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The Union Cabinet approved an outlay of ₹2,600 crore to promote payments using RuPay cards and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). Banks will be provided this incentive money to promote such digital payments, the Cabinet said in a press release.
The fund will be paid to banks in view of the lack of a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) — a commission on digital transactions — for UPI and RuPay transactions.
This regime has led to complaints from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and banks, the Cabinet said, which have been worried about the sustainability of building digital payments infrastructure in the absence of payments needed to scale and maintain them.
The scheme will also promote UPI Lite and UPI 123PAY as economical and user-friendly digital payments solutions and enable further deepening of digital payments in the country, referring to payment systems recently introduced by the National Payments Corporation of India to reduce the load on banking networks for small transactions, and to allow payments over older feature phones, respectively.
As a result of a previous incentive scheme for digital payments in the last financial year, the Cabinet said, “total digital payments transactions have registered a year-on-year growth of 59%, rising from [₹]5,554 crore in FY2020-21 to [₹]8,840 crore in FY2021-22.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had earlier committed continued financial support for digital payments systems, and the Cabinet said that this new scheme is in line with that commitment.
States
Beypore boat to figure in DPR for Swadesh Darshan project (Page no. 5)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Kerala Tourism department is likely to highlight Beypore ‘Uru’, the wooden dhows handcrafted by artisans and carpenters, and the water sports there in the detailed project report (DPR) to be submitted to the Centre for the Swadesh Darshan project.
Beypore and Kumarakom are the only two tourism destinations from Kerala to be included in the second phase of the project. Official sources said work on the DPR was only in its preliminary stages, and details would be available later.
Beypore was reportedly included in the project considering its historic importance as a port town, its global fame for the Uru and the beautiful seashore, which could boost its tourism sector in a big way.
The Tourism department successfully organised an international water fest there in 2021 and 2022, attracting thousands of people.
A large number of travellers and tourists reach the town to enjoy a stroll along the one-km long breakwater. Light house, marina jetty, surfing school, presence of both traditional and mechanised boats in fishing, among other things, are the other attractions.
Kadalundi, the nearby eco-tourism spot, is a favourite too. The Kozhikode District Tourism Promotion Council had recently applied for a Geographical Indication tag for the Beypore Uru.
The project, launched in 2014-15 by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, is for the integrated development of theme-based tourist circuits.
A Ministry website says it aims to promote, develop and harness the potential of tourism in the country. The Ministry provides Central financial assistance to State governments and Union Territories for the infrastructure development of these circuits.
The scheme is envisioned to synergise with other schemes like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Skill India, and Make in India with the idea of positioning the tourism sector as a major engine for job creation, the driving force for economic growth, building synergy with various sectors to enable tourism to realise its potential, says the Ministry.
Godavari estuary has become prime habitat for Indian skimmer: expert (Page no. 5)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
The Godavari estuary in Andhra Pradesh has become a prime and safe habitat for the Indian Skimmer (Rynchops albicollis), Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) Deputy Director P. Sathiyaselvam has said.
The bird has been included in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red list of endangered species.
Mr. Sathiyaselvam is the coordinator of the Asian Waterbird Census-2023, which is under way in the Godavari estuary.
The Godavari estuary has become a prime habitat for Indian Skimmer. On January 10 (Tuesday), as many as 250 Indian Skimmers were sighted in the southern part of the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary. In the Godavari estuary, one Indian Skimmer was sighted in 2013.
Six tagged Indian Skimmers have been sighted during this census so far and five of them were tagged in the Mahanadi area and one in the Chambal area. Indian Skimmer migrates to the Godavari estuary for feeding.
Great Knot and Caspian Terns have been sighted in good numbers during the census.
White tufted royal butterfly, a rare species, found in Kerala’s Kannur (Page no. 5)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
A team of butterfly observers and researchers have found White Tufted Royal Butterfly, a rare butterfly species at Kalliyad in Kannur.
According to researcher and butterfly observer V.C. Balakrishnan, the butterfly is protected under Schedule 2 of the Wildlife Protection Act. The species had been spotted in Agasthyakoodam in 2017 and the Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary in 2018.
He said the finding of the butterfly indicated the rich fauna and flora of Kalliyad the place. Mr. Balakrishnan leads a group named ‘Walk with VC’, which has over 100 members. The team observes various species to make a checklist, document, and study biodiversity.
White Tufted Royal Butterfly was a rare species. However, the species was identified by another member, P.K. Girish Mohan, who collected the egg and reared the butterfly.
The wingspan of the butterfly is just 32-40 mm. Its larvae feed on Scurrula parasitica, a plant belonging to the Loranthaceae family.
Mr. Mohan said there were eight species of the butterfly. While two are common, the others are rare.
Mr. Mohan further said there were many unregulated laterite and granite quarries operating in Kalliyad. The survival of such rare species is under severe threat, and steps should be taken to protect the hills, he said.
Editorial
Reducing preterm births and stillbirths (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
Nelson Mandela had said that “there can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children”. Two global reports released on January 10, 2023 — on child mortality and on stillbirths — prod us to reflect on whether India is doing enough for ensuring the health and survival of every child.
The report on child mortality — Levels and Trends in Child Mortality, by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNIGME) — estimates that globally, five million children died before their fifth birthday (under-five mortality) in 2021.
Over half of these (2.7 million) occurred among children aged 1-59 months, while the remainder (2.3 million) occurred in just the first month of life (neonatal deaths).
India’s share in these child mortalities was estimated at 7,09,366 under-five deaths; 5,86,787 infant deaths (death before first birthday); and 4,41,801 neonatal deaths. Many of these are preventable.
In addition, the Sample Registration System (SRS), released in September 2022, showed wide inter-State variations in child mortality in India.
For every 1,000 live births, the infant mortality rate in Madhya Pradesh was six-fold of the rate in Kerala. The children in rural parts in any age subgroup have much higher mortality rates than their urban counterparts.
At the root of many child deaths are two neglected challenges. The first challenge is of children being ‘born too early’ (preterm births), which means they are born alive before 37 weeks of pregnancy are completed.
This is a challenge because these ‘preterm babies’ are two to four times at higher risk of death after birth in comparison to those born after 37 weeks of gestation.
Globally, one in every 10 births is preterm; in India, one in every six to seven births is preterm. India has a high burden of preterm births, which means newborns in the country are at greater risk of complications and mortality.
Studies have shown that preterm births contribute to one in every six under-five child deaths. However, three out of every four deaths due to preterm birth-related complications are preventable.
Explainer
Why is the land sinking in Joshimath? (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Disaster Management)
In October 2021, cracks first appeared in a few houses in Uttarakhand’s Joshimath town. Over a year later, by January 11, 723 houses in all of the nine wards in the town have developed major or minor cracks on the floors, ceilings and walls.
Beams had been dislodged in many houses. In response, 145 families have been temporarily moved to safer locations within the town.
At a height of 6,107 feet, Joshimath is a busy town in Chamoli district. Despite a population of only about 23,000, it has been heavily built-on, with hotels, resorts, and a bustling market that caters mainly to tourists, pilgrims, trekkers and personnel of the army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
After the 1962 India-China war, Joshimath emerged as a place of strategic importance. It leads to villages along the India-China border and is also en route to Barahoti, a disputed territory along the border.
The town is also a gateway to noted sites of pilgrimage – Badrinath for Hindus and Hemkund Sahib for Sikhs; the international skiing site of Auli; and the Valley of Flowers, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Today, Joshimath is overly burdened with structures built without any regard for the land’s load-bearing capacity.
Joshimath’s geological setting, together with the unplanned and rampant construction in and around the town, have resulted in land subsidence.
The signs of sinking first appeared in October 2021, when 14 families in the Chhawani Bazar locality noted cracks in their houses. Subsequently, cracks continued to appear around town and residents resorted to repairs.
The situation became particularly alarming towards the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, when large parts of the town experienced sudden land-sinking and several houses developed major cracks as well.
Joshimath is built on the deposits of an old landslide, which means the slopes can be destabilised even by slight triggers. The town is also in Zone V, denoting highest risk, in India’s seismic zonation scheme.
It lies between two thrusts, the Main Central Thrust (MCT) and the Vaikrita Thrust (VT), and thus occupies a seismically active terrain.
Geologist Navin Juyal, who conducted research on land subsidence in the town in 2022, said that because of the MCT, the area around Joshimath is highly active in terms of slope mobility.
Joshimath is also prone to extreme weather. “Climatologically, Joshimath lies in a region that frequently receives high-intensity, focussed rainfall.
News
Office of Registrar General of India following ‘obsolete’ criteria to define Scheduled Tribes (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The Office of the Registrar-General of India (RGI) is following the set of criteria set out by the Lokur Committee nearly 60 years ago to define any new community as a Scheduled Tribe.
The Office of the RGI’s nod is mandatory for the inclusion of any community in ST lists, as per the procedure for scheduling tribes.
In response to a query under the Right to Information Act, 2005, the Office of the RGI on Tuesday said, For criteria, report of the Advisory Committee on the revision of the lists of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Lokur Committee 1965) is consulted.
This comes even as the government, until December, 2017, insisted in Parliament that it was considering a proposal to change the criteria for scheduling of new communities as STs based on the report of an internal task force, which had called these criteria “obsolete”, “condescending”, “dogmatic”, and “rigid”.
The criteria set out by the Lokur Committee for defining a community as a tribe are: indications of primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, shyness of contact with the community at large, backwardness.
The government task force on Scheduling of Tribes constituted under the leadership of then Tribal Affairs Secretary, Hrusikesh Panda in February 2014, had concluded that these criteria “may have become obsolete considering the process of transition and acculturation”.
Further, it noted that terms like “primitive and the requirement of primitivity to be a characteristic of Scheduled Tribe indicates a condescending attitude by outsiders”, adding, “What we consider primitive is not considered by the tribals themselves.
“Much of the mess” created in the classification and identification of tribes is because of this classical orientation that followed a “rigid and dogmatic approach”, the task force said.
Accordingly, the Task Force had recommended changes to the criteria in May and based on this, the Tribal Affairs Ministry had in June 2014 prepared a draft Cabinet note to overhaul the criteria and procedure for scheduling of new communities as STs. This was done within a month of the first Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking oath.
News
Three multi-State societies to procure and distribute seeds (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)
The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of three national-level multi-State cooperative societies to act as an apex body for procurement, processing, marketing and distribution of seeds.
Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday that the societies would help the “protection of indigenous natural seeds which are becoming extinct”.
In a tweet, he said the cooperatives were the only sector that touched crores of people, but had remained ignored for many years till the Narendra Modi government decided to strengthen them.
The Minister said the bodies to be formed were the multi-State seed, organic and export societies. The societies to be formed under the multi-State cooperative societies (MSCS) Act, 2002 would develop a system for preservation and promotion of indigenous natural seeds.
In a statement, the Cooperation Ministry said production of quality seeds would reduce the dependence on imported seeds and provide a boost to the rural economy.
The Ministry said the primary societies, district-, State- and national-level federations and multi-State cooperative societies could become members and the elected representatives would be included on the Board of the societies under their bylaws.
The proposed society will help to increase the seed and varietal replacement rates, ensuring the role of farmers in quality seed cultivation and seed variety trials and production and distribution of certified seeds with a single brand name, by utilising the network of all levels of cooperatives.
The availability of quality seeds will help in increasing agricultural productivity in strengthening food security and also increasing the income of the farmers.
The members will benefit both by realisation of better prices by production of quality seeds, higher production of crops by use of high-yielding variety seeds and also by dividend distributed out of the surplus generated by the society.
Business
India growth to slow to 6.6% in FY24: World Bank (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
India's economic growth will slow to 6.6% in the next fiscal year from an expected 6.9% in the current year, the World Bank said in its latest economic update.
The slowdown in the global economy and rising uncertainty will weigh on export and investment growth. Increased infrastructure spending and "business facilitation measures" will, however, crowd-in private investment and support the expansion of manufacturing capacity.
India is expected to be the fastest-growing economy of the seven largest emerging markets and developing economies, it said. Beyond the fiscal year ending March 2024, growth in India is likely to slip back towards its potential rate of just over 6%, the bank added.
For the South Asian region, growth in 2023 and 2024 is seen at 3.6% and 4.6% respectively. "This is mainly due to weak growth in Pakistan," the World Bank said.
Globally, the bank is forecasting a sharp, long-lasting slowdown, with global growth declining to 1.7% in 2023 from the 3% expected just six months ago.
"This reflects synchronous policy tightening aimed at containing very high inflation, worsening financial conditions, and continued disruptions from the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine."