tinglado-mediafiles.s3.amazonaws.com · web viewmobile commerce, electronic funds transfer,...

Daily News Simplified - DNS

31 05 20Notes

Title Draft ecom policy for comments soon: DPIIT (Page Number 10)Syllabus GSIII: Economy

Theme e-Commerce Policy and its models

SL. NO. TOPICS

THE HINDUPAGE NO.

1 Draft ecom policy for comments soon: DPIIT 10

2Why is the locust surge posing a threat to agriculture in India?

12

3 Merkel not to attend G7 meet in U.S. 09

4 Trump cuts ties with WHO as COVID19 grips Latin America 09

5 PM CARES not within the ambit of RTI Act: PMO 07

Dated: 31. May. 2020DNS Notes - Revision

Highlights Draft E-Commerce Policy

Why is it in news? The government is planning to bring in an e-commerce law and a sector

regulator to effectively deal with all aspects of online retail.

What do you mean by E-Commerce? E-commerce is the activity of buying or selling of products on online services or

over the Internet. Electronic commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce,

electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing etc.

What are the different Models of E-commerce?Market Place Model:

The main feature of the market place model is that the e-commerce firms like flipkart, snapdeal, amazon etc. provide a platform for customers to interact with a selected number of sellers.

When an individual is purchasing a product from flipkart, he will be actually buying it from a registered seller in flipkart.

The product is not directly sold by flipkart. Here, flipkart is just a website platform where a consumer meets a seller.

Inventory Model: The main feature of inventory model is that the customer buys the product from

the ecommerce firm, which manages an inventory (stock of products), interfaces with customers, runs logistics and involves in every aspects of the business.

Ex: Alibaba from China

What are the Present guidelines governing Investment in E-Commerce?As per these new guidelines on FDI in e-commerce, 100% FDI under automatic route is permitted in marketplace model of e-commerce, while FDI is not permitted in inventory-based model of e-commerce

Why does India need a policy on E-Commerce?Rapid Growth of E-Commerce

Present Worth: $ 25 billion. Future Growth: $ 200 bn (in the next decade)Lack of Policy Framework to deal with different aspects

Issues include competition, regulation, data privacy, taxation and technical aspects such as localisation of servers and technology transfer

Government to play a proactive role in growth of Industry Example: Role of US and China in developing world’s most powerful technological companies, including GAFAAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Alibababa and Microsoft).

Need for India to do the sameUnfair competition with Brick-and-Mortar stores

Need to create a level playing field due to deep discountingData Protection and Privacy

The Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018 necessitates companies to store a copy of a user’s personal data in the country

Need for Localisation of Users data.Promote Make in India

Policy on E-commerce can consider the interest of MSMEs and at the same time promote Make in India


Personal Notes

Title Why is the locust surge posing a threat to agriculture in India? (Page Number 12)

Syllabus GS III: Agriculture GS III: Environment

Theme Hong Kong Issue

Highlights Locusts Attack in India Primary Source: Indian Express Secondary Source: FAO

Image showing an ongoing locust attack in Rajasthan

Context: Over the past several weeks, locust attacks emanating from the desert area in

Pakistan have struck parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat, causing heavy damage to standing crop.

The situation is being closely monitored by agri-experts in the states and the


Centre. What are Locusts?

Locusts are a collection of certain species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase.

What is swarming phenomenon? Swarm behaviour, or swarming, is a collective behaviour exhibited animals, of

similar size which aggregate together, perhaps milling about the same spot or perhaps moving en masse or migrating in some direction.

What are locust attacks and how are they caused? Normal situation:

o These grasshoppers are innocuous, their numbers are low, and they do not pose a major economic threat to agriculture.

Attack situation:o However, under suitable conditions of drought followed by rapid

vegetation growth, serotonin in their brains triggers a dramatic set of changes: they start to breed abundantly, becoming sociable and nomadic (loosely described as migratory) when their populations become dense enough.

Is the difference in environmental condition also reflected on their morphology? Yes, differences in morphology and development are seen.

In the desert locust, the gregaria nymphs become darker with strongly contrasting yellow and black markings, they grow larger, and have longer developmental periods.

How do these locusts harm agriculture? The swarms eat leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, bark and growing points, and

also destroy plants by their sheer weight as they descend on them in massive numbers.

Desert locusts can have about 40 million to 80 million locust adults in each square kilometre of a swarm and travel up to 150 kilometres a day, according to the FAO.

There is an exponential increase in locust numbers with every new generation of breeding and a swarm the size of one square kilometre, containing about 40 million locusts, eats the same amount of food in one day as about 35,000 people.


Fig: The locusts coming to India (Rajasthan and Gujarat) originate from Horn of Africa and traverse Middle Eastern countries before coming via

Pakistan after monsoon

Fig: Areas impacted due to locust attack in India

How many species of locusts are native to India ? Only four species of locusts are found in India:

o Desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria), o Migratory locust (Locusta migratoria), o Bombay Locust ( Nomadacris succincta)o Tree locust (Anacridium sp.).

The desert locust is regarded as the most important in India as well as internationally.


the attack of 2019-2020 has been causes mainly due to Desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria)

How does India Plans to control these attacks? India has a locust control and research scheme that is being implemented

through the Locust Warning Organisation (LWO) under Ministry of Agriculture. The LWO’s responsibility is monitoring and control of the locust situation in

Scheduled Desert Areas, mainly in Rajasthan and Gujarat, and partly in Punjab and Haryana.

India is most at risk of a swarm invasion just before the onset of the monsoon. The swarms usually originate in the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa.

What are the situations which exacerbate these attacks? The task is more difficult because of political instability in some countries.

In Somalia, for example, the FAO says that aerial spraying has been ruled out in areas not controlled by the government. The civil war in Yemen may also have contributed to the outbreak.

Personal Notes

Title Merkel not to attend G7 meet in U.S. (Page 09)Syllabus GS II: International Relations

Theme Meeting og G-7 and genesis of new organization

Highlights


What is the G7?The G7 (or Group of Seven) is an organisation made up of the world's seven largest so-called advanced economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.The group regards itself as "a community of values", with freedom and human rights, democracy and the rule of law, and prosperity and sustainable development as its key principles.

"D10" clubClub of democratic partners, including G7 countries — UK, US, Italy, Germany, France, Japan and Canada — plus Australia, South Korea and India will aim to create alternative suppliers of 5G equipment and other technologies to avoid relying on China

Personal Notes


Title Trump cuts ties with WHO as COVID19 grips Latin America (Page Number 09)

Syllabus GS II International Relations

Theme Understanding the issues faced by the WHO amid pandemic

Highlights Context: WHO is facing allegations over its alleged mismanagement of Wuhan virus.

So what are those allegations?o It did not hold China accountable for misreporting the developments un

Wuhan.o Until as late as January, WHO insisted that there is no H-H transmission

of this disease.o It warned nations against imposing any kind of travel bans on flights from

China. o It delayed the declaration of Covid-19 as pandemic.

But according to Shashi Tharoor who has been Under Secretary General of the UN, it is not the fault of WHO per say: and the reasons given by him are as follows:

Unprecedent disease: o Since the establishment of WHO the world has not witnessed such a

pandemic. Dominance of Global powers in WHO functioning

o One of the institutional challenges for any UN body is that it tends to be hostage to its most powerful member states.

o The UN itself in many ways reflects the dominance of certain countries, particularly of the Security Council.

o That is simply the way in which an organisation of member states is structured.

o So if this was something that started in the U.S., they would have probably been toeing the lines of USA as well.

Blame lies in the way Chinese state operates: o The difference is the U.S. being a democracy with a free press, they

would have not found it easy to suppress the kind of details that are only now emerging from China.

o For example: China increased the death toll in Wuhan by 50 per cent because it

was getting impossible to conceal the fact that their numbers were lies.

The manner of election of WHO head: o The head of the agency who is elected after support of powerful member

states does not enjoy the independence and autonomy that should come with a position of that stature.

o If we were, for example, to adopt a policy of a single non-renewable term for maybe six or seven years, rather than two terms of five which is normal practice, then you might actually give a leader authority to take certain independent actions.

WHO relies on data submitted by the member countries: o For example for a few weeks WHO continued to take a very relaxed line,

relaying the Chinese assurances, frankly as if they didn’t need to be questioned independently.

o UN is not larger or more powerful than its member states. Had the WHO wanted to send a team and for whatever reason China refused to give a visa, then they couldn’t have gone.

What are some tangible reforms that India should push for at the WHO?


Strengthening the autonomy o Autonomy of these institutions is important and that’s how independence

of heads of institutions, and by extension of the institution itself, becomes a key factor.

Giving more powers to WHOLike a government may provide its own views to the WHO, but if the WHO independently decides it wants to verify things for itself, governments as a price of being a member of the WHO should not have the authority to deny a visa or travel permission.

Personal Notes

Title PM CARES not within the ambit of RTI Act: PMO (Page Number 07)

Syllabus GS II: Polity and Governance

Theme PM CCARES fund and applicability of RTI

Highlights Who may contribute to the PM-CARES fund? The fund receives voluntary contributions from individuals and organisations and

does not get any budgetary support. Donations have been made tax exempt, and can be counted against a company’s

corporate social responsibility (CSR) obligations. It is also exempt from the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, and

accepts foreign contributions, although the Centre has previously refused foreign aid to deal with disasters such as the Kerala floods.

Members - The Prime Minister chairs the fund in his official capacity, and can nominate three eminent persons in relevant fields to the Board of Trustees. The Ministers of Defence, Home Affairs and Finance are ex officio Trustees of the Fund.

Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) The Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) was set up in January 1948,

originally to accept public contributions for the assistance of Partition refugees. It is now used to provide immediate relief to the families of those killed in natural

calamities and the victims of major accidents and riots and support medical


expenses for acid attack victims and others. The PMNRF was initially managed by a committee which included the Prime

Minister and his deputy, the Finance Minister, the Congress President, a representative of the Tata Trustees and an industry representative.

In 1985, the committee entrusted the entire management of the fund to the Prime Minister, who currently has sole discretion for fund disbursal. A joint secretary in the PMO administers the fund on an honorary basis

Some of the concerns surrounding the PM CARES fund PM CARES is outside the ambit of RTI act, which makes it non transparent. Further it is not clear if this fund will be audited by CAG or not. Thus, it faces the

issue of accountability also. Protests have been raised against companies such as Reliance which have

made major donations to PM CARES even while cutting salaries of their own employees, as well as the Railways, which donated 151 crore to PM CARES, ₹but could not provide free transport for destitute migrant workers.

The Centre has not responded to queries on how much money is in the PM CARES Fund, or how and when it will be used to provide relief.

The PM CARES web page is opaque regarding the amount of money collected, names of donors, the expenditure of the fund so far, or names of beneficiaries.

The PMNRF provides annual donation and expenditure information without any detailed breakup.

The PM CARES Fund’s trust deed is not available for public scrutiny. The decision to allow uncapped corporate donations to the fund to count as CSR

expenditure — a facility not provided to PMNRF or the CM’s Relief Funds — goes against previous guidelines stating that CSR should not be used to fund government schemes.

A government panel had previously advised against allowing CSR contributions to the PMNRF on the grounds that the double benefit of tax exemption would be a “regressive incentive”.

Personal Notes

tinglado-mediafiles.s3.amazonaws.com · web viewmobile commerce, electronic funds transfer,...

Documents