Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 08-02-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 08-02-2020

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Nirbhaya Case: Need of law to hand culprits separately–The Supreme Court conveyed that it is in no hurry to hear the appeals filed by the Centre and the NCT of Delhi for permission to separately execute Nirbhaya convicts. A Bench, led by Justice R. Banumathi, remained impassive as Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta urged the court to issue a formal notice to the convicts on the appeals. The law officer intermittently asked the court to at least allow the government to serve the copies of the appeal papers to the convicts through the jail authorities.Mr. Mehta said the “nation is losing patience” seeing the convicts misuse the legal process to delay the execution of their death sentence. “A law needs to be laid down,” Mr. Mehta stressed.
   
2. PM in north-east–Prime Minister Narendra Modi advised the youth in central India’s Maoist belt and in Jammu and Kashmir to emulate the Bodos and shun the path of violence. He also allayed fears that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act would bring illegal foreigners to Assam. This was his first visit to Assam since the protests against the citizenship law began.
   
3. Corona virus outbreak - updates–The novel corona virus (nCoV) outbreak and its rapid spread to different countries has resulted in a close to 50% fall in travel demand to South-East Asia from India as well as in-bound visitors to Kerala. Countries like Japan, Malaysia and Singapore have recorded as much as 50% fall in demand from tourists in February this year as compared to the same period last year. Virus toll hit 636 among outrage over death of doctor who raised first alaram.
4. Leopard population reduced –India’s leopard population may be only a tenth of what it was a little over a century ago, experiencing catastrophic declines due to human pressures. Given the threats the animal faces – conflicts with humans, poaching, habitat loss and availability of prey – a group of scientists with new insights on loss of leopard abundance say that an initiative similar to ‘Project Tiger’ is required for the cat. The leopard population, perceived to be stable due to broad geographic distribution, suffered a possibly human-induced population decline of 75% to 90% between 120 and 200 years ago, the scientists propose, in a paper titled, ‘Genetic analyses reveal population structure and recent decline in leopards (Panthera pardus fusca) across the Indian subcontinent’ published in the journal PeerJ – Life and Environment.
5. Top hospitals budgets slashed – Almost all hospitals funded by the Centre — including the AIIMS, Delhi, JIPMER, Pondicherry and PGI, Chandigarh — had their outlays slashed in the 2020-21 Budget or were given an increase that is not even enough to cover inflation. Since none of these hospitals, which treat lakhs of patients free each year, can cut corners on fixed costs like salaries of employees, public health activists fear they will have to either cut down services or start charging patients, either way impacting the poorest patients.Most of these centrally funded hospitals have shown more than 100% utilization of funds originally allocated for current year, as is evident from a comparison of the budget estimates for 2019-20 and the revised estimates, a reassessment of what will actually be spent by the end of the year.
   
6. Cong MP Trigger Chaos in LS – The LokSabha witnessed a showdown between members of the ruling BJP and Opposition Congress after health minister Harsh Vardhan and Congress MP Manikam Tagore indulged in unprecedented acts, resulting in two forced adjournments of the House. The incident happened during Question Hour, after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asked his listed question about the need for medical colleges in Wayanad. Vardhan, who represents one of the LokSabha constituencies of poll-bound Delhi, departed from rules and chose to give the proceedings an unexpected turn by reading out from a piece of paper.
   
7. Public hanging of child abusers in Pak –Pakistan's Parliament passed a resolution demanding public hanging of those convicted of sexually abusing and murdering children amid increasing incidents of crime against them. The resolution, which referred to the brutal killing and sexual assault of an eight-year-old girl in Nowshera area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in 2018, was passed with majority votes as it was supported by all lawmakers except those belonging to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of former premier Benazir Bhutto. Former premier and PPP leader Raja Pervez Ashraf said that pubic hanging was a violation of UN rules and punishment cannot mitigate crimes.
   
8. Trump confirms al-Qaeda’s Yemen leader killed – An American operation killed al-Qaeda’s top leader in Yemen last week, President Donald Trump confirmed. Qasim al-Raymi had been targeted in a botched US Navy SEAL raid in 2017, just days after Trump took office, that led to the death of the first American service member in combat under the new administration. Recently, the top lieutenant to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri had taken credit for the shooting at a US naval air base in Florida that killed two American service members.
9. US Presidential Elections –Democratic presidential hopefuls arrived in New Hampshire for a weeklong primary sprint made more urgent by the vote-counting chaos that left the Iowa caucus results a muddle. The lack of verified, complete results from the Iowa Democratic Party deprived candidates who had a strong showing — notably Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend, Ind. — of a moment to bask in victory. The confusion avoided, or at least postponed, a moment of reckoning for those who may not have fared so well, like former Vice President Joe Biden.
10. Pay gap between Women and Men– Women executive directors (EDs) earned 45% less than their male counterparts in the last fiscal year as male CEOs and CXOs took home bigger salary increments. Salaries of women EDs remained near stagnant, data revealed. An analysis of Prime Database numbers showed the gender pay gap between male and female directors doubled in FY19 from what it was a year ago as the average salary of male EDs rose 8% while it fell marginally (-0.12%) for women. The findings are based on the latest annual reports of 1,747 companies listed on the NSE and compiled by nseinfobase.com, run by Prime Database.

Important Exam Notifications
S. No.	Institution	Exam or Post Name	Vacancies or Seats	Qualification	Last Date to Apply	Link for Details
1	Airline Allied Services Limited	Chief, Asst General Manager, Sr Manager, Station Manager	36	Any Degree, B.Tech, PG, ICAI/ ICWA/ MBA	March  4, 2020	http://www.airindia.in/writereaddata/Portal/career/867_1_Various-Post-Advertisment-Feb-2020.pdf
2	RMRC, Bhubaneswar	Scientist-B, Research Asst & DEO/ Field Investigator	5	12th Class, BDS/ B.V.Sc, PG with Ph.D	Feb. 13, 2020	http://www.rmrcbbsr.gov.in/career_listing.php
3	Airline Allied Services Limited	Supervisor (Security)	51	Any Degree	March 4, 2020	http://www.airindia.in/writereaddata/Portal/career/868_1_Supervisor-Security-Feb-2020.pdf
4	Society for Electronic Transactions and Security	Project Associate	8	BE/ B.Tech/ M.Sc/ ME/ M.Tech	Feb 19, 2020	https://www.setsindia.in/PdfDocs/Ad_PQC.pdf
5	Airline Allied Services Limited	Flight Dispatcher	7	10+2	March 4, 2020	http://www.airindia.in/writereaddata/Portal/career/869_1_Flight-Dispatcher-Advertisment-Feb-2020.pdf
6	Army Recruiting Office, Siliguri	Soldier	--	8th, 10th, 12th Class	April 21, 2020	https://joinindianarmy.nic.in/writereaddata/Portal/BRAVO_NotificationPDF/Gangtok_Sikkim_Rally_May_2020.pdf
7	Army Recruiting Office, Cuttack	Soldier	--	8th Class, 10th Class, 10+2	March 23, 2020	https://joinindianarmy.nic.in/writereaddata/Portal/BRAVO_NotificationPDF/Final_ARO__Cuttack_Rally_Notification_06_Feb_2020.pd

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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 Total 15, NINE JUDGE BENCH decisions in the history of Supreme Court

• Supreme Court of India was established on January 28, 1950.
• At present it can consist of maximum of 34 judges and one Chief Justice of India.
• A nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court is at present considering the issues of religious freedom and fundamental rights mentioned in the Sabarimala review order.
• There have been only 15 nine-judge bench decisions in the history of Supreme Court.  
• Which are as follows –

1. The bill to amend section 20 of the Sea Customs Act, 1878 and Section 3 of the central excises and salt act, 1944(1963)
2. The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd vs CTO AIR (1963)
3. Superintendent and Remembrancer of Legal Affairs West Bengal vs Corporation Of Calcutta (1966)
4. Naresh Shridhar Mirajkarand Others vs State of Maharastra(1966)
5. The Ahmedabad St. Xaviers College vs State of Gujarat (1974)
6. Indira Sawhney etc. vsUnion of India and Others(1992)
7. Supreme Court advocates-on-record association vs Union of India (1993)
8. S.R. Bommaivs Union of India (1994)
9. Attorney General for India vs Amartlal Prajivandas(1994)
10. Mafatlal Industries Ltd. vs Union of India (1996)
11. New Delhi Municipal Corporation vs State of Punjab etc. (1996)
12. Special Reference under Article 143(1) of (1998)
13. I.R.Coelho vs State of Tamil Nadu (2007)
14. Jindal Stainless Ltd. and vs State of Haryana andothers (2016)
15. Retd. Justice K.S. Puttuswamy vs Union of India (2017)

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

2.1 Government takes over IMEI- related processes from private body

• The Department of Telecom has taken over the process to issue and manage IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) allocation for mobile phones in India from the private body Mobile Standard Alliance of India (MSAI).
• The IMEI number - a unique 15-digit serial number of mobile devices - is allocated by global industry body GSMA and organisations authorised by it.
• When a mobile phone is lost, the victim is required to mention the IMEI number of the handset for tracking.
• The process was being managed by MSAI, erstwhile reporting body of GSMA in India.
• Now the government has decided to replace the MSAI operated system and hence a new system, Indian Counterfeited Device Restriction (ICDR) system.
• The new system has been operationalised on pilot basis on the web portal of Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR).

2.2 Government revised downwards the economic growth rate for 2018-19 to 6.1% from 6.8% estimated earlier. 
2.3  LIC-owned IDBI Bank raised Rs. 745 crore through issue of Basel III compliant tier 2 bonds. 

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

3.1 Pakistan declares national emergency to battle locusts

• This attack has destroyed the entire crop field in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Situation was worse than the one Pakistan faced in 1993.
• The locust attack first spotted in the country in March 2019 and swarms later spread over 900,000 hectares in Sindh South Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa damaging standing crops and trees worth millions of rupees.
• Pakistan’s Minister for National Food Security is Khusro Bakhtiar.
• Actions taken by Pakistan – 

1. Pakistan government has approved a National Action Plan (NAP) that requires a sum of PKR 7.3 billion to overcome the crisis.
2. Different tasks have been given to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), provincial disaster management authorities and federal and provincial departments to deal with the threat.
3. A high-level committee to be headed by Bakhtiar to take decisions at the federal level for the elimination of insects.
4. The authorities concerned to make immediate measures on the basis of damage of ripened crops.

• Where are locusts now? - The swarms of locust are currently on the Pakistan-India border along Cholistan.

• What is locust attack? - The locusts are primarily a type of large tropical insects that have an incredible ability to fly. Locusts form large herds to migrate over long distances. A locust attack can destroy millions of hectares of land within a few minutes. These grasshoppers can fly up to 150 kms per day. Locusts are usually attacked in June and July as they are active only during the summer and rainy seasons. An adult grasshopper can eat food equal to its weight per day (about 2 gms) that makes it a great threat to crops and food grains.
• Reasons of locust attack –The locusts arrived in Pakistan from Iran in June.The locusts used to move to Iran at this time of year, but perhaps due to low temperatures they are still in Pakistan this year. Climate change was one of the reasons for delay in the exit of locusts.
• Preventive measures - This year about 97000 liters of medicines have been sprinkled on more than 1.38 lakh hectares of land in Rajasthan only. Pakistan and Somalia are the worst affected nations of locust attack this year.
• Locust Warning Organisation (LWO) -The Locust warning organization works under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. It is primarily responsible for monitoring, surveying and controlling locusts in states like Rajasthan and Gujarat. LWO research and control of locusts. It also provides training to the farmers, locals, BSF personnel and officials of state admin.
• Locusts attack in Somalia and Ethiopia -Somalia and Ethiopia has also witnessed a biggest locust attack in 25 years and Somalia declared it a national emergency. However, Kenya, a neighboring country, has not seen a locust threat in 70 years.

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

4.1 South Asia Conference, 2020

• Edition - 12th
• Organised by - IDSA - Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA)
• Place -New Delhi
• Time - January 28-29, 2020.
• Theme - India’s “Neighbourhood First” Policy: Regional Perceptions. 
• Details -The conference discussed issues such as common challenges of terrorism in South Asia and prospects of regional cooperation. 

4.2 Togo appointed National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) as its project consultant for 300 MW solar power projects.

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

5.1 Mukhya Mantri Parivar Samridhi Yojna

• Scheme is launched by Haryana Government.
• Under this scheme Rs 6,000 per year will be given to families having an annual income below Rs. 1.80 lakh and land holdings up to five acres.

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• 6. MISCELLANEOUS (Prelims, Various GS Papers)

6.1 Corporates –Weekly Roundup

• Product Launches -

1. Tata Motors on January 28, 2020 launched the electric variant of its compact sports utility vehicle Nexon in the domestic market at a starting price of Rs. 13.99 lakh (ex-showroom pan-India).
2. Union minister Nitin Gadkari on January 30, 2020 launched the limited edition of Khadi wrist watches manufactured as part of a joint initiative by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission and Titan.
3. Auto component maker Omega Seiki on January 31, 2020 announced its foray into electric mobility space with the unveiling of electric three wheeled cargo vehicles under brands Singha and Singha Max to cater to the needs of e-commerce and B2B industry segments.
4. Google is looking to replicate the success of Chinese short video TikTok with its new social platform called Tangi. Tangi is an experimental social video sharing app that showcases quick do-it-yourself (DIY) videos that help people learn new things every day.
5. Google has released a new hashtag #AndroidHelpto identify and resolve issues that Android smartphone users may be facing.
6. ICICI Bank has launched a self-service delivery tool for customers called the iBox that will enable customers to collect their deliverables like debit cards, credit cards, cheque book and returned-cheques from the bank branch near to their home or office. The iBox facility will be available 24x7 on all week days.
7. Mercedes Benz launched AMG GT 63S 4Matic 4-Door Coupe for Rs 2.42 crore
8. Mercedes-Benz launched luxury multipurpose vehicle V Class Marco Polo at Rs 1.38 crore

• Appointments and Retirements - 

1. Fast-moving consumer goods major Cavin Kare has roped in Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar and actress Ileana D’Cruz as brand ambassadors for its herbal hair colour brand ‘Indica’. 
2. Tata Motors in Jan2020 announced that Professor Sir Ralf Speth has decided to retire from his current role as Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Jaguar Land Rover Automotive Plc. (JLR) at the end of his contract term in September 2020. However, he will maintain his relationship with JLR by becoming non executive Vice Chairman and will also remain on board of Tata Sons.

• Merger and acquisitions- China’s Great Wall Motors (GWM) to acquire manufacturing facility of General Motors (GM) in Talegaon, Maharashtra 
• Other -  

1. Consumer electronics maker Panasonic India has ventured into education sector by launching two education-based solutions Career Ex and XcelIT, and aims to impact around one lakh students by 2025.
2. A Los Angeles jury on January 29, 2020 ordered Apple and Broadcom to pay USD 1.1 billion to the California Institute of Technology for infringing on Wi-Fi technology patents. Apple was ordered to pay USD 837 mn and Broadcom USD 270 mn.
3. Infosys announced in Jan2020 it has been awarded the accredited certification on ISO 27701, the international standard on data privacy, by Bureau Veritas Certification (BVC). The ISO 27701 standard provides an overarching framework on Privacy Information Management Systems (PIMS), to help companies fine-tune their data privacy practices and keep pace with the changing privacy threat and regulatory landscape.

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• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1 Five new institutes approved grant of Institution of National Importance (INI) status

• Cabinet approves grant of INI status to five Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) at Surat, Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartala and Raichur.
• Institute of National Importance (INI) is a status that may be conferred on a premier public higher education institution in India by an act of Parliament of India.
• 145 + institutes are given this status in India.
• Most of these Institutes of National Importance are the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) and National Institutes of Technology (NITs).

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• 8. SOCIAL ISSUES (Prelims, GS Paper 1, GS Paper 2)

8.1  Indigenously developed Classical Swine Fever vaccine

• Vaccine is developed by ICAR’s Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Izatnagagar (UP).
• Significance –

1. It will help in producing cost-effective alternative to currently used vaccines for preventing the deadly fever in pigs that contribute to 10% of the country’s total meat production.
2. It would cost only Rs 2 per dose compared to the current vaccine's rate of Rs 15-20 per dose and imported Korean vaccine rate of Rs 30 per dose.
3. Currently, India does not have enough vaccine for controlling classical swine fever (CSF), which has led to high mortality with annual loss of about Rs 4.29 billion. 
4. Against the annual requirement of 20 million doses, the availability is only 1.20 million doses.

• Background - Since 1964 a lapinized CSF vaccine is being used in India for controlling the disease. The vaccine is produced by sacrificing large numbers of rabbits for each batch. To do away sacrificing of rabbits and increase the productivity, IVRI later developed a cell-cultured vaccine using foreign strain and commercialised it in 2016 and 2018.
• What is Classical Swine Fever (CSF)? - Hog Cholera or Classical swine fever (CSF) is a contagious viral disease of domestic and wild swine. It happens due to the viruses that bring viral diarrhea in pigs and ailments in sheep. World Organisation for Animal Health has mentioned only one type of CSF virus. 
• How harmful for humans? - However, the disease does not harm humans but all-important precautions are advised to follow.
• As per 2019 census, the country's pig population declined to 9.06 million from 11.13 million in 2007.

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

9.1 Not Available Today

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• 10. FACTS, CHARTS, RANKINGS and EDITORIALS (Prelims + GS Mains)

10.1  Ranking – National Crime Record Bureau Report, 2018

• The highest number of women and children who go missing in the country are from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh respectively.
• In 2016, as many as 28,316 women went missing in Maharashtra, followed by 29,279 in 2017, and 33,964 in 2018.
• In West Bengal, the number of missing women in 2016, 2017 and 2018 was 24,937, 28,133 and 31,299, respectively. Madhya Pradesh recorded 21,435, 26,587 and 29,761 missing reports of women in the three years.
• In 2016-18, a total of 63,407, 63,349 and 67,134 children were reported missing across the country.
• The max number of missing reports were recorded in Maharashtra and W Bengal in 2016, 17 and 18.
• Indore (MP) reported the highest number of missing children, with 596 in 2017 and 823 in 2018.
  
  Download pdf of the report from here –
  
  
  http://ncrb.gov.in/StatPublications/CII/CII201/pdfs/Crime%20in%20India%202018%20-%20Volume%201.pdf

10.2 Daily dose of FIVE Facts -

1. Flame-Throated Bulbul has been announced as the mascot for the 97th National Games in Goa in October.
2. Indian Railways has commissioned the FIRST governmental waste to energy plant of country in Odisha.
3. Maldives was readmitted to the Commonwealth in Feb2020.
4. Maharashtra launched 'Shiv Bhojan Thali' scheme aimed at providing a meal to the poor for just Rs. 10.
5. Muhammad Imran has taken charge as new High Commissioner of Bangladesh to India in Jan 2020.

10.3 Today’s best editorials to read 

• We offer you 7 excellent editorials from across 10 newspapers we have scanned. 

CLICK HERE TO OPEN AND READ!

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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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