GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

Recently, the National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL) acquired its first stressed asset — Jaypee Infratech — from lenders. 

• It acquired its exposure aggregating about Rs 9,200 crores at a 55 per cent haircut.

What is National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL)?

• NARCL has been incorporated under the Companies Act and has applied to the Reserve Bank of India for a license as an Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC). 
• NARCL has been set up by banks to aggregate and consolidate stressed assets for their subsequent resolution. PSBs will maintain 51% ownership in NARCL.
• NARCL will house bad loan accounts of Rs.500 crores and above.
• Establishing NARCL is part of the government’s efforts to clean up the financial system, which is sitting on one of the biggest piles of bad assets in the world.
• It is expected that the warehousing of bad loans by NARCL will allow banks to cut losses and renew lending.

Ganjam district has bagged the top honours in the country for generating man-days and providing 100 days of work to rural households under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) till January 22.

• Ganjam was followed by Barmera (2.18 crore) in Rajasthan and Tiruvannamalai (2.13 crore) in Tamil Nadu in generating man days during the period.

About Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)

• National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (or, NREGA), later renamed as the “Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act”, MGNREGA), is an Indian labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘right to work’.
• It is a poverty alleviation programme of the Government of India, which provides the legal Right to Work in exchange for money to the citizens of the country.
• On average, every day approximately 1.5 crore people work under it at almost 14 lakh sites.
• It aims to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
• It is shared between the Centre and the States.
• The Central Government bears 100 per cent of the cost of unskilled labour, 75 percent of the cost of semi-skilled and skilled labour, 75 percent of the cost of materials and 6 percent of the administrative costs.
• MGNREGA is to be implemented mainly by gram panchayats (GPs). 
• The involvement of contractors is banned. 
• Labour-intensive tasks like creating infrastructure for water harvesting, drought relief, and flood control are preferred.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has confirmed receiving India’s written financing assurance in support of Sri Lanka’s economic revival, while Sri Lanka has expressed hope of completing talks on debt restructuring in six months’ time.

About India-Sri -Lanka relations:

• India and Sri Lanka have a long history of cultural, religious, and trade ties dating back to ancient times.
• There are strong cultural ties between the two countries, with many Sri Lankans tracing their heritage to India. Buddhism, which originated in India, is also an important religion in Sri Lanka.
• Economic ties: India is Sri Lanka’s third largest export destination, after the US and UK. More than 60% of Sri Lanka’s exports enjoy the benefits of the India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement. India is also a major investor in Sri Lanka.
• Defence: India and Sri Lanka conduct joint Military (Mitra Shakti) and Naval exercises (SLINEX).

Issues:

• The killing of Fishermen: The killing of Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy is a lingering issue between these two nations.
• Influence of China: China’s rapidly growing economic footprint (and political clout as a corollary) in Sri Lanka is straining India-Sri Lanka relations.
  • China is already the largest investor in Sri Lanka, accounting for 23.6% of the total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during 2010-2019 as against 10.4% from India.
• 13th Amendment of the Sri Lankan Constitution: It envisages the devolution of necessary powers to the provincial councils to address the just demand of the Tamil people for equality, justice, peace, and respect within a united Sri Lanka.
  • India supports its implementation but the Sri Lankan government is yet to “fully implement” the 13th Amendment.

About International Monetary Fund (IMF)

• The IMF was set up along with the World Bank after the Second World War to assist in the reconstruction of war-ravaged countries.
• The two organizations agreed to be set up at a conference in Bretton Woods in the US. Hence, they are known as the Bretton Woods twins.
• The IMF is governed by and accountable to the 190 countries that make up its near-global membership.
  • India joined on 27th December 1945.
• The IMF's primary purpose is to ensure the stability of the international monetary system — the system of exchange rates and international payments that enables countries (and their citizens) to transact with each other.
• The Fund's mandate was updated in 2012 to include all macroeconomic and financial sector issues that bear on global stability.
• Reports by IMF:
  • Global Financial Stability Report.
  • World Economic Outlook.

Recently, the Steering Committee of the Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) held its third meeting in New Delhi. 

• It was chaired by the Secretary of the Department of Water Resources, in the Ministry of Jal Shakti.

About the Ken-Betwa project:

• Ken-Betwa interlinking is a multipurpose water development project.
• Under this project, water from the Ken river will be transferred to the Betwa river. 
  • Both these rivers are tributaries of the river Yamuna.
• It is one of the smallest components of the proposed National River Linking Project (NRLP) of India. 
• The NRLP envisages transferring 178 km3 of water across 37 rivers, through a proposed network of about 30 river links.
• It is an independent link in the peninsular component that connects two small north-flowing rivers namely, the Ken and Betwa rivers in the Greater Ganga Basin.
• In the first phase, a 77-metre high and 2,031-metre-long dam will be constructed at Daudhan village located near the Ken and a 221-km long Ken-Betwa link canal will be built through which water from the Ken will flow into the Betwa basin.
• The project has been delayed for a long time because of disputes between the governments of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh over water sharing.

About National River Linking Project (NRLP)

• This project envisages the transfer of water from the water-excess basin to the water-deficient basin by interlinking 37 rivers of India with a network of almost 3000 storage dams. This will form a gigantic South Asian water grid.
• There are two components to this project:
  • Himalayan Component
  • Peninsular Component

Need for NRLP:

• Many parts of the country face water shortages and droughts while other parts face flooding year after year.
• The Indo Gangetic Rivers are perennial while the peninsular rivers are seasonal. The excess water from the plains can be diverted to the peninsula to solve the water issues.

Benefits of the National River linking project (NRLP):

• Water crisis: The project envisages resolving the water shortage issues by diverting excess water from plains to deficit regions.
• Hydropower generation: The building of dams and reservoirs can generate about 34000 MW of electricity from this project.
• Weather flow augmentation: In dry weather, surplus water stored in reservoirs can be released to rivers to maintain minimum water flow in rivers.
• Agriculture: The Farming sector in India is very much monsoon-dependent, hence the project aims to solve the lack of irrigation facilities in water-deficit regions.
• Inland waterways: The transport and connectivity through inland waterways will benefit commercially.

India has lost access to 26 out of 65 Patrolling Points (PP) in eastern Ladakh, according to one of the research papers submitted at last week’s annual police meets in Delhi.

What are Patrolling Points?

• PPs are patrolling points identified and marked on the LAC, which are patrolled with a stipulated frequency by the security forces.
• They serve as a guide to the location of the LAC for the soldiers, acting as indicators of the extent of ‘actual control’ exercised on the territory by India.
• By regularly patrolling up to these PPs, the Indian side is able to establish and assert its physical claim about the LAC.

Who has given these Patrolling Points?

• These PPs have been identified by the high-powered China Study Group, starting from 1975 when patrolling limits for Indian forces were specified.
• It is based on the LAC after the government accepted the concept in 1993, which is also marked on the maps with the Army in the border areas.
• But the frequency of patrolling to PPs is not specified by the CSG – it is finalised by the Army Headquarters in New Delhi, based on the recommendations made by the Army and ITBP.