1. PUBLIC TECH PLATFORM (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 - Economy)

Context: The RBI announced a pilot programme for ‘Public Tech Platform for Frictionless Credit’ which would strive to deliver frictionless credit by “facilitating seamless flow of required digital information to lenders.”

Public Tech Platform for Frictionless Credit

• About: It is developed by the RBI’s subsidiary Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH).

• It aims to streamline the credit delivery process by enabling seamless digital information flow to lenders.
• It intends to simplify the credit assessment by providing an end-to-end digital ecosystem that facilitates the smooth exchange of essential digital data among stakeholders.

• Features of the Platform

• Open Architecture: The platform adopts an open architecture model, fostering interoperability and collaboration among various financial sector players.

• Plug and Play Model: The open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and standards enable seamless integration and interaction among participating entities.

• Efficiency and Scalability: The platform aims to enhance lending efficiency, reduce costs, expedite disbursement, and scale up lending operations.

• Launch and Scope

• Calibrated Rollout: The platform launched as a pilot project on August 17, 2023, with gradual access to information providers and use cases.

• Initial Focus: The pilot phase will focus on credit products like Kisan Credit Card loans, dairy loans, collateral-free MSME loans, personal loans, and home loans.

• Integration and Services: The platform will integrate services such as Aadhaar e-KYC, state government land records, satellite data, PAN validation, Aadhaar e-signing, account aggregation, and more.

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2. V-SHAPED RECOVERY (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 - Economy)

Context: Employment in India saw a V-shaped recovery after being adversely impacted between April and June 2020 during the Covid lockdown and during April-June 2021, when the second wave struck.

• In a V-shaped recovery, the economy experiences a sharp decline but then bounces back almost immediately to its pre-recession level. The period in which the economy remains at a low point (the bottom of the V) is extremely brief.

Key Points

• From the official survey data of the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), the paper titled ‘Employment in India: Data Sources, Facts, and Trends’ showed that both worker-population ratio (WPR) and labour force participation rate (LFPR) were higher, while the unemployment rate was lower during October-December 2022 when compared to the corresponding quarter in 2019.
• The number of workers in the formal sector stood at 60 million in FY21, which was 11 per cent or 6.2 million higher than in FY19.

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3. REIT AND INVIT (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 - Economy)

Context:  For the expansion of market for emerging investment instruments, Sebi is mulling over to bring in norms for follow-on offers by real estate investment trusts (REITs) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs).

• The two trusts were launched in India with an aim to provide exposure to investors to real estate and infrastructure projects. This will also help them diversify their risks through pooling arrangements.

Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvIT)

• It is like a mutual fund, which enables direct investment of small amounts of money from possible individual/institutional investors in infrastructure to earn a small portion of the income as return.
• InvITs can be treated as the modified version of REITs designed to suit the specific circumstances of the infrastructure sector.
• They are similar to REIT but invest in infrastructure projects such as roads or highways which take some time to generate steady cash flows.

Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT)

• A REIT is roughly like a mutual fund that invests in real estate although the similarity doesn’t go much further.
• The basic deal on REITs is that you own a share of property, and so an appropriate share of the income from it will come to you, after deducting an appropriate share of expenses.
• Essentially, it’s like a group of people pooling their money together and buying real estate except that it’s on a large scale and is regulated.

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4. GREEN HYDROGEN STANDARD (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 - Infrastructure)

Context: In a significant move for the progress of the National Green Hydrogen Mission, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has notified the Green Hydrogen Standard for India. 

Key Points

• The standard issued outlines the emission thresholds that must be met in order for hydrogen produced to be classified as ‘Green’, i.e., from renewable sources. 
• The scope of the definition encompasses both electrolysis-based and biomass-based hydrogen production methods.
• The Ministry defined Green Hydrogen as having a well-to-gate emission (i.e., including water treatment, electrolysis, gas purification, drying and compression of hydrogen) of not more than 2 kg CO2 equivalent / kg H2.
• A detailed methodology for measurement, reporting, monitoring, on-site verification, and certification of green hydrogen and its derivatives shall be specified by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy.
• The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Ministry of Power shall be the Nodal Authority for accreditation of agencies for the monitoring, verification and certification for Green Hydrogen production projects.

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5. BHARAT NCAP PROGRAMME (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 - Infrastructure)

Context:  Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways will launch the much-awaited Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (Bharat NCAP).

• This programme is a significant step forward in the Government’s commitment to improve road safety through raising the safety standards of motor vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes in India.

Key Points

• The programme aims to provide a tool to the car customers to make a comparative assessment of crash safety of motor vehicles available in the market. 
• Under this programme, car manufacturers can voluntarily offer their cars tested as per Automotive Industry Standard (AIS) 197. 
• Based on the performance of the car in the tests, car will be awarded star ratings for Adult Occupants (AOP) and Child Occupant (COP). 
• Potential car customers can refer to these star ratings to compare the safety standards of different vehicles and accordingly make their purchase-decision.
• According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data from 2021, driving under the influence of drugs/alcohol contributed to 1.9% of deaths from accidents.
• According to the World Bank’s data from 2019, India ranked first among the top 20 countries for road accidents.
• Motor Vehicles Amendment Act, 2019 provides for a National Road Safety Board, to be created by the Central Government.

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6. FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION (FGM) (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 - Health)

Context: Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), the partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for nonmedical reasons, is the leading cause of death among girls and young women in parts of Africa annually.

• Globally, over 200 million women and girls have been subjected to FGM. 
• The practice often takes place in unsanitary conditions and without clinical supervision.
• It leads to severe pain, bleeding, and infection. Long-term impacts include obstetric complications, reductions in sexual function, and other physical as well as mental health problems.
• FGM still remains legal in five of the 28 countries where it is most practiced - Mali, Malawi, Chad, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Female Genital Mutilation

• It is the name given to procedures that involve altering or injuring the female genitalia for non-medical or cultural reasons, and is recognised internationally as a violation of human rights and the health and integrity of girls and women.

• WHO classifies four types of FGM:

• type 1 (partial or total removal of the clitoral glans).
• type 2 (partial or total removal of the external and visible parts of the clitoris and the inner folds of the vulva).
• type 3 (infibulation, or narrowing of the vaginal opening through the creation of a covering seal).
• type 4 (picking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterising the genital area).
• Every year, February 6 is observed as the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

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7. DEBT-FOR-NATURE SWAP (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 - Env & Eco)

Context: Gabon announced a $500 million debt-for-nature swap. 

• Debt-for-nature swaps allow heavily indebted developing countries to seek help from financial institutions in the developed world with paying off their debt if they agree to spend on conservation of natural resources.

• Usually banks in developed countries buy the debts of such counties and replace them with new loans which mature later. These have lower interest rates.

Key Points

• In Africa, it is the largest such deal signed by any country to refinance its debt and conserve marine resources. 

• Gabon’s debt has been restructured under a Blue Bond in the world’s second-largest debt-for-nature swap.

• In May 2023, the world’s first and largest debt swap to conserve oceans was signed by Ecuador. 
• Under the debt-for-nature swap, Gabon has agreed to a deal with the Bank of America, the US International Development Finance Corporation (USDFC) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC), to refinance $500 million in national debt toward marine conservation efforts in the country.
• This is the fourth project under TNC’s “Blue Bonds for Ocean Conservation” strategy.

• Blue Bonds for Ocean Conservation is one of TNC’s most innovative solutions, supporting island and coastal nations to use debt solutions to create long-term sustainable financing that can help protect 30% of our global ocean while achieving sustainable economic development and adapting to climate change.

• Gabon is the fourth country to partner with TNC on a Blue Bonds project after Seychelles, Belize and Barbados. 

• As part of the deal with Gabon, USDFC is providing political risk insurance of up to $500 million for the financing, which lowers the cost of debt for Gabon. 
• This transaction will enable the country to make annual contributions to an independent conservation fund and an endowment that will continue to fund conservation after the bonds are repaid.

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8. LUNA 25 (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 - Sci & Tech)

Context: Russia's lunar hopes have been dashed as the Luna-25 probe, the country's first Moon mission in nearly half a century, crashed on the lunar surface during pre-landing manoeuvres.

• Russia's failed lunar mission also coincides with India's competing space probe, Chandrayaan-3 entering the Moon's orbit earlier in August. 

• Like Luna-25, Chandrayaan-3's lander Vikram also aims to land on the south pole.
• If India achieves the landing as intended, it will join the coveted list of countries such as Russia, the United States and China to have previously achieved a controlled landing and will be the first to land on Moon's south pole.

Luna-25

• A Soyuz 2.1v rocket carrying the Luna-25 craft blasted off from the Vostochny cosmodrome, 5,550 kilometers east of Moscow, on August 11.

• As per Russia’s Space chief, the lander is expected to touch down on the moon on August 21.

• India’s mission to the moon cannot land before August 23, when it will be lunar dawn at the landing site.

• Luna-25, roughly the size of a small car, will aim to operate for a year on the moon's south pole.

• Luna-25 was launched aboard its Soyuz rocket almost a month after the launch of Chandrayaan-3 (on July 14).

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9. ROCK VARNISH (Syllabus: GS Paper 1 - Geography)

Context:  Interactions between minerals and microbes present in rocks in arid regions result in a superhero called rock varnish - an orange-yellow to black coating found on exposed rock surfaces in these areas, according to a study carried out in Ladakh. 

Key Points

• This superhero from Nature which shields the rocks from further weathering could help in the design of similar bio-inspired products and raw materials for the paint and pigment industries, manufacturing of water-resistant materials as well as natural UV protectors.
• The varnish surface of rocks in semiarid places of the world presents an ideal environment for microbial development and a large number of researchers have been trying to decode the mysteries behind such varnish formation. 
• Intrigued by rock varnishes found on big boulders in cold, arid Ladakh in NW India.
• Introducing the concept that surface chemistry and hydrophobicity could play a crucial role in facilitating microbial processes related to varnish formation, a perspective not extensively explored before, the study paves new avenues in the field of bioinspired materials, as rock varnish possesses characteristics that make it a unique geomaterial.

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10. DATA PROTECTION BOARD (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 - Security)

Context:  The government will shortly notify the Data Protection Board (DPB), along with appointment and recruitment rules for its chairperson and members.

Key Points

• The government is working on criteria for their selection, as well as rules related to the board’s working.
• DPB is a crucial element of the new privacy law and will act as a data regulator. It will inquire into privacy breaches and impose penalties as provided under the Act, among other mandates.
• The Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Bill, 2023, became law earlier this month and the ministry of electronics and IT (MeitY) is working on operationalising it. 
• Modalities for the appeal process at the Telecommunications Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) are also being formulated.

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