Current Affair 1:

Depositor Education and Awareness Fund Scheme

The Depositor Education and Awareness Fund Scheme (DEAF Scheme) was established by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2014 for the promotion of depositors’ interest and for any other related purposes deemed necessary by the RBI.

Section 26A has been inserted in the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 which, inter alia, empowers the Reserve Bank to establish a Depositor Education and Awareness Fund (DEAF).

Amount in Non-operative accounts to be transferred to the Fund

A specific account is maintained by RBI for Depositor Education and Awareness Fund (DEAF). RBI has directed the following types of amounts to be transferred to this fund.

• The credit balance of any deposit account that is maintained with the banks and has not been operated for ten years or more.
• Any amount remaining unclaimed for ten years or more.

As per RBI circular dated 02 February 2015, it is mandatory for banks to display on their websites, the list of unclaimed deposits/inoperative accounts which are inactive or inoperative for more than 10 years.

Keeping in view public interest, it has been decided that banks should play a more pro-active role in finding the whereabouts of the accountholders of unclaimed deposits/ inoperative accounts. Banks are, therefore, advised that they should display the list of unclaimed deposits/inoperative accounts which are inactive / inoperative for ten years or more on their respective websites.

 

Provision for refund of the amount, if claimed by the depositor

The DEAF scheme provides the option for depositors to reclaim the amount, even after it has been transferred to DEAF.

 

A Committee constituted to manage DEAF

RBI’s notification about the constitution of the DEAF Scheme, provides for formation of a committee to administer and manage the DEAF.

 

Current Affair 2:

Project BOLD to Boost Tribals’ Income

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The Khadi and Village Industries Commission launched a project named 'Bamboo Oasis on Lands in Drought' to support the local bamboo-based industries in rural India.

Project BOLD, which seeks to create bamboo-based green patches in arid and semi-arid land zones, is aligned with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s call for reducing land degradation and preventing desertification in the country.

India is a signatory to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). In his keynote address at the UN High-Level Dialogue on Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought on June 14, Prime Minister Modi gave a clarion call of restoring 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030. This assumes great significance as nearly 30 percent of land in India is undergoing desertification at a rapid pace.

Under the project, 5,000 saplings of special bamboo species Bambusa Tulda and Bambusa Polymorpha brought from Assam have been planted over 25 bigha (16 acres) of vacant arid Gram Panchayat land.

KVIC has judiciously chosen bamboo for developing green patches. Bamboos grow very fast and in about three years’ time, they could be harvested. Bamboos are also known for conserving water and reducing evaporation of water from the land surface, which is an important feature in arid and drought-prone regions.

About Khadi and Village Industries Commission

1. It is a statutory body established under the Khadi and Village Industries Commission Act, 1956.
2. It is charged with the planning, promotion, organisation and implementation of programmes for the development of Khadi and other village industries in the rural areas in coordination with other agencies engaged in rural development wherever necessary.
3. It functions under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

Current Affair 3:

Humidity and moisture on Venusian clouds

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The clouds of the planet Venus have been a prime candidate for hospitable and favourable conditions for microbial life, and many future missions to the planet are expected to study this part of the atmosphere too.

However, a new analysis of the water content in the planetary clouds, from data gathered by space probes, reveals that the amount of humidity and moisture in Venusian clouds is extremely low. Comparing these with conditions under which extremophiles (organisms that thrive in unlikely places under extreme conditions) exist on our planet, scientists have decided that Venus’s clouds are too dry for even known extremophile life forms.

Possibility of life not completely eliminated

This doesn’t completely eliminate any possibility of habitability or life. We still do not understand how well-mixed the atmosphere of Venus is. It is likely that there could be pockets of high humidity or water, which could prove to be habitable.

The findings show that habitable temperatures and humidity could be found at pressures that are about five times the atmospheric pressure at sea level.

The researchers note that such conditions are met instead in the atmosphere of Jupiter and the surface of Mars. However, the study does not probe other conditions necessary for life here such as a source of nutrients, or detrimental conditions such as the magnetic activity around Jupiter.

The study, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, comes just as new missions to the planet are being evaluated and announced, including two new ones from NASA (VERITAS and DAVINCI+) that will explore the geological and climatic evolution of Venus, an ESA mission (EnVision) that will also study the same as well as a private mission by the company Rocket Lab.

Current Affair 4:

Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM)

The Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) is an international framework that promotes clean energy initiatives and policies. It provides a forum for global economies to collaborate and demonstrate best practices to enhance supply, expand access to and accelerate adoption of clean energy worldwide. CEM has been conducting energy summits annually to meet these objectives and continued the tradition by organising the 12th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM12) in 2021 that was hosted by Chile from May 31, 2021 to June 6, 2021.

The 12th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) Summit

At the 12th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) summit, India, along with the UK, introduced a roadmap to promote deep decarbonisation and improve energy efficiency of industries under the CEM’s ‘IDDI (Industrial Deep Decarbonization Initiative)’, which is co-ordinated by UNIDO, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation. The IDDI aims to promote green technologies and accelerate demand for low-carbon industrial materials. It is currently backed by Canada and Germany, with more countries set to join the initiative.

At the summit, Secretary, the Ministry of Power, Mr. Alok Kumar emphasised that India aims to reduce its intensity of emissions by 33-35% per unit of the GDP by 2030. This depends on the effective deployment of low-carbon technologies in energy-intensive industries such as steel, cement and petrochemicals.

Collaboration between India and the UK

Over the years, India and the UK have built an enduring alliance in various areas including climate change. Following this, in May 2021, the two countries jointly launched a ‘Roadmap 2030’ to collaborate and combat climate change by 2030.

Key highlights of the ‘Roadmap 2030’ are as follows:

1. Both countries emphasised on a fresh cooperation to aid transition to clean energy, protect forests and build infrastructure to boost energy efficiency, develop green energy and renewables such as offshore wind energy and promote electromobility.
2. In line with India’s vision of ‘One Sun, One World, One Grid’, both countries plan to launch new global ‘Green Grids Initiative’ to collaborate on interconnected grids for renewable energy.
3. Under the Climate Finance Leadership Initiative, both countries plan to join forces with private finance players to tap public and private finance for green development.

According to the statement, India and the UK have been encouraging other world economies and various corporations to focus on embraced climate change initiative for a sustainable future.

Current Affair 5:

Increase in India's merchandise exports

India’s merchandise exports in June 2021 was US$ 32.46 billion, an increase of 47.34% over US$ 22.03 billion in June 2020 and an increase of 29.7% over US$ 25.03 billion in June 2019.

India’s merchandise imports in June 2021 was US$ 41.86 billion, an increase of 96.33% over US$ 21.32 billion in June 2020 and an increase of 2.03% over US$ 41.03 billion in June 2019.

India is thus a net importer in June 2021 with a trade deficit of US$ 9.4 billion.

Just see charts given below.

 

 

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