ESI and Finance in News Feb 2018 PDF

Economics, Social Issues and Finance related
Current Affairs for the month of Feb 2018 for RBI

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Contents
1 India ranks 42nd in 2017 Global Democracy Index: ........................................................................ 5
2 2 Feb: World Wetlands Day: ............................................................................................................... 7
3 India joins Ashgabat agreement: ...................................................................................................... 8
4 Government to launch KUSUM scheme to encourage farmers for solar farming: ...................... 10
5 CriSidEx: CRISIL, SIDBI launches India’s first MSE Sentiment Index: ................................................. 11
6 Environment Ministry launches Green Good Deeds campaign: .................................................. 13
7 Government to ban cryptocurrencies from its payments system: ................................................ 13
8 Government launches 3 tools to rank states, UTs on startup ecosystem: ..................................... 14
9 THE World Rankings 2018: More Indian Universities in Asia’s Top 200: ........................................... 16
10 Development of Solar Cities scheme: 60 Solar Cities to be developed: .................................. 17
11 Cabinet approves putting ILO recommendation before Parliament: ...................................... 18
12 Cabinet approves Prime Minister Research Fellows Scheme: ................................................... 19
13 Cabinet approves Ratification of Minamata Convention on Mercury: ................................... 19
14 CCEA approves enhancement of target under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana: .................. 20
15 Cabinet approves Amendment to MSME Act to change classification criteria: .................... 21
16 Government approves construction of over 1.86 lakh more houses under PMAY-Urban: ..... 22
17 India ranks 44 in US Chamber’s Intellectual Property Index: ...................................................... 23
18 India Health Fund to boost research on TB, malaria: .................................................................. 24
19 Government to establish National Women Entrepreneurship Council: .................................... 25
20 Government launches National Deworming initiative: .............................................................. 25
21 Independent debt management office must be set up: NITI Aayog ....................................... 26
22 UP Government launches DASTAK campaign to eradicate Japanise Encephalitis: .............. 26
23 February 12: National Productivity Day: ...................................................................................... 27
24 4th Meeting of Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister held in New Delhi: .................... 28
25 Yes Bank lists $600 million MTN bond on India INX: ...................................................................... 28
26 Government extends anti-narcotics scheme for 3 more years: ................................................ 29
27 World Sustainable Development Summit 2018 held in New Delhi: ............................................ 29
28 Haryana opens four subsidised canteens under Antyodaya Aahaar Yojana: ........................ 30
29 Home Ministry organises Watan Ko Jano programme: .............................................................. 30
30 India is Global Host for World Environment Day 2018: ................................................................ 31
31 21 February: International Mother Language Day: .................................................................... 31
32 CCEA approves methodology for auction of commercial coal mines to private sector: ...... 32
33 Cabinet approves creation of National Urban Housing Fund: .................................................. 33
34 Government sets up the NITI Forum for Northeast: ..................................................................... 33
35 N Gopalaswami Committee to select top 20 educational institutes of eminence: ................ 34

36 RBI constitutes YH Malegam committee to monitor bad loans, rising cases of frauds, audits:
34
37 India ranks 81st in Corruption Perception Index 2017: ................................................................ 35
38 RBI launches Ombudsman scheme for NBFCs: ........................................................................... 35
39 RBI directs banks to link SWIFT to core banking solutions by April 2018: .................................... 37
40 UIDAI launches Blue coloured Bal Aadhaar: ............................................................................... 38

1 India ranks 42nd in 2017 Global Democracy Index:
• The UK-based company, Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has released Annual Global
Democracy Index 2017 report.
• EIU is a research and analysis division of UK- based media – The Economist Group.
Created in 1946, EIU has over 70 years’ experience in helping businesses, financial firms and
governments to understand how the world is changing and how that creates opportunities to be
seized and risks to be managed.
• The Global Democracy Index provides a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide for 165
independent states and two territories.
• It covers almost the entire population of the world and the vast majority of the world’s states
(microstates are excluded).
• This is the tenth edition of the Democracy Index, which began in 2006, with updates for 2008,
2010 and the following years since then.
• The Democracy Index-2017 is based on the ratings for 60 indicators grouped into five different
categories viz. electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of government,
political participation and political culture.
• Each category has a rating on a 0 to 10 scale and the overall Index is the simple average of the
five category indexes.
• Based on its scores on a range of indicators within these categories, each country is then itself
classified as one of four types of regime: “full democracy”; “flawed democracy”; “hybrid
regime” and “authoritarian regime”.
• A special focus of this year’s report is the state of media freedom around the world and the
challenges facing freedom of speech.
Important points at the global level:

• In the 2017 Democracy Index, the average global score fell from 5.52 in 2016 to 5.48 (on a scale
of 0 to 10).
• Top 10 countries in 2017 GDI: Norway, Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand, Denmark, Ireland,
Canada, Australia, Finland and Switzerland.

• Top-ranked Norway was given overall score of 9.87 with perfect-ten scores for electoral process
and pluralism; political participation; and political culture.
• USA, Japan, Italy, France, India, Israel, Singapore and Hong Kong were named among ‘flawed
democracies’.
Flawed democracies: These countries have free and fair elections and even if there are
problems (such as infringements on media freedom), basic civil liberties are respected.
However, there are significant weaknesses in other aspects of democracy including problems
in governance, an underdeveloped political culture and low levels of political participation.
• The hybrid regimes classified by it includes India’s neighbours Pakistan (110th), Bangladesh
(92nd), Nepal (94th) and Bhutan (99th).
• Those named as ‘authoritarian regimes’ include China (139th), Myanmar (120th), Russia (135th)
and Vietnam (140th).
• North Korea was ranked lowest at 167th and Syria second last at 166th place.
A special mention: Freedom of speech under attack:

• Media freedom around the world has fallen to its lowest level since the beginning of Democracy
Index in 2006 and restrictions on freedom of speech have become commonplace even in
developed democracies.
• In recognition of the importance of defending freedom of expression for all, this year the index
has produced a Media Freedom Index for ranking of 167 countries.
• The Media Freedom Index is compiled on a scale of 0-10 based on five indicators from the civil
liberties category of the Democracy Index.
• Scores of 9 and 10 denote that a country’s media is fully free; scores of 7 and 8 indicate that they
are partly free; scores of 5 and 6 mean that the media are largely unfree and scores of 0 to 4
signify that the media are unfree.
• According to Media Freedom Index, less than one-half of the global population had access to a
free or partially free media and enjoyed the right to speak freely.
• Only 30 countries out of 167, representing 11% of the world’s population—are classified as “fully
free”. Another 40 countries, representing 34.2% of the world’s population, are classified as
“partly free”.
• Some 97 countries on Media Freedom Index are rated as “unfree” or “largely unfree”.
India related facts:

• India was ranked 42nd on annual Global Democracy Index (GDI)-2017.

• India’s rank has slipped from 32nd in 2016 GDI and its overall score dropped 0.58 points from
7.81 to 7.23.
• Moreover, India was classified India as a flawed democracy in 2017 GDI.
• India’s overall score has fallen to 7.23 points, even as it scored well on electoral process and
pluralism (9.17). It scored low on other four parameters—political culture, functioning of
government, political participation and civil liberties.
2 2 Feb: World Wetlands Day:
 World Wetlands Day is celebrated every year on 2 February to raise global awareness about the
value of wetlands for humanity and the planet.
 It also marks the adoption of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in 1971 in the Iranian city of
Ramsar.
 World Wetlands Day has a different theme and message on a relevant subject set each year by
the Ramsar Secretariat which is based at the headquarters of the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Gland, Switzerland.
 Theme for 2018: Wetlands for a sustainable urban future.
Wetlands: What are they?

 Wetlands are transitional lands between terrestrial and aquatic eco-systems where water table
is usually at or near surface or land is covered by shallow water.
 It may be manmade or artificial.

 They support rich biodiversity and provide wide range of ecosystem services such as water
storage, aquifer recharge, water purification, flood mitigation, erosion control, act as carbon
sinks and others.
About the Ramsar Convention:

 It is the intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for the conservation and wise
use of wetlands and their resources.
 It came into force in 1975.
 It also seeks to promote conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local, regional and
national actions and international cooperation, as contribution towards achieving sustainable
development throughout world.
India related data:

 India is a party to the Convention since 1982 and committed to the Ramsar approach of wise use
of wetlands.
 The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is the nodal Ministry for wetlands
conservation.
 According to National Disaster Management Authority, over 40 million hectares which means
12% of land in India is prone to floods and river erosion.
 Wetlands in India account for 4.7% of the total geographical area.
 India currently has 26 sites designated as Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Sites),
with a surface area of 689,131 hectares.
3 India joins Ashgabat agreement:

 India has been admitted to Agreement on the Establishment of an International Transport and
Transit Corridor between the Governments of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Sultanate of
Oman, Turkmenistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan signed on 25 April 2011 (Ashgabat
Agreement).
 Turkmenistan, as depository State of Ashgabat Agreement has informed India that all the four
founding members have consented to the Accession of India and that India’s accession to the
Agreement will enter into force on 3 February 2018.
What is Ashgabat agreement?

Ashgabat Agreement envisages facilitation of transit and transportation of goods between Central Asia
and the Persian Gulf.
 The Ashgabat Agreement, aims to develop a shortest trade route between Central Asian countries
and Iranian and Omani ports.
 The transit agreement provides for a transit corridor across Central Asia and the Middle East
through the continuous landmass between Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Iran before
reaching the Persian Gulf and into Oman.

Background of this agreement:
 The Ashgabat Agreement has Oman, Iran, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan as founding members.
Kazakhstan has also joined this arrangement subsequently.
 Qatar withdrew from the agreement in 2013.
How is this agreement significant for India?

 Accession to the Agreement would enable India to utilise this existing transport and transit
corridor to facilitate trade and commercial interaction with the Eurasian region.
 Further, this would synchronize with India’s efforts to implement the International North South
Transport Corridor (INSTC) for enhanced connectivity.
 This move will further strengthen trade ties between India and the Eurasian region.
International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC):

The INSTC (International North South Transport Corridor) is a multi-modal trade transport network
that includes rail, road, and water transport from Mumbai in India via Bandar Abbas in Iran to
Moscow in Russia.
 The concept was initiated by Russia, India and Iran in September 2000 to establish
transportation networks among the member states and to enhance connectivity with the land
locked region of Central Asia.
 The Foreign Trade Policy of India, 2015-20, has highlighted the importance of the North-South
Transport Corridor in expanding India’s trade and investment links with Central Asia.
IWAI inks project agreement with World Bank for Jal Marg Vikas Project on Ganga:
 Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has signed a project agreement with the World Bank
and it has entered into a US $ 375 million loan agreement with the Department of Economic
Affairs, Ministry of Finance for Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) to enhance navigation on National
Waterway-1 from Varanasi to Haldia.
 The JMVP, which is expected to be completed by March, 2023, is being implemented with the
financial and technical support of the World Bank.

 The project will enable commercial navigation of vessels with the capacity of 1500-2,000 tons
on NW-I.
 The JMVP will result in an environment-friendly, fuel-efficient and cost-effective alternative
mode of transportation, especially for bulk goods, hazardous goods and over-dimensional
cargo.
 The National Waterway-1 along with proposed Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor and
National Highway-2, constitutes the Eastern Transport Corridor of India connecting the National
Capital Region (NCR) with the eastern and north-eastern states and will function as a link to
Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Nepal and other east and south-east Asian countries through
the Kolkata Port and Indo- Bangladesh Protocol Route.
What are Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC)?

 The Indian Railway has a big potential to develop goods transportation.
 In recent years, industrialisation and growing international trade along existing Eastern and
Western Routes has led to the demand for additional capacity for rail freight transportation.
 To develop the freight traffic infrastructure, the Government has designed an expansion drive
in the form of Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC).
 In the first phase, two corridors-the Western DFC (1504 route km) and Eastern DFC (Estimated
1856 route km)- with a total length of about 3360 route km were launched.
 Construction responsibility of DFCs is with Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India
Limited.
 The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) is a Special Purpose Vehicle set
up under the administrative control of Ministry of Railways to undertake planning &
development, mobilization of financial resources and construction, maintenance and operation
of the Dedicated Freight Corridors.
4 Government to launch KUSUM scheme to encourage farmers for solar

farming:
• The Government of India has announced Rs. 1.4 lakh crore Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan
Mahaabhiyan (KUSUM) Scheme.
• The objective of the scheme is to promote solar farming to help farmers across India with the
target of doubling farmer’s income by 2022.

• Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is going implement this Yojana.
• Government of India has strictly mentioned that the benefits of this Yojana are only for
the Farmers.
• Under the scheme, government will help farmers in setting up and generating solar power up
to 28,250 MW.
What are the benefits that would be provided?
 The government will provide subsidy to setup solar plants on unused lands of farmers by
providing 60% of the total cost as subsidy to the farmers.
 In addition to this, Banks will provide 30% of the total expenses as bank loans to the farmers.
 Henceforth, farmers will just have to bear an upfront cost of 10% to set up solar power projects.
 Central govt. will provide subsidy to the farmers directly into their bank account.
 There is also an opportunity for farmers to earn extra income by giving them an option to sell
additional power to DISCOMS through solar power projects set up on their barren lands.
 Govt. will incentivize DISCOMS to purchase additional energy generated by providing 50 paise
per unit to them for buying generated energy. This component will include subsidy of Rs. 4,875
crore.
 It will help in de-dieselising the agriculture sector by replacing the existing diesel pumps with
solar agricultural pumps as India had about 30 million farm pumps that include 10 million pumps
running on diesel.
Highlights from the Budget 2018-19 regarding this scheme:
 A budget of Rs. 48,000 crores is allocated under the Union Budget 2018-19 for next 10 years.
 Central govt. will distribute 17.5 lakh solar agriculture pumps to the farmers. The subsidy
component is Rs. 22,000 crores to buy solar grid pumps.
5 CriSidEx: CRISIL, SIDBI launches India’s first MSE Sentiment Index:
The Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs has launched CriSidEx, India’s first sentiment index
for micro and small enterprises (MSEs) developed jointly by CRISIL & SIDBI.
• CRISIL (Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited) is a global analytical company
providing ratings, research and risk advisory services with the mission of making markets
function better.
• SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India) is an independent financial institution
aimed to aid the growth and development of micro, small and medium-scale enterprises
(MSME) sector and for Co-ordination of the functions of the institutions engaged in similar
activities in India.
Features of the index:

 CriSidEx is a composite index based on a diffusion index of 8 parameters and measures MSE
business sentiment on a scale of 0 (extremely negative) to 200 (extremely positive).
 CriSidEx will have 2 indices, one for the ‘survey quarter’ and another for the ‘next quarter’ once
a trend emerges after few rounds of the survey, providing independent time series data. Thus,
the index will help to indicate the current state and expected outlook on the MSE sector every
quarter (i.e. It will be calculated for every three months).
Why India needs an MSE Sentiment Index?
 In India, there is a lack of barometer which can give us an understanding of the ground-level
understanding of the MSE sector. Though indices and sentiment surveys to track large and mid-
sized corporates are plenty and have been in existence for decades.
 There is a limited representation of MSEs – which account for 90% of enterprises in India and are
the second-largest employers after agriculture – in macro and micro assessments.
 Existing business indices focus on predicting the direction of annual change of GDP but not the
impact at micro level in each industry/sector.
 Policy makers are unable to assess the impact of their decisions on MSEs.
 There is a lack of data on employment and production cycles, which can be the basis of estimation
of employment and capital formation in the MSE sector.
 There is a significant lag in availability of financial information of MSEs which restricts lenders
from taking timely credit decisions. Access to formal finance remains the key challenge for MSEs.
 MSEs are unable to assess how they are faring versus peers.
 There is no sector-specific index that projects changes in sentiment and which will help MSEs
take important decisions.
Important development in the MSME sector:
 The Cabinet has approved a change in the basis of classifying Micro, Small and Medium
enterprises from ‘investment in plant & machinery/equipment’ to ‘annual turnover’.
 The Section 7 of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (MSMED) Act, 2006
will be amended to define units producing goods and rendering services in terms of annual
turnover.
Let us have a look at what is the existing classification:

The following is the new limits set:
6 Environment Ministry launches Green Good Deeds campaign:
 Aiming to sensitize the people and students, in particular, about climate change and global
warming, Union Ministry for Environment, Forests and Climate Change has launched an
awareness campaign ‘Green Goods campaign’.
 The Ministry has appealed to the teaching community to join the “Green Good Deeds” campaign
to sensitize the people and students.
 There is an emphasis laid on the need for ‘Green Sainiks’ to broaden the ‘Green Good Deeds’
campaign and take it to the grassroot level.
7 Government to ban cryptocurrencies from its payments system:

 India is planning steps to ensure cryptocurrencies are illegal within its payments system, while
at the same time appointing a regulator to oversee unregulated exchanges that trade in “crypto
assets”.
 In 2017, the Union Government had constituted a committee headed by Shri Dinesh Sharma, to
take stock of the current status of Virtual Currencies both in India and globally.
 The committee will finalize its recommendations by submitting its report in current fiscal year,
ending on March, 2018.
What has been the take of the government with regard to cryptocurrencies?
 In Union Budget 2018-19, finance minister Arun Jaitley had said that government does not
consider cryptocurrencies legal tender and it will take all measures to eliminate use of crypto
assets in financing illegitimate activities or as part of payment system.
 Earlier, Government had issued repeated warnings against digital currency investments, saying
these were like “ponzi schemes” that offer unusually high returns to early investors.
What has been the take of RBI with regard to cryptocurrencies?

With respect to the virtual currencies, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has also cautioned the users, holders
and traders of Virtual currencies about the potential financial, operational, legal, customer protection
and security related risks through press releases in December 2013 and February 2017.
What are Virtual Currencies?

 Virtual Currencies, also called as digital/crypto-currencies are a type of unregulated digital
money that is neither issued by a central bank/public authority, nor is necessarily attached to
a fiat currency, but is used and accepted among the members of a specific virtual community.
 They are capable of being transferred, stored or traded electronically.
 The examples of virtual currencies are Bitcoin, Litecoin, Darkcoin, Peercoin, Dogecoin,
Primecoin etc.
8 Government launches 3 tools to rank states, UTs on startup ecosystem:
 Three new tools for States and Union Territories for ranking of startups in the country was
launched by Union Minister of Commerce and Industry.
 The tools are: the State and Union Territory Startup Ranking Framework, the Compendium of
Good Practices for Promoting Startups in India and the Startup India Kit.
 These will act as catalysts to help the Startup India initiative to drive India’s economic growth.
Startup Ranking Framework:
 The key objective of the Startup States and UTs Ranking Framework is to encourage States and
UTs to take proactive steps towards strengthening the Startup ecosystems at the local level.
 The Ranking Framework will measure the impact of each step initiated at the local level for
building a strong Startup ecosystem.

 It will also enable continuous learning through the dissemination of good practices.
 It is based on the feedback collected from Startup ecosystem stakeholders, which include
startups, mentors, investors, accelerators, incubators and the government bodies. Areas which
should be given greater thrust like seed funding support, women entrepreneurship are given
more score.
 The parameters of this feedback focus on all the actions and initiatives undertaken by states on
or before March 2018.
 These include having a startup cell or helpline and a mobile or web portal for queries, the size of
the startup mentor network created by the state government and the number of key incubators
for incubation support to startups.
 The Startup India Hub portal will provide a platform for the launch of the Ranking Framework.
Startup India Compendium of Good Practices:
 It covers 95 good practices across 7 areas of intervention.

 These are distilled into 38 action points including Incubation Support, Seed Funding, Angel &
Venture Funding, Startup Policy & Implementation, Simplified Regulations, Easing Public
Procurement, Awareness & Outreach.
Startup India Kit:
 It is primarily a one-stop guide on all Startup India offerings.

 It offers vital information, advice and assistance through website links, statistics, tools, templates,
events, competitions and a glossary on startup terms.
 All the benefits available to startups from the Startup India initiative can be found in the kit.
Start-up India scheme:

 Startup India is a flagship initiative launched by the Government of India on 16th January, 2016
to build a strong eco-system for nurturing innovation and startups in the country which will drive
economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities.
 The Government through this initiative aims to empower startups to grow through innovation
and design.

What does the scheme provide?
 Simple Compliance Regime for start ups based on Self-certification.

 Single window clearance based on mobile App.
 Start up India Hub to handhold start ups during various phases of their development
 Legal support and fast-track patent examination by reducing 80% of the patent cost.
 Faster exit for start ups through modified new bankruptcy code ensuring 90 days exit window.
 Credit Guarantee Fund for start ups through Small Industries Development Bank of India
(SIDBI).
 Providing funding support through a Fund of Funds with a corpus of Rupees 10,000 crore
 Tax exemption on capital gains invested in Fund of Funds
 Tax exemption to start ups for 3 years.
 Exemption from labour inspection for 3 years.
 Launch of innovation hub through Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) with Self –Employment and
Talent Utilization (SETU) Program of NITI Aayog.
 Harnessing private sector expertise for setting up incubators.
 The initiative is also aimed at promoting entrepreneurship among SCs/STs, women communities.
 Rural India’s version of Start Up India was named the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Swaniyojan
Yojana.
9 THE World Rankings 2018: More Indian Universities in Asia’s Top 200:
 TIMES Higher Education (THE) World University Ranking has released the rankings for educational
institutes in Asia and only two Indian institutes have made their way to the top 50 Asian
institutes.
 The two institutes that have made their way to the top 50 are Indian Institute of Science at 29th
place and Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay at 44th rank.
 The institutes which have made their way to the top 100 are Indian Institute of Technology,
Kharagpur, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and
Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
 Total of 17 institutes from India have made their way to top 200 Asian Universities in
comparison to last year.
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings, founded in 2004, provide the definitive list
of the world's best universities, evaluated across teaching, research, international outlook, reputation
and more. THE’s data are trusted by governments and universities and are a vital resource for
students, helping them choose where to study.

10 Development of Solar Cities scheme: 60 Solar Cities to be developed:
• The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy under its scheme “Development of Solar Cities” has
approved/sanctioned 60 Cities including 13 Pilot and 5 Model Cities as part of the 12th five-year
plan period.
• So far, master plans of 49 Solar Cities have been prepared.
What is a solar city?
• The Solar City aims at minimum 10% reduction in projected demand of conventional energy at
the end of five years, through a combination of enhancing supply from renewable energy
sources in the city and energy efficiency measures.
• The basic aim is to motivate the local Governments for adopting renewable energy technologies
and energy efficiency measures.
• In a Solar City, all types of renewable energy-based projects like solar, wind, biomass, small
hydro, waste to energy etc. may be installed along with possible energy efficiency measures
depending on the need and resource availability in the city.
How does a city gets selected for development into a solar city?
• The city is identified based on the city population, its potential and commitment for adoption of
renewable energy and energy conservation activities in the city.
• The cities may have population between 0.50 lakh to 50 lakh, however, relaxation could be
considered for special category States including North-Eastern States and hilly States, Islands
and Union Territories.
Financial Assistance: Up to Rs. 50.00 Lakhs per city/town is provided depending upon population and
initiatives taken by the City Council/ Administration.
What is the need for Solar City?
• Urbanization and economic development are leading to a rapid rise in energy demand in urban
areas in our country leading to enhanced Green House Gas (GHG) emissions.
• Several Indian cities and towns are experiencing rapid growth in the peak electricity demand
and even it is difficult to cope with this rapid rise in demand and as a result most of the
cities/towns are facing electricity shortages.
• In this context, the “Development of Solar Cities” programme is designed to support/encourage
Urban Local Bodies to prepare a Road Map to guide their cities in becoming ‘renewable energy
cities’ or ‘solar cities’.

11 Cabinet approves putting ILO recommendation before Parliament:
 The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for
placing the new Instrument adopted by International Labour Organization (ILO)
Recommendation concerning “The Employment and Decent Work for Peace and Resilience
(No.-205)” before the Parliament.
 The International Labour Conference of ILO at its 106th Session held in Geneva in June, 2015
adopted the Recommendation. India supported the adoption of Recommendation.
 Each member state of ILO is required to submit the instruments so adopted before the
competent authority (the Parliament in case of India).
 The adoption and placing of the Instrument for the information of the Parliament does not create
any immediate obligation.
 An ILO Recommendations is a non-binding instrument which seeks to serve as a guiding
principle for national policy process.
 The Recommendation provides guidance to member States on the measures to be taken to
generate employment and decent work for the purposes of prevention, recovery, peace and
resilience with respect to crisis situations arising from conflicts and disasters.
 It states that Members should adopt a phased multi-track approach implementing coherent and
comprehensive strategies for promoting peace, preventing crises, enabling recovery and
building resilience.
 The approach should include promoting local economic recovery for employment and decent
work opportunities and socio-economic reintegration, social protection and social inclusion,
sustainable development, the creation of sustainable enterprises (in particular small and
medium-sized enterprises); ensuring consultation and encouraging active participation of
employers' and workers' organizations in planning, implementing and monitoring measures for
recovery and resilience.
 The Recommendation No. 205 is applicable to all workers and jobseekers, and to all employers,
in all sectors of the economy affected by crisis situations arising from conflicts and disasters
and to workers engaged in crisis response, including in the immediate response.
International Labour Organization (ILO):
 The ILO is United Nations agency dealing with labour issues, particularly international labour
standards, social protection, and work opportunities for all.
 It was established in 1919 as an agency of the League of Nations and is headquartered in
Geneva, Switzerland.

 India is a founder member of the ILO. At present, it has 187 members.
 The principal means of action in the ILO is the setting up of International standards in the form
of Conventions, Recommendations and Protocol.
 So far, India has ratified 45 Conventions, out of which 42 are in force. Out of these 4 are Core or
Fundamental or Conventions.
12 Cabinet approves Prime Minister Research Fellows Scheme:
 The Union Cabinet has approved implementation of 'Prime Minister's Research Fellows (PMRF)'
scheme at a total cost of Rs.1650 crore for a period of seven years beginning 2018-19.
 The scheme has been announced in the Budget Speech 2018-19.
 Under this scheme, the best students who have completed or are in the final year of B. Tech or
Integrated M.Tech or M.Sc. in Science and Technology streams from IISc/IITs/NITs/IISERs/IIITs
will be offered direct admission in PhD programme in the IITs/IISc.
 Such students, who fulfill the eligibility criteria, and shortlisted through a selection process, as
laid down in the PMRF Guidelines, will be offered a fellowship of Rs.70,000/- per month for the
first two years, Rs.75,000/- per month for the 3rd year, and Rs.80,000/- per month in the 4th
and 5th years.
 Apart from this, a research grant of Rs.2.00 lakh will be provided to each of the Fellows for a
period of 5 years to cover their foreign travel expenses for presenting research papers in
international conferences and seminars.
 A maximum of 3000 Fellows would be selected in a three-year period, beginning 2018-19.
 The scheme will go a long way in tapping the talent pool of the country for carrying out
research indigenously in cutting edge science and technology domains.
13 Cabinet approves Ratification of Minamata Convention on Mercury:
 The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal for ratification of Minamata Convention on
Mercury and depositing the instrument of ratification enabling India to become a Party of the
Convention.
 The approval entails Ratification of the Minamata Convention on Mercury along with flexibility
for continued use of mercury-based products and processes involving mercury compound up
to 2025.
 The Minamata Convention on Mercury will be implemented in the context of sustainable
development with the objective to protect human health and environment from the
anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds.
 The Convention protects the most vulnerable from the harmful effects of mercury and also
protects the developmental space of developing countries. Therefore, the interest of the poor
and vulnerable groups will be protected.
 The Minamata Convention on Mercury will further urge enterprises to move to mercury-free
alternatives in products and non-mercury technologies in manufacturing processes. This will
drive research & development and promote innovation.
More about the Convention:
 The Convention is global treaty that aims to protect human health and the environment from
anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds.
 It derives its name after Japanese city Minamata which had went through devastating incident
of mercury poisoning.
 It aims to control anthropogenic releases of mercury throughout its lifecycle.
 The Convention was agreed at 5th session of Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on
Mercury in Geneva, Switzerland in January 2013 and was adopted in October 2013 at Diplomatic
Conference (Conference of Plenipotentiaries), Kumamoto, Japan.
 The convention has prohibited a myriad of products containing mercury and their production &
trade altogether by 2020 except where countries have requested an exemption for an initial 5-
year period.
What are the obligations on Parties of Convention?
• Ban on new mercury mines, the phase-out of existing ones.

• Phase out and phase down of mercury use in a number of products and processes.
• Control measures on emissions to air and on releases to land and water.
• Regulation of the informal sector of artisanal and small-scale gold mining.
14 CCEA approves enhancement of target under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala

Yojana:
 The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi,
has approved to enhance of the target of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) from five
crore to eight crore with an additional allocation of Rs. 4,800 crore.
 The decision comes in the wake of huge response to Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) from
the women particularly in rural areas and to cover such households not having LPG connection.
 The revised target of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) will be achieved by 2020.
More about the scheme:
 Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) aims to safeguard the health of women & children
by providing them with a clean cooking fuel – LPG (it provides free LPG connections to
women from BPL households), so that they don’t have to compromise their health in smoky
kitchens or wander in unsafe areas collecting firewood.
 Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana was launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi
on May 1st, 2016 in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh.
 This is a scheme of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.
 Ujjwala scheme provides financial support of Rs.1,600 for each cooking gas connection to
eligible households.
 The connections are given in the name of the women heads of households. The
government also provides an equated monthly instalment facility for meeting the cost of
stove and refills.
Number of Target beneficiaries under PMUY:

 Under the PMUY, the original target was to release 3 crore connections by the end of FY 2017-
18, but as a result of efficient scheme implementation and monitoring, more than 3.35 crore
connections have been released till date across all States/UTs, largely benefitting SC/ST
communities.
 In all, more than 4.65 crore applications have been received.
 In order to ensure smooth implementation of the Scheme, as the number of applications touches
the 5-crore mark and on account of huge response from women, particularly in rural areas, it has
been decided to enhance the target from 5 crore to 8 crore.
 This new target is to be achieved by 2020.
 An additional allocation of Rs.4800 crore has been made to the scheme as the number of
beneficiaries have been increased to 8 crore.
 Initially, PMUY envisaged a target of 5 crore connections with an allocation of Rs. 8000 crore over
a period of 3 years starting from FY 2016-17.
Identification of beneficiaries:
 While expanding the target, the Government has also addressed the practical difficulty faced in
PMUY implementation, namely, genuinely poor households left out of Socio Economic Caste
Survey (SECC) list.
 The government has approved to expand the Scheme to cover all SC/ST households, beneficiaries
of PMAY (Gramin), Antyoday Anna Yojana (AAY), Forest dwellers, Most Backward Classes (MBC),
Tea and Ex-Tea Garden Tribes, people residing in Islands and rivers etc. in addition to SECC
identified households.
15 Cabinet approves Amendment to MSME Act to change classification

criteria:
Kindly refer: ‘Important amendment in the MSME Sector’ section of the news ‘CriSidEx: CRISIL, SIDBI
launches India’s first MSE Sentiment Index.

16 Government approves construction of over 1.86 lakh more houses under
PMAY-Urban:
 The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has approved the construction of over 1.86
lakh more affordable houses for urban poor under its urban housing scheme, taking the total
number of houses to over 39.25 lakh.
 Haryana has been sanctioned maximum number of 53,290 houses in this round of approval,
followed by Tamil Nadu (40,623 houses), Karnataka (32,656), Gujarat (15,584), Maharashtra
(12,123), Kerala (9,461), Uttarakhand (6,226) and Orissa (5,133).
More about the scheme:

We shall have a look at the background:
First we need to understand that there is PMAY (For Urban) and there is PMAY (Gramin).
Public housing programme in the country started with the rehabilitation of refugees immediately after
independence and since then, it has been a major focus area of the Government as an instrument of
poverty alleviation.
Rural housing programme, as an independent programme, started with Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) in
January 1996.
Before 1996: What was the background of IAY?
 Indira Awaas Yojana was launched in 1985 by Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, as
one of the major flagship programs of the Ministry of Rural Development to construct houses
for BPL population in the villages.
 Started in 1985 as part of the Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP), Indira
Awaas Yojana (IAY) was subsumed in Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY) in 1989 and has been
operating as an independent scheme since 1996.
So when did IAY become PMAY-Gramin?
To address the gaps in the rural housing program, the scheme of IAY has been re-structured into
Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana –Gramin (PMAY-G) w.e.f. 1st April 2016.
A similar scheme for urban poor was launched in 2015 as Housing for All by 2022.
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban):
 Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana is a programme by Government of India to ensure “Housing for all
by 2022’’.
 Under this, there is a Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme on home loans for properties in urban
market belonging to Economically Weaker Section (EWS), Low Income Group (LIG) and Middle-
Income Group 1 & 2 (MIG).
The following is the Income group:
The interest subsidy for the various groups are as follows:
17 India ranks 44 in US Chamber’s Intellectual Property Index:

 India has improved its performance both in relative and absolute terms in the latest edition of
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Innovation Policy Center’s (GIPC) ‘International IP
Index,’ which analyses the intellectual property (IP) climate in 50 world economies, including
India.
 India has ranked 44th of 50 economies – a jump from 43rd of 45 economies one year ago,
according to the sixth edition of the Index.
 The index ranks economies based on 40 unique indicators that benchmark activity critical to
innovation development surrounding patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secrets
protection.
 Compared with 25 percent (8.75 out of 35) of the possible total score in the fifth edition, India
scored 30 percent (12.03 out of 40) in the sixth edition, representing the largest percentage
improvement of any country measured.
 The factors that helped India improve its score included passing guidelines to strengthen the
patentability environment for technological innovations, improving the protection of well-known
trademarks, as well as initiating IP awareness and coordination programs — thereby
implementing some tenets of its 2016 National IPR Policy.
 The U.S. led the list with 37.98 points, followed by the U.K (37.97) and Sweden (37.03).
18 India Health Fund to boost research on TB, malaria:
 The India Health Fund (IHF), an initiative by Tata Trusts, in collaboration with the Global Fund
has come forward to financially support innovations and technologies designed to
combat tuberculosis and malaria.
 The IHF aims to support new products and strategies that impact the entire lifecycle of TB
and malaria, from prevention to post-cure recovery.
 The IHF aims to support individuals and organizations with already germinated innovative
strategies, services, products, such that they become sustainable and scalable solutions in
addressing TB and malaria.
 This initiative is aligned with the country’s goal of eliminating TB by 2025 and malaria by 2030.
 The four areas of research for which applications are invited are:
 Use of technology and data science to strengthen surveillance of TB and malaria, inform early
warning systems, and improve early detection and prompt treatment;
 Promotion of robust molecular diagnostic facilities feasible for primary healthcare in low-
resource settings;
 Innovations on effective communication strategies that will prevent transmission of TB and
malaria, and enable people to protect themselves from the diseases, and finally;
 Research on innovative approaches to vector surveillance.
19 Government to establish National Women Entrepreneurship Council:
 The Ministry of Women and Child Development is considering to establish National Women
Entrepreneurship Council (NWEC).
 NWEC will promote entrepreneurship as it would be the umbrella organization for socio-
economic gender parity, financial inclusion and economic empowerment of women in India.
 It will give advice to the government on issues related to entrepreneurship.
20 Government launches National Deworming initiative:
 The Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare has launched the National Deworming Day at
a function at Gurugram on 10th February, 2018.
 One of the interventions, the National Deworming Day, is one of the largest public health
initiatives in the world.
 The Union Health Minister announced that for this round of National Deworming Day, the
Government is aiming to reach more than 32.2 crore children.
What is this initiative all about?
 The National Deworming Day is a single fixed-day approach to treating intestinal worm
infections in all children aged 1- 19 years and is held on 10 February and 10 August each year.
 Having conducted five rounds of National Deworming Day since February 2015, the mass
deworming program aims to reach all children at schools and anganwadis with the deworming
treatment.
 Any child not dewormed on National Deworming Day due to absenteeism or sickness, will be
dewormed on mop-up day, 15 February.
 The Ministry had first launched National Deworming Day (NDD) in 2015 which was
implemented in 11 States/UTs across all Government and Government-aided schools and
Anganwadi centres targeting children aged 1 to 19 years. Since then the program has been
scaled up throughout the country.
 The National Deworming Day will mobilize health personnel, state governments and other
stakeholders to prioritize investment in control of Soil Transmitted Helminth (STH) infections—
one of the most common infections.
 It aims to create mass awareness about the most effective and low-cost STH treatment-
administering Albendazole tablets.
 Along with Albendazole administration, behaviour change practices in terms of cleanliness,
hygiene, use of toilets, wearing shoes/chappals, washing hands etc. is also important to reduce
incidents of re-infection.

21 Independent debt management office must be set up: NITI Aayog
 The Niti Aayog’s Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar has made a strong case for setting up a self-
governing debt management office, for better servicing of loans, which will lead to considerable
reduction in India’s interest payment.
 Currently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) manages the government debt.
 Setting up a self-governing debt management office will help to resolve the issue concerning to
the clash of interest as RBI decides on key interest rates as well as undertakes to buy and selling
of government bonds.
 The importance of such an office is that it will help in reinforcing bond market and help to
promote investments.
 It will be in execution for global practice of shifting public debt management from central bank
to a debt management office.
What is the India’s debt status?
 According to the Budget 2018-19 document, India’s total debt is estimated at Rs 66.68 lakh
crore at end of March 2018.
 It is likely to go up to Rs 72.51 lakh crore by March 2019.
 The interest payment on public debt is estimated to rise from Rs 5.3 lakh crore in 2017-18 to Rs
5.75 lakh in 2018-19.
 In the February 2015 Budget speech, the Finance Minister had proposed to set up independent
Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) within the Finance Ministry.
22 UP Government launches DASTAK campaign to eradicate Japanise

Encephalitis:
 Uttar Pradesh State government in association with UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund)
has launched massive door to door campaign DASTAK to eradicate deadly Acute Encephalitis
Syndrome (AES) and Japanese Encephalitis (JE) disease in the state.
 DASTAK campaign is part of the comprehensive Social and Behaviour Change Communication
(SBCC) strategy embraced by state government to beat encephalitis.
 The war cry of DASTAK is 'Darwaja Khatkhatao, AES aur JE ko bhagao'.
 In DASTAK campaign, whole state machinery with the help of UNICEF will now literally go door
to door in 38 JES and AE affected districts which mostly fall in the Terai region which contributes
to about 60% of total AES cases all over the country.
More about the disease:

 Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus.
 It belongs to the same genus as dengue, yellow fever and West Nile viruses.
 It primarily affects children. Most adults in endemic countries have natural immunity after
childhood infection, but individuals of any age may be affected.
 It is transmitted by rice field breeding mosquitoes (primarily Culex tritaeniorhynchus group).
 The mosquitoes transmit JE by feeding on domestic pigs and wild birds infected with the
Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV).
 It is not transmitted from person-to-person. JE transmission mainly intensifies during the rainy
season, during which vector populations increase.
23 February 12: National Productivity Day:
 The National Productivity Council observed the National Productivity Day (NPD) on 12 February
2018. The council is also observing the National Productivity Week till February 18.
 The theme for NPD 2018 is 'Industry 4.0 Leapfrog Opportunity for India'.
 This year it is 60th Anniversary of the NPC and is being celebrated as Diamond Jubilee Year.
The National Productivity Council (NPC):
 National Productivity Council, an autonomous body under Department of Industrial Policy &
Promotion, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India was established on
12th February 1958, with the objective of stimulating and promoting productivity and quality
consciousness across all sectors in the country.
 It is a tri-partite non-profit organization (NGO) with equal representation from government,
employers and workers’ organizations.
 It also has representatives from technical and professional institutions including members from
local productivity councils and chamber of commerce on its governing body.
What is Industry 4.0:
 It is also called as fourth industrial revolution.

 It is emerging globally as powerful force and is being called as next industrial revolution.
 It is characterized by increasing digitization and interconnection of products, value chains and
business models.

 Industry 4.0 means convergence of real and virtual worlds. It is the next phase in bringing
together conventional and modern technologies in manufacturing.
 It will result in “Smart Factory”, which is characterized by versatility, ergonomic design, resource
efficiency and direct integration with business partners.
What were the previous Industrial revolutions?
 First: The first industrial revolution was triggered by water and steam power to move to
mechanical manufacturing from human labour.
 Second: The second industrial revolution built on electric power for mass production.
 Third: The third industrial revolution used electronic and information technology to automate
manufacturing.
 Fourth: The fourth industrial revolution is the current trend of automation and data exchange
in manufacturing technologies.
24 4th Meeting of Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister held in New

Delhi:
The 4th meeting of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) was held on
12th February 2018 under the chairmanship of Dr Bibek Debroy, Chairman, EAC-PM & Member, NITI
Aayog.
More about the Economic Advisory Council to PM:
 PMEAC is a non-constitutional and non-statutory, non-permanent and independent body,

constituted with the prime and sole aim to analyse all critical issues, economic or otherwise,
referred to it by the Prime Minister and advising him thereon.
 It was established on 25th September, 2017.
 Bibek Debroy, NITI Aayog member is the chairman of the Council.
 Its mandate is to give advice to the Prime Minister on economic matters such as inflation, GDP
changes, export-import changes, creating supporting environment for increased trade and
commerce.
25 Yes Bank lists $600 million MTN bond on India INX:
 Yes Bank, India’s fifth largest private sector bank, headquartered in Mumbai, has announced
the listing of its debut $600 million bond issue under its maiden $1 billion medium term notes
(MTN) programme on Global Securities Market (GSM) of India INX.
 INX’s GSM segment is India’s first debt listing platform. It allows raising funds in any currency of
choice by both foreign and Indian issuers from investors across the globe.
 Yes Bank will use the proceeds to fund the bank’s IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) in Gift City and expand
IBU’s rapidly growing business opportunities.

India International Exchange (India INX):
 India-INX is India s first international exchange at IFSC Gujarat International Financial Tech
(GIFT) City, Gandhinagar.
 It is wholly-owned subsidiary of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), through its global bourse.
 It is one of the world’s most advanced and fastest trading technology platforms with turn-
around time of 4 micro seconds.
 It will operate for 22 hours a day allowing international investors and NRIs to trade from
anywhere across globe.
 It trades in equity derivatives, currency derivatives, commodity derivatives including Index and
Stocks. It also offers depository receipts and bonds.
26 Government extends anti-narcotics scheme for 3 more years:
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has extended the anti-narcotics scheme for 3 more years to
combat illicit trafficking in drugs and psychotropic substance.
Anti-Narcotics Scheme:
 The scheme was first launched in October 2004 for a period of five years.
 It was later extended twice in subsequent years.
 The purpose of the scheme is to assist states and Union Territories, which are contributing in
controlling the inter-state and cross-border drug trafficking.
 In India, there are approximately 40 lakh drug addicts. The most common drugs of abuse are
ganja, opium and heroin.
 There is a serious abuse of pharmaceutical preparations like ‘buprenorphine’, codeine-based
cough syrups and painkillers like ‘proxivon’.
 In certain regions of country, drug abuse already has become severe social-economic problem
affecting vulnerable age groups.
27 World Sustainable Development Summit 2018 held in New Delhi:
 The World Sustainable Development Summit 2018 (WSDS) was inaugurated by the PM Narendra
Modi at the Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
 WSDS is the flagship forum of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).
 The Summit is held under the aegis of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
with support from the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India and is an epitome of
Track 2 diplomacy.
 The Summit brings together senior political representatives and leading policy makers,
researchers and business leaders around the world to deliberate and create solutions towards
a sustainable future.
Important points regarding 2018 Summit:

 The theme of the 2018 edition is ‘Partnerships for a Resilient Planet’.
 It seeks to create action frameworks to resolve some of most urgent challenges facing
developing economies in backdrop of climate change.
 The thematic tracks at WSDS 2018 included discussions on issues related to sustainability,
including carbon markets and pricing, sustainable transport, resilient cities, solar energy and
refrigerant technologies.
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

 TERI is a non-profit research institution that conducts research work in the fields of energy,
environment and sustainable development.
 It aims to focus on formulating local and national level strategies for shaping global solutions to
critical issues.
 It was established in 1974 as Tata Energy Research Institute and was renamed The Energy and
Resources Institute in 2003.
28 Haryana opens four subsidised canteens under Antyodaya Aahaar

Yojana:
 The Haryana government has opened subsidized canteens in four districts — Faridabad,
Gurugram, Hisar and Yamunanagar — under the ‘Antyodaya Aahaar Yojana’ that will offer a
meal at Rs. 10 to the poor.
 The government plans to establish a total of 23 such canteens.
Antyodaya Aahaar Yojana:
 The scheme was launched on the occasion of the Republic Day (26th January, 2018) celebrations
in Panchkula, Haryana.
 Its objective is to provide good quality of healthy and nutritious food at affordable lower costs to
poor, homeless people who are officially designated to be below the poverty line (BPL status).
 Its primary beneficiaries are daily wage labourers, senior citizens, homeless and needy people,
and underpaid factory workers.
29 Home Ministry organises Watan Ko Jano programme:
 The Ministry of Home Affairs had recently organized Youth Exchange Programme – Watan ko
Jano programme.
 Under it, the PM and the Union Home Minister met youth of Jammu and Kashmir in New Delhi.
 Around 200 youth from state visited different places of the country as part of the programme.
About the programme:

 It is sponsored jointly by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Central government and J&K State
Rehabilitation Council Welfare Department.
 It aims to give exposure to youth and children of J&K about the cultural and socio-economic
development taking place in other parts of India.
 Youth and children hit by militancy and from weaker sections from J&K are selected for the
programme.
30 India is Global Host for World Environment Day 2018:
 India is the global host of 2018 World Environment Day which will take place on June 5, 2018.
 With “Beat Plastic Pollution” as the theme for this year’s edition, the world is coming together
to combat single-use plastic pollution.
 “Beat Plastic Pollution”, the theme for World Environment 2018, urges governments, industry,
communities, and individuals to come together and explore sustainable alternatives and urgently
reduce the production and excessive use of single-use plastic polluting our oceans, damaging
marine life and threatening human health.
World Environment Day:
 World Environment Day is a UN Environment-led global event, the single largest celebration of
our environment each year, which takes place on June 5 and is celebrated by thousands of
communities worldwide.
 Since it began in 1972, it has grown to become a global platform for public outreach that is
widely celebrated across the globe.
 Most of all, World Environment Day is a day of everyone around the world to take ownership of
their environment and to actively engage in the protection of our earth.
 UNEP: The United Nations Environment Programme is an agency of United Nations and
coordinates its environmental activities, assisting developing countries in
implementing environmentally sound policies and practices. It is headquartered in Nairobi,
Kenya.
31 21 February: International Mother Language Day:
 The International Mother Language Day (IMLD) was observed across the world on 21 February
to promote awareness of linguistic, multilingualism and cultural diversity.
 This year it is the 18th anniversary of IMLD.
 The theme of 2018 International Mother Language Day is ‘Linguistic diversity and
multilingualism count for sustainable development’.
 It requires mastery over mother tongue to foster sustainable development.
 Observance of this day also supports target 6 of Goal 4 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
which states that ensure that all youth and a substantial portion of adults, both men and women,
achieve literacy and numeracy.
 The International Mother Language Day was instituted by United Nations General Assembly
(UNGA) by passing resolution 61/266 in 2007.
 The day, February 21 in 1952 assumes special significance in Bangladesh where scores of people
(activists), mostly students and teachers of the Dhaka University, were mercilessly shot down by
the Pakistani army when Bangladesh was East Pakistan.
 The activists had protested against imposition of Urdu as the national language side-stepping
Bengali – their mother tongue and the protest came to be known as Language Movement.
32 CCEA approves methodology for auction of commercial coal mines to

private sector:
 The government has approved opening up of coal mining to the private sector for commercial
use, a major reform in the sector since its nationalization in 1973.
 The reform is expected to bring efficiency in the coal sector by moving from an era of monopoly
(by state-backed Coal India Limited) to competition.
 Following nationalization, only state-owned CIL was allowed to sell coal. The state-owned entity
currently accounts for over 80% of domestic coal output.
 It will increase competitiveness and allow the best possible technology into the sector. The
higher investment will create direct and indirect employment in coal bearing areas, especially in
the mining sector and will have an impact on economic development of these regions.
 While coal mines were till now auctioned for captive power generation, they will now be sold in
an e-auction to private domestic and global miners.
Methodology approved:
 The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
has approved the methodology for auction of coal mines / blocks for sale of coal under the Coal
Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 and the Mines and Minerals (Development and
Regulation) Act, 1957.
 The methodology gives highest priority to transparency, ease of doing business and ensures
that natural resources are used for national development.
 The auction will be an ascending forward auction whereby the bid parameter will be the price
offer in Rs/tonne which will be paid to the State Government on the actual production of coal.
 There shall be no restriction on the sale and/or utilization of coal from the coal mine.

Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015:
The objective of this act is to empower the government to allocate the coal mines on the basis of
competitive bidding to ensure continuity in coal mining operations and promote optimum utilization of
coal resources.
The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957:

 It is an act enacted to regulate the mining sector in India. This Act was amended in 2015 and
2016.
 It forms the basic framework of mining regulation in India.
 This act is applicable to all mineral except coal, minor minerals and atomic minerals.
 It focuses on the process and conditions for acquiring a mining or prospecting license in India.
33 Cabinet approves creation of National Urban Housing Fund:

 The Union Cabinet has approved the creation of National Urban Housing Fund (NUHF) for
Rs.60,000 crores.
 The aim is to cater to the demand of housing shortage of nearly 1.2 crore and make available
housing to all by 2022, till 75th Anniversary of Independence.
 This fund will be situated in Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC), an
autonomous body registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 under the Ministry of
Housing and Urban Affairs.
 39.4 lakh houses have been sanctioned by the Ministry, under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana
(Urban).
 Finance minister Arun Jaitley had proposed the creation of such a fund in the budget speech
(2018-19) and said that 3.7 million homes would be built in urban areas in 2018-19 and 5.1 million
in rural areas.
Kindly refer to the ‘Government approves construction of over 1.86 lakh more houses under PMAY-
Urban’ news for details regarding the ‘Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana’.
34 Government sets up the NITI Forum for Northeast:

 The Union Government has issued an order setting up the ‘Niti Forum for North-East’.
 The forum will be co-chaired by the Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog and Minister of State (I/C),
Ministry of Development of Northeastern Region (DoNER). The forum will have its Secretariat in
the Ministry of DoNER.
 The NITI Forum for Northeast is tasked to identify various constraints on the way of accelerated,
inclusive and sustainable economic growth in the North East Region of the country and to
recommend suitable interventions for addressing identified constraints.
 It will also review the development status in the NER.

35 N Gopalaswami Committee to select top 20 educational institutes of
eminence:
 The University Grants Commission has on February 20, 2018 constituted a four-member
Empowered Expert Committee (EEC) with former chief election commissioner N Gopalaswami
as its chairperson to shortlist 20 Institutions of Eminence (IoE) from among 104 institutions
(public or private) that have applied for the status.
 The UGC has constituted the committee after the MHRD approved it as per the UGC (Institutions
of Eminence Deemed to be Universities) Regulation, 2017, and UGC (Declaration of Government
Educational Institutions as Institutions of Eminence) Guidelines, 2017.
Institutions of Eminence:
 The scheme of Institutions of Eminence was rolled out by University Grants Commission (UGC).
 It aims to help 20 higher education (10 public and 10 private) institutions from country break
into top 500 global rankings in 10 years, and then eventually break into top 100 over time.
 These selected institutions are proposed to have greater autonomy compared to other higher
education institutions.
 They will be free to decide their fee for domestic and foreign students and have flexible course
duration and structure.
 They will be exempted from approvals of government or UGC for academic collaborations with
foreign institutions, except institutions in MEA and MHA’s list of negative countries.
 Once identified, the target for Institutions of Eminence will be to break into top 100 bracket in
one internationally reputed ranking framework in 10 years.
 The 10 government institutions selected will also get Rs 1,000 crore each from HRD Ministry to
achieve world-class status. There will be no financial assistance to the private institutions.
 Only higher education institutions, currently placed in the top 500 of global rankings or top 50
of National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), are eligible to apply for eminence tag.
 The private Institutions of Eminence can also come up as greenfield ventures provided
sponsoring organisation submits convincing perspective plan for 15 years.
36 RBI constitutes YH Malegam committee to monitor bad loans, rising cases

of frauds, audits:
 The ₹11,500-crore fraud at the Punjab National Bank has prompted the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) to set up a committee under former board member Y.H. Malegam to look into the reasons
and suggest steps to prevent such occurrences.
 The committee will also look into the issue of huge non-performing asset divergences —
between what banks classify and what is detected in RBI inspection — and recommend steps to
address the issue.
 It will suggest steps needed to prevent it, factors leading to increasing incidence of frauds in
banks and measures (including IT interventions) needed to curb and prevent it.
 It will also look into role and effectiveness of various types of audits conducted in banks in
mitigating the incidence of such divergence and frauds.
37 India ranks 81st in Corruption Perception Index 2017:

 India’s ranking in the annual corruption index, released by Berlin-based non-government
organisation Transparency International (TI), slid to 81 among a group of 180 countries.
 The Corruption Perception Index 2017 also singled out India as one of the “worst offenders” in
the Asia-Pacific region.
 In 2016, India was in the 79th place among 176 countries. India’s ranking in the index had
plummeted in 2013 and 2014 in the wake of the spectrum and coal scams.
 The ranking has improved since then but seems to be showing signs of weakening.
 The index, which measures perception of corruption in the public sector, uses a scale of 0 to 100,
where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
 India’s score remained intact at 40 points in both 2016 and 2017.
 New Zealand and Singapore scored the highest scores with 89 and 84 out of 100, respectively.
 Somalia was found to be the most corrupt country in the world.
 A majority of the world’s countries scored below 50 on the index with the global average score
coming at around 43.
 India’s score of 40 in 2017 puts it below the global average.
38 RBI launches Ombudsman scheme for NBFCs:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued an ombudsman scheme for non-banking finance companies
(NBFCs), offering a grievance redressal mechanism for their customers.
Name of the scheme: It may be called the Ombudsman Scheme for Non-Banking Financial Companies,
2018.
The Scheme shall come into effect and force from February 23, 2018.
Objective of the scheme: The Scheme is introduced with the object of enabling resolution of complaints
free of cost, relating to certain aspects of services rendered by certain categories of non-banking
financial companies registered with the Reserve Bank, to facilitate the satisfaction or settlement of such
complaints, and matters connected therewith.
Coverage: It shall extend to the whole of India.

Applicable to? The Scheme shall apply to the business in India of a Non-Banking Financial Company as
defined under the Scheme.
The salient features of the scheme:
 The RBI has enacted this scheme by exercising the powers it has under Section 45L of the
Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
 To begin with, the Scheme will cover all deposit-taking NBFCs. Based on the experience gained,
the RBI would extend the scheme to cover NBFCs having asset size of Rs. One Billion and above
with customer interface.
 The Scheme provides for an Appellate mechanism under which the complainant/NBFC has the
option to appeal against the decision of the Ombudsman before the Appellate Authority.
 The offices of the NBFC Ombudsmen will function at four metro centres viz. Chennai, Kolkata,
Mumbai and New Delhi and will handle complaints of customers in the respective zones.
 The Non-Banking Financial Company - Infrastructure Finance Company (NBFC-IFC), Core
Investment Company (CIC), Infrastructure Debt Fund - Non-Banking Financial Company
(IDFNBFC) and an NBFC under liquidation, are excluded from the ambit of the Scheme.
 Under this scheme, any customer or person can file compliant with ombudsman on various
grounds.
 Only written complaints or those in electronic format will be accepted.
 The complaint may be with respect to non-payment or inordinate delay in payment of interest,
non-repayment of deposits, lack of transparency in loan agreement, non-compliance with RBI
directives on fair practices code for NBFCs, levying of charges without sufficient notice to
customers and failure or delay in returning securities documents despite repayment of dues
among others.
 RBI will appoint one or more of its officers in rank of not less than General Manager (GM) to be
known as Ombudsman to carry out functions.
 The appointment will for period not exceeding three years at time.
 It will obligation of NBFC concerned to implement settlement arrived with complainant or Award
passed by Ombudsman when it becomes final and send report in this regard to RBI within 15 days
of award becoming final.
 In case of non-implementation of settlement or Award, the complainant may represent to RBI
and RBI may initiate such action under provisions of RBI Act, 1934 as it deems fit.
‘Non-Banking Financial Company’ (NBFC) means a ‘non-banking financial company’, as defined in

Section 45-I(f) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, and registered with the Reserve Bank under
Section 45-IA of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, which
(a) is authorized to accept deposits, or
(b) has customer interface, with assets size of one billion rupees or above as on the date of the audited
balance sheet date of the previous financial year, or of any such asset size as the RBI may prescribe,
but, is not a Nonbanking Financial Company - Infrastructure Finance Company (NBFC-IFC), Core

Investment Company (CIC) , Infrastructure Debt Fund - Non-banking Financial Company (IDF-NBFC)
and a company under liquidation.
Who is an Ombudsman?
 An ombudsman is an authority, appointed by the government and even private bodies to
investigate complaints against an authority.
 Essentially, the ombudsman is an intermediate person who tries to resolve the complaints
which one party has raised against the other. Their task is to look into the complaint and
resolve the matter in a peaceful manner. Generally, it is meant to be used by a service
consumer.
 In other words, the ombudsman is supposed to provide quick, neutral and cost-effective
justice to an aggrieved complainant.
 He tries to bring the issue of the consumer/complainant to the service provider’s notice so
that it can be resolved.
 In India, ombudsman exists for sectors like insurance, income tax, banking and other sectors
as well.
 So you can approach the Insurance Ombudsman for your insurance related complaints; the
Banking Ombudsman for banking related complaints and the Income Tax Ombudsman for
income tax related complaints.
39 RBI directs banks to link SWIFT to core banking solutions by April 2018:
 The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed banks to link the SWIFT (Society for World
Interbank Financial Telecommunication System platform) — a global financial messaging
service which was misused by jeweler Nirav Modi at Punjab National bank — with the core
banking solutions (CBS) of banks by April 30, 2018.
 While the failure of SWIFT-CBS link led to the Rs 11,400 crore fraud at PNB, many banks are yet
to establish the linkage.
 There was an urgent need for banks to revisit their surveillance system and plug the loopholes.
SWIFT system:
 The SWIFT system promoted in 1973 by banks globally is used to transmit messages relating to
cross border financial transactions.
 Globally over 11,000 financial institutions in more than 200 countries use the services of SWIFT
which is viewed as secure.
 On receiving this message through SWIFT, banks abroad, mostly branches of Indian banks abroad,
especially in the case of Indian firms provide funds to the company.
 This credit which is against import documents is normally for 90 days and this facility is used
regularly especially by companies which are in the business of gold, gems and jewellery.

 This is essentially a short term foreign currency loan on which banks charge say 60 to 90 basis
points over the London Interbank Offered Rate or Libor — the international benchmark for
pricing loans or lending.
 Companies take recourse to this form of funding as the costs of raising money overseas are
relatively lower compared to rupee funding.
 Nirav Modi allegedly acquired fraudulent letters of undertaking (LoU) from PNB’s Brady House
branch in Mumbai to secure overseas credit from other Indian lenders using the SWIFT system
which was not linked to CBS.
 Approval for issuance of LOUs frequently, whether forged or otherwise and for such huge
amounts without it being captured in the system or red flagged is a major internal control failure
rather than just the transmitters of messages through SWIFT.
40 UIDAI launches Blue coloured Bal Aadhaar:

 Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the nodal authority for issuing Aadhaar cards has
rolled out ‘Bal Aadhaar’, meant for kids under 5 years of age.
 Bal Aadhaar literally means Kid’s Aadhaar.
 It will have blue colour to differentiate it with regular Aadhaar.
 It will be linked with one of parent’s Aadhaar card.
 Biometrics are not developed for children before 5 years of age. Hence, during Aadhar
enrolment child’s Aadhaar data does not include biometric info like fingerprints and Iris scan.
 Once the kid crosses 5 years of age, then regular Aadhaar will be issued, which will have the
biometric details.
What is Aadhaar?
 Aadhaar is 12-digit number which acts as proof of identity and address anywhere in the country.
 It is considered as world’s largest national identification project.
 It collects biometric and demographic data of residents and stores them in a centralized
database.
 It is issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).


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Economics, Social Issues and Finance related

Current Affairs for the month of Feb 2018 for RBI

www.edutap.co.in Call us at 8146207241- Write to us at deepak@edutap.co.in

www.edutap.co.in Call us at 8146207241- Write to us at deepak@edutap.co.in

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Important points at the global level:

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A special mention: Freedom of speech under attack:

India related facts:

www.edutap.co.in Call us at 8146207241- Write to us at deepak@edutap.co.in

2 2 Feb: World Wetlands Day:

Wetlands: What are they?

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About the Ramsar Convention:

India related data:

3 India joins Ashgabat agreement:

What is Ashgabat agreement?

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How is this agreement significant for India?

International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC):

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What are Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC)?

4 Government to launch KUSUM scheme to encourage farmers for solar

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What are the benefits that would be provided?

Highlights from the Budget 2018-19 regarding this scheme:

5 CriSidEx: CRISIL, SIDBI launches India’s first MSE Sentiment Index:

Features of the index:

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Why India needs an MSE Sentiment Index?

Important development in the MSME sector:

Let us have a look at what is the existing classification:

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6 Environment Ministry launches Green Good Deeds campaign:

7 Government to ban cryptocurrencies from its payments system:

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What has been the take of RBI with regard to cryptocurrencies?

What are Virtual Currencies?

8 Government launches 3 tools to rank states, UTs on startup ecosystem:

Startup Ranking Framework:

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Startup India Compendium of Good Practices:

 It covers 95 good practices across 7 areas of intervention.

Startup India Kit:

 It is primarily a one-stop guide on all Startup India offerings.

Start-up India scheme:

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 Simple Compliance Regime for start ups based on Self-certification.

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What is a solar city?

What is the need for Solar City?

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International Labour Organization (ILO):

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12 Cabinet approves Prime Minister Research Fellows Scheme:

13 Cabinet approves Ratification of Minamata Convention on Mercury:

What are the obligations on Parties of Convention?

• Ban on new mercury mines, the phase-out of existing ones.

14 CCEA approves enhancement of target under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala

More about the scheme:

Number of Target beneficiaries under PMUY:

15 Cabinet approves Amendment to MSME Act to change classification

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