Current Affairs 24 September 2020 – IAS Current Affairs

Current Affairs 24 September 2020 focuses on Prelims-Mains perspective. Major events are :

1. NIA For Narcotics Law Offences
2. Lok Sabha Adjourns
3. Bilateral Netting of Qualified Financial Contracts Bill
4. G4 On UN Security Council
5. Science & Technology Indicators Report
6. World Risk Index 2020
7. Non-personal data policy MSMEs and Start-Ups on

NIA For Narcotics Law Offences

Why in News ?

The government has empowered the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to investigate offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

• Thus NIA For Narcotics Law Offences need not rely on local police or other agencies to unravel drug trade ties that emerge in the course of its counter-terrorism operations.

About the NIA For Narcotics Law Offences

• NIA officers of inspector rank and above have been vested with the same powers as an officer in charge of a police station under the 1985 NDPS law, as per a notification issued by the Revenue Department in the Ministry of Finance.
• This change had been operationalised after consultations with State governments, and would help expedite the NIA in its probes such as the gold smuggling case in Kerala, where links had emerged with drug trafficking.
• Enabling provision so that NIA officers could seize narcotic substances, if any, found during searches in cases investigated by them.
  • In the absence of such an enabling order, NIA officers could not seize the narcotic substances and were required to ask the local police to take up a separate case.
  • This had become imperative as several cases of narco-terrorism are being investigated by NIA

About National Investigation Agency

• Government proposed to enact a legislation to make provisions for establishment of a National Investigation Agency with a jurisdiction framework with provisions for taking up specific cases under specific Acts for investigation.
  • NIA Act was enacted on 31-12-08 and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) was established.
• NIA is functioning as the Central Counter Terrorism Law Enforcement Agency in India under Ministry of Home Affairs.
  • Professional investigation of scheduled offences using the latest scientific methods of investigation, ensuring effective and speedy trial.
  • Assist all States and other investigating agencies in investigation of terrorist cases.
• NIA Act
  • Central Government can order NIA to take over investigation of any offences that comes under the Act. 
  • Besides with the request of State to centre NIA can probe subject if registered under NIA Act. 

Source : The Hindu

Topic

GS III : Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate

Lok Sabha Adjourns

Why in News ?

Lok Sabha adjourned sine die and one of the shortest sessions in India’s parliamentary history

• It was packed with 25 Bills
• The extraordinary situation of Lok Sabha MPs sitting in both Houses of Parliament to enforce COVID-19 social distancing rules.
• The session was shortened by eight days.

About the recent session

• Lok Sabha productivity clocked at 167% with 25 Bills passed
• 2,300 unstarred questions answered
• 68% of the sittings dealing with legislative work
• 370 Zero Hour mentions.

Parliament Sessions

There are usually three sessions in a year

1. Budget Session (February to May)
2. Monsoon Session (July to September)
3. Winter Session (November to December)

Summoning : The Parliament should meet at least twice a year. the maximum gap between two sessions of Parliament cannot be more than six months.

Adjournment : An adjournment ends a meeting. It could be done using a motion to adjourn. An adjournment suspends the work in a sitting for a specified time. Power vested with presiding officer of the house.

A session of Parliament : Consists of many meetings of two sittings a morning sitting from 11 am to 1 pm and post-lunch sitting from 2 pm to 6 pm.

A sitting of Parliament can be terminated by adjournment or adjournment sine die or prorogation or dissolution
(in the case of the Lok Sabha).

• Adjournment Sine Die : Adjournment sine die means terminating a sitting of Parliament for an indefinite period.
  • The power of adjournment as well as adjournment sine die lies with the presiding officer of
    the House.
• Prorogation : The presiding officer (Speaker or Chairman) declares the House adjourned sine die, when the
  business of a session is completed and the President issues a notification for prorogation of the session.
• Dissolution : A dissolution ends the very life of the existing House, and a new House is constituted after general elections are held. 
  • Rajya Sabha is not subject to dissolution.
    1. Automatic dissolution, that is, on the expiry of its tenure of five years.
    2. Whenever the President decides to dissolve the House.

Source : The Hindu

Topic

GS II : Parliament and State Legislatures – structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these

Bilateral Netting of Qualified Financial Contracts Bill

Why in News ?

Lok Sabha passed the Bilateral Netting of Qualified Financial Contracts Bill, 2020, which allows for enforcement of netting for qualified financial contracts.

Aim of the Bill : To provide a legal framework for bilateral netting of qualified financial contracts.

What is Bilateral Netting : Netting refers to offsetting of all claims arising from dealings between two parties, to determine a net amount payable or receivable from one party to other. The Bill allows for enforcement of netting for qualified financial contracts. In case of Banking, Bank’s obligation in the event of the default or insolvency of one of the parties, would be the net sum of all positive and negative fair values of contracts included in the bilateral netting arrangement.

Bilateral Netting of Qualified Financial Contracts Bill, 2020

• Qualified financial contracts (QFC) : QFC means any bilateral contract notified as a QFC by the relevant authority.
  • The authority can be Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) or International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA).
• Qualified financial market participant : The relevant authority designate an entity regulated by it as a qualified financial market participant to deal in QFCs.
• Enforceability of netting :
  • The Bill provides that netting of QFCs is enforceable if the contract has a netting agreement.
  • Netting agreement is an agreement that provides for the netting of amounts involving two or more QFCs.
  • A netting agreement may also include a collateral arrangement.

Limitations of the gross netting system

• In the absence of bilateral netting, India’s central bank regulations require banks to measure credit exposure to a counterparty for Over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives contracts based on gross marked-to-market (MTM) exposure instead of net MTM exposure.
• This increases credit risk for financial market participants during the event of insolvency of a counter-party which may in turn raise systemic risk, according to the latest Economic Survey.
• The current system of higher obligations requires banks to divert more capital toward collateral requirements than what would be required if bilateral netting is permitted.

Significance

• It brings in a firm legal basis for bilateral netting for two counter parties.
• Value of bilateral derivative contracts is estimated by the Clearing Corporation of India to be Rs. 56,33,257 crore as of March 2018.
• Bilateral contracts constitute 40 per cent of total financial contracts, while multilateral contracts constitute 60 per cent.
  • Multilateral netting has already been taken care of.
• It would also improve investor confidence and to expand the scope of credit default swaps.
• Reducing credit risk and regulatory capital burden for banks.

Terms for Extra Read

Credit Exposure : Measurement of the maximum potential loss to a lender if the borrower defaults on payment.

Over-the-counter (OTC) : Derivatives are contracts that are traded directly between two parties, without going through an exchange or other intermediary.

Source : The Hindu

Topic

GS II : Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation

G4 On UN Security Council

Why in News ?

Foreign Ministers from the Group of 4, India, Brazil, Japan and Germany that is seeking permanent membership of the UN Security Council (UNSC), met virtually to further their objective.

• The four countries stressed delivering concrete outcomes, in writing and within a time frame.

About the Virtual Meet

• Towards the early and comprehensive reform of the Security Council that was envisaged by Heads of State and Government in the 2005 World Summit.
• The G4 will work with other reform-minded countries and groups to start text-based negotiations (TBN) without delay and seek concrete outcomes during the 75th session of the UN General Assembly.
  • The UN will celebrate its 75th anniversary on 24th October 2020.
  • Text-Based Negotiations (TBN)
    • Negotiations formalizes the process of carrying out Security Council reforms.
    • So far, discussions have been going on without a formal text.
    • US and Russia have been supporting India’s bid, China has been against any expansion of the Security Council.
    • If draft is agreed y the UN member countries will be put to vote at the General Assembly, where a two-thirds vote is needed to pass it.
    • China are hesitant to have TBN for inter-governmental negotiations on the grounds that the matter is too sensitive for text.
  • Africa needs to be represented in both the permanent and non-permanent categories of membership of a reformed and expanded Security Council
    • Helps to correct the historical injustice against this continent with regard to its under representation in the Security Council

India for Permanent Member ship

• India, which will commence a two-year non-permanent term on the UNSC sought a permanent seat at the Council
• Also is a proponent of other UNSC reforms such as increasing the number of permanent (currently five) and non-permanent (currently 10) seats and ensuring greater representation for Africa.

G4 For UNSC Reform

• The G4 (Brazil, India, Japan and Germany) proposes expanding UNSC membership from
  • 15 to 25 by adding six permanent members and four non-permanent members the objective of the G4 obtaining permanent membership.
  • The G-4 agree to forego their right to the veto for at least 15 years.
• The permanent seats shall be elected in the following manner :
  • Two from African States
  • Two from Asian States
  • One from Latin American and Caribbean States
  • One from Western European and Other States.
• Brazil has received backing from three of the current permanent members, namely France, Russia and the United Kingdom.
• Japan has received support from the United States[6] and the United Kingdom.

Who were opposing and Why ?

• Discontent among the present permanent members regarding the inclusion of countries not supported by them.
  • Japan is opposed by China, Russia South Korea for their WW II War crimes.
  • India is currently not opposed by any P5 nation but China and Pakistan as main opponent. 
    • China only ready to support India’s bid for a permanent seat on United Nations Security Council if India did not associate its bid with Japan.
  • Most European countries oppose Germany for their WW II War crimes.
• With strong opposition under Italy and their supporters strongly oppose the G4.
  • Oppose because the rise of some nearby country to permanent member status.

Source : The Hindu

Topic

GS II : Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate

Science & Technology Indicators Report

Why in News ?

Department of Science and Technology (DST) released the latest Science & Technology Indicators (STI) Reports for 2019-20 at the end of August.

About the Report

• India performs very dismally in the field of science & technology innovation.
• Indians claims to being skilled in science and technology lacking in good ideas is the reason for  Indian product or business model has made the global cut.
• The STI report revealed that between 2005-06 and 2017-18, a total of 510,000 patent applications were filed in the country.
  • During these 13 years only 24 per cent of patent claims came from Indians.

What is the reason for poor performance ?

• Poor investment in research and development (R&D) by the government, and more glaringly, by the private sector.
• The pathetic state of higher education.
• lack of employable personnel who have neither the skills nor the aptitude in a variety of fields.
• K Kasturirangan who steered a committee that formulated a New Education Policy cited the reason as
  • The research content at major institutions, specially at universities, had to be toned up.
• Most start-ups have failed because they lack pioneering ideas based on new technologies.

Global Scenario of Patent

• Two-thirds of all patent, trademark and industrial design applications in 2018 were claimed in Asia.
  • China driving overall growth in demand for intellectual property (IP) rights in a fast pace manner.
  • Asia has become a global hub for innovation
• In the global level U.S ranks first followed by Japan (206,739), Germany (106,753), the Republic of Korea (69,459) and China (66,429).

Need of the Hour

• Proper funding for the research and development by government and private sector.
• Pure research which can be done when Indians will come up with new and original ideas instead of copying and altering the original.
• A conducive environment for start-ups and promote with the cooperation of global talents.

Source : Down To Earth

Topic

Prelims : About Science & Technology Indicators

GS III : Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights

World Risk Index 2020

Why in News ?

India was ‘poorly prepared’ to deal with climate reality due to which it was more vulnerable to extreme natural disasters, according to the World Risk Index (WRI) 2020.

World Risk Index 2020

• Vanuatu was the country with the highest disaster risk worldwide followed by Tonga and Dominica.
• Qatar had the lowest risk (0.31) according to the global index.
• India ranked 89th among 181 countries on the WRI 2020.
• Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Maldives fared better than India in their abilities to cope with extreme disasters.
• Bhutan improved its ranking the most, followed by Pakistan.
• As compared with 2019 report South Asia fall slightly for their prepardness.
• Oceania was the continent most at risk, followed by Africa and the Americas.
• Island countries at risk from the rise in sea level as a result of global warming.
• The report identified Africa as a hotspot of vulnerability.
  • More than two-thirds of the most vulnerable countries in the world were located on the continent.
  • Central African Republic was the most vulnerable country, followed by Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger and Guinea-Bissau.

Issues related to India

• India lacked behind on adaptive capacities or the preparedness to deal with extreme events.
• India also slipped on strengthening adaptive capacities.
• Indian comprehensive climate change assessment report has set alarm bells ringing about the impacts of ‘climate crisis’
• The country was fourth-most-at- risk in south Asia on the index, after Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
• India and other south Asian nations improved their ranking marginally in the World Risk Index as compared to 2019 report.

Source : Down To Earth

Topic

GS III :  Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Non-personal data policy MSMEs and Start-Ups on

Why in News ?

A majority of MSMEs and start-ups are not comfortable with the draft non-personal data policy in the current form, as per a survey by Local Circles.

About the Local Circles Survey

• Response in the suvey :
  • 27% said they would never want to share their anonymised data,
  • 35% said they would be willing to do so only in a law and order or investigation situation.
  • Only 30% could share the data with the government for general purposes.
  • 80% MSMEs and start-ups oppose non-personal data policy in its current form.
• Over 31,000 responses about 17,000 from citizens and 15,000 from businesses were received across 280 districts for the survey.
• Start -ups and SMEs believe data sharing should be voluntary to start with and could be made mandatory later for firms with annual revenue of more than Rs. 500 crore.

Non-Personal Data Governance Framework

• Mr. Kris Gopalakrishnan committee to study various issues relating to non-personal data submitted its report in July, 2020.
• Non-personal data should be regulated to
  • Enable a data sharing framework to tap the economic, social, and public value of such data
  • Address concerns of harm arising from the use of such data. 
• What is Non-personal data ?
  • Does not contain personally identifiable information.
  • For example, while order details collected by a food delivery service will have the name, age, gender, and other contact information of an individual, it will become non-personal data if the identifiers such as name and contact information are taken out.
  • Any data which is not personal data like data pertaining to characteristics, traits or attributes of identity, which can be used to identify an individual is categorised as non-personal data. 
    • Public non-personal data : Data collected or generated by the government in course of publicly funded works. Eg : Data of land records or vehicle registration 
    • Community non-personal data : Raw or factual data (without any processing) which is sourced from a community of natural persons. Eg : datasets collected by municipal corporations or public electric utilities
    • Private non-personal data : Data which is collected or generated by private entities through privately owned processes (derived insights, algorithms or proprietary knowledge).
• Risks associated with non-personal data :
  • Non-personal data which is derived from sensitive personal data such as health, caste or tribe.
  • Data which bears risk of collective harm to a group.
  • Data related to national security or strategic interests.
• Sharing of non-personal data :
  • Sovereign Purpose : Such as national security or legal requirements
  • Public interest purpose :  Policy making or better delivery of services
  • Economic Purpose : To provide for a level playing field or for a monetary consideration

Global standards on non-personal data?

• European Union came out with a regulation framework for the free flow of non-personal data in the European Union.
  • EU had then ruled would be shared by member states without any hindrances
• Several other countries across the world, there are no nationwide data protection laws, whether for personal or non-personal data.

Way Forward

Regulation must be clear, and concise to provide certainty to its market participants. It also includes must demarcate roles and responsibilities of participants in the regulatory framework.

Source : The Hindu

Topic

GS II : Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation

Current Affairs 24 September 2020 : Our major Sources for the Current Affairs are The Hindu, Indian Express, PIB, Down To Earth etc. For more queries and mentor-ship please contact us.