Upload
others
View
0
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
ETEN Enlightens-Daily Current Capsules (Prelims Prep. Prominence) 13th June 2018
Science & Technology
Indian Space Research Organisation offering its production
technology(battery technology) to Indian industry
Transfer of lithium ion know-how to help electric vehicle start-ups
The drive for indigenously made lithium ion batteries on a large scale has
got a push with the Indian Space Research Organisation offering its
production technology to Indian industry.
An RFQ (request for quotation) issued invites multiple qualified
companies or start-ups to use its power storage technology to produce a
range of Li ion cells for many purposes, mainly EVs or electric vehicles.
ISRO’s rocket sciences node Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre will
transfer its in-house technology non-exclusively to each qualified
production agency for a one-time fee of ₹1 crore
Enlighten about the Li ion cell
The Li ion cell production initiative is part of the government’s plan to
achieve 100% EVs in the country by 2030.
Li ion battery is much in demand for use in handy consumer electronics
goods too.
Currently the batteries are imported mostly from China, South Korea and
Taiwan.
To drive the Indian EV dream of the coming decades, national think tank
NITI Aayog has also earlier called for setting up local production.
National
Kashmir Super 50
An initiative by Indian Army
Project Kashmir Super 50, a joint initiative by Indian Army, Center for
Social Responsibility and Leadership (CSRL) and PETRONET LNG
Limited (PLL) was launched on 22 March 2013
Objective - to transform the educational status of children from
economically weaker sections in the Kashmir region.
Enlighten about it
As part of the 11-month program, selected students are provided with
complete free residential coaching for IIT-JEE, JKCET and other premier
Engineering Institutes.
The outgoing batch is the fifth batch of Kashmir Super 50 which had 45
boys based in Srinagar and five girl students based in Noida.
Out of which this year, 32 students (30 boys and 02 girls) have cleared
IIT-JEE Mains and seven students have cleared IIT-JEE Advance.
Enlighten about Kashmir Super 50
It has been one of the most successful projects undertaken by the Indian
Army in the valley and has directly impacted the lives of number of
youths in J&K by providing them the right guidance and opportunity to
make a career for themselves.
On similar lines of Kashmir Super 50 for engineering aspirants, Indian
Army has recently signed a MoU for medical aspirants with Hindustan
Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) & National Integrity Educational
Development Organisation (NIEDO), under which selected students will
be provided with complete free residential coaching for National
Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).
Atal Tinkering Labs
ATLs under NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission to reach every
district of the country soon
What’s the NEWS
NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) has selected 3,000
additional schools for the establishment of Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs),
bringing the total number of ATL schools to 5,441.
The selected schools shall receive a grant of Rs 20 lakh spread over the
next five years to establish Atal Tinkering Labs for nurturing
innovation and entrepreneurial spirit among secondary school children
across India.
ATLs will soon be established in every district of India, seeking to
enable an innovation ecosystem, which will facilitate transformational
change in technological innovation and pedagogy.
ATLs will function as innovation hubs for these student innovators to
explore solutions to unique local problems which they come across in
their everyday lives.
ATL initiative, where students, teachers, mentors and industry partners
work to facilitate innovation, foster scientific temper and an
entrepreneurial spirit in the children
Enlighten About Atal Innovation Mission of NITI Aayog
The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is the Government of India’s flagship
initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the
country.
AIM is mandated to create an umbrella structure to oversee innovation
ecosystem of the country and revolutionizing the innovation eco-system -
touching upon the entire innovation life cycle through various programs.
The Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATLs) create innovators, Atal
Incubation Centres and support to Established Incubation Centreensure
that innovations are taken to the market and help create enterprises
around these innovations.
International organisations First BIMSTEC Exercise to be hosted by India
Enlighten about the exercise
The main aim of this military exercise is to promote strategic alignment
among the member-states and to share best practices in the area of
counterterrorism.
Enlighten about BIMSTEC
BIMSTEC is the sub-regional group of seven countries in South Asia
and South East Asia lying in littoral and adjacent areas of Bay of Bengal
constituting contiguous regional unity.
It was established on 6 June 1997 through Bangkok Declaration.
It is headquartered in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Member countries: India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka from
South Asia and Myanmar, Thailand from South East Asia
BIMESTC’s prime objectives: Technological and economic cooperation
among south Asian and south East Asian countries along the coast of the
Bay of Bengal.
BIMSTEC is sector-driven cooperative organization, starting with six
sector including trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism and
fisheries. In 2008, it was expanded to embrace eight more sectors
including agriculture, public health, poverty alleviation, counter-
terrorism,
Ministry of Railways
Menu on Rails – a new App Launched
Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways & Coal launched a new App
‘Menu on Rails’,
a Mobile Application developed by IRCTC for creating awareness to the
Railway Passengers for the items served to them on their Rail Journey.
Delivery of Railway tickets through Common Service Centres (CSCs)
The Common Service Centres (CSCs) Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) has
signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Railway
Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) for delivery of railway
services through CSC centres.
CSCs to work as IRCTC agents for train ticket bookings.
Enlighten about the MoU
CSCs will now be able to book general tickets.
Under the agreement, all 2.9 lakh CSCs spread across the country will be
able to book both reserved and unreserved train tickets.
All CSCs will be connected with technology for railway ticket booking.
Government is also planning to empower CSCs to act as banking
correspondents and to sell insurance too in the future.
It is also pushing private sector participation in providing digital services
through these platforms.
These centres apart from providing digital literacy will provide services
like Aadhaar payments, pension, banking, and insurance.
Enlighten about Common Service Centres (CSC)
CSC is an initiative of Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY).
It is pan-India network catering to regional, geographic, linguistic and
cultural diversity of country, thus enabling Government’s mandate of a
socially, financially and digitally inclusive society.
There are as many as 2.91 lakh CSCs operate in the country today.
They are mostly ICT enabled front end service delivery points at village
level for delivery of government and private services.
These CSCs serve as access points for delivery of essential public utility
services, social welfare schemes, financial, healthcare, education and
agriculture services, apart from host of B2C services to citizens in rural
and remote areas of the country. They also serve as change agents by
promoting rural entrepreneurship and building rural capacities and
livelihood
Women Empowerment Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY)
PM’s maternity scheme benefits 23.6 lakh
After initial hiccups in implementing the maternity benefit programme
Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), the government has
finally made some headway and provided cash incentives to nearly 23.6
lakh beneficiaries out of an estimated 51.6 lakh a year.
Enlighten about the scheme
The scheme was approved by the Union Cabinet in May 2017 and was
expected to be rolled out in September that year.
Under the scheme, pregnant women and lactating mothers are offered a
cash incentive of ₹6,000 on the birth of their first child as partial
compensation for wage loss, to reduce maternal mortality and
malnutrition levels among children.
The scheme is being implemented on a 60:40 cost-sharing basis with the
State governments.
Many States like Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Odisha and West Bengal have
not yet come on board to implement the scheme.
An amount of ₹673 crore has been transferred to the accounts of the
beneficiaries out of the total budget of ₹2,594 crore set aside for the
scheme last year, and another ₹2,400 crore allocated for the current fiscal.
While States like Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Odisha and West Bengal have
their own maternity benefit schemes and have been reluctant to
implement the PMMVY but the states were bound to comply because the
scheme was a by-product of the National Food Security Act.
© 2017 All Rights Reserved. Powered by Summit exclusively for The Hindu
Economy/ Business
Tighten norms for working capital loan by RBI
Proposes at least 40% loan component in credit of ₹150 cr. and above
from Oct. 1
The RBI’s new guidelines will ensure that there is a repayment
schedule for working capital loans
What
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed a minimum 40% loan
component for working capital funding of ₹150 crore and above to bring
in greater credit discipline and improve monetary transmission.
Enlighten about the guidelines
The RBI has proposed that the loan component of 40% will come into
effect from October 1 and will be increased to 60% from April 1, 2019.
The loan’s tenure will be minimum seven days.
Effective from April 1, 2019, the undrawn portion of cash credit/overdraft
limits sanctioned to the large borrowers, irrespective of whether
unconditionally cancellable or not, shall attract a credit conversion factor
of 20%,”
This means banks have to set aside capital for undrawn portion of cash
credit limits.
Repayment schedule
Currently, working capital is mostly in the form of cash credit for which
interest rate is reset once a year. Also, cash credit does not have a tight
repayment schedule.
The proposed new norm will address the following issues.
First, if there is a loan component then there will be a repayment schedule
which will put pressure on borrowers to manage their liquidity.
Secondly, since the loan component will have a fixed tenure, the reset
clause can be invoked at the end of each tenure period.
What are the challenges
While cash credit has its benefits, it also poses several regulatory
challenges such as perpetual roll-overs, transmission of liquidity
management from the borrowers to banks/RBI, hampering of smooth
transmission of monetary policy, etc.
Enlighten about Working Capital Loan
Working Capital Loan can be defined as a loan availed by the rms for
covering their daily operational expenses.
These loans are the excellent way for the businesses to become more
focused on their growth and generate capital.
The working capital loans in India have become popular among the
business owners for tackling with their financial needs.
These loans are not used for buying long-term assets and generally used
for covering wages, accounts payable and other similar operations.
This loan is applicable for the small & medium enterprises for
augmenting their working capital needs and meeting the daily
operational expenditure.
The majority of the working capital loans is unsecured, however the
loans with high risks need some guarantee.
Sources – PIB, LiveMint, The Hindu
© 2017 All Rights Reserved. Powered by Summit exclusively for The Hindu