Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 04-01-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 04-01-2020

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. U.S. kills top Iranian General in air strike - The U.S. killed Iranian Major General QassemSoleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, in an air strike near Baghdad airport, the Pentagon and Iran said. Top Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, an adviser to Gen. Soleimani, was also killed in the attack authorised by U.S. President Donald Trump. The impact on India can be severe, if crude oil price spiral out of control.
2. PM asks students to innovate, patent - Prime Minister Modi called upon students to “innovate, patent, produce and prosper”, in his inaugural speech at the 107thIndian Science Congress at Bengaluru. Mr.Modi emphasised that digitalisation, e-commerce, Internet banking and mobile banking services were assisting the rural population significantly. He said that technology can be harnessed for several rural development initiatives, particularly in the area of cost-effective agriculture and farm-to-consumer supply chain network. The organisers claim they took special care to weed out unscience from this year’s proceedings!
3. CM Pinarayi writes to 11 CMs on CAA - Kerala Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan has written to 11 Chief Ministers, urging them to emulate the model set by the Kerala Assembly in passing a resolution demanding that the Centre scrap the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) 2019. Mr.Vijayan’s move to elicit the cooperation of 11 States in the fight against the CAA comes in the wake of BJP leader GVL NarasimhaRao filing a petition with the RajyaSabha Chairman for initiating breach of privilege proceedings against him for passing the resolution.
4. Special provisions likely for J&K residents in jobs, land rights - The Centre is all set to provide protection to domiciles of Jammu and Kashmir in government jobs, educational institutions and land rights. The Centre is exploring the option of implementing the mandatory requirement of continuous stay in the region for a minimum of 15 years before applying for a job in the government sector and for admissions in schools and colleges in the Union Territory of J&K.
5. Nobel winner’s prescription: put money in the hands of the poor - Economics Nobel Prize winner Abhijit Banerjee said instead of cutting corporate taxes, the government should be putting it in the hands of poorer people who will spend it immediately and kick-start demand in the economy. He was speaking at the launch of his book, Good Economics for Hard Times, along with his co-author and fellow prize winner Esther Duflo. Banerjee was a brain behind the Congress’s Basic Income scheme proposed in 2019.
6. Don’t punish a child for marrying a female adult: SC - The anti-child marriage law does not intend to punish a male aged between 18 and 21 years for marrying a “female adult,” the Supreme Court has held in a recent judgment. A Bench led by Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar was interpreting Section 9 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, which says: “whoever, being a male adult above 18 years of age, contracts a child marriage shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment which may extend to two years or with fine which may extend to one lakh rupees or with both.”
7. Iran vows revenge after U.S. kills General - A furious Iran threatened to avenge a U.S. strike that killed a top Iranian commander at Baghdad’s international airport, raising fears of a wider regional conflict between the arch-foes. The Pentagon said U.S. President Donald Trump had ordered QasemSoleimani’s “killing” after a pro-Iran mob this week laid siege to the U.S. Embassy in the Iraqi capital.Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei promised “severe revenge” for Soleimani’s death, the biggest escalation yet in a feared proxy war between Iran and the U.S. on Iraqi soil.
8. U.S. drone attack sets gold price on fire - The impact of the U.S. drone strike killing a top Iranian military commander was visible in most market segments in India as gold prices spiked, while equities fell, and the rupee plunged to a one-and-a-half-month low. While gold prices in the spot market surged by around ?1,000 per 10 gm, rupee fell by 42 paise to end at 71.80 against the U.S. dollar amid a spike in crude prices. Equities, however, managed to recoup some of the losses as the benchmark Sensex closed at 41,464.61, down 162.03 points, or 0.39%.
9. Ratan Tata moves SC against NCLAT verdict to reinstate Mistry - Chairman emeritus of Tata Sons Private Limited, Ratan N. Tata, moved the Supreme Court against the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s (NCLAT) judgment restoring Cyrus Mistry as its chairman, saying the verdict had virtually pulled down the governance and corporate structure painstakingly built by the founders of the Indian multinational conglomerate. Tata Sons has already moved the apex court against the NCLAT’s decision of December 18.
10. Adani to buy 75% in Krishnapatnam Port - Adani Ports and Logistics and Special Economic Zone Ltd. (APSEZ) will be acquiring 75% stake in Krishnapatnam Port Co. Ltd. (KPCL) in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh for a total consideration of ?13,572 crore from the CVR Group, the company said in a filing. The balance stake will be held by the CVR Group. The acquisition is in line with APSEZ’s strategy of expanding its footprint in Andhra Pradesh. The transaction would accelerate APSEZ’s move towards handling 400 million tonnes (MT) of cargo by 2025, said APSEZ in its statement.

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• SECTION 2 - DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

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• 1. CONSTITUTION AND LAW

Entire Nagaland declared as a ‘disturbed’ area under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, for a further period of six months.

1. The Centre declared the whole of Nagaland as a "disturbed" area under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, for a further period of six months, till June end, on January 3, 2020.
2. In a notification, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the central government is of the opinion that the area comprising the whole state of Nagaland is in such a "disturbed and dangerous condition" that the use of armed forces in aid of the civil power is necessary.
3. Nagaland has been under AFSPA for almost six decades now and it was not withdrawn even after a framework agreement was signed on August 3, 2015, by Naga insurgent group National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak Muivah) General Secretary Thuingaleng Muivah and government interlocutor R.N. Ravi in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
4. It also remains in force in Assam, most of Manipur, and three districts and areas falling under the jurisdiction of four police stations in Arunachal Pradesh.
5. The decision to maintain the status quo in Nagaland regarding coverage of AFSPA, a law slammed by many civil society groups as "draconian", comes even as insurgency has shown a declining trend in the state.
6. The AFSPA gives the military sweeping powers to search and arrest, and to open fire if they deem it necessary for "the maintenance of public order", and to do so with a degree of immunity from prosecution.
7. The Ministry of Home Affairs had last time extended the operation AFSPA in Nagaland for another six months with effect from June 30 this year which ended on December 29.
8. According to Home Ministry data, violent incidents have fallen from 77 in 2014 to 19 in 2017, while extremists' killing slid from 296 to 171. On March 31 last year, the Home Ministry withdrew AFSPA totally from Meghalaya as well as 8 of the 16 police stations in Arunachal Pradesh where it had been in force for the past few decades.
9. The Home Ministry has underlined that incidents of insurgency in northeast region were down by 96 per cent from the levels recorded in 1997.

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• 2. ECONOMY

Adani Ports to acquire 75% stake in Krishnapatnam Port Company.
 

1. Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) announced its decision to acquire a controlling stake in Krishnapatnam Port Company Limited (KPCL) in what would be the largest acquisition in the port sector in India.
2. The GautamAdani-led company will buy a 75% stake in KPCL at an enterprise value of Rs. 13,572 crore after prolonged talks to obtain the all-weather port in Andhra Pradesh. 
3. The balance stake will be held by the CVR Group.
4. The all-cash deal will be funded through internal accruals and existing cash balance.
5. The acquisition is in line with APSEZ’s strategy of expanding its footprint in Andhra Pradesh.
6. Located at Krishnapatnam in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, north of Chennai, the port was developed in 2008 by CVR Group, which continues to own a majority stake.
7. London-based private equity firm 3i Group owns a minority stake.
8. With Krishnapatnam, Adani Ports now has 12 ports and terminals across the country.
9. The deal comes close on the heels of the company’s subsidiary Adani Logistics announcing the acquisition of Snowman Logistics, a cold chain logistics company for Rs. 296 crore.
10. The Adani Group, which has become one of the largest port developer and operators in the country, has been on an expansion spree with its eyes set on achieving 400 MMT cargo handling capacity by 2025.
11. KPCL is the second-largest private sector port in the east that handled 54 MT of cargo during FY19.
12. Mundra Port, on the west coast, which also belongs to the Adani Group, has been handling over 100 MT of cargo for the past few years consecutively.
13. Adani Group began due diligence at KPCL during the first week of November 2019 and at the time, it was said that the entire exercise would last a month or two and that thereafter, the Adanis would take a final call.
14. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and the transaction is expected to be completed in 120 days, the statement added.
15. This acquisition would not only increase APSEZ’s market share to 27% from the current 22%, but also add remarkable value to pan-India footprint
16. KPCL recorded revenue of ?2,394 crore in FY19 compared with ?1,969 crore in FY18. KPCL, which is engaged in the business of handling containers, coal, break bulk and other bulk cargo, including liquid cargo, was till recently run by Hyderabad-based engineering major CVR Group.
17. Karan Adani is the CEO and whole-time director, APSEZ.
18. CVR Group decided to hive off the company as it got into financial trouble when the Andhra Pradesh government cancelled the ?3,200-crore PolavaramHydel power project awarded to Navayuga Engineering, the flagship of the group.
19. Cancellation of the project and the economic slowdown had hit the operations of the group and that of KPCL. Since then, the promoters had been looking for a suitor to bail it out, said a former top official of KPCL who had quit recently.
20. On January 3, 2020, APSEZ shares declined 0.2% to ?382.70 on the BSE.

Centre sanctioned 2,636 charging stations across the country under phase II of FAME India (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India) scheme.

Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) inaugurated the first silk processing plant at Surendranagar in Gujarat to improve availability of raw material for production of Gujarati PatolaSarees. The plant has been set up by a khadi institution at a cost of Rs. 75 lakh, in which KVIC has contributed Rs. 60 lakh. PatolaSaree, the trademark saree of Gujarat, is considered to be very costly and worn only by royals or aristocrats.

India extended a line of credit of US $ 75 million (over Rs. 500 crore) to Cuba for financing solar parks. An agreement signed between Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) and Banco Exterior De Cuba in July 2019 came into effect from December 12.

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• 3. ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

No news in this section today.

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• 4. FOREIGN AFFAIRS

US-IRAN Relations: US airstrike killed top Iran general, QassemSoleimani, at Baghdad airport.

1. The head of Iran's elite Quds Force, General QassemSoleimani, has been killed alongside six others following a US airstrike at Baghdad's international airport.
2. Gen. QassemSoleimani was a commander of Iran's military forces in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere throughout the Middle East.
3. The deadly airstrike raised tensions between the U.S. and Iran, which were already heightened by the New Year's attacks on the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad.
4. Another man, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, said to be the deputy of the militias known as the Popular Mobilization Units and a close adviser to Soleimani, was also killed in the airstrike near Baghdad's airport.
5. Soleimani was widely seen as the second most powerful figure in Iran, behind the Ayatollah Khamenei.
6. He was widely considered the architect of President Bashar al-Assad's war in Syria, the on-going conflict in Iraq, the fight against Islamic State, and many battles beyond.
7. From 1998, he led Iran's Quds Force which handles clandestine operations abroad. Iran has acknowledged the role of the Quds Force in the conflicts in Syria, where it has advised forces supporting President Bashar al-Assad and armed thousands of Shia Muslim militiamen fighting alongside them, and in Iraq, where it has backed a Shia-dominated paramilitary force that helped tackle IS. These conflicts turned the once-reclusive Soleimani into a something of celebrity in Iran.
8. In the past, the United States has credited Soleimani's militias with combating a U.S. enemy in Iraq, the Islamic State militant group.  
9. Soleimani's Quds Force was a division of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, widely believed to support many terrorist groups, such as Hezbollah.
10. The Pentagon said Soleimani had been actively developing plans to attack U.S. diplomats and service members in Iraq and elsewhere throughout the region.His death comes after rioters tried for two days to scale the fortress-like walls at the United States' largest embassy.
11. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper threatened a preemptive strike against Iranian militias if there were any renewed attacks against U.S. personnel or interests in Iraq.
12. The conflict at the embassy occurred after U.S. fighter jets struck weapons depots in Iraq and Syria that the United States said were linked with a group called Kataeb Hezbollah, which it blames for attacks on bases of the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS in recent months.
13. At least 25 militia fighters were killed in the airstrikes. The strikes followed the death of a U.S. contractor who was killed Dec. 27 in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base in Kirkuk that also hosted coalition forces. Several U.S. service members were also injured.
14. Iranian Foreign Minister JavadZarif called the U.S. action "an extremely dangerous and foolish escalation."
15. The Trump administration announced in April that it was designating the Revolutionary Guard a foreign terrorist organization, which is the first time the United States had used that designation on part of another country's government.
16. Iran in June 2019 shot down a U.S. surveillance drone that the Revolutionary Guard said had entered Iranian airspace. 
17. The Trump administration also blamed Iran for an attack in September on oil sites in Saudi Arabia, which prompted the United States to deploy military forces to the Middle East.
18. Al-Muhandis, the militia official who was killed in Jan 3 attack, had been accused of plotting attacks on the United States since the 1980s. He was convicted in absentia and sentenced to death by Kuwait for his role in the 1983 attacks on the U.S. and French embassies in Kuwait, in which five Kuwaitis were killed.

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• 5. GOVERNMENT SCHEMES

No news in this section today.

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• 6. MISCELLANEOUS

Cultural Events :  A ritualistic festival observed by Manipuri Meitei communities since ancient times, began in Agartala (Capital of Tripura) on January 2, 2020. The five day long festival is jointly organised by Department of Information and Cultural Affairs, Government of Tripura, Puthiba Lai Haraoba Committee and Puthiba Welfare & Cultural Society, Agartala.

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• 7. POLITY

Six Rajasthan BSP MLAs joined Congress.

 

1. A day after BahujanSamaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati attacked the Congress over the infant deaths in a government hospital in Congress-ruled Rajasthan, six BSP lawmakers from the State formally joined the Congress after meeting party president Sonia Gandhi.
2. Stepping up her attack on Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Ms.Mayawati had demanded his resignation for making insensitive remarks on the issue.
3. On Thursday, Ms.Mayawati also attacked Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for being silent on the infant deaths and not visiting the mothers who lost their children.
4. Though the Congress didn’t get into a war of words, it seems to have reacted by making all the six BSP legislators join the party.
5. At least 100 infants have died at the government-run J.K. Lon hospital in Kota in the past month.

President accepted Allahabad University V-C’s resignation.

1. President Ram NathKovind accepted the resignation of Allahabad University Vice-Chancellor Rattan LalHangloo and ordered an enquiry into allegations of financial, academic and administrative irregularities against him.
2. Mr.Hangloo had resigned on January 2, 2020.
3. Mr.Hangloo has been under the scanner since 2016 for alleged financial and academic irregularities.
4. He was also summoned by the National Commission for Women last week over allegations of improper handling of sexual harassment complaints and lack of grievance redress mechanism for women students.
5. He had earlier served as Vice-Chancellor of Kalyani University in West Bengal. However, Mr.Hangloo quit the post following a series of spats with the State government and university employees.

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• 8. SOCIAL ISSUES

World Health Organization (WHO) decided to observe 2020 as International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife.

1. The World Health Organization has declared that 2020, the 200thanniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth, will be the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife.
2. Nurses and midwives play a vital role in providing health services.
3. The year represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to celebrate and thank nurses and midwives for all that they do, and to make clear the critical contribution that our professions can make in achieving universal health coverage. It is urgent that we make the most of 2020.
4. These are the people who devote their lives to caring for mothers and children; giving lifesaving immunizations and health advice; looking after older people and generally meeting everyday essential health needs.
5. They are often, the first and only point of care in their communities.
6. Currently, there are 22 million nurses and two million midwives worldwide, accounting for half of the global health workforce.
7. The WHO estimates that we are facing a shortfall of 18 million health workers to achieve and sustain universal health coverage by 2030—and approximately half of that shortfall, 9 million health workers, are nurses and midwives. Hence the new designation of 2020.
8. WHO is leading the development of the first-ever State of the World’s Nursing report, which will be launched in 2020. This report will describe the nursing workforce in WHO Member States providing an assessment of ‘fitness for purpose.
9. Nightingale Challenge 2020: It is a challenge launched by Nursing Now global campaign which calls for every large employer of nurses globally to provide leadership and development training for 20 young nurses and midwives in 2020. Their aim is to have at least 20,000 young nurses and midwives benefiting from this in 2020 – the WHO Year of the Nurse.  

Nightingale Challenge 2020 report  –

https://www.acn.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/Nightingale_Challenge_Brochure.pdf

Maharashtra Government launched a ‘Cyber Safe Women’ initiative on January 3, 2020, under which awareness camps will be held across all the districts of the state regarding cyber safety. The initiative will help in educating women about how the web is used by anti-social elements and child predators to commit various types of crimes.

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• 9. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated 107^th version of Indian Science Congress at Bengaluru. 

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• SECTION 3 - MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions)

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