PIB Analysis (Prelims Focus) Date: 31/10/2018

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PIB ANALYSIS FOR UPSC CIVIL SERVICES EXAM

  1. Statue of Unity
  2. India Improves Rank by 23 Positions in Ease of Doing Business
  3. Eight Core industries
  4. UNWTO
  5. FTII
  6. SDRF and NDRF

1 . Statue of Unity

PM dedicates Statue of Unity to the Nation

What is Statue of Unity

  • Statue of unity is a tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel who played a major role in unifying India
  • Sarad Patel won over British leaders in the Satyagraha of Kheda and Bardoli.
  • Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is also known as the Bismarck of Modern India, who led the welfare of farmers
  • He is renowned as the architect of independent India, as he united all diverse 562 princely states to build one great Republic of India.

About the Statue

  • The Statue of Unity is the tallest statue in the world. At 182 metres, it is 23 metres taller than China’s Spring Temple Buddha statue and almost double the height of the Statue of Liberty (93 metres tall) in US
  • The statue will be able to withstand wind velocity up to 60 m/s, vibration and earthquakes.
  • It was built within three-and-a-half years by an army of over 3,000 workers, including 300 engineers from infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro (L&T).
  • The Statue of Unity was built by Padma Bhushan recipient sculptor Ram V Sutar and intricate bronze cladding work was done by a Chinese foundry, the Jiangxi Toqine Company (JTQ).
  • The Statue of Unity will comprise two semi-joined, composite concrete cylindrical cores, surrounded by a structural steel space frame to support the exterior cladding. 
  • The statue is a three-layered structure. The innermost layer is made of reinforced cement concrete (RCC), comprising two towers 127 metres high that rise till the statue’s chest. The second layer is a steel structure and the third an 8 mm bronze cladding on the surface.

2 . Ease of Doing Business 

India Improves Rank by 23 Positions in Ease of Doing Business

India at 77 Rank in World Bank’s Doing Business Report

About Ease of doing Business report

  • World Bank releases ease of doing business report
  • Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business, from 1–190.
  • A high ease of doing business ranking means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of a local firm.
  • The rankings are determined by sorting the aggregate scores on 10 topics, each consisting of several indicators, giving equal weight to each topic. 
  • The Doing Business Report ranks countries on the basis of Distance to Frontier (DTF), a score that shows the gap of aneconomy to the global best practice. This year, India’s DTF score improved to 67.23 from 60.76 in the previous year.

A nation’s ranking on the index is based on the average of 10 sub-indices

  • Starting a business – Procedures, time, cost and minimum capital to open a new business
  • Dealing with construction permits – Procedures, time and cost to build a warehouse
  • Getting electricity – procedures, time and cost required for a business to obtain a permanent electricity connection for a newly constructed warehouse
  • Registering property – Procedures, time and cost to register commercial real estate
  • Getting credit – Strength of legal rights index, depth of credit information index
  • Protecting investors – Indices on the extent of disclosure, extent of director liability and ease of shareholder suits
  • Paying taxes – Number of taxes paid, hours per year spent preparing tax returns and total tax payable as share of gross profit
  • Trading across borders – Number of documents, cost and time necessary to export and import
  • Enforcing contracts – Procedures, time and cost to enforce a debt contract
  • Resolving insolvency – The time, cost and recovery rate (%) under bankruptcy proceeding

2018 Report

  • India has recorded a jump of 23 positions against its rank of 100 in 2017 to be placed now at 77th rank among 190 countries assessed by the World Bank. India’s leap of 23 ranks in the Ease of Doing Business ranking is significant considering that last year India had improved its rank by 30 places, a rare feat for any large and diverse country of the size of India.
  • As a result of continued efforts by the Government, India has improved its rank by 53 positions in last two years and 65 positions in last four years.
  • India has improved its rank in 6 out of 10 indicators and has moved closer to international best practices (Distance to Frontier score) on 7 out of the 10 indicators.
  • But, the most dramatic improvements have been registered in the indicators related to ‘Construction Permits’ and ‘Trading across Borders’.
  • In grant of construction permits, India’s rank improved from 181 in 2017 to 52 in 2018, an improvement of 129 ranks in a single year.
  • In ‘Trading across Borders’, India’s rank improved by 66 positions moving from 146 in 2017 to 80 in 2018.

The important features of India’s performance this year

  • The World Bank has recognized India as one of the top improvers for the year.
  • This is the second consecutive year for which India has been recognized as one of the top improvers.
  • India is the first BRICS and South Asian country to be recognized as top improvers in consecutive years.
  • India has recorded the highest improvement in two years by any large country since 2011 in the Doing business assessment by improving its rank by 53 positions.
  • As a result of continued performance, India is now placed at first position among South Asian countries as against 6th in 2014.

3 . Eight Core Industries

Index of Eight Core Industries (Base: 2011-12=100) September, 2018

What is a core industry?

  • Core sectors or industry can be defined as the main industry of the economy. In most countries, these industries are backbone to other industries

Eight Core Industries (Mnemonic – EF, NRS, C3)

  1. Electricity
  2. Steel
  3. Refinery products
  4. Crude oil
  5. Coal
  6. Cement
  7. Natural gas
  8. Fertilizers

Index of Eight Core Industries

  • It contains index, production and growth of Eight Core Industries.
  • The Index of Eight Core Industries is a monthly production index, which is also considered as a lead indicator of the monthly industrial performance.

4 . United Nations World Tourism Organization

India to chair the Programme and Budget Committee of UNWTO Executive Council till 2021

  •  World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.
  • As the leading international organization in the field of tourism, UNWTO promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide. 
  • UNWTO encourages the implementation of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, to maximize tourism’s socio-economic contribution while minimizing its possible negative impacts, and is committed to promoting tourism as an instrument in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), geared towards reducing poverty and fostering sustainable development worldwide.

UNWTO Executive Council

  • The UNWTO Executive Council represents the Organization’s governing body whose task is to take all necessary measures in consultation with the Secretary-General, for implementation of its own decisions and recommendations of the Assembly and report thereupon to the Assembly.
  • The Council meets at least twice a year, the next to be held in Bahrain. The council consists of 35 Full Members elected by the assembly in proportion of one member for every Five Full Members, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure laid down by the Assembly with a view to achieving fair and equitable geographical distribution.

5 . Film Television Institute of India

Shri Anupam Kher resigns due to his international shooting commitments.

  • The FTII is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India. Its policies are determined by a Governing Council. The latter appoints the director of the institute.

6 . SDRF and NDRF

Centre  approves release of  Rs 229.05 Crore of its share  from State Disaster Response fund (SDRF) to Andhra Pradesh

SDRF and NDRF

  • Under the Disaster Management Act 2005, a financial mechanism has been set up by way of National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) at national level and State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) at state level to meet the rescue and relief expenditure during any notified disaster. 
  • SDRF has been constituted in each State in which Centre, so far, had been contributing 75% for General Category States and 90% for Special Category States of hilly regions every year.
  • SDRF is a resource available to the States to meet the expenses of relief operations of immediate nature, for a range of specified disasters.  At any point, the State Government has fair amount of funds available under the SDRF.
  • In case of any natural calamity beyond the coping capacity of a State, additional financial assistance, as per norms, is provided by the Central Government from NDRF, in which 100% funding is by the Central Government.
  • Based on the recommendations of successive Finance Commission, Government of India approves the annual allocation to SDRF.

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