1. Economy
12
Govt
to soon come out with format to lodge complaints with Lokpal
The Central Government will
soon come out with a format for lodging a complaint with anti-corruption
ombudsman Lokpal, officials said on 16th May. As per norms, a
complaint shall be filed in the prescribed form to be notified by the
Government. “The form will be made public soon,” said a senior
Personnel Ministry official. Although the form for filing a complaint has not
yet been notified, the Lokpal decided to scrutinise all the complaints received
in its office till 16th April, 2019 in whatever form they were sent,
according to the anti-corruption ombudsman’s website.
“After scrutiny, complaints that did not fall within the
mandate of the Lokpal were disposed of and complainants are being informed
accordingly,” it said, without giving details of the complaints.
Lokpal Chairperson Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose inaugurated
the website – www.lokpal.gov.in – in the presence of all the eight members of
the anti-corruption ombudsman. As per the website, the office of Lokpal is at
“The Ashok” Hotel in Chanakyapuri in the national capital.
President Ram Nath Kovind had administered the oath of office
to Justice Ghose as the Chairperson of Lokpal on 23rd March. Justice
Ghose, 66, had retired as a Supreme Court judge in May, 2017. He had last
served as a member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
Eight members of the Lokpal panel were administered the oath
by Justice Ghose on 27th March. Former Chief Justices of different
high courts – Justices Dilip B. Bhosale, Pradip Kumar Mohanty, Abhilasha Kumari
and Ajay Kumar Tripathi – took the oath as judicial members of the Lokpal.
Along with them, the first (former) woman chief of the
Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) Archana Ramasundaram, ex-Maharashtra Chief Secretary
Dinesh Kumar Jain, former IRS officer Mahender Singh and Gujarat cadre ex-IAS
officer Indrajeet Prasad Gautam were sworn in as the Lokpal’s non-judicial
members.
According to the rules, there is a provision for a
Chairperson and a maximum of eight members in the Lokpal panel. Of these, four
need to be judicial members. The Lokpal Act, which envisages appointment of a
Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in States to look into cases of corruption
against certain categories of public servants, was passed in 2013.
(Source: Business Today
– PTI, New Delhi, 16th May, 2019)
13
RBI
releases ‘Vision 2021’ for payment system to increase digital transactions
The RBI said the payment systems landscape will continue to
change with further innovation and entry of more players which is expected to
ensure optimal cost to the customers and freer access to multiple payment
system options.
Aiming at a ‘cash-lite’ society, the Reserve Bank of India on
15th May, 2019 released a vision document for ensuring a safe,
secure, convenient, quick and affordable e-payment system as it expects the
number of digital transactions to increase more than four times to 8,707 crores
in December, 2021.
The ‘Payment and Settlement Systems in India: Vision
2019-2021’, with its core theme of ‘Empowering Exceptional (E)payment
Experience’, envisages to achieve ‘a highly digital and cash-lite society’
through the goalposts of competition, cost effectiveness, convenience and
confidence (4Cs).
The RBI said the payment systems landscape will continue to
change with further innovation and entry of more players which is expected to
ensure optimal cost to the customers and freer access to multiple payment
system options.
“The Reserve Bank of India will implement the approach
outlined in this ‘vision’ during the period 2019-2021,” it said. The
previous ‘vision document’ covered the period 2016 to 2018. The latest document
said payment systems like UPI / IMPS are likely to register average annualised
growth of over 100% and NEFT at 40% over the ‘vision’ period (up to December,
2021). The number of digital transactions is expected to increase more than
four times from 2,069 crores in December, 2018 to 8,707 crores in December,
2021.
“While the approach of the RBI will continue to be of
minimal intervention in the pricing of charges to customers for digital
payments, all efforts will be made towards facilitating the operation of
payment systems which are efficient and price-attractive,” it said.
The basis shall have to be that pricing is reasonable to
encourage usage and also pass on to the customer the benefit of cost saved on
managing cash in the system, it added. The document talks about creating
customer awareness, setting up a 24X7 helpline and a self-regulatory
organisation for system operators and service providers, among others.
In all, the ‘Payment
Systems Vision 2021’ has 36 specific action points and 12 specific outcomes.
The aim is to enhance customer experience, empower payment system operators and
service providers, enable the payments ecosystem and infrastructure, put in
place forward-looking regulations and undertake risk-focused supervision.
The ‘no-compromise’ approach towards safety and security of
payment systems remains a hallmark of the ‘vision’, the RBI added.
(Source: Business Today
– PTI, New Delhi, 16th May, 2019)
2. Corporate
14
Corporate
Affairs Ministry amends rules related to incorporation of companiess
The Corporate Affairs
Ministry has amended the rules pertaining to incorporation of companies to
provide more clarity and uniformity in choosing names for companies, according
to an official. The Ministry has brought in amendments to the Companies
(Incorporation) Rules, 2014.
The move comes against the backdrop of instances where
applications by companies for registering their names have been rejected due to
various reasons, including trademark issues and proposed names being too
general.
The official said the changes have been made to ensure more
clarity, uniformity and transparency in approving the names for companies at
the time of incorporation. He also noted that the rules have been updated so
that there is clarity for people to apply, as well as for officers to process
the requests appropriately.
Among others things, the Ministry has now provided
illustrations regarding applicability of various names.
(Source: Business Today, PTI, New Delhi 16th
May, 2019)
3. Science
15
NASA’s
asteroid warning: Gigantic rogue body heading towards earth at 93,000 kmph
This rogue asteroid is more than 1,280 feet long and it is
heading towards earth at a breathtaking speed of 93,000 kilometres per hour
(kmph). NASA has confirmed this development.
Asteroid trackers of the US space agency revealed that this
massive space body will make a close fly-by to planet earth in the early hours
of 20th May, 2019.
As per NASA, 2019 JB1 is a near-earth object (NEO). NASA
considers all asteroids and comets in an orbit of the sun at a distance of 1.3
astronomical units as near-earth objects. It should be noted that one
astronomical unit is equal to about 92.95 million miles and is actually the
distance between the earth and the sun.
On 20th May, 2019, JB1 may come as close as 6.4
million km. to earth. A distance of 6.4 million km. may seem too huge in human
terms, but considering the depth and vastness of the universe, this distance is
quite small in astronomical terms. Even though the chances of 2019 JB1 hitting
the earth are very few, NASA believes that any impact from such gigantic space
bodies could bring about cataclysmic effects in the affected area.
“If a rocky meteoroid
larger than 25 metres but smaller than one kilometre (a little more than half a
mile) were to hit earth, it would likely cause local damage to the impact area.
We believe anything larger than one to two kilometres (one kilometre is a
little more than one-half mile) could have worldwide effects,” wrote NASA
on its website.
In the meantime, NASA is busy developing its planetary
defence weapon to protect the earth from dreaded asteroid hits which may happen
in the future. NASA scientists believe that this weapon, which is basically a
spacecraft, can deviate rogue space bodies from its trajectory.
A few weeks back, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine also
revealed that the possibilities of an apocalyptic asteroid hit are not
something reserved for Hollywood disaster movies. In a recent speech at the
Planetary Defence Conference, Bridenstine predicted that life-threatening
asteroid hits could happen in the future.
(Source: International Business Times, By Nirmal
Narayanan, 16th May, 2019)
4. Technology
16
Google
is fixing the most annoying thing about internet browsing
Google is rolling out a new feature that will let you delete
your location and web activities automatically.
Privacy is one of the biggest concerns in our modern society.
Everybody wants to hide their web habits, app usage and location data. But
Google aims to make its product helpful to the users. And for that, Google
needs to know about your web habits and the location where you love to go. So,
if you are concerned about your privacy and also want a helpful Android, then
you just need to delete your activity manually. This is a very painful and
time-consuming task. That changes now.
In an official blog post from Google, the internet search
titan is talking about a new privacy feature that all the users are going to
love. After receiving feedback, Google is going to launch a new privacy feature
that will help you to auto-delete your location and web activities.
Google has confirmed the feature will roll out in the coming
weeks. Currently, you just have a feature to control off / on your location and
activity history and you can delete your history manually.
Google’s new auto-delete feature works on a timed system and
users can set the time duration to delete the data. You have two options: 3
months or 18 months. Google will automatically delete your location and activity
from your account after the selected time duration.
It’s certainly a positive step for Google towards privacy.
The blog post also hints that the feature will also come soon to other aspects
of your Google experience, but it’s coming first to location history and your
web and app activity.
Prior to this, an AP investigation revealed that Google was
still steering and storing the location history of users who had turned off the
history and the search giant used this data for target ads.
This month is very important for Google as the I/O annual
conference is going to commence on 7th May and Google is going to launch its
budget Pixel 3a and 3a XL devices in the conference. With these devices, Google
is going to foray into a mid-budget smart phone. The new pixel series is also
coming to India on the same day of launch. Apart from the Pixel 3a, Google will
also do some innovative announcements during the annual conference. So, stay
tuned for more updates
(Source: International Business Times, By
Ratnesh Kumar, 3rd May, 2019)
