Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 18-01-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 18-01-2020

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Citizens can skip question on place of birth of parents in NPR form, says Centre – Officials of non-BJP-ruled States asked the Registrar General of India (RGI) to remove the column on “place of birth of mother and father” in the proposed National Population Register (NPR) to be updated simultaneously with the Census exercise in April-September. The RGI and the Home Ministry had convened a day-long conference to discuss the modalities to be adopted during the house-listing phase of Census 2021 and the NPR. A mobile app will be used in the Census for the first time. RGI and other Home Ministry officials told the State representatives that respondents could skip the questions in the NPR form if they wanted and answering them was not mandatory but ‘voluntary’.
2. Last NDFB faction in Assam calls truce–The last faction of the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) has called a truce. But two of its most-wanted top guns remain at large and within “sniffing distance”. The Central and Assam governments and the NDFB’s Saoraigwra faction, or NDFB-S, signed a tripartite agreement in New Delhi for the cessation of operations. The NDFB-S is the third and last faction of the outfit that was formed more than three decades ago for establishing a sovereign homeland for the Bodos — the largest plains tribe in the Northeast.
3. Pakistani Islamists get 55 years in jail for protests–A Pakistani court has sentenced 86 members of a radical Islamist party to 55-year prison terms each for taking part in violent rallies in 2018 over the acquittal of a Christian woman in a blasphemy case. The verdicts, unusually harsh for Pakistan by the court in Rawalpindi. The trial had lasted for over a year. The woman – Asia Bibi – was convicted under the draconian blasphemy law of Pakistan, but after a long struggle and global outrage, she was allowed to leave for Canada in 2019.
4. BJP releases first list of 57 candidates –The BJP released its first list of 57 candidates for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections on February 8. After a marathon meeting, the party’s Central Election Committee, which included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, named 57 candidates but refrained from clearing a candidate against Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal from the New Delhi seat. The list included 11 Scheduled Caste and four women candidates. The three sitting MLAs — Vijender Gupta (Rohini), Jagdish Pradhan (Mustafabad) and O.P. Sharma (Vishwas Nagar) — have been repeated.
5. Two bull owners, spectator gored to death in Tamil Nadu –Two bull owners and a spectator were gored to death in separate incidents at jallikattu events in Alanganallur in Madurai and Avarangadu in Tiruchi.At Alanganallur, V. Sridhar, 27, from Sholavandhan, who was attempting to lead a bull through the vaadivasal, the entry to the bull taming arena, was gored by his bull while he was trying to ensure its passage through the narrow path between the holding area and the entry point.As many as 39 persons were injured during the events at Alanganallur. Thirteen persons with major injuries were taken to the GRH.
6. Merger plan of RSTV and LSTV in final stages– The merger of RajyaSabha Television (RSTV) and LokSabha Television (LSTV) is in the final stages, with a six-member committee expected to submit a report by this month-end to Upper House Chairman Venkaiah Naidu and LokSabha Speaker Om Birla. The final decision will be taken by them. There has been an overwhelming demand that the live transmission of the proceedings of the two Houses should not be disrupted.
7. Phone scandal rocks Sri Lanka’s Opposition party –A Sri Lankan politician’s alleged practice of recording phone conversations has led to a scandal, after some of the conversations were leaked on social media, putting several judges, police officers and politicians under the spotlight and delivering a huge blow to the main Opposition party. Earlier, the police arrested actor-politician Ranjan Ramanayake, a legislator with the United National Party (UNP), that suspended him following the phone call leaks.The recordings reveal what appear to be the politician’s conversations, with senior judges, police and celebrities, pertaining to ongoing court cases.
8. Christopher Tolkien, son of The Lord of the Rings author, dead– Christopher Tolkien, the son of J.R.R. Tolkien who was responsible for publishing many of his father’s works, has died aged 95.The academic, a former lecturer in Old and Middle English as well as Old Icelandic at the University of Oxford, is credited with drawing the 1954 map of Middle-earth for his father’s novel The Lord of the Rings.After his father’s death in 1973, he became the literary executor of the Tolkien Estate.
9. Ukraine President rejects PM’s resignation over tape leak – Ukrainian President VolodymyrZelenskiy allowed Prime Minister OleksiyHoncharuk to keep his job after the leak of an embarrassing audio recording prompted Mr.Honcharuk to submit his resignation. Speculation over Mr.Honcharuk’s position has grown this week after a recording of a man discussing President VolodymyrZelenskiy’s purported lack of knowledge of economics was circulated on messaging channels, apparently at a meeting of the Prime Minister, Finance Minister and the National Bank of Ukraine in December.
10. RIL profit surges 13.5% on retail, telecom – Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) reported a 13.5% growth in its third quarter net profit to Rs. 11,640 crore, led by growth in consumer driven businesses of retail and telecommunications, even as petrochemicals, the core business, disappointed. The profit came on a 1.4% drop in revenue to Rs. 1,68,858 crore due to a fall in revenue from refining and petrochemicals business. Telecommunications and retail contributed 37% of the company’s earnings before interest, tax depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), up from 27% last year.
    
     

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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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• 2.1 ECONOMY (Prelims, GS Paper 3, Essay paper)

2.1 China GDP growth slowest in 29 years, at 6.1% in 2019, from 6.6% in 2018.

• Context - China's gross domestic product grew at the slowest pace in 29 years in 2019, as weaker exports, investment and consumer spending hurt. The 6.1% expansion marked a slowdown from the 6.6% growth seen the previous year. Growth in the last quarter of 2019 equaled the 6.0% logged in the July-September period. China is the world’s second largest economy.
• Details - The new GDP data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) comes a day after China and the US signed a long-awaited phase one deal, marking a ceasefire in the 18-month trade war which saw the world's two largest economies slap 25 per cent tariffs on about half a trillion-dollar worth of each other's exports. 
• Reasons - Chinese economy was hit hard by the sluggish domestic demand and US tariffs as a result of the 18 month trade war between the two countries. Still, the 6% growth in absolute terms is worth $ 
• Key features –
  1. The 0.5 percentage point decline in the growth rate from the previous year is the biggest since a 1.7 point year-on-year slowdown in 2012.Chinese economy grew from $ 13.58 trillion in 2018 to $ 14.4 trillion in 2019, adding  $  820 billion in a year! That is worth more than 25% of entire Indian economy in one year.
  2.  Total retail sales of consumer goods including e-commerce slowed to 8%, from 9% in 2018, while fixed-asset investment including infrastructure and factory construction decreased to 5.4% from 5.9%.
  3. Exports were $2.498 trillion, up 0.5% - much slower growth than in 2018, largely due to a drop in shipments to the U.S. Demand for key Chinese exports such as cellphones and PCs was sluggish. Exports of products subject to higher U.S. tariffs, such as furniture and textiles, also slumped.
• Road ahead - China will remain vigilant of mounting downward pressure from a global economic slowdown and domestic structural issues. The downward trend will not be helped by a sliding birthrate (hence relaxed policies now), rising unemployment and problems in the banking sector.
• Despite a "phase-one" deal reached between Beijing and Washington, which will see the U.S. lower tariffs on $120 billion of Chinese goods in return for Beijing buying $40 billion worth of American farm goods, economists remained downbeat on China's growth outlook this year. More than 20 economists surveyed by Nikkei forecast a median 5.9% expansion in 2020.More fiscal stimulus could be on the way but the truce in the trade war with Washington may bring some temporary relief for business confidence.
• Market Reaction - Asian stocks rose on Friday after China released its GDP data, adding to modest early gains. The yuan firmed slightly.

2.2  Government raised GST collection target to 1.15 lakh crore for Feb 2020 and 1.25 lakh crore for March 2020.

2.3 National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) awarded 6.5 km long Z-Morh Tunnel project in Jammu and Kashmir to APCO Amarnathji Tunnelway Pvt. Ltd. to be built at a cost of Rs. 2,379 crore.

2.4 Logo and brand of Hindustan Urvarak and Rasayan Ltd. (HURL) unveiled by Fertiliser Minister D. V. SadanandaGowda. Punchline - Apna Urea SonaUgle.

2.5 National Payment Corporation of India(NPCI) launched blockchain-based Vajra Platform for secure online transactions.

2.6 Bennett Coleman and Company Limited(BCCL) Chairperson Indu Jain conferred Lifetime Achievement Award of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI).

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

3.1 Event - World Future Energy Summit, 2020.

Edition – Tenth (Started from 2011)
Occurrence – Annual
Time – January 13 to 16, 2020
Place – Abu Dhabi (UAE)
Organisers – Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
Theme–Rethinking Global Consumption, Production, and Investment
Purpose–Event, dedicated to advancing future energy, energy efficiency and clean technologies.

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

4.1 No news in this category today

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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 -National Youth Festival 2020

Time – January 12 to 16, 2020 
Place –Lucknow, India 
Organisers –Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry and UP Government.
Theme–Fit Youth, Fit India

6.2 Sports –

Event – Dakar Rally –

Place – Saudi Arabia
Details –It was a 12-day, 7,800-km car and motorbike rally.
Winners –Carlos Sainzof Spain won car rally. Ricky Brabec of US won motorbike rally.

Obituary – Former all-rounder Cricketer of India BapuNadkarni passed away in Mumbai at the age of 96. He made 1414 runs and took 88 wickets in 41 Tests.

Book Release –‘The Winning Sixer’ authored by former Indian batsman W.V. Raman.

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• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1  Event –Raisina Dialogue 2020

• Edition – Fifth
• Occurrence – Annual
• Time – January 14 to 16, 2020
• Place – New Delhi
• Organisers –Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in collaboration with the Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs.
• Theme –Navigating the Alpha Century
• Details –The Raisina Dialogue is a multilateral conference committed to addressing the most challenging issues facing the global community. The name ‘Raisina Dialogue’ comes from Raisina Hill, an elevation in New Delhi, seat of the Government of India, as well as the Presidential Palace of India, Rashtrapati Bhavan. More than 700 international participants, including 80 from African countries, were attended the meet.
• Significance – The Raisina Dialogue was born in the belief that the Asian century that the world was talking about was not about any exclusive geographical region. It was rather about the engagement of global actors with Asia and of Asia with the world.
• Trivia – The name "Raisina Dialogue" comes from Raisina Hill, an elevation in New Delhi, seat of the Government of India, as well as the Presidential Palace of India, Rashtrapati Bhavan.
• About the Aravallis –The Aravalli mountain range spans 800km from Gujarat to Delhi (through Rajasthan and Haryana). From Delhi, it extends to Haridwar but is completely hidden below the earth’s surface.Aravallis are much older than the Himalayas. Once a contiguous range, what remains today of the mighty Aravallis (in Delhi) are rocky outcrops divided into five fragmented zones—the Northern Ridge, the Central Ridge, the South-Central Ridge, the Southern Ridge and the Nanakpura South-Central Ridge. The hills of yore are alive only in the names of localities—Raisina Hill, Majnu-Ka-Tila and Paharganj.
   
  

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

8.1 Travellers from China to be screened for novel coronavirus (nCoV) at Indian airport

8.2 World Health Organisation endorsed ‘TrueNat TB test’ technology developed by Indian scientists to detect Tuberculosis. 

8.3 Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani flagged-off the inaugural run of the Ahmedabad-Mumbai Tejas Express from Ahmedabad.

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

9.1 Study Traces Evolution of Acoustic Communication Back to 350 Million Years Ago

• Context - A study tracing acoustic communication across the tree of life of land-living vertebrates reveals that the ability to vocalize goes back hundreds of millions of years, is associated with a nocturnal lifestyle.
• Why we started to speak - Acoustic communication among vertebrate animals is such a familiar experience that it seems impossible to imagine a world shrouded in silence. But why did the ability to shout, bark, bellow or moo evolve in the first place?  
• The research - John J. Wiens of the University of Arizona and Zhuo Chen, a visiting scientist from Henan Normal University in Xinxiang, China, traced the evolution of acoustic communication in terrestrial vertebrates back to 350 million years ago.
• How research was conducted - The authors assembled an evolutionary tree for 1,800 species showing the evolutionary relationships of mammals, birds, lizards and snakes, turtles, crocodilians, and amphibians going back 350 million years. They obtained data from the scientific literature on the absence and presence of acoustic communication within each sampled species and mapped it onto the tree.
• Key Features –
  
  
  1. The common ancestor of land-living vertebrates, or tetrapods, did not have the ability to communicate through vocalization. Instead, acoustic communication evolved separately in mammals, birds, frogs and crocodilians in the last 100-200 million years, depending on the group.
  2. The origins of communication by sound are strongly associated with a nocturnal lifestyle. This makes intuitive sense because once light is no longer available to show off visual cues such as color patterns to intimidate a competitor or attract a mate, transmitting signals by sound becomes an advantage.
  3. The authors estimate that acoustic communication is present in more than two-thirds of terrestrial vertebrates. 
  4. Even in lineages that switched over to a diurnal (active by day) lifestyle, the ability to communicate via sound tends to be retained. 
  5. Birds kept on using acoustic communication even after becoming diurnal for the most part. Interestingly, many birds sing at dawn, as every birdwatcher can attest. Although speculative, it is possible that this “dawn chorus” behavior might be a remnant of the nocturnal ancestry of birds.
  6. The ability to vocalize does not appear to be the driver of diversification — the rate at which a lineage evolves into new species — it has been believed to be. To illustrate this finding, Wiens pointed to birds and crocodilians: Both lineages have acoustic communication and go back roughly 100 million years, but while there are close to 10,000 bird species known, the list of crocodilians doesn’t go past 25..

9.2 IIT-Madras researchers developed device to generate hydrogen fuel from seawater.

10. Facts, Charts and Rankings (Prelims)

10.1 Ranking – Knight Frank India in association with National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) released Real Estate Sentiment Index (Q4 2019)

• Current sentiment score -The stakeholders continue to be pessimistic and wary owing to the overall economic slowdown and the slump in domestic consumption demand.
• Future sentiment score - Dropping to an all-time low at 49 in Q3 2019, the future sentiment index score is a clear indication that the sector is under pressure.

• Download pdf of the report from here –

https://content.knightfrank.com/research/590/documents/en/knight-frank-ficci-naredco-india-real-estate-sentiment-index-real-estate-sentiment-index-q4-2019-october-december-2019-6898.pdf

10.2 Daily dose of FIVE Facts -

• World Diabetes Day was observed on November 14, 2019
• The Lower House of Parliament in Kazakhstan is called Majilis
• The Upper House of Parliament in Kazakhstan is called Senate
• Cervantes Prize is given for literature in Spanish language
• Indian sportsperson Dutee Chand has been named in the Time 100 Next

10.3 Chart of the day – Why Trump is likely to sail through a senate trial

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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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