IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

Cabinet approves Extension of tenure of the Commission constituted under Article 340 of the constitution to examine the issue of sub-categorization within Other Backward Classes in the Central List

Source:The PIB india

News

• The Union Cabinet  has approved the extension of the term of the Commission to examine the issue of Sub-categorization of Other Backward Classes, by 6 months upto 31.1.2021.

Impact including employment generation potential

• The Communities in the existing list of OBCs which have not been able to get any major benefit of the scheme of reservation for OBCs for appointment in Central Government posts and for admission in Central Government Educational Institutions are expected to be benefitted upon implementation of the recommendations of the Commission.
• The Commission is likely to make recommendations for benefit of such marginalized communities in the Central List of OBCs.

Benefits

• All persons belonging to the castes/communities which are included in the Central List of SEBCs but which have not been able to get any major benefit of the existing scheme of reservation for OBCs in Central Government posts & for admission in Central Government Educational Institutions would be benefitted.
• The Commission was constituted under article 340 of the Constitution with the approval of President on 2nd October, 2017.

260 million children miss out education: UNESCO

Source: The Indian Express

News

• More than 250 million children had no access to schooling in 2018, the United Nations agency for education reported. This is down from about 350 million at the turn of the millennium.

No access to schooling

• Children from poorer communities as well as girls, the disabled, immigrants, and ethnic minorities were more likely to miss out on education in many countries, UNESCO found.
• In 2018, 258 million children and youth were entirely excluded from education, with poverty as the main obstacle to access.
• This amounts to 17% of all school-age children missing out on education. They were mostly concentrated in South and Central Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Disadvantaged groups

• In many poorer countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, very few rural girls receive an education.
• LGBTI students in the United States were almost three times more likely to avoid school because they felt unsafe.
• UNESCO warns millions of kids left behind on education

About 335 million girls are not provided water and sanitation services needed to attend school while menstruating. In some central and eastern European countries, Roma children are segregated, while in Asia displaced people such as Rohingya are taught in different systems.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Historic reforms initiated in the Space sector

Source: PIB india

News

• Union Cabinet approved far reaching reforms in the Space sector aimed at boosting private sector participation in the entire range of space activities.

Beyond News: 

• The decision taken is in line with the long-term vision of the Prime Minister of transforming India and making the country self-reliant and technologically advanced.
• India is among a handful of countries with advanced capabilities in the space sector. With these reforms, the sector will receive new energy and dynamism, to help the country leapfrog to the next stages of space activities.

Key Benefits:

• Space sector can play a major catalytic role in the technological advancement and expansion of our Industrial base. The proposed reforms will enhance the socio-economic use of space assets and activities, including through improved access to space assets, data and facilities.
• The newly created Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) will provide a level playing field for private companies to use Indian space infrastructure. It will also hand-hold, promote and guide the private industries in space activities through encouraging policies and a friendly regulatory environment.
• The Public Sector Enterprise ‘New Space India Limited (NSIL)’ will endeavour to re-orient space activities from a ‘supply driven’ model to a ‘demand driven’ model, thereby ensuring optimum utilization of our space assets.
• These reforms will allow ISRO to focus more on research and development activities, new technologies, exploration missions and human spaceflight programme. Some of the planetary exploration missions will also be opened up to private sector through an ‘announcement of opportunity’ mechanism.

Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) launches another funding scheme to help the distressed MSME sector

Source: PIB india

News

• Minister of MSME, launched the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Sub-ordinate Debt (CGSSD) which is also called “Distressed Assets Fund–Sub-ordinate Debt for MSMEs”.
• As per the Scheme, the guarantee cover worth Rs. 20,000 crores will be provided to the promoters who can take debt from the banks to further invest in their stressed MSMEs as equity.

The highlights of the scheme

• This Scheme seeks to extend support to the promoter(s) of the operational MSMEs which are stressed and have become NPA as on 30th April, 2020;
• Promoter(s) of the MSMEs will be given credit equal to 15% of their stake (equity plus debt) or Rs. 75 lakh whichever is lower;
• Promoter(s) in turn will infuse this amount in the MSME unit as equity and thereby enhance the liquidity and maintain debt-equity ratio;
• 90% guarantee coverage for this sub-debt will be given under the Scheme and 10% would come from the concerned promoters;
• There will be a moratorium of 7 years on payment of principal whereas maximum tenor for repayment will be 10 years.

Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund set-up

Source: PIB india

 News

• In pursuance of recently announced Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan stimulus package, Cabinet approved setting up of Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) amounting to Rs. 15000 crore.
• The AHIDF approved would incentive infrastructure investments in dairy, meat processing and animal feed plants.
• The eligible beneficiaries under the Scheme would be Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), MSMEs, Section 8 Companies, Private Companies and individual entrepreneur with only 10% margin money contribution by them.

Benefits:

• There is huge potential waiting to be unlocked through private sector investment in animal husbandry sector.
• The AHIDF with the interest subvention scheme for private investors will ensure availability of capital to meet upfront investment required for these projects and also help enhance overall returns/ pay back for investors. Such investments in processing and value addition infrastructure by eligible beneficiaries would also promote exports.
• Since almost 50-60% of the final value of dairy output in India flows back to farmers, the growth in this sector can have significant direct impact on farmer’s income.
• The measures approved through AHIDF would also help in direct and indirect livelihood creation for about 35 lakh persons.

 ‘Historic low’: IMF projects India’s economy to contract by 4.5% this year

Source: Financial Express

News

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered its growth forecast for the Indian economy in 2020 by 4.5 per cent, a “historic low”, citing economic slowdown due the two-month-long Covid-19-induced lockdown.

Historic low

• The fund, also said that India is expected to bounce back in 2021 with a 6 per cent growth rate.
• In 2019, India’s growth rate was 4.2 per cent. The IMF’s latest projection is -6.4 per cent less than its April forecast, where it had projected a GDP growth rate of 1.9 per cent for the country in 2020. The projected growth rate of 6 per cent in 2021 is -1.4 per cent less than its April forecast.
• On global front, the IMF has projected growth at 4.9 per cent in 2020, significantly worse than the 3% drop it had estimated in its previous report in April. It would be the worst annual contraction since immediately after World War II.

Beijing has sovereignty over Galwan Valley, claims Chinese Defence Ministry

Source: Indian Express

News

• Even as Indian and Chinese diplomats agreed to “sincerely implement the understanding on disengagement and de-escalation” along the Line of Actual Control(LAC) in Ladakh, the Chinese Defence Ministry echoed Beijing’s claim to the Galwan Valley.
• This is the first time that the Chinese armed forces have staked claim to an area that India says is well within its territory.

Claim- untenable

• India had termed China’s claim as “untenable” and said it is not in accordance with Beijing’s own position in the past. Beijing never claimed the valley since 1962.
• After the meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC), the Ministry of External Affairs stated it was emphasised that India and China should “strictly respect and observe” the LAC and that both sides agreed to maintain communication at diplomatic and military levels to resolve the existing situation peacefully.

Pakistan remains safe haven for terrorists; took ‘modest steps’ to counter terror financing: US report

Source: Indian Express

News

• Pakistan took “modest steps” in 2019 to counter terror financing and restrain India-focused militant groups from conducting large-scale attacks following the Pulwama attack in February, but it remained a “safe harbor” for regionally focused terrorist groups, the US said.

Safe harbor” for terrorist

• The suspension of US aid to Pakistan, which was announced by President Donald Trump in January 2018, remained in effect throughout 2019, the State Department said.
• Pakistan took modest steps in 2019 to counter terror financing and restrain India-focused militant groups from conducting large-scale attacks following the February attack on a security convoy in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir linked to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).
• Pakistan,, did make some positive contributions to the Afghanistan peace process, such as encouraging Taliban reductions in violence. Pakistan made some progress toward meeting the Action Plan requirements for the FATF, allowing it to avoid being blacklisted, but did not complete all Action Plan items in 2019.
• Although al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan has been seriously degraded, key figures among the outfit’s global leadership, as well as its regional affiliate al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), continued to operate from remote locations in the region that historically served as safe havens.
• Pakistan is one of the countries that figures in the terrorist safe havens list. Although Pakistan’s National Action Plan calls to “ensure that no armed militias are allowed to function in the country,” several terrorist groups that focus on attacks outside the country continued to operate from Pakistani soil in 2019, including the Haqqani Network, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
• In June 2018, the FATF placed Pakistan on its “gray list and issued an Action Plan directing Pakistan to take specific steps by September 2019 to address strategic deficiencies in its combating the financing of terrorism efforts.

In 2018, Pakistan was designated as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. It was re-designated as a CPC in 2019.

Maharashtra: Tillari area in Sindhudurg declared conservation reserve

Source: Livemint

News

• The state forest department declared 29.53 sqkm area of Dodamarg forest range in Sindhudurg district as ‘Tillari Conservation Reserve’.

Conservation Reserve

• The area covering nine villages in the forest range is known to serve as a corridor and even as a habitat for the population of tigers and elephants moving between the three states of Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
• The 38-km-long Dodamarg wildlife corridor that connects Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharashtra to Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka frequently witnesses elephant and tiger movement.
• Tillari will be the seventh corridor in the state to be declared as a ‘conservation reserve’.
• Conservation reserve denotes protected areas which typically act as buffer zones to or connectors and migration corridors between established national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserved and protected forests.
• Such areas are designated as conservation areas if they are uninhabited and completely owned by the Government of India but used for subsistence by communities if part of the lands are privately owned.

82% Indian organisations hit by ransomware in last six months: Sophos

Source: The Indian Express.

News

• Cybersecurity firm Sophos recently published its report titled ‘The State of Ransomware 2020’, which reveals the extent of ransomware attacks in India and the world.
• As per the report, 82 per cent of Indian organisations were hit by ransomware in the last six months, which is a 15 per cent increase from 2017.

Hit by ransomware

• The key findings of the report regarding India reveal that 85 per cent of organisations in Delhi were hit by ransomware followed by Bangalore at 83 per cent, Kolkata and Mumbai at 81 per cent, Chennai at 79 per cent, and Hyderabad at 74 per cent.
• The Sophos report also highlights that the Indian organisation incurred costs of around Rs 8.02 crores to rectify the impact of each ransomware.
• 8 per cent of victims were able to stop the attack before their data could be encrypted, compared with a global average of 24 per cent.
• The State of Ransomware 2020 report says that 66 per cent of organisations, whose data was encrypted, paid the ransom while 29 per cent of the IT managers surveyed were able to recover their data from backups without paying the ransom.

Protect organisations against ransomware

• Recommends organisations to have a full inventory of all devices connected to their network and ensure the latest security updates are installed on all the devices. It said to be cautious about unsolicited attachments.
• To keep regular backups of most important and current data on an offline storage device to avoid paying money to cybercriminals in case of a ransomware attack.
• It also asked to never give yourself more login power than you need and administrators should enable multi-factor authentication on all management systems that support it.

It also asked to not stay logged in as an administrator any longer than necessary and to avoid browsing, opening documents or other regular work activities while having administrator rights.

In 5 days, over 40,000 Chinese searches for vulnerabilities in Indian cyberspace: cops

Source: The tribune.

News

• There have been more than 40,000 cyber probes or searches for vulnerabilities in the Indian cyberspace in the last five days, originating from Chengdu city in China’s Sichuan province, according to the Maharashtra Police cyber wing.

Vulnerabilities

• Most of these searches were targeted at the infrastructure, information technology and banking sectors, according to the cyber wing.
• An advisory issued by the Maharashtra cyber wing stated that a fake email ID could be used for phishing attacks with the subject line ‘Free Covid-19 testing for all residents of Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad’.