Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 07 July 2021

::NATIONAL::

The Department of Justice commemorates the milestone of crossing nine lakh beneficiaries under its Tele-Law programme.

About:

The programme connects the disadvantaged and needy seeking legal advice from Panel Lawyers through e-interface platform available in Common Service Centres.
Tele-Law programme is presently operational in 633 districts, including 115 Aspirational Districts across 34 States and Union Territories through a network of 50 thousand Common Service Centres.
Tele-Law saw a surge of 369 per cent growth in number of beneficiaries seeking legal advice during last one year.

In a case, Supreme Court agreed to examine the liability of people’s representatives under
Prevention of Destruction of Public Properties (PDPP) Act, 1984.

About:

PDPP Act punishes anyone “who commits mischief by doing any act in respect of any public property”.
Observation was made during the appeal for withdrawing case against some MLAs for the ruckus and vandalism caused in the Kerala Legislative Assembly in 2015.
However, Articles 105(3) and 194(3) of the Constitution confer certain privileges and immunities to the members of the Parliament and State Legislature.

India’s annual gas consumption is expected to increase by 25 billion cubic metres (bcm) in the 2020-2024 period which translates into a 9% annual average growth rate, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its latest report.

About:

India has plans to increase the share of gas in its energy basket to 15% by 2030 from the current level of 6%, and IEA noted that “India is set to emerge as the second-largest driver of gas demand in Asia (after China) and the fifth-largest contributor globally (after China, Iran, Russia and the United States)”.
Indigenous natural gas production caters to about only 51% of the country’s requirements and domestic output increased 19.1% on year to 2,740 million standard cubic metre (mscm) in May.

Significance:

Compressed natural gas (CNG) is around 60% cheaper than gasoline and 45% cheaper than diesel.
Environment friendly because of very low emission of particulate matter. Also, help in fulfilling climate change mitigation commitments.

Ghana is planning to issue social bonds or social impact bonds (SIB) of up to $2 billion, which would make it the first African country to sell debt to fund development program.

About:

SIB is a contract with public sector or governing authority, whereby it pays for better social outcomes in certain areas and passes on part of savings achieved to investors.
SIB is not a bond,per se, since repayment and return on investment depend upon achievement of desired social outcomes; if objectives are not achieved, investors receive neither a return nor repayment of principal.
Also known as Pay-for-Success contracts.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) issued orders appointing an advisory committee for its Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) project that is aimed at curbing “digital monopolies”.
This is a step in the direction of making e-commerce processes open source, thus creating a platform that can be utilised by all online retailers.

About:

Department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) set up a nine-member panel to suggest measures to design an ONDC.
ONDC aims at promoting open networks developed on open-sourced methodology, using open specifications and open network protocols independent of any specific platform.
Currently, different e-marketplaces have different set of rules, which at times make it difficult for small traders and suppliers to adopt.
ONDC is expected to digitize the entire value chain, standardize operations, promote inclusion of suppliers, derive efficiencies in logistics and enhance value for consumers.

It is an anti-methanogenic feed supplement developed by Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
When given to bovines and sheep, it cuts down their methane emissions by 17-20% and boosts milk production.
Methane is produced by animals having rumen, the first of their four stomachs where the plant material they eat gets fermented or broken down by microorganisms.
Fermentation leads to production ofCO2and hydrogen, which is used by Archaea (microbes in the rumen) to produce methane (which the animals then expel through burping).