Daily Current Capsules 09^th January 2021

Economy
Liberalised MSME AEO Package
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Liberalised MSME AEO Package) + Mains ( GS III Economic development +GS II government schemes and initiatives)
What's the NEWS

• Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) has taken a new initiative to introduce its flagship "Liberalised MSME AEO Package" for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
• In order to attract MSMEs to become Authorised Economic Operators (AEOs) and avail the various benefits, the CBIC has relaxed the compliance criteria provided the MSMEs have a valid certificate from their line-Ministry.
• The relaxed requirements allow MSMEs who have filed minimum 10 Customs clearance documents in one year and who have a clean compliance record over 2 years to apply for the scheme.

Liberalised MSME AEO Package

• CBIC's flagship "Liberalised MSME AEO Package" scheme is a voluntary compliance programme which enables swifter Customs clearance for accredited stakeholders in the global supply chain viz. importers, exporters, logistic service providers, custodians etc.
• The approved AEOs derive various benefits such as, inter alia, the facility of Direct Port Delivery (DPD) of imported containers, Direct Port Entry (DPE) of their Export Containers, high level of facilitation in customs clearance of their consignments thereby ensuring shorter cargo release time, exemption from Bank guarantees
• Another important benefit available to specified AEOs is that their payment of Customs duty is deferred and need not to be paid before the clearance of the imported goods by Customs.
• An added advantage for Tier 2 AEOs is that their exports to certain countries are accorded facilitation by the foreign Customs administration with whom India enters into a Mutual Recognition Agreement/Arrangement.
• Through "Liberalised MSME AEO Package", CBIC encourages all eligible MSMEs to avail advantages of faster Customs clearances and other related benefits.

Economy
RBI sets up College of Supervisors under former deputy governor to strengthen supervision
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about College of Supervisors (CoS)
What's the NEWS

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is now fully operationalising a College of Supervisors (CoS) to further strengthen supervision over regulated entities.
• The Cos will be headed by former deputy governor N S Viswanathan and will have five other members.

College of Supervisors (CoS)

• The RBI had set up a CoS to augment and reinforce supervisory skills among its regulatory and supervisory staff both at entry level and on a continuous basis.
• This was done to facilitate the development of unified and focused supervision by providing training and other developmental inputs to the concerned staff
• The CoS was functioning in a limited way in virtual mode since May 2020, it is now being fully operationalised.
• The CoS will have a full-time Director supported by an Academic Advisory Council (AAC).
• The AAC will identify areas where skill building/up-skilling are required, plan and develop curricula of all programmes, benchmark the programmes with international standards/best practices, develop appropriate teaching methods, etc.
• Rabi Narayan Mishra, former Executive Director, RBI, has been appointed as the Director of CoS.
• The full-fledged operationalisation of the CoS will further contribute to effective oversight of the regulated entities by augmenting and ensuring a consistent quality of supervisory resources pool

Social Issues
World food price index
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about world food price index - take outs + about FAO)
What's the NEWS

• World food prices rose for a seventh consecutive month in December, with all the major categories, barring sugar, posting gains last month
• The Food and Agriculture Organization's food price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar, averaged 107.5 points last month versus 105.2 in November.
• It was introduced in 1996 as a public good to help in monitoring developments in the global agricultural commodity markets.
• The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) is a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities.

Know! the Index Highlights

• For the whole of 2020, the benchmark index averaged 97.9 points, a three-year high and a 3.1 percent increase from 2019.
• It was still down more than 25 percent from its historical peak in 2011.
• Supply tightness in major palm oil producing countries had pushed prices up, while trade was also impacted by a sharp hike in export duties in Indonesia.
• Export prices for wheat, maize, sorghum and rice all rose in December, moving higher in part due to concerns over growing conditions and crop prospects in North and South America as well as Russia
• The meat index pushed up 1.7 percent last month, while its full-year average was 4.5 percent below that of 2019. FAO said poultry quotations rebounded in December, partly due to the impact of avian influenza outbreaks in Europe.
• Bucking the rises in other indices, average sugar prices dipped by 0.6 percent in December.
• FAO did not issue an updated forecast for worldwide cereal harvests in January. Its next estimate is due in February.
• Last month, FAO revised down its forecast for the 2020 cereal season for a third month running, cutting it to 2.742 billion tonnes from a previous 2.75 billion tonnes.

Food and Agriculture Organization:

• The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security.
• FAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger.
• World Food Day is celebrated every year around the world on 16th October. The day is celebrated to mark the anniversary of the founding of the FAO in 1945.
• It is one of the UN food aid organisations based in Rome (Italy). Its sister bodies are the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Bilateral Relation
Cabinet approves signing of Memorandum of Cooperation between India and Japan on Partnership in "Specified Skilled Worker"

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Memorandum of Cooperation -highlights) + Mains ( GS II bilateral relations)
What's the NEWS

• The Union Cabinet, has approved the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation between the Government of India and Government of Japan, on a Basic Framework for Partnership for Proper Operation of the System Pertaining to "Specified Skilled Worker".

Know! the important take outs

• The present Memorandum of Cooperation would set an institutional mechanism for partnership and cooperation between India and Japan on sending and accepting skilled Indian workers, who have qualified the required skill and Japanese language test, to work in fourteen specified sectors in Japan.
• These Indian workers would be granted a new status of residence of "Specified Skilled Worker" by the Government of Japan.
• Under this MOC, a Joint Working Group will be set up to follow up the implementation of this MOC.
• The Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) would enhance people-to -people contacts, foster mobility of workers and skilled professionals from India to Japan.
• Skilled Indian workers from fourteen sectors viz. Nursing care; Building cleaning; Material Processing industry; Industrial machinery manufacturing industry; Electric and electronic information related industry; Construction; Shipbuilding and ship-related industry; Automobile maintenance; Aviation; Lodging; Agriculture; Fisheries; Food and beverages manufacturing industry and Food service industry would have enhanced job opportunities to work in Japan.

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