PIB & HINDU Daily Current Affairs including static notes - 14 MAY

The Hindu -

👉ISRO MAKING GREEN PROPELLANT ðŸ‘ˆ(ENVIRONMENT)

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have reported progress in the development of an environment-friendly propellant to power satellites and spacecraft in a bid to replace the highly polluting rocket fuels.
👉Why?
The propellent ISRO currently uses, conventional hydrazine rocket fuel, is a highly toxic and carcinogenic chemical. Hydrazine has dominated the space industry as the choice of propellant for over six decades, despite its environment and health hazards and the challenges faced in its manufacturing, storage, ground handling and transportation, due to its high performance characteristics.
But now the research is looking at replacing it with greener propellant blend based on hydroxylammonium nitrate (HAN).

👉Who?

Initial tests by a research team at the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) have shown promising results in the formulation

👉ITBP TO GET MORE MEN AND MATERIAL👈 (INTERNAL SECURITY)

The Union government has decided to boost the manpower and infrastructure of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), in light of the findings of a discussion held by Home Ministry last month regarding the operational requirements of the force.
The Home Ministry has given in-principle approval for raising nine new battalions (comprising 9,000 men), a sector headquarters on the border with China in a north-eastern States, several border outposts, staging camps and augmenting the troop strength at border outposts in the Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh regions.
👉About Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP)
The ITBP is one of five Central Armed Police Forces of India. It was raised in 1962, under CRPF Act, in wake of 1962 Sino-Indian War. It was provided full autonomy after Parliament enacted the Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force Act, 1992. It works under command of Union Home Ministry.
Its motto is Shaurya – Dridhata – Karm Nishtha (English: Valour – Steadfastness and Commitment). At present, ITBP is strong Central Armed Police Force of 90000 personnel. It primarily guards the 3,488 km long Indo-China border along Tibet Autonomous Region.
ITBP force is also engaged in a variety of internal security tasks including disaster management, civil Medical Camp, nuclear, biological and chemical disasters and UN peacekeeping missions around the world.

👉DNA DATA BANKS TO BE SET UP ðŸ‘ˆ( GOVERNANCE)

The Ministry of Law & Justice has finalised a draft Bill on DNA technology, which is aimed at creating DNA data banks both at the national and state level to store profiles.
It proposes national and regional DNA data banks to be set up for maintaining a national database for identification of victims, accused, suspects, under trials, missing persons and unidentified human remains.
And such DNA data including DNA profiles, DNA samples and records, will only be used for identification of the person and not for “any other purpose”.
The draft also contains penal provisions to protect such datas, it provides that those who leak the DNA profile information to people or entities, who are not entitled to have it, will be punished with a jail term of up to three years and a fine of up to Rs one lakh. Similar punishment is also prescribed for those who seek the information on DNA profiles illegally.
👉What is a DNA data bank?
A DNA databank is essentially a storage facility that maintains DNA extracted from a variety of sources from an individual including blood, saliva, hair, etc., which can be used in the analysis of genetic diseases, genetic fingerprinting for criminology, or genetic genealogy.
This data bank can be used for DNA profiling (also called DNA fingerprinting, DNA testing, or DNA typing), which is a forensic technique used to identify individuals by characteristics of their DNA.

👉GOVT., REGULATORS MULL ‘SHELL FIRM’ DEFINITION ðŸ‘ˆ(ECONOMY)

The government is looking to put in place a proper definition for ‘shell companies’ so that investigations are not hampered and prosecution can withstand scrutiny in courts of law as multiple agencies probe such firms for financial irregularities.
The ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) has received preliminary suggestions from a multi-agency task force comprising officials from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), capital markets regulator SEBI and the Income Tax Department, among others. The suggestions include a list of possible parameters for defining shell companies.
Although definitions of institutions like Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), are under consideration, the regulators and the government departments in India are keen on a definition that is more suited in the Indian context.
The ministry will come to a decision after further discussions with, the finance ministry, SEBI and the RBI.
👉Why?
A number of entities accused of using ‘shell companies’ for money laundering and other financial wrongdoings have challenged the regulatory action against them in recent months. And one key issue hampering the investigations and prosecution has been lack of a proper and uniform definition for ‘shell companies’.
According to the ministry and regulatory officials, defining a shell company will give more power to investigative agencies for acting against firms that have been stripping the government thousands of crores in tax revenues.
👉What are shell companies?
Shell companies are typically corporate entities which do not have any active business operations or significant assets in their possession.
A shell company may be legal or illegal. There are many shell companies which work within legal limits. However, the term shell company is mostly used for illegal shell companies and such companies should be identified on the basis of purpose of their creation. Such companies exists generally only in papers; mostly established in tax havens; mostly used to make only financial transactions without no economic activity.
The government views them with suspicion as some of them could be used for money laundering, tax evasion and other illegal activities.
Some laws helping curbing illegal activities to target shell companies are
  • Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Amendment Act 2016
  • The Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002
  • The Companies Act, 2013.
Tackling shell companies is important for the sake of curbing black money and money laundering; to ensure “ease of doing business”; to protect investors’ interest; and increase tax net.

👉MICROCHIPS GET UNDER THE SKIN ðŸ‘ˆ( S&T)

Microchips implant under skin is getting traction in some of the western countries.
The small implants were first used in 2015 in Sweden — initially confidentially — and several other countries. Swedes have gone on to be very active in microchipping, with scant debate about issues surrounding its use.
The chip is of the size of a grain of rice but could hold the key to many aspects of your life. A tiny microchip inserted under the skin can replace the need to carry keys, credit cards and train tickets.
There are doubts regarding the practice as the chip implants could cause infections or reactions of the immune system. But the biggest risk, was around the security of the data contained in the chip.
Despite unanswered questions about how the technology will progress, the appeal of being part of a futuristic experience is a strong draw for some users.
👉What is a microchip
Microchip is a miniaturized electronic circuit (consisting mainly of semiconductor devices, as well as passive components) that has been manufactured in the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material.

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