Daily Current Affairs – 2020

Topic: For Prelims and Mains

Bavar-373 / GSOMIA

Advisory Board on Bank Frauds (ABBF) :

(26^thAugust)

Resources: The Hindu /PIB

Why in News?  The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has reconstituted the Advisory Board on Bank, Commercial and Financial Frauds as the “Advisory Board for Banking Frauds” (ABBF).

About :

• CVC in consultation with RBI, based on ‘YM Malegam’ expert committee on NPAs and frauds, took this decision.
• It reconstitutes the body with 4 members, who will have a 2-year tenure.
• State-run banks will need to report all cases of large frauds to ABBF.
• The board’s jurisdiction would be limited to those cases involving the level of officers of General manager and above in public sector banks.
• Individual PSBs would refer all large fraud cases above Rs 50 crore to the board.
• On receipt of its recommendation/advice, the PSB concerned would take further action in such matters.
• ABBF will decide the course of action for each of these cases, including a reference to investigating agencies such as the CBI.
• Normally, frauds and NPAs are considered a consequence of each other, but they are different.
• The distinction between a bank fraud and an NPA is that,
• A fraud is a criminal offence.
• An NPA is a loan or advances wherein the interest and/or installments of the principal remain overdue for over 90 days.

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Topic: For Prelims and Mains

Japan and South Korea’s Feud :

About :

• South Korea has terminated its military intelligence-sharing pact GSOMIA with Japan.
• It comes after Japan removed South Korea’s favoured trade partner status and imposed export controls on its important electronics sector.
• Tensions between Japan and South Korea have been mounting over trade and intelligence disagreements.
• Japan removed South Korea from its list of preferred trade partners, called the “Whitelist.”
• Japan alleged that South Korea had broken protocol and illegally shared chemical imports with North Korea. However, South Korea denied the accusation.
• The 2 nations share a complicated history.
• South Korea has for long complained about wartime atrocities and inadequate apologies for colonial excesses on Japan’s part.
• They have fought on and off since at least the 7th Century, and Japan has repeatedly tried to invade the peninsula since then.
• In 1910, it annexed Korea, turning the territory into a colony.
• When World War 2 began, thousands of women, from across Asia were sent to military brothels to service Japanese soldiers.
• Many of these victims, known as “Comfort women” were Korean.
• Japan’s rule of Korea ended in 1945 when it was defeated in the war.
• In 1965, 20 years after Japan’s defeat, South Korea agreed to normalise relations, in exchange for millions of dollars in loans and grants.
• The issue of “comfort women” remains a sensitive one.
• A deal was eventually signed in 2015, Japan apologised and promised to pay 1 bn yen, the amount South Korea asked for to fund victims.
• The historic dispute rumbles on, with neither country looking likely to bend.

About the GSOMIA: It is the “General Security Of Military Information Agreement”. ü  It was signed in 2016 to streamline intelligence sharing between the U.S., Japan and South Korea about North Korean nuclear activity. ü  It automatically renews annually unless one of the countries decides to pull out. ü  Before the GSOMIA, the U.S. had two separate intelligence-sharing agreements with South Korea and Japan.

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Facts for Prelims:

• Ansupa :
• Ansupa is Odisha’s largest freshwater lake. It is famous for its sweet water fish, especially labeo bata locally known as pohala.
• Bavar-373:
• It is Iran’s new home-grown air defence system. It is being touted as Islamic republic’s 1st domestically produced long-range missile defence system.
• It is a long-range mobile surface-to-air missile system.
• Range: more than 200 kilometres (124 miles)