Below the line (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: National
Prelims level : Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism
Mains level : Indian credit rating system

Context

• Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Civil Aviation, said that the government remains committed to the disinvestment of Air India.

• In this regard, the Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM) has decided as follows: In view of volatile crude prices and adverse fluctuations in exchange rates, the present environment is not conducive to stimulate interest amongst investors for strategic disinvestment of Air India in immediate near future.

• The issue would be revisited once global economic indicators including oil prices and forex conditions stabilise.

Too much information

• Squabbles between senior and junior bureaucrats on how much information should ideally be revealed to public can often get unnerving.

• After the medical entrance examination NEET results were announced, a junior official was not sure whether to reveal just the NEET percentiles or also reveal students’ marks.

• The senior official was against revealing marks as that could attract eye balls on students with extremely low marks qualifying.

• But the junior official was concerned about what should be done if someone filed a Right to Information (RTI) report demanding to know marks scored by students.

• To this the senior official immediately concurred that the information then could be revealed to only the person who had filed the RTI but not to the general public.

Rating conundrum

• It is rued a top NBFC honcho, who was recently at the receiving end of a rating agency’s overnight downgrade action.

• Now, in this country even SEBI orders can be appealed before SAT, which in 80 per cent of the cases overturned the market regulator’s orders.

• However, when it comes to credit rating where is the independent third party review for a rating agency’s action.

• It is time regulators and policy makers apply their minds on this issue.

Way forward

• The new industrial policy that had been readied by the Department of Policy for Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and was awaiting Cabinet approval just before the general elections may not be ready any time soon despite the BJP getting re-elected.

• According to some officials, the new Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal was not too enthused by a recent presentation on the policy by the DPIIT.

• The Minister apparently said that he was not ready to sign on the policy in its present form and there was a need for big changes in it.

• With the Modi government winning a fresh mandate for another five years, time certainly is not an issue!

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to the Diphtheria, consider the following statements:
1. It is an infectious disease caused by enterovirus.
2. It particularly affects children aged 1 to 5 years.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A. 1 only
B. 2 only
C. Both
D. None

Answer: B
Mains Questions:
Q.1) How trustworthy is the Indian credit rating system? Is there a legal remedy for an issuer of a security who feels he is a victim of a knee-jerk reaction of rating downgrade?