Daily Current Affairs: Prelims

Conference of Governors

Why in news?

News summary

The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, presided over a two-day Conference of Governors and Lt. Governors of all States and Union Territories on November 23 and 24, 2019 at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
This was the 50th such Conference to be held in Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The first Conference was organised in 1949.
The two-day Conference discussed important thematic issues like tribal issues, reforms in agriculture, Jal Jeevan Mission, new education policy for higher education and governance for ease of living.

8th International Tourism Mart

Why in news?

The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, in association with the North Eastern States is organising the 8th “International Tourism Mart” (ITM) at Imphal, Manipur from 23 November to 25 November, 2019.

Important facts

This is the 8th International Tourism Mart (ITM) and an annual event organised in the North Eastern region with the objective of highlighting the tourism potential of the region in the domestic and international markets.
It brings together the tourism business fraternity and entrepreneurs from the 8 North Eastern States. The event has been planned to facilitate interaction between buyers, sellers, media, Government agencies and other stakeholders.
The ITMs are organised in the North Eastern States on rotation basis. Manipur is hosting this mart for the second time. The earlier editions of this mart have been held in Guwahati, Tawang, Shillong, Gangtok, Agartala.

RBI seeks to push rupee in global play

Why in news?

In a bid to boost internationalisation of the rupee, the RBI has relaxed norms for the opening of special non-resident rupee (SNRR) accounts and permitted direct remittance from India into these accounts.

Important Facts

Now, RBI has expanded the scope of SNRR Account by permitting person resident outside India to open such account for:
External Commercial Borrowings in INR;
Trade Credits in INR;
Trade (Export/ Import) Invoicing in INR; and
Business related transactions outside International Financial Service Centre (IFSC) by IFSC units at GIFT city like administrative expenses in INR outside IFSC, INR amount from sale of scrap, government incentives in INR, etc.
It has also been decided to rationalise certain other provisions for operation of the SNRR Account, as under:
Remove the restriction on the tenure of the SNRR account opened for the purposes given at paragraph 3 above as the proposed transactions are more enduring in nature.
Apart from Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) Account, permit credit of amount due/ payable to non-resident nominee from account of a deceased account holder to Non-Resident External (NRE) Account or direct remittance outside India through normal banking channels.

Plastic parks

Why in news?

Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister DV Sadananda Gowda informed Rajya Sabha that the government has approved setting up of six plastic parks in different parts of the country.

Key facts

These parks will have an ecosystem with infrastructure building and enabling the common facility to consolidate and synergize the capacities of the domestic downstream plastic processing industry.
Under the scheme, the government provides grant funding up to 50 per cent of the project cost. The remaining project cost is to be funded by State Government beneficiary industries and by a loan from financial institutions.
These parks are located in Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu. Out of them, the plastic park at Tamot in Madhya Pradesh is functional.
Four new plastic parks have also been given in-principle approval for establishment in West Bengal, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh.

Bougainville

Why in news?

Approximately 30 years after a decade-long brutal civil war in Bougainville, a tiny island in the Pacific, is going to the polls to vote on its independence from Papua New Guinea.

Important facts

Bougainville Island is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville of Papua New Guinea. This region is also known as Bougainville Province or the North Solomons.
Bougainville Island is the largest of the Solomon Islands archipelago, forming part of the Northern Solomon Islands, which is politically separate from the sovereign country also called Solomon Islands.
Mount Balbi at 2,700 m is the highest point.

NSS 75TH Round

Why in news?

National Statistical Office (NSO) has conducted a survey on Household Social Consumption: Education as part of 75th round of National Sample Survey (NSS). Some important findings of the survey are given below.

Important facts

Literacy rate among persons of age 7 years and above was 77.7%. It was 73.5% in rural and 87.7% in the urban areas.
Nearly 10.6 % of the persons of age 15 years and above in India had completed level of education graduate and above. This was 5.7% in rural and 21.7% in urban areas.
Among persons of age 3 to 35 years, 13.6% never enrolled,5% ever enrolled but currently not attending while 43.9% were currently attending.
Net Attendance Ratio (NAR) at primary level was 86.1%. The figure was 72.2% at ‘upper primary / middle level’ and 89.0% at ‘primary and upper primary /middle level’
Nearly 96.1% of the students were pursuing general courses and 3.9% were pursuing technical/professional courses.
Among students pursuing general courses, nearly 55.8% were male students and 44.2% were female students.
Among students pursuing technical/professional courses, nearly 65.2% were male students and 34.8% were female students.
Nearly 57.0% of the students in rural and 23.4% in urban areas received free education.
Nearly 15.7% of the students in rural and 9.1% in urban areas received scholarship/ stipend/ reimbursement.
Nearly 4.4% of the rural households and 23.4% of the urban households had computer. Nearly 14.9% of the rural households and 42.0% of the urban households had internet facility.

Consumer spending surveys

Why in news?

Government of India announced that in view of “data quality issues” the Ministry of Statistics had decided not to release the results of the all-India Household Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO) during 2017-2018.

News summary

The all-India Household Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) is traditionally a quinquennial (recurring every five years) survey conducted by the government’s National Sample Survey Office (NSSO).
It is designed to collect information on the consumption spending patterns of households across the country, both urban and rural.
The data gathered in this exercise reveals the average expenditure on goods and services and helps generate estimates of household Monthly Per Capita Consumer Expenditure (MPCE) as well as the distribution of households and persons over the MPCE classes.
Way ahead: Government has announced that it is “separately examining the feasibility of conducting the next Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) in 2020-2021 and 2021-22 after incorporating all data quality refinements in the survey process”.