Facts in News

Facts in News

Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC)

• It is a non-statutory apex council under the Ministry of Finance constituted by the Executive Order in 2010 
  • The Raghuram Rajan Committee (2008) on financial sector reforms first proposed the creation of FSDC.

• Composition of FSDC
  • Chairperson: The Union Finance Minister of India.

• Members: Governor Reserve Bank of India (RBl), Finance Secretary and/ or Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Secretary, Department of Financial Services (DFS), Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Chief Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance.
• Other members include the Chairman of SEBI, IRDA, PFRDA and IBBI

• The FSDC Sub Committee is Chaired by the Governor of the RBI.
  • All the members of the FSDC are also members of the Sub-committee.

• Aims and Objectives 
  • To strengthen and institutionalise the mechanism of maintaining financial and macroeconomic stability.

• Financial literacy & literacy.
• Coordinating India’s international interface with financial sector bodies such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and Financial Stability Board (FSB).

Palladium

• Palladium is a chemical element with the symbol Pd and atomic number 46.
• It is a shiny white metal in the same group as platinum, along with ruthenium, rhodium, osmium, and iridium.
•  Most of it is extracted as a byproduct in the mining of other metals, usually platinum and nickel.

Image Courtesy Britannica

• The majority of the world’s palladium comes from Russia and South Africa.

   Image Courtesy: ET

Usage 

• Its key commercial use is as a critical component in catalytic converters – a part of a car’s exhaust system that controls emissions – found mainly in petrol and hybrid vehicles.
• About 85% of palladium ends up in the exhaust systems in cars, where it helps turn toxic pollutants into less harmful carbon dioxide and water vapour. It is also used in electronics, dentistry and jewellery.

Char Dham Pilgrimage

• Chardham in Uttarakhand is a pilgrimage to four destinations – Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath.
•  All of these four sites are devoted to a specific deity. 
  • Gangotri is dedicated to the Goddess Ganga, 
  • Yamunotri is dedicated to the Goddess Yamuna, 
  • Kedarnath is dedicated to Lord Shiva and is one of the 12 jyotirlingas, 
  • Badrinath, which is also part of India’s Char Dham, is dedicated to Lord Vishnu.

What is the Char Dham Project?

• Char Dham National Highway (NH) project comprises improvement as well as the development of 889 km length of national highways and was launched by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways.
• It will connect Badrinath Dham, Kedarnath Dham, Gangotri, Yamunotri, and part of the route leading to Kailash Mansarovar yatra.
• Environmentalists had pointed out that the unregulated cutting of tries and scooping up land at the base of the hills is irreversibly damaging the ecosystem. 

  Image Courtesy:TH 

MACS 1407

• It is a newly developed high-yielding, pest-resistant, low water and fertiliser requiring soybean variety.
• Named after Maharashtra Association of Cultivation of Science.
• It has been developed by scientists from Agharkar Research Institute (Pune) and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICMR) New Delhi.
• It is resistant to major insects and pests like girdle beetle, leaf miner, white fly and defoliators.
• It is suitable for rain-fed conditions of north-east India and for Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh as well.
• The new seeds will be made available to farmers for sowing during the 2022 Kharif season.

Image Courtesy: BL