Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Lending
- RBI deputy governor has cautioned non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) on peer-to-peer lending.
- About P2P Lending
- It is the practice of lending money through online services that match lenders with borrowers, cutting out the financial institution as the middleman.
- Rates and terms are set by each website.
- Regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
- All P2Ps are to be registered with the RBI as an NBFC.
- Challenges: risk of default, Lack of trust on the P2P platform, etc.
- Tags :
- peer to peer lending
- NBFC P2P
Fund of Funds Scheme (FFS)
- Crisil assessment report called PRABHAAV (Powering a Resilient & Agile Bharat for the Advancement of Visionary Startups) was launched by Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).
- As per this, Rs 17,534 crore invested in 938 startups under FFS.
- About FFS
- Established in 2016 with corpus of Rs 10,000 crore to boost Indian startup ecosystem and enable access to domestic capital.
- Monitoring agency: Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.
- Operating agency: SIDBI.
- Provides capital to Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)-registered Alternative Investment Funds, which invests money in startups.
- Tags :
- funds of funds
- PRABHAAV
Olive Ridley Turtles
- Olive Ridley Turtles are back on Mangalore beaches.
- About Olive Ridley Turtles
- Smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in world, inhabiting warm waters of Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.
- Best known for their unique mass nesting called Arribada, where thousands of females come together on same beach to lay eggs.
- Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary (Odisha) is known as world’s largest rookery (a colony of breeding animals) of sea turtles.
- Conservation
- IUCN status: Vulnerable.
- Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule 1.
- Threats: Unsustainable fishing methods, tourism, poaching etc.
- Tags :
- Olive Ridley Turtles
- Arribada
Trichoglossum Syamviswanathii
- Scientists have discovered a new fungus species, Trichoglossum syamviswanathii, from Thrissur, Kerala.
- It is named after renowned scientist Syam Viswanath for his contribution to the field of forestry in India.
- It belongs to the family Geoglossaceae and is characterized by its club-shaped apothecia in dark shades of black or brown.
- Trichoglossum species play a vital role in the decomposition of organic matter and the recycling of nutrients in forest ecosystems.
- Tags :
- Trichoglossum syamviswanathii
- Fungus
Plankton, Aerosol, Climate, ocean Ecosystem (PACE)
- SpaceX has recently launched NASA’s PACE satellite to monitor ocean, atmosphere, and climate.
- PACE was placed in a sun-synchronous orbit, which means that it will always be synced to the same position relative to the Sun.
- Objectives
- Will help in understanding how the ocean and atmosphere exchange carbon dioxide.
- Will reveal how aerosols might fuel phytoplankton growth in the surface ocean
- Will contribute to new global measurements of ocean color, cloud properties, and aerosols.
- Tags :
- Plankton, Aerosol, Climate, ocean Ecosystem (PACE)
- pace satellite
- NASA PACE
infexnTM
- Kerala is about to launch India's 1st genomics-based infectious diseases test.
- It is developed by the IIT-Bombay-based HaystackAnalytics and NIMS Medicity.
- The 'infexnTM' is a state-of-the-art targeted next-generation sequencing test.
- It is designed to detect any bacterial and/or fungal infection along with the detection of relevant antimicrobial resistance genes, within 24 hours.
- The test is a kit-cum-software solution and can be performed within a hospital.