Current Affairs Oct 29

Parampara Series

• The annual Parampara Series — National Festival of Music and Dance organised by Natya Tarangini and Kuchipudi exponents Raja Radha Reddy and Kaushalya Reddy, will be held online this year.
• Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia (flute), Vidushi Kishori Amonkar (vocals), Vyjayanthimala Bali (Bharatanatyam danseuse-actor), L Subramaniam (carnatic vocalist-violinist), Vikku Vinayakram (percussionist – ghatam) — and many other maestros are part of the stellar line-up of the 24th edition of this event.
• Archives of previous performances at this festival will be telecast on the YouTube channels of United Nations India.
• Parampara Series started in 1997, to bring the best of the best.
• Venkaiah Naidu, Vice President of India, inaugurated this month-long event on October 27, marking the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage celebrations by United Nations.
• And starting October 29, every weekend there will be a live telecast of recently recorded talks/discussions and archival, legendary performances of the classical doyens.

HT

 Institutes With ‘eminence’ Tag

• The Centre has decided to adopt the parameters used in top international ranking such as QS and Times rankings for higher education institutes to assess the progress of 20 institutes that have been granted the prestigious ‘institute of eminence’ (IoE) tag.
• The decision comes following the recommendation by a panel comprising of IIT directors that had been tasked to recommend ways to improve perception and international rankings of the institutes with the tags.
• The main parameters that are used in international rankings of universities include academic and employer reputation, faculty-student ratio, research citations per faculty, international faculty and international student ratios.
• Over the last two years, 20 institutes of higher education — 10 each in private and public sectors, including some yet to be opened universities — have been given the ‘IoE’
• Through the status, the government has offered additional monetary assistance to public institutions and greater autonomy in setting and running the campuses in case of private institutions.
• There are also plans to adopt recommendations from the newly released National Education Policy, such as multiple entry and exit, online degrees, multidisciplinary and internationalization among others to ensure the success of IoEs.
• Last year, the final list of public institutes granted the status included Banaras Hindu University, IITs in Delhi, Bombay, Madras and Kharagpur, Indian Institute of Science, Delhi University, Hyderabad University and Jadavpur University.

NEW INDAIN EXPRESS

IFSCA Authority Board approves two Regulations

• In the meeting of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) the Board, after detailed deliberations, approved the following regulations:
• International Financial Services Centres Authority (Bullion Exchange) Regulations, 2020.
• The Government of India, on the recommendation of IFSCA, notified the bullion spot delivery contract and bullion depository receipt (with bullion as underlying) as Financial Products and related services as Financial Services under the IFSCA Act, 2019 on August 31, 2020.
• IFSCA has been tasked with the responsibility of operationalization of this bullion Exchange.
• For the first time in India a single regulator will be regulating both the bullion spot and derivative contracts that would be traded on the Exchange.
• The Authority approved the draft bullion regulations in its meeting, which paves the way for setting up the entire ecosystem for bullion trading, namely, bullion exchange, depository, clearing house and vaults.

The salient aspects of the Bullion Exchange Regulations include:

• Functions and general obligations of a bullion exchange and clearing corporation
• Ownership and governance structure of a bullion exchange and clearing corporation
• Rights and Obligations of Bullion Depositories, Participants and Beneficial Owners
• The grant of registration to a vault manager by the Authority
• The role of bullion depositories
• Other operational aspects of the bullion exchange 

• International Financial Services Centres Authority (Global In-House Centres) Regulations, 2020
• On October 16, 2020, Government of India, on the recommendation of IFSCA, had notified Global In-House Centres (GIC) as financial service to provide services relating to financial products and financial services.

Some of the salient features of the regulations approved by the Authority are as follows:

• A GIC may conduct its business in any mode permitted by the Authority, including branch mode.
• The applicant entity shall exclusively cater to its financial services group wherein the entities served must be located in a Financial Action Task Force (FATF) compliant jurisdiction.
• A financial services group is defined as any entity which is regulated by a financial services regulator or any other competent body regulating financial services activities in its home jurisdiction and include its holding, subsidiary or associate companies, branch, or subsidiary of a holding company to which it is also a subsidiary.

• The support services provided by the applicant entity to its financial services group should be for the purpose of carrying out a financial service in respect of a financial product.
• A GIC set up within the IFSC shall be entitled to avail itself of all concessions including tax holiday applicable to IFSC units.
• These GIC regulations issued by IFSCA has the potential to put GIFT-IFSC in the leagues of leading FinTech cities, generating significant employment opportunities.

PIB

Muslim-Hindu demography of Jammu and Kashmir

• The land laws that were amended and notified by the Centre for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir recently have omitted the protection earlier available to its “permanent residents”.
• It allows the purchase of non-agricultural land by outsiders, even though the government may provide some protection through notifications.
• The Census of 2011 showed that the religious make-up of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir had remained almost entirely unchanged over the previous half century.
• The special status of Jammu and Kashmir under the Constitution was removed on August 5, 2019, and the state was split into two Union Territories.

What was the demographic make-up of the state of Jammu and Kashmir before Independence?

• The pre-Independence Census of 1941 recorded Muslims as constituting 72.41% of the population, and Hindus 25.01%.
• Thereafter, the proportion of Muslims in the state’s population fell gradually.

So how did the demography of Jammu and Kashmir change between Independence and now?

• Jammu and Kashmir was not a part of independent India’s first Census in 1951.
• The 1961 Census showed that Muslims, with a population of 24.32 lakh, constituted 68.31% of the state’s population of 35.60 lakh, while Hindus, numbering 10.13 lakh, made up 28.45%.
• A full 50 years later, these percentages came out identical: the Census of 2011 recorded the Muslim population at 85.67 lakh — again, 68.31% of the total population of 125.41 lakh (1.25 crore).
• And the Hindu population was 35.66 lakh —43% of the total.

What is the share of migrants in the population of (the erstwhile state of) Jammu and Kashmir?

• Only about 1.64 lakh (1.31 per cent) of the 1.25 crore population of Jammu and Kashmir (as per the 2011 Census) are people who stay there, but who were born elsewhere.
• In India as a whole, 4.64 per cent of the population lives in a state in which they were not born.

IE

Aerosol Microdroplets Ineffective At Spreading Coronavirus

• Aerosol microdroplets, which are tiny particles that linger in the air longest after we talk, cough, or sneeze, may be ineffective at spreading the virus that leads to Covid-19, according to a new study.
• If someone enters a space even a few minutes after a mildly symptomatic carrier of the coronavirus has coughed in that area, the probability of infection is rather low.
• It is even lower if that person was only talking.
• Aerosol transmission is a possible but perhaps not a very efficient route, in particular from non-symptomatic or mildly symptomatic individuals that exhibit low viral loads.
• In the research, the scientists used laser technology to measure the distribution of droplets released when people speak or cough.
• Test subjects spoke or coughed into a laser beam, and a jet nozzle was used to mimic tiny aerosol microdroplets.
• Using this set-up, the scientists measured how droplets spread and how likely they are to pass along SARS-CoV-2.
• While the lingering microdroplets are certainly not risk-free, due to their small size they contain less virus than the larger droplets that are produced when someone coughs, speaks, or sneezes directly on us.
• The highest probability of infection occurs when a person enters a poorly ventilated and small space where a high emitter has just coughed, and inhales virus-carrying droplets.

BUSINESSLINE

Women Startup Summit 2020

• As Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) began its six-day programme that aims to boost female presence in entrepreneurial ventures, the October 31 ‘Women Startup Summit 2020’ gained key focus as a culminating event providing tips for success in businesses.
• The month-end summit will feature speeches by corporate captains, marking the highlight of the KSUM initiative that is part of the state government’s dynamic measures to promote women-led industry ventures.
• The summit, which features a startup competition named ‘She Loves Tech India 2020’, is being co-organised by Startup India, TiE Kerala and Indian Women Network of Confederation of Indian Industry.
• The programme began with a Hackathon Orientation. Titled ‘InnovatHer’, it was led by KSUM, ICFOSS and TCS.
• KSUM is the state government’s nodal agency for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities.

BUSINESSLINE

Consolidated FDI Policy

• The government has come up with a ‘Consolidated FDI Policy circular of 2020’ incorporating the restrictions notified earlier this year on Foreign Direct Investment
• from entities or citizens of neighbouring countries sharing land border with India, including China, allowing such investments to be made only through the government route.
• The latest Consolidated Policy also weaves in the 26 per cent cap on FDI in uploading or streaming of news and current affairs through digital media.
• An entity of a country, which shares land border with India or where the beneficial owner of an investment into India is situated in or is a citizen of any such country, can invest only under the government route.
• In the event of the transfer of ownership of any existing or future FDI in an entity in India, directly or indirectly, resulting in the beneficial ownership falling within the restriction/purview of the para 3.1.1(a), such subsequent change in beneficial ownership will also require government approval.
• The Centre had come up with the amendments in April 2020 to prevent opportunistic takeovers of Indian companies from neighbouring nations, due to increased vulnerability suffered by some companies on account of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The amended rules do not stop investment flows from the bordering country, but ensures that all investments would be closely scrutinised.
• The FDI rules, however, remain the same for Pakistan.
• A citizen of Pakistan or an entity incorporated in Pakistan can invest, only under the Government route, in sectors/activities other than defence, space, atomic energy and sectors/activities prohibited for foreign investment.

BUSINESSLINE

India-UK Ink Pacts On Sustainable Finance

• India and the UK reached landmark agreements on financial services, infrastructure and sustainable finance, helping to boost jobs and investments in both countries.
• These agreements came at the 10th Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) between the UK and India, jointly chaired by Finance Minister and the UK Chancellor.
• The agreements include a new strategic partnership to accelerate the development of Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) City as an international financial centre, including regulatory capacity building support for the new International Financial Services Centre Authority.
• A new UK-India Partnership on Infrastructure Policy and Financing to support the Indian National Infrastructure Pipeline with UK commercial expertise and financing was also signed.
• Both sides agreed to strengthen cooperation on mobilising private capital into green investment, including through a new UK-India Sustainable Finance Forum and greening the financial system.
• Both sides agreed to create a new Financial Markets Dialogue to remove regulatory and market access barriers for UK and Indian firms.
• Also agreed to explore ways to boost investment in insurance through an increase in India’s foreign investment limit.
• UK-India Fast Track Start-up Fund backed by SIDBI and the UK Government will fund early-stage tech start-ups with technical assistance focussed on capacity building, policy advocacy and deepening entrepreneurial connection with the UK.

BUSINESSLINE

Koala Bears

• Scientists say Australia’s iconic koala bear is at risk of extinction due to stress on its immune systems caused by bushfires and habitat destruction.
• Koala populations have steadily declined mostly due to disease – the most common reason that they’re admitted into care – with chlamydia being the most common condition, they found.
• But bushfires and destruction of their habitat by humans – to create new building developments, for example – have made koalas more susceptible to disease by stressing their immune systems.
• Stress from these events triggers the production of a class of hormones called glucocorticoids.
• The excessive production of glucocorticoids can leave the animal with a compromised immune system and therefore likely to contract a disease.
• There is an urgent need to strengthen on-ground management, bushfire control regimes, environmental planning and governmental policy actions that should hopefully reduce the proximate environmental stressors.
• In Australia’s metropolitan areas, meanwhile, dog attacks and vehicles are threats for the distinctive eucalyptus-eating species.
• Koalas are listed as ‘vulnerable to extinction’ by both the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Australian government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee.
• However, the species could be soon be officially uplisted from its current status of ‘vulnerable’ to ‘endangered’.

DAILY MAIL

Pterosaurs

• Winged reptiles like the pterodactyls may have ultimately become ‘deadly masters of the sky’ — but it took then 150 million years to reach this point, a study has found.
• Pterosaurs — which first emerged around 245 million years ago — included one species whose wingspans could grow to as large as 39 feet (12 metres) across.
• This creature — Quetzalcoatlus northropi — was the largest known creature to have ever taken to the skies, and would have been the size of a small aircraft.
• The new research suggests that the evolution process among such flying reptiles took much longer than scientists had previously assumed.
• Pterosaurs were cousins of the dinosaurs — and both groups were wiped out around 66 million years ago when an asteroid impacted the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico.
• ‘Pterosaurs were a diverse group of winged lizards, with some the size of sparrows and others with the wingspan of a light aircraft.
• Over time, pterosaur adapted their shape and size as so they could fly while expending 50 per cent less energy — even while increasing their body mass by up to tenfold. Some of the reptiles weighed almost a third of a ton.
• One group — the so-called azhdarchoids — did not improve their flight performance over time.
• Although these animals were competent fliers, they probably spent much of their time on the ground.
• While it was once thought that pterosaurs took off by running or jumping, recent studies has suggested they they instead used their powerful forelimbs to launch themselves into the air.

DAILY MAIL

The ‘God Of Chaos’

• An asteroid named after the God of Chaos is gaining speed as it travels on a path towards Earth – and could strike our planet in 48 years
• The massive asteroid Apophis has accelerated on its path due to non-uniform radiation, which acts like a tiny thruster.
• Prior to the discovery, the impact was said to impossible, but the new findings suggest the asteroid has a chance of crashing into Earth on April 12, 2068 – and it could be catastrophic.
• Apophis is more than 1,000 feet wide and an impact would be equivalent to 880 million tons of trinitrotoluene (TNT) exploding all at once.
• Apophis was discovered on June 19, 2004 by astronomers at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.
• Since then the asteroid has been tracked as it orbits the sun, which it completes less than one Earth year.
• Researchers spotted Aphophis with the Subaru telescope earlier this year and determined it had picked up speed following the analysis, known as the Yarkovsky effect.
• When the asteroid’s body heats up in sunlight, it re-radiates the energy away as heat, which acts as tiny thrusters for the cosmic object.
• Astronomers said that before the effect happened an impact in 2068 was impossible, but they have since changed their tune.
• Apophis has also been given the title of the third-highest threat on NASA’s Sentry Risk Table.
• The table estimates that there is a one in 150,000 chance of the asteroid hitting Earth in 48 years.

DAILY MAIL