NEWS TODAY

VISIONIAS

22nd MAY, 2021

Realized equity is a form of contingency fund for meeting all risks/losses primarily built up from retained earnings.Size of the realized equity, in the form of Contingent Risk Buffer (CRB), must be maintained between 5.5% to 6.5% of the RBI’s balance sheet.

In 2019, in a bid to revive investment activity, India makes a sharp cut in corporate taxes for domestic companies.

Global Health Summit was organized by European Commission and Italy, as chair of the G20.

At the summit, G20 countries agreed to the Rome Declaration which sets out principles and guiding commitments to overcome the challenges posed by Covid-19.

Key features of Rome Declaration

Summit is one of the most notable global gatherings to date to address the pandemic.

These principles will help in promoting sustained financing with creation of an effective health system capabilities and capacities for Universal Health Coverage.Improve preparedness through early warning and coordinated response with resilience against current pandemic and future potential public health emergencies.

Support and enhance the existing multilateral health architecture for better preparedness, prevention, detection and response.

Appropriate and sustainable funding for collaborative global response efforts, especially the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator.Foster all-of-society and health-in-all policies approaches.Invest in the worldwide health and care workforce.

Promote the multilateral trading system and open, resilient, diversified, secure, efficient and reliable global supply chains related to health emergencies.Increase the effectiveness of preparedness and response measures by supporting and promoting meaningful and inclusive dialogue.

RBI accumulate surplus by earning profits through

Its foreign currency assets (bonds & treasury bills of other central banks and deposits with other central bank).

Management commission on handling the borrowings of state governments and the central government.

Its holdings of local rupee-denominated government bonds or securities, and while lending to banks for very short tenures, such as overnight.

Current transfer touch the lower end of CRB ie.5.5%.

NTP systems offer greater flexibility for deep space missions. They can reduce travel times to Mars by up to 25% and, more importantly, limit a flight crew’s exposure to cosmic radiation.

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) FORMED A HIGH-LEVEL EXPERT PANEL ‘ONE HEALTH’ TO INVESTIGATE RISE IN ZOONOTIC DISEASES

RBI transfers the “surplus” to the government, in accordance with Section 47 (Allocation of Surplus Profits) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.

The GMT is a minimum corporate tax rate for corporations all over the world to pay regardless of which jurisdiction they are registered in.

Concerns

It would help tackle Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), wherein large corporations register in low-tax jurisdictions to avoid paying higher rates prevalent in the countries they actually operate in.

Current surplus transfer is in accordance with the Bimal Jalan committee (2019).

Significance of surplus transfer

Committee recommended a surplus distribution policy, which targets the level of realised equity to be maintained by the RBI, within the overall level of its economic capital vis-à-vis the earlier policy, which targeted total economic capital level alone.

It also recommended total economic capital should be maintained between 20.8% to 25.4% of the balance sheet.

Help government to deal with economic slowdown caused by COVID 19.

It has been supported by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Group of 20 major economies.

According to OECD the governments lose up to USD 240 billion a year due to BEPS.India’s annual tax loss due to corporate tax abuse is estimated at over $10 billion.

GMT impinges on the right of the sovereign to decide a nation’s tax policy.May impact developing countries as lower tax rate is used as a tool to alternatively push economic activity.

It puts a question on globalisation as it will be beneficial only for the developed countries to become a monopoly.

Help the government meet its fiscal deficit target.

RESERVE BANK OF INDIA (RBI) TO PAY ₹99,122 CR SURPLUS TO CENTRE FROM ITS PROFIT

US CALLS FOR 15% GLOBAL MINIMUM TAX (GMT) ON CORPORATE PROFITS

Zoonotic diseases are pathogenic infections that transmit from animals to humans. 75% infectious diseases are caused by zoonosis. Mandates of the panel ‘One Health’

These mandates are in pursuance with the ‘One Health’ approach for tackling and preventing the outbreak of zoonotic diseases.About ‘One Health’  

To study the emergence and spread of zoonotic diseases like H5N1, avian influenza, MERS, Ebola, Zika and possibly the novel coronavirus disease.Advise several international organisations for averting future outbreaks.Develop a surveillance framework and global action plan.Study various human activities (food production, distribution, urbanisation etc.) which disturb the natural wildlife and environment.

This concept recognises that the health of human beings is connected to the health of animals and environment and is relevant for Food safety, controlling zoonosis and antibiotic resistance.This term was first used in 2003–2004 and it was associated with the emergence of severe acute respiratory disease (SARS) and avian influenza H5N1.In April, 2021 the WHO has issued guidelines to reduce the risk of transmission of zoonotic pathogens to humans in food production and marketing chains.

GLOBAL HEALTH SUMMIT (GHS): OPENS NEW CHAPTER IN PUBLIC HEALTH WITH SIGNING OF ROME DECLARATION

OECM are areas that are achieving the effective in-situ conservation of biodiversity outside of protected areas.

Protected Planet Reports are biennial publications by UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) and IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) that assess the state of protected and conserved areas around the world.

Aichi Biodiversity Targets (ABTs) is part of Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, adopted during the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) in 2010 in Nagoya, Japan.

Key findings

It recommends to scale up conservation even in countries without large areas of intact biodiversity.

2020 edition provides the final report on the status of Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 (Also see infographic).

Target 11: By 2020, at least 17% of terrestrial and inland water, and 10% of coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services, are conserved.

Since 2010, protected areas covering almost 21 million km2 have been added to the global network.Since 2010, 82% of countries and territories have increased their share of protected area and coverage of other effective area-based conservation measures (OECM).

PROTECTED PLANET REPORT 2020 RELEASED

VISIONIAS

VISIONIASALSO IN NEWS

SC: Personal guarantors liable for corporate debt 

Personalities in news

Dongria Kondh

The notification allowed lenders to initiate insolvency proceedings against personal guarantors, who are usually promoters of big business houses, along with the stressed corporate entities for whom they gave guarantee. 

The power to create new districts or alter or abolish existing districts rests with the State governments, done either through executive order or through state assembly

Considered to be the Father of Indian Renaissance, He was multifaceted social, religious and educational reformer. He is renowned for his pioneering role in opposing practices like Sati, child marriage and social divisions and for advocating education.

He founded a reform association known as the Brahmo Sabha (1928).

His appeal resulted in a 15-year ban on chopping of green trees in 1980. 

PVTGs are more vulnerable among the tribal groups. 75 PTVGs have been identified in the country

A tribe that lives in the dense forests of Niyamgiri Hills, is spread across Rayagada and Kalahandi districts of southwestern Odisha. The Dongrias speak the Kui language.

Literary work: Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhiddin (Gift to the Monotheists) published in 1803; In Precepts of Jesus (1820); journal Mirat-ul-Akbar in Persian in 1822 and founded the newspaper Sambad Koumudi

He was a great environmentalist known for initiating the Chipko movement, a non-violent agitation, in 1973 in Uttarakhand against the felling of trees by forest contractors. He followed Gandhian philosophy of peaceful resistance.

He also spearheaded the anti-Tehri dam movement in the 1980s. In 2009, he was awarded Padma Vibhushan.

However, when a State wants to change the name of a district or a railway station, it requires a no-objection certificate from a number of other central ministries and agencies such as Ministry of home affairs.., the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Intelligence Bureau, Department of Posts etc.

The Supreme Court upheld the government’s 2019 notification under the Indian Bankruptcy and Insolvency Code (IBC). 

Now, guarantor would “arrange” for the payment of the debt to the creditor bank in order to obtain a quick discharge. 

Key features of Rome Declaration

Malerkotla District

Recently, Punjab Government created Malerkotla as the 23rd district of the State

A sudden spike with over 80 COVID-19 positive cases in the past one week has been reported among the Dongria Kondh, a particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG) of Odisha.

About Dongria Kondh:

Raja Rammohan Roy (22 May 1772- 27 September 1833)

Sunderlal Bahuguna (9 January 1927- 21 May 2021)

Formation of New Districts

This would boost banks’ recovery effort involving large bad loans as well as maximise the value of assets.