Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 16-01-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 16-01-2020

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Unnao rape case: Kuldeep Sengar moves Delhi High Court challenging conviction, life term – Expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar moved the Delhi High Court challenging his conviction and life term for raping a minor girl in Unnao in 2017. Sengar challenged the December 20 verdict of a trial court here which had sentenced him to life imprisonment and had imposed an exemplary fine of ₹25 lakh in the case.The court had convicted Sengar for rape under the Indian Penal Code and the POCSO Act for offence by a public servant committing penetrative sexual assault against a child after holding the victim to be a minor.
2. West Bengal, Kerala governments want NPR data collection halted – State governments of West Bengal and Kerala have communicated to the Registrar General of India (RGI) that the collection of data for updating the National Population Register (NPR) should be halted citing maintenance of "public order". The two States wrote to the district census commissioner, who forwarded the request to the RGI. The Chief Ministers of both the States have been vociferous in opposing the NPR exercise, which according to Citizenship Rules 2003 is the first step towards the compilation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The government has clarified that there was no proposal to compile NRC as of now.
3. U.S., China tiptoe around holes in new trade agreement – The United States and China signed an initial trade deal on January 15 that will roll back some tariffs and boost Chinese purchases of U.S. products, defusing an 18-month row between the world's two largest economies but leaving a number of sore spots unresolved. Beijing and Washington touted the “Phase 1” agreement as a step forward after months of start-stop talks, and investors greeted the news with relief. But there also was scepticism the U.S.-Sino trade relationship was now firmly on the mend.
4. Congress accuses Modi government of ‘favouring’ Adani group in ₹45,000 crore submarine project –  The Congress accused the Modi-led government of "favouring" the Adani group in the ₹45,000 crore 75-I Submarine project, alleging that it was promoting its "crony capitalists". The principal Opposition party alleged that the government was promoting 'crony capitalists' by violating laid down rules and regulations. “Crony Capitalism” is a term used to denote favouritism towards a few select groups by the government.
5. U.S. House votes to send Trump impeachment to Senate for trial – The U.S. House voted on January 15 to send two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate and approve House prosecutors for only the third impeachment trial in American history. The nearly party-line vote moved Mr. Trump’s impeachment from Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Democratic-run House to the Republican-majority Senate, where Mr. Trump expects acquittal, even as new evidence is raising fresh questions about his Ukraine dealings.The vote was 228-193, coming at the start of a presidential election year and one month after the House impeached Mr. Trump.
6. Lebanon protests turn violent for second night – Protests in Lebanon turned violent for a second night on January 15, with dozens injured after Lebanese security forces used batons and tear gas to forcefully break up demonstrations. Lebanon has been swept by a wave of mostly peaceful protests aimed at the country's elite that prompted Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri to resign on Oct. 29, pushing the country deeper into economic crisis.
7. Russian prime minister and government resign after Vladimir Putin speech – Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that his government was resigning to give President Vladimir Putin room to carry out the changes he wants to make to the constitution. The unexpected announcement, which came shortly after Mr. Putin proposed a nationwide vote on sweeping changes that would shift power from the presidency to parliament, means Russia will also get a new prime minister.
8. Hawkish about inflation, but not dogmatic – The markets were taken by surprise when Michael Debabrata Patra, the executive director of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) voted in favour of an interest rate cut in the monetary policy review in February 2019. Mr Patra, who has been a member of the six-member monetary policy committee (which sets interest rates) since its inception, was seen as an inflation hawk by central bank watchers. Hence, his stance in the February 2019 policy came as a surprise to many. It would be interesting to watch his step in Feb 2020 review, given the high CPI-inflation numbers for now.
9. Govt to send 36 ministers to J&K in massive outreach – A massive confidence building exercise is being launched by the government in Jammu and Kashmir post nullification of Article 370 as a large number of Union ministers have been tasked with reaching out to people of the newly-formed Union Territory and tell them how the recent legislation will be beneficial for the region. Starting January 18, as many as 36 Union ministers will go to 52 places in J&K. Ministers will reach out to people across the UT up to the panchayat level and share with them how the Centre has planned to expedite development in the region, which was being affected due to some provisions of Article 370.
10. Air India unable to move engine due to ₹100cr GST dues – The last mile is always the hardest and the situation is no different for Air India as it awaits the outcome of the government’s second move to sell it off. The airline, which is yet to pay December salary, has almost completely run out of funds and is now struggling to keep flying in the absence of equity infusion this fiscal. One of AI’s Airbus has been grounded in Vadodara for almost a week as it requires an engine replacement. The Maharaja has a spare engine for this aircraft in Delhi but is unable to send it as it can’t raise the e-way bill because of GST dues.

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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 No news in this section today.

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

2.1 Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced USD 1 billion investments in India

• Context - Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of e-commerce firm Amazon, said that it will invest incremental $1 billion (over Rs 7,000 crore) towards digitizing the Indian small and medium businesses. The company aims to digitize ten million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with this investment, helping Indian businesses grow by selling online worldwide.
• Background - Before this, the online retail giant had committed USD 5.5 billion investments in India - Amazon's most important market outside of the US and a key growth driver.
• Details - Bezos was in New Delhi for the Amazon Smbhav event and on the three day tour of India. Amazon India will use its global footprints to export $10 billion worth of Make in India products by 2025. Bezos is in India this week and is scheduled to meet top government functionaries, business leaders and Small and Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs).
• Amazon and rival Flipkart have been pumping in millions of dollars across various operations like marketplace, infrastructure and supply chain management as well as marketing and promotion as they look to strengthen their position in the fledgling Indian e-commerce market.
• Trader Protests - Thousands of small-scale traders' union under Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) are planning to hold protests around the country during Bezos' stay in India.
• Violation of Laws -Also, India's anti-trust body Competition Commission of India (CCI) ordered an investigation into alleged violations of competition laws by Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart.
• Unfair business practices - The organization of small traders has been very actively protesting against Flipkart and Amazon and CAIT accusing both the e-commerce giants of “unfair business practices” and violation of India’s FDI rules. 

2.2  Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked banks and other card-issuing companies to provide facility to customers to switch on and off their debit or credit cards.

2.3 National Health Authority signed MoU with ITC e-Choupal to help farmers avail benefits of Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme.

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

3.1 Three new species of tiny frogs discovered in Arunachal Pradesh

• Context - Three new species of tiny frogs have been discovered in Arunachal Pradesh’s Lower Subansiri district by scientists of Zoological Survey of India.
• Details - 

1. The frogs are so small in size that one can sit on a coin.
2. The new species discovered from Talle Valley Wildlife Sanctuary (WLS) have been named as ‘Liurana himalayana’, ‘Liurana indica’ and ‘Liurana minuta’.
3. The specimens of the new frog species were collected by Bikramjit Sinha, scientist of ZSI in Itanagar during 2015-16 as part of the documentation of faunal diversity in the protected area.
4. A study, co-authored by Bhaskar Saikia (another scientist of ZSI) and Sinha, has been published in a science journal, the Records of the Zoological Survey of India.
5. Earlier, Saikia and Sinha had also found a rare frog species, Megophrys pachyproctus, from Tale Valley Wildlife Sanctuary. 

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

4.1 Russia – Russian prime minister and government resign

• Context - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that his government was resigning to give President Vladimir Putin room to carry out the changes he wants to make to the constitution.
• Details – The unexpected announcement, which came shortly after Mr. Putin proposed a nationwide vote on sweeping changes that,would shift power from the presidency to parliament, means Russia will also get a new prime minister. Mr. Medvedev made the announcement on State TV sitting next to Mr. Putin who thanked Mr. Medvedev, a close ally, for his work.
• Probable candidates - Possible candidates include Sergei Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow, Maxim Oreshkin, the economy minister, or Alexander Novak, the energy minister.
• New position - Mr. Medvedev would take on a new job as deputy head of Russia's Security Council, which Mr. Putin chairs. It is clear that President Putin wishes to recast the Constitution to enable him to stay on much longer beyond 2024, when his 6-year term ends. 

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

5.1 No news in this category today

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• 6. MISCELLANEOUS (Prelims, Various GS Papers)

6.1 Events -

• Operation SANKALP of Indian Navy

1. ‘Operation Sankalp’ was launched by Indian Navy in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman as a measure to assure the safety and security of the Indian vessels, following the recent maritime incidents in the region.
2. The operation has been launched in the wake of escalating tension in the Gulf of Oman, where two oil tankers were attacked recently. 
3. Indian Navy Ships Chennai and Sunayna have been deployed. Aerial surveillance by Indian Navy aircraft was also being undertaken.

• Army Day 2019

1. Army Day was celebrated on January 15 to commemorate the day on which Lt. Gen. K M Cariappa became the first Indian commander-in-chief of the Indian Army on January 15, 1949.
2. General Francis Butcher was the last British commander-in-chief of the Indian Army.

6.2 First and oldest female tractor driver of China Liang Jun, whose image features on Renminbi currency notes, passed away at the age of 91.

6.3 Jallikattu – the annual bull taming event, began in Madurai, Tamil Nadu on the occasion of Pongal.

6.4 Sports – Awards and Honours –ICC Awards 2020–

Captain of the Year 2019 (For ODI and Test Teams) - VIRAT KOHLI 

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• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1  Centre accepts Dhingra Committee Report on 1984 anti-Sikh riots

• Context - Central government told the Supreme Court that it has accepted Justice Dhingra committee report into the role of Delhi Police in 1984 anti-Sikh riots and that it will take action accordingly.
• Background –The apex court had in January 2018 constituted the SIT, headed by former Delhi High Court judge Justice S. N. Dhingra and comprising retired IPS officer Rajdeep Singh and serving IPS officer Abhishek Dular, to supervise further probe into the 186 riots cases, in which closure reports had been filed earlier.
• Allowed to file suggestions - A Bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde has allowed the petitioner S Gurlad Singh Kahlon, a member of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, to file suggestions on the report submitted by the Special Investigation Team (SIT). The petition has sought an inquiry into the role of 62 policemen named in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.
• Claims of Dhingra committee report –
  

1. Then SHO Kalyanpuri had assisted the rioters when they were attacking Sikhs.
2. Delhi government at the time and police did not file their reports on time, which led vital records of the cases to get lost. 

• 1984 Sikh riots - Large-scale riots targeting members of the Sikh community had broken out in the national capital in the aftermath of the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh security guards on the morning of October 31, 1984. The violence had claimed 2,733 lives in Delhi alone.
  

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

8.1 No news in this section today.

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

9.1    Seven billion year old grains found in Australia (in Murchison meterorite)

• Background –The Earth and the solar system were created approximately 450 crore (4.5 billion) years ago. But now, a meteorite that crashed into Australia in 1969 has revealed tiny dust grains that are 7 billion years old, a good 250 crore years older than even Earth’s age!
• These ‘presolar grains’ are of different ages, ranging from 4.6 b to 7 b years old. The pattern of age indicates burts of stellar formation in Milky Way galaxy, rather than a steady rate of star formation.
• The meteorite carrying this is called “Murchison” as it crashed into that town in Victoria state.
• These grains measure 2 to 30 micrometers, and are stardust. Such dust is produced when stars are formed, and is carried by stellar winds through the Universe. Age is calculated by scientists by calculating the fragments accumulated in grains (from carbon to helium, due to cosmic radiation bombardment).

10. Facts, Charts and Rankings (Prelims)

10.1 Ranking – The Global Risks Report 2020 by World Economic Forum

• FiveGlobal Risks – 

1. Extreme Weather Events
2. Human-made Environmental Disasters
3. Major Biodiversity Loss
4. Natural Disasters 
5. Failure of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation.

• Download pdf of the report from here –

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Global_Risk_Report_2020.pdf

10.2 Daily dose of FIVE Facts -

1. India emerged as the world’s Third largest publisher of science and engineering articles in 2018.
2. Amitabha Bagchi won the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2019 for ‘Half the Night is Gone’.
3. Virat Kohli has topped Forbes India’s 2019 Celebrity 100 list.
4. Nethanna Nestham scheme was launched for welfare of Weavers of Andhra Pradesh.
5. Gaddam Dharmendra is India’s present Ambassador to Iran.

10.3 Chart of the day – The Geography of farmers’ suicide

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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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