PIB 4th March

Contents:

1. Cabinet Approves Companies (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019
2. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)
3. Qubit
4. Scientists identify bacteria that can replace fertilizers & fungicides in tea plants

CABINET APPROVES COMPANIES (SECOND AMENDMENT) BILL, 2019

Focus: GS-II Governance, GS-III Indian Economy

Companies (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019

•  The Companies (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019 proposes to amend the Companies Act, 2013 to enable listing of Indian firms on foreign stock exchanges.
• This would increase the competitiveness among the Indian companies with respect to access to capital, better valuations and broader investor base.
• The Amendment Bill would remove criminality under the Companies Act in case of defaults which can be determined objectively and which, otherwise, lack the element of fraud or do not involve larger public interest.

Significance of the Amendment for LLPs

• It has been observed that due to applicability of additional fee on late filing, a large number of Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) have remained non-compliant.
• The Central Government (Ministry of Corporate Affairs) has decided to introduce a scheme namely “LLP Settlement Scheme, 2020”, by allowing a One-time condonation of delay in filing statutorily required documents with the Registrar.
• The Scheme shall come into force on the 16th March, 2020 and shall remain in force up to 13th June, 2020

PRADHAN MANTRI KAUSHAL VIKAS YOJANA (PMKVY)

Focus: GS-II Social Justice

About PMKVY

• Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) is a skill development initiative scheme of the Government of India for recognition and standardisation of skills.
• Launched in 2015, it is a flagship program of Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE).
• National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) implements it with the help of training partners.
• Under this Scheme, Training and Assessment fees are completely paid by the Government.
• Skill training would be done based on the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) and industry led standards.

Aims of PMKVY

• Its Aim is to encourage aptitude towards employable skills and to increase working efficiency of probable and existing daily wage earners, by giving monetary awards and rewards and by providing quality training to them.
• It aims to mobilize youth to take up skill training with the aim of increasing productivity and aligning the training and certification to the needs of the country.
• To enable a large number of Indian youth to take up industry-relevant skill training that will help them in securing a better livelihood.
• Individuals with prior learning experience or skills will also be assessed and certified under Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).

QUBIT

Focus: GS-III Science and technology, Prelims

Why in news?

Researchers from Raman Research Institute (RRI), an autonomous institution under the Department of Science & Technology, have devised a new test for fairness of quantum coin or ‘qubit’ (the basic unit of information in a quantum computer) using entanglement theory.

What is a Quantum Computer?

First, how do normal computers work now?

• An ordinary computer chip uses bits.
• These are like tiny switches, that can either be in the off position – represented by a zero – or in the on position – represented by a one.
• Every app you use, website you visit and photograph you take is ultimately made up of millions of these bits in some combination of ones and zeroes.

How does a Quantum Computer work then?

• Instead of bits, quantum computers use qubits. Rather than just being on or off, qubits can also be in what’s called ‘superposition’ – where they’re both on and off at the same time, or somewhere on a spectrum between the two.

Understanding Superposition

• Take a coin. If you flip it, it can either be heads or tails. But if you spin it – it’s got a chance of landing on heads, and a chance of landing on tails. Until you measure it, by stopping the coin, it can be either.
• Superposition is like a spinning coin, and it’s one of the things that makes quantum computers so powerful.
• A qubit allows for uncertainty.

How are Quantum Computers Useful?

• Quantum computers aren’t just about doing things faster or more efficiently. They’ll let us do things that we couldn’t even have dreamed of without them. Things that even the best supercomputer just isn’t capable of.
• They have the potential to rapidly accelerate the development of artificial intelligence.
• Google is already using them to improve the software of self-driving cars.
• They’ll also be vital for modelling chemical reactions.
• That could mean more efficient products – from new materials for batteries in electric cars, through to better and cheaper drugs, or vastly improved solar panels. Scientists hope that quantum simulations could even help find a cure for Alzheimer’s.

What is Entanglement Theory?

• Entanglement is a special type of correlation that exists in the quantum world with no classical counterpart.
• Quantum entanglement is the physical phenomenon that occurs when a pair or group of particles is generated, interact, or share spatial proximity in a way such that the quantum state of each particle of the pair or group cannot be described independently of the state of the others, even when the particles are separated by a large distance.
• The topic of quantum entanglement is at the heart of the disparity between classical and quantum physics.

SCIENTISTS IDENTIFY BACTERIA THAT CAN REPLACE FERTILIZERS AND FUNGICIDES IN TEA PLANTS

Focus: GS-III Agriculture, Science and Technology

Why in news?

• Researchers have found significant plant-growth-promoting and antifungal activities of endophyticactino bacteria associated with Tea plant and related genera, Eurya to find potent plant growth-promoting strains.
• Application of endophytic Actinobacteria could reduce chemical inputs in Tea plantation.
• This research finding confirms that endophyticactino bacteria have the potential to exhibit multiple growth-promoting traits such as IAA production, phosphate solubilization, siderophore production and so on that positively influence tea growth and production.