Facts in News

                               Facts in News

Cotton Corporation of India (CCI)

• It was established on 31st July 1970 under the administrative control of the Ministry of Textiles as a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under the Companies Act, 1956.
• Functions
  • Undertake price support operations, whenever the market prices fall below the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) without any quantitative limit.
  • Fulfil raw material requirements of the domestic textile industry particularly for a lean season, undertaking commercial purchase operations.
• Headquarters: Belapur, Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra).
• Cover all the cotton-growing states:
  • Northern Zone: Punjab, Haryana & Rajasthan.
  • Central Zone: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh & Orissa.
  • Southern Zone: Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka & Tamil Nadu.
• In the initial period of setting up, as the only PSU in the marketing of cotton, CCI played an important role in imports of cotton and the purchase of raw cotton.

Placebo

• A placebo is anything that seems to be a “real” medical treatment but is not actually and does not contain an active substance meant to affect health.
• It could be a pill, a shot, or a fake treatment and none of the people in the study will know if they got the real treatment or the placebo.
• Placebos are used during studies to help understand the effects or side effects of a new drug or treatment.
• Placebo Effect
  • Sometimes a person can have a positive or negative response to a placebo in the form of improvements or side effects. These responses are known as the placebo effect.
  • It is believed that it is due to a person’s expectations as it is possible that the body’s own chemistry can cause effects similar to what a medication might have caused.

Dadasaheb Phalke Award

• It is the highest honour for an artist in Indian cinema.
• It is presented annually at the National Films Awards ceremony by the Directorate of Film Festivals, an organisation set up by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
• The Government of India started it in 1969 to commemorate Dadasaheb Phalke, known as the ‘Father of Indian Cinema‘.
  • He made India’s first full-length feature film Raja Harishchandra in 1913.
• The recipients are honoured for their “outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema.”
• The award comprises a Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus) medallion, a shawl, and a cash prize of Rs. 10 lakh.
• Recently, Veteran actor Rajinikanth was conferred this award for the year 2020.

Shantir Ogroshena 2021

• It is a multinational military exercise.
• Indian army will participate in it along with Bhutan, Sri Lankan and Bangladesh armies.
• It will be held in Bangladesh to commemorate the birth centenary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and mark 50 years of its liberation.
• Theme: Robust Peacekeeping Operations.
• Military Observers: USA, UK, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Singapore.

H1-B visa

• It is a non-immigrant visa given by the US to employ skilled workers from other countries for various specialised fields of occupation for a certain period of time.
• They are generally approved for three years, after which holders often change employers and continue working for other companies based in the US.
• The biggest beneficiaries of H-1B visas are Indians, followed by the Chinese.
• Present Status of Providing H-1B Visa
  • The selection of H-1B work visas was done by a randomised lottery system, which did not take into account factors such as wage, experience or any other requirements and demands.
• US President Joe Biden let a June 2020 executive order banning the issuance of new H-1B visas expire.

Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)

• BIMSTEC is a regional organization comprising seven Member States lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity.
• Members: India, Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan.

• The grouping holds annual meetings hosted by member states based on alphabetical rotation. Sri Lanka is the host nation this time.

• It was established through the Bangkok Declaration in 1997.
• It will focus on enhancing multilateral cooperation and engagement with countries from around the globe to collectively develop and strengthen the startup ecosystems
• The BIMSTEC region is home to roughly 22 percent of the global population with a combined GDP of over $2.7 trillion.
• It aims to accelerate economic growth and social progress among members across multiple sectors — trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism and fisheries, agriculture, public health, poverty alleviation, counter-terrorism, environment, culture, people to people contact and climate change.

Joint Logistics Node (JLN)

• Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat operationalised the third Joint Logistics Node (JLN) in Mumbai.
  • This is the third JLN to be set up in three months, with the aim of integrating the military’s logistics set-up and improving its war-fighting ability.
  •  Logistics nodes were operationalised in Guwahati and Port Blair on January 1, 2021.
• The JLNs “will provide integrated logistics cover to the armed forces for their small arms ammunition, rations, fuel, general stores, civil hired transport, aviation clothing, spares and also engineering support in an effort to synergise their operational efforts”
• Significance: The initiative would help in saving manpower, economical utilisation of resources, besides financial savings.

ECLGS 3.0

The Government has extended the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) through the introduction of ECLGS 3.0 which widened its scope to cover business enterprises in the Hospitality, Travel & Tourism, Leisure & Sporting sectors.

• ECLGS 3.0 would involve the extension of credit of up to 40% of total credit outstanding across all lending institutions as on 29.02.2020.
• The tenor of loans granted under ECLGS 3.0 shall be 6 years including a moratorium period of 2 years.

ECGLS

• The Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme was announced earlier this year as part of the Centre’s Atma Nirbhar package to counter the economic distress faced by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) due to the COVID-19 pandemic by providing them additional funding of up to Rs 3 lakh crore in the form of a fully guaranteed emergency credit line.