current affairs 1/2 jan

• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS)


  Gives a legal guarantee of a hundred days of wage employment in a year to adult members of a rural household willing for unskilled manual work
• MGNREGS has utilized APBS since 2017 and is made mandatory now(from 1st January)
• Exemption on a case-to-case basis

  If any Gram Panchayat has either a technical problem or an Aadhaar-related problem
• ABPS working


  1. Worker's unique 12-digit Aadhaar number used as their financial address

  2. Aadhaar details must be seeded to job card

  3. Aadhaar details must be seeded to bank account

  4. Aadhaar must be mapped with the National Payments Corporation of India (NCPI) database
• Curbing corruption by weeding out fake beneficiaries
• Will ensure speedy payments and reduce rejection (due to change of bank account of beneficiaries)
• Other changes in recent times to make MGNREGS efficient

  • National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) app to capture the attendance of MGNREGS workers
  • SECURE application for estimating preparation and approval for MGNREGS works
  • Geo-MGNREGA for geo-tagging of all completed works under MGNREGS
  • Project "UNNATI'' to upgrade the skill base of the MGNREGS workers
• India has become second country after United States to send an observatory to study astronomical sources, such as black holes, neutron stars etc
• XPoSat Mission


  • First dedicated scientific satellite from ISRO designed to investigate the polarisation of intense X-ray sources in space
  • Polarization is a characteristic of waves, including electromagnetic waves like X-rays, that describes the orientation of the oscillations of the wave in a particular direction
  • In the context of X-rays, polarization can provide valuable information about the properties of the source and the environment through which the X-rays have travelled
• XPoSat


  • Operates in a Low Earth Orbit at an altitude of about 650 km, with a low inclination of around 6 degrees
  • Carries two payloads namely POLIX (Polarimeter Instrument in X-rays) and XSPECT (X-ray Spectroscopy and Timing)
  • Expected to be operational for approximately 5 years
• During the mission, the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module-3 (POEM-3) experiment was executed to meet the objective of 10 other payloads
• Some major government schemes

  • Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana
  • Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna
  • Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana
  • Atal Pension Yojana
• More than 1100 government schemes and programs run by Center and States have been notified to use Aadhaar
• PSLV


  Four-stage rocket where the first three spent stages fall back into the ocean, and the final stage (PS4) –after launching the satellite into orbit - ends up usually as space junk
• POEM


  Allows in-orbit scientific experiments using spent final stage (PS4) as a "stabilised platform" to perform experiments
• This is third time the ISRO has used the POEM platform to demonstrate space technologies
• Tsunami


  • A Japanese term meaning "harbour wave"
  • Tsunamis are often incorrectly called tidal waves; they have no relation to the daily ocean tides
  • A series of enormous waves created by an underwater disturbance usually associated with earthquakes occurring below or near the ocean
  • Volcanic eruptions, submarine landslides, and coastal rock falls can also generate a tsunami, as can a large asteroid impacting the ocean
  • They originate from a vertical movement of the sea floor with the consequent displacement of water mass

  
• Earthquakes that can cause tsunamis

  • Must be strong, at least magnitude 6.5 on the Richter scale
  • Must occur at shallow depth - less than 70 km below the surface of the Earth

  
• Tsunami Risk Management In India includes Early Warning System for mitigation through Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad and Tsunami Risk Management Guidelines by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)

  
• Sixteenth Finance Commission


  • Constituted with the approval of the President of India in pursuance of Article 280(1) of the Constitution
  • Redressing the vertical imbalances between the taxation powers and expenditure responsibilities of the center and the States respectively and equalization of all public services across the States
  • Make recommendations on distribution between the Union and States of the net proceeds of taxes, allocation between the States of such proceeds, principles for governing the grants-in-aid and revenues of the state under Article 275, and measures needed to augment the Consolidated Fund of a State to supplement the resources of the Panchayats and Municipalities
• The 16th FC recommendations, upon acceptance by the government, would cover the period of five years commencing April 1, 2026
• Key recommendations of 15th Finance Commission

  • For vertical devolution, the share of states in central taxes is to be 41%
  • Criteria for horizontal devolution include income distance, area, population (2011), demographic performance, forest and ecology, and tax and fiscal efforts
  • Suggested to reduce fiscal deficit to 4% of GDP by 2025-26
• Fraud Prevention Activities suggested by FM for PSBs


  • Consumer education for protection from malicious fraud calls
  • Efforts for timely identification of accounts as fraud and investigation
  • Effort in recovery from accounts declared as fraud
  • Monitor early warning signals to check potential frauds
• Measures suggested by FM for Wilful Defaults

  • Performance review of counsel representing PSBs to ensure better legal action against defaulters
  • Adopt responsible lending practices
  • Enhanced due diligence before loan disbursement, regular monitoring of large loan accounts, and undertake swift and thorough legal action
• Measures Taken to Curb Incidence of Frauds and Wilful Defaults in Banks

  • "Framework for timely detection, reporting, investigation etc. relating to large value bank frauds" for comprehensive checking of PSB's non-performing assets (NPAs)
  • Central Fraud Registry set up by RBI as searchable online central database
  • Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 to deter economic offenders
  • Establishing National Financial Reporting Authority for enforcement of auditing standards
  • Publishing photographs of wilful defaulters, in terms of RBI's instructions
• BRICS

  • An important group comprising of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa
  • New members include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates
• Argentina has decided to withdraw from its planned entry to BRICS
• The last expansion of the BRICS occurred in 2010 when South Africa joined the group
• Significance of BRICS expansion

  • Will increase multipolarity and will challenge the established Western-led order
  • Will raise South-South cooperation among developing countries
  • Will help India in advancing its claim as the leader of global south
  • Will help to make a collective voice for the restructuring of global institutions
  • Increase in oil production among its members due to the inclusion of oil-producing countries
• Challenges with the BRICS

  • The divergence between countries with respect to their world view for example India sees BRICS as non-western whereas China sees it as anti-western
  • Various economic and political sanctions on members may cause economic disruptions
  • Internal trust deficit among the member states and lack of common understanding of standards, criteria, and procedure of expansion
  • Overlapping with other groups like IBSA (India, Brazil, and South Africa)
• Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has made printing of 'date of manufacturing' and 'unit sale price' mandatory on all packaged commodities effective from January 1, 2024
• India and Pakistan Exchanged list of Nuclear Installations under Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities
• Wilful Default


  • Deliberate non-payment of the dues despite adequate cash flow
  • Siphoning off of funds to the detriment of the defaulting unit
  • Fraudulent transactions by the borrower
  • Assets financed either not been purchased or been sold and proceeds have been misutilised
  • Misrepresentation or falsification of records
  • Disposal of securities without bank's knowledge
• Reverse Flipping


  It is a term used to describe the trend of overseas start-ups shifting their domicile to India and listing on Indian stock exchanges
• The Economic Survey 2022-23 recognized the concept of reverse flipping and proposed ways to accelerate the process, such as simplifying corporate laws and capital movements, simplification of taxation, etc
• Vikram Sarabhai

  • Born in Ahmedabad
  • Considered as the Father of the Indian Space Program
  • Established the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR, later ISRO) under his chairmanship
  • Established Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram
  • Received Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan
  • Values: Scientific temper, visionary, Social service
• DRDO celebrated the 66th foundation Day on 1st January
• Thangka painting


  • An ancient Tibetan Buddhist art form which depicts Buddhist deities
  • Thangkas have a variety of uses, as a means of gaining merit, in death rituals, during meditation, and in Buddhist ceremonies
  • It is believed that it flourished about 1000 years back in Tibet as culmination of confluence of Indian, Nepalese and Chinese traditions

  
• West Bengal government notified Poila Boisakh as State Day and Banglar Mati Banglar Jal as State Song
• Poila Boisakh


  • The first day of the month of Boisakh of the Bengali calendar year and is named as Bangala Divas
  • An important festival celebrated by Bengali communities across West Bengal, Tripura, Jharkhand, and Assam