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GS Paper: GS3

  • Green finance for green future

    green finance Context

    • Inclusion of climate change and green finance in policy is crucial for a strong economy.

    What is green finance?

    • Green finance is a phenomenon that combines the world of finance and business with environment friendly behaviour. It may be led by financial incentives, a desire to preserve the planet, or a combination of both.
    • In addition to demonstrating proactive, environment friendly behaviour, such as promoting of any business or activity that could be damaging to the environment now or for future generations.

    Green finance instruments       

    • Dedicated fund: A “green super fund” could be established to jumpstart green investments by pooling together international and domestic capital.
    • Sovereign green bond (SGB): The sovereign green bond is a novel idea. It will be a part of the government’s borrowing programme. The gross borrowing programme of the government is pegged at Rs 14.95 lakh crore. The SGB (sovereign green bond) raised will be part of the aggregate borrowing programme and has to be used for projects which are ESG (environment, social and governance) compliant.

    green financeNetwork for Greening the Financial System

    • The Network for Greening the Financial System is a network of 114 central banks and financial supervisors that aims to accelerate the scaling up of green finance and develop recommendations for central banks’ role for climate change.
    • The NGFS was created in 2017 and its secretariat is hosted by the Banque de France.

    Purpose

    • The Network’s purpose is to help strengthening the global response required to meet the goals of the Paris agreement and to enhance the role of the financial system to manage risks and to mobilize capital for green and low carbon investments in the broader context of environmentally sustainable development.

    green financeSignificance

    • Green goals: Reaching net-zero emissions and other climate-related and environmental goals will require significant investments to enable decarbonisation and innovation across all sectors of the economy. Greening the financial system is key to making these investments happen.
    • SDG goals: Green finance initiatives also aim to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), shifting the focus from creating value for shareholders (economic) to creating value for stakeholders (economic, environmental, and social).
    • Green future: And as we begin to recover from the pandemic, green finance presents a huge opportunity to build back with a greener future, creating new businesses and jobs.
    • Robust growth: Supports strong and green growth in all sectors of economy .

    The issues in mobilization and effective use of green finance are

    • Low incentives: The return on green finance is long term, low in monetary value & many times intangible, so that the ability of the financial system to mobilize private green finance, especially in developed countries is difficult.
    • Distribution challenge: Developing countries like India have challenges of development & poverty alleviation, so allocation of resources towards meeting fundamental needs & promoting the green projects which require heavy investment is a challenge.
    • Skewed investment: In many countries, green finance & much of the green projects are limited to the investment in renewable energy: India whose 60% of installed capacity is coal based, greening of coal technology is required which is mostly limited to private players in developed countries. It is subjected to IPR & makes them cost prohibitory.
    • High risk: Green bonds are perceived as new and attach higher risk and their tenure is also shorter. There is a need to reduce risks to makes them investment grade.

    Conclusion

    • Our future depends on how we resolve our environmental challenges. Further, we are the world’s third-largest carbon emitter and will play a crucial role in getting the planet to a low-carbon trajectory. Simply put, we must urgently transform our economy to get to the green frontier.

    Mains question

    Q. As the world copes with the repercussions of carbon emissions, there is growing pressure to achieve climate-compatible growth. In this context What do you understand by the term green finance? Discuss how it will help to achieve climate-compatible growth along with limitations of green finance.

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  • Centre raises alarm over Undemarcated Protected Forests in Chhattisgarh

    The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has objected to the transfer of thousands of hectares of land without following due process by Chhattisgarh from its Forest to the Revenue Department for setting up industries and for building road, rail, and other infrastructure.

    What is the news?

    • The Union Environment Ministry has warned that the land in question is “undemarcated protected forests”, which cannot be used for non-forest purposes without clearance under the Forest Conservation (FC) Act, 1980.

    ‘Types of Forests’ in Law

    • Broadly, state Forest Departments have jurisdiction over two types of forests notified under the Indian Forest (IF) Act, 1927:
    1. Reserve Forests (RF): where no rights are allowed unless specified and
    2. Protected Forests (PF): where no rights are barred unless specified
    • Certain forests, such as village or nagarpalika forests, are managed by state Revenue Departments.
    • The FC Act, 1980, applies to all kinds of forests, whether under the control of the Forest or the Revenue Department.
    • It requires statutory clearance before forests can be used for any non-forest purpose such as industry, mining, or construction.
    • In 1976, forests were included in List III (Concurrent List) under the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.

    Chhattisgarh case

    • The recorded forest area in Chhattisgarh covers 44.21% of its geography.
    • The state government says it is constrained by the limited availability of land, particularly in the tribal regions, for development works.
    • Therefore, in May 2021, it sought a field survey to identify non-forest land — parcels smaller than 10 hectares with less than 200 trees per hectare.

    Orange, a grey area

    • It sought that the forests had been included by mistake in Orange Areas under the Forest Department.
    • This year, it announced that over 300 sq km of “Orange” area in the Bastar region had been handed over to the Revenue Department.
    • Under the zamindari system, villagers used local malguzari (livelihood concessions) forests for firewood, grazing, etc.
    • When zamindari was abolished in 1951, malguzari forests came under the Revenue Department.
    • In 1958, the government of undivided Madhya Pradesh notified all these areas as Protected Forest (PFs) under the Forest Department.
    • Through the 1960s, ground surveys and demarcations of these PFs continued — either to form blocks of suitable patches to be declared as Reserve Forests, or to denotify and return to the Revenue Department.
    • For this purpose, Madhya Pradesh amended the IF Act, 1927, in 1965 — when forests figured in the State List — to allow denotification of PFs.
    • The areas yet to be surveyed — undemarcated PFs — were marked in orange on the map.

    Policy jam

    • Since 2003, a case has been pending in the Supreme Court on rationalising these orange areas that have remained a bone of contention between the two Departments.
    • The transfer of PFs to the Revenue Department continued until 1976, when reports of illicit felling in Revenue areas prompted Madhya Pradesh to seek a fresh survey to shift quality forest patches.
    • But before this survey could be undertaken, the new government that came to power in the state in 1978 switched the focus to settling encroachments.
    • The FC Act came in 1980, and required central clearance for non-forest use of forest land.
    • This led to a situation where the rights of lakhs of villagers, including those settled by the government through pattas, remained restricted.

    After MP was split

    • Carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000, Chhattisgarh inherited its share of ‘orange’ areas.
    • Ranked second after Orissa in implementing the Forest Rights Act, 2006, the state has settled over 26,000 claims since 2019.
    • The logical next step, say officials who declined to be quoted, was to find land for the economic development of the tribal belt.
    • Chhattisgarh did not seek central clearance to transfer over 300 sq km to Revenue, they claim, because it did not have to.

    New definition of forests

    • In December 1996, the SC defined ‘forest’ after its dictionary meaning, irrespective of the status of the land it stands on.
    • It also defined forestland as any land thus notified on any government record irrespective of what actually stands on that land.
    • To meet this broad definition, Madhya Pradesh in 1997 framed a “practical yardstick” — an area no smaller than 10 hectares with at least 200 trees per hectare — to identify forests in Revenue areas for handing over to the Forest Department.
    • These non-forest areas, they claim, are now being identified and returned to the Revenue.

    Issues with such Un-forestation

    • The nature of vegetation changes over time.
    • After so many years, a visual survey cannot determine if a particular piece of land did not meet the definition of forest.
    • Once brought under the Forest Department, whether mistakenly or otherwise, an area gets the status of forestland as per the 1996 SC order, and hence comes under the FC Act, 1980.

    Options available for CG

    • Chhattisgarh, thanks to the 1965 amendment to the IF Act, can still denotify PFs unilaterally.
    • It may also vest management of any land with any department since the state owns all land within its boundaries.
    • But if the stated purpose is non-forest use — building industries and infrastructure — the state will anyway require central clearance under the FC Act, 1980.

    What lies ahead?

    • Clearance for non-forest use of forestland under the FC Act requires giving back twice the area for compensatory afforestation (CA) from Revenue to Forest.
    • That would defeat the very purpose of the state government’s action.
    • However, conversion of Forest to Revenue land has been exempted from CA under exceptional circumstances in the past.
    • For example, when enclaves were moved out of forests, the SC allowed those to be resettled at the edge of the forests, in the absence of suitable Revenue land, as revenue villages.
    • It will be a stretch, though, for such considerations to apply to thousands of hectares meant for industries.

     

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  • Dams in news: Vishnugadh Project

    An independent panel of the World Bank is considering a plea by residents of some village to investigate environmental damage from the under-construction Vishnugad Pipalkoti Hydro Electric Project (VPHEP).

    Vishnugadh Project

    • The 444-MW VPHEP is being built by the Tehri Hydropower Development Corporation (THDC), a partially State-owned enterprise.
    • It is being constructed on Dhauliganga River in Chamoli District of Uttarakhand.
    • The project is primarily funded by the World Bank and was sanctioned in 2011. It is proposed to be completed in June 2023.
    • About 40% of the funds for the $792 million project (₹64,000 crore approx.) has already been disbursed.

    Why in news now?

    • Residents in their complaint have said muck dumping from the dam threatens the local Lakshmi Narayan Temple, which is deemed to be of historical and cultural importance.
    • They also complained about the limited availability of water, saying that 70 of the 92 households received water only for two hours daily.
    • Before the project construction, they had ready access to water.

     

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  • Forest fire management for positive sustainable forest growth

    forest fireContext

    • Forest fires are becoming more common and wildfires are destroying nearly twice as much tree cover globally as they did in 2001.

    Why in news?

    • Climate change is driving more intense and widespread forest fire by fuelling more extreme heat and deepening drought, which dries out forests.

    How to define forest fire?

    • A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation starting in rural and urban areas.

    What causes forest fires?

    • Human activities: Forest fires can be caused by a number of natural causes, but officials say many major fires in India are triggered mainly by human activities.
    • Climate change: Emerging studies link climate change to rising instances of fires globally, especially the massive fires of the Amazon forests in Brazil and in Australia in the last two years. Fires of longer duration, increasing intensity, higher frequency and highly inflammable nature are all being linked to climate change.
    • Season: In India, wildfires are most commonly reported during March and April, when the ground has large quantities of dry wood, logs, dead leaves, stumps, dry grass and weeds that can make forests easily go up in flames if there is a trigger.
    • Natural reasons: Under natural circumstances, extreme heat and dryness, friction created by rubbing of branches with each other also have been known to initiate fire.

    forest fire

    Key fact

    7.4 million acres of forest are getting burnt annually now an area roughly the size of Belgium.

    What factors make forest fires a concern?

    • Carbon emission: They act as a sink, reservoir and source of carbon.
    • Livelihood loss: In India, with 1.70 lakh villages in close proximity to forests (Census 2011), the livelihood of several crores of people is dependent on fuelwood, bamboo, fodder, and small timber.
    • Destruction of animals’ habitat: Heat generated during the fire destroys animal habitats. Soil quality decreases with the alteration in their compositions.
    • Soil degradation: Soil moisture and fertility, too, is affected. Thus forests can shrink in size. The trees that survive fire often remain stunted and growth is severely affected.

    Measures to curb Forest fires

    1) National Action Plan on wild fires

    • The MoEFCC has prepared a National Action Plan on wild fire in 2018 after several rounds of consultation with all states and UTs.
    • The objective of this plan is to minimize forest fires by informing, enabling and empowering forest fringe communities and incentivizing them to work in tandem with the State Forest Departments.
    • The plan also intends to substantially reduce the vulnerability of forests across diverse forest ecosystems in the country against fire hazards, enhance capabilities of forest personnel and institutions in fighting fires and swift recovery subsequent to fire incidents.

    2) Forest Fire Prevention and Management scheme

    • The MoEFCC provides wildfire prevention and management measures under the Centrally Sponsored Forest Fire Prevention and Management (FPM) scheme.
    • The FPM is the only centrally funded program specifically dedicated to assist the states in dealing with forest fires.
    • The FPM replaced the Intensification of Forest Management Scheme (IFMS) in 2017. By revamping the IFMS, the FPM has increased the amount dedicated for forest fire work.
    • Funds allocated under the FPM are according to the 90:10 ratio of central to state funding in the Northeast and Western Himalayan regions and 60:40 ratio for all other states.
    • Nodal officers for forest fire prevention and control have been appointed in each state.

    forest fireWay forward

    • Awareness should be created among the villagers residing near the forests with respect to the long-term ill effects of forest fires.
    • Measures to prevent wildfires have to be taken before summer season when fires are prevalent.
    • Local people should be given skills to use online portals or mobile apps in order to monitor the forests for fires and inform forest authorities regarding the same.

    Mains question

    Q. Climate change is driving more intense and widespread forest fires by fueling more extreme heat and deepening drought. Why forest fires are cause of concern? Discuss our preparedness level for the same in the above context.

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  • In news: James Webb Space Telescope

    The James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s latest and most powerful telescope, has captured new images of our solar system’s largest planet, Jupiter, presenting it in a never before seen light.

    What is so special about snapping Jupiter?

    • The photographs have captured a new view of the planet, presenting in detail its massive storms, colourful auroras, faint rings and two small moons — Amalthea and Adrastea.
    • While most of us are familiar with the yellow and reddish-brown gas giant.
    • The JSWT’s Near-Infrared Camera, with its specialized infrared filters, has shown Jupiter encompassed in blue, green, white, yellow and orange hues.
    • Jupiter’s famous Great Red Spot, a storm so big that it could swallow Earth, appeared bright white in the image, since it was reflecting a lot of sunlight.
    • The brightness here indicates high altitude — so the Great Red Spot has high-altitude hazes, as does the equatorial region.
    • The numerous bright white ‘spots’ and ‘streaks’ are likely very high-altitude cloud tops of condensed convective storms.

    About James Webb Space Telescope

    • JWST is a space telescope jointly developed by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
    • It is planned to succeed the Hubble Space Telescope as NASA’s flagship astrophysics mission.
    • It will conduct a broad range of investigations across the fields of astronomy and cosmology, including:
    1. Observing some of the most distant events and objects in the universe such as the formation of the first galaxies
    2. Detailed atmospheric characterization of potentially habitable exoplanets

    How is it different from other telescopes?

    • JWST is much more powerful and has the ability to look in the infrared spectrum, which will allow it to peer through much deeper into the universe, and see through obstructions such as gas clouds.
    • As electromagnetic waves travel for long distances, they lose energy, resulting in an increase in their wavelength.
    • An ultraviolet wave, for example, can slowly move into the visible light spectrum and the infrared spectrum, and further weaken to microwaves or radio waves, as it loses energy.
    • Hubble was designed to look mainly into the ultraviolet and visible regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
    • JWST is primarily an infrared telescope, the first of its kind.

    Special features of JWST

    (1) Time machine in space

    • Powerful space telescopes, like JWST or the Hubble Telescope, are often called time machines because of their ability to view very faraway objects.
    • The light coming from those objects, stars or galaxies, which is captured by these telescopes, began its journey millions of years earlier.
    • Essentially, what these telescopes see are images of these stars or galaxies as they were millions of years ago.
    • The more distant the planet or star, the farther back in time are the telescopes able to see.

    (2) Farthest from Earth

    • JWST will also be positioned much deeper into space, about a million miles from Earth, at a spot known as L2.
    • It is one of the five points, known as Lagrange’s points, in any revolving two-body system like Earth and Sun, where the gravitational forces of the two large bodies cancel each other out.
    • Objects placed at these positions are relatively stable and require minimal external energy to keep them there. L2 is a position directly behind Earth in the line joining the Sun and the Earth.
    • It would be shielded from the Sun by the Earth as it goes around the Sun, in sync with the Earth.

    (3) Engineering marvel

    • JWST has one large mirror, with a diameter of 21 feet (the height of a typical two-storey building), that will capture the infra-red light coming in from the deep universe while facing away from the Sun.
    • It will be shielded by a five-layer, tennis court-sized, kite-shaped sunscreen that is designed to block the heat from Sun and ensure the extremely cool temperatures that the instruments are built to operate at.
    • Temperatures on the sun-facing side can get as high as 110°C, while the other side would be maintained at –200° to –230°C.
    • The extremely cold temperatures are needed to detect the extremely faint heat signals from distant galaxies.
    • The mirror as well as the sunscreen is so large they could not have fit into any rocket. They have been built as foldable items and would be unravelled in space.

     

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  • Automatic Number Plate Reader (ANPR) cameras for toll collection

    In light of congestion at toll plazas, the Road Transport and Highways Ministry is now moving ahead with a plan to replace toll plazas with cameras that could read number plates, also known as Automatic Number Plate Reader (ANPR) cameras.

    ANPR cameras

    • The plan is to remove toll plazas on national highways and instead rely on ANPR cameras, which will read vehicle number plates and automatically deduct toll from the linked bank accounts of vehicle owners.
    • The model is simple: Entry and exit of toll roads will have cameras capable of reading number plates, and toll will be deducted based on these cameras.

    Can all number plates be read by the cameras?

    • Not all number plates in India can be read, and only those that have come after 2019 will be registered by the cameras.
    • The government, in 2019, had come up with a rule mandating passenger vehicles to have company-fitted number plates, and only these number plates can be read by cameras.
    • The government plans to come up with a scheme to replace older number plates.
    • A pilot of this scheme is underway and legal amendments to facilitate this transition are also being moved to penalise vehicle owners who skip toll plazas and do not pay.

    Current model for toll collection: FASTags

    • Currently, about 97 per cent of the total toll collection of nearly Rs 40,000 crore happens though FASTags — the remaining 3 per cent pay higher than normal toll rates for not using FASTags.
    • With FASTags, it takes about 47 seconds per vehicle to cross a toll plaza.
    • There’s a marked throughput enhancement – more than 260 vehicles can be processed per hour via electronic toll collection lane as compared to 112 vehicles per hour via manual toll collection lane, according to government data.
    • While FASTags have eased traffic at toll plazas across the country, congestion is still reported as there are toll gates that need to be crossed after authentication.

    Why such move?

    • Congestion at toll plazas on national highways continues to impact commuters despite 97 per cent of tolling happening through FASTags.
    • Apart from ANPR helping to ease congestion, the government is also looking at GPS technology as one of the options for toll collection.

    Are there issues with ANPR?

    • The success of ANPR cameras will depend on creating an ecosystem that is in sync with the requirements of the camera.
    • The biggest problem being faced during the trials is when things are written on number plates, beyond the nine digit registration number, such as ‘Govt of India/Delhi’ etc.
    • Another problem that ANPR cameras face is in reading number plates on trucks, as most of the time they are hidden or soiled etc.
    • A pilot on a key expressway has found that about 10 per cent of vehicles with such number plates are being missed by the ANPR cameras.

    Back2Basics: What is ‘FASTag’?

    • As per Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, since 1st December 2017, the FASTag had been made mandatory for all registered new four-wheelers and is being supplied by the Vehicle Manufacturer or their dealers.
    • It has been mandated that the renewal of fitness certificate will be done only after the fitment of FASTag.
    • For National Permit Vehicles, the fitment of FASTag was mandated since 1st October 2019.
    • FASTags are stickers that are affixed to the windscreen of vehicles and use Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to enable digital, contactless payment of tolls without having to stop at toll gates.
    • The tags are linked to bank accounts and other payment methods.
    • As a car crosses a toll plaza, the amount is automatically deducted, and a notification is sent to the registered mobile phone number.

    How does it work?

    • The device employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for payments directly from the prepaid or savings account linked to it.
    • It is affixed on the windscreen, so the vehicle can drive through plazas without stopping.
    • RFID technology is similar to that used in transport access-control systems, like Metro smart card.
    • If the tag is linked to a prepaid account like a wallet or a debit/credit card, then owners need to recharge/top up the tag.
    • If it is linked to a savings account, then money will get deducted automatically after the balance goes below a pre-defined threshold.
    • Once a vehicle crosses the toll, the owner will get an SMS alert on the deduction. In that, it is like a prepaid e-wallet.

     

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  • Benami Law can’t be applied retrospectively: SC

    The Supreme Court has declared as “unconstitutional and manifestly arbitrary” the amendments introduced to the Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988  in 2016, which apply retrospectively and can send a person to prison for three years even as it empowers the Centre to confiscate “any property” subject to a benami transaction.

    What is Benami Property?

    • Benami in Hindi means without name. So, a property bought by an individual not under his or her name is benami property.
    • It can include property held in the name of spouse or child for which the amount is paid out of known sources of income.
    • A joint property with brother, sister or other relatives for which the amount is paid out of known sources of income also falls under benami property.
    • The transaction involved in the same is called benami transaction.
    • The benami transactions include buying assets of any kind — movable, immovable, tangible, intangible, any right or interest, or legal documents.

    Why do people indulge in such transactions?

    • As a usual practice, to evade taxation, people invest their black money in buying benami property.
    • The real owner of these properties are hard to trace due to fake names and identities.

    What is the Benami Law?

    • The first act against benami properties was passed in 1988 as the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988.
    • To block all loopholes, the government in July 2016 decided to amend the original act.
    • So after further amendment, Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016 came into force on November 1, 2016.
    • The PBPT Act defines benami transactions, prohibits them and further provides that violation of the PBPT Act is punishable with imprisonment and fine.
    • The PBPT Act prohibits recovery of the property held benami from benamidar by the real owner.
    • Such, properties are liable for confiscation by the Government without payment of compensation.

    What amendment is this article talking about?

    • The 2016 law amended the original Benami Act of 1988, expanding it to 72 Sections from a mere nine.
    • Sections 3(2) and 5 were introduced through the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016.
    • A Bench, led by CJI N.V. Ramana, declared Sections 3(2) and 5 introduced through this amendment as unconstitutional.

    Which sections did the Supreme Court declare unconstitutional?

    (b) Section 3(2)

    • A/c to this, a person can be sent behind bars for a benami transaction entered into 28 years before the Section even came into existence.
    • CJI Ramana held that the provision violated Article 20(1) of the Constitution.
    • Article 20(1) mandates that no person should be convicted of an offence, which was not in force “at the time of the commission of the act charged as an offence”.

    (b) Section 5

    • It said that “any benami property shall be liable to be confiscated by the Central Government”.
    • The court held that this confiscation provision cannot be applied retrospectively.
    • The CJI dismissed the government’s version that forfeiture, acquisition and confiscation of property under the 2016 Act was not in the nature of prosecution and cannot be restricted under Article 20.

    What else did the apex court observe?

    • The court observed that the 2016 Act condemned not only transactions that were traditionally denominated as benami but also a “new class of fictitious and sham transactions”.
    • The court said the intention of Parliament was to condemn property acquired from ill-gotten wealth.
    • These proceedings cannot be equated as enforcing civil obligations, the CJI noted.

    Why curb benami transactions?

    • Inflationary implications: Rather than hoarding the black money in cash, the tax evader invest their accumulated illegal money in buying benami properties.
    • Loss of economic activity: The whole process affects the revenue generation of government hampering growth and development of the state.
    • Tax evasion: Since the percentage of tax payer in the country is a dismal low, the government fails to successfully implement its policies and schemes due to lack of resources.
    • Money laundering: Benami transactions also serves the illicit purpose of money laundering.

    Conclusion

    • A tough law against benami properties is the need of the hour to check corruption.
    • However, due process of law needs to be followed in true letter and spirit.

     

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  • With eye on defaulters, Centre tweaks Overseas Investment Rules

    The Finance Ministry has released the Rules for Foreign Exchange Management (Overseas Investment Rules), 2022 subsuming extant regulations for Overseas Investments and Acquisition and Transfer of Immovable Property outside India Regulations, 2015.

    What are the news Overseas Investment Rules?

    • With an eye on wilful defaulters, the new rules stipulate that:
    • Any Indian resident will have to seek an no objection certificate before making any overseas financial commitment:
    1. Who has an account appearing as a non-performing asset
    2. Or is classified as a wilful defaulter by any bank
    3. Or is under investigation by a financial service regulator or by investigative agencies in India

    What are the tweaks in overseas investment norms?

    • Any resident in India acquiring equity capital in a foreign entity or overseas direct investment (ODI), will have to submit an Annual Performance Report (APR) for each foreign entity, every year by December 31.
    • No such reporting shall be required where a person resident in India is holding less than 10% of the equity capital without control in the foreign entity.
    • There is no other financial commitment other than equity capital or a foreign entity is under liquidation.

    Ceiling on investment

    • Any resident individual can make ODI by way of investment in equity capital or overseas portfolio investment (OPI) subject to the overall ceiling under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) of the Reserve Bank.
    • Currently, the LRS permits $2,50,000 outward investment by an individual in a year.
    • These norms make it easier for domestic corporates to invest abroad.

    What are the prohibitions?

    • Any Indian resident, who has been classified as a wilful defaulter or is under investigation by the CBI, the ED or the Serious Frauds Investigation Office (SFIO), will have to obtain a no-objection certificate (NOC).
    • NOC can be obtained from his or her bank, regulatory body or investigative agency before making any overseas “financial commitment” or disinvestment of overseas assets.
    • The rules also provide that if lenders, the concerned regulatory body or investigative agency fail to furnish the NOC within 60 days of receiving an application, it may be presumed that they have no objection to the proposed transaction.
    • Additionally, the new rules also prohibit Indian residents from making investments into foreign entities that are engaged in real estate activity, gambling in any form, and dealing with financial products linked to the Indian rupee without the specific approval of the RBI.

     

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  • Vertical Launch Short Range Surface-to-Air Missile (VL-SRSAM)

    The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Navy has successfully flight-tested the indigenously developed Vertical Launch Short Range Surface-to-Air Missile (VL-SRSAM) from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur off the coast of Odisha.

    What is Vertical Launch Short Range Surface-to-Air Missile (VLSRSAM) ?

    • VL-SRSAM has been designed and developed jointly by three facilities of the DRDO for deployment of Indian Naval warships.
    • The missile has the capability of neutralising various aerial threats at close ranges including sea-skimming targets.
    • The tactic of sea skimming is used by various anti-ship missiles and some fighter jets to avoid being detected by the radars onboard warships.
    • For this, these assets fly as close as possible to sea surface and thus are difficult to detect and neutralise.

    Features of VL-SRSAM

    • The missile has been designed to strike at the high-speed airborne targets at the range of 40 to 50 km and at an altitude of around 15 km.
    • Its design is based on Astra missile which is a Beyond Visual Range Air to Air missile.
    • Two key features of the VL-SRSAM are cruciform wings and thrust vectoring.
    • The cruciform wings are four small wings arranged like a cross on four sides and give the projective a stable aerodynamic posture.
    • The thrust vectoring is an ability to change the direction of the thrust from its engine control the angular velocity and the attitude of the missile.
    • VL-SRSAM is a canisterised system, which means it is stored and operated from specially designed compartments.
    • In the canister, the inside environment is controlled, thus making its transport and storage easier and improving the shelf life of weapons

    Strategic significance of the missile

    • The launch was conducted from a vertical launcher against an electronic target at a very low altitude.
    • The flight path of the vehicle along with health parameters was monitored using a number of tracking instruments deployed by ITR, Chandipur.
    • The successful testing of these systems was crucial for future launches of the missile from Indian Naval Ships.

     

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  • Tomato Flu cases found in India

    With cases of tomato flu reported from at least four states — Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, and Odisha — the Union Health Ministry has issued a set of guidelines on prevention, testing, and treatment of the infection.

    Researchers believe that it is a different clinical presentation of hand-foot-and mouth disease (HFMD) caused by a group of enteroviruses (viruses transmitted through the intestine).

    What is Tomato Flu?

    • Tomato flu or tomato fever is characterized by fever, joint pain, and red, tomato-like rashes usually seen in children below the age of five years.
    • This is accompanied by other symptoms of viral fevers such as diarrhoea, dehydration, nausea and vomiting, and fatigue.
    • This was thought to be an aftereffect of dengue and chikungunya that is commonly seen in Kerala.
    • However, researchers now believe that it is HFMD caused by enteroviruses like Coxsackievirus A-6 and A-16.

    Is it very uncommon?

    • Tomato flu could be an after-effect of chikungunya or dengue fever in children rather than a viral infection.
    • It could also be a new variant of the viral hand, foot, and mouth disease, a common infectious disease targeting mostly children aged 1–5 years and immunocompromised adults.
    • HFMD is not a new infection, we have read about it in our textbooks. It is reported from time to time across the country, but it is not very common.

    Why is the infection spreading now?

    • There actually are more cases or because we are more vigilant about viral infections and testing after Covid-19.
    • Since the disease is self-limiting, doctors do not usually test for it.
    • There are so many viral infections in children, but we cannot — and there is no need to — test for each and every one of it.

    Which pathogen is causing it now? And how is the clinical presentation different?

    • The current HFMD cases are mainly caused by Coxsackievirus A-6 and A-16.
    • Another pathogen — Enterovirus71 — that also causes the disease is not very prevalent now, according to her.
    • This is good because the pathogen was known to lead to severe neurologic symptoms, including fatal encephalitis (brain inflammation).
    • In almost all cases, say 99.9% cases, the disease is self-limiting.
    • But, in a small number of cases it can lead to CNS (central nervous system) complications.

    Is there a treatment for the infection?

    • There is no specific treatment or vaccine available for the disease.
    • Those with the infection are treated symptomatically, such as prescription of paracetamol for fever.

    How can the infection be prevented?

    • As it happens mainly in children, the Centre’s advisory focuses on preventions in these age groups.
    • As per the advisory, anyone suspected to have the infection should remain in isolation for five to seven days after the onset of the symptoms.
    • It states that children must be educated about the infection and asked not to hug or touch other children with fever or rashes.
    • The children should be encouraged to maintain hygiene, stop thumb or finger sucking, and use a handkerchief for a running nose, the advisory states.

     

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