Daily Current Affairs : 9th June

Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

1. Economy to contract 3.2% in FY21: WB
2. NGO moves SC on protection of children
3. miR 155
4. Comprehensive norms for sale of Loans
5. Shoe sole Sanitiser
6. Fugitive Economic Offender
7. Facts for Prelims

1 . Economy to contract 3.2% in FY21: WB

Context: According to the World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects (GEP) June 2020 report the Indian economy is expected to contract by 3.2% in this fiscal year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions.

About the Report

• The Global Economic Prospects (GEP) is the World Bank’s semi-annual flagship publication on the state of the world economy

Details of the report

• The world economy, as a whole, is set to witness its deepest recession since World War II, with a forecasted contraction of 5.2% this year — some 60 million could be pushed into extreme poverty.
• Emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) are expected to contract by 2.5% this year, and economic activity in advanced economies is forecast to shrink by 7%, as domestic supply and demand, finance and trade have been disrupted due to the pandemic.
• Countries most reliant on global trade, tourism, external financing and commodity exports are likely to be hit the hardest.
• In the baseline scenario, global growth is set to rebound at 4.2% in 2021, with EMDEs growing at 4.6% and advanced economies growing at 3.9%.
• The downside scenario is more severe — the global economy could shrink this year by as much as 8% (5% for EMDEs), followed by weak recovery at just above 1% growth next year.
• Spillover effects from weak global growth and balance sheet stress are also weighing down on economic activity

India’s growth

• India’s growth is estimated to have slowed to 4.2% in FY 2019-20 (year ended March 31, 2020).
•  Output is expected to contract by 3.2% (so growth is -3.2%) in FY2020-21, as the impact of the pandemic (the restrictions on activity) will largely fall in this year, despite the fiscal and monetary stimulus.
• India is forecast to see some recovery next year and grow at 3.1%.

2 . NGO moves SC on protection of children

Context: The Supreme Court on Monday took serious note of a petition filed by Bachpan Bachao Andolan, an NGO headed by Nobel Prize laureate Kailash Satyarthi, alerting that the period of opening up after the national lockdown will see a considerable spike in child trafficking for labour and prostitution.

Reasons provided in the Petition

• The lockdown spelt catastrophe for the poor- economic crisis, increased insecurity, poverty and marginalisation would see the poorest try to clutch on to the last straws for their survival.
• They may be forced to push their children into the hands of traffickers.
• The most affected would be agricultural families considering the crisis seen in the sector.

3 . miR-155’

Context : Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras have identified a specific microRNA (miRNAs) called ‘miR-155’ that is over-expressed in tongue cancer. The research team has shown that knocking out miR-155 causes death of cancer cells, arrests the cell cycle and regresses tumour size in animal models and reduces cell viability and colony formation in bench top assays.

Importance of Findings

• The could help develop molecular strategies to manipulate miR-155 expression to develop therapeutics for tongue cancer.

About miRNAs

• The miRNAs affect cancer growth through inhibiting or enhancing the functions of certain proteins.
• MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short noncoding RNAs containing 20–24 nucleotides that participate in virtually all biological pathways in animals. They have been found to play important roles in many cancers, in carcinogenesis (start of cancer), malignant transformation and metastasis — the development of secondary cancer. The miRNAs associated with cancer are called ‘Oncomirs’.”
• miRNA manipulation is being combined with conventional cancer treatment methods such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy.

4 . Comprehensive norms for sale of loans

Context : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed a comprehensive set of norms for sale of loans by banks which could be either standard or sub-standard.

Need

• It is aimed at building a robust secondary market for bank loans that could ensure proper price discovery and can be used as an indicator for impending stress, the central bank said.
• The revision in guidelines is an attempt to align the regulatory framework with the Basel guidelines on securitisation that have come into force effective January 1, 2018, the RBI said.

Current Norms

• At present, the guidelines for sale of loan exposures, both standard as well as stressed exposures, are spread across various circulars of the RBI.

About the new guidelines

• These guidelines will be applicable to commercial banks, all financial institutions, non-banking finance companies and small finance banks.
• The directions will be applicable to all loan sales, including sale of loans to special purpose entities for the purpose of securitisation, the RBI said.
• “The price discovery process has been deregulated to be as per the lenders’ policy,” the draft norms said.
• According to the draft framework, standard assets would be allowed to be sold by lenders through assignment, novation or a loan participation contract .
• The stressed assets, however, would be allowed to be sold only through assignment or novation, the draft said adding, “stressed assets may be sold to any entity that is permitted to take on loan exposures by its statutory or regulatory framework”. It is also proposed to do away with the requirement of Minimum Retention Requirement (MRR) for sale of loans by lenders.
• The central bank has also proposed significant changes in securitisation norms which are aimed at development of a strong and robust market for such transactions.
• Only transactions that result in multiple tranches of securities being issued reflecting different credit risks will be treated as securitisation transactions, and accordingly covered under these revised norms.
• The norm has prescribed a special case of securitisation, called Simple, Transparent and Comparable (STC) securitisations with clearly defined criteria and preferential capital treatment.
• The definition of securitisation has been modified to allow single asset securitisations. Securitisation of exposures purchased from other lenders has been allowed, according to the revised guidelines.
• “One of the key changes relates to differential treatment for Residential Mortgage Backed Securities (RMBS) compared to other securitisations in respect of prescriptions regarding minimum holding period (MHP), minimum retention requirements (MRR) and reset of credit enhancements,” the draft norms said.

Benefits

• “A dynamic secondary market for bank loans will also ensure proper discovery of credit risk pricing associated with each exposure, and will be useful as a leading indicator for impending stress, if any, provided that the volumes are sufficiently large.”

5 . Shoe Sole Sanitiser

Context: An affordable ultraviolet-C (UVC) shoe sole sanitiser, developed by the Industrial Training Institute (ITI) in Odisha’s Berhampur.

Need

• Threat of transmission of pathogenic viruses and microbes through the soles of footwear is extremely high at hospitals and public places like schools, offices, airports, railway stations, shopping malls and hotels.

How it works

• The device includes a covered portable platform with a shoe sole receiving surface.
• When a person stands on it and places his or her shoe soles on the surface, a timer unit lights up the UVC lamps underneath, which direct UVC rays for eight seconds to eradicate micro-organisms on the soles.
• Out of three types of UV radiations named UVA, UVB and UVC, short wavelength UVC damages and alters DNA of all potentially harmful microbes, including viruses, making them incapable of replication.
• To avoid leakage of UVC harmful to human eyes, the device has a leak-proof cover over the chamber where the footwear is placed.
• This will help to eradicate the need for disinfection of shoes worn by medical personnel with soap or chemicals.
• The innovation costs ₹6,000-₹7,000.

6 . Fugitive Economic Offender

Context:- A Special Court on Monday permitted the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to confiscate properties of diamond merchant Nirav Modi, barring those mortgaged to parties like the Punjab National Bank (PNB), within a month.

About the News

Mr. Modi was declared a fugitive economic offender (FEO) on December 5, 2019, that enabled the ED to move the court for confiscation of his properties in India, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.

Background

• The Act was introduced to deter fugitive economic of­fenders from evading the process of law in India by staying outside the jurisdic­tion of Indian courts.
• Nirav Modi is the second person to be declared a fugi­tive economic off ender, un­der the Fugitive Eco­nomic Off enders Act, after liquor baron Vijay Mallya.

About Fugitive Economic Offender Act

• The Act allows for a person to be declared as a fugitive economic offender (FEO) if:
  • An arrest warrant has been issued against him for any specified offences where the value involved is over Rs 100 crore
  • He has left the country and refuses to return to face prosecution.     
• To declare a person an FEO, an application will be filed in a Special Court (designated under the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002) containing details of the properties to be confiscated, and any information about the person’s whereabouts.  The Special Court will require the person to appear at a specified place at least six weeks from issue of notice.  Proceedings will be terminated if the person appears. 
• The Act allows authorities to provisionally attach properties of an accused, while the application is pending before the Special Court. 
• Upon declaration as an FEO, properties of a person may be confiscated and vested in the central government, free of encumbrances (rights and claims in the property).  Further, the FEO or any company associated with him may be barred from filing or defending civil claims.   

7 . Facts for Prelims

Uttarakhand’s summer capital

• Uttarakhand government issued a notification declaring Gairsain as the summer capital of Uttarakhand.
• Gairsain, a tehsil in Chamoli district, is located nearly 270 km from Dehradun, the existing capital. It lay between both the Kumaon and Garhwal regions

Drugs used in India for Treating COVID

• Remdesivir : Remdesivir, an antiviral drug first developed for treating Ebola in 2014, is one of the possible Covid-19 treatments being investigated in the WHO’s Solidarity Trial. It inhibits viral replication in the body.
• Favipiravir : Favipiravir is an antiviral given to inhibit viral replication. It is used as an anti-influenza drug. First manufactured by Japan’s Fujifilm Toyama Chemical Ltd, it is manufactured in India by Glenmark Pharmaceutical and Strides Pharma. It is being used for moderately symptomatic to severely ill Covid patients, but access is not easy.
• Tocilizumab : This is an immunosuppressant commonly used to treat for rheumatoid arthritis. In Mumbai, more than 100 severely ill Covid patients have been treated with this expensive drug (Rs 40,000-60,000 per dose) as a preventive against ventilator requirement; government hospitals are giving it free.
• tolizumab : This drug is commonly used for the skin disorder psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and autoimmune disorders. In India, Biocon launched it in 2013. It is being trailled in Mumbai and Delhi on moderately to severely ill Covid patients. Initial results will come by July.
• Hydroxychloroquine : This antimalarial drug is a subject of debate over its efficacy against Covid. The WHO halted its HCQ arm in the Solidarity Trial following a study in The Lancet, then reinstated it after a retraction by the authors. India is the largest producer of this drug. Doctors use HCQ use in Covid patients with symptoms as mild as headache, fever, body pain, and even in critically ill patients. ICMR guidelines recommend low doses for nine days

Operation Samudra Setu

• The Navy’s INS Shardul departed from the port of Bandar Abbas in Iran on Monday evening with 233 Indian nationals who are being evacuated under Operation Samudra Setu.
• The Indian Navy had launched ‘Operation Samudra Setu’ – meaning Sea  Bridge on 8th May 2020, as a part of national effort to repatriate Indian citizens from overseas who are stranded there amid COVID-19 pandemic. 
• Since then INS Jalashwa and INS Magar have evacuated 2,874 individuals from the Maldives and Sri Lanka to the ports of Kochi and Thoothukudi.
• This operation is being progressed in close coordination with Ministries of Defence, External Affairs, Home Affairs, Health and various other agencies of the Government of India and State governments.
• The evacuated personnel will be disembarked at Kochi in Kerala and entrusted to the care of State authorities.

Reverse Quarantine