Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 06-01-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 06-01-2020

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Iraqi MPs vote to expel U.S. troops – The Iraqi Parliament called on the government to work to end all foreign troop presence in the country as the backlash grew against the killing of top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a U.S. strike in Baghdad. A resolution passed by a special session of Parliament said the government should cancel its request for assistance from a U.S.-led coalition. Parliament resolutions, unlike laws, are non-binding. But this one is likely to be heeded: Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi had earlier called on Parliament to end foreign troop presence as soon as possible.
2. India condemns killing of Sikh youth in Pak. – India strongly condemned the murder of a Sikh citizen of Pakistan in Peshawar and urged the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan to stop attacks on religious minorities. A statement from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) pointed to Islamabad’s inaction in several cases of violence against Sikhs and urged Pakistan to punish the perpetrators.
3. Karnataka’s Challakere to be ISRO’s astronaut training hub – India’s world-class facility for training astronauts will come up not in the space headquarters in Bengaluru, nor in any glitzy metropolis. It will be established in three years at Challakere, a shrubby, arid oilseeds town on the Bengaluru-Pune NH4 in Chitradurga district of Karnataka. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has proposed a ₹ 2,700-crore master plan to create top infrastructure that will house its young Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC).
4. NAL wants govt. push for Saras takeoff – The government needs to be the “launch customer” to make Saras Mk2 commercially viable, the National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL), which has developed the first indigenous light transport aircraft, told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology.The 19-seater aircraft, developed with a target cost of ₹50 crore, is at least 20-25% lower in cost than other aircraft in the similar category. The aircraft has been in the making for long. The first prototype flew in 2004. But without the initial push from the government, the manufacturing capacity required for commercial production could not be set up.
5. ‘Investors wary of uncertain tax administration in India’ – Uncertainty in tax administration is one of the key threats to private investments in the country, the Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association said in a presentation made a Parliamentary panel on Finance. The presentation lists five major threats to private investors in the country. The first is “increased frictional costs on capital mobility, including dividend distribution tax, buy-back tax and so on, which diminishes returns prospects,” the association noted. A similar demand was recently made by Association of National Exchanges Members of India.
6. Army to sign MoU for 7.5 lakh AK-203 assault rifles – The Army is likely to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in a month for the procurement of over 7.5 lakh AK-203 assault rifles, which are to be manufactured locally by an India-Russia joint venture (JV). The Defence Ministry has already floated a Request For Proposal (RFP) for the supply of 6.71 lakh rifles.
7. U.S. will target 52 sites if Iran retaliates: Trump – President Donald Trump warned that the U.S. would hit dozens of targets in the Islamic Republic if it retaliates for the killing of the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, in Iraq. Showing no signs of seeking to reduce tensions raised by the strike on Friday that he ordered, the U.S. President issued a stern threat to Iran on Twitter.
8. Bangladesh orders arrest of ‘fugitive’ former Chief Justice – A Bangladesh court ordered the arrest of former Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha and 10 others on charges alleging they embezzled nearly half a million dollars.Justice Sinha headed the South Asian nation’s Supreme Court for a landmark verdict on judicial independence that went against the government, but fled Bangladesh in late 2017 amid allegations he had been forced to step aside.
9. Military base used by U.S. forces in Kenya attacked – Jihadists from Somalia’s Al-Shabaab group stormed a military base used by U.S. forces in Kenya’s coastal Lamu region, destroying several aircraft and military vehicles. Attackers breached heavy security at Camp Simba at dawn but were repelled and four jihadists were killed. Al-Shabaab has launched regular cross-border raids since Kenya sent troops into Somalia in 2011 as part of an African Union force protecting the internationally backed government — which the jihadists have been trying to overthrow for more than a decade.
10. Women scientists seek conducive workplaces – Better childcare facilities, safer laboratories and more funding for research projects were some of the issues that women scientists and researchers batted for to make the work environment more conducive. Several scientists spoke on the side-lines of the Women’s Science Congress, as part of the Indian Science Congress, about how institutions and the government can ensure that not only more women choose science, but they remain in their field instead of dropping out.

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• SECTION 2 - DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

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• 1. CONSTITUTION AND LAW

No news in this section today.

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• 2. ECONOMY

External Affairs Ministry announces setting up of new, emerging and strategic technologies (NEST) division.
 

1. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is setting up a new division called New, Emerging and Strategic Technologies (NEST) division, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar announced on January 1, 2019.
2. NEST act as the nodal division within the ministry for issues about new and emerging technologies.
3. It will help in collaboration with foreign partners in the field of 5G and artificial intelligence.
4. The division holds responsibility for matters that involve negotiations with multilateral fora like the United Nations, G20.
5. This will help to safeguard India’s interests as such forums govern the rules of access to such technologies.
6. NEST’s mandate reportedly includes the following

1. Evolving India’s external technology policy in coordination with domestic stakeholders; this policy will also align with India’s national security goal and developmental priorities.
2. Recommending foreign policy choices by assessing foreign policy and international legal implications of new and emerging technologies
3. Negotiating “technology governance rules, standards and architecture” in multilateral frameworks
4. Creating HR capacity within MEA for technology diplomacy.

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• 3. ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

No news in this section today.

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• 4. FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Iraq's parliament votes in favour of resolution calling for ending foreign military presence in the country.

1. The Iraqi Parliament called on the government to work to end all foreign troop presence in the country as the backlash grew against the killing of top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a U.S. strike in Baghdad.
2. A resolution passed by a special session of Parliament said the government should cancel its request for assistance from a U.S.-led coalition. Parliament resolutions, unlike laws, are non-binding.
3. But this one is likely to be heeded: Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi had earlier called on Parliament to end foreign troop presence as soon as possible.
4. The U.S.-led coalition battling the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria said it had halted most of its operations against the militants for now to focus on protecting coalition forces and bases, amid tensions with Iran.
5. Since the killings, rival Shia political leaders have called for U.S. troops to be expelled in an unusual show of unity among factions.
6. Around 5,200 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, most of them in an advisory capacity. 
7. Many Iraqis, including opponents of Soleimani, have expressed anger at Washington for killing Soleimani and Muhandis on Iraqi soil and potentially dragging their country into another conflict.
8. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended the American troop presence in Iraq, saying Abdul Mahdi was under pressure from the Iranians.
9. President Donald Trump has threatened Iraq with debilitating sanctions, should the Middle Eastern country force US troops to leave.

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• 5. GOVERNMENT SCHEMES

Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan ArogyaYojana (AB-PMJAY)

1. A total 171 hospitals have been de-empanelled, and penalties to the tune of ₹4.5 crore have been imposed on hospitals for allegedly committed fraud and indulging in malpractices under the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme by National Health Authority (NHA).
2. FIRs have been lodged against six hospitals in Uttarakhand and Jharkhand.
3. The National Anti-Fraud Unit (NAFU) has detected suspect e-cards on the basis of algorithms developed internally by it and shared with states for due diligence and action.
4. It ruled out any possibility of a fake e-card being generated automatically by the system, saying the process requires a go-ahead by authorised persons based on supporting documents and final approval of the state health agency officials to not just create an e-card but also to add any additional family member.
5. About 3,785 village-level entrepreneurs who are positioned at common service centres and Pradhan Mantri Arogya Mitras positioned at PMJAY empanelled hospital have been deactivated so far.
6. There is no package under AB-PMJAY scheme which is free for government. 
7. There are certain packages, especially abuse-prone packages, which are reserved for government hospitals by the state authorities.
8. It was detected that private hospitals were performing these government reserved procedures and blocking/submitting the same under a different package name or as unspecified package.
9. Cases of fraud were detected by NAFU in August 2019 and shared with Gujarat State Health agency which has disabled the cards and an FIR was lodged on November 8.
10. In Chhattisgarh, such cases were detected initially in May 2019 and the cards have been disabled.
11. In Madhya Pradesh, cases were detected in August 2019 and shared with state which has disabled the cards and the concerned hospital has been issued show-cause notice. Penalty has also been levied on TPA.
12. The cases in Punjab were detected in Oct 2019 and shared with state which has disabled the cards.
13. Ayushman Bharat – PMJAYis the world's biggest healthcare scheme, it aims to cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) providing coverage upto 5 lakh rupees per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization.

Andhra Pradesh Government launched YSR Aarogyasri scheme for providing free medical treatment to the poor. Total of 2,059 medical ailments will be covered under the scheme. Scheme is applicable to people having an annual income of up to Rs. 5 lakh and the eligible people will be given Aarogyasri cards. The scheme will be applicable to those people whose treatment amount crosses Rs. 1,000.

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• 6. MISCELLANEOUS

Sports:  Chennai Marathon - Kenya's FelexRop (2:29.03) of Kenya won men’s race. K. Suguna (3:44:30) of India won women's races.

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• 7. POLITY

Appointment :  Ex-DG of Central Reserve Police Force Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar appointed as an advisor to the Lt. Governor of Jammu and Kashmir.

Obituary :  Former Assembly Speaker of Tamil Nadu and AIADMK leader Paul Hector Pandian passed away at 74 in Chennai. 

 

1. He went on to become former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's legal advisor between 1996 and 1999, when a number of cases were filed against her.
2. While he was a four-time MLA, he went on to be elected as Member of Parliament in 1999, from Tirunelveli constituency. PH Pandian had once declared that the Speaker has "sky-high powers".
3. After Jayalalithaa's death, PH Pandian was one of the first to pledge allegiance to O Panneerselvam who had rebelled against V. K. Sasikala.
   Pandian was amongst the senior AIADMK leaders, who was not ready to accept Sasikala's promotion to General Secretary of the party.

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• 8. SOCIAL ISSUES

American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) organized 14th Global Healthcare Summit in Visakhapatnam (AP) from January 3 to 5, 2019.

1. Around five Hundred doctors from the US, Australia, Britain and other countries participated in the event which will focus on various communicable and non-communicable diseases, public health hazards, emergency medical care, eradication of tuberculosis, preventing maternal mortality, control of Hepatitis B and include anti-obesity awareness walk, women’s forum, adoption of villages.
2. The focus of the Global Health Summit is an Indian-centric approach, with special events such as global impact and India’s contribution in providing cost-effective medicines and addressing shortage of healthcare professionals. For the first time, the 14th Global Health Care summit will be held in AP and is expected to boost the healthcare in the region.
3. For the past 12 years, AAPI members had collaborated with several professional medical associations, academic institutions, the Government of India and made significant contribution towards addressing diabetes with the launch of Sevak programme and CPR-AED training for first responders with expert faculty from the American University of Antigua.
4. AAPI is the largest ethnic medical organisation in the United States representing over 60,000 doctors of Indian-origin practising in America.  
5. The organisation founded in 1982 spearheads legislative, educational, charitable and philanthropic initiatives in India and the United States. 
6. AAPI headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois serves as an umbrella organisation for over 150 local chapters.

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• 9. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

An Indian-origin Goa born scientist to lead NASA team to find farthest group of galaxies.

1. An international team of astronomers linked to NASA, led by an Indian-origin Goa-born scientist, Vithal Tilvi, has discovered a never before-seen group of galaxies, now labelled EGS77, which is the farthest group of galaxies to have ever been sighted. 
2. In 2013, Tilvi was also part of a team that discovered the farthest single galaxy ever sighted by astronomers. The new group of galaxies, EGS77, is estimated to be over 13 billion light years away from Earth.  
3. It took Tilvi and his team over four years to make the findings. 
4. This group of galaxies can help astronomers see the universe directly in its infancy, and figure out what chemicals were present when the universe was just born.

Challakere of Karnataka to be astronaut training hub of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

1.  India’s world-class facility for training astronauts will come up in three years at Challakere, a shrubby, arid oilseeds town on the Bengaluru-Pune NH4 in Chitradurga district of Karnataka.
2. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has proposed a ₹ 2,700-crore master plan to create top infrastructure that will house its young Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC).
3. Everything connected with events and planning of the HSP [Human Spaceflight Programme] will shift to campus at Challakere, a self-contained facility so that in future, whatever training and activities India is now doing in Russia for the Gaganyaan crew can all be done here.
4. When ready, the 400-acre ISRO land at Challakere will be the single-stop consolidating infrastructure and activities related to space travellers. India pays heavy sums to use such facilities abroad.
5. The first set of four astronaut candidates for the first Gaganyaan mission of 2022 are to train in Russia.
6. The amount sought for the HSFC is over and above the ?10,000-crore approved budget of Gaganyaan.

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• SECTION 3 - MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions)

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