Prelim Bits 18-07-2019

.Ploonet

• When the moons of exoplanets break away from their own orbits, went rogue and acts like a planet, it is called "Ploonet."
• It gets it name from ‘Planet + moon = Ploonet’.
• As the exoplanets move inward toward their suns, the orbits of their moons are often disrupted.
• So the moon may run away from their exoplanets and could become 'Ploonets', according to new study models.
• This is because of the combined gravitational forces of the planet and the star.
• This gravitational force would inject extra energy into the moon’s orbit, pushing it farther from its planet until eventually it escapes.
• This process happens in every planetary system composed of a giant planet in a very close-in orbit.
• As for Earth’s own Moon, it is a potential ploonet.
• It moves about 4cm farther away from Earth every year.
• Going at this rate, it won’t break away from the Earth’s orbit for about next 5 billion years.
• However, astronomers not yet confirmed the existence of a single exomoon, it just remains hypothetical in research papers.
• Criteria to classify any object as a “Planet”, according to the International Astronomical Union are,

i. It needs to be in orbit around a any fully fledged star.

ii. It needs to have enough gravity to pull itself into a spherical shape.

iii. It has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit

Jalan committee report

• It was set up to review the economic capital framework of the RBI.
• According to Section 47 of the RBI Act, profits of the RBI are to be transferred to the government, after making various contingency provisions.
•  The contingency provisions includes public policy mandate of the RBI, financial stability considerations etc.
• The committee proposes transfer of RBI reserves to govt in tranches over 3-5 years.
• It recommended transferring of funds from both contingency and revaluation reserves to the government.
• The panel has also sought a 'period review' of the RBI capital framework.
• In the past, the issue of the ideal size of RBI's reserves was examined by three committees,

1. V Subrahmanyam (1997)
2. Usha Thorat (2004) and
3. Y H Malegam (2013).

• At present RBI continue with the recommendation of the Subrahmanyam panel.
• The RBI board did not accept the recommendation of other committees.
• For the year ending June 2018, RBI had total reserves of Rs 9.59 lakh crore.
• It comprises mainly currency and gold revaluation account (Rs 6.91 lakh crore) and contingency fund (Rs 2.32 lakh crore).
• The government was seeking Rs 3.6 lakh crore from the RBI.
• The transfer of surplus capital may help the government meet its fiscal deficit target.

Ebola - An international emergency

• The World Health Organization (WHO) declared ‘Ebola virus’ outbreak in Congo as an international health emergency.
• The outbreak, the second largest in history, has killed more than 1,600 people in Congo.
• Ebola is a rare but deadly virus that causes sudden fever, intense weakness, muscle pain and a sore throat.
• It progresses to vomiting, diarrhoea and both internal and external bleeding.
• It is formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, Ebola virus disease (EVD).
• It spreads to humans by contact with the skin or bodily fluids of an infected animal, like a monkey, chimp, or fruit bat.
• It also spreads between humans through direct contact with an infected person.
• It can spread quickly and be fatal in up to 90% of cases.
• Patients tend to die from dehydration and multiple organ failure.
• Vaccines to protect against Ebola are under development.
• There is no licensed Ebola treatment, but early care such as rehydration helps to improve the chances of survival.
• An experimental vaccine “rVSV-ZEBOV” proved highly protective and is being used in the ongoing outbreak in Congo.
• So, declaring a ‘global health emergency’ by WHO often brings an increase in international attention and aid.

Mutual Funds to NBFCs

• According to analysis by CARE Ratings, the overall exposure of Mutual Funds to NBFCs has declined.
• It had declined from 19% (of the total funds) in July 2018 to 14.8%  in June 2019.
• The fall is much steeper in the exposure of MFs to the ‘Commercial papers’ of NBFCs as against ‘Corporate debt’ of NBFCs.
• The recent crisis in the NBFC sector, lead to the overall decline of Mutual funds to NBFCs.
• Mutual Fund - It is a type of financial vehicle which collects money from investors and invests the money on their behalf.
• The investment can be in securities such as stocks, bonds, money market instruments, and other assets.
• NBFC – ‘Non-Banking Financial Company’ is a company registered under the Companies Act, 1956.
• They are the financial institutions that offer various banking services but do not have a banking license.
• They can lend and make investments but cannot accept demand deposits. cannot issue cheques drawn on itself.
• They are of two types, Deposit-taking NBFCs and Non-deposit taking NBFCs.
• NBFCs whose asset size is of Rs 500 cr or more are considered as ‘systemically important NBFCs’.
• Commercial paper (CP) - It is a short-term debt instrument issued by companies.
• It is generally to raise funds for a time period up to one year.
• It is an unsecured money market instrument.
• Individuals, banking companies, other corporate bodies and non-resident Indians and FII can invest in CPs.
• Corporate debt - Debt markets are often called as "bond markets."
• These are securities issued by private and public corporations.
• It is to raise money for a variety of purposes, such as building a new plant, growing the business, generally for a long-term.
• The company promises to return the principal  money on a specified maturity date.
• It also pays interest in regular instalments, in most cases, every six months or once a year.
• They are less safe than government bonds.

Source: Indian Express