World Bank’s Doing Business Report
Context : World Bank’s Doing Business Report has been released , India ranks 63 among 190 countries .
About Doing Business Report (DBR) :
The Doing Business assessment provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 190 economies on ten parameters affecting a business through its life cycle. The DBR ranks countries on the basis of Distance to Frontier (DTF), a score that shows the gap of aneconomy to the global best practice.
The important features of India’s performance this year are:
- The World Bank has recognized India as one of the top 10 improvers for the third consecutive year.
- Recovery rate under resolving insolvency has improved significantly from 26.5% to 71.6%.
- The time taken for resolving insolvency has also come down significantly from 4.3 years to 1.6 years.
- India continues to maintain its first position among South Asian countries. It was 6th in 2014.
India signs the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor Agreement with Pakistan
Context : The Agreement is intended to facilitate pilgrims to visit Gurudwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur through Kartarpur Sahib Corridor.
About Kartarpur sahib corrider :
Union Cabinet passed a resolution on 22 November 2018 to celebrate the historic occasion of 550th Birth Anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Devji in a grand and befitting manner, throughout the country and across the globe.
In a landmark decision, the Union Cabinet also approved the building and development of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor from Dera Baba Nanak to the International Boundary, to facilitate pilgrims from India to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, round the year, in a smooth and easy manner.
India has signed the Agreement with Pakistan on the modalities for operationalisation of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor at Zero Point, International Boundary, Dera Baba Nanak.
The highlights of the Agreement are: –
- Indian pilgrims of all faiths and persons of Indian origin can use the corridor;
- The travel will be Visa Free;
- Pilgrims need to carry only a valid passport;
- Persons of Indian Origin need to carry OCI card along with the passport of their country;
- The Corridor is open from dawn to dusk. Pilgrims travelling in the morning will have to return on the same day;
- The Corridor will be operational throughout the year, except on notified days, to be informed in advance;
- Pilgrims will have a choice to visit as individuals or in groups, and also to travel on foot;
- India will send the list of pilgrims to Pakistan 10 days ahead of travel date. Confirmation will be sent to pilgrims 4 days before the travel date;
- The Pakistan side has assured India to make sufficient provision for ‘Langar’ and distribution of ‘Prasad’.
Issues :
The main issue that has been a point of discussion is the insistence of Pakistan to levy US Dollars 20 as service charge per pilgrim per visit. India has consistently urged Pakistan to not levy any fee on the pilgrims. It was stressed time and again, including in the previous three Joint Secretary Level meetings and at the diplomatic level, that this is not in consonance with the religious and spiritual sentiments of Indian pilgrims.
Merger of BSNL and MTNL
Context: Union Cabinet approves revival plan of BSNL and MTNL.
The revival plan includes:
- Allotment of spectrum for 4G services.
- Debt restructuring by raising of bonds with sovereign guarantee.
- Reducing employee costs.
- Monetisation of assets.
- In-principle approval of merger of BSNL & MTNL.
What’s the crisis all about?
For some time now, BSNL is trying hard to sustain itself in a competitive market and was willing to accept what the government decides.
The government was in a Catch-22 situation wherein it had to decide between survival of BSNL/MTNL on one side and safeguarding the interests of employees.
Challenges faced by PSUs:
Overstaffing: BSNL has a huge employee base of 1.66 lakh and MTNL 21,679. Private players have just 25,000-30,000 employees across India.
Huge expenses: About 60% of BSNL’s revenues go towards managing employee expenses, while for MTNL it is around 87%.
Increased competition: Triggered after entry of Reliance Jio in September 2016. PSUs failed to keep up with the change. The low data tariffs with free voice calls impacted the industry as a whole and not just PSUs.
The survival of the PSUs was largely dependent on the attitude of its employees, who could not approach a professional attitude with the change in times.
Excessive interference by the Department of Telecommunications.
Air Quality Index (AQI), Ambient Air Quality Standards and SAFAR
National Air Quality Index’ (AQI)
- Was launched in 2014 to disseminate information on air quality
- Initiative under Swachh Bharat Mission
- The measurement of air quality is based on eight pollutants
- AQI has six categories of air quality. These are: Good, Satisfactory, Moderately Polluted, Poor, Very Poor and Severe.
- AQI is considered as ‘One Number- One Colour-One Description’ for the common man to judge the air quality within his vicinity.
8 pollutants measured by AQI
- Particulate Matter (size less than 10 µm) or (PM10),
- Particulate Matter (size less than 2.5 µm) or (PM2.5),
- Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2),
- Sulphur Dioxide (SO2),
- Carbon Monoxide (CO),
- Ozone (O3),
- Ammonia (NH3), and
- Lead (Pb)
National Ambient Air Quality Standards
- National Ambient Air Quality Standards are the standards for ambient air quality set by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)
- The CPCB has been conferred this power by the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
Ambient Air Quality Standards contains 12 pollutants (8 pollutants contained in AQI and 4 others given below)
- Benzene
- Benzo(a)Pyrene (BaP)
- Arsenic
- Nickel
System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR)
- Initiative introduced by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) to measure the air quality of a metropolitan city
- Indigenously developed by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune and is operationalized by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
- It gives out real-time air quality index on a 24×7 basis with color-coding (along with 72 hours advance forecast).
- SAFAR is an integral part of India’s first Air Quality Early Warning System operational in Delhi.
Objective:
- increase awareness among the general public regarding the air quality in their city
- helps the policy-makers to develop appropriate mitigation measures and systematic actions
Pollutants monitored by SAFAR
- 5
- PM10
- Ozone
- Carbon Monoxide (CO)
- Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)
- Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)
- Benzene
- Toluene
- Xylene
- Mercury