Daily Current Affairs Quiz: August 24,2021

ANSWER: B

WHY IN NEWS?

• India has ranked second in terms of crypto adoption worldwide behind Vietnam, but ahead of countries such as the US, UK, and China, according to the 2021 Global Crypto Adoption Index by blockchain data platform Chainalysis.
• This comes even as worldwide crypto adoption grew by 880% between June 2020 and July 2021, according to the report.
• A report by US-based research platform Finder released this month corroborated that the top five countries in terms of crypto adoption were all from Asia.
• The company surveyed 47,000 users worldwide and 30% of those surveyed in India said they owned cryptocurrencies.
• Bitcoin is the most popular coin in India, followed by Ripple, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash, according to the report.
• Crypto adoption in India has also been led by smaller towns in the country. The largest crypto exchange in the country by trading volume, WazirX, said last week that it had seen more than 2,648% growth in user sign-ups from tier II and tier III cities in India.

ANSWER: D

WHY IN NEWS?

• With a network of solar-based electric vehicle charging stations, the Delhi-Chandigarh Highway has become the country’s first EV-friendly highway in the country.
• The network of stations was set up by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) under the FAME-1 (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid) & Electric Vehicles) scheme of the Ministry of Heavy Industries.
• Union Minister of Heavy Industries (MHI) Mahendra Nath Pandey remotely inaugurated the state-of-the-art charging station at Karna Lake Resort.
• The EV charging station at Karna resort is strategically located at the midpoint of the Delhi-Chandigarh highway. It is equipped to cater to all types of e-cars currently in the country.

ANSWER: C

WHY IN NEWS?

• Faridabad Smart City Limited has roped in an unlikely collaborator to help promote its initiatives on social media – comic hero Chacha Chaudhary. The social media campaign’s objective will be to promote the steps taken by the agency.
• The initiative will involve excerpts of Talking Comics. Each social media post will depict Chacha Chaudhary and Sabu, his loyal sidekick, guiding and teaching people on effectively using the infrastructure put in place.
• The objective of the social media campaign would be to promote the steps the agency had taken, including the installation of CCTVs for surveillance, traffic rules, road safety, and waste management.

ANSWER: A

WHY IN NEWS?

• Apple is the world’s most valuable company (USD 2,443 billion) according to the Hurun Global 500 Most Valuable Companies list 2021.
• The world’s top six valuable companies remained unchanged as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Facebook and Tencent.
• Globally, the US-led with 243 companies, up by one; followed by China 47, down by four, Japan was third with 30 and the UK was fourth with 24.
• While India is ranked 9th with 12 companies. Reliance Industries (USD 188 billion) ranked at 57 is the top Indian company in the list. As many as 12 Indian companies found a place among the Hurun Global 500 for 2021 as Wipro Ltd, Asian Paints Ltd and HCL Technologies Ltd made it to the list of 500 most valuable firms in the world, while ITC Ltd dropped out.

ANSWER: B

WHY IN NEWS?

Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, unveiled a four-year National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) scheme.

About NMP scheme

• Scheme was launched with a Rs 6 lakh crore unlock value in brownfield projects.
• It also engages the private sector. They will have the rights but not the ownership in projects.
• Scheme will be using the funds for infrastructure creation across India.
• Under the scheme, roads, railways and power sector assets would comprise of more than 66 per cent of the total estimated value of the assets to be monetised.
• Rest of the estimated value will come from sector like mining, telecom, ports, aviation, natural gas, warehouses & stadiums and petroleum product pipelines.
• Real estate investment trusts (REITs) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs) are some of structures that will be used to monetise assets in roads and power sectors.

Significance of the monetisation

According to Finance Minister, monetisation will help in creating further value for infrastructure creation India and exploring innovative ways of private participation without transferring the government ownership.

Key challenges of the scheme

Major key challenges in the NMP roadmap include:

1. Lack of identifiable revenue streams across various assets,
2. Level of capacity utilisation across gas and petroleum pipeline networks,
3. Dispute resolution mechanism,
4. Regulated tariffs in power sector assets, and
5. Low interest among investors for national highways below four lanes.

ANSWER: C

WHY IN NEWS?

Reserve Bank of India had appointed committee headed by N. S. Vishwanathan to make suggestions on structure for the urban cooperative banks (UCBs)

About:

• Panel was set up to suggest structure on the basis of deposits, prescribed different capital adequacy as well as regulatory norms for them with respect to their sizes.
• RBI had constituted the Expert Committee on Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks under the chairmanship of N S Vishwanathan in February 2021

Recommendations by panel

• As per committee, UCBs can be split into four categories

1. Tier-1- with deposits up to Rs 100 crore;
2. Tier-2 with deposits between Rs 100-Rs 1000 crore,
3. Tier-3 with deposits between Rs 1000 crore to Rs 10000 and
4. Tier-4 with deposits more than Rs 10000 crore.

• It suggests that, minimum Capital to Risk-Weighted Assets Ratio (CRAR) for these tiers can vary between 9 per cent to 15 per cent.
• While, for Tier-4 UCBs Basel III prescribed norms can be followed.
• It suggests separate ceilings for loan against gold ornaments, home loans and unsecured loans for different categories of UCBs.
• Supervisory Action Framework (SAF) should follow a twin-indicator approach. It can consider only asset quality and capital measured through NNPA and CRAR, rather than going with triple indicators approach at present.

Consolidation of UCBs

Panel reports on consolidation of UCBs highlights that, RBI should be largely neutral to voluntary consolidation except where supervisory action is required. RBI should use the route of mandatory merger in to resolve UCBs that are not meeting with prudential requirements. It also suggests that, under Banking Regulation (BR) Act, RBI can come up with the scheme of compulsory amalgamation or reconstruction of UCBs.

ANSWER: B

WHY IN NEWS?

The government launched a new geospatial planning portal called ‘Yuktdhara’ under Bhuvan. It was launched by Giriraj Singh, Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.

About Yuktdhara

• This new portal will help in facilitating new MGNREGA assets with the help of remote sensing as well as geographic information system-based data.
• Portal will also serve as a repository of geotags that have been created under several national rural development programmes such as MGNREGA, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, Integrated Watershed Management Programme, Per Drop More Crop etc along with field photographs.
• It integrates several thematic layers and multi-temporal high resolution earth observation data with the analysis tools. Using these tools, planners will be able to analyse previous assets under schemes and would facilitate in identifying new works using online tools.
• Yuktdhara-based plans would be prepared by grassroot functionaries. Plans would later be verified by appropriate authorities for the purpose of relevance and resource allocation.

How this portal was named?

The name Yuktdhara is very apt. Word ‘Yukt’ has been derived from Yojanam, the planning while ‘Dhara’ indicates the flow.

Who planned for this portal?

Launch of the portal is culmination of joint efforts of ISRO and Ministry of Rural development towards realising the requirement of G2G service for rural planning in order to support the decentralized decision making.

Geoportal Bhuvan

Geoportal Bhuvan is a rich information base of ISRO. It provides satellite images and analytical capabilities. It has thus become a de-facto geospatial platform for several developmental planning activities across India

ANSWER: C

WHY IN NEWS?

Recently, the Ministry of Finance has launched ‘Ubharte Sitaare’ Alternative Investment Fund to facilitate debt and equity funding to export-oriented MSMEs (Micro Small and medium Enterprises).

About:

• Under the scheme, an identified company is supported even if it is currently underperforming or may be unable to tap its latent potential to grow.
• The scheme diagnoses such challenges and provides support through a mix of structured support covering equity, debt and technical assistance. It will also have a Greenshoe Option of Rs 250 crore.
  • A greenshoe option is an over-allotment option, which is a term that is commonly used to describe a special arrangement in a share offering for example an IPO (Initial Public Offering) that will enable the investment bank to support the share price after the offering without putting their own capital at risk.
• The fund has been set up jointly by Exim Bank and SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India) which will invest in the fund by way of equity and equity-like products in export-oriented units, in both manufacturing and services sectors.

Criteria for Selecting Companies:

Unique value:

• Companies will be selected for support based on their unique value proposition in technology, products or processes that match global requirements;

Financial Strength:

• Fundamentally strong companies with acceptable financials, and outward orientation; small and mid-sized companies with ability to penetrate global markets, with an annual turnover of up to approx. Rs 500 crore.

Business Model:

• Companies with a good business model, strong management capabilities, and focus on product quality.

Support:

• Eligible companies can be supported by both financial and advisory services by way of equity/equity-like instruments, term loans for modernisation, technology or capacity upgradation; and technical assistance for product adaptation, market development activities and viability studies.

Objectives:

• To enhance India’s competitiveness in select sectors through finance and extensive handholding support.
• Identify and nurture companies having differentiated technology, products or processes, and enhance their export business; assist units with export potential, which are unable to scale up their operations for want of finance.
• Identify and mitigate challenges faced by successful companies which hinder their exports.
• Assist existing exporters in widening their basket of products and target new markets through a strategic and structured export market development initiative.

ANSWER: A

WHY IN NEWS?

Recently, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) carried out a successful ground run and low speed taxi trials of a commercial aircraft “Hindustan-228” (Do-228).

About Hindustan-228 (Do-228):

• The 19-seater Do-228 is the first major attempt in India to develop a small civil transport aircraft after the 14-seater Saras Aircraft development program at the National Aeronautics Laboratory (NAL) was shelved in 2009 on account of multiple problems in its development.
  • However, the NAL has been pitching SARAS Mk-2 (19-seater aircraft) for the government’s UDAN, since it has the capacity to operate in “ill-equipped”, “semi-prepared” and “unpaved airstrips”.
• It is built on the existing frame of the German Dornier 228 defence transport aircraft used by the defence forces.
• Two civil Do-228 produced by HAL for launch under UDAN scheme have a maximum take-off weight of 6200 kgs.
• It is equipped with a digital cockpit which will ensure more accurate readings, precise information and required data displays with feedback loops and capability for self-check to alert pilots in emergencies.
• It is conceived to be a multirole utility aircraft capable of being used for VIP transport, passenger transport, air ambulance, flight inspection roles, cloud seeding, and recreational activities like para jumping, aerial surveillance, photography, remote sensing and cargo transport.
• With a maximum cruise speed of 428 kmph and a range of 700 kmph the aircraft is capable of night flying.
• HAL is looking forward to exporting the aircraft as well to countries like Nepal.

UDAN Scheme:

• Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) was launched as a regional connectivity scheme under the Ministry of Civil Aviation in 2016. It is an innovative scheme to develop the regional Aviation market.
  • Small civilian aircrafts are considered to be an essential element of the UDAN.
• The objective of the scheme is to create affordable yet economically viable and profitable flights on regional routes so that flying becomes affordable to the common man even in small towns.
• The scheme envisages providing connectivity to un-served and underserved airports of the country through the revival of existing air-strips and airports. The scheme is operational for a period of 10 years.
  • Under-served airports are those which do not have more than one flight a day, while unserved airports are those where there are no operations.
• Financial incentives from the Centre, state governments and airport operators are extended to selected airlines to encourage operations from unserved and under-served airports, and keep airfares affordable.
• About 325 routes and 56 airports including 5 heliports and 2 water aerodromes have been operationalised under the scheme.
• On the commencement of the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (India@75)’, the Ministry of Civil Aviation proposed about 392 routes under UDAN 4.1 bidding process.
  • The UDAN 4.1 focuses on connecting smaller airports, along with special helicopter and seaplane routes. Some new routes have been proposed under the Sagarmala Seaplane services.
    • Sagarmala Seaplane Services is an ambitious project under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways with potential airline operators.