Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 15-01-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 15-01-2020

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. After Modi’s call, Trump likely to visit Delhi in late February – US president Donald Trump is likely to visit Delhi in late Feb 2020.The visit, which has not yet been announced, would bring Mr. Trump to India a year after he declined an invitation to be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations, and will go ahead at the end of February as long as dates don’t need to be changed to accommodate the impeachment process in the Senate. The decision to visit India, at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation, was discussed during a telephone call between the leaders on January 7. Mr. Trump is keen to visit early in the year, ahead of elections in November, and both sides are working towards a visit in the last week of February.
2. SC rejects curative pleas of 2 Nirbhaya death row convicts – The curative petitions of Vinay Sharma, 26, and Mukesh Singh, 32, who were sentenced to death in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case, were rejected by a five-judge Supreme Court Bench, led by Justice N.V. Ramana.
3. AAP releases full list of 70 candidates for Delhi – The Aam Aadmi Party released its full list of 70 candidates for the Delhi Assembly elections due on February 8.All seven AAP Ministers got party tickets and three of its 2019 Delhi Lok Sabha election candidates — Atishi, Dilip Pandey, and Raghav Chadha — made it to the list. Also, leaders who joined the party in the last one week — Ram Singh Netaji, Vinay Mishra and Shoaib Iqbal — got tickets. The party has announced 24 new faces while 15 sitting MLAs have been dropped. Of the existing 61 MLAs, 46 have made it to the list and the party has fielded eight women candidates, compared with six in 2015.
4. Kerala govt. challenges CAA in Supreme Court – Kerala became the first State to join citizens across the country to challenge in the Supreme Court the constitutionality of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, which fast-tracks grant of citizenship on the basis of religion.
5. Hallmarking made must for gold jewellery – No jeweller will be allowed to sell gold jewellery or artefacts without hallmark from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) from January 15, 2021, onwards. If jewellery or artefacts made of 14, 18 and 22 carat gold are sold without a BIS hallmark, then the jeweller could be charged penalty five times the cost of the object or even given imprisonment up to one year. Gold hallmarking is a purity certification and is voluntary in nature now.
6. Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules eased for ‘Blue Flag’ beaches – The Environment Ministry has relaxed CRZ rules that restrict construction near beaches to help States construct infrastructure and enable them to receive ‘Blue Flag’ certification.Last year, the Ministry selected 13 beaches in India to vie for the certificate. This is an international recognition conferred on beaches that meet certain criteria of cleanliness and environmental propriety.
7. Draft National Policy for Rare Diseases released – Calling it just another piece of paper that is far from reality, groups working in the area of rare diseases in India have said that the National Policy for Rare Diseases-2020, released recently by the Union Health Ministry, is nothing more than an illusion. It offers no clarity on long-term financial assistance.The government, in its policy paper, has proposed financial support of up to Rs. 15 lakh under an umbrella scheme of the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi for rare diseases that require one-time treatment.
8. Iran nuclear deal: EU launches dispute mechanism – Britain, France and Germany ratcheted up pressure on Iran to cease its violations of a landmark nuclear deal, stressing that they want to resolve differences through talks while starting the clock on a process that could result in a so-called snapback of United Nations sanctions.
9. Russians hacked firm linked to Bidens – With President Donald Trump facing an impeachment trial over his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate former Vice- President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, Russian military hackers have been boring into the Ukrainian gas company at the centre of the affair.
10. Jio, UVARC emerge top bidders for RCom – Reliance Communications (RCom) has received bids of about Rs. 25,000 crore for its assets, with Reliance Jio placing bids of Rs. 4,700 crore for its mobile tower and fibre assets, while UV Asset Reconstruction Company (UVARC) has placed bids of around Rs. 16,000 crore for spectrum, real estate assets as well as the enterprise and data centre businesses.

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• SECTION 2 - DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

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• 1. CONSTITUTION AND LAW (Prelims, GS Paper 2, Essay paper)

1.1 SC rejects curative pleas of 2 Nirbhaya death row convicts

• Context - The curative petitions of Vinay Sharma, 26, and Mukesh Singh, 32, who were sentenced to death in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case, were rejected by a five-judge Supreme Court Bench, led by Justice N.V. Ramana.
• The Bench -  Besides Justice Ramana, the Bench comprised Arun Mishra, Rohinton Nariman, R. Banumathi and Ashok Bhushan.
• Details - In a three-page order, the Bench concluded, after an in-chamber consideration that there was no merit in their pleas to spare them from the gallows. Mukesh, Sharma, Akshay Kumar Singh, 31, and Pawan Gupta, 25, are scheduled to be hanged at 7 a.m. on January 22 in Tihar jail. A Delhi court issued their death warrants on January 7.
• Curative Plea - Curative is a rare remedy devised by a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in its judgment in the Rupa Ashok Hurra case in 2002. A party can take only two limited grounds in a curative petition — one, he was not heard by the court before the adverse judgment was passed, and two, the judge was biased. A curative plea, which follows the dismissal of review petition, is the last legal avenue open for convicts in the Supreme Court. 
• Other pleas - The Bench also rejected their pleas to stay the execution of their death sentence and for oral hearing in open court.
• Mercy plea - Shortly after the Supreme Court ruling, Mukesh filed a mercy plea before the President.

1.2 Kerala govt. challenges CAA in Supreme Court

• Context - Kerala became the first State to join citizens across the country to challenge in the Supreme Court the constitutionality of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, which fast-tracks grant of citizenship on the basis of religion.
• Details - The State has approached the Supreme Court nearly 15 days after the Assembly unanimously requested the Centre to abrogate the law on December 31, 2019. And it comes just three days after the CAA came into effect on January 10. The suit represented by senior advocate Jaideep Gupta and G. Prakash.
• Original jurisdiction  - The original suit has been filed under Article 131 of the Constitution. The SC has original jurisdiction in disputes between States or the Centre and State(s). The Article allows it to directly take cognisance of such a dispute. Kerala said in its suit that it would be compelled under Article 256 to comply with the CAA, which was “manifestly arbitrary, unreasonable, irrational and violative of fundamental rights”. 
• Article 256 - The Constitution of India, under Article 256 mentions the obligations of the Union and the State. Article 256, states that ‘Every State shall utilize its executive powers in conformity with the laws made by the Parliament and with all the pre-existing laws prevailing in the State, and it further mentions that, the Union may exercise its executive power to give directions to the State as and when the Government of India deems fit for any purpose'.
• Background - However, there have been two conflicting judgments from the SC by coordinate Benches on whether a State can file an original suit under Article 131 to challenge the constitutionality of a central law. The first judgment reported in 2012 — State of Madhya Pradesh vs Union of India — held that States cannot challenge a Central law under Article 131. The second judgment — State of Jharkhand vs State of Bihar — took the opposite view in 2015 and referred the question of law to a larger Bench of the Supreme Court for final determination.

 

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• 2. ECONOMY (Prelims, GS Paper 3, Essay paper)

2.1 Jio, UVARC emerge top bidders for RCom

• Context - Reliance Communications (RCom) has received bids of about Rs. 25,000 crore for its assets, with Reliance Jio placing bids of Rs. 4,700 crore for its mobile tower and fibre assets, while UV Asset Reconstruction Company (UVARC) has placed bids of around Rs. 16,000 crore for spectrum, real estate assets as well as the enterprise and data centre businesses.
• Details - RCom’s mobile tower and fibre assets are housed under its subsidiary Reliance Infratel Ltd. (RITL), while spectrum, real estate assets as well as the enterprise and data centre businesses are held in RCom and Reliance Telecom Ltd. (RTL). The lenders will start recovering the monetisation proceeds from March 2020. The CoC members will obtain their respective board approvals so that they can put a final vote on the resolution plans on January 31, ahead of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) filing on February 3.
• Highest - ever recovery of dues by financial creditors in the telecom sector  - With this, 38 lenders of RCom are expected to recover ₹25,000 crore of the total outstanding dues of ₹49,000 crore, making it the highest-ever recovery of dues by financial creditors in the telecom sector, that has seen the exit or shutdown of nine out of 12 telecom companies since 2012. The company’s secured debt is estimated to be around ₹33,000 crore. Lenders have submitted claims of around Rs. 49,000 crore in August, 2019.
• Background - RCom chairman Anil Ambani had tendered his resignation after the company posted a consolidated loss of Rs. 30,142 crore for the July-September quarter due to provisioning for liabilities after the Supreme Court ruling on statutory dues. This was the second-highest loss posted by any Indian corporate till date. However, the CoC rejected Mr. Ambani’s resignation and asked him to cooperate in the insolvency proceedings.
• Conclusion - RCom shares on the BSE declined 2.41% to close at Rs. 0.81 in a firm Mumbai market, valuing the company at Rs. 224 crore.

2.2  Appointments -Michael Debabrata Patra appointed as Deputy Governor of RBI for a period of three years.

2.3 Inauguration - Housing For All.com, e-commerce platform of National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) for marketing of completed residential units, launched.

2.4 Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) gave listed companies another two years to separate the positions of chairman and managing director.

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• 3. ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY (Prelims, GS Paper 3, Essay paper)

3.1 Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules eased for ‘Blue Flag’ beaches

• Context - The Environment Ministry has relaxed CRZ rules that restrict construction near beaches to help States construct infrastructure and enable them to receive ‘Blue Flag’ certification.
• Background - Last year, the Ministry selected 13 beaches in India to vie for the certificate. This is an international recognition conferred on beaches that meet certain criteria of cleanliness and environmental propriety. 
• Details - The earmarked beaches are — Ghoghala beach (Diu), Shivrajpur beach (Gujarat), Bhogave beach (Maharashtra), Padubidri and Kasarkod beaches (Karnataka), Kappad beach (Kerala), Kovalam beach (Tamil Nadu), Eden beach (Puducherry), Rushikonda beach (Andhra Pradesh), Miramar beach (Goa), Golden beach (Odisha), Radhanagar beach (Andaman & Nicobar Islands) and Bangaram beach (Lakshadweep).
• Blue Flag certification - The Blue Flag certification requires beaches to create certain infrastructure — portable toilet blocks, grey water treatment plants, a solar power plant, seating facilities, CCTV surveillance and the like. However, India’s CRZ laws don’t allow the construction of such infrastructure on beaches and islands. The certification is accorded by the Denmark-based Foundation for Environment Education, with 33 stringent criteria under four major heads for the beaches, that is, (i) Environmental Education and Information (ii) Bathing Water Quality (iii) Environment Management and Conservation and (iv) Safety and Services. The Blue Flag Programme started in France in 1985 and has been implemented in Europe since 1987, and in areas outside Europe since 2001, when South Africa joined.
• Gazette notification - Via an order on January 9, the Environment Ministry eased these restrictions for the “purposes of Blue Flag certification”. “...Central Government hereby declares that for the purpose of Blue Flag Certification in such identified beaches, the following activities and facilities shall be permitted in the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ), including Islands, subject to maintaining a minimum distance of 10 meters from HTL (High Tide Line),” the gazette notification notes.
• Eco-tourism - The ‘Blue Flag’ beach is an ‘eco-tourism model’ and marks out beaches as providing tourists and beachgoers clean and hygienic bathing water, facilities/amenities, a safe and healthy environment, and sustainable development of the area.

3.2 2019 was hottest year for world’s oceans: Study

1.  Last year was the warmest year on record for the world’s oceans, part of a long-term warming trend, according to a study - Kevin E Trenberth of National Center for Atmospheric Research and an author on the study 
2. 2018 is second, 2017 is third, 2015 is fourth, and then 2016 is fifth hottest year.
3. The study, published in ‘Advances in Atmospheric Sciences’, follows an announcement last week by European scientists that Earth’s surface temperatures in 2019 were the second-hottest on record.
4. Since the middle of last century, the oceans have absorbed roughly 93% of the excess heat caused by greenhouse gases from activities such as burning coal for electricity. That has shielded the land from some of the worst effects of rising emissions.
5. While 2016 was the fifth hottest year on record for the oceans, it was the hottest year on record in terms of surface temperatures. There was a significant El Niño that year, which moved the heat from the ocean into the atmosphere.
6. The past 10 years have been the warmest 10 on record for global ocean temperatures. 
7. The increase between 2018 and 2019 was the largest single-year increase since the early 2000s.
8. Increasing ocean temperatures have harmed marine life and contributed to mass coral reef bleaching, the loss of critical ecosystems, and threatened livelihoods like fishing as species have moved in search of cooler waters.
   

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• 4. FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Prelims, GS Paper 2, Essay paper)

4.1 India-US relations – After Modi’s call, Trump likely to visit Delhi in late February

• Context - US president Donald Trump is likely to visit Delhi in late Feb 2020.
• Details – The visit, which has not yet been announced, would bring Mr. Trump to India a year after he declined an invitation to be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations, and will go ahead at the end of February as long as dates don’t need to be changed to accommodate the impeachment process in the Senate. The decision to visit India, at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation, was discussed during a telephone call between the leaders on January 7. Mr. Trump is keen to visit early in the year, ahead of elections in November, and both sides are working towards a visit in the last week of February. 
• India’s Ambassador to Washington, who is now the Foreign Secretary-designate, Harsh Shringla met Mr. Trump before returning to Delhi, and will begin preparations for the visit. With just weeks to go to the proposed visit, New Delhi is understood to have intimated its choice of Mr. Shringla’s replacement and Washington is expected to expedite its agreement for his appointment.
• Why the visit is important of India?
  Trade deal - Among the agreements the leaders hope to wrap up is a trade deal that has been pending since November 2018, when talks went into a standstill.
• Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) - In June 2019, the U.S. cancelled India’s preferential export ‘GSP’ status, and the government hopes Mr. Trump will announce a revocation of that decision during the visit.
• Investments - India is also expected to announce further investments in the U.S., and a substantial increase in American oil imports. In particular, a major deal on civil aviation is being discussed.

4.2 US-EU-Iran relations – Iran nuclear deal: EU launches dispute mechanism

• Context - Britain, France and Germany ratcheted up pressure on Iran to cease its violations of a landmark nuclear deal, stressing that they want to resolve differences through talks while starting the clock on a process that could result in a so-called snapback of United Nations sanctions.
• Details - The three countries, which signed the international agreement in 2015 along with the U.S., Russia and China, said in a letter to the European Union’s foreign policy chief that they had no choice but to trigger the deal’s dispute mechanism, given Iran’s ongoing transgressions. The three said they rejected Tehran’s argument that Iran was justified in violating the deal because the U.S. broke the agreement by pulling out unilaterally in 2018. The Europeans stressed that they want to resolve the impasse through constructive diplomatic dialogue and made no threat of sanctions in their statement. They also specifically distanced themselves from sanctions imposed by the U.S., which Washington has said is part of a maximum pressure campaign against Tehran. 
• Background - The 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, seeks to prevent Iran from producing a nuclear weapon — something Iran insists it does not want to do — by putting curbs on its atomic programme in exchange for economic incentives. Under its dispute resolution mechanism, countries have 30 days to resolve their problem, though that can be extended. If it cannot be solved, the matter could be brought before the UN Security Council and could then result in the snapback of sanctions that had been lifted under the deal.
• Threat to face consequences - Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Ministry warned the European countries about the consequences if the Europeans seek to abuse (this process).

4.3 US-China relations – United States removed ‘currency manipulator’ label it imposed on China in 2019.

4.4 Asia – China-Pakistan relations –China-Pakistan bilateral naval exercise, code-named Sea Guardians-2020, conducted in the northern Arabian Sea from January 6 to 14, 2020.

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• 5. GOVERNMENT SCHEMES (Prelims, GS Paper 2, GS Paper 3)

5.1 Draft National Policy for Rare Diseases released

• Context - Calling it just another piece of paper that is far from reality, groups working in the area of rare diseases in India have said that the National Policy for Rare Diseases-2020, released recently by the Union Health Ministry, is nothing more than an illusion. It offers no clarity on long-term financial assistance.
• National Policy for Rare Diseases-2020 
• Financial Support –  The government, in its policy paper, has proposed financial support of up to Rs. 15 lakh under an umbrella scheme of the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi for rare diseases that require one-time treatment. Beneficiaries for such financial assistance would not be limited to Below the Poverty Line (BPL) families, but extended to 40% of the population eligible as per the norms of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, for their treatment in government tertiary hospitals only.
• Alternate Funding -  It has also proposed that the Government will endeavour to create alternate funding mechanism through setting up a digital platform for voluntary individual and corporate donors to contribute to the treatment cost of patients of rare diseases.
• Prevention and Control  - For prevention and control, the Ministry has noted that it will work at encouraging people to seek pre-marital genetic counselling, identification of high risk couples, and create awareness about early detection rare diseases.
• Background - The 2017 policy on rare diseases had proposed a Rs. 100 crore corpus fund allocation for the treatment of patients with rare diseases, which was a Centre-State partnership of 60:40, with each State forming a technical committee to evaluate patients’ applications. That has come down to Rs. 15 lakh support for diseases needing one-time treatment.

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• 6. MISCELLANEOUS (Prelims, Various GS Papers)

6.1 Eight wonders of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

1. India's Statue of Unity of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel has been included in the list of eight wonders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
2. SCO comprises India, China, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
3. The 182-metre-tall Statue of Unity is located near the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the river Narmada in Kevadiya, Gujarat.
4. Other seven wonders of SCO: Daming Palace in China, Navruz Palace in Tajikistan, Mughals Heritage in Pakistan, Tamgaly Gorge in Kazakhstan, Po-i-Kalan Complex in Uzbekistan, The Golden Ring of Russia and Lahore, the Mughals heritage in Pakistan.

6.2 Event -Armed Forces Veterans Day

• Edition – 4th
• Time – January 14, 2020
  Details – 

1. This day is celebrated to mark the retirement day of Field Marshal KM Cariappa in 1953.
2.  Field Marshal KM Cariappa was the first Indian Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Armed Forces.

6.3 Sports –  Tournaments and Competitions - Barcelona FC topped Deloitte Football Money League with earnings of 840.8 million euros in 2018-19.

6.4 Appointments – Shiv Nadar University’s Dr Mihir Shah appointed Chairman of the Committee to draft National Water Policy (NWP)

6.5 Firsts – Captain Tania Shergil to be first woman Parade Adjutant (person responsible for executing the parade) on Army Day Parade on January 15.

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• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1  Appointment - Lt General Girish Kumar reappointed as the Surveyor General of India for one year.

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• 8. SOCIAL ISSUES (Prelims, GS Paper 1, GS Paper )

8.1 Madhupur, Jharkhand) - Anand Vihar, DelhiHumsafar Express started.

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• 9. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (Prelims, GS Paper 3)

9.1    US scientists create world’s first ‘living robots’ with frog embryo

• US researchers have built the first ever “living robot”, or xenobot, by engineering bits of frog embryo to behave like “living, programmable organisms,” an advance that may lead to computer -designed “life forms” capable of delivering drugs into the human body, clean up radioactive waste, collect microplastics in the oceans or even scrape out plaque from human arteries.
• These millimetre-wide bots were built by stitching together two cell types in specific ways so that they could move towards a target on their own and carry out tasks, the study, published in the journal PNAS, noted.
• Living Robots – 

1. Critics say scientists getting uncomfortably close to ‘playing god’.
2. The bots were also engineered to pick up a payload — such as a medicine that needs to be carried to a specific place inside a patient — and could heal themselves after being cut.
3. For creating the xenobots, the scientists developed a complex algorithm that could self-learn and evolve to create thousands of candidate designs for the new lifeforms.
4. The algorithm reassembled a few hundred simulated cells into myriad forms and body shapes, over and over, in an attempt to achieve a task assigned by the scientists — such as locomotion in one direction.

• Name of the robots - The bots were named after the species of African frogs, Xenopus laevis, whose embryonic cells, or stem cells the research team gathered for the project.
• How they created it? - The scientists separated these into single cells and left them to incubate. These cells were then individually cut using tiny forceps, and an even tinier electrode, and joined under a microscope. The joined cells came together into body forms never seen in nature.
• Uses - The bots may lead to novel machines in a wide range of fields like detecting toxic contamination in the environment, gathering microplastic in the oceans and also scrapping out blocks in blood vessels. Unlike traditional robots, the researchers said xenobots are fully biodegradable and could theoretically accomplish these feats without polluting the planet.
• Ethics - This harnessing of living cells has raised several ethical questions. Some experts warned about the potential danger from these bots if they go out of control. Others pointed out that the scientists were getting uncomfortably close to playing god.

Facts, Charts and Rankings (Prelims)

10.1 Ranking – 14th Annual Status of Education Report (ASER)

• More girls than boys getting enrolled in government schools in 4-8 years age-group.

10.2 Daily dose of FIVE Facts - 

1. Sudhir Mishra is the CEO and MD of  BrahMos Aerospace.
2. December 16 was celebrated as ‘Vijay Diwas’ to mark the victory in Indo-Pakistan War of 1971.
3. The National Road and Transportation Institute is based at Vadodara, Gujarat.
4. Republication Party holds the majority in Senate of US Parliament.
5. Charles Michel is the President of the European Council. 

10.3 Chart of the day – Chart of the day –Nominations for Oscar Awards 2020

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• SECTION 3 - MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions)

Solve the online quiz given, right now. Check scores, and relative performance!

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