Daily Current Affairs including Static Notes - 5 MAY

💥DoT TO DIAL IN EASE OF DOING BUSINESS💥 (ECONOMY)

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is set to hold discussions with the telecom industry to sort out various issues surrounding ease of doing business, in a bid to maximize the utility of the strong fundamentals of the telecom industry to attract $100 billion investment in the sector.

The telecom secretary said that though it is true that now the industry is undergoing stress – there is high debt, technology disruption happening, shake out of players etc.. the fundamentals of the sector are still very robust. After the disruption caused by the coming in of JIO ,the sector is in phase of consolidation, and the three to four players that are left in the sector are all big players who are capable of pumping in capital.. But the telecom sector

👉Draft policy by the government

 The draft National Digital Communications Policy 2018, released earlier this week, aimed to attract $100 billion investments in the digital communications sector, providing broadband access for all with 50 mbps speed and creating 40 lakh new jobs in the sector by the year 2022.

It also proposes to review the levies and fees, including license fee, universal service obligation fund levy and spectrum usage charges, which are expected to help the debt-laden sector.

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💥SEBI PROPOSES STRICTER OWNERSHIP, GOVERNANCE NORMS FOR RATING AGENCIES, RTAS 💥(ECONOMY)

Markets regulator SEBI proposed stricter ownership and governance norms for credit rating agencies, debenture trustees and registrar and share transfer agents as applicable to other market infrastructure institutions.

Stock exchanges, depositories and clearing corporations are considered MIIs now. SEBI proposed to classify credit rating agencies, debenture trustees (DTs) and registrar and share transfer agents (RTAs) in this category.

For the our purpose its import to know that SEBI is

👉About Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)

There are four financial sector regulators in the country – RBI, SEBI, IRDA and PFRDA

And SEBI is the statutory regulator for the securities market in India established in 1988. It was given statutory powers through the SEBI Act, 1992. Its mandate is to protect the interests of investors in securities, promote the development of securities market and to regulate the securities market.

SEBI is responsive to needs of three groups, which constitute the market, issuers of securities, investors and market intermediaries. It has three functions quasi-legislative (drafts regulations in its legislative capacity), quasi-judicial (passes rulings and orders in its judicial capacity) and quasi-executive (conducts investigation and enforcement action in its executive function).

All decisions taken by Securities and Exchange Board of India are collectively taken by its Board that consists of a Chairman and eight other members. Moreover, Securities and Exchange Board of India appoints various committees, whenever required to look into the pressing issues of that time. Further, a Securities Appellate Tribunal – SAT has been constituted to protect the interest of entities that feel aggrieved by any of SEBI’s decision. SAT, consisting of a Presiding Officer and two other Members, has the same powers as vested in a civil court. Further, if any person feels aggrieved by SAT’s decision or order can appeal to the Supreme Court.

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💥IIT-ROORKEE TEAM SET TO TACKLE CHIKUNGUNYA💥 (HEALTH)

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee have identified a molecule that has the potential of antiviral activity against chikungunya virus, raising hopes of finding a new way to combat the mosquito-borne viral disease.

The antiviral activity achieved around 99 per cent reduction in the virus.

At present, there are no drugs or vaccine available in the market to treat chikungunya disease and though the research is still in a nascent, pre-clinical stage, determining such a molecule paves the way for future work.

But however positive these steps are, a potential drug against chikungunya is still years away. The next step for the researchers is to test the molecule in animal models, in mice. Depending on these results, interested pharmaceutical companies will take over to modify the molecule as needed, whether to make it more potent or more stable.

 👉What is the disease?

 Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne virus that causes a disease. It is transmitted by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes.

Its symptoms are characterised by abrupt fever and severe joint pain, often in hands and feet, and may include headache, muscle pain, joint swelling or rash.

There is no specific antiviral drug treatment or commercial chikungunya vaccine for chikungunya. And Chikungunya treatment is directed primarily at relieving the symptoms, including the joint pain using anti-pyretics, optimal analgesics and fluids.

The disease had started in the Reunion Islands in the Indian Ocean and soon spread to India, largely affecting states in south India. The second major outbreak was in 2016, when north India felt the brunt of the disease for the first time.

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💥GST COUNCIL APPROVES SINGLE FORM FOR FILING OF RETURNS💥 (GOVERNANCE)

The GST Council, the highest decision-making body for Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, approved a new model for single monthly return and decided to turn the GSTN into a government-owned entity.

👉Decision taken are:-

• All taxpayers excluding a few exceptions like composition dealers shall file one monthly GST return in place of multiple filings currently required in a month. This system will come into force in six months and the present system of filing of return through GSTR 3B and GSTR 1 forms would continue till then.
• Return filing dates shall be staggered based on the turnover of the registered person to manage load on the IT system. Composition dealers and dealers having nil transaction shall have facility to file quarterly return.
• On converting GST Network (GSTN), the IT backbone of the new indirect tax regime, into a 100 per cent government-owned company, it was agreed that the 51 per cent equity held by private entities (HDFC Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd, ICICI Bank Ltd, NSE Strategic Investment Co and LIC Housing Finance Ltd), would be taken over by the government and would be so arranged that eventually the central government will hold 50 per cent and state governments (together) will hold 50 per cent.

Decision on proposal of giving a concession of GST rate on business-to-consumer (B2C) supplies, for which payment is made through cheque or digital mode, so as to incentivise promotion of digital payments and the issue of levy of cess on sugar and reduction of GST on ethanol was deferred for future and was entrusted with GoM to consider and arrive at a decision.

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💥FOR CLAIM RATIO BELOW 85%, INSURER CAN POCKET 15%, GIVE REST TO GOVT💥 (GOVT SCHEMES)

The government has communicated a new frame work to the insurers in the National Health Protection Mission (NHPM).

Under the framework the government has told the insurers that they will be under obligation to return part of the premium collected if they fall short of the 85-per cent claim ratio.

For any claim ratio below 85 per cent, the insurers can keep a maximum of 15 per cent of the unclaimed premium and return the rest to the government

The Claim ratio is calculated as the total value of all claims paid by the company divided by the total amount of premium collected in a financial year. A claim ratio of 75-90 is usually thought to be an indicator of a robust claim settlement system by an insurer.

The idea of the framework is that beneficiaries should get the maximum benefit, not the hospitals or insurance companies.

👉About National Health protection Mission

NHPM aims to target over 10 crore families belonging to poor and vulnerable population based on Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 (SECC) database. It will cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year, taking care of almost all secondary care and tertiary care procedures. There will be no cap on family size and age in the scheme.

It includes both pre and post-hospitalisation expenses. It will cover all pre-existing conditions from beginning of the policy. It will also pay defined transport allowance per hospitalization to the beneficiary. For beneficiaries, it will be cashless at the point of use.