05 Sep 2020: PIB Summary & Analysis

September 5th, 2020 PIB:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) ranking of states
2. Ozone

1. Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) ranking of states

Context:

Union Finance Minister announced the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) ranking of states.

Details:

• Ranking of States based on the implementation of the Business Reform Action Plan started in the year 2015.
• The current ranking announced is for 2018 – 19 (previously, the ranking was done was 2015, 2016 and 2017-18).

Need for the Business Reform Action Plan

• The larger objective of attracting investments and increasing the Ease of Doing Business in each State was sought to be achieved by introducing an element of healthy competition through a system of ranking states based on their performance in the implementation of the Business Reform Action Plan.
• The ranking this time gives full weightage to the feedback from over thirty thousand respondents at the ground level, who gave their opinion about the effectiveness of the reforms.
• State rankings will help attract investments, foster healthy competition and increase the Ease of Doing Business in each State.

Business Reform Action Plan 2018-19:

• This ranking includes 180 reform points covering 12 business regulatory areas such as Access to Information, Single Window System, Labour, Environment, etc.
• The top ten states under the BRAP 2019 are:
  • Andhra Pradesh
  • Uttar Pradesh
  • Telangana
  • Madhya Pradesh
  • Jharkhand
  • Chhattisgarh
  • Himachal Pradesh
  • Rajasthan
  • West Bengal
  • Gujarat
• The state which showed the most improvement since the 2018 ranking is Uttar Pradesh which moved from rank 12 in 2018 to rank 2 in 2019.

2. Ozone

Context:

Low ozone over the Brahmaputra River Valley brings good news for the health of people.

Details:

• Researchers have found that the concentration of near-surface ozone in the Brahmaputra River Valley in the North-East corner of India is low compared to the other urban locations in India.
• Scientists from Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital, evaluated the near-surface ozone in the Brahmaputra River Valley (BRV) and found a relatively low concentration of Ozone over Guwahati compared to the other urban locations in India.

Ground-level Ozone:

• Tropospheric, or ground-level ozone, is created by chemical reactions between oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC).
• It usually increases when pollutants emitted by cars, power plants, industrial boilers, refineries, chemical plants, and other sources chemically react in the presence of sunlight, impacting human health.

There is a difference between what is called good ozone and bad ozone.

• The ozone found near the surface of the earth is considered bad because of its many adverse effects on human, animal and plant health.
• Good ozone is what is found in the stratosphere (which hosts the protective ozone layer). It is considered good since it absorbs the harmful UV rays from the Sun.

Read more on the ozone layer in the linked article.

Read previous PIB here.

September 5th, 2020, PIB:- Download PDF Here