Daily Current Capsules - 02nd JULY

2019

Internal Security/State Specific

Nagaland to initiate its own version of NRC from July 10 Relevance IN-Prelims ( about Nagaland NRC and about NRC ) + Mains ( GS

III internal security)

What’s the NEWS

Nagaland has decided to start a variant of the National Register of

Citizens (NRC) that neighbouring Assam is updating.

Nagaland Home Commissioner R. Ramakrishnan issued a notification for

the setting up of the Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland

(RIIN).

Know! more about Nagaland NRC

It is aimed at preparing a master list of all indigenous peoples and

checking the issuance of fake indigenous inhabitant certificates.

Designated teams will fan out to each village and urban ward from July

10, less than a month before Assam is to publish the final NRC.

To be monitored by the Home Commissioner, Nagaland’s exercise for

collecting information on locals and non-locals has a 60-day deadline.

The RIIN, will be prepared after an extensive survey with the help of a

village-wise and ward-wise list of indigenous inhabitants based on

official records.

It will be prepared under the supervision of each district administration.

Know! about NRC

The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a register containing names

of all genuine Indian citizens residing in India. The register was first

prepared and its updation process was put into action after the 1951

Census of India

The NRC is now being updated in Assam to include the names of those

residents(or their descendants) who appear in the NRC, 1951, or in any of

the Electoral Rolls up to the midnight of 24 March 1971 or in any one of

the other admissible documents issued up to mid-night of 24 March 1971,

which would prove their presence in Assam or in any part of India on or

before 24 March 1971.

The updation process of NRC started in the year 2013 under the strict

monitoring and supervision of the Supreme Court of India.

On the midnight of 31 December 2017, Part Draft NRC was released and

subsequently on 30 July 2018, the Complete Draft of NRC was released

Economic Development

UN MSME Day

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about MSMEs) + Mains ( GS III economic

developments)

What’s the NEWS

The Micro, Small and Medium sized Enterprises Day (MSME) Day was

celebrated across the world on 27 June.

Theme for 2019 - Big Money for Small Business: Financing the SDGs

The UN General Assembly in its 74th Plenary held on the 6th April, 2017

declared 27th June as Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day,

recognizing the importance of Micro, Small and Medium-sized

Enterprises in achieving sustainable development goals and in promoting

innovation, creativity and sustainable work for all.

Know! about micro, small, or medium-sized enterprise

The criteria for defining the size of a business differ from country to

country. As a reference, the European Commission’s definition of micro-,

small and medium-sized enterprises is established according to the

number of employees and the annual turnover or balance sheet:

The choice of MSME definition could depend on many factors, such as

business culture, the size of the country’s population, industry and the

level of international economic integration.

According to the data provided by the International Council for Small

Business (ICSB), formal and informal Micro-, Small and Medium-sized

Enterprises (MSMEs) make up over 90% of all firms and account on

average for 60-70% of total employment and 50% of GDP.

These enterprises, which generally employ fewer than 250 persons, are

the backbone of most economies worldwide and play a key role in

developing countries.

These types of enterprises are responsible for significant employment and

income generation opportunities across the world and have been

identified as a major driver of poverty alleviation and development.

MSMEs tend to employ a larger share of the vulnerable sectors of the

workforce, such as women, youth, and people from poorer households.

MSMEs can even sometimes be the only source of employment in rural

areas. As such, MSMEs as a group are the main income provider for the

income distribution at the "base of the pyramid".

MSMEs should be the first responders to societal needs and provide the

safety net for inclusiveness.

MSME Challenges

Although MSMEs generate the most new jobs, they face many challenges

in day-to-day operations and to grow.

Access to finance is often cited as one of the primary obstacles that affect

MSMEs disproportionately.

According to the World Bank, there are 200 to 245 million formal and

informal enterprises that do not have a loan or overdraft, but are in need

of one, or do have a loan but still find access to finance as a constraint.

More than 90 percent are MSMEs.

Financing constraints are also magnified for informal firms, which tend to

be small in size, and although often less productive than formal

enterprises, contribute significantly to economic activity and

employment.

Informal firms are estimated to account for around 74 percent of all

MSMEs in the world, and around 77 percent of all MSMEs in developing

countries.

Unregistered firms rely mostly on informal financing, which — although

important in facilitating access to finance — is associated with lower firm

growth and increased firm illegality.

With the goal of overcoming these challenges, the International Trade

Center, United Nations’ entity, works in the internationalization of micro

and SMEs.

The center has launched its flagship report: "The SME Competitiveness

Outlook 2019: Big money for small businesses

How they contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals

Micro-, small and medium sized enterprises are vital in achieving the

Sustainable Development Goals, in particular in promoting innovation,

creativity and decent work for all.

Efforts to enhance access to finance for SMEs across key sectors of

national economies are an important element of implementation of the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

SDG targets 8.3 and 9.3 call for enhancing the access of SMEs to

financial services. In addition, SMEs are an important element in the

implementation of SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth) and SDG

9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure.

Celebrations in India

The Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises organized an

international convention on the theme "Indian MSMEs, Global

Aspirations" in New Delhi to observe the International MSME Day.

Further, as part of continued celebrations, the second edition of the

International SME Convention 2019 is to be held from 28th - 29th June,

2019 .

100 SMEs selected by a jury from among 34011 nominations from across

India are also being felicitated under the aegis of the 6th Annual India

SME 100 Awards.

Electoral Reforms

Electoral Bonds

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about electoral reforms) + Mains ( GS II electoral

reforms + important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability)

What’s the NEWS

Union Ministry of Finance recently announced the launch of 11th tranche

of electoral bonds sale starting from 1-10 July.

This is 1st issuance of electoral bonds after conclusion of 17th general

elections and formation of new government.

Know! all about Electoral Bonds

Electoral bonds are being pitched as an alternative to cash donations

made to political parties in a bid to bring transparency in political

funding.

On January 2, 2018, the government had notified the Electoral Bond

Scheme 2018

It was touted as an alternative to cash donations and to ensure

transparency in political funding

Non-disclosure of names of donors would add to the woes of the Indian

democracy, say critics

The Supreme Court refused to withdraw electoral bonds but directed all

political parties to submit receipts of amounts received and details of

identity of donors in a sealed cover to the Election Commission.

The Supreme Court has asked all the parties to submit their electoral

bond details to the Election Commission by May 30.

The court said this was an interim arrangement to not to tilt the balance

in favour of one political party

Know! more about Electoral bonds

On January 2, 2018, the government had notified the Electoral Bond

Scheme 2018. It was touted as an alternative to cash donations and to

ensure transparency in political funding.

As per the provisions of the scheme, electoral bonds may be purchased by

an Indian citizen or a company incorporated or established in India.

Only political parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation

of the Peoples Act, 1951 and has secured no less than one per cent votes

in the last Lok Sabha elections are eligible to receive electoral bonds.

The electoral accounts are issued by the State Bank of India (SBI). The

electoral bonds can be purchased in the months of January, April, July

and October.

Political parties are allotted a verified account by the Election

Commission and all the electoral bond transactions are done through this

account only.

The donors can buy these electoral bonds and transfer them into the

accounts of the political parties as a donation. The electoral bonds are

available in denominations from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1 crore.

The bonds remain valid for 15 days and can be encashed by an eligible

political party only through a bank account with the authorised bank

within that period only.

Every donor has to provide his/her KYC detail to the banks to purchase

the electoral bonds. The names of the donors are kept confidential.

Before 2017, the electoral bonds scheme was for donation of over Rs

20,000. In 2017, the government capped the donation limit at Rs 2,000.

Economic Developments

Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation

Statistics Day

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about statistics day + about P.C Mahalanobis) +

Mains ( GS III economic development)

What’s the NEWS

The Government has been celebrating the Statistics Day, to popularize

the use of Statistics in everyday life and sensitize the public as to how

Statistics helps in shaping and framing policies.

It has been designated as one of the Special Days to be celebrated at the

national level and is celebrated on the birth anniversary of Prof. P C

Mahalanobis, on 29th June, in recognition of his invaluable contribution

in establishing the National Statistical System.

The event is being jointly organized by the Ministry of Statistics and

Program Implementation (MoSPI) and Indian Statistical Institute. Shri

BibekDebroy, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime

Minister and President, Council of Indian Statistical Institute, Shri Pravin

Srivastava, Chief Statistician

The winner of Prof. C.R. Rao Award 2019 for notable contribution in the

field of Statistics will be felicitated during the program.

Every year, Statistics Day is celebrated with a theme of current national

importance, that runs for a year by way of several workshops and

seminars, aimed at bringing about improvements in the selected area.

The theme of Statistics Day, 2019 is “Sustainable Development Goals

(SDGs)”. The theme has been chosen for intensive and focused

discussions towards filling the data gaps and improvement of

timelines/quality in SDGs.

MoSPI is responsible for the development of National Indicator

Framework (NIF) for measuring the progress of the SDGs and associated

targets at the national level.

NIF will give appropriate direction to the policy makers and the

implementers of various schemes and programs.

Know! about PC Mahalanobis

He was an Indian scientist and applied statistician who lived from 29

June 1893 to 28 June 1972.

He became 1st Indian statistician to receive world recognition and is

called as Father of Indian Statistics. He is also referred as chief architect

of Indian statistical system.

In 1931 he established Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) in Kolkata and

contributed to design of large-scale sample surveys.

In 1933 institute founded journal Sankhya, 1st Indian statistical journal,

along the lines of Karl Pearson’s Biometrika.

In 1959 ISI was made an autonomous body of Ministry of Statistics &

Programme Implementation (MoS&PI).

After 1947 (Post-independence), he served as the honorary statistical

adviser to cabinet and helped in establishment of Central Statistical

Organisation (CSO), the National Sample Survey (NSS) and the Annual

Survey of Industries (ASI).

He had made pioneering studies in anthropometry India but in 1936 he

introduced statistical measure called Mahalanobis distance, widely used

in cluster analysis and classification techniques for which he is widely

known. He was also a member of the 1st Planning commission (1951-56)

of free India.

The II Five Year Plan (1957-62) relied on Mahalanobis’s mathematical

description of Indian economy and this plan encouraged development of

heavy industry in India and later came to be known as Basic Industry

strategy of economic Growth or Nehru-Mahalanobis Model

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