Hallmark Unique Identification (HUID)

Recently, the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs announced that beginning on April 1, 2023, the sale of gold jewellery will require a Hallmark Unique Identification (HUID).

Without a 6-digit alphanumeric Hallmark Unique Identification Number, the Bureau of India Standards (BIS) will not permit the sale of hallmarked gold jewellery or gold artefacts beyond March 31, 2023. (HUID).

About

The validity of hallmarked jewellery sold to customers under previous agreements shall not be affected.

Together with the 6-digit HUID mark, old hallmarked jewellery with 4 marks and no HUID was also allowed to be sold by jewellers.

With effect from June 23, 2021, the Hallmarking of Gold Jewellery and Gold Artefacts Order, 2022, effectively implemented mandatory hallmarking in 288 districts across the nation.

About Hallmarking

A distinctive 6-digit alphanumeric code made up of both numbers and letters is known as the HUID.

Hallmarking is the precise assessment and official documentation of the proportionate precious metal content in precious metal objects.

In the year 2000, BIS launched a jewellery hallmarking programme. Gold and silver, two precious metals, have currently been included in India's scope of Hallmarking.

Each and every item of jewellery will receive a HUID at the moment of hallmarking, and each one is unique.

The Assaying & Hallmarking centres hand stamp this distinctive number onto jewellery.

Current situation: The HUID was originally 4 digits, however, both 4 and 6-digit HUIDs are now used in the market.

Only 6-digit alphanumeric codes will be accepted starting on April 1st, 2023.

Three symbols make up the BIS Hallmark: the BIS emblem, the Purity/Fineness Grade, and a six-digit alphanumeric number.

The BIS Care App's "verify HUID" feature can be used to determine the authenticity of hallmarked jewellery.

About Bureau of Indian Standards

The National Standards Body of India is the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), which was created by the BIS Act of 2016.

Objective: Harmonized growth of operations related to product and article quality assurance and standardisation.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution oversees it.

BIS represents India in the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

Significance of Hallmark

According to BIS Rules, 2018, if Hallmarked jewellery purchased by a consumer is later determined to be less pure than that marked on the jewellery, the buyer or customer is entitled to compensation that is equal to two times the difference calculated based on the shortage of purity for the weight of such an article sold and the testing fees.

It serves as a tool to defend and defend consumers and to increase their trust in buying hallmarked gold jewellery with traceability and assurance of quality.

Working of Hallmark

Consumers can use the BIS CARE app's "verify HUID" feature to inspect and validate the authenticity of hallmarked gold jewellery goods.

It includes information about the jeweller who had the item hallmarked, their registration number, the item's purity, kind, and specifics of the hallmarking facility that tested and stamped the item.

By comparing this data with the article kind and purity, a regular customer can confirm the item being purchased.

A consumer, however, cannot apply to the Assaying and Hallmarking Centre to have her gold jewellery hallmarked. A jeweller who is registered with BIS must be used for this.

Har Payment Digital Mission

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has started a new initiative called "Har Payment Digital" as part of its aim to get every Indian using digital payments.
• The campaign, which was started during Digital Payments Awareness Week, aims to increase awareness of how simple and convenient digital payments are while also bringing on new users.
• Also, the Central Bank has launched a project to adopt 75 villages and provide them with the ability to accept digital payments. Operators of payment systems are supposed to embrace these villages.

About & Goals

• As part of the project, Payment System Operators (PSOs) will adopt these villages throughout the nation and hold camps in each one with the goal of raising awareness and enlisting merchants for digital payments.
• PSOs are organisations that the RBI has given permission to set up and run payment systems.
• There are 67 PSOs in various categories as of February 2023, including retail payment organisations, card payment networks, ATM networks, prepaid payment instruments, etc.

Why is the Har Payment Digital Mission needed?

• According to a poll performed by the Reserve Bank of India, only 42% of Indians are adopting digital payments. Although 35% are aware of them, they do not use digital payments. Regrettably, only 23% of Indians are even familiar with digital payments! Illiteracy and anxieties create barriers despite the most intensive teaching efforts. Even so, the mission can reach 23% of the population who are literate. Insecurity problems should be resolved by explaining to them the advantages of using digital payments and providing examples of people who have benefited from them.

What part does the Digital Mission for Har Payment play in Vision 2025?

• "E-Payments for Everyone, Everywhere, and Every Time" is India's stated vision for the year 2025. By 2025, all payments will be made electronically. India will be able to reach this goal because of the RBI's objective.

Significance

• The Har Payment Digital Campaign by the RBI aims to promote the simplicity and convenience of digital payments and make it easier for new customers to join the digital economy.
• The operators of non-bank payment systems and banks are planning many initiatives to emphasise the many digital payment options.
• The use of digital payments in the nation will be further encouraged and supported by this.

Significance of the Digital Payment

• Load reduction: It will lessen the volume of tiny transactions on banking networks.
• Effective: It will permit payments using more dated feature phones.
• Digital Society: It is a path towards a society with fewer cash and credit cards and will enable the country's adoption of digital payments to a deeper level.
• World Leader: This will further India's status as the industry leader in terms of digital payments.
• Mobile Banking Growth: There has been a 50% increase in mobile banking users as a result of the shift in customer behaviour towards embracing digital and touchless ways of payment, which is partially attributed to the CoVID.

Challenges to Digital Payment

• Frauds: As more people use digital payment methods, there will be an increase in payment fraud.
• Domestic data storage for payments: Under certain restrictions, banks and non-bank PSOs are permitted to process payment transactions internationally.
• Charges for digital payments: The Reserve Bank will also conduct a thorough analysis of all factors relating to costs for various digital payment channels.
• One of the main challenges is to put confidence in the mind of people to show more trust in digital payment as many people are still afraid to use online modes of payment.

Way Forward

• India's Digital Payment Ecosystem has changed, and the country has become a global leader in the production of digital assets, setting a good example for many other countries.

To assist India to become one of the world's most effective payment markets, the Indian government must exert greater effort.

Read Also: Digital Payment in India

Muggers of Rapti

• Mugger crocodiles (Crocodylus plaustris) of the Rapti River, which flows beside the Chitwan National Park (CNP) in South-Central Nepal and is next to the Valmiki Tiger Reserve in Bihar, are at risk because of anthropogenic concerns such as illicit fishing and sand mining.
• The first National Park in Nepal was the CNP, which opened in 1973. The park is home to one of the last groups of Asian rhinoceroses with only one horn. Prioritizing the inclusion of local ethnic and river-dependent communities of CNP in successful conservation and management programmes with viable livelihood options is advised.

About Muggers

• One of the 24 species of crocodilians that are still alive is the mugger or marsh crocodile. It is present in Pakistan, Nepal, India, and
• Muggers can be found in Nepal's Terai plains close to the Indian border. Despite being legally protected, the species has gone extinct locally in many areas of Nepal, according to research published last year. This is because of habitat degradation.
• The International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List classifies the species as 'Vulnerable'. Both Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 and Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora identify it as an endangered species.
• They are a species that nests in holes and lays eggs; they also hunt fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
• Their vulnerability is mostly brought on by fishing activities, habitat destruction, fragmentation, and alteration, as well as the use of crocodile parts for medicinal purposes.
• In Bhutan and Burma, this species of crocodile is already extinct.

Other Crocodile Species in India

Saltwater Crocodile

• The estuarine crocodile, commonly known as the saltwater crocodile, is thought to be the biggest species of a crocodile on Earth.
• The IUCN Red List classifies them as Critically Endangered. Also, they are listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 and Appendix I of CITES.
• It can be found in India in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, West Bengal's Sundarbans, and Odisha's Bhitarkanika National Park. Also, you can find them in northern Australia and much of Southeast Asia.
• It can defeat practically any animal that invades its region, ambushes the majority of its prey, and then drowns or swallows the whole thing
• One of the main justifications for its hunting and a threat to its existence is its reputation as a man-eater. Moreover, it is hunted for its skin, and habitat degradation is another significant factor in its declining population

Gharial

• The gharial, also called the gavial, is the longest-surviving crocodile. It gets its name from the fact that it has a long, narrow snout that resembles an earthen pot ("Ghara" in Hindi).
• The IUCN Red List classifies them as Critically Endangered. Also, they are listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 and Appendix I of CITES
• The Chambal River on the northern slopes of the Vindhya mountains is known as the major home of gharials, and it today inhabits rivers throughout the plains of the northern section of the Indian subcontinent.
• Illegal sand mining, poaching, habitat damage, floods, and large-scale fishing operations are the chief contributors to this reduction.

The Rapti River

• In both India and Nepal, the Rapti River is a prominent watercourse.
• Origin: The Mahabharat Hills and the lower Himalayan range are the sources of the Rapti River.
• Path: It travels through the Uttar Pradesh state in India's Awadh and Purvanchal areas before flowing westward along the northern boundary of Nepal's Chitwan National Park.
• Drainage Area: The river drains the Rapti zone in India's Uttar Pradesh and Nepal's Mid-Western Region.
• The Rohini, Babiya, and Karra Rivers are some of the tributaries of the Rapti River.
• Connecting Point: In Uttar Pradesh, the river empties into the Ghaghara River, a significant left-bank tributary of the Ganga River.

Importance: In the areas, it flows through, the Rapti River is crucial for irrigation and agriculture. It serves as a crucial water source for the animals in Chitwan National Park.

Read Also: Crocodile Species in India

Mimeusemia Ceylonica

• After being last seen 127 years ago at Trincomalee in Sri Lanka in 1893, researchers from Tamil Nadu have discovered a rare moth species for the first time in India in the buffer zone of Kalakkad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR).

About

• A species of moth known as Mimeusemia Ceylonica is a member of the Noctuidae family and subfamily Agaristinae.
• Entomologist George Hampson of England originally depicted and characterised it in 1893.
• The discovery of the moth species in the area has strengthened the case for the region's abundant biodiversity.

Moths

• All members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies are grouped as moths.
• There are an estimated 160,000 different species of moth, many of which have not yet been identified.
• There are nocturnal, crepuscular, and diurnal moth species in addition to the majority of nocturnal species.

The rest of the Lepidoptera, which includes the moths, do not form a monophyletic group like the butterflies do.

Read Also: Tiger Reserves and Tiger Census