It is a new Export Credit Insurance Scheme (ECIS) introduced by Ministry of Commerce and Industry through Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC).
Under the scheme, ECGC will provide 90% credit insurance cover and any additional outgo would be supported by the government.
The scheme is valid for 5 years.
It is to enhance loan availability and ease the lending process.
It would give a fillip to export lending and insurance cover for export credit.
The ECGC cover provides additional comfort to banks as the credit rating of the borrower is enhanced to AA rated account.
Previously, the credit insurance cover percentage was 60% for both principal and interest.
Compensation Cess
The government has released Rs 35,298 crore to the States in Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation.
Compensation cess was introduced as relief for States for the loss of revenues arising from the implementation of GST.
States were guaranteed a 14 per cent tax revenue growth in the first five years after GST implementation by the Central government.
States’ tax revenue as of Financial Year (2016-17) is considered as the base year for the calculation of this 14 per cent growth.
Any shortfall against it is supposed to be compensated by the Centre using the funds specifically collected as compensation cess.
Compensation cess is levied on products considered to be ‘sin’ or luxury goods.
The collected compensation cess flows into the Consolidated Fund of India.
It is then transferred to the Public Account of India, where a GST compensation cess account has been created.
States are compensated bi-monthly from the accumulated funds in this account.
Comet 2I/Borisov
Recently, NASA’s Hubble space telescope have captured Comet 2I/Borisov to enter the solar system.
It is the first interstellar comet to enter the solar system and the closest comet to the Sun.
It speeds past the sun at 160,000 kilometres per hour.
Borisov is only the second interstellar object ever seen entering the solar system. The first was Oumuamua in 2017.
The mass of ice and dust particles and the comet’s centre is 1 km long.
The comet will pass Jupiter in mid-2020 before making its way back to interstellar space and remaining there for billions of years.
Click here to know more about Hubble Space Telescope
Heliosphere, Heliopause and Interstellar Space
The sun creates heliosphere by sending a constant flow of particles and a magnetic field out into space at over 670,000 miles per hour. This stream is called the ‘solar wind.’
Heliopause marks the end of a region created by our sun that is called the heliosphere.
It is the boundary between our Solar System and the interstellar medium.
It is the place where the sun’s constant flow of material and magnetic field stop affecting its surroundings.
Interstellar Space is the part of space that exists between stars with cold particles around it.
Inside the heliosphere, the solar particles are hot but less concentrated. Outside of the bubble, they are very much colder but more concentrated.
Once an object arrives in interstellar space, there would be an increase of “cold” particles around it.
CAA and RBI
The RBI has released a notification in 2018 under the Foreign Exchange Management (Acquisition and Transfer of Immovable Property in India) Regulations, 2018.
It gives directions to persons defined under Citizenship Amendment Bill and is residing in India and has been granted a Long Term Visa (LTV) by the Central government.
It states that those persons may purchase only one residential immovable property in India as dwelling unit for self-occupation and only one immovable property for carrying out self-employment.
It also kept out Muslim long-term visa holders from property-buying rights.
Since these guidelines were issued, under the foreign exchange management regulations, these were issued after consultation with the government.
With the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) coming into force, the spotlight is now on this RBI’s notification.
