Main Functions

Monetary Authority:

• Formulates, implements and monitors the monetary policy.
• Objective: maintaining price stability while keeping in mind the objective of growth.

Regulator and supervisor of the financial system:

• Prescribes broad parameters of banking operations within which the country's banking and financial system functions.
• Objective: maintain public confidence in the system, protect depositors' interest and provide cost-effective banking services to the public.

Manager of Foreign Exchange

• Manages the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.
• Objective: to facilitate external trade and payment and promote orderly development and maintenance of foreign exchange market in India.

Issuer of currency:

• Issues and exchanges or destroys currency and coins not fit for circulation.
• Objective: to give the public adequate quantity of supplies of currency notes and coins and in good quality.

Developmental role

• Performs a wide range of promotional functions to support national objectives.

Related Functions

• Banker to the Government: performs merchant banking function for the central and the state governments; also acts as their banker.

Banker to banks: maintains banking accounts of all scheduled banks.

Plant genetic engineering methods were developed over 30 years ago, and since then, genetically modified (GM) crops or transgenic crops have become commercially available and widely adopted in many countries.

In India, Bt cotton was approved by Government of India in March 2002 as the first transgenic crop for commercial cultivation.

Though, it is widely claimed that transgenic crops offers dramatic promise for meeting some of greatest challenges but like all new technologies, it also poses certain risks, because of the fact that transgenic crops can bring together new gene combinations which are not found in nature having possible harmful effects on health, environmental and non-target species.

Transgenic crops are not toxic nor are likely to proliferate in the environment. However, specific crops may be harmful by virtue of novel combinations of traits they possess.

The regulatory framework for transgenic crops in India consists of the following rules and guidelines.

a) Rules and policies

Rules, 1989 under Environment Protection Act (1986)

Seed Policy, 2002

b) Guidelines

Recombinant DNA guidelines, 1990

Guidelines for research in transgenic crops, 1998

Source

Coral Sea is located to the east of Australia.

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