pyramid-like structure.
3. It can be operated by a single astronaut to help rescue an injured astronaut on the surface of the moon. It will enable an astronaut to lift their crewmate onto a mobile stretcher in less than 10 minutes, before carrying them to the safety of a nearby pressurised lander.
4. ARTEMIS stands for Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun. It will be a manned moon mission.
5. The Artemis mission includes establishing of lunar outpost, investigating the Moon’s resources and how they might be exploited and using it a base to explore Mars and further into deep space.

Govt to provide broadband connectivity under BharatNet project to all gram panchayats

1. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Electronics and IT Minister has said that 128870 gram panchayats have been connected with optical fibre till date under the BharatNet Project.
2. BharatNet project seeks to provide affordable high speed broadband connectivity to 2.5 lakh gram panchayats across India. The nodal ministry for the project is Ministry of Communication
3. The BharatNet project is being funded by Universal service Obligation Fund (USOF). It was set up for improving telecom services in rural and remote areas of India. The objective is to facilitate the delivery of e-governance, e-health, e-education, e-banking, Internet and other services to the rural India
4. The Phase I of the BharatNet project was completed in December 2017. Phase II is under implementation, and a total of 2 lakh gram panchayats are targeted to be completed by March 2020.

Plastic Crust– a new kind of sea pollution

1. Scientists from the Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre have discovered a new type of plastic pollution which has been dubbed as “plasticrusts”. The study has been published in the journal Science of The Total Environment
2. Plasticrust is a layer of plastic encrusted onto ocean rocks.
3. In 2016, researchers first observed blue and grey plastic patches on Madeira, a volcanic Portuguese island off northwest Africa. After sampling rocks along the coastline, researchers found that by 2019 the plasticrusts covered 9.46% of the rocky surface.
4. According to researchers, the potential impact of plasticrusts is still relatively unknown, but had the potential to affect the island’s animals.

Centre plans to set up common online platform for RERA of all states, UTs

1. The Central government has planned to set up a common online platform for the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) of all states and UTs.
2. The move aims to provide an opportunity to home-buyers, builders and authorities to exchange views.
3. Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA) 2016 is a central legislation which aims to regulate the real estate sector. It seeks to empower and protect property consumers and make transactions fair and transparent.
4. The RERA Act was enacted under Entry 6 and 7 (dealing with contracts and the transfer of property) of the Concurrent List of the Constitution of India.
5. Under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016, all states are mandated to constitute their respective Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA).
6. The Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) registers and maintains a database of real estate projects, provides proper protection to home buyers and renders advice to the government and ensure compliance with its Regulations and the Act.
7. So far, 30 states and UTs have notified RERA. West Bengal has notified its own real estate regulator under its Housing and Industrial Regulation Act, 2017 (HIRA).

Govt considering hike in pension age limit under Atal Pension Yojana

1. The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has submitted a proposal to increase the limit of pension and age under Atal Pension Yojana (APY).
2. Launched in 2015, Atal Pension Yojana is a government-backed pension scheme administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). The scheme falls under the Ministry of Finance.
3. Under the scheme, a guaranteed minimum monthly pension of ₹1,000/ ₹2,000/ ₹3,000/ ₹4,000/ ₹5,000 is provided at the age of 60 years depending on the contributions by subscribers.
4. The scheme is available to all bank account holders who are not members of any statutory social security scheme and are not income tax payers. The minimum age of joining APY is 18 years and maximum age is 40 years.
5. The Central Government also co-contributes 50% of the subscriber’s contribution or Rs. 1000 per annum, whichever is lower.
6. Under the scheme, the spouse gets a monthly pension after the death of the subscriber. Further, the nominee gets the corpus amount of up to ₹8.5 lakh in the event of the death of the subscriber and the spouse.

International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

1. The International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is observed annually on 26 June.
2. The decision to mark the day was taken in 1987 via resolution 42/112 of the United Nations General Assembly
3. The observance seeks to raise awareness of the major problem that illicit drugs represent to society. It aims to strengthen action and cooperation to achieve the goal of an international society free of drug abuse.
4. The theme for 2019 International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is ‘Health for Justice. Justice for Health’. It highlights the justice and health are two sides of the same coin when it comes to addressing drug problems.
5. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), established in 1997, is the chief international organization which helps countries to combat illicit drugs, crime and terrorism.
6. In February 2019, the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC) of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi submitted its report “Magnitude of Substance Use in India”.
7. The key findings of the survey were: a) at the national level, about 14.6% of the people the ages of 10 and 75 are current users of alcohol. b) About 2.8% of Indians have reported using any cannabis product within the past 12 months. c) Around 2.06% of the people reported using opioids at the time of the survey and d) there are about 8.5 lakh people who inject drugs (PWID).
8. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has prepared a National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR) for 2018-25. The aim is to reduce the adverse consequences of drug abuse and addiction by creating awareness and educating people about the ill-effects of drug use.