UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Prelim Bits 21-08-2020
iasparliament
August 21, 2020
Positive Pay Mechanism
Positive Pay is a fraud detection tool adopted by banks to protect customers against forged, altered or counterfeit cheques.
It cross verifies all details of the cheque issued before funds are encashed by the beneficiary.
In case of a mismatch, the cheque is sent back to the issuer for examination.
By following such a system, a bank knows of a cheque being drawn by the customer even before it is deposited by the beneficiary into his/her account.
RBI has introduced a new 'Positive Pay' mechanism which will make cheque payments safer and reduce instances of frauds.
Under the new system Issuers will be able to send all details to their bank, thereby ensuring faster clearance of cheques above Rs 50,000.
All cheques will be processed as per the information sent by the account holder at the time of issuance of cheques.
This will cover approximately 20 per cent of transactions by volume and 80 per cent by value.
Trifood
Union Tribal Affairs Minister has e-launched the tertiary processing centers of ‘Trifood Project’.
Trifood Project is being implemented by TRIFED, Ministry of Tribal Affairs in association with Ministry of Food Processing (MoFPI).
TRIFOOD aims to enhance the income of tribal through better utilization of and value addition to the MFPs collected by the tribal forest gatherers.
To achieve this, as a start, two Minor Forest Produce (MFP) processing units will be set up in the following locations.
Raigad Unit, Maharashtra that will be used for value addition to Mahua, Amla, custard apple and Jamun and will produce Mahua drink, amla juice, candy, Jamun juice and custard apple pulp.
Jagdalpur multi-commodity processing centre, Chhattisgarh will be used for the processing of commodities like Mahua, Amla, honey, cashew, tamarind, ginger, garlic and other fruits and vegetables.
SalivaDirect
Saliva Direct is an inexpensive test, which has high sensitivity and can detect the virus even when the number of virus copies in the saliva sample is as low as 6-12 copies per microliter.
Collecting and testing saliva samples involves three steps
Collecting saliva without preservative buffers,
Proteinase K treatment and heat inactivation,
Dualplex RT-qPCR virus detection.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized the use of Saliva Direct.
The testing protocol has been provided as an “open source”, allowing laboratories in the U.S. to perform the tests.
The new saliva test would increase efficiency and avoid shortage of crucial test components such as reagents.
The new test makes sample collection non-invasive and reduces the need for trained healthcare workers to collect the samples, reducing the risk of infection during collection.
In contrast, tests using nasopharyngeal swabs lead to false negative results due to errors at the time of sample collection.
Project Dolphin; Project Lion
Following the success of project tiger India will now have two more similar missions.
The two new missions are namely Project Dolphin and Project Lion, to protect these species in their natural habitat in a holistic manner.
Functions of the project are as follows
Project Dolphin will cover both freshwater (river) and marine (oceanic) dolphins.
Project Lion will have many additional components including creation of new required infrastructure, use of technology, involvement of experts for conservation, providing world standard care and health management.
Gangetic River Dolphin
Gangetic river dolphin, declared as a National Aquatic species in 2010, is a species of freshwater dolphins primarily found in the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers and their tributaries in India, Bangladesh and Nepal.
At present, there are about 3,700 Gangetic river dolphins in the Indian River systems.
These dolphins are sighted along deep river reaches in Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
River Dolphin has two sub-species namely Indus River Dolphins and Gangetic River Dolphins, both subspecies are listed by the IUCN as endangered.
Ganges river dolphins are protected under Schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act (1972).
Asiatic Lion
Asiatic lions are found in protected areas and agro-pastoral landscape of Saurashtra, covering nine districts in Gujarat.
Its current estimated population is 674.
India has recorded a 29% increase in its population in the past five years — from 523 in 2015 to 674 in 2020.
Asiatic Lions are listed as 'Endangered' under the IUCN Red List.
Asiatic Lions are protected under Schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act (1972).
Digha-Gopalpur Coastal Highway
The Coastal Highway project will link Gopalpur in Odisha and Digha of West Bengal (NH-516A) .
Digha-Gopalpur coastal highway would act as an economic corridor between the two major ports of Paradip and Dhamra.
The coastal highway project was in 2015, spreads over 415 kilometers.
The coastal highway would play a crucial role in the supply chain during natural calamities like cyclones and floods.
Prakash Purab Utsav
Prakash Purab Utsav is a festivel of Sikhs, it marks the first installation of Guru Granth Sahib in Harmandir Sahib in 1604.
Guru Granth Sahib is the central religious scripture of Sikhs.
It is regarded by Sikhs as the final, sovereign and eternal living Guru following the lineage of the ten human gurus of the religion.
The Adi Granth, its first rendition, was compiled by the fifth Guru, Guru Arjan (1563–1606).
Guru Gobind Singh (10th Sikh Guru) added all 115 hymns of Guru Tegh Bahadur (9th Sikh Guru) to the Adi Granth and affirmed the text as his successor.
Guru Gobind Singh did not add any of his own hymns to the Adi Granth.
This second rendition became known as Guru Granth Sahib and is sometimes also referred to as Adi Granth.
The Guru Granth Sahib is written in the Gurmukhi script, in various languages, including Lahnda, Braj Bhasha, Kauravi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, and Persian.
National Recruitment Agency (NRA)
The Union Cabinet has given its approval for creation of National Recruitment Agency (NRA).
It aims to bring reform in the recruitment process for central government jobs.
National Recruitment Agency (NRA) will be a multi-agency body that would conduct a Common Eligibility Test (CET).
CET will screen/shortlist candidates for the Group B and C (non-technical) posts.
NRA will have representatives of Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Finance/Department of Financial Services, the SSC, RRB & IBPS.
NRA shall conduct a separate CET each for the three levels of graduate, higher secondary (12th pass) and the matriculate (10th pass) candidates for those non-technical posts.
