Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 05 November 2020

::NATIONAL::

Prasar Bharati signs MoU with IT Ministry to launch 51 education TV channels

• India’s public broadcaster Prasar Bharati entered into an MoU with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to launch 51 direct-to-home (DTH) education TV channels.
• The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Prasar Bharati and Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-Informatics under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

About:

• Under the MoU, 51 DTH education TV channels will be available as DD co-branded channels to all DD FreeDish viewers.
• This move aims to bring quality educational programmes to every household, including those in rural and remote areas. 
• The services will be available free of cost for all the viewers 24x7, in line with Government’s commitment towards skill development and providing quality education to the last person in the country.  
• This initiative will go a long way in achieving Government’s goal of providing education to all.

Six women led startups win COVID-19 Shri Shakti Challenge

• Six women led startups have won COVID-19 Shri Shakti Challenge.

About:

• MyGov in collaboration with UN Women, launched this Challenge in April 2020.
• UN Women is the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women.
• It was to support and promote women entrepreneurs and women led startups as also solutions byentrepreneurs impacting a large number of women.
• Entrepreneurs and individuals proposing technology solutions in the field Bioinformatics, datasets, Apps fordiagnosis etc that can be leveraged for strengthening the fight against Corona.

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::ECONOMY:: 

SARFAESI Act may be amended to allow ARCs becoming resolution applicants in insolvencies 

• The RBI rejected Aircel’s resolution plan on thegrounds that Asset Reconstruction Companies(ARCs) cannot infuse equity in an insolvent companyat the resolution stage.
• This brought into focus the conflict between theInsolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) andSARFAESI Act on whether an ARC can bid for bankruptfirms or not.
• ARC, a registered company under Securitisation andReconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcementof Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act, is special type offinancial institution that buys the debtors of thebank at a mutually agreed value and attempts torecover the debts or associated securities by itself.
• RBI regulates ARCs as Non-Banking Financial Companies.While IBC specifically permits ARCs registered with RBI to act as RAs and submit resolution plans, the Sarfaesi Act is silent on whether such firms can do so.
• Resolution applicants (RA) means a person who individually or jointly with any other person, submits a resolution plan to the resolution professional.

Key differences between IBC and SARFAESI Act:
IBC:

• It provides a comprehensive legal framework for time-bound insolvency resolution process and liquidation.
• IBC’s ambit is wider, as it takes into consideration of all kinds of creditors: both financial and operational; secured and the unsecured.
• It is regulated by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs through the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India.
• IBC specifically permits ARCs registered with RBI to act as RAs and submit resolution plans.

SARFAESI Act:

• It empowers banks and other financial institutions to directly auction residential or commercial properties that have been pledged with them to recover loans from borrowers.
• It empowers secured creditors to enforce their security interest.
• It is regulated by the Ministry of Finance and the RBI.
• SARFAESI Act is silent on whether such firms can do so.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

US formally exits the Paris climate accord

• The United States formally exited from the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change which is a global deal to take collective actions for saving the world from disastrous consequences of global warming.

About:

• Though the US under President Donald Trump had announced his decision to withdraw from the Agreement in 2017, the formal withdrawal could technically happen only a day after the US presidential election as per the UN climate body’s exit procedures for the deal.
• It made the US the first country to withdraw from the Agreement.
• With contributing 14% of total carbon emission, the US is currently the second biggest emitter after China (26%). The EU nations collectively contribute to 9% of total emission followed by India at 7%.
• Recently, countries such as China, Japan and South Korea had announced their intentions to raise climate action ambition to reach respective ‘net zero targets’, aligning themselves with the EU’s similar plan.

US state of Mississippi got a new flag

• The voters in Mississippi approved a new flag, “The New Magnolia”, featuring a magnolia flower. 
• The flag will replace the old one that has been in use for 126 years, and which carried the Confederate battle emblem on it.
• Mississippi is nicknamed the “Magnolia State”, a reference to the magnolia trees that grow there.

Why did Mississippi change its flag?

• Mississippi was the last state in the US to have a flag that featured the Confederate battle emblem.
• In the wake of the #BlackLivesMatter protests that followed the death of African American George Floyd this May, the state was under pressure to change its flag, with some protesters demanding the removal of statues or monuments that could be perceived as symbols of racism, including some Confederate monuments.
• The Confederate States of America or the Confederacy refers to the government of 11 Southern slaveholding states that seceded from the Union in 1860-61 in the American Civil War after they felt threatened by the election of Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln as the US President in 1860.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Deploying backend tech for 5G faces roadblocks

• There could be a delay in the rollout of 5G technology because of differences between most states and the Centre in policies for setting up critical telecom infrastructure. 

Some issues faced:

• The fee levied by states on companies for installing mobiletowers and laying fibre cables.
• States have multiple policies at different levels such asmunicipal, panchayat etc., which creates confusion on theground.
• Only 18 states opted for Right of Way (RoW) policy.
• To ease development of telecom infrastructure acrossthe country, Union government in 2016 came outwith RoW policy.
• It is a framework to set up telecom towers, lay fibrecables, settle disputes in a time-bound mannerand to improve coordination among private firms,states and local bodies.
• As India gears up for the launch of 5G services, volume of data traffic is expected to increase further. Therefore, it is necessary that operators deploy fibre across their tower sites.
• According to National Digital Communications Policy of 2018, fiberisation of towers across the country needs to be raised to 60% from the current 31% to sustain the increasing demand for 4G data and evolution to 5G technology.

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