{"id":54320,"date":"2020-01-08T21:00:55","date_gmt":"2020-01-08T15:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?p=54320"},"modified":"2020-02-26T16:42:17","modified_gmt":"2020-02-26T11:12:17","slug":"9-pm-current-affairs-brief-january-8th-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/9-pm-current-affairs-brief-january-8th-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"9 PM Current Affairs Brief \u2013 January 8th, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hindustantimes.com\/tech\/meet-neon-the-world-s-first-artificial-human\/story-lOBgRaI1vNEUtjbMQKCkBJ.html\"><strong>Neon,\nthe world\u2019s first \u2018Artificial Human\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong> Samsung-backed Star Labs has unveiled Neon, the\nworld&#8217;s first &#8220;artificial humans&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About Neon<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Neon is a humanoid AI chatbot<\/li><li>It aims to deliver a personalised experience with an AI. It has the ability\nto show emotions and intelligence.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Additional Information:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Artificial Intelligence:\n<\/strong>It refers to the\nability of machines to perform cognitive tasks like thinking, perceiving,\nlearning, problem solving and decision making. (NITI Aayog)<\/li><li><strong>Kamakoti Committee:<\/strong> Ministry of Commerce\nand Industry, in 2017, set up AI Task Force headed by V. Kamakoti to explore\npossibilities to leverage AI for development across various fields.<\/li><li><strong>National strategy on artificial intelligence<\/strong>: Released by NITI Aayog in 2018, it identifies 5 cores areas for\napplication of artificial intelligence: Healthcare, Agriculture, Education, Smart\nCities and Infrastructure and Smart Mobility and Transportation.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pib.gov.in\/newsite\/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=196133\">NetSCoFAN\n(Network for Scientific Co-operation for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong> Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched NetSCoFAN\n(Network for Scientific Co-operation for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nNetSCoFAN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It is a network of research\n&amp; academic institutions working in the area of food &amp; nutrition<\/li><li>It would comprise of eight\ngroups of institutions working in different areas. These areas are:<\/li><li>biological, <\/li><li>chemical, <\/li><li>nutrition &amp; labelling, <\/li><li>food of animal origin, <\/li><li>food of plant origin, <\/li><li>water &amp; beverages, <\/li><li>food testing, and <\/li><li>Safer &amp; sustainable packaging.<\/li><li><strong>Function:<\/strong> To identify research gaps in\nrespective areas and collect, collate and develop database on food safety\nissues for risk assessment activities.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.financialexpress.com\/lifestyle\/science\/another-earth-nasa-planet-hunter-finds-earth-sized-world-in-habitable-zone\/1815468\/\"><strong>NASA\nplanet hunter finds Earth-sized world in habitable&nbsp;zone<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong> TESS has discovered an Earth-sized planet,\ntermed as \u201cTOI 700 d\u201d, within the habitable range of its star TOI 700, located\nin constellation Dorado.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u201cGoldilocks zone\u201d\/ circumstellar\nhabitable zone (CHZ)\/ habitable zone: <\/strong>It is the range of distances from a star\nwhere liquid water might be found on an orbiting planet given sufficient\natmospheric pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite\n(TESS):<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It is an all-sky survey mission launched by NASA in 2018.<\/li><li>It seeks to discover exoplanets around nearby bright stars.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/kerala\/flood-relief-eludes-state\/article30497251.ece\">National\nDisaster Relief Fund<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong> Central government has released calamity relief of \u20b95,908 crore to\nseven states from the National Disaster Relief Fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nNational Disaster Relief Fund<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It is a fund managed by the\nCentral Government for meeting the expenses for emergency response, relief and\nrehabilitation due to any threatening disaster situation or disaster.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Features:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Constituted to <strong>supplement the funds of the State Disaster\nResponse Funds (SDRF)<\/strong> in case there is a calamity of severe nature.<\/li><li><strong>Located in the &#8220;Public Accounts&#8221;<\/strong> of Government of India <strong>under\n&#8220;Reserve Funds not bearing interest&#8221;<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Monitoring:<\/strong><\/li><li>Relief activities for\ncalamities associated with drought, hailstorms, pest attacks and cold wave\n\/frost:<strong> Department of Agriculture and\nCooperation, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare<\/strong><\/li><li>All other natural calamities<strong>: Ministry of Home Affairs<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Sources of Financing:<\/strong><\/li><li>National Calamity Contingency\nDuty (NCCD) imposed on specified goods under central excise and customs<\/li><li>General budgetary resources\nwhen requirement of funds goes beyond what is available under NDRF<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/science\/challakere-to-be-isros-astronaut-training-hub\/article30489101.ece\">Challakere\nto be ISRO\u2019s astronaut training hub<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong> Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has proposed a \u20b9\n2,700-crore master plan to create Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nHuman Space Flight Centre (HSFC)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It is a body under ISRO to\ncoordinate Indian Human Spaceflight Programme.<\/li><li>It will be established in three\nyears at Challakere (\u201cScience City\u201d), in Chitradurga district of Karnataka. <\/li><li>At present it works from a\ntemporary place at the ISRO headquarters, Antariksh Bhavan, Bengaluru.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Functions:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Pursuing future human space\nmissions, <\/li><li>Developing engineering systems\nfor survival and safe return of the crew from space, <\/li><li>Selecting and training the\nastronauts.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Additional\nInformation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Gaganyaan\nMission<\/strong>: It is India\u2019s first Human Space Flight\nProgramme to be launched by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) by 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.livemint.com\/news\/india\/2019-7th-warmest-year-recorded-in-country-since-1901-imd-11578338222999.html\">IMD\u2019s\nState of Climate Report: 2019 the seventh warmest year since 1901<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong> India Meteorological Department (IMD) released State of the Climate\nReport-2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key\ntakeaways from State of the Climate Report-2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The past decade was the hottest\non record for India. <\/li><li>2019 was the seventh warmest\nyear since 1901.<\/li><li>The annual rainfall in 2019 was\n109% of the long period average for 1961\u20132010<\/li><li>Five cyclones were recorded\nfrom the Arabian Sea- the highest number of Arabian Sea cyclones since 1902.\nThe normal number is one per year.<\/li><li>Extreme weather events killed\nabout 1,630 persons in 2019.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Additional\nInformation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>State\nof Global Climate 2019- released by World Meteorological Organization<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The global average temperature\nin 2019 (January to October) was about 1.1 degrees Celsius above the\npre-industrial period.<\/li><li>Concentrations of carbon\ndioxide in the atmosphere hit a record level of 407.8 parts per million in 2018\nand continued to rise in 2019.<\/li><li>In October 2019, the global\nmean sea level reached its highest value since the beginning of the\nhigh-precision altimetry record (January 1993).<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/centre-bats-for-science-outreach-programmes\/article30487717.ece\"><strong>Centre\nbats for science outreach programmes<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>During\nthe 107th Indian Science Congress,head of the Climate Change Programme under\nDepartment of Science and Technology has talked about the Centre\u2019s policy on\nimplementing scientific social responsibility(SSR).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nScientific Social Responsibility:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Scientific Social\nResponsibility(SSR) is the confluence of scientific knowledge with visionary\nleadership and social conscience.<\/li><li>The main objective of SSR policy is\nto harness the voluntary potential that is latent in the country\u2019s scientific\ncommunity to strengthen science and society linkages so as to make S&amp;T\necosystem vibrant.&nbsp;<\/li><li>This primarily involves bridging\nscience-society, science-science and society-science gaps thereby bringing\ntrust, partnership and responsibility of science at an accelerated peace\ntowards achieving social goals.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Features of\nSSR Policy:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>All Central Government Ministries\nand State Governments would plan and strategize their SSR in accordance with\ntheir respective mandates.<\/li><li>Every knowledge institution would\nprepare its implementation plan for achieving its SSR goals.<\/li><li>The researchers who are working on\na science project funded by any of the Ministries under the Central government\nwill have to undertake activities to popularise science and make it more\naccessible to the public.<\/li><li>It will include a range of\nactivities like delivering lectures in educational institutes, writing an\narticle in a magazine or doing something beyond the curriculum.<\/li><li>The science outreach would be\nmandatory and researchers had to include this as part of their outcome report.<\/li><li>There should also be an SSR\nmonitoring system in each institution to assess institutional projects and\nindividual activities.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Benefits of\nSSR:<\/strong>SSR has the potential to bring scientific and innovative solutions\nto societal problems, especially marginalized sections of society, thereby\ntransforming the country.Some of the benefits of SSR include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It can expand the domain of science\nand its benefits to the community by encouraging students into science through\nhandholding and nurturing their interest.<\/li><li>It can create an opportunity for\ncooperation and sharing of S&amp;T resources in laboratories with other\nresearchers in universities and colleges.<\/li><li>It can help MSMEs, Startups and\ninformal sector enterprises in increasing their overall productivity.<\/li><li>It can facilitate scientific\nintervention in rural innovation.It can also lead to empowerment of women,\ndisadvantaged and weaker sections of society through scientific intervention.<\/li><li>Facilitating actions towards\naddressing Technology Vision 2035 Prerogatives and Sustainable Development\nGoals (SDGs) of the country such as water, ecology, health and livelihood.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/business\/Industry\/stressed-urban-cooperative-banks-to-face-pca-like-curbs\/article30496445.ece\"><strong>Stressed\nurban cooperative banks to face PCA-like curbs<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>The\nReserve Bank of India has revised its supervisory framework for urban\nco-operative banks(UCBs) to expedite resolution of UCBs experiencing financial\nstress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About the\nrevised framework:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The framework imposes restrictions\non urban cooperative banks(UCBs) for deterioration of financial position in\nline with the prompt corrective action(PCA) framework that is imposed on\ncommercial banks.<\/li><li>The framework was revised in the\nbackdrop of recent crisis at the PMC Bank.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Features of\nthe framework:<\/strong>Under this revised Supervisory Action Framework\n(SAF),UCBs will face restrictions for worsening of three parameters:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>when net non-performing assets\nexceed 6% of net advances,<\/li><li>when they incur losses for two\nconsecutive financial years or have accumulated losses on their balance sheets,\nand<\/li><li>if the capital adequacy ratio falls\nbelow 9%.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What will\nhappen if UCBs breach the parameters?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>UCBs may be asked to submit a\nboard-approved action plan to correct the situation like reducing net NPAs\nbelow 6%, etc.<\/li><li>The board of the UCB may be asked\nto review the progress under the action plan on quarterly\/monthly basis and\nsubmit the post-review progress report to the RBI.<\/li><li>The RBI can impose restrictions on\ndeclaration or payment of dividend or donation without prior approval if any\none of the above mentioned parameters is breached.<\/li><li>The RBI may also seek a\nboard-approved proposal for merging the UCB with another bank or converting\nitself into a credit society if CAR falls below 9%.<\/li><li>The RBI may also consider the issue\nof show-cause notice for cancellation of banking licence when continued normal\nfunctioning of the UCB is no longer considered to be in the interest of its\ndepositors\/public.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Additional\ninformation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nPrompt corrective action(PCA):<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Prompt corrective action(PCA) is a\nframework under which commercial banks with weak financial metrics are put\nunder watch by the RBI.<\/li><li>The RBI introduced the PCA\nframework in 2002 as a structured early-intervention mechanism for banks that\nbecome undercapitalised due to poor asset quality, or vulnerable due to loss of\nprofitability.<\/li><li>It aims to check the problem of\nNon-Performing Assets (NPAs) in the Indian banking sector.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nCo-operative Banks:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>A Co-operative bank is a financial\nentity which belongs to its members, who are at the same time the owners and\nthe customers of their bank.<\/li><li>Co-operative banking in India\nstarted in the early 20th century with the passing of Co-operative Societies\nAct in 1904 and later with the Co-operative Societies Act, 1912.<\/li><li>They are often created by persons\nbelonging to the same local or professional community of sharing a common interest.<\/li><li>They are classified into two\ncategories namely Urban Co-operative Banks(UCBs) and rural co-operative banks.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/cities\/Delhi\/plea-against-digilocker-rules-centre-told-to-reply\/article30498271.ece\"><strong>Plea against\nDigiLocker rules<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>The\nDelhi High Court has asked the Government to give its stand on a petition\nagainst the rules pertaining to the operation of DigiLocker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About the\nPetition:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The petitioner has asked the apex\ncourt to strike down the Information Technology (Preservation and Retention of\nInformation by Intermediaries Providing Digital Locker Facilities) Rules 2016\nbecause DigiLocker does not provide a nomination facility under this rule.<\/li><li>Because of this rule,all the\ndocuments would not be accessible by the family or friends and automatically\nget passed on to the government on the user\u2019s death.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nDigital Locker:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>DigiLocker is the Indian\nGovernment\u2019s flagship program under the Digital India.<\/li><li>It is aimed at transforming India\ninto a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.&nbsp;<\/li><li>It is a platform for issuance and\nverification of documents &amp; certificates in a digital way,thus eliminating\nthe use of physical documents.<\/li><li>It ties into Digital India\u2019s\nvisions areas of providing citizens a shareable private space on a public cloud\nand making all documents or certificates available on this cloud.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Benefits of\nDigital locker:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Citizens can access their digital\ndocuments anytime, anywhere and share it online.This is convenient and time saving.<\/li><li>It reduces the administrative\noverhead of Government departments by minimizing the use of paper.<\/li><li>Digital Locker makes it easier to\nvalidate the authenticity of documents as they are issued directly by the\nregistered issuers.<\/li><li>Self-uploaded documents can be\ndigitally signed using the eSign facility (which is similar to the process of\nself-attestation.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.newsonair.com\/News?title=India%26%2339%3Bs-GDP-growth-rate-for-2019-20-estimated-at-5%25%2C-says-NSO&amp;id=377353\"><strong>GDP\ngrowth rate for 2019-20 estimated at 5%, says NSO<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>The\nNational Statistical Office (NSO) has released the First Advance Estimates for\nthe financial year 2019-20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key\ntakeaways from the estimates:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The Indian economy is estimated to\ngrow at 5% in 2019-20 as against 6.8% in the previous fiscal.<\/li><li>This projected growth rate of gross\ndomestic product(GDP) is the lowest in the last 11 years i.e since financial\nyear 2009.<\/li><li>The nominal GDP which is the market\nvalue of goods and services produced in the economy but not adjusted for\ninflation is estimated to grow at 7.5% which will be the lowest since last 42\nyears.<\/li><li>The slowdown is due to growth being\ndragged down by anaemic manufacturing, slowing services sector growth as well\nas sluggish investment and consumption.<\/li><li>Further,the exports is also\nestimated to contract by 2% during FY20 as against 12.5% growth recorded a year\nago.This can be attributed to weak global trade activity led by the tariff war\nbetween US and China.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What are\nthe steps taken by government to overcome slowdown?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It has announced a cut in the\ncorporate tax rate to 22% from 30%.It also lowered the tax rate for new\nmanufacturing companies to 15% to attract new foreign direct investments.<\/li><li>It has also taken other initiatives\nsuch as bank recapitalization, mergers of 10 public sector banks into four,\nsupport for the auto sector, plans for infrastructure spending as well as tax\nbenefits for startups.<\/li><li>The government has also constituted\na task force to draw up a National Infrastructure Pipeline(NIP) from 2019-20 to\n2024-25.It will prepare a roadmap that India would need to spend $4.5 trillion\non infrastructure by 2030 to sustain its growth rate.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.downtoearth.org.in\/news\/wildlife-biodiversity\/global-eco-watch-major-ecological-happenings-of-the-week-december-29-2019-january-5-2020--68674\"><strong>Chinese\npaddlefish found in the Yangtze has gone extinct<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>According\nto a recent study,Chinese paddlefish which is a native of the Yangtze River\nsystem has been declared extinct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nChinese Paddlefish:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Chinese Paddlefish is also known as\nChinese swordfish.It is one of the world\u2019s largest freshwater fish species.<\/li><li>It inhabits the Yangtze River\nbasin.The largest Chinese paddlefish may grow up to 3 metres in length and\nweigh 300 kg.<\/li><li>It has been listed on the IUCN\u2019s\nRed List as critically endangered since 1996.However,Scientists have now\ndeclared it as an extinct species.<\/li><li>The Chinese Paddlefish along with\nAmerican Paddlefish were the only two extant members of a relict lineage that\nwas most diverse and widespread 34-75 million years ago.<\/li><li>The factors that contributed to the\nChinese paddlefish\u2019s extinction includes (a)construction of a dam along the\nYangtze River basin (b)overfishing (c)habitat loss and (d)pollution.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong>American\npaddlefish is a native of the Mississippi River.It is listed as vulnerable\nunder IUCN Red list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/business\/Economy\/mindset-to-blame-for-poor-response-to-nps\/article30506496.ece\"><strong>\u2018Mindset\nto blame for poor response to NPS\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>According\nto the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA),National\nPension System (NPS) is a less-preferred saving option due to a certain mindset\nof individuals and corporates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The PFRDA has said that there are\naround 7,000 corporates companies registered with PFRDA.However, only 2-4% of\nemployees of these registered companies are covered under NPS.<\/li><li>Further,the pension system also\ncover small number of individuals and corporates while a large population of\nsmall, medium, and micro enterprises and start-ups are yet to be part of the\npension market.<\/li><li>Hence,the central government is\nconsidering to double tax benefits to \u20b91 lakh from \u20b950,000.It may also allow\nPFRDA to become a single regulator for all pension products to give the entity\nmore validity and standing in the country\u2019s under tapped pension market.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nNational Pension System(NPS):<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>National Pension System (NPS) is a\ngovernment-sponsored pension scheme.It was launched in January 2004 for government\nemployees.However,in 2009,it was opened to all sections.<\/li><li><strong>Objective:<\/strong>Thescheme allows subscribers to contribute regularly in a pension account\nduring their working life.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Upon retirement,subscribers can\nwithdraw a part of the corpus in a lump sum and use the remaining corpus to buy\nan annuity to secure a regular income after retirement.<\/li><li><strong>Implementation:<\/strong>NPS\nis being implemented and regulated by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development\nAuthority in the country.<\/li><li>National Pension System Trust(NPST)\nestablished by PFRDA is the registered owner of all assets under NPS.<\/li><li><strong>Eligibility:<\/strong>Any\nindividual citizen of India (both resident and Non-resident) in the age group\nof 18-65 years can join NPS.<\/li><li>Recently,PFRDA has permitted\nOverseas Citizen of India(OCI) to enroll in the NPS at par with Non-Resident\nIndians.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Additional\ninformation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nPFRDA:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>PFRDA is a statutory body\nestablished under the Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority(PFRDA)\nAct,2013.<\/li><li>Its objective is to be a model\nregulator for promotion and development of an organized pension system to serve\nthe old age income needs of people on a sustainable basis.<\/li><li>It develops, promotes and regulates\nthe pension industry under National Pension System and also administers the\nAtal Pension Yojana.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tribuneindia.com\/news\/ins-sumedha-comes-to-rescue-of-stranded-vessel-with-13-indian-crew-on-it-near-somali-coast-23324\"><strong>INS\nSumedha provides assistance to stranded vessel near Somali Coast<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>INS\nSumedha which is presently on Anti Piracy Patrol in Gulf of Aden, came to the\nrescue of the stranded vessel near Somali Coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About INS\nSumedha:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>INS Sumedha was commissioned into\nthe Indian Navy in 2014.The ship has been designed and built by Goa Shipyard\nLimited.<\/li><li>Sumedha is the third ship of the\nindigenous Naval Offshore Patrol Vessel (NOPV) Project to be inducted into the\nIndian Navy.&nbsp;<\/li><li>The induction of INS Sumedha is\naimed at meeting the increasing ocean surveillance and patrolling requirements\nof the Indian Navy.<\/li><li>The ship has a weapon and sensor\nsystems, latest navigational and early warning radar, chaff launching for self\nprotection and an integrated ESM system to undertake all assigned missions.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About Gulf\nof Aden:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The Gulf of Aden is located in the\nMiddle East with Yemen to the north, Somalia to the south and the Arabian Sea\nto the east.It is connected to the Red Sea by the Bab el Mandeb strait.<\/li><li>The Strait of Bab el-Mandeb is a\nchokepoint between the horn of Africa and the Middle East.It is located between\nYemen, Djibouti and Eritrea and connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and\nthe Arabian Sea.<\/li><li>Up to 30,000 ships pass through the\nGulf of Aden each year heading to and from the Suez Canal.However,Piracy has\nbeen predominant in the seas of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden between 2005 and\n2012.<\/li><li>The Djibouti Code of Conduct was\nadopted in 2009 for Repression of Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in the\nWestern Indian Ocean and the Gulf of&nbsp; Aden.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pib.gov.in\/newsite\/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=197301\"><strong>2nd\nNational GST Conference held for streamlining GST system<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>The\n2nd National GST Conference of the Commissioners of State Tax and Chief\nCommissioners of Central Tax was held under the chairmanship of Revenue\nSecretary,Ministry of Finance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About the\nconference:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The conference was aimed to build\nsynergy and to share their knowledge and best practices with the intent to\nbring about uniformity in tax administrations.<\/li><li>It focused on streamlining Goods\nand Services Tax(GST) system and plugging revenue leakages.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key\ntakeaways from the conference:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The government has decided to\nconstitute a panel of centre and state officials for designing a detailed\nStandard Operating Procedure(SOP) to check fraudulent GST refund claims and\nevasion of GST.<\/li><li>All cases of fake Input Tax Credit,\nexport\/import fraud and fraudulent refunds shall also be compulsorily\ninvestigated by investigation wing of the Income Tax Department.<\/li><li>A memorandum of understanding would\nbe signed among the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the Central Board of\nIndirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) and the GST Network to exchange data through\nthe application program interface.&nbsp;<\/li><li>The data would be shared on a\nquarterly basis instead of being shared on a yearly basis.<\/li><li>It has also decided to make the GST\nsystem aligned with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) for the purpose of\ngetting bank account details and transactions and also PAN-based banking\ntransaction.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Additional\ninformation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nFinancial Intelligence Unit(FIU):<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Financial Intelligence Unit was set\nby the Government of India in the year 2004.<\/li><li>It is an independent body reporting\ndirectly to the Economic Intelligence Council (EIC) headed by the Finance\nMinister.<\/li><li>It acts as the central national\nagency responsible for receiving, processing, analyzing and disseminating\ninformation relating to suspect financial transactions.<\/li><li>It is also responsible for\ncoordinating and strengthening efforts of national and international\nintelligence, investigation and enforcement agencies in pursuing the global\nefforts against money laundering and financing of terrorism.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/blogs\/toi-edit-page\/aadhaar-at-10-taking-stock-the-unfinished-work-lies-with-the-most-vulnerable-sections-of-society\/\"><strong>Aadhaar\nat 10:The State of Aadhaar Report<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>Recently,State\nof Aadhaar report has been released on the completion of the tenth year of its\nexistence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About the\nreport:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The \u2018State of Aadhaar\u2019 report is\nbased on the most extensive survey ever on Aadhaar.The survey was done by the\nIDinsight and Omidyar Network of India.<\/li><li>The survey can provide valuable\nlessons for other countries on improving public services for the vulnerable.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key\nHighlights from the report:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>In 2009,nearly 5 million births\nwere unregistered,over 250 million people were illiterate and between 16-41% of\nfood grain meant for the poor was diverted.<\/li><li>Despite these conditions,Aadhar was\nintroduced to provide a unique digital identity to every resident.However,the\nUnique Identification Authority of India(UIDAI) has made Aadhar huge success\nwith 95% of adults holding the identity card in 2019.<\/li><li>Aadhaar has also become the first\nidentity document for around 65-70 million individuals.This benefitted them in\nopening bank accounts, accessing food rations among others.<\/li><li>The report has also stated that 80%\nof participants felt that Aadhaar improved the reach of government schemes and\nservices faster.&nbsp;<\/li><li>However,34% of Indians still worry\nabout linking Aadhaar to too many services and a comparable number fear losing\naccess to a service because of it.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nAadhar:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The Aadhaar number is a verifiable\ntwelve-digit unique identity number issued by the Unique Identification\nAuthority of India (UIDAI) to the residents of India.It is linked with the\nresident\u2019s demographic and biometric information.<\/li><li>The Aadhaar project was\nconceptualised in the year 2006 and launched in the year 2009 with the creation\nof Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).<\/li><li>The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial\nand Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 provides legislative\nbacking to the project.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nUIDAI:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The Unique Identification Authority\nof India (UIDAI) is a statutory authority established under the provisions of\nAadhaar Act 2016 under the Ministry of Electronics &amp; Information\nTechnology.&nbsp;<\/li><li>It is mandated to issue Unique\nIdentification numbers (UID)-Aadhaar to all residents of India.<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Neon, the world\u2019s first \u2018Artificial Human\u2019 News: Samsung-backed Star Labs has unveiled Neon, the world&#8217;s first &#8220;artificial humans&#8221;. Facts: About Neon Neon is a humanoid AI chatbot It aims to deliver a personalised experience with an AI. It has the ability to show emotions and intelligence. Additional Information: Artificial Intelligence: It refers to the ability&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/9-pm-current-affairs-brief-january-8th-2020\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">9 PM Current Affairs Brief \u2013 January 8th, 2020<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":48116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-9-pm-brief","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/9-PM-Brief.png?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":1700799098,"cached_date":1701279236},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}