DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

10 March 2022

. No.	Topic Name	Prelims/Mains
1.	AGE OF CONSENT IN PHILIPPINES	Prelims & Mains
2.	ABOUT UPI123PAY	Prelims & Mains
3.	DETAILS OF NATIONAL LAND MONETISATION CORPORATION	Prelims & Mains
4.	DETAILS OF PARAM GANGA	Prelims Specific Topic

 

1 – AGE OF CONSENT IN PHILIPPINES: 

GS II

Topic – International Relations

• Context:
• In the Philippines, the age of sexual consent has been raised from 12 to 16.
• The law does not discriminate between male and female children and criminals
• It had one of the lowest consent ages in the world until today, with nearly one out of every five youngsters experiencing sexual violence.
• In India, what is the “age of consent”:
• The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, defines a “child” as anyone under the age of 18, hence sexual conduct with a “child” is considered sexual assault in India.
• In India, there is a desire for a reassessment of the age of consent:
• Many of the incidents of sexual assault reported to the police (under the Pocso Act and other legislation) involving 16-18-year-old minors are consensual in nature, and are often reported at the request of the girls’ parents who disapprove of their children’s behavior.
• As a result, the most important question to answer is whether a teen girl or boy of this age is capable of giving “free consent.”
• According to records, the majority of females in this age range become hostile because the sexual act was not forced upon them and they were not allured or seduced into doing so.
• Teenagers have also been reported to be aware enough to realize the consequences of their actions as a result of a change in the sociocultural milieu in recent decades.
• Source – The Hindu

2 – ABOUT UPI123PAY:

GS III

Topic – Indian Economy

• Context:
• The Reserve Bank of India has announced the launch of ‘UPI123Pay,’ a new Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments option for feature phone customers.
• What exactly is UPI123Pay:
• UPI ‘123PAY’ is a three-step mechanism for users to initiate and execute services on simple phones.
• Customers will be able to utilize feature phones for practically all transactions, with the exception of scanning and paying.
• Transactions do not require an internet connection. To use this service, customers must link their bank accounts with feature phones.
• Users of the new UPI payment system have four alternatives for making payments without access to the internet:
• Users would be needed to make a secure call from their feature phones to a preset IVR number and complete UPI on-boarding processes in order to begin completing financial transactions such as money transfers, mobile recharges, EMI repayments, and balance checks, among other things.
• App-based functionality: Several UPI functions that are available on smartphones will be available on feature phones as well, with the exception of the scan and pay capability, which is currently unavailable.
• Missed call facility: By missing a call on the number shown at the merchant outlet, users will be able to access their bank account and execute routine operations such as receiving, transferring funds, regular purchases, bill payments, and so on.
• The customer will be contacted by phone to confirm the transaction by entering their UPI PIN.
• Proximity sound-based payments: The proximity sound-based payments option allows for contactless, offline, and proximity data communication on any device by using sound waves.
• Significance:
• Customers will be able to send money to friends and family, pay utility bills, recharge FASTags, pay mobile bills, and check account balances, according to the central bank. Customers will also be able to link bank accounts and set or update UPI PINs.
• What exactly is UPI:
• The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is an immediate real-time payment system that allows users to transfer money between various bank accounts in real time without giving account information to the other party.
• The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) operates a number of systems, including the National Automated Clearing House (NACH), Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), Aadhaar enabled Payment System (AePS), Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), RuPay, and others.
• PhonePe, Paytm, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and BHIM, the government’s UPI software, are among the most popular.
• Source – The Hindu

3 – DETAILS OF NATIONAL LAND MONETISATION CORPORATION:

GS II

Topic – Statutory & Non-Statutory Bodies

• Context:
• The establishment of the National Land Monetization Corporation has been approved by the Union Cabinet (NLMC).
• With an initial authorized share capital of Rs 5000 crore and a paid-up share capital of Rs 150 crore, the NLMC will be a completely owned Government of India enterprise.
• The National Land Management Corporation (NLMC) will monetize surplus land and building assets owned by CPSEs and other government organizations.
• The idea is in accordance with the 2021-22 Budget Announcement.
• NLMC’s main functions include:
• NLMC will be responsible for owning, holding, managing, and monetizing surplus land and building assets of CPSEs that are closing down, as well as surplus non-core land assets of Government-owned CPSEs that are being strategically disinvested.
• This will hasten the closure of CPSEs and make the strategic disinvestment of government-owned CPSEs go more smoothly.
• These assets might be transferred to NLMC, which would then hold, manage, and monetize them.
• Other government entities (including CPSEs) will be advised and assisted by NLMC in identifying surplus non-core assets and monetizing them in a professional and efficient manner to maximize value realization.
• NLMC will perform surplus land asset monetization as an agency function in certain circumstances.
• The National Land Monetization Center (NLMC) is expected to serve as a library of best practices in land monetization, as well as assist and provide technical assistance to the government in the implementation of the asset monetization program.
• Composition:
• On behalf of CPSEs and other government organizations, NLMC will have the technical expertise to competently manage and monetize land holdings.
• The NLMC Board of Directors will be made up of senior Central Government officials and recognized professionals to ensure the company’s professional operations and management.
• A merit-based selection method will be used to appoint the Chairman and non-government Directors of the NLMC.
• A requirement for:
• Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) currently have a large amount of surplus, idle, and underutilized non-core assets in the form of land and buildings.
• The monetization of surplus land and non-core assets is critical for CPSEs experiencing strategic disinvestment or closure in order to unleash their value.
• The monetization of these assets will be supported and carried out by NLMC.
• Source – The Hindu

4 – DETAILS OF PARAM GANGA:

Prelims Specific Topic

• The National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) has installed “PARAM Ganga,” a supercomputer with a capacity of 1.66 petaflops, at IIT Roorkee.
• C-DAC designed and commissioned the system as part of the NSM’s Phase 2 build approach.
• The National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) is a program that aims to improve the state of supercomputing in the United States
• The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) are leading the initiative, which is being carried out by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore.
• Infrastructure, Applications, R&D, and HRD are the four key pillars of the NSM.

• Source – The Hindu