Current Affairs - 2019-20

Notes:
Before April 2019, National Housing Bank (NHB) was a wholly-owned subsidiary of RBI. RBI sold its 100% equity to government in 2019 and now its owner is Government of India. This was done to end the cross-holding in the regulatory institutions as per the Narasimham-II committee report’s recommendations.

Notes:
Cervus elaphus hanglu, also known as Hangul or Kashmir red deer, is a subspecies of Central Asian red deer. It is native to India and is found in dense riverine forests in the high valleys and mountains of the Kashmir Valley and northern Chamba district in Himachal Pradesh.
The Hangul is a critically endangered animal. It is listed as critically endangered in the IUCN Red Data Book and is under Appendix – I in CITES listings. The Wildlife Department of Jammu and Kashmir Government launched “Project Hangul” in 1970 to save the Hangul.
The Hangul has a brown coat color with speckled hairs. It has a light rump patch, but not including the tail. The buttocks are greyish white on the inner side, and the upper side of the tail is black.
The Hangul population has seen a marginal increase in Kashmir. In 2019, there were 237 Hanguls, in 2021 there were 261, and in 2023 there were 289. However, the basic demographic ratio of male: female and female: fawn are skewed.

Notes:
The Government of India (GoI) had constituted an 8-member task force under CBDT member Arvind Modi in November 2017 to review the Income-tax Act of 1961 and to draft a new Direct Tax Law in consonance with the economic needs of the country. Recently, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has invited suggestions and feedback from stakeholders and general public in the format provided on the departmental website. It stated that the format can be downloaded from the website and suggestions may be sent through e-mail at [email protected], latest by 2nd of next month. The task force will also study the direct tax system in other countries and also keep in mind international best practices. The committee will submit its report in May 2018.

Notes:
Difference in per cent cost of ‘binding and cutting charges’ and ‘rotalty’ = (18-15)%= 3%
Now, 4% of total cost = Rs. 6000
∴ 3% of total cost =

Notes:
The Raneh Falls is a natural water fall located in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh on Ken River. It is situated about 20 km away from world famous heritage site Khajuraho. The waterfall is also close to Panna Tiger Reserve and Ken crocodile sanctuary. It was awarded the Best Holiday Award for 2017.Tourists from all over the country and abroad come here every year to enjoy the natural beauty. The Ken River here runs through a narrow gorge of igneous rocks rich in Granite and Dolomite. The Pandav Falls in Panna National Park is also located nearby.

Notes:
Under the Global Plan to End TB 2016-2020, the Stop TB Partnership, the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Advance Access & Delivery (AA&D), and Interactive Research and Development (IRD) have come together to launch the Zero TB Initiative to support cities, districts, and islands that are committed to achieving a rapid reduction in the number TB patients.

Notes:
“Operation Save Kurma” was conducted in the country by the WCCB to combat the proliferating illegal trade in live turtles and its parts from the country to destinations abroad. India is the only recipient of the certificate of commendation at the 69th Standing Committee meeting of CITES. The WCCB had convened a species specific operation on turtles, code named OPERATION SAVE KURMA” from December 15, 2016 to January 30, 2017 and recovered a total of 15,739 live turtles from 45 suspects, having inter-state linkages. The operation brought about awareness among the enforcement agencies to focus on the existing trade routes and major trade hubs in the country, which will be specifically focused in future.

Notes:
LoU (Letter of Undertaking), SWIFT (Society of Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) and Core Banking System (CBS) were recently in news for their involvement in the Punjab National Bank fraud case. Letter of Undertaking (LoU) is a guarantee that a bank is obliged to repay the loan if the actual borrower. Officials of Punjab National Bank issued LoU to foreign banks on behalf of the PNB to sanction loan to Nirav Modi. Society of Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is a system to send instant messages. Once the foreign bank receives SWIFT message, it disburses the loan to the borrower. SWIFT transactions are supposed to be regularly reviewed but PNB didn’t follow the same. Core Banking System (CBS) is centralised software that keeps all records across branches and is capable of generating alerts over any undue activity.

Notes:
The Indian government has been thriving hard to get the “Data Secure status” from European Union but has not received it as of now. If the European Union provides India with “Data Protection” status, it will lift restrictions on the flow of outsourcing business to India. This would help Indian IT Industry to a great extent. India is not currently included in the list of countries considered data secure by the EU, thus preventing the flow of sensitive data, especially those related to telemedicine, to reach India.

Notes:
The “TARANG’ Mobile App”, “e-Trans” & “DEEP” e-bidding web portals have been developed by Rural Electrification Corporation Transmission Projects Company Limited (RECTPCL). TARANG stands for Transmission App for Real Time Monitoring & Growth. It is a Mobile App & Web Portal with excellent monitoring tool that tracks upcoming transmission projects and monitor the progress of Inter-State & Intra-State transmission systems in the country. The “e-Trans” web platform is for e-bidding and e-reverse auction for Tariff Based Competitive Bidding (TBCB) in transmission projects. DEEP stands for the Discovery of Efficient Electricity Price; it is an e-Bidding portal for medium term (1-5 years) purchase of power.