No charge on normal UPI payments
Relevance in UPSC:
GS Paper 3: Growth
Important For
Prelims: About NPCI
Mains: Significance of Digital Payments
Why in News?
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on clarified that the interchange charge of 1.1% on merchant transactions exceeding ₹2,000 done using Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI Wallets) on UPI would ‘only be applicable for PPI merchant transactions and there would be no charge to customers’.
Key Highlights
- There are no charges for the bank account to bank account based UPI payments or normal UPI Payments.
- PPI Wallets had been permitted to be part of the interoperable UPI ecosystem.
What is Prepaid Payment Instruments?
- The government has taken several measures to discourage people from using cash and persuade them to switch to digital transactions.
- Mobile wallets have shown great potential to advance government programs.
- According to the roadmap developed in 2017, the interoperability of all KYC-compliant prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) will be achieved in three phases –
- Interoperability of PPIs issued as wallets through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI),
- Interoperability between wallets and bank accounts, and
- Interoperability of PPIs issued as cards via card networks.
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued comprehensive guidelines to better prepare for all phases of interoperability implementation.
About NPCI and Its Various Products
-
- National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India, is an initiative of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, for creating a robust Payment & Settlement Infrastructure in India.
- Considering the utility nature of the objects of NPCI, it has been incorporated as a “Not for Profit” Company under the provisions of Section 25 of Companies Act 1956 (now Section 8 of Companies Act 2013), with an intention to provide infrastructure to the entire Banking system in India for physical as well as electronic payment and settlement systems.
- The Company is focused on bringing innovations in the retail payment systems through the use of technology for achieving greater efficiency in operations and widening the reach of payment systems.
| IMPS | With Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), India has become the leading country in the world in real time payments in retail sector. |
| NACH | National Automated Clearing House (NACH), an offline web based system for bulk push and pull transactions. NACH provides electronic mandate platform to register mandates facilitating paper less collection process for the corporates and banks. It provides for both account based and Aadhaar based transactions. |
| APBS | Aadhaar Payment Bridge (APB) System is helping the Government and Government agencies in making the Direct Benefit Transfers for various Central as well as State sponsored schemes. |
| NETC | National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has developed the National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) program to meet the electronic tolling requirements of the Indian market. |
| UPI | UPI is a technology that consolidates multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (from any participating bank) –
· Provides a real-time instant payment system, · Allows users to transfer money between multiple bank details are entered into each other. |
‘No evictions for Great Nicobar project’
GS Paper 3: Environment
Important For
Prelims: About Great Nicobar Project
Mains: Environmental Concerns of Great Nicobar Project
Why in News?
The Union government will not allow the displacement of tribespeople to make way for the ₹72,000crore Great Nicobar island project, the Tribal Affairs Ministry told the Rajya Sabha.
Key Highlights
- The project, being implemented by the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation (ANIIDCO), includes a transshipment port, an airport, a power plant, and a greenfield township.
- The Tribal Affairs Ministry said that the utilisation of tribal reserve area will be subject to the interests of the local tribes people living in the area, especially the Shompen tribe, which is classified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG).
About Great Nicobar Project Proposal
- A “greenfield city” has been proposed, including an International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICTT), a greenfield international airport, a power plant, and a township for the personnel who will implement the project.
- The proposed port will allow Great Nicobar to participate in the regional and global maritime economy by becoming a major player in cargo transhipment.
- The port will be controlled by the Indian Navy, while the airport will have dual military-civilian functions and will cater to tourism as well.
- Roads, public transport, water supply and waste management facilities, and several hotels have been planned to cater to tourists.
- A total 166.1 sq km along the southeastern and southern coasts of the island have been identified for project along a coastal strip of width between 2 km and 4 km.
- Some 130 sq km of forests have been sanctioned for diversion, and 9.64 lakh trees are likely to be felled.
- Development activities are proposed to commence in the current financial year, and the port is expected to be commissioned by 2027–28.
More than 1 lakh new direct jobs and 1.5 lakh indirect jobs are likely to be created on the island over the period of development.
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About The ISLAND
- Great Nicobar, the southernmost of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, has an area of 910 sq km.
- The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a cluster of about 836 islands in the eastern Bay of Bengal, the two groups of which are separated by the 150-km wide Ten Degree Channel.
- The Andaman Islands lie to the north of the channel, and the Nicobar Islands to the south.
- Indira Point on the southern tip of Great Nicobar Island is India’s southernmost point, less than 150 km from the northernmost island of the Indonesian archipelago.
- Great Nicobar is home to two national parks, a biosphere reserve, and the Shompen and Nicobarese tribal peoples, along with ex-servicemen from Punjab, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh who were settled on the island in the 1970s.
- The Shompen are hunter-gatherers who depend on forest and marine resources for sustenance.
- The Nicobarese, who lived along the west coast of the island were mostly relocated after the 2004 tsunami.
- The approximately 8,000 settlers who live on the island are engaged in agriculture, horticulture, and fishing.
- The Great Nicobar Island has tropical wet evergreen forests, mountain ranges reaching almost 650 m above sea level, and coastal plains.
- Fourteen species of mammals, 71 species of birds, 26 species of reptiles, 10 species of amphibians, and 113 species of fish are found on the island, some of which are endangered.
- The leatherback sea turtle is the island’s flagship species.
About ICTP Project of ISLAND Recently in News
- ICTP being planned is part of the holistic development of Great Nicobar Island.
- It will be completed in four phases. Phase 1 will create a handling capacity of 4 million TEUs, increasing to 16 million TEUS in the ultimate stage of development.
- A twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) is an approximate unit of measure used for cargo containers.
- Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port (Kolkata-based) is the nodal agency for the implementation.
- Public Private Partnership (PPP) will be encouraged for this project via Landlord model.
- Under Landlord Port model, the port authority acts as regulatory body and as landlord, while port operations (especially cargo handling) are carried out by private companies.
Anti-Tank Guided Missile
GS Paper 3: Indigenization Of Technology
Important For
Prelims: About Amogha-III, Anti-Tank Guided Missile
Mains: Importance of Anti-Tank Guided Missile
Why in News?
Hyderabad-based Bharat Dynamics Limited on Tuesday successfully carried out the field firing of its 3rd generation fire and forget man-portable Anti Tank Guided Missile, Amogha-III
Features of Amogha-III-
| Range: 200 – 2500 m |
| Attack mode: Top / direct attack |
| Man-portable |
| Tandem warhead with penetration in excess of 650 mm beyond Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA) |
| Dual Mode Imaging Infra-Red (IIR) Seeker |
| Aerodynamic and Thrust Vector Control |
| Smokeless, Signature-free Propulsion System |
| Soft launch |
Anti-Tank Guided Missile
- The Anti-Tank Missile is primarily used to strike and destroy heavily armored military vehicles.
- The missile can be carried by a soldier to a larger tripod-mounted weapon, requiring one or more teams for transport and firing, as well as airborne vehicle and missile systems.
- This type of guided missile relies on an imaging electro-optical seeker (IIR), laser, or W-band radar seeker on the front of the missile.
- These are \”fire and forget\” missiles where the operator can simply go away after launch as guidance is no longer required.
Some Anti-Guided Missile
Helina
- It has a maximum range of 7 km and was designed and developed to be integrated into the armed versions of the ALH (Advanced Light Helicopter).
- The missile system has all-weather, day and night capabilities and can defeat both conventional armor and explosive reactive armor main battle tanks.
The Nag
- This is a third generation fire-and-forget missile developed for mechanized formations to engage heavily reinforced enemy tanks.