Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

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Medical Commission Bill passed

News

• The Lok Sabha passed the National Medical Commission Bill, 2019 (NMC) with Union Health Minister assuring the House that the Bill, which seeks to repeal the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, will go down in history as the most revolutionary step taken to improve medical education in India.
• A motion for consideration of the Bill was passed by 260-48 votes after a division of votes was sought and the Bill was then passed by a voice vote.

Rajya Sabha clears changes to Insolvency Code

News

• The Rajya Sabha passed an amended version of the three-year-old Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

Beyond News

• The amendments seek to end ambiguity and streamline the resolution process further. It also gives home buyers the status of a creditor giving them a say in the resolution in case a housing project goes bust.
• Finance Minister said the changes were in response to events that eroded the legislative intent of the IBC.
• The Bill seeks to amend seven sections of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. They are largely to remove ambiguities and to facilitate a smooth conduct of the corporate and insolvency resolution process for maximising the outcomes in line with preamble of the code.
• The Bill also fixes a deadline of 330 days for resolving cases referred to the IBC.

Govt. extends indemnity to successful bidders under IBC

News

• Extending indemnity to successful bidders of companies that have defaulted on loans, Finance Minister said the government would not initiate any criminal proceedings against those who buy out a bankrupt company and no tax claim would be raised against them after implementation of a resolution plan.

Beyond News

• Finance Minister said the government would implement, in phases, insolvency regulations for individuals including those who give personal guarantees for loans taken by defaulting companies.
• The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2019 makes it “binding on the government” that it will “not raise any further claim after resolution plan is approved,” she said in her reply after which the House passed the legislation.
• Under the IBC, loan defaulting companies are auctioned and the successful bidder, called resolution applicant, takes over such firms after paying an amount they had bid for.

India’s 7th Economic Census begins from Tripura

News

• India’s seventh Economic Census began from Tripura and a similar task would be launched in other States and Union Territories across the country next month.

Beyond News

• IT-enabled economic census would be done by the Common Service Centres (CSC) in each gram panchayat.
• The official said that the enumerators and supervisors engaged by the CSCs have been trained to collect data on mobile application developed for data capture, validation, report generation and dissemination.
• At least 6,000 enumerators and supervisors from unemployed youths are being engaged to conduct the Economic Census in Tripura.
• Data would be collected through door-to-door survey of each household and commercial establishment under the provisions of Collection of Statistics Act 2008.
• Household and establishment-level data collected would be kept strictly confidential and used only for developmental planning and statistical purposes by the State, Union Territory and Central governments.
• The data collected by the enumerators would be verified by supervisors in subsequent visit to the concerned household and establishments. After completion of data collection and processing, the statistical results of the economic census would be released.
• The census would also cover all establishments, including household enterprises, engaged in production or distribution of goods and services.

Parliament passes law banning unregulated deposit schemes

News

• The Rajya Sabha unanimously passed the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2019, that seeks to regulate unregulated schemes which have in the past spiralled into ponzi and chit fund scams that cheated lakhs of depositors of their hard earned savings.
• The bill had already been passed in the Lok Sabha.
• The ‘comprehensive’ bill would help in regulating small savings in unregulated schemes.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

It’s official, Odisha is the origin of Rasagola

News

• The rasagola, a popular dessert of Odisha, has received the geographical indication tag from the Registrar of Geographical Indication after years of controversy around the sweet.

Beyond News

• The registration was conferred to ‘Odisha Rasagola’ under Section 16(I) or of authorized Section 17(3)(c) of Geographical Indication of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act 1999.
• The GI number 612 has been registered in favour of the Odisha Small Industries Corporation Limited (OSIC Limited), a government of Odisha undertaking and Utkal Mistanna Byabasayee Samiti, a traders’ organisation, in the foodstuff category.
• According to the application submitted to the Registrar of GI, ‘Odisha Rasagola’ is a sweet from the state of Odisha made of chhena (cottage cheese) cooked in sugar syrup, which is very soft to feel, is juicy and non- chewy in consistency and can be swallowed without teeth pressure.
• Colour development of the ‘Odisha Rasagola’ is very specific, where without addition of external colour, various intensely-coloured rasagolas are prepared using the principle of caramelisation of sugar with specific methods of preparation, the application said.
• The application further says Odisha Rasagolas are white in colour with round shape (non‐ spherical) but off white rasagolas in various shades are plentily prepared by cooking the rasagola at 110 degree Celsius for about 40 minutes in which caramalisation of sugar takes place giving the off white colour.
• The area of production of Odisha Rasagola has been shown all 30 districts.
• Both Odisha and West Bengal have been contesting the origin of the rasagola. Historical records submitted say the ‘Odisha Rasagola’ is associated with world famous Puri Jagannath Temple.

Chandrayaan 2 moves higher in orbit

News

• The third manoeuvre on the week-old Chandrayaan-2 lunar lander spacecraft pushed it to a planned higher orbit around earth.

Beyond News

• The exercise lasting over 16 minutes raised the spacecraft’s elliptical orbit at the farther end and it now goes around at a distance of 276 km x 71,792 km, as per plan, Indian Space Research Organisation said in an update.
• All spacecraft parameters were found normal.
• Chandrayaan-2 will be going around earth in regularly increased orbits until August 14, when it will be put in the path to the moon on a journey of almost four lakh kilometres.
• Chandrayaan-2 is slated to arrive at moon on August 20 and undergo another round of orbit adjustments.

Madhya Pradesh’s Pench sanctuary, Kerala’s Periyar sanctuary rated top tiger reserves

News

• Madhya Pradesh’s Pench sanctuary and Kerala’s Periyar sanctuary emerged as the best managed tiger reserves in the country, according to an evaluation of India’s 50 tiger sanctuaries released along with the 4th National Tiger Estimation (Tiger census).

Findings

• The Dampa and Rajaji reserves, in Mizoram and Uttarakhand respectively, were left at the bottom of the ladder with a score of 42.97% and 44.53% respectively. The top performers scored 93.75%. A score of 41% and above was marked as ‘fair’ and those 75% and above rated ‘very good.’
• The sanctuaries, which spanned 80 States, were divided into five geographic clusters. On the whole, the Western Ghats cluster comprising reserves in Kerala,Tamil Nadu and Karnataka scored an average of 81%.
• Kerala had the best kept reserves followed by Madhya Pradesh. Chhattisgarh was the ‘least performing State’ in reserve management.
• However there were challenges too. The National Highway 7 passing through the Pench sanctuary also bisected the Kanha Pench tiger corridor and had been responsible for tiger deaths. There were also several cases of electrocution deaths of animals.
• India has 2,967 tigers, a third more than in 2014, according to results of a tiger census made public by Prime Minister.
• Madhya Pradesh saw the highest number of tigers at 526, closely followed by Karnataka (524) and Uttarakhand (442). Chhattisgarh and Mizoram saw a decline in tiger population and all other States saw a “positive” increase, according to a press statement.
• While Pench Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest number of tigers, Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu registered the “maximum improvement” since 2014.
• India accounts for many of the 3,500-odd tigers that are scattered among Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russian Federation, Thailand and Vietnam.
• In 2010, these countries agreed to put in efforts to double the tiger population in sum by 2022.
• In a first, wildlife officials used mobile application M-STrIPES (Monitoring System For Tigers-Intensive Protection and Ecological Status) to estimate the big cat population, a WII scientist said on Monday soon after the release of the All India Tiger Estimate report.

293 big dams in country over 100-years old, Minister tells Lok Sabha

News

• As many as 293 big dams in the country are more than 100-years old, Jal Shakti Minister said as Minister introduced a bill on dam safety in Lok Sabha.

Beyond News

• The Bill seeks to set up the National Dam Safety Authority for proper surveillance, inspection and maintenance of specified dams as well as address unresolved issues between States.
• Besides, the government has proposed setting up a National Committee on Dam Safety in order to prevent dam failure-related disasters.
• There are 5,344 big dams in the country and out of them, around 293 are more than 100-years old. About 1,041 dams or 20% are 50- to 100-years old.
• Nearly 92% of the dams in the country are built over inter-state rivers.

Data shows below-normal water storage in India’s 72 of 100 major reservoirs

News

• With the four-month rainy season nearly halfway through, 72 of the 100 major water reservoirs in the country have reported water storage which is 80 per cent or below of normal, the Central Water Commission data shows.

Findings

• According to the data, until July 25, the basin storage position is deficient in major rivers like the Ganga, Krishna and Mahanadi.
• The scenario is particularly worrying in the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra.
• The basin storage in Tapi, Sabarmati and rivers of the Kutch and Godavari are “highly deficient”.
• The monsoon season in the country officially starts from June and continues till September. July and August see maximum rainfall.
• Several parts of the country have reported deficient rainfall.
• Of the 36 meteorological subdivisions of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), 18 have recorded deficient rainfall while 15 have seen normal rainfall.
• Of the 10 sub-divisions under Central India division of the IMD, seven recorded deficient rainfall. The situation is similar in the south peninsula division.

Watch out for Agent Smith, the latest malware to creep into android phones

News

• The malware, which derives its name from the antagonist of the Wachowski Brothers’ cult trilogy The Matrix, is currently being tracked by cyber-crime agencies across the world.
• Earlier this week, the Maharashtra Cyber department issued an advisory cautioning users against the malware, which can silently embed itself into any cell phone.

Beyond News

• Officials said that the malware is named after Hugo Weaving’s character in the trilogy because it exhibits similar behaviour. The malware can impersonate any android-based app and enter the cell phone.
• Agent Smith takes over apps on an Android phone, including popular and widely used ones like WhatsApp, without changing its hash value a unique code which is regarded to be the integrity of any computer file or programme, which makes it all the more challenging to detect.
• Agent Smith seems to have been designed by Chinese hackers, although this is still being verified.
• The only signs of a phone being infected are if the number of ads you see suddenly rise significantly, and if the ads seeing have nothing to do with your regular browsing habits. Currently, it seems that Agent Smith is only infiltrating apps with the intention of throwing up advertisements for other apps.
• Once the malware has control over a cell phone, it can do anything, including stealing banking details or other sensitive data, which can be misused in a variety of ways.
• Users are advised against downloading third party apps to avoid falling prey to Agent Smith and to keep updating their operating system. Also, if one sees the signs of their device being infected, they should immediately do a factory reset.
• According to a recent report Agent Smith has taken over 25 million devices around the world, including India, Indonesia and the U.S.

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