Centre rejects SEBI plea on transfer of reserves Bill
Economy
- The Finance Bill 2019, passed by the Lok Sabha, has a provision stating that the SEBI must set up a reserve fund into which 25% of its surplus is to be transferred. The remaining amount is to be transferred to the Centre.
- Further, the size of such reserve fund cannot exceed the total of annual expenditure of the preceding two financial years.
- Incidentally, all the penalties levied by the SEBI already go to the CFI. Similarly, settlement amounts are also credited to the CFI.
- The general fund of the SEBI, which currently has a balance of over ₹3,000 crore, is used to meet the expenses of the regulatory body, including salaries and allowances. The fund gets money via charges that the SEBI levies on market participants in the form of registration or processing fees.
7,000 species added to IUCN ‘Red List’
Environment
- Mankind’s destruction of nature is driving species to the brink of extinction at an “unprecedented” rate, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) warned as it added more than 7,000 animals, fish and plants to its endangered “Red List”.
- The group has now assessed more than 1,05,000 species worldwide, around 28,000 of which risk extinction.
- While each group of organisms face specific threats, human behaviour, including overfishing and deforestation, was the biggest driver of plummeting populations.
- Wedgefishes and giant guitarfishes, known collectively as Rhino Rays due to their elongated snouts, are now the most imperilled marine families on Earth.
- More than 500 deep-sea bony fish and molluscs have been added to the list for the first time posing something of a conservation conundrum as the space they inhabit — 1,000 metres beneath the surface — is often beyond national boundaries.
Bills to help transgenders
Social sector
- The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019 provides a mechanism to empower the transgender community socially and economically, along with their educational advancement. The Transgender Persons Bill gives a person the right to choose to be identified as a man, woman or transgender, irrespective of sex reassignment surgery and hormonal therapy
- While the legislation provides for a person to go through a district screening committee and the district magistrate to get certified as a transgender, a contentious provision that criminalised begging by transgenders has been dropped.
- The Transgender Bill had been introduced in the 16th Lok Sabha but had lapsed.
RTI Bill introduced
Polity
- A Bill to amend the Right to Information (RTI) Act and give the Union government the power to set the service conditions and salaries of Information Commissioners was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday.
- The new Bill seeks to change the status of the Information Commissioners who are on a par with the Election Commissioners, and states that the term of office, salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions shall be “as prescribed by the Central government”.
- Currently, Section 13(5) of the Act provides that these are equivalent to that of the Chief Election Commissioner for the Chief Information Commissioner and to an Election Commissioner for an Information Commissioner.
Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill
Economy
- The Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2019, will replace an ordinance.
- It seeks to help crack down on illicit deposit taking activities exploiting regulatory gaps and lack of strict measures to dupe poor and gullible people.
