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  • InvITs and REITs

     

    Markets regulator SEBI has put in place a framework for the rights issue of units by listed REIT and InvITs.

    What are InvITs and REITs?

    Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvIT)

    • An Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvITs) is like a mutual fund, which enables direct investment of small amounts of money from possible individual/institutional investors in infrastructure to earn a small portion of the income as return.
    • InvITs work like mutual funds or real estate investment trusts (REITs) in features.
    • InvITs can be treated as the modified version of REITs designed to suit the specific circumstances of the infrastructure sector.
    • They are similar to REIT but invest in infrastructure projects such as roads or highways which take some time to generate steady cash flows.

    Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT)

    • A REIT is roughly like a mutual fund that invests in real estate although the similarity doesn’t go much further.
    • The basic deal on REITs is that you own a share of property, and so an appropriate share of the income from it will come to you, after deducting an appropriate share of expenses.
    • Essentially, it’s like a group of people pooling their money together and buying real estate except that it’s on a large scale and is regulated.
    • The obvious pitch for a REIT is that it enables individuals to generate income and capital appreciation with money that is a small fraction of what would be required to buy an entire property.
    • However, the resemblance to either mutual funds or to owning property ends there.
    • According to Indian regulation on REITs, these are meant to primarily own finished and rented out commercial properties –– 80 per cent of the investments must be in such assets. That excludes a real estate that is under development.

    Why need InvITs and REITs?

    • Infrastructure and real estate are the two most critical sectors in any developing economy.
    • A well-developed infrastructural set-up propels the overall development of a country.
    • It also facilitates a steady inflow of private and foreign investments, and thereby augments the capital base available for the growth of key sectors in an economy, as well as its own growth, in a sustained manner.
    • Given the importance of these two sectors in the country, and the paucity of public funds available to stimulate their growth, it is imperative that additional channels of financing are put in place.

    What did SEBI rule?

    • SEBI said the issuer will have to disclose objects of the issue, related-party transactions, valuation, financial details, review of credit rating and grievance redressal mechanism in the placement document.
    • The SEBI had first notified REITs and InvIT Regulations in 2014, allowing setting up and listing of such trusts which are popular in some advanced markets.

  • Persons in news: Warren Hastings and his Impeachment Case

    Donald Trump’s impeachment trial started in the US Senate. A precedent being discussed is that of the Warren Hastings case — the famous failed attempt by the British Parliament to impeach India’s first governor-general.

    Warren Hastings

    • Warren Hastings, the first governor-general of Bengal (and the first de facto Governor-General of India), is considered among the most significant colonial administrators to have ruled India.
    • First as the governor of Bengal (1772-1774) and then as Governor-General (1774-1785), Hastings strengthened British rule in India and made profound changes in administration.
    • Hastings’s conduct while in office was called into question after he returned to Britain in 1785, most prominently by Edmund Burke, the noted British parliamentarian and philosopher.

    What was his impeachment case?

    • In 1786, impeachment proceedings were initiated against Hastings, probing his alleged mismanagement, mistreatment of natives, and personal corruption while in India.
    • William Pitt, the then British Prime Minister, first defended Hastings, but then joined the chorus against him.
    • Hastings’s argued that ‘Western’ standards of legality could not be applied in the East.
    • But Burke insisted that under the Law of Nature, people in India were entitled to the same protection as those in Britain.
    • In 1795, however, the House of Lords acquitted Hastings, and the impeachment failed.
    • Burke warned that such a verdict would live in “perpetual infamy”, and the trial gave rise to a wider debate on the role of the East India Company in India.

    Back2Basics

    Warren Hastings and his major works

    From 1772, Warren Hastings served as Governor-General of Fort Williams and the regulating act was passed after his arrival.

    Important events under his rule :

     

    • Hastings abolished the Dual System that had been established by Robert Clive. In the Dual System, the company had Diwani rights (rights to collect revenue) and the Nizam or Indian chiefs had the administrative authority.
    • The judicial powers of the Zamindars were abolished. Civil and criminal courts were established. Two appellate courts were established at Calcutta, one for civil (Sadar Diwani Adalat) and one for criminal (Sadar Nizamat Adalat) cases.
    • Hastings abolished the system of dastaks which were misused by company officials and traders earlier.
    • He implemented several reforms in all walks of administration. The Regulating Act 1773 and Pitts India Act, 1784 were important acts passed during his tenure.

     

     

  • Corona Virus

     

    Chinese scientists have confirmed can spread between human beings.

    Corona Virus

    • Corona viruses are large family of viruses, which cause illnesses to people and also circulate in animals including camels, cats and bats.
    • They cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
    • 2019-nCoV is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans.
    • Much remains to be understood about the new coronavirus, which was first identified in China earlier this month.
    • Not enough is known about 2019-nCoV to draw definitive conclusions about how it is transmitted, clinical features of disease, or the extent to which it has spread. The source also remains unknown.

    Why is it called the Wuhan Virus?

    • The first cases emerged in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province.
    • On December 31 last year, authorities confirmed that a large number of patients with unexplained pneumonia were admitted in hospitals in the city.

    Symptoms of infection

    • According to the WHO, common signs include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Serious infections can lead to pneumonia, kidney failure, and death.
    • Although human-to-human transmission has now been confirmed, the WHO says animals are the outbreak’s likely primary source. It is not known yet which animals are responsible.
    • To prevent the spread of all respiratory infections, the WHO in general asks people to cover their mouths and noses when coughing or sneezing, and to frequently wash their hands.
    • Direct contact with farm or wild animals should be avoided — similar outbreaks in the past, like the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) emerged from markets where people were in contact with live animals.

    Why is there concern around the world?

    • People see a similarity with the SARS outbreak that infected over 8,000 people and killed around 775 in more than 35 countries worldwide in 2002-03.
    • SARS too, was caused by a mystery coronavirus, and started in China.
    • The source of the virus remained unknown for 15 years, until Chinese scientists in 2017 traced it back to a colony of horseshoe bats living in remote cave in Yunnan province.
    • The virus was carried by civet cats which are sold in markets in China.
    • Fears that SARS could reappear and memories of China misleading the rest of the world on the extent and seriousness of the outbreak have not gone away.

  • Xenobot

    Scientists in the US have created the world’s first “living machines” — tiny robots built from the cells of the African clawed frog that can move around on their own.

    Xenobot

    • Scientists have developed living robots from frogs stem cells.
    • They have named this millimetre-wide robots “xenobots” — after the species of aquatic frog found across sub-Saharan Africa from Nigeria and Sudan to South Africa, Xenopus laevis.
    • Scientists have repurposed living cells scraped from frog embryos and assembled them into entirely new life-forms.
    • The xenobots can move toward a target, perhaps pick up a payload (like a medicine that needs to be carried to a specific place inside a patient) — and heal themselves after being cut.

  • Irrawaddy Dolphins

    146 Irrawaddy dolphins were recently sighted in Chilika Lake of Odisha. The lake has highest single lagoon population of the aquatic mammal in the world.

    Irrawaddy Dolphins

    • IUCN Status: Endangered
    • Scientific Name: Orcaella brevirostris
    • Habitats: Lakes, Rivers, Estuaries, and Coasts

    • The Irrawaddy dolphin is a euryhaline species of oceanic dolphin found in discontinuous subpopulations near sea coasts and in estuaries and rivers in parts of the Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia.
    • They are also found in coastal areas in South and Southeast Asia, and in three rivers: the Ayeyarwady (Myanmar), the Mahakam (Indonesian Borneo) and the Mekong.
    • The total population of these aquatic mammals in the world is estimated to be less than 7,500.
    • Of these, more than 6,000 Irrawaddy dolphins have been reported from Bangladesh, while the dolphin distribution in Chilika is considered to be the highest single lagoon population.

  • Telecommunication Consumers Education and Protection Fund (TCEPF)

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has informed that telecom service providers will need to deposit all unclaimed money of consumers, including excess charges and security deposit, in the Telecommunication Consumers Education and Protection Fund (TCEPF).

    Telecommunication Consumers Education and Protection Fund (TCEPF)

    • The TCEPF Regulations, 2007 have been amended to provide the basic framework for depositing unclaimed money of consumers by service providers, maintenance of the TCEPF and other related aspects.
    • Any unclaimed / unrefundable amount belonging to consumers in the TCEP fund will be utilized for the welfare measures of the consumers.
    • With this amendment, service providers will deposit any unclaimed consumer money of any form such as excess charges, security deposit, plan charges of failed activations, or any amount belonging to a consumer, which service providers are unable to refund to consumers.

    Why such move?

    • The TRAI observed that there is a need to bring clarity among service providers in depositing money which they are unable to refund to the consumers.
    • While some service providers were depositing money only on account of excess billing revealed in the audit, others were depositing unclaimed money such as security deposits and plan charges of failed activations.

  • Yada Yada Virus

    A new virus detected in Australian mosquitoes has been provisionally named the Yada Yada virus (YYV).

    Yada Yada

    • It is an alphavirus, a group of viruses that the researchers described as small, single-stranded positive-sense RNA viruses.
    • It includes species important to human and animal health, such as Chikungunya virus and Eastern equine encephalitis virus.
    • They are transmitted primarily by mosquitoes and (are) pathogenic in their vertebrate hosts.
    • Unlike some other alphaviruses, Yada Yada does not pose a threat to human beings.

  • GSAT-30 successfully launched

    India’s first satellite of 2020, the GSAT-30 was successfully launched. The launch vehicle Ariane 5 VA-251 lifted off from Kourou Launch Base, French Guiana.

    GSAT-30 

    • GSAT-30 derives  its  heritage  from ISRO’s  earlier INSAT/GSAT  satellite  series  and  will  replace  INSAT-4A  in 
    • In the  days  ahead,  orbit-raising  manoeuvres  will  be  performed  to  place  the satellite  in  Geostationary  Orbit  (36,000  km  above  the  equator)  by  using  its  onboard  propulsion
    • During the  final  stages  of  its  orbit  raising  operations,  the  two  solar  arrays  and  the antenna  reflectors  of  GSAT-30  will  be
    • Following this,  the satellite will be  put in  its final orbital .     The satellite will  be  operational  after  the successful  completion  of  all in-orbit  tests.

    Utility of the satellite

    • GSAT-30 will provide  DTH  Television  Services, connectivity to  VSATs for  ATM,  Stock-exchange,  Television unlinking and Teleport  Services,  Digital  Satellite  News  Gathering  (DSNG)  and e-governance applications.
    • The satellite  will  also  be  used  for  bulk  data  transfer  for  a  host  of an emerging  telecommunication

  • Exercise ‘Sahyog-Kaijin’

    Exercise ‘Sahyog-Kaijin’

    • Indian and Japanese coast guards participated in a joint exercise ‘Sahyog-Kaijin’ on January 16.
    • The aim behind ‘Sahyog-Kaijin’ is to strengthen the bond between the two countries.
    • One ship of the Japanese Coast Guard and four ships and an aircraft of the Indian Coast Guard participated in the joint exercise.
    • The drill is a five-day event.

  • Eruption of Taal Volcano

     

    In the Philippines, a volcano called Taal on the island of Luzon; 50 km from Manila has recently erupted.

    Taal Volcano

    • Taal is classified as a “complex” volcano. Taal has 47 craters and four maars (a broad shallow crater).
    • It is situated at the boundaries of two tectonic plates — the Philippines Sea Plate and the Eurasian plate — it is particularly susceptible to earthquakes and volcanism.
    • A complex volcano, also called a compound volcano, is defined as one that consists of a complex of two or more vents, or a volcano that has an associated volcanic dome, either in its crater or on its flanks.
    • Examples include Vesuvius, besides Taal.
    • The Taal volcano does not rise from the ground as a distinct, singular dome but consists of multiple stratovolcanoes (volcanoes susceptible to explosive eruptions), conical hills and craters of all shapes and sizes.

    Threats posed

    • Taal’s closeness to Manila puts lives at stake. Manila is a few tens of kilometres away with a population of over 10 million.
    • The volcano is currently at alert level 4, which means that a “hazardous eruption” could be imminent within a few hours to a few days.
    • Hazardous eruptions are characterised by intense unrest, continuing seismic swarms and low-frequency earthquakes.

    Earlier records of eruption

    • Taal has erupted more than 30 times in the last few centuries. Its last eruption was on October 3, 1977.
    • An eruption in 1965 was considered particularly catastrophic, marked by the falling of rock fragments and ashfall.
    • Before that, there was a “very violent” eruption in 1911 from the main crater. The 1911 eruption lasted for three days, while one in 1754 lasted for seven months.
    • Because it is a complex volcano with various features, the kinds of eruption too have been varied. An eruption can send lava flowing through the ground, or cause a threat through ash in the air.