Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 21-01-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 21-01-2020

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Supreme Court declines to stay poll bond scheme – Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad A. Bobde orally made it clear that if the Supreme Court had found it unnecessary to stay the electoral bonds scheme earlier, it might not stay the scheme even now. The comments came on a fervent plea by advocates Prashant Bhushan and Shadan Farasat that new facts had come up indicating that the scheme was being frequently opened to allow funds to fill the coffers of the ruling party. Electoral bonds have been roundly criticised by many experts, claiming they are legitimizing black money in elections.
2. SC throws out Nirbhaya convict’s plea –The Supreme Court dismissed a plea of Nirbhaya gang rape convict Pawan Kumar Gupta against the Delhi High Court's rejection of his claim that he was a juvenile at the time of the crime in 2012. A three-judge Bench led by Justice R. Banumathi said that though the plea of juvenility could be made by an accused at any stage of the case, it cannot be reagitated time and again once successive courts have rejected the claim. The President has also rejected the mercy plea of Mukesh. The SC recently dismissed a review petition filed by another one of the four condemned men, Akshay Singh, to review its May 5, 2017 judgment confirming the death penalty.
3. Police file criminal cases against protesters –The Uttar Pradesh police have lodged three criminal cases against the protesters, mostly women, demonstrating against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) at the Clocktower Park in Lucknow.  The police have named around two dozen persons in the FIRs, while more than 135 are unidentified protesters. Most of those named in the FIRs are women and include Sumaiya Rana and Fauzia Rana, daughters of Urdu poet Munawwar Rana, a Sahitya Akademi Award winner.
4. IMF lowers India’s growth forecast to 4.8%– The International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered India’s economic growth estimate for the current fiscal to 4.8% and listed the country’s much lower-than-expected GDP numbers as the single biggest drag on its global growth forecast for two years. In October, the IMF had pegged India’s economic growth at 6.1% for 2019. Compared to the October WEO forecast, the estimate for 2019 and the projection for 2020 represent 0.1 percentage point reduction for each year while that for 2021 is 0.2 percentage point lower.
5. Samsung to invest $500 mn to set up display factory in India –South Korean flat screen maker Samsung Display plans to set up a factory in India with a $500-million investment as parent Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd seeks to expand smartphone production there. The move would be a boon for India which is vying with nearby rivals such as Vietnam to attract global smartphone firms under the government’s “Make in India” drive. Under the plan, Samsung Electronics will provide ₹3,500 crore ($492.31 million) in loans and transfer a parcel of land in Noida for ₹92 crore to its display unit, Samsung India Electronics Private Ltd.
6. Virus outbreak spreads to Beijing, Shanghai – An outbreak of a new coronavirus has spread to more Chinese cities; including the capital Beijing and Shanghai, and a fourth case has been reported beyond China’s borders. Adding to the difficulties of containing the virus, hundreds of millions of Chinese will be travelling domestically and abroad during the Lunar New Year holiday that starts this week. Screening of travellers - Authorities around the globe, including in the U.S. and many Asian countries, have stepped up screening of travellers from Wuhan, the central city where the virus was first discovered. Authorities confirmed a total of 217 new cases of the virus in China.
7. Thanjavur gets a Sukhoi squadron –The Indian Air Force (IAF) inducted a squadron of Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jets armed with BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, at its Thanjavur Air Force Station. To begin with, five to six SU-30MKI fighter planes with the capability to carry BrahMos missiles would be positioned at the Air Force Station and the full capacity of 18 planes would be reached at a later date, gradually. This is also the first Sukhoi squadron of the IAF with BrahMos missiles.
8. Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant-Governor invited investors, said communication curbs will go – Highlighting investment opportunities in Jammu and Kashmir, Lieutenant-Governor G. C. Murmu said that communication restrictions, including the Internet ban, were temporary. A meeting of business delegates was held in New Delhi in the run-up to the first-ever three-day Global Investors’ Summit to be held in Srinagar and Jammu in April. The summit was scheduled to be held last year, but was postponed.
9. Andhra Pradesh will have three capitals – The Andhra Pradesh government, led by Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy moved a step closer to creating three state capitals and stripping Amaravati of the sole capital tag. The government moved a Bill in the Legislative Assembly to make Vishakhapatnam the executive capital, Amaravati the legislative capital, and Kurnool the judicial one.
10. 19 convicted in Muzaffarpur shelter home case – A Delhi court convicted key accused Brajesh Thakur and 18 others of sexual and physical assault of girl inmates of a shelter home in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. Arguments on the quantum of sentence will be heard on January 28. Additional sessions judge Saurabh Kulshreshtha convicted Thakur of aggravated sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, gang rape, rape and other related offences under the Indian Penal Code and the Juvenile Justice Act. Vicky, one of the accused, has been acquitted.
     

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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 Supreme Court declines to stay poll bond scheme

• Context - Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad A. Bobde orally made it clear that if the Supreme Court had found it unnecessary to stay the electoral bonds scheme earlier, it might not stay the scheme even now.
• Details - The comments came on a fervent plea by advocates Prashant Bhushan and Shadan Farasat that new facts had come up indicating that the scheme was being frequently opened to allow funds to fill the coffers of the ruling party.
• EC, RBI overruled - Instead of opening the scheme exclusively for the Lok Sabha election, as envisaged, it had become a mechanism to funnel benami funds to fuel political parties. Both the Election Commission (EC) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had strongly objected to the scheme and raised the red flag against it. Over Rs. 6,000 crore had been drawn in through the scheme recently.
  
• Complete information - On April 12, 2019, the court passed an interim order directing political parties to provide complete information to the EC in sealed covers on every single donor and contribution received by them till date through electoral bonds. However, it did not stay the operation of the scheme.The court gave the EC a fortnight to file its reply on the matter.
• What are electoral bonds – These are funding instruments for elections, brought in through the Union Budget exercise in 2017 by then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, where the donor identity remains hidden from public view. They were notified in 2018, and are sold from SBI branches.

                                                                         

1.2 SC throws out Nirbhaya convict’s plea

• Context - The Supreme Court dismissed a plea of Nirbhaya gang rape convict Pawan Kumar Gupta against the Delhi High Court's rejection of his claim that he was a juvenile at the time of the crime in 2012.
• Details  - A three-judge Bench led by Justice R. Banumathi said that though the plea of juvenility could be made by an accused at any stage of the case, it cannot be reagitated time and again once successive courts have rejected the claim. The President has also rejected the mercy plea of Mukesh. The Supreme Court recently dismissed a review petition filed by another one of the four condemned men, Akshay Singh, to review its May 5, 2017 judgment confirming the death penalty in the case.
• Background  - Akshay, Mukesh, Pawan and Vinay had brutally gang-raped a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012. She died of her injuries a few days later. An accused, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar jail. A juvenile, who was among the accused, was convicted by a juvenile justice board. He was released from a reformation home after serving a three-year term.
•  The execution of four convicts is scheduled on February 1, 2020.

1.3  'Police file criminal cases against protesters

• The Uttar Pradesh police have lodged three criminal cases against the protesters, mostly women, demonstrating against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) at the Clocktower Park in Lucknow.
• The police have named around two dozen persons in the FIRs, while more than 135 are unidentified protesters. Most of those named in the FIRs are women and include Sumaiya Rana and Fauzia Rana, daughters of Urdu poet Munawwar Rana, a Sahitya Akademi Award winner.  
• In one of the FIRs, the Rana sisters and others have been booked under Sections 147, 145, 188 and 283 of the IPC. 
• The charges are unlawful assembly, rioting, disobedience to order and causing anger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation. The case was lodged for dhakka mukki (pushing and shoving) by the protesters against the police on duty.

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

2.1  IMF lowers India’s growth forecast to 4.8%

• Context - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered India’s economic growth estimate for the current fiscal to 4.8% and listed the country’s much lower-than-expected GDP numbers as the single biggest drag on its global growth forecast for two years. In October, the IMF had pegged India’s economic growth at 6.1% for 2019.
• Details - Compared to the October WEO forecast, the estimate for 2019 and the projection for 2020 represent 0.1 percentage point reduction for each year while that for 2021 is 0.2 percentage point lower. 
• Reasons– Decline in rural demand growth and an overall credit sluggishness.
• Ray of hope - The growth momentum should improve next year due to factors like the positive impact of corporate tax rate reduction. 

                                                                        

 2.2  Samsung to invest $500 mn to set up display factory in India

• Context - South Korean flat screen maker Samsung Display plans to set up a factory in India with a $500-million investment as parent Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd seeks to expand smartphone production there. The move would be a boon for India which is vying with nearby rivals such as Vietnam to attract global smartphone firms under the government’s “Make in India” drive.
• Details - Under the plan, Samsung Electronics will provide ₹3,500 crore ($492.31 million) in loans and transfer a parcel of land in Noida for ₹92 crore to its display unit, Samsung India Electronics Private Ltd.
• Background - Samsung Electronics started making smartphones in Noida on the outskirts of New Delhi in 2018. Last year, it stopped production in China where it had to contend with competition from domestic rivals.
• Significance - The new display factory will help Samsung Electronics secure local supplies of one of the most expensive smartphone components at a time when the South Korean firm is also struggling to fend off competition from Chinese rivals in India. 
• Decline in market share - Samsung, the second-biggest smartphone vendor in India after China’s Xiaomi Corp, saw its market share fall to 20% in the country in the third quarter, from 25% three months earlier. Smaller Chinese rivals Vivo and Realme boosted their share of the market, one of the world’s fastest-growing.

2.3  DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade) launched paperless  licensing process for petroleum service stations.

2.4  Challa Sreenivasulu Setty appointed as Managing Director of SBI for a period of three years.

2.5  Supreme Court accepted Centre's proposal to take over management control of real estate firm Unitech.

2.6  Ashish Garg elected President 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 No news in this category today

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

4.1 Virus outbreak spreads to Beijing, Shanghai

• Context - An outbreak of a new coronavirus has spread to more Chinese cities; including the capital Beijing and Shanghai, and a fourth case has been reported beyond China’s borders. Adding to the difficulties of containing the virus, hundreds of millions of Chinese will be travelling domestically and abroad during the Lunar New Year holiday that starts this week.
• Screening of travellers - Authorities around the globe, including in the U.S. and many Asian countries, have stepped up screening of travellers from Wuhan, the central city where the virus was first discovered. Authorities confirmed a total of 217 new cases of the virus in China.
• Background - The virus belongs to the same family of coronaviruses as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed nearly 800 people globally during a 2002/03 outbreak that also started in China. Its symptoms include fever and difficulty in breathing, which are similar to many other respiratory diseases and pose complications for screening efforts.
• Spread - South Korea confirmed its first case. Last week, two cases were reported in Thailand and one in Japan. All three involved people from Wuhan or who visited the city. A report by London Imperial College’s MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis estimated that by January 12 there were 1,723 cases in Wuhan City with onset of related symptoms.
• Coronavirus: airports start screening -A statement released by the Union Health Ministry maintained that various precautionary measures have been initiated to prevent the spread of Novel Coronavirus. The Health Ministry has written to the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) to facilitate thermal screening at the international airports of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi. Airlines are to follow the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) guidelines for managing and notifying anybody reporting illness on flights originating from China and disembarking in India. According to the World Health Organisation, the risk of the global spread of Novel Coronavirus that has been reported from China remains low as of now.

 4.2 Berlin Summit on Libya failed to initiate talks between the warring parties -- strongman Khalifa Haftar and the head of Tripoli's UN-recognised government Fayez al-Sarraj.

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

5.1 No news in this section today.

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• 6. MISCELLANEOUS (Prelims, Various GS Papers)

6.1 Defence - Thanjavur gets a Sukhoi squadron

• Context - The Indian Air Force (IAF) inducted a squadron of Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jets armed with BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, at its Thanjavur Air Force Station.
• Details - To begin with, five to six SU-30MKI fighter planes with the capability to carry BrahMos missiles would be positioned at the Air Force Station and the full capacity of 18 planes would be reached at a later date, gradually. This is also the first Sukhoi squadron of the IAF with BrahMos missiles.
• Significance - With this induction, the IAF would get more air power to strike from long stand-off ranges on any target at sea or on land with accuracy by day or night and in all weather conditions. The deployment is significant given the increased focus on the Indo-Pacific and also the increase in forays by the Chinese Navy into the Indian Ocean over which the Navy has already stated it was keeping a close watch on. 
• Background - The 222 Squadron, also known as Tigersharks, was raised in September 1969 at Ambala, and was moved to Halwara in 1971. It was deployed in active combat operations in the 1971 war. Later it was moved back to Ambala in 1975 and from there to Hindon in 1985. The squadron later operated Mig-27 fighters and was ‘numberplated’ in March 2011.

                                                                         

6.2 Sports – Obituary - Former Test batsman and National selector Man Mohan Sood passed away at the age of 80 years.   

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• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1  Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant- Governor invited investors, said communication curbs will go

• Context - Highlighting investment opportunities in Jammu and Kashmir, Lieutenant-Governor G. C. Murmu said that communication restrictions, including the Internet ban, were temporary. A meeting of business delegates was held in New Delhi in the run-up to the first-ever three-day Global Investors’ Summit to be held in Srinagar and Jammu in April. The summit was scheduled to be held last year, but was postponed.
• Background - On August 6, 2019, Parliament revoked the special status of the erstwhile State, which was bifurcated into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The Valley and Jammu regions have been under an Internet clampdown for the past five months. 
• Mining reserve - Jammu and Kashmir had a huge mining reserve that could be exploited for production. J and K has reserves of limestone and gypsum. 

7.2 Andhra Pradesh will have three capitals: Visakhapatnam: executive capital, Kurnool: judicial capital and Amaravati: legislative capital

• Context - The Andhra Pradesh government, led by Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy moved a step closer to creating three state capitals and stripping Amaravati of the sole capital tag. The government moved a Bill in the Legislative Assembly to make Vishakhapatnam the executive capital, Amaravati the legislative capital, and Kurnool the judicial one. 
• Details – The passage of the Bill was seen as a formality, as the ruling YSR Congress Party commands a strength of 151 out of 175 seats in the State Assembly. Termed Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Act, 2020, the Bill seeks to relocate the secretariat, offices of the heads of the government departments, and Raj Bhawan to Vishakhapatnam. Vizag would become the new capital for all practical purposes.
• Amaravati will be the legislative capital, housing the Assembly and council buildings. 
• Kurnool will house the high court and other judicial institutions.
• There were widespread protests in Amaravati and incidents of violence against police were reported.
• Telugu Desham Party members, led by Chandrababu Naidu who was the political architect of Amaravati demanded status quo for the city as capital.Reddy first disclosed his three-capital idea on December 17, 2019, attracting a backlash from farmers of Amaravati villages, who gave their lands for the development of capital city in 2015 and 2016. They fear losing the real estate value.
• However, as a transitory gesture under this scheme, those who gave their lands will get compensation of Rs. 1 lakh per hectare in case of a wetland and Rs. 60,000 per acre in case of dry land every year.
• Government’s logic behind having three capitals is that since inception in 1956 the state had failed to integrate people from all regions. 
• Article 38 of the Indian Constitution envisages that the state shall direct its policy, among other things, towards securing inclusive development of all regions of the state.

                                                                    

       

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

8.1 Nineteen convicted in Muzaffarpur shelter home case–

• Context - A Delhi court convicted key accused Brajesh Thakur and 18 others of sexual and physical assault of girl inmates of a shelter home in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. Arguments on the quantum of sentence will be heard on January 28.
• Details - Additional sessions judge Saurabh Kulshreshtha convicted Thakur of aggravated sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, gang rape, rape and other related offences under the Indian Penal Code and the Juvenile Justice Act. Vicky, one of the accused, has been acquitted.
• Background - The court had postponed the verdict and sought a response from the CBI, following allegations by the accused that the testimonies of the victims were not trustworthy. The case pertains to the allegation that at least 34 inmates were sexually assaulted. The CBI took over the probe in 2018 following a Supreme Court directive. It recorded statements of the victims and made several arrests. It was alleged that Thakur would bring in people for sexually assaulting the inmates. Some of them were also taken to hotels where they were raped. After the CBI filed a charge sheet, the court framed charges against the accused persons on March 30, 2019. 
•  The shelter home was run by NGO ‘Sewa Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti.’ The instances of sexual assault were first made public through a report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

8.2 Former Union Minister J.P. Nadda was elected unopposed as the BJP’s national president, making him the 11th party chief.

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

9.1 No news in this section today.

10. Facts, Charts and Rankings (Prelims)

10.1 Ranking – Nature Risk Rising Report 2020 by World Economic Forum

• Over half the world's total GDP is dependent on nature and exposed to risks from nature loss.

• Download pdf of the report from here –

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_New_Nature_Economy_Report_2020.pdf

10.2 Daily dose of FIVE Facts -

1. India conducted night trial of Agni II missile on November 16, 2019.
2. Public Service Broadcasting Day was observed on November 12, 2019.
3. The 11th BRICS Summit was organised in Brasilia on November 13-14, 2019.
4. UPI stands for Unified Payment Interface.
5. Theme of the India-ASEAN Business Summit organised in New Delhi in Nov 2019 was Today, Tomorrow, Together.

10.3 Chart of the day – India ranks 76th on Global Mobility Index

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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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