PM IAS SEP 19 CURRENT EVENTS

National Logistics Policy 2022

In News

• The Prime Minister recently unveiled the National Logistics Policy 2022.

Policy Highlights

• Aim:
  • To ensure seamless movement of goods and services across the country and cut elevated logistics costs, often considered the biggest structural bottleneck for both external and internal trade in India.
• About Logistics Sector:
  • Logistics encompasses planning, coordinating, storing, and moving resources —people, raw materials, inventory, equipment, etc., from one location to another, from the production points to consumption, distribution, or other production points.
• Policy targets:
  • The policy has simple but transformational targets to help benchmark its performance.
    • Reduce the cost of logistics from 14-18 percent of GDP to global best practices of 8 percent by 2030. 
      • Countries like the US, South Korea, Singapore, and certain European nations have such a low logistics cost-to-GDP ratio.
    • Improve the country’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI) ranking to be among top 25 countries by 2030.
    • Create data-driven decision support systems (DSS) to enable an efficient logistics ecosystem. 
    • The policy’s target is to ensure that 
      • Logistical issues are minimised, 
      • Exports grow manifold, and 
      • Small industries and the people working in them benefit significantly.
• New Logistics Policy has four critical features: 
  • Integration of Digital System (IDS): Under the IDS, 30 different systems of seven departments are integrated; these include: 
    • Data of the road transport, 
    • Railways, 
    • Customs, 
    • Aviation and 
    • Commerce departments.
  • Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP): It will bring all the digital services related to the transportation sector into a single portal, freeing the exporters from a host of very long and cumbersome processes. 
  • Ease of Logistics (ELOG): A new digital platform–Ease of logistics Services or E-Logs–has also been launched.
    • This will allow industry to directly take up operational issues with government agencies for speedy resolution.
  • System Improvement Group (SIG):  Monitor all logistics-related projects regularly and tackling all obstacles.

Significance

• First of its kind:
  • It is the first holistic framework for the country’s $150-billion logistics sector.
  • The new logistics policy caps eight years of the government’s efforts to create a conducive ecosystem in the logistics sector.
• Infrastructure and employment:
  • The policy is expected to help boost manufacturing and create infrastructure.
  • Strengthening the logistics sector will not only make it easier to do business, but also to generate substantial employment and ensure improvement in wages and working conditions.
• In conjunction with other programs:
  • The NLP is in conjunction with the Gati Shakti Programme, the Sagarmala and Bharatmala (waterways and roadways) schemes, the Dedicated Freight Corridors, etc., can be transformational.
  •  It will further help in improving both, Ease of Doing Business and Ease of Living.
• Helps India to become Developed Nation:
  • India, which is determined to become developed, now has to compete more with developed countries, so everything should be competitive.

Challenges

• Rail sector:
  • The rail sector suffers from many structural deficiencies which have to be eliminated fast if the logistics cost has to be halved to global benchmarks. 
  • Speed:
    • The average speed of a freight train has stagnated at 25 kmph for decades— it has to be urgently doubled to 50 kmph at least.
  • Goods operation:
    • The railways need to have a time-table based goods operation. 
    • It has to become an aggregator at the source of freight, and disaggregator at the destination, to capture the high-value small-load business (as against rake-load goods)
• Waterways:
  • Today, the total capacity of Indian ports has increased significantly and the average turn-around time of container vessels has come down from 44 hours to 26 hours. 
    • Through waterways, we can do eco-friendly and cost-effective transportation. 
  • There is valuable learning available from the river ports of China.
• Roadways:
  • Road logistics is a totally fragmented sector, where a large chunk of truck owners have a very small fleet.
• State Logistics policies:
  • Some states such as Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh have already formed their logistics policy. 
  • Logistics policies of 13 states are still in the draft stage.
• Logistics Performance Index (LPI) ranking:
  • India is the fifth largest economy in the world. 
  • If it has to move fast to be among the three largest economies and join the league of developed nations, it has to aim to be among the top 10 in the LPI by 2030.

Way Ahead

• The adoption of technology has been strengthening the logistic sector. 
  • E-sanchit: It has been enabling paperless export-import trade processes, and faceless assessment in customs has been rolled out. 
  • E-way bill and FASTag: These are also common in highways to improve the efficiency of the logistics sector.
• Casting the policy is one of the crucial steps in India’s journey towards being a manufacturing powerhouse.
  • Efficiency in logistics can increase a country’s exports, boost domestic manufacturing and make India a more attractive destination for global investors.
  • Infrastructure development will play an important role in India’s aim to become a $5 trillion economy.

National Technical Textiles Mission

In News

• The Ministry of Textiles recently cleared 23 strategic research projects that fall under the flagship programme ‘National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM).

More about the news

• The research projects are worth around Rs 60 crores. 
• Among these 23 Research projects, 
  • 12 Projects of Speciality Fibres having application areas in Agriculture, Smart Textiles, Healthcare, Strategic Application and Protective gears were cleared. 
  • 4 Projects from Sustainable Textiles having application areas in Agriculture and Healthcare sectors were cleared. 
  • 5 projects from Geotextile, 
  • 1 from Mobiltech and 
  • 1 from Sportech were cleared.

What are Technical Textiles?The Technical Textiles segment is a new age textile, whose application is in several sectors of the economy.A technical textile is a textile product manufactured for non-aesthetic purposes, where function is the primary criterion. Technical textiles include textiles for automotive applications, medical textiles, geotextiles, agrotextiles, and protective clothing.They improve the efficiencies in those sectors of the economy. The government has also launched a National Technical Textiles Mission for promoting R&D efforts in technical textiles and their applications. About ‘National Technical Textiles Mission’It was launched by the Ministry of Textiles.Period: 4 years (2020-21 to 2023-24) Outlay: Rs. 1480 crores. The aim of the mission is to position India as a global leader in Technical Textiles. The Mission has a target to take the domestic market size of the technical textile sector to $ 40-50 Bn by the year 2024 with an average growth rate of 15-20% per annum. It also supports the ‘Make in India’ initiative promoting domestic manufacturing of related machinery and equipment.The mission will comprise of the following four components:Research, Innovation and DevelopmentPromotion and Market DevelopmentExport PromotionEducation, Training, Skill DevelopmentFocus: Developing the usage of technical textiles in various flagship missions, programmes of the country including strategic sectors. This will reduce India’s import dependence and promote the domestic manufacturing of capital goods in the sector.

Issues in Textile Sector:

• Shortage in supply of raw material: 
  • Shutting down some units in China and Europe due to pollution issues has resulted in an unprecedented rise in prices of basic raw materials in international markets. 
• Increase in cost of raw material: 
  • Prices are increasing after many units in China were shut down due to pollution norms. 
• Inflexible labour laws: 
  • India’s system of labour regulations is rather complex. There are over 200 labour laws, including a quarter of Central Acts. Several labour laws such as the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 put limitations on firm size and not allow manufacturing firms to grow.
• Pressure to meet stringent social and environmental norms: 
  • Failing to comply with environmental regulations can put supply chain in jeopardy, as pressure mounts for the apparel industry to improve environmental compliance efforts.
• Infrastructural bottlenecks: 
  • Poor quality of infrastructure in India has been a major hurdle. This results in Lack of efficiency due to manual work being practiced.
• Highly fragmented: 
  • The Indian textile industry is highly fragmented and is being dominated by the unorganized sector and small and medium industries.
• Uneven regional development: 
  • The country’s textile industry is concentrated in a few pockets of Gujarat and Maharashtra in the west and Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in the south. A large proportion of workers employed by these units comes from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. 

Other government initiatives for the Textile sector

• Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Textile Sector:
  • Government approved PLI Scheme for Textiles products, namely MMF Apparel, MMF Fabrics and Products of Technical Textiles, for enhancing India’s manufacturing capabilities and enhancing exports with an approved financial outlay of Rs 10,683 crore over a five-year period. 
  • The investment period is 2 years, and the incentive will be paid for 5 years after the first year of post-investment operation. 
  • Aim:
    • The PLI scheme for textiles aims to promote the production of high value Man-Made Fibre (MMF) fabrics, garments and technical textiles
• PM MITRA Park Scheme:
  • About:
    • The seven Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) parks will be set up at Greenfield or Brownfield sites located in different states.
  • It is in line with the vision of ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ and to position India strongly on the Global textiles map.
  • It will be developed by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), which will be owned by the State Government and the Government of India in a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Mode. 
  • It is inspired by the 5F vision of the Prime Minister of India. The ‘5F’ Formula encompasses – 
    • farm to fibre; 
    • fibre to factory; 
    • factory to fashion; 
    • fashion to foreign. 
• Other:
  • The New Textiles Policy 2020 for overall development of the sector was released by the Ministry of Textiles.
  • Government has allowed 100% FDI in the sector under the automatic route.
  • The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), approved a new skill development scheme named ‘Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector (SCBTS)’.

Way Ahead

• The technological gap in the country needs to be addressed in the field of technical textiles. 
• Identification of the area of research in technical textiles with industry interaction and promotional activities like conferences, exhibitions, and buyer-seller meetings to promote the use of Technical textiles in the country and to increase the exports to be the key focus areas.

PM Promotion of Alternate Nutrients for Agriculture Management (PRANAM) Yojana

In News

• The Union government intends to launch a scheme — named PM PRANAM — to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers by incentivising states.

Key Highlights

• Aim: 
  • To bring down the subsidy burden on chemical fertilisers, which is estimated to reach Rs 2.25 lakh crore in 2022-23 — 39 percent higher than last year’s figure of Rs 1.62 lakh crore.
• Vision: 
  • The move is in line with the government’s focus on promoting a balanced use of fertilisers or alternative fertilisers in the last few years.
• Budget: 
  • The scheme will have no separate budget and will be financed through the savings of existing fertiliser subsidies under schemes run by the Department of Fertilisers.
  • 50 percent of subsidy savings will be passed on as a grant to the state that saves the money.
  • 70 percent of the grant provided under the scheme can be used for:
    • Asset creation related to technological adoption of alternate fertilisers and 
    • Alternate fertiliser production units at village, block and district levels. 
  • The remaining 30 percent grant money can be used for:
    • Rewarding and encouraging farmers, panchayats, farmer producer organisations and self-help groups that are involved in the reduction of fertiliser use and awareness generation.

Need for the Scheme 

• Higher Spending Required: In the current financial year (2022-23), the government has allocated Rs 1.05 lakh crore. The fertiliser subsidy figure could cross Rs 2.25 lakh crore during this year.
• Increased Demand: The total requirement of four fertilisers — Urea, DAP (Di-ammonium Phosphate), MOP (Muriate of potash), NPKS (Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium) — in the country increased by 21 percent to 640.27 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) in 2021-22 from 528.86 lakh metric tonnes in 2017-18.

Challenges in Fertilizer Sector

• Less Production: 
  • The pandemic has impacted fertilizer production, import and transportation across the world.
• Imports Reduction: 
  • Major fertiliser exporters such as China have gradually reduced their exports in view of a dip in production.
  • This has impacted countries such as India, which sources 40–45% of its phosphatic imports from China.
• Supply Mismanagement: 
  • There has been a surge in demand in regions like Europe, America, Brazil and Southeast Asia.
  • While the demand has increased, the supply side has faced constraints.
  • India is facing a tight supply position in fertilisers, especially of phosphatic and potassic nutrients.
• Rising Raw material Prices: 
  • There has been a steady increase in prices of raw material as well as logistics and freight costs.            
  • The disruption in the logistics chain during COVID has caused the average freight rates for ships to jump up to four times.
  • Besides, prices of fertilisers such as DAP and urea, and raw materials such as ammonia and phosphatic acid, have risen up to 250–300%.
• No Denial Policy:
  • At present, the Centre is following a “no denial” policy. Anybody, non-farmers included, can purchase any quantity of fertilisers through the PoS machines. 
  • While there is a limit of 100 bags that an individual can purchase at one time, it does not stop anyone from buying any number of times.
  • It obviously allows for bulk buying by unintended beneficiaries, who are not genuine or deserving farmers. 

Government Initiative- Bridging the gap of Leakages

• To plug leakages in fertiliser subsidy, a direct benefit transfer system is introduced in fertilisers with effect from October 2016. 
  • Under this system, 100 percent subsidy on various fertiliser grades is released to the fertiliser companies on the basis of actual sales made by the retailers to the beneficiaries. 
• Incorporated new nutrients like Nano urea and bio-stimulants in the Fertilizer Control Order-1985 (FCO). 
• Soil Health Card and neem-coated urea are other initiatives taken by the Government.

ICAR Recommendations

• Soil test based balanced and integrated nutrient management through conjunctive use of both inorganic and organic sources of plant nutrients. 
• Use of slow-releasing N-fertilizers (Neem Coated Urea) and nitrification inhibitors.
• Growing leguminous crops.
• Use of resource conservation technologies (RCTs).

Way Ahead

• The time has come to seriously consider paying farmers a flat per-acre cash subsidy that they can use to purchase any fertiliser. 
• The government needs to encourage the balanced use of fertilizers in conjunction with biofertilizers and organic fertilizers.

Digital Lending and EASE Reform Agenda

In News

• Recently, PSU banks gave digital lending a push as part of the EASE reform agenda. 

About the news  

• They have cleared digital lending of Rs 83,091 crore in the financial year ending March 2022.
• As part of EASE 4.0 reforms, state-owned banks were asked to focus on digital lending, co-lending with non-banking firms, agriculture financing, and technological resilience for 24×7 banking.

What is Digital Lending?

• Meaning: Digital Lending involves lending through web platforms or mobile apps, utilizing technology for authentication and credit evaluation.
• Data: India still has the second-largest number of people who don’t have a bank account.
• Over 190 million Indian adults don’t have any kind of bank account thereby representing a huge opportunity. 
• The value of digital lending rose from USD 33 billion in FY15 to USD 150 billion in FY20 and is projected to reach USD 350 billion by FY23. 

Guidelines of RBI to Regulate Digital Lending

• Application
• The guidelines are applicable to all kinds of digital loans extended by commercial banks, non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), and primary, state, and district-level central co-operative banks. 

• New and existing customers
  • For new and existing customers availing fresh loans these norms will be applicable immediately.
• Existing digital loans
  • These are also in compliance with these guidelines.
• Outsourcing arrangements
  • Obligations of the regulated entities will not diminish even if they enter into outsourcing arrangements with lending service providers (LSPs)/digital lending apps (DLAs).
• Account
  • All loan disbursals and repayments are required to be executed only between the bank accounts of the borrower and the regulated entities. It should be without any pass through/ pool account of the LSP or any third party.
• Exceptions
  • The exceptions are for disbursals covered exclusively under statutory or regulatory mandate, flow of money between regulated entities for co-lending, and disbursals for specific end-use, provided the loan is disbursed directly into the bank account of the end-beneficiary.
• Fees and Penalty
  • Regulated entities have to ensure that fees that are required to be paid to LSPs are paid directly by them. 
  • They should not be charged by LSP to the borrower directly. 
  • The central bank has also clarified that penal interest on borrowers should be based on the outstanding amount of the loan. 
• The rate of such penal charges should be disclosed upfront on an annualised basis to the borrower in the key fact statement (KFS).
• A KFS will consist of the annual percentage rate (APR), the recovery mechanism, details of grievance redressal officers designated to deal with digital lending. 

• Awaking the customer
  • They will have to ensure that the borrower is made aware of all the information related to the product. 
  • They have to also inform the borrower about the LSP, who is going to take on the recovery responsibility.
• Cooling off period
  • The RBI has said that the period cannot be less than three days for loans having tenor of seven days or more. 
  • It is one day for loans having tenor of less than seven days.
    • A cooling off period is where a borrower gets an option to exit a digital loan by paying the principal and the proportionate APR without any penalty during this period.
• Collecting customer data and Data sharing
  • RBI has said that the purpose of obtaining borrowers’ consent needs to be disclosed at each stage of interface with the borrowers. And, explicit consent of the borrower must be taken before sharing personal information with any third party.
    • The exception is for cases where such sharing is needed, according to statutory or regulatory requirements.

Benefits of Digital Lending

• Improved process transparency and shorter decision turnarounds reduce customer frustration.
• It minimizes instances of incomplete files that delay application review.
• It encourages better communication with the customer regarding what information they need to provide up-front.
• Financial institutions can also digitize the analytics and intelligence areas of the lending process.
• Digital lenders often forego these hard credit checks for short-term loans such as BNPL. 
• They rely on either alternative credit score data or little to no financial information, making loans more accessible to first-time borrowers.

Risks and Challenges

• Absence of regulatory framework for digital loans such as consumer loans, instant loans, etc.
• Absence of pre-emptive safeguarding mechanisms against fraudulent lending platforms
• Lack of monitoring mechanisms for LSPs and digital lending apps.
• Other issues include unethical business practices, mis-selling, cyber security and data privacy concerns.
• LSPs often resort to reckless lending practices by endowing credit beyond a borrower’s repayment capacity.

Way Forward

• High-end metrics: Analytics allow the digital loan platform to make safer decisions.
• Efficient processing: They can immediately decide whether to give the loan or not and for what amount.
• Customer-centric approach: The main ambition of India’s digital loan market is to provide ease of documentation and processing. 
• Customers must take the necessary precautions and choose the right product and lender.
• Regulation: There was always a need for a proper set of regulations which can regulate this market. 

Enhanced Access and Service Excellence (EASE) ProgramIt was launched in 2018.It is driven by Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).EASE aims to foster new-age reforms in Public Sector Banks (PSBs) to improve profitability, asset quality, customer service and digital capabilities. The EASE programme sets a common reforms agenda for public-sector banks every year. It stresses on data analytics, automation, and digitization.The fourth edition of EASE was focussed on technology-enabled simplified and collaborative banking.Bank of Baroda received the first prize among all PSBs for the best overall performance on PSB Reforms EASE Agenda 4.0. State Bank of India and Canara Bank were ranked second and third respectively.Indian Bank emerged as the ‘Top Improver’ across all PSBs.Canara Bank won first prize under the Institutionalizing Prudent Banking category.Union Bank of India won under the governance and outcome-centric HR. Punjab National Bank was the runner-up in Tech-enabled Banking.Punjab & Sind Bank secured second position under Top Improvement category.EASE 5.0 will continue to focus on driving an enhanced digital experience along with data-driven, integrated, and inclusive banking across all banks.

Surge in Direct Tax Collections

In News

• Recently, India’s net direct tax collections have crossed 7 lakh crores so far this year which is 23.33% higher than the same period last year signalling a clear post-pandemic rebound in the economy. 

Recent data Corporate taxes inflow is over a half of the collection at 3, 68,484 crores. Personal Income Tax and the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) has yielded 3.3 lakh crore.

What is Direct Tax?

• Direct tax is paid by a person or an organisation responsible for paying tax directly to the entity that imposed it.
• An individual taxpayer, for example, pays direct taxes to the government for various purposes, including income tax, real property tax, personal property tax, or taxes on assets.

What is Tax Buoyancy?

• Tax buoyancy explains this relationship between the changes in government’s tax revenue growth and the changes in GDP. 
• It refers to the responsiveness of tax revenue growth to changes in GDP. 
• When a tax is buoyant, its revenue increases without increasing the tax rate.
• There is a strong connection between the government’s tax revenue earnings and economic growth. 
• The simple fact is that as the economy achieves faster growth, the tax revenue of the government also goes up.

What is Tax Elasticity?A similar looking concept is tax elasticity. It refers to changes in tax revenue in response to changes in tax rate. For example, how tax revenue changes if the government reduces corporate income tax from 30 per cent to 25 per cent indicates tax elasticity.

Factors responsible in rise in tax collection 

• It is the result of the stable policies of the Government focusing on simplification and streamlining of processes and plugging of tax leakage through effective use of technology. 
• There has been a remarkable increase in the speed of processing of income tax returns filed during the current financial year.
• GST collection increased 28 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1.43 trillion on better compliance, revival in consumption, and elevated inflation.
• The level of economic recovery can also be seen from the value of e-way bills generated which has improved from 16.9 lakh crore in 2021 to 25.7 lakh crore in 2022.

• Corporate tax as of now is growing about 25-26 per cent.
• The IT department has successfully used technology to reach out to assesses in non-intrusive ways; for instance, sending email reminding them to file return if not already. 
• Intensive and extensive use of data analytics and artificial intelligence has prompted assessments to report people’s income accurately. 

Benefits of Tax Buoyancy

• Government being the beneficiary: The government can feel relieved and happy if the economy achieves higher growth. The biggest beneficiary of a higher GDP growth rate is the government itself.
• No need to borrow: The government may not borrow highly to finance the budget
• Welfare measures: New schemes and programmes can be lavished because of high revenue growth.
• GDP growth: If the GDP growth rate registers high, direct income tax collection will accelerate. Generally, direct taxes are more sensitive to GDP growth rate.

Way Forward

• It is a clear indicator of the revival of economic activity post pandemic.
• It reflects the healthier balance sheets and growing profitability as it recovered from the pandemic-induced slowdown.
• The Centre is counting primarily on healthy direct and indirect tax collection this year to maintain its FY23 fiscal deficit target of 6.4 per cent of GDP at a time when its subsidy and welfare spending commitments have increased due to inflationary pressures and supply-chain disruptions caused by the war in Europe.  

Central Board of Direct TaxesFunctions and Organization:The Central Board of Direct Taxes is a statutory authority functioning under the Central Board of Revenue Act, 1963. The officials of the Board in their ex-officio capacity also function as a Division of the Ministry dealing with matters relating to levy and collection of direct taxes.Composition and Functions of CBDTThe Central Board of Direct Taxes consists of a Chairman and following six MembersChairmanMember (Income Tax & Revenue)Member (Legislation)Member (Administration)Member (investigation)Member (TPS & system)Member (Audit & Judicial)

Lumpy Skin Disease Virus

In News 

• The Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) Virus that has killed at least 50,000 cattle in India this year may be structurally different from the version of the virus prevalent in India in 2019.
  • It is raising questions on whether the new vaccine being developed for safeguarding cattle may be adequately protective.

Lumpy Skin Disease

• About:
  • LSD is caused by infection of cattle or water buffalo with the poxvirus Lumpy Skin Disease Virus (LSDV).
  • Lumpy skin disease was first seen as an epidemic in Zambia in 1929.
• Transmission:
  • The disease spreads among cattle through mosquitoes, flies, lice, and wasps by direct contact, and also through contaminated food and water. The disease causes fever and nodules on the skin, and it can be fatal.
  • About 57,000 cattle have died so far due to the disease which has spread to Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
• Symptoms:
  • It includes skin nodules of about two to five centimetres, high fever, reduced milk production, loss of appetite, and watery eyes. 
• Concerns: 
  • The disease has raised concerns over its impact on the dairy business. India is the world’s largest milk producer at about 210 million tonnes annually.
• Treatment & Vaccine: 
  • Lumpi-ProVacInd – jointly developed by ICAR’s National Research Centre on Equines (NRCE) and the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI).
    • It is a live attenuated vaccine, similar to those used against tuberculosis, measles, mumps and rubella.
  • Anti-inflammatory painkillers can be used to keep up the appetite of affected animals.

Asiatic Caracal

In News 

• The Caracal is struggling to survive, although both species (Cheetahs) had a similar distribution in the past. 
  • The caracal is on the verge of extinction in India and it is essential to find suitable areas to conserve it

About Asiatic caracal 

• Scientific Name: Caracall caracal schmitzi 
• It is an elusive medium-sized and locally threatened felid (cat) species, which has been widely reported to be on the brink of extinction in India.
• The reasons are large-scale hunting, illegal trading and loss of natural habitats are considered significant threats to the species. 
• Habitat : Rajasthan,Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana , Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra .
• Historical Linkages: The caracal was the only other feline which was used for hunting in India. 
  • It is known that Firoz Shah Tughlaq had many of them in his hunting establishment.
  •  It was well established in the Mughal Court for Abul Fazl records that Akbar was very fond of using this plucky little animal for hunting purposes.
  • The animal had no Hindi or Urdu name but was known in India by its Persian name of Siyahgosh or ‘black ears’.
• Protection Status: The caracal is currently included in Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 and the Near Threatened category by the Conservation Assessment and Management Plan and International Union for Conservation of Nature Red list assessment in India.

Eklavya Model Residential Schools

In Context

• The Eklavya Model Residential Schools have been facing teacher shortage. 
• About 4,000 teachers have been appointed across the 378 schools, of which nearly 70 per cent are either contractual teachers or on deputation from state government schools.

Shortage of Teachers

• According to the guidelines issued to states in 2020 by NESTS, each school had been recommended to have a total of 52 staffers, of which 30 were meant to be teaching positions.
• Therefore, 378 schools should have a total of 11,340 teachers.

What are EMRS?

• Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) is a Government of India scheme for model residential schools, specifically for Scheduled Tribes across India. 
• It aims to ensure tribal students get access to quality education in the remote tribal areas. 
• It is one of the flagship interventions of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India and was introduced in the year 1997-98.
• EMRSs are set up in States/UTs with grants under Article 275(1) of the Constitution of India. 

They provide modern state-of-the art educational facilities as per the norms of Central Board of School Education (CBSE) and National Educational Society for Tribal Students (NEST).

UNSC resolution 1267

In News

• Recently, China blocked a joint India-U.S. attempt to put a Pakistan-based terrorist on the UN Security Council’s 1267 list, placing a hold on the proposal to add Lashkar-e-Taiba ‘commander’ Sajid Mir, who is wanted for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, as well as attacks in the U.S. and Denmark.

About   

• The UNSC resolution 1267 sanctions committee is one of the most important and active UN subsidiary bodies working on efforts to combat terrorism.
• In 1999, UNSC resolution 1267 decided on preparing a regularly updated list of members of the Taliban and Al Qaeda that was being sheltered there, chiefly Osama Bin Laden, as well as allied groups. Subsequently the list went from focusing on Taliban to focusing on Al Qaeda, and then Islamic State ISIL
• Under the resolution, which has been amended several times, especially after the 9/11 attacks in the US, those on the list
  • -cannot be allowed to travel out of the jurisdiction they are found in and must be prosecuted effectively
  • must not be allowed to access their funds, and all terror-linked funds frozen
  • – must not be allowed to access weapons