Current Affairs 5th November 2018

Current Affairs 5th November 2018 - Important Points 

• India inked loan Agreement for Turga Hydel Project with which country – Japan
• Government Promulgates Ordinance to amend Companies Act, 2013
• Unreserved Mobile Ticketing facility launched by - Government
• Saura Jalnidhi scheme launched by - Odisha Government
•  PM launches Support and Outreach Programme for - MSME Sector
• Maharashtra Government to convert decommissioned aircraft carrier INS Viraat into - Floating museum
• 3rd Ayurveda Day observed across India on - 5th November 2018
• Process to set up digital Public Credit Registry  initiated by - RBI
• India’s first microprocessor ‘Shakti’ developed by -  IIT-Madras 

Current Affairs 5th November 2018 - Details

India inked loan Agreement for Turga Hydel Project with which country – Japan

India and Japan inked Loan Agreement worth Rupees 1817 crores for building Turga Pumped Storage (I)’ Hydel Project. On accomplishment, this project will result to Industrial Development and Living Standard Improvement in the West Bengal.

Crucial Facts

This loan agreement was inked among Union Ministry of Finance, Government of India and Mr. Katsuo Matsumoto, Chief Representative Japan International Cooperation Agency. The aim of project is to reinforce competence to respond to fluctuation in supply & demand of power. It also pursues to advance stability of power supply by building pumped storage amenities, thereby resulting into industrial development and development of Living Standard of people in West Bengal.

Background

India and Japan have elongated and productive history of bilateral development assistance since 1958. In the past few years, the economic collaboration between India and Japan has progressively developed, which has further combined and supported Strategic and Global Partnership between both nations.

Government Promulgates Ordinance to amend Companies Act, 2013

Union Cabinet has sanctioned proposal for promulgation ordinance to amend the Companies Act, 2013. The regulation had established assent from President Ram Nath Kovind under Article 123 and has been propagated. The modifications to the Act are intended to encourage ease of doing business and make sure better compliance levels.

Important Facts

The ordinance to modify Companies Act pursues to declog National Company Law Tribunals and decriminalise negligible offences by corporations. The ordinance will transfer 90 percent of the cases to regional directors under Ministry of Corporate Affairs from National Company Law Tribunals. Moreover, it will hold status of all non-compoundable offences since they are serious in nature.

Background

Union Government agreed Committee had recommended various changes to Act, including rearrangement of corporate offences under companies’ law and in-house adjudication process to make sure courts get additional time to deal with solemn violations.

Apart from rearrangement of corporate offences to relieve special courts from adjudicating routine offences, the committee had suggested re-categorisation of 16 out of 81 compoundable crimes under the Act. This initiative was suggested to bring down National Company Law Tribunals’ load as it looks at insolvency and bankruptcy cases as well.

Unreserved Mobile Ticketing facility launched by - Government

Union Ministry of Railways has initiated Unreserved Mobile Ticketing facility to enable seamless booking of unreserved tickets counting season tickets and also platform tickets all around Indian Railways. This will eradicate the necessity for passengers to wait in lines for buying the tickets.

UTS on Mobile phones goals to encourage 3 C’: Cashless transactions, Contact-less ticketing and Customer convenience and experience. With this, booking of unreserved tickets on all non-suburban sections across all Zonal Railways will be now readily accessible on mobile phones.

Unreserved Mobile Ticketing facility

The ability for booking unreserved tickets is accessible via ‘UTSONMOBILE’ app, accessible for mobile phones with Android, iOS and Windows operating systems. The procedure of ticket booking includes downloading app on mobile phone and registration by furnishing the essential details.

After successful registration, subscriber is issued user-ID and password via which subscriber can login and book ticket through this app within the ticketing area. The payment can be done digitally using R-Wallet/debit/credit card/net-banking/UPI and other e-wallets.

Advantages

This environment friendly enterprise will permit seamless booking of unreserved tickets around Indian Railways. It will avoid necessity for passengers to wait in queues for purchasing tickets.

 PM launches Support and Outreach Programme for - MSME Sector

PM Narendra Modi initiated Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises- MSME Support and Outreach
Program. As part of this program, Prime Minister revealed 12 crucial initiatives which will benefit the
growth, expansion and facilitation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises around the nation. There are
5 important features for simplifying the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises sector. These consist
access to credit, access to market, technology upgradation, comfort of doing business, and sense of
security for workers.
MSME Outreach Programme

• It goals to enhance Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises sector. It is one of key sector for major
  generations of employment.
• It will operate for 100 days covering 100 Districts across the nation.
• Various Central Ministers will visit these districts in order to impart businesspersons about various amenities being extended to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Sector by Union Government and financial institutions.
• Under Access to Credit aspect of this program, Government will launch 59-minute loan portal to permit easy access to credit for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
• Loans up to Rupees One crore will be approved in-principle grant via this portal, in just 59 minutes. The connection to this portal will be available at GST portal.
• Government will issue 2 percent interest subvention for all GST registered Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, on fresh/incremental loans. For exporters who get loans in pre-shipment and post-shipment period will have upsurge in interest rebate ranging from 3 percent to 5 percent.
• All Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises with turnover above Rupees 500 crores will now be forcibly brought on Trade Receivables e-Discounting System.
• This will permit businesspersons to access credit from banks, based on their future receivables.

Saura Jalnidhi scheme launched by - Odisha Government

Odisha Government has initiated Saura Jalnidhi scheme to inspire usage of solar energy in irrigation by
farmers. Under this scheme, farmers will be issued 90 percent subsidy and 5,000 solar pumps. This will
issue irrigation aids in 2,500 acres of the state. The recipient of this scheme will be farmers who have
valid farmer i-cards and have least 0.5 acres of agricultural land.
More about Saura Jalnidhi scheme

• The scheme was released as part of state government’s endeavour to upsurge the usage of solar
  photovoltaic pump sets in those areas so that irrigation amenities can be issued where power system is bad.
• For this scheme, state government has formed a provision of Rupee 27.18 crores in the financial
  year 2017-2018.
• In the 1st phase, this scheme will be accessible in those areas where electricity is not there for running the pumps. This scheme will produce 1.52 lakh human day jobs yearly and provided income to about 5,000 families and also lessen carbon footprints.
• Under this scheme, farmers will be issued a well-equipped solar pump irrigation system in junction mode.
  It will assist to lessen burden of input cost on farmers and also upsurge agricultural income. It will
  encourage the usage of green energy and decrease pollution.

Maharashtra Government to convert decommissioned aircraft carrier INS Viraat into - Floating museum

Maharashtra state cabinet permitted plant for alteration of Indian Navy’s longest-serving aircraft carrier INS Viraat, into India’s 1st-ever moored maritime museum-cum-marine adventure centre. Presently, INS Viraat is at Mumbai’s Naval dockyard after it was retired in 2017.
Important Facts

• According to state government’s plan, INS Viraat’s alteration will be on public-private-partnership basis.
• It will be grouted 7 nautical miles off Malvan coast at Nivati rocks in Sindhudurg district. This ship will crowd biodiversity centres and marine adventure centre delivering sailing and scuba-diving activities.
• There will be virtual galleries, cafeterias and even training centre for merchant navy squad. World over only 7 aircraft carriers so far have been rehabilitated into museums, theme parks and luxury hotel.
  More about INS Viraat
• It was constructed in 1943 during 2nd World War and was 1st commissioned as HMS Hermes into the British Royal Navy in November 1959.
• During the Falklands War in 1982, the aircraft carrier had worked as flagship of the Royal Navy’s task force. It has sailed approximately 11 lakh kilometres, enough to cover the globe 27 times.
• It was commissioned into the Indian Navy on May 12th, 1987.
• It had played a crucial role in Operation Jupiter in 1989 in the Sri Lankan peace keeping operation.
• It had taken part in the standoff Operation Parakram in 2001-2002 when India and Pakistan were engaged in a standoff position the Parliament terror attack.
• INS Viraat embraces Guinness Books of record of being the longest serving warship in the world. It was also the last British constructed ship serving with the Indian Navy.

3rd Ayurveda Day observed across India on - 5th November 2018

The 3 rd Ayurveda Day was celebrated around the Nation on November 5th, 2018 on the eve of the Dhanawantari Jayanti/Dhanteras with an objective to further promote Ayurveda as the mainstream system of medicine.
The theme of the 3rd Ayurveda Day was ‘Ayurveda for Public health’. All the State Governments, State More about AYUSH

• Directorates, entire Ayurveda colleges and teaching institutions, AYUSH Universities, Ayurveda Doctors, Ayurveda Drug Industries and shareholders of Ayurveda in India and overseas celebrated the 3rd Ayurveda Day centred on this theme.
  Objectives of the Day
• Its main focus on strong point of Ayurveda and its unique treatment principles.
• It diminish the burden of disease and associated mortality by using the potential of Ayurveda.
  Exploring Ayurveda to contribute for National health policy and National Health programs.
• It encourage Ayurvedic principles of healing in society.
• National Seminar on Entrepreneurship and Business Development in Ayurveda
• The Ministry of AYUSH organised a “National Seminar on Entrepreneurship and Business Development in Ayurveda” in collaboration with NITI Aayog to promote entrepreneurs and Ayurveda shareholders towards businesses opportunities in the sector.
• The Seminar is a subsequent step to the initiatives accepted by the Ministry to increase Ayurveda Market percentage 3-fold by the year 2022.
• The seminar is supposed to develop awareness among shareholders about the business opptions, inspire young businesspersons to usage of modern technologies and modern innovations in business development. 

Process to set up digital Public Credit Registry  initiated by - RBI

The RBI has started the procedure to form a digital Public Credit Registry to get all the details of borrowers, including wilful defaulters and also the pending legal suits in order to cross check financial delinquencies. 
The public credit registry will also comprise information from units including SEBI, the corporate affairs
ministry, GST Network and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India to permit the banks and financial institutions to attain a 360-degree profile of present and prospective borrowers on a real-time basis.
The Public Credit Registry is a digital registry of genuine granular credit information. It will work as a
financial data infrastructure allowing access to various shareholders and augment the present credit
information ecosystem.
Key Highlights

• The RBI has requested expression of interest for developing the registry from organisations with a
  turnover of more than Rupees 100 crores in the past 3 years.
• Presently, there are numerous granular credit information storehouses in India, with each having different aims and coverage. 
• Within the Reserve Bank of India, CRILC is a borrower level supervisory dataset with an edge in an
  aggregate exposure of Rupees Five crore. 
• The Reserve Bank of India has mandated all its authorised units to submit credit information individually to all 4 CICs.
• According to the Expression of Interest, the projected solution should permit easy integration with ancillary information sources, including the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, SEBI, Goods and Services Tax Network, CERSAI, utility billers, Central Fraud Registry and Wilful Defaulter/Caution/Suit Filed Lists. 

India’s first microprocessor ‘Shakti’ developed by -  IIT-Madras 

The scientists at the IIT Madras have developed India’s 1st indigenous microprocessor, which will decrease dependency on imported microchips and the risk of cyber-attacks. The microprocessor known as ‘Shakti’ was outlined, developed and stricken by Indian Institute of Technology Madras with a microchip invented in the Semi-Conductor Laboratory of Indian Space Research Organisation at Chandigarh. It has been developed at an estimate of about Rupees 11 crore.
The ‘Shakti’ project is focused at emerging industrial-grade microprocessors and other components of the microprocessor ecosystem.
It is moderately funded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, as part of 2-decade-old efforts to develop indigenous microprocessors.
Important Highlights

• The design of the microprocessor initiates from an open source Instruction Set Architecture, a set of basic guidelines known as RISC V, which makes it customisable to any device. 
• The RISC-V is an open, free Instruction Set Architecture, enabling a fresh era of processor innovation via open standard collaboration. 
• It carries a new level of free, extensible software and hardware freedom on architecture, developing the way for the next 50 years of computing design and innovation. 
• The Instruction Set Architecture is fundamentally the programming language and provides commands to the processor training it on the tasks to be implemented.
• The concept to develop the chip was evolved in 2011 with few initial works were then carried out. Bluespec, an open-source high-level synthesis language, went into developing the chips.
• Primarily, the developers formed a normative design to demonstration the feasibility. Different devices may require a different type of hardware as well as new features/instructions.
• The microprocessor will diminish dependency on imported microchips and the risk of cyber-attacks.
• It could be well utilised in mobile computing, wireless and networking systems and it may also deliver power to mobile phones, surveillance cameras and smart meters.