Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 17-01-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 17-01-2020

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. India to invite Imran Khan for Shanghai Council meet – Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will be invited to participate in the Heads of Government Council meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) that will be hosted in India this year, the Ministry of External Affairs said. The invite move came hours after the UN Security Council discussed the situation in Kashmir.
2. Children being radicalised in Kashmir: Gen. Rawat – Children as young as 10-12 years are being radicalised in Kashmir and there is need to isolate those completely radicalised and put them in “deradicalisation camps”, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen. BipinRawat said. He also said that security forces cannot be blamed for injuries caused by pellet guns. Speaking on a panel on countering terrorism at the ongoingRaisina Dialogue organised by the Ministry of External Affairs and Observer Research Foundation, he said radicalisation could be countered by looking at where it was happening and who were behind it. The statement created a flutter in social circles, as it was completely unexpected!
3. 34,000 Bru refugees to be settled in Tripura – Union Home Minister Amit Shah presided over the signing of a quadripartite pact of the MHA with the State governments of Tripura, Mizoram and leaders of Bru community to permanently settle around 34,000 internally displaced Bru people in Tripura. Reangs or Brus are the second largest ethnic group in Mizoram. Their exodus in 1997 was spurred by violent clashes in Mamith subdivision, a Reang-dominated area, when they demanded creation of an autonomous council that was vehemently opposed by Mizo groups.
4. No SC relief, telcos have to pay Rs. 1.47 lakh cr.– Athree-judge Bench of the Supreme Court led by Justice Arun Mishra, dismissed petitions filed by telecom companies, including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, for a review of its October 2019 judgment upholding the recovery of past dues amounting to Rs.1.47 lakh crore from them. The recovery by the government was based on adjusted gross revenue of about Rs.92,000 crore. The Bench, also comprising Justices Abdul S. Nazeer and M. R. Shah, rejected the review petitions in their chambers, finding no merit in them. It also rejected a plea for an open court hearing.
5. ‘Invasive tests required to check structural safety of Central Vista’– Structural engineers consulted for the Centre’s redevelopment of Central Vista have said invasive tests would need to be done to find out whether Parliament House and North and South Blocks are structurally sound or not. As a part of the revamp project, a new Parliament building would be constructed, while offices of various ministries would be moved out of North and South Block, which would be turned into museums, according to the plan drafted by Gujarat-based HCP Design, Planning and Management. The firm was selected by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) for drafting the masterplan for the 3-km-long Rajpath in October last year..
6. Senate opens Trump’s impeachment trial –The charges against U.S. President Donald Trump, who was impeached on December 18th by the House of Representatives on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, were read out on the U.S. Senate floor as the historic impeachment trial of the U.S. President got underway. Donald Trump has consistently criticised the whole process as a witch-hunt!
7. Russian lawmakers approve Putin nominee Mishustin as PM – Russia’s lawmakers approved Mikhail Mishustin as Prime Minister in a lower house vote, less than 24 hours after President Vladimir Putin nominated him for the role. His elevation is part of a sweeping shake-up of the political system announced by Putin on Wednesday, which led to the resignation of Dmitry Medvedev as Prime Minister along with his government.
8. ‘Taliban proposes brief Afghanistan ceasefire’– The Taliban have offered a brief ceasefire to the U.S., a move which could allow for the resumption of talks seeking a deal for Washington to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. Washington has for weeks been calling on the militants to reduce violence, posing it as a condition for resuming formal negotiations on an agreement that would see U.S. troops begin to leave the country in return for security guarantees, after a near two-decade fight.
9. China, U.S. sign initial trade agreement – China will boost purchases of U.S. goods and services by $200 billion over two years in exchange for the rolling back of some tariffs under an initial trade deal signed by the world’s two largest economies, defusing an 18-month row that has hit global growth. Key world stock market indexes climbed to record highs after the deal was signed in Washington, but later stalled on concerns over unresolved thorny issues.
10. Musharraf challenges special court’s ruling in SC – Pakistan’s self-exiled former dictator Pervez Musharraf challenged in the Supreme Court a special tribunal’s verdict that found him guilty of high treason and handed him a death sentence. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had filed the treason case against the former Army chief in 2013 over the imposition of an extra-constitutional emergency in November 2007, which led to the confinement of a number of superior court judges in their houses and sacking of over 100 judges.
    

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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 Court seeks status report on execution

• Context - Two of the death row convicts in the Nirbhaya case submitted mercy petition before the President of India.After the dismissal of their curative pleas by the SC, this is the last remedy available to them to avoid the gallows.
• Details - A day after the Delhi government said none of the four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case could be hanged on the scheduled date of January 22 as one of them has moved a mercy plea, a Delhi court directed Tihar jail authorities to submit a report about the status of scheduled execution.
• Article 72 of the Indian Constitution deals with the powers of President to grant pardons, to suspend, remit or commute sentences in certain cases. Under this article, President alone has the sole authority to grant mercy petition in criminal cases on the aid and advice of the council of ministers.
• Article 161 of the Indian Constitution grants power to the governor to grant pardons, to suspend or remit or commute sentences of any person convicted of any offence against any law relating to matter to which the executive power of the state extends.
• In Manu Ram vs Union of India and Dhanavs State of West Bengal the SC said that in the above mentioned articles the advice of the appropriate government binds the President or governor.
• In Kehar Singh and Anr. vs Union of India the SC said this power lies in the highest dignitary of the state.
• Delay in disposal of mercy petition – In ShatrughanChauhan and Anr. vs Union of India the SC held that the condemned prisoners death can be commuted to life imprisonment if there is inordinate delay in deciding the mercy plea.
• Procedure of mercy petition –  

1. After receiving a mercy plea the Ministry of Home Affairs place it along with records and files before the President of India.
2. Rejection of mercy petition must be communicated to the prisoner and his family in writing.
3. Death row convicts are entitled to a copy of the rejection of mercy plea.
4. Minimum 14 days interval should be there between the receipt of communication of rejection and the date of execution.
5. The Superintendent of Jail has the obligation to ensure the family members of the prisoner receives the communication of rejection on time.

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

2.1 Telecommunication companies have to pay Rs.1.47 lakh crore – Supreme Court

• Context - A three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court led by Justice Arun Mishra, dismissed petitions filed by telecom companies, including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, for a review of its October 2019 judgment upholding the recovery of past dues amounting to Rs.1.47 lakh crore from them.The recovery by the government was based on adjusted gross revenue of about Rs.92,000 crore.
• Details - The Bench, also comprising Justices Abdul S. Nazeer and M.R. Shah, rejected the review petitions in their chambers, finding no merit in them. It also rejected a plea for an open court hearing.  
• Background - On October 24 last year, the Supreme Court dealt a huge blow to telecom service providers when it upheld the Department of Telecom’s move to recover adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of about Rs.92,000 crore from them.The Bench had said the telecom sector had long reaped the fruits of the Centre’s liberalised mode of payment by revenue sharing regime. 
• The service providers, in turn, had failed to fulfil their obligations to the government and instead raised frivolous objections.

2.2  Reliance Jio is largest mobile service company with 36.9 crore mobile subscribers: TRAI.

2.3 The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has notified the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Voluntary Liquidation Process) (Amendment) Regulations – Liquidator will have to deposit unclaimed dividends and undistributed proceeds in Corporate Voluntary Liquidation Account (CVLA) before seeking dissolution of a corporate debtor.

2.4 The Government of India, the Government of Assam and the World Bank signed a loan agreement of $88 million here today to help modernize Assam’s passenger ferry sector that runs on its rivers including the mighty Brahmaputra.

2.5 Ladakh Food Processing Summit “Building Partnerships for Inclusive Growth in Food Processing Sector” was organised by the Department of Industries & Commerce, Ladakh in Leh. The primary objective of this summit was to carry out a value chain mapping of food processing in Ladakh and to recommend strategies for integrating local population into food processing and agriculture activities. The summit was attended by around 170 participants.

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

3.1 Arunachal Pradesh became the first state to sign MoU with International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)to start red-listing of orchids.

3.2 'Saksham', an annual one-month long fuel conservation mega campaign of Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, was launched by Dr. M.M Kutty, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum& Natural Gas in a function held in Delhi.

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

4.1 USA – Senate opens Trump’s impeachment trial

• Context - The charges against US President Donald Trump, who was impeached on December 18th by the House of Representatives on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, were read out on the US Senate floor as the historic impeachment trial of the U.S. President got underway.
• Details - The events on Capitol Hill unfolded as the House released a second set of documents related to Lev Parnas, an indicted associate of the President’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. The documents and interviews Mr.Parnas had this week with U.S. media outlets appear to further bolster the case against Mr.Trump — specifically that the President used his office to advance his own interests by trying to get the Ukrainian administration to publicly announce an investigation into his political rival, Democrat frontrunner for the White House and former Vice-President Joseph R Biden, and his son, Hunter.
• What next? Mr. Trump will now need to be found guilty of the impeachment charges by at least 67 of 100 Senators, or a two-thirds majority, to be removed from office. With 53 Republican Senators, this is an unlikely scenario.
• New witnesses - Once the House managers — seven lawmakers named by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to serve as prosecutors in the trial — and White House counsel have been heard by the Senate, it will likely vote on whether to invite new witnesses.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Democrats have been at loggerheads for weeks on the rules governing the Senate trial, specifically the possibility of new witnesses being called in to take stand and new documents being submitted as evidence. McConnell has said the trial will be conducted along the lines of the 1999 impeachment trial of Bill Clinton, where the trial proceeded without prior agreement on whether or not to bring in new witnesses.
• Drug deal - Democrats would be keen to see the likes of former NSA John Bolton testify. Mr Bolton had used the phrase “drug deal” to describe a part of the alleged pressure campaign on Ukraine by Mr. Trump’s administration.Republicans, in turn, would want to question Hunter Biden on his dealings with Burisma, a Ukrainian company, on whose Board the younger Biden had served.
• Conclusion - Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts is expected to be the presiding officer of the trial. He will swear-in Senators, who will act as jurors in the President’s trial, arguments for which are likely to begin after the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.The Senate is expected to summon the President — who will probably not appear in person but submit written responses, and will be represented by his legal team, a process that will likely play out next week.

4.2 China – China's birth rate has fallen to its lowest since the formation of the People's Republic of China 70 years ago - despite the easing of the "one-child policy". The birth rate was 10.48 per thousand in 2019 - the lowest since 1949. The number of babies born in 2019 dropped by 580,000 to 14.65 million.

4.3 Middle East – Qatar scraped mandatory exit permits for migrant domestic staff and others.

4.4 Europe – Germany announces compensation to power companies for shutdown of their coal-fired power plants by 2038.

4.5 USA – Sikhs included as a separate Ethnic Group for the first time in US census.

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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 -

1. Coast Guards of India and Japan conduct 'Sahyog-Kaijin' exercise off the Chennai coast.
2. Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh flagged off 51st K9 VAJRA-T Gun from Larsen and Toubro (L&T) Armoured System Complex at Hazira in Gujarat.
3. Tharu community observed Maghi Festival in Kathmandu. Tharu people, form the fourth largest community in the Himalayan nation. The festival is celebrated over a week.
4. International conclave on “Global Indian Thought” held at IIM Kozhikode. PM unveiled a life size statue of Swami Vivekananda.

6.2 Awards and Honours -

1. Singer Suman Kalyanpur and music director Kuldeep Singh won National Lata Mangeshkar Awards (provided by MP government) for 2017 and 2018, respectively.
2. Eminent Sindhi writer Vasdev Mohi will be conferred with 29th Saraswati Samman. He has been selected for this prestigious literary award for his short stories collection- Chequebook. This short stories  collection talks about the agonies and sufferings of marginalized sections of the society. Saraswati Samman carries a cash award of 15 lakh rupees, a citation and a plaque. Mr Mohi has authored 25 books of poetry, stories and translations. He has also received Sahitya Akademi Award.

6.3 Sports –Awards and Honours –ICC Awards 2020–

1. Stamp on Chuni Goswami, captain of India’s last Asian Games gold winner football team (1962), issued
2. Mohun Bagan merged with RP – Sanjiv Goenka Group’s ATK FC, to be known as ATK-Mohun Bagan
3. Kerala government awards GV Raja awards to Muhammad Anas (athletics) and PC Thulasi (badminton) in male and female categories respectively.
4. Former WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) wrestler Rocky Johnson passed away at the age of 75 in US.

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• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1  No news in this section today

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

8.1 34,000 Bru refugees to be settled in Tripura

• Context - Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah presided over the signing of an agreement between Government of India, Governments of Tripura and Mizoram and Bru-Reang representatives in New Delhi, to end the 23-year old Bru-Reang refugee crisis.
• Details – 

1. Under the new agreement, around 34,000 Bru refugees will be settled in Tripura and would be given aid from the Centre to help with their rehabilitation and all round development, through a package of around Rs. 600 crores.
2. These people would get all the rights that normal residents of the States get and they would now be able to enjoy the benefits of social welfare schemes of Centre and State governments.
3. The settlement has been reached after detailed discussions held by Union government with the State governments of Mizoram and Tripura and the representatives of Bru tribes.
4. Under the new arrangement, each of the displaced families would be given 40x30 sq.ft. residential plots, in addition to the aid under earlier agreement of a fixed deposit of Rs. 4 lakhs, Rs. 5,000 cash aid per month for 2 years, free ration for 2 years and Rs. 1.5 lakhs aid to build their house.
5. The government of Tripura would provide the land under this agreement.

•  Background –

1. In 1997, following ethnic tension, around 5,000 families comprising around 30,000 Bru-Reangtribals were forced to flee Mizoram and seek shelter in Tripura.
2. These people were housed in temporary camps at Kanchanpur, in North Tripura.
3. Since 2010, Government of India made sustained efforts to permanently rehabilitate these refugees.
4. The Union government has been assisting the two State governments for taking the care of the refugees. Till 2014, 1622 Bru-Reang families returned to Mizoram in different batches.
5. On 3rd July, 2018, an agreement was signed between the Union government, the two State governments and representatives of Bru-Reang refugees, as a result of which the aid given to these families was increased substantially.
6. Subsequently, 328 families comprising of 1369 individuals returned to Mizoram under the agreement.
7. There had been a sustained demand of most Bru-Reang families that they may be allowed to settle down in Tripura, considering their apprehensions about their security
   

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

9.1 India successfully launched high power communication satellite GSAT-30 onboard Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana. The 3,357-kg GSAT-30 derives its heritage from ISRO's earlier INSAT/GSAT satellite series, and is equipped with 12 C and 12 Ku band transponders. GSAT-30 will serve as replacement to the aging INSAT-4A spacecraft services with enhanced coverage.

10. Facts, Charts and Rankings (Prelims)

10.1 Ranking – United Nations World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2020 report

• Global economy grew 2.3% in 2019.
• GDP growth estimate for India is 5.7% in the current fiscal and 6.6% in the next fiscal.

• Download pdf of the report from here –

https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/wp-content/uploads/sites/45/WESP2019_BOOK-web.pdf

10.2 Daily dose of FIVE Facts -

1. India conducted night trial of Agni II missile on November 16, 2019. The missile was launched from A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Island.
2. The National Legal Services Day was celebrated on November 9, 2019.
3. UNFCCis United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
4. BHIM stands for: Bharat Interface for Money
5. Gotabaya Rajapaksa won Presidential election in Sri Lanka in November 2019.

10.3 Chart of the day – Sensex surges past 42000 mark

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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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