DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

By admin: Dec. 29, 2021

Centre notifies the Consumer Protection (Direct Selling) Rules, 2021

Tags: National News

• On December 28, the central government issued new regulations for the direct selling business, paving the way for the formalization of the direct selling industry while also intending to keep a check on this so-far unregulated segment.
• This is notified by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution.
• It is notified under the Consumer Protection Act 2019.
• The direct selling industry’s major participants in India include companies like Tupperware, Amway, Herbalife, and Oriflame.

Highlights-

• Existing Direct Selling entities need to comply with these rules within ninety days.
• The rules apply to all India-based direct selling companies as well as to any direct selling entity that is not established in India but offers goods or services to consumers in India.
• Direct selling entities and direct sellers using e-commerce platforms for sale, should also comply with the Consumer Protection (e-Commerce) Rules, 2020.
• Direct selling entities and direct sellers are prohibited from:

• Promoting a Pyramid Scheme or enroll any person to such scheme or participate in such arrangement in any manner whatsoever in the garb of direct selling business;
• Participate in money circulation scheme in the garb of doing direct selling business.

• State Government to set up a mechanism to monitor or supervise the activities of direct sellers and direct selling entity.
• Direct sellers must have at least one physical location as their registered office within the country.
• Direct selling entities to be liable for the grievances arising out of the sale of goods or services by its direct sellers.

As per data published by the World Federation of Direct Selling Association (WFDSA), the retail size of the Indian direct selling industry was valued at $3 billion, or about Rs 22,500 crore, in 2020 with year-on-year growth of 28.3%, making it the fastest-growing market in the world. The sector employs over 7.4 million active direct sellers.

PM Modi launches blockchain-based digital degrees at IIT Kanpur

Tags: National News

• The technology has been developed by IIT Kanpur under the National Blockchain Project.
• These digital degrees can be verified globally and are unforgeable.
• The blockchain system works on the principle of decentralization. This means that the control is not in the hands of a central agency, but in a distributed network of nodes. This will help in keeping the data safe even if any specific node is compromised.
• Also, the information in a blockchain is recorded and stored sequentially along with an exact timestamp. The previous information can’t be altered, only amended by adding a new block. This makes tampering with a transcript very hard.
• Blockchain technology can simplify the tedious task of maintaining the records of students by making them digitized. Also, the students will be able to access their records remotely.
• Blockchain technology will simplify the verification process. Any institute can do so with a few clicks instead of going through lots of paper documentation, in cases of transfer students, or sharing records with employers, or issuing degrees.

First International Water Festival

Tags: State News

• The first International water festival  is being organised  by the Kerala Government at Beypore port , in Kozhikode  district of Kerala.
• The Festival will be from December 26to 31 December 2021.
• The festival will be held at the Beypore Marina, where the river Chaliyar meets the Arabian Sea.

Ministry of Skill Development’s project to upskill weavers and artisans of Nagaland

Tags: State News

• This is a pilot project under Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), a component of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY).
• It will be held in Dimapur Nagaland.
• The objective of this initiative is to upskill about 4000 local weavers and artisans to enhance their productivity through assessment and certification in traditional handicrafts, thus improving the competencies of the unorganized workforce of the region.
• The artisans and weavers will be aligned with the standardized National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF).
• The pilot project will also augment the marketing skills and techniques to promote local handmade products, thus aiming at industry and market linkages, encouraging micro-entrepreneurship.
• The training delivery partners for the upskilling initiative are Cane Concept and Handloom Naga.
• The selection of artisans and weavers will be made based on their existing experience.
• National Skill Development Corporation, the nodal implementation agency for the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, supported by Handicrafts and Carpet Sector Skill Council (HCSSC) will monitor the day-to-day progress of the project.
• The project aims at achieving learning outcomes including entrepreneurship development, digital literacy, communication skills at the workplace, and development of sales, and marketing skills. 

Two Covid vaccines and drugs got approval in India

Tags: Science and Technology

• Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation(CDSCO) has approved two more COVID-19 vaccines, Corbevax and Covovax, and an anti-COVID pill Molnupiravir for restricted emergency use in India.
• CORBEVAX vaccine, made by Hyderabad-based firm Biological-E is India's first indigenously developed RBD (receptor-binding domain) protein subunit vaccine against COVID-19.
• The nanoparticle-based vaccine Covovex has been developed by Serum Institute of India, a pharma firm based in Pune.
• Molaupiravir is the first oral medicine approved by the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
• After this approval, the number of vaccines that can be used in emergency situations in the country has now increased to 8.

Other approved Covid Vaccines in India are:

• Covishield
• Covaxin
• ZyCoV-D
• Sputnik V
• Moderna
• Johnson and Johnson

Business Summit on National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm

Tags: Summits

• The National Mission on Edible Oil- Oil Palm Business Summit for states other than North Eastern States was held in Hyderabad on 28 December 2021. 
• It was inaugurated by Union Minister for Agriculture Shri Narendra Singh Tomar.
• This is the second such summit of the Mission, the first was held in Guwahati for North Eastern states on 5   October.
• The minister said that currently about 3 lakh hectares of land is under palm oil cultivation while studies have shown that about 28 lakh hectares of land is suitable for the oil palm cultivation in the country. It is our mission to bring 28-lakh hectares of land under cultivation to make India Aatmanirbhar in edible oil”,
• India is the world’s largest importer of palm oil in the world.

Dr. V. L. Dutt: Glimpses of a Pioneer’s Life Journey’

Tags: Books and Authors

 Author: It has been written by Smt. V L Indira Dutt

• The book was launched in Chennai by the Vice President Venkiah Naidu.
• Dr V.L. Dutt was an industrialist and founder of KCP ltd group of companies.