1. Ques. What is PM 2.5?
Ans. Particulate Matter 2.5 are tiny and minute particles that are less than 2.5 microns in width. They can enter our respiratory tracts and cause chronic diseases and also their excessive presence in air can make the air hazy and reduce visibility.
Presence of PM 2.5 in India is around 60 micrograms a cubic metre and if this value rises above 250 mg a cubic metre than air is said to be classified as “Severely Polluted”.
2. Ques. What is Air Quality Index?
Ans. AOI is a global standard of calculating and estimating how polluted the air is. On 17th September 2014, India launched its National Air Quality Index.
3. Ques. What are Global Depository Receipts?
Ans. GDR is an instrument through which companies issue their shares in foreign markets to raise capital from them.
It is being alleged recently that GDR method is being used nowadays in India to bring back black money stashed abroad through multi layer transfers from many countries.
4. According to a 2005 report of National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector, 87% of the working population of India is employed in the unorganized sector. Under the Unorganized Workers Social Security Act 2008, a portable benefit smart card will be issued to all workers in the unorganized sector so that they can access social schemes benefit.
The main benefits intended to be given to all workers include mainly
(a) Pension Benefits
(b) Health Insurance Benefit
(c) Disability Assistance
A similar scheme launched a smart card named U-Win in Gujarat on 25th December.
5. The 5/20 policy of Indian aviation sector which was in execution during the last decade has been a deficient and crippling factor for Indian aviation sector. Where 5 denotes minimum 5 years of domestic flying experience and 20 denotes should possess a fleet of at least 20 carriers to be eligible for flying internationally.
6. Lower oil prices globally are good for India but there are few challenge for India too –
Challenge 1- India has made massive investments in Venezuela, Nigeria, Gulf countries and Russia and have big financial interests in these countries but the economies of these countries are affected heavily by the slump in global prices so their sluggish economy will reduce the return on Indian investments in these regions.
Challenge 2- Remittance coming from Indian workers employed in these countries will reduce.
Challenge 3- In order to encourage foreign oil companies to search for oil fields the current cost recovery production sharing model has to be replaced with revenue sharing model. In the Revenue Sharing model the revenue will be Shared between companies and Government even before the cost have been recovered whereas in the first one the revenue will be shared only after the cost has been recovered.
7. Municipal bonds are capital raising financial instruments that are being issued by civic/municipal bodies to raise money for infrastructure projects in Tier II and Tier III cities. This will or may help to fast track the Smart city project of Union Government.
In 1998 in Ahmedabad for the 1st time municipal bonds were issued and in India only $300 million has been raised through this scheme whereas this scheme is very successful in countries like America where the worth of this market is $3 trillion.
Reason for this scheme not working properly in India are –
(a) Poor financial conditions of civic/municipal bodies and lack of investor interest.
(b) Bureaucracy and lower level political interference and lack of interest shown by state and Central Government.
8. Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 was used by Government to take down sites like Vimeo, Dailymotion, Github and archive. Org.
9. 35% of electricity generation in India is done by private sector but when it comes to transmission & distribution the share of private sector is only 3%.
10. In the defense sector, “Make in India” and “Made in India” the 2 broad divisions are there in which the later is in the national interest. In "Make in India" foreign countries sell their products but they are not willing to share their technology and get a lot of money for maintenance and overhauling of their sold equipments. Whereas nothing like this is in “Made in India” as in it India has the technology with it and can do it by its own without paying a significant amount to exporters.
11. India had a target of installing 63 Gigawatts of nuclear power by 2032 but the target was revised to 27.5GW.
India has already signed the CSC – Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage and Annexure 10 to the CSC says that liability will be beared upon by the operator and not the supplier however under section 176(b) of CLND Act, 2010 (The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage) operator can obtain liabilities from the supplier in case of an accident due to substandard services, patent or latent defects in material and equipments procured.
12. LARR Act 2013, supposed that the land loser is only concerned with the money he gets and land acquirer is not concerned with the cost that he has to incur in acquiring land. The latest ordinance does that. Land acquirers under the previous law had 2 costs direct costs and indirect costs.
Direct cost was the money paid for acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement.
Indirect cost include –
(a) Transaction costs like conducting social Impact Assessments and other social checks
(b) Opportunity costs like while conducting the formal procedure of SIA and social checks no work is being done. So time is lost in unprofitable work.
The latest ordinance has removed the transaction and opportunity cost making it more lucrative and profitable for corporate sector. Of the 13 Acts, some of which are included in the ambit of LARR Act ordinance are –
(a) Land Acquisition (Mines) Act
(b) the Railways Act
(c) the Atomic Energy Act
(d) the National Highways Act
(e) the Metro Railways (Construction of Works) Act.
13. Supreme Court has directed BCCI to pay Rs. 18 crore as service tax for recording matches for matches played from 2006 to 2010. BCCI has filed the case before SC against the order of Central Excise and Service Tax appellate tribunal. SC has depicted BCCI a service provider and is liable to pay service Tax.
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