UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Prelim Bits 09-11-2020
iasparliament
November 09, 2020
Other Service Providers (OSP)
OSPs or other service providers are companies or firms which provide secondary or tertiary services such as telemarketing, telebanking or telemedicine for various companies, banks or hospital chains, respectively.
Recently Department of Telecom eased rules for other service providers (OSP) in the business process outsourcing (BPO) and information technology-enabled services (ITes).
Key Takeaways of the eased rules are
The new rules do away with the registration requirement for OSPs, with such BPOs that are engaged only in data work have been taken out of the category of OSPs altogether.
With the government recognising OSP employees as extended or remote agent, companies providing such services will no longer have to carry the additional compliance burden of providing the details of all such employees to the DoT.
The doing away of registration norms will also mean that there will be no renewal of such licenses and therefore will invite foreign companies to set up or expand their other service providing units in India.
An important change, which takes data-based OSPs completely out of the ambit of BPOs would mean that such firms can function like any other service firm without the strict and cumbersome guidelines such as presence of agent on location.
Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Bill, 2020
Recently Haryana state Assembly has passed the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Bill, 2020.
It paves way for more employment opportunities for locals in private sector.
Highlights of the bill are as follows
All the companies, societies, trusts, limited liability partnership firms, partnership firms and any person employing 10 or more persons shall come under the ambit of this Act.
It shall not include the central government or state government or any organisation owned by the central or state government.
A candidate “who is domiciled in State of Haryana” is called a local candidate and shall be able to avail the benefit of this reservation while seeking employment in private sector.
Every employer shall be required to employ 75 per cent local candidates for the posts where the gross monthly salary or wages are not more than Rs. 50,000 or as notified by the government from time to time.
An employer can claim exemption from this 75% recruitment restriction, but only after going through a long procedure and only if the government appointed officers believe that the employer’s request seeking exemption holds merit.
The employer can be fined with a minimum Rs. 10,000 to a maximum Rs. 2 lakh once it is established that the employer has committed a violation of provisions of the Act.
Sarnath
Sarnath is a place located 10 kilometres north-east of Varanasi city near the confluence of the Ganges and the Varuna rivers in Uttar Pradesh, India.
In ancient times, this place was known by many names such as Isipatana, Rishipatana, Mrigadava and Mrigadaya.
The word Sarnath comes from a corruption of the name Saranganatha (lord of deer).
It is the site of the Buddha's Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, which was his first teaching after attaining enlightenment, in which he taught the four noble truths and the teachings associated with it.
Dharmarajika stupa is the one said to have been built by Ashoka to commemorate Buddha’s first sermon.
Alexander Cunningham, first Director-General of Archaeological Survey of India) excavated the Dhamekh, Dharmarajika, and Chaukhandi stupas along with a monastery and temple between 1834 and 1836.
The Chinese pilgrim Hiuen-Tsang (602-664) left detailed accounts of the Dharmarajika stupa and Ashoka’s lion pillar.
Tigray Region
Ethiopia’s administration has ordered troops to counter an allegedly violent attack by armed forces in the country’s northern Tigray region.
The Tigray Region is the northernmost of the nine regions (kililat) of Ethiopia.
Tigray is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, the Amhara Region to the south and the Afar Region to the east and south east.
Tigray is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob and Kunama peoples, Mekelle is its capital and largest city.
UN ACABQ
UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) is a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly.
ACABQ consists of 16 members appointed by the Assembly in their individual capacity.
ACABQ ensures that fund contributions to the UN system are put to good effect and that mandates are properly funded.
The 193-member General Assembly appoints members of the Advisory Committee.
Members are selected on the basis of broad geographical representation, personal qualifications and experience.
The major functions of the Advisory Committee are
To examine and report on the budget submitted by the Secretary-General to the General Assembly
To advise the General Assembly concerning any administrative and budgetary matters referred to it.
Recently Indian diplomat Vidisha Maitra was elected as a member to the Assembly for a three-year term beginning January 1, 2021.
AIM- Sirius Innovation Programme 3.0
‘AIM–Sirius Innovation Programme 3.0’ is a 14-day virtual programme for Indian and Russian schoolchildren.
It is first Indo-Russian bilateral youth innovation initiative, launched by Atal Innovation Mission (AIM).
AIM–Sirius programme seeks to develop technological solutions (both web- and mobile-based) for the two countries.
Under the program students and educators and mentors will create 8 virtual products and mobile applications addressing global challenges in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic.
Innovations developed by the student teams will leverage 21st-century technologies such as app development, artificial intelligence, block chain,machine learning etc.
