Nirvik Scheme
- It is a new Export Credit Insurance Scheme (ECIS) introduced by Ministry of Commerce and Industry through Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC).
- Under the scheme, ECGC will provide 90% credit insurance cover and any additional outgo would be supported by the government.
- The scheme is valid for 5 years.
- It is to enhance loan availability and ease the lending process.
- It would give a fillip to export lending and insurance cover for export credit.
- The ECGC cover provides additional comfort to banks as the credit rating of the borrower is enhanced to AA rated account.
- Previously, the credit insurance cover percentage was 60% for both principal and interest.
Compensation Cess
- The government has released Rs 35,298 crore to the States in Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation.
- Compensation cess was introduced as relief for States for the loss of revenues arising from the implementation of GST.
- States were guaranteed a 14 per cent tax revenue growth in the first five years after GST implementation by the Central government.
- States’ tax revenue as of Financial Year (2016-17) is considered as the base year for the calculation of this 14 per cent growth.
- Any shortfall against it is supposed to be compensated by the Centre using the funds specifically collected as compensation cess.
- Compensation cess is levied on products considered to be ‘sin’ or luxury goods.
- The collected compensation cess flows into the Consolidated Fund of India.
- It is then transferred to the Public Account of India, where a GST compensation cess account has been created.
- States are compensated bi-monthly from the accumulated funds in this account.
Comet 2I/Borisov
- Recently, NASA’s Hubble space telescope have captured Comet 2I/Borisov to enter the solar system.
- It is the first interstellar comet to enter the solar system and the closest comet to the Sun.
- It speeds past the sun at 160,000 kilometres per hour.
- Borisov is only the second interstellar object ever seen entering the solar system. The first was Oumuamua in 2017.
- The mass of ice and dust particles and the comet’s centre is 1 km long.
- The comet will pass Jupiter in mid-2020 before making its way back to interstellar space and remaining there for billions of years.
Click here to know more about Hubble Space Telescope
Heliosphere, Heliopause and Interstellar Space
- The sun creates heliosphere by sending a constant flow of particles and a magnetic field out into space at over 670,000 miles per hour. This stream is called the ‘solar wind.’
- Heliopause marks the end of a region created by our sun that is called the heliosphere.
- It is the boundary between our Solar System and the interstellar medium.
- It is the place where the sun’s constant flow of material and magnetic field stop affecting its surroundings.
- Interstellar Space is the part of space that exists between stars with cold particles around it.
- Inside the heliosphere, the solar particles are hot but less concentrated. Outside of the bubble, they are very much colder but more concentrated.
- Once an object arrives in interstellar space, there would be an increase of “cold” particles around it.
CAA and RBI
- The RBI has released a notification in 2018 under the Foreign Exchange Management (Acquisition and Transfer of Immovable Property in India) Regulations, 2018.
- It gives directions to persons defined under Citizenship Amendment Bill and is residing in India and has been granted a Long Term Visa (LTV) by the Central government.
- It states that those persons may purchase only one residential immovable property in India as dwelling unit for self-occupation and only one immovable property for carrying out self-employment.
- It also kept out Muslim long-term visa holders from property-buying rights.
- Since these guidelines were issued, under the foreign exchange management regulations, these were issued after consultation with the government.
- With the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) coming into force, the spotlight is now on this RBI’s notification.
Source: The Hindu, PIB, The Hindu Business Line
