UPSC Current Affairs February 21 2016 | Comprehensive News Analysis

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Friday that G20 finance ministers and central bank governors should focus on global economic spillovers from their policy decisions when they meet in Shanghai next week
By better coordinating these policies, the major economies can improve market confidence and limit the spillovers on the rest of the IMF’s 188 member countries, she said.
Currently, many oil- and commodity-exporting countries are experiencing financial difficulties as the Chinese economy slows.

1. Revamped,safer, and with greater punch

Topic: Science & Technology

Category: Achievements of Indians in science & technology

Location: The Hindu, Page 10

Revamped, safer, and with great punch

Key Points:

A potent vaccine against tuberculosis is getting readied at the Pune-based Serum Institute of India Limited.
The institute started a ‘Phase 2b’ clinical trial in neonates in South Africa late last year using a novel, recombinant BCG (bacillus Calmette-Guérin) vaccine.
The new TB vaccine (VPM1002) is based on the BCG vaccine in use today, but what makes it more powerful is that it contains a gene which makes it easier for the vaccine to be better recognised by cells of the immune system

2. Banks require holistic cure

Topic:Economic Development

Category: Indian Economy

Location: The Hindu, Page 15

Key Points:

‘Bad bank’ concept allows a government-supported entity to buy bad loans from stressed banks at a fair price (discount)
Such an entity will then be responsible for recovering the debt
The objective

use their capital resources, which are otherwise locked up in making provision for bad loans for funding the growth in credit needs.

taly and the EU inking an agreement to allow the Italian banks sell their NPA (non-performing assets) portfolios to private investors with government guarantee.
he Italian option could “also be suitable for other countries.’’
The Reserve Bank of India Governor, Dr. Raghuram Rajan, however, has said that there is no need for a separate `bad bank’ to deal with the stressed assets of public sector banks, because:
public sector banks are backed by the Government

A national asset reconstruction company (ARC) or `bad bank’ – given its size and expertise – can fetch multiple advantages to stakeholders, and bring about a quicker resolution to the recovery problems posed by the NPA imbroglio

The NPA levels of these banks are over Rs.3 lakh crore. How much of these can be absorbed by such an ARC or `bad bank’?
Even allowing for a discounted price for such purchases, the effort requires quite a funding from the Government
A resource-constrained Government will have difficulty in providing money for this

the country needs an ecosystem – both in the banking and legal spheres – that fosters a framework that is just and fair to all stakeholders, and which helps in speedy resolution of the entire debt recovery process

3. Govt. to tap CSCs for rural banking access

Topic:Economic Development

Category: Inclusive growth

Location: The Hindu, Page 15

Key Points:

The government is looking to leverage its Common Services Centres (CSCs) to enable easy access to banking services, particularly in rural areas.
With the CSCs, the government aims to make one person in every family digitally literate in four years
The CSCs should take the lead role in spreading e-commerce in rural India and in promoting local artisans
CSCs play important role as an interface between the government and the beneficiaries of e-services, thus reducing corruption and delays