Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 24 December 2022

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 24 December 2022

::NATIONAL::

Startup India Seed Fund Scheme

• Minister of State for Commerce and Industry recently informed that a total of 126 incubators have been approved and they have selected 656 startups supported under the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS).

About:

• The scheme aims to provide financial assistance to startups for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry and commercialization. 
• The SISFS has been approved for a period of four years starting from April 1, 2021 with a corpus of Rs 945 crore.
• As per provisions under the SISFS, the government has constituted an experts advisory committee (EAC) which is responsible for the overall execution and monitoring. 
• The EAC evaluates and selects incubators for funds under the scheme. These incubators shall select the startups based on certain parameters outlined in the scheme guidelines.

Eligibility conditions for startups:

• A startup, recognized by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade(DPIIT), incorporated not more than 2 years ago at the time of application.
• Startups should not have received more than Rs.10 lakh of monetary support under any other Central or State Government scheme.
• Individual entrepreneurs are not eligible to apply for support under the scheme. Only DPIIT-recognized startups can apply for this scheme.
• Shareholding by Indian promoters in the startup should be at least 51% at the time of application to the incubator for the scheme.

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Google moves NCLAT over CCI fine on ‘dominance’

• Google has approached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) challenging the Competition Commission of India (CCI) order on unfair business practices.

About

• Google, was slapped with a fine of Rs 1,338 crore by CCI after being found guilty of anti-competitive behaviour in the Android mobile application ecosystem
• It refers to a wide range of business practices in which a firm or group of firms may engage to restrict inter-firm competition to maintain or increase their relative market position and profits without necessarily providing goods and services at a lower cost or of higher quality.

About:

• The Competition Commission of India (CCI) was established in March 2009 by the Government of India under the Competition Act, 2002 for the administration, implementation, and enforcement of the Act.
• The Commission consists of one Chairperson and six Memberswho shall be appointed by the Central Government.
• It is a quasi-judicial body which gives opinions to statutory authorities and also deals with other cases.
• The Chairperson and other Members shall be whole-time Members.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

The Great Lakes

• Recently, it has been observed that by 2100, even the Great Lakes — Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario — might approach acidity at around the same rate as the oceans. 
• Researchers hope the data from the Lake Huron project would add to scientific information on the subject.

Key highlights:

• Scientists are building a sensor network to detect the trends in the water chemistry of Lake Huron, one of the five Great Lakes of North America.
• It is the first step towards developing a system that would be capable of measuring the carbon dioxide and pH levels of the Great Lakes over several years, the report said.
• It is known that the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide has caused the world’s oceans to turn more acidic.

About Great Lakes:

• The Great Lakes, five interconnected bodies of water straddling the US-Canada border that drain into the Gulf of St Lawrence in the North Atlantic through the St Lawrence River, are the largest group of freshwater lakes in the world.
• The US-Canada border passes through Lakes Superior, Huron, Erie, and Ontario; Lake Michigan lies entirely in the US.
• Lakes Michigan and Huron are sometimes considered as a single water body; taken together, they are the world’s largest freshwater lake by surface area. By itself, Lake Huron is the world’s third largest freshwater lake, after Lake Superior and Lake Victoria.

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NASA’s Perseverance mission 

• NASA’s Perseverance mission dropped its first cache of precious rock samples on the sands of Mars, leaving behind a record of material that a future mission could bring back to Earth. 

About:

• Perseverance aims to look for signs of past microbial life, prepare for future human exploration and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth.
• Recently, Perseverance placed a titanium tube containing a rock sample on the surface of Mars.
• Igneous rock sample was collected from Mars Jezero Crater called South Séítah.
• Samples are being placed at a location called “Three Forks,” first such sample depot on another world.
• Depot will serve as a backup if Perseverance can’t deliver its samples and subsequent NASA missions would return these samples to Earth.

::Economy::

Social Stock Exchange

• The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) received in-principle approval from market regulator Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), to set up a Social Stock Exchange (SSE) as a separate segment of the NSE.
• As earlier Union Finance Minister, in her Union Budget speech of 2019-20, had proposed creation of a Social Stock Exchange.
• Idea of SSE was floated in Budget speech 2019-20.
• Following this, government issued a notification declaring a new security ‘zero coupon zero principal (ZCZP)’ under theSecurities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956.
• ZCZP can be publicly or privately issued by NPO upon registering with SSE of NSE.
• Earlier, in July 2022, SEBI also notified rules for SSE.

Benefits of SSE:

• Enables public participation in social causes through equity route.
• Provides additional capital to improve lives of underserved.
• Leverage private sector participation thus complementing government efforts for developmental goals.
• Brings together social enterprises and impact investors on a common platform.
• Enable fund-raising as well as information on operations and financials through standardized reporting.

::SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY::

Policies on Facial Recognition Technology

• The policies of the Government are aimed at ensuring an Open, Safe and Trusted and Accountable Internet for its users. 

About:

• Section 43A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 provides that a body corporate which possesses or deals or handles any sensitive personal data or information in a computer resource owned or controlled or operated by it is liable to compensate an affected person for causing wrongful loss or wrongful gain to any person due to negligence in implementing and maintaining reasonable security practices and procedures. 
• Government, in exercise of its powers under the said section, has prescribed the rules regarding sensitive personal data or information as well as the reasonable security practices and procedures to be complied with. 
• As per these, sensitive personal data or information includes biometric information, and biometrics include technologies that measure and analyse facial patterns. 
• The reasonable security practices and procedure includeimplementation of the international standard IS/ISO/IEC 27001 or Government-approved codes of best practices for data protection, and a comprehensive documented information security programme and information security policies that contain managerial, technical, operational and physical security control measures that are commensurate with the information assets being protected with the nature of business. 
• Thus, law to regulate facial recognition technology and manage data related to such technology is in place.

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