Ten relevant news updates from across the world, useful for examinations
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Headlines - 01 - 07 - 2021
- Indian Economy - India reports current account surplus - After 17 years, India finally reported a current account surplus of 0.9% of GDP in pandemic-hit 2020-21, as against a deficit of 0.9% in FY20. This was as per data released by the RBI, which said the trade deficit reduced to $102.2 billion from $157.5 billion in 2019-20. The country's current account deficit widened to $8.1 billion or 1% of GDP for the March quarter. Net invisible receipts were lower in FY21 due to an increase in net outgo of overseas investment income payments and lower net private transfer receipts, even though net services receipts were higher than the year-ago period. There was an accretion of USD 87.3 billion to foreign exchange reserve on a balance of payments basis. A positive current account means the nation earns more than it spends. [Definitions - (i) The current account is India's trade balance plus net income and direct payments. (ii) The trade balance is India's imports and exports of goods and services (exports minus imports) and is the largest component of a current account surplus or deficit]
- Indian Economy - Interest rates on Small Saving Schemes - The government was planning to reduce interest rates on small saving schemes for the July – September quarter, just like it tried for the April-June quarter but pulled back at the last moment. A cut in small savings rates at this point will hurt households amid increase in inflation. These schemes are the major source of household savings in India and comprise 12 instruments. The depositors get an assured interest on their money. Collections from all small savings instruments are credited to the National Small Savings Fund (NSSF). Small savings have emerged as a key source of financing the government deficit. Finally, on 01st July, it emerged that the government did not go for any cut in interest rates. A big reason is the upcoming assembly elections in UP and Gujarat, both big contributors to small saving schemes.
- Governance and Institutions - Fresh electoral bearer bonds issue - The State Bank of India (SBI) will again issue and encash Electoral Bonds through its 29 Authorized Branches across the country w.e.f. July 01, 2021 to July 10, 2021. The Government of India notified the Electoral Bond Scheme in 2018. Under the Scheme, Electoral Bonds may be purchased by a person, who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India. A person being an individual can buy Electoral Bonds through cheque/digital payment, either singly or jointly with other individuals by approaching the banks. The donor donates these bonds to the political party. The Bonds shall be received only by the Political Parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of People Act, 1951. Also, these should have secured not less than 1% of the votes polled in the last General Election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly of the State. The Bonds shall be encashed by an eligible Political Party only through a Bank account with the Authorized Bank e.g.: SBI. The political party has to encash into the account which is registered with the Election Commission of India. Electoral Bonds shall be valid for 15 calendar days from the date of issue and no payment shall be made to any payee Political Party if the Electoral Bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period. The entire concept has been challenged in the Supreme Court as being unconstitutional, due to its opacity.
- Environment and Ecology - Killer heat wave in US and Canada - The Northwestern US and Pacific Canada are in the grips of a heat wave that the National Weather Service called "historic and dangerous". A weather anomaly called a "heat dome" is partially to blame. According to the US National Weather Service, in most parts of the country, temperatures must be above the historical average in an area for two or more days before the label “heat wave” is applied to a hot spell. Causes of heat wave include high pressure in the atmosphere moves in and pushes warm air toward the ground. That air warms up further as it is compressed, and we begin to feel a lot hotter. The high-pressure system pressing down on the ground expands vertically, forcing other weather systems to change course. It even minimizes wind and cloud cover, making the air more stifling. This is why a heat wave parks itself over an area for several days.
- Constitution and Law - NDMA must ensure compensation to Covid hit families - The Supreme Court directed the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to frame guidelines for payment of ex-gratia compensation to family members of persons who succumbed to COVID- 19. It directed the NDMA to ascertain within six weeks ex-gratia amount that can be paid. The order came in response to a plea seeking ex-gratia of four lakh rupees each to the families of all those who succumbed to the virus. NDMA is controlled by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Its primary objective is to coordinate response to natural or man-made disasters and for capacity-building in disaster resiliency and crisis response. It was established through the Disaster Management Act enacted by the Government of India in 2005. Organisation setup includes the Prime Minister as the ex-officio chairperson, chairing a 9-member board. The remainder of the board consists of members nominated based on their expertise in areas such as, planning, infrastructure management, communications, meteorology etc. The day-to-day management of the agency is overseen by the office of the Vice Chair.
- Defence and Military - Indrajaal - Hyderabad-based technology R&D firm Grene Robotics has designed and developed India’s first indigenous drone defence dome called “Indrajaal”. The drone defence dome has the capability to autonomously protect an area of 1000-2000 sq km against the aerial threats by assessing and acting on aerial threats such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), loitering munitions, and Low- Radar Cross Section (RCS) targets. The ANTI-UAV systems will not only provide protection to defence bases but it will be beneficial for linear infrastructures like international borders against advanced weaponry. Real-time situational awareness / Integrated and Intelligent meshed network / Integrated all current weapons suite and infrastructure / Honeycombed cell structure for seamlessly built / Synergic combination of 9-10 technologies / 24×7 persistent and autonomous monitoring, action and tracking.
- Infrastructure - SEBI on REITs and InvITs - The SEBI has reduced the minimum application amount for real estate investment trusts (REITs) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs) to Rs 10,000-15,000 from the Rs 55,000 at present, aligning them with equity initial public offerings (IPOs). Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) are looked upon as attractive investment avenues with many entities looking at such structures to raise money from the capital markets. While the underlying assets in REITs are income-generating commercial or residential properties, InvITs are backed by infrastructure projects. Currently, there are three REITs and two InvITs listed on the Indian stock exchanges. Earlier, the minimum application size was around Rs 55,000 in REITs and InvITs, which has now been reduced to between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000. The trading lot size has also been brought down to just one unit. The lower application size and trading lot would help in attracting more retail investors to the segment.
- Science and Technology - Global cybersecurity index 2020 - A United Nations report indicated India jumped 37 places to 10th position in the Global Cyber Security Index (GCI) 2020. The GCI is a composite index created, analyzed and published by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a specialized agency of UN. It measures the commitment to cybersecurity of its 194 member countries to raise cybersecurity awareness. The latest report is the fourth GCI edition by the ITU, the first version being six years ago. Each country’s development or engagement is assessed along five pillars – (i) Legal measures, (ii) Technical measures, (iii) Organizational measures, (iv) Capacity development, and (v) Cooperation- and then aggregated into a composite score. The top ranked was the US, with a score of 100. The UK and Saudi Arabia finished second, tied with a score of 99.54. In the Asia Pacific region, South Korea and Singapore were on top with a score of 98.52, which ranks fourth globally. Others at the top included Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia (98.06) at fifth place, Lithuania at sixth, Japan at seventh and Canada, France and India at the subsequent positions. Among others, Turkey (97.49) was ranked 11th, Germany (97.41) at 13th, China (92.53) at 33rd and Israel (90.93) at 36th position. India's 10th rank is a significant jump of 37 places, and it also ranked fourth in the Asia-Pacific region.
- Science and Technology - Flying cars have arrived - A prototype of the convertible flying car 'AirCar' successfully completed a 35-minute test flight between the international airports in Nitra and Bratislava in Slovakia. It takes 135 seconds to transform from a car into aircraft. AirCar's creator Stefan Klein said it could fly about 1,000 kilometres at a height of 8,200 ft on a single fuel tank top-up. The AirCar can be turned into an aircraft by pushing a single button. It deploys wings and a tail, remodifying the aerodynamics. The process takes a mere 135 seconds. Powered by a BMW petrol engine, AirCar can achieve a maximum cruising speed of 190 kilometres per hour and has flown up to 8,200 feet with its fixed-propeller system.
- Governance and Institutions - New IT rules - reporting by media giants started - Google published its first monthly transparency report in line with India's new social media and intermediary guidelines, stating that it removed 59,350 pieces of content in April 2021. Google said it received 27,762 user complaints, of which 96% dealt with copyright infringement. The remaining complaints were related to trademark, defamation, counterfeit, circumvention, and other legal requests. Google is one of the first global tech companies to have published its transparency report in compliance with the new Information Technology (IT) Rules, 2021 (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code). Under the new IT rules, significant digital platforms (with over 5 million users) need to publish periodic compliance reports every month.
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