PIB ANALYSIS FOR UPSC CIVIL SERVICES EXAM
Topics Covered
- Cross Border Insolvency – UNCITRAL MODEL LAW
- Harit Diwali Swasth Diwali Campaign
- Aspirational District Programme
- Indo – China Bilateral Security Cooperation
1 . Insolvency Law Committee submits its 2nd Report on Cross Border Insolvency. Recommends adoption of the UNCITRAL Model Law of Cross Border Insolvency, 1997
What is the release
- The Insolvency Law Committee has recommended the adoption of the UNCITRAL Model Law of Cross Border Insolvency, 1997, as it provides for a comprehensive framework to deal with cross border insolvency issues.
- The UNCITRAL Model Law has been adopted in as many as 44 countries and, therefore, forms part of international best practices in dealing with cross border insolvency issues
About UNCITRAL
- The United Nations Commission on International Trade and Law is the core legal body of the United Nations system in the field of international trade law.
- UNCITRAL’s business is the modernization and harmonization of rules on international business.
About UNCITRAL Model Law of cross border insolvency
- The UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency is a model law issued by the secretariat of UNCITRAL on 30 May 1997 to assist states in relation to the regulation of corporate insolvency and financial distress involving companies which have assets or creditors in more than one countries
- The model law deals with four major principles of cross-border insolvency, namely
- Direct access to foreign insolvency professionals and foreign creditors to participate in or commence domestic insolvency proceedings against a defaulting debtor;
- Recognition of foreign proceedings & provision of remedies;
- Cooperation between domestic and foreign courts & domestic and foreign insolvency practioners; and
- Coordination between two or more concurrent insolvency proceedings in different countries.
Need for adopting Model Law
- The necessity of having Cross Border Insolvency Framework under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code arises from the fact that many Indian companies have a global footprint and many foreign companies have presence in multiple countries including India.
Advantages
- Precedence given to domestic proceedings and protection of public interest.
- Greater confidence generation among foreign investors
- Adequate flexibility for seamless integration with the domestic Insolvency Law and a robust mechanism for international cooperation.
Conclusion
- Although the proposed Framework for Cross Border Insolvency will enable us to deal with Indian companies having foreign assets and vice versa, it still does not provide for a framework for dealing with enterprise groups, which is still work in progress with UNCITRAL and other international bodies.
- The inclusion of the Cross Border Insolvency Chapter in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code of India, 2016, will be a major step forward and will bring Indian Insolvency Law on a par with that of matured jurisdictions.
2 . Harit Diwali-Swasth Diwali” campaign launched by Ministry of Environment today
Quick facts
Objective : Celebrate Diwali in an environment-friendly manner
Launched by : Ministry of Environment
Pan India Initiative
About the Campaign
- This air pollution has serious impacts on the health of children aged people and people suffering from respiratory ailments.
- As a matter of practice people have been celebrating Diwali by bursting crackers.
- Crackers contains combustible chemicals that include potassium chlorate powdered aluminum, magnesium, salts of barium, copper, sodium, lithium, strontium etc. and emits smoke on combustion of these chemicals along with sound.
- This smoke and sound has health impacts on children, aged people and also animal and birds
- Apart from these compounds large amount of waste is also generated after bursting of crackers.
- In an effort to mitigate air pollution caused due to bursting of crackers during Diwali, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change has initiated the ‘Harit Diwali-Swasth Diwali’ campaign
3 . Health Ministry organises orientation workshop on Health and Nutrition Initiatives under Aspirational District Programme
About Aspirational District Programme
- Aspirational Districts’ programme aims to quickly and effectively transform the districts.
- To enable optimum utilization of their potential, this program focusses closely on improving people’s ability to participate fully in the burgeoning economy.
- Health & Nutrition, Education, Agriculture & Water Resources, Financial Inclusion & Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure are this programme’s core areas of focus.
- With States as the main drivers, this program will focus on the strength of each district, identify low-hanging fruits for immediate improvement, measure progress, and rank districts.
- 49 key performance indicators have been chosen to measure progress of the districts.
- Districts are prodded and encouraged to first catch-up with the best district within their state, and subsequently aspire to become one of the best in the country, by competing with, and learning from others in the spirit of competitive & cooperative federalism.
4 . First India-China High Level Meeting on Bilateral Security Cooperation
- The agreement will strengthen and consolidate discussions and cooperation in the areas of counter-terrorism, organized crimes, drug control and other such relevant areas