Syllabus subtopic: Indian Culture - Salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.
Prelims and Mains focus: about Nagoba jatara and the rituals associated with it
News: The month-long Nagoba jatara recently concluded in Telangana’s Adilabad district.
Key highlights
About Nagoba jatara
Nagoba Jatara Celebrations:
Source: The Hindu
Syllabus subtopic: Government Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors and Issues arising out of their Design and Implementation.
Prelims and Mains focus: about the move and its significance; about NEC; SASEC; North east gas grid project
News: The Union cabinet on Wednesday allocated 30% of the North-Eastern Council’s (NEC’s) budget for developing deprived areas and integrating them with the mainstream.
Background
Other initiatives taken by the government for improving regional connectivity:
About North-Eastern Council’s (NEC)
About South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC)
Source: Livemint
Syllabus subtopic: Indian Constitution—Historical Underpinnings, Evolution, Features, Amendments, Significant Provisions and Basic Structure.
Prelims and Mains focus: about the SC judgement on anticipatory bail and its significance; about types of bail
News: The protection of anticipatory or pre-arrest bail cannot be limited to any time frame or “fixed period” as denial of bail amounts to deprivation of the fundamental right to personal liberty in a free and democratic country, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday.
Context: The questions referred to the Constitution Bench were two-fold:
What is Section 438?
Section 438 (anticipatory bail) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) protects people from the ignominy of detention in jail for days on end and disgrace to their reputation.
What did the SC say in its judgement?
What is bail?
Types of Bail
Source: The Hindu
Syllabus subtopic: Government Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors and Issues arising out of their Design and Implementation.
Prelims and Mains focus: about FCRA and its objectives
News: The Open Society Foundations (OSF), an international grantmaking network promoted by billionaire philanthropist George Soros, has moved the Delhi High Court against the Centre’s decision to place it under a “watch list” for funding NGOs and associations that are not registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
Background
What is the condition for receiving foreign funds?
Any NGO that expects to receive foreign funds has to mandatorily register under the FCRA.
About FCRA:
To whom FCRA, 2010 is applicable?
As per Section 1(2) of FCRA, 2010, the provisions of the act shall apply to:
Who can receive foreign contribution?
Any “Person” can receive foreign contribution subject to following conditions:-
Who cannot receive foreign contribution?
As defined in Section 3(1) of FCRA, 2010, the following are prohibited to receive foreign contribution:
Scope and objective of FCRA:
In order to achieve the above objective, the Act:
Registration and prior approval under FCRA:
The Act imposes various conditions on the use of foreign funds:
Reporting requirement:
Every NGO registered or having prior approval under the Act must file an annual report with the Authority in the prescribed form. This report must be accompanied by an income and expenditure statement, receipt and payment account, and balance sheet for the relevant financial year. For financial years where no foreign contribution is received, a ‘NIL’ report must be furnished with the Authority.
Ensuring transparency
A National Accreditation Council consisting of academicians, activist, retired bureaucrats should be made to ensure compliance by NGOs. There should be better coordination between Ministries of Home Affairs and Finance in terms of monitoring and regulating illicit and unaccounted funds
Source: The Hindu
Syllabus subtopic: Issues Relating to Development and Management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
Prelims and Mains focus: about the report and its findings; about the global forum on childhood pneumonia, about Pneumonia
News: A report on under-five mortality was released ahead of the first-ever global forum on childhood pneumonia in Barcelona from January 29 to 31.
Background
Key findings of the report
Tackling Pneumonia
About Pneumonia
About the Global Forum on Childhood Pneumonia
Source: Indian Express
Syllabus subtopic: Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development and Employment.
Prelims and Mains focus: about the credit growth trend in the banking sector and its implications
News: India’s banking crisis, driven by high NPAs, has persisted for 6-7 years. During this time banks shifted to giving unsecured credit for personal loans, away from asset-backed secured lending. Many fear a bulk of these loans could be to subprime borrowers.
Credit situation trend
Personal loans offered by banks have increased over the years, peaking in the aftermath of the non-bank crisis in Sep 2018, while credit to industry has slowed.
What is a subprime borrower?
Why are subprime borrowers preferred?
What has been the recent trend in credit extension?
A TransUnion CIBIL report for the June quarter showed that 32% of the credit cards were issued to subprime borrowers. This coincides with a sluggish extension of credit to industry at 2.3% in the September quarter, while lending to the farm sector grew 3.7% and personal loans rose 8.9%. Bankers are preferring to give personal loans and there is demand for the same.
Is there any link with the non-bank crisis?
While a major part of the NPA crisis may be behind us, fresh vulnerabilities have emerged due to a prolonged slowdown in the real estate sector. Non-banks (NBFCs) were often the front runners in providing last-mile availability of credit and the recent liquidity crisis has provided an opportunity for banks to try and get a share of the personal loan space. This can have positive implications for the sector and the economy as it can deepen the financial services industry, thereby benefiting the financial system.
What does it mean for the future of banking?
While financial services and banking would continue to grow in India as per capita income rises, much of the next stage of growth would come from servicing last- mile consumers. It could even be in financing of smaller size, short- duration loans. The policies seem conducive for the securitization industry. While a clean-up of the banking system was necessary, stiff competition could lead to some banks taking unmanageable risks on their balance sheets.
Source: Livemint
Syllabus subtopic: Major Crops - Cropping Patterns in various parts of the country.
Prelims and Mains focus: about the yellow rust disease and its impact on the crop productivity; remedial measures to be taken to contain it
News: The detection of yellow rust disease in the wheat crop in sub mountainous parts of Punjab and Haryana has raised anxiety among farmers about drop in the crop's yield even as respective agriculture departments are leaving nothing to chance to ensure the spread of the disease doesn't go beyond control.
What is Yellow rust disease?
What climatic conditions in Punjab and Haryana led to it ?
Level of threat and remedial measures to be taken
Source: The Hindu
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