Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 17-02-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 17-02-2020

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. PM Modi in Varanasi–Despite international pressure, the government will continue to stand by its decision to revoke Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and introduce the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted.In Varanasi, Mr. Modi launched projects worth ₹1,250 crore. He unveiled the statue of Deendayal Upadhyay, which, at 63 feet, is the largest statue of the leader in the country, as per the government. The Prime Minister also dedicated to the nation the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Memorial Centre.Mr. Modi flagged off the third corporate train, Mahakaal Express, which links three Jyotirling pilgrim centres — Varanasi, Ujjain and Omkareshwar.
2. India slams UN secy gen after he ‘offers’ to mediate on J&K –India used strong words to protest against UN secretary general Antonio Guterres, who offered to facilitate dialogue between India and Pakistan. Responding to the “offer” by the top UN diplomat, the MEA spokesperson said, “Jammu and Kashmir has been, is and will continue to be an integral part of India. The issue that needs to be addressed is that of vacation of the territories illegally and forcibly occupied by Pakistan. Further issues, if any, would be discussed bilaterally. There is no role or scope for third party mediation.”.
   
3. Videos of police action inside Jamia library trigger fresh row –Two months after violence at Delhi’s Jamia university during an anti-CAA protest, a video clip showing police barging into a varsity library and beating up people there with sticks went viral, leading to an outrage and sharp political reactions. The leak of the CCTV footage was followed hours later by two other clips coming into public domain, one of which showed youths entering the same reading room—some with what appear to be stones in their hands—and trying the block the entrance of the hall. This clip appears to be of events preceding police’s entry into the reading room. Students from Jamia’s anti-CAA protest group, Joint Coordination Committee, said the footage confirmed their allegations of police brutality on campus. The university administration said the clips were not leaked from their end.
4. India, US unlikely to seal mini-trade deal when Trump’s here–The possibility of a mini-trade agreement between India and the US during President Donald Trump’s visit to India later this month seems unlikely even as foreign minister S Jaishankar met US secretary of state Mike Pompeo on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference to exchange notes and take stock of the bilateral relationship.
   
5. IAF to get 83 Tejas fighters in ₹39,000 crore deal –The biggest deal in the indigenous military aviation sector has been finalised, with the overall cost of IAF acquiring 83 single-engine Tejas fighters and their support package from defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) being slashed from the earlier around Rs 56,500 crore to Rs 39,000 crore. The over Rs 17,000 crore reduction in overall cost has come after hard-nosed negotiations spread over a year. The defence ministry and IAF were initially shocked at the “exorbitant price” being demanded by HAL to produce the 83 Tejas Mark-1A jets along with the maintenance and infrastructure package.
6. Madhya Pradesh grapples with spiralling neonatal deaths –Madhya Pradesh has recorded the highest percentage of newborn deaths of 11.5% against the total admissions to government-run sick newborn care units (SNCUs) in the past three years across the country, a rate ominously spiralling since 2017, according to the National Health Mission (NHM). The country’s average is 7%.Although admissions of neonates (under 28 days) in the State have dropped from April 2017 to December 2019 — remaining lower than West Bengal, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh — the percentage of deaths at 12.2% surpassed Bihar’s last year.
   
7. India inks 14 MoUs with Russia for defence support, spares –In a step forward towards addressing the issue of regular spares and support for Russian military equipment with the armed forces, 14 MoUs were signed between Indian and Russian companies for setting up joint ventures covering a range of equipment from modern T-90 tanks to legacy Pechora air defence systems.The MoUs were signed during the 5th India Russia military industry conference held during the Defexpo 2020 in Lucknow.
8. COVID-19 outbreak: updates– Coronavirus toll crosses 1600. Indian airlines to be hit, but will also gain from fall in oil prices.The number of new cases from China’s COVID-19 epidemic dropped for a third consecutive day, as the World Health Organisation chief warned it was “impossible” to predict how the outbreak would develop.More than 68,000 people have now been infected — but the number of new cases continued to decline.
9. India to bring up Azhar issue at FATF –India plans to point out the incongruity of Pakistan’s claim that Jaish-e-Mohammad supremo Masood Azhar has been “missing”. Pakistan has claimed his disappearance in numerous Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meetings in the past year.The FATF plenary, which started in Paris, will take up the Pakistan dossier for discussion. Pakistan expects to get about 12 countries to speak in favour of getting it off the ‘grey list’. However, out of the 27 action points that Pakistan needs to take to get there, it still needs to move on 13. In the last review meeting in Beijing in January, Pakistan was judged to have taken satisfactory action on 14 action points.
10. Four rockets strike near US embassy in Iraq; no injuries – At least four rockets hit near the sprawling US embassy in Baghdad and a Iraqi base hosting American troops inside the Green Zone early Sunday, but caused no casualties and only minor damage. The attack came just before 3.30 am local time, according to Col Myles B Caggins III, a spokesman for the US military operation in Iraq. He only said the rockets hit the base hosting US and other coalition forces. That base, known as Union III, is the headquarters for the US-led coalition, deployed in Iraq since 2014 to help local troops fight the Islamic State terror group. The Green Zone is the high-security enclave where the US mission and Union III, as well as Iraqi government buildings, United Nations offices and other embassies are located.

Important Exam Notifications
S. No.	Institution	Exam or Post Name	Vacancies or Seats	Qualification	Last Date to Apply	Link for Details
1	RBI	Bank’s Medical Consultant	14	MBBS	March13, 2020	https://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/Content/PDFs/EMCA14022020320811B00CB3497B818E3820A2631D97.PDF
2	RMRC, NE Region	Scientist, SRF, JRF, DEO & Other	10	12th Class, Degree, PG	Feb 28, 2020	http://rmrcne.org.in/images/pdf/appoint/extramural_4380.pdf
3	STPI	Member Technical Staff	11	Degree, PG, Ph.D	March 15, 2020	http://www.freejobalert.com/latest-notifications/
4	Indian Maritime University	Assistant (Finance) & Assistant	10	Any Degree	--	https://img.freejobalert.com/uploads/2020/02/Notification-Indian-Maritime-University-Assistant.pdf
5	India Tourism Development Corp. Ltd.	GM, DGM, Manager, Asst Manager	12	PG Degree/ Diploma, MBA, CA/ ICWA	March 13, 2020	https://intranet.itdc.co.in/JobDocuments/bae840c9-4d0f-48ed-b877-f9ccf2b492d8.pdf
6	IGNOU	Registrar, Director, Dy Registrar, PRO	10	PG, Ph.D (Engg)	March16, 2020	http://ignou.ac.in//userfiles/Advertisement%2057.pdf
7	ISRO-URSC	Tech – B, Draughtsman – B, Technical Asst, Scientific Asst and Other	182	SSC, ITI, Diploma (Engg), Degree, PG	March6, 2020	https://www.isro.gov.in/sites/default/files/ursc-advertisement-20201.pdf

• SECTION 2 - DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

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• 1. CONSTITUTION AND LAW (Prelims, GS Paper 2, Essay paper)

1.1 SC directs political parties to list candidates' criminal records on websites, social media

• Why? - The Supreme Court directed  this noting that there has been an alarming increase in criminalisation of politics.
• Background -The five-judge Constitution Bench in 2018 judgment had requested the Parliament to bring a "strong law" to cleanse political parties of leaders facing trial for serious crimes. 
• The court gave the order on a contempt petition filed by BJP leader and lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay which had claimed that the directions given by the apex court in its September 2018 verdict on the disclosure of criminal antecedents by the poll candidates were not being followed.
• Election Commission and petitioner Upadhyay had submitted to the apex court a framework jointly prepared as 'Criminal Antecedents of Candidates (Reporting and Publication) Order, 2020'.
• Important Features –  

1. All political parties to publish within 48 hours the criminal records of candidates in Parliamentary and Assembly elections.
2. Political parties will have to upload reasons for selecting candidates with pending criminal cases on their website.
3. The political parties, upon clearing the name of the candidates, must submit a report regarding publication within 24 hours after the nomination of the candidate.
4. To submit a compliance report in this regard to the Election Commission within 72 hours of selecting candidates having pending criminal cases against them.
5. EC shall bring it to the notice of the apex court in case of failure of political parties to comply with its directions.

• In 2004, 24 per cent MPs had criminal cases pending against them, while in 2009 it reached 30 per cent. In 2014 the number went up to 34 percent and in 2019 it reached 43 per cent.

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

2.1 Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Wholesale price index (WPI) in Jan 2020

 

• Consumer Price Index (CPI)based retail inflation rose to 68month high of 7.59% in January 2020.
• The consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation rate stood at 7.35 per cent in December.
• Wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation rose to 10month high of 3.1% in January 2020.
• The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation was at 2.59 per cent in December 2019, and 2.76 per cent in January 2019.
• The food inflation rate remained elevated at 13.63 per cent.
• Food inflation was at 14.19 per cent in December.
• Data was released by National Statastical Organisation (NSO) the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
• Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) – Founded –October 15, 1999 | Headquarters– New Delhi | Minister of State (independent Charge)- Rao Inderjit Singh|
• Retail inflation is the increase in the price of goods sold at retail market. In India, retail price is measured by the consumer price index (CPI),bwhich is calculated by taking price changes for each item in the predetermined basket of goods and averaging them.

2.2 Factory output, as measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), contracts by 0.3% in December 

• The index of industrial production (IIP) fell from a growth rate of 1.8 per cent, as the manufacturing sector slipped into negative territory again.
• Manufacturing sector :Declined by 1.2% in December 2019 as compared to a growth of 2.9% in December 2018. Declined as compared to November 2019, where it saw growth of 2.7 %.
• Power generation: Electricity generation also registered a decline of 0.1 % in December 2019 as compared to December 2018. In the same month a year ago, power generation saw a growth of 4.5 %.
• Mining output: The mining output has seen a slight improvement over the previous month. In November 2019, this sector saw growth of 1.7%. It has increased to 5.4 % in December 2019.
• Use-based classification: Capital goods production fell by 8.6%, primary goods growth declined marginally by 0.3%, intermediate goods growth increased by 17.1%, consumer durables growth declined 1.5%, consumer non-durables growth increased 2%. This will impact industrial production in the coming months.
• The inflation rate in vegetables came down from 60 per cent in December, but it still stood at 50 per cent in January.
• Pulses saw the inflation rate rising to 16.71 per cent in January, from 15.44 per cent in December. In its monetary policy statement, the RBI had pointed to rising pressure on inflation rate of pulses.
• The core inflation, which is non-food and non-fuel one, rose to 4.1 per cent in January from 3.7% in December.
• About IIP: It is an abstract number represents the status of production in the industrial sector for a given period of time as compared to a reference period of time. The current base year is 2011-2012.

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

3.1 Botswana to hold auction of elephant hunting licences

• Botswana, has the world's largest elephant population
• It is set to hold its first major auction for trophy elephant hunting quotas since scrapping a hunting ban in 2019. 
• The sale on February 7, 2020 will be conducted by a local firm, Auction It, from the premises of the Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Tourism in the capital, Gaborone.

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

4.1 Jerusalem-Mumbai Festival

 




• Edition – First
• Place – Mumbai
• Time – Feb 15 and 16, 2020
• Objective - To showcase the special links between the two cities and to promote ties between India and Israel.
• Events –

1. The biggest commercial success of Israeli cinema in 2019, The Mossad, a hilarious comedy, was screened (Director - Alon Gur Arye).
2. Two collaborating chefs Ilan Garusi from Jerusalem and Amninder Sandhu from Mumbai demonstrated special fusion meals.

4.2  US launches International Religious Freedom Alliance

• The United States in Feb2020 announced the launch of a 27-nation International Religious Freedom Alliance aimed at protecting and preserving religious freedom across the world.
• It is an Alliance of like-minded partners who treasure, and fight for, international religious freedom for every human being.

4.3  Revolutionary Guards of Iran in Feb 2020 unveiled Raad-500 short-range ballistic missile powered by “new generation” Zoheir engines.

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

5.1 School Health and Wellness Ambassador

• Centre launched this Initiative under Ayushman Bharat.
• Two teachers in every government school will be identified as 'health and wellness ambassadors'.
• Objective –The Initiative aims to foster growth, development and educational achievements of school-going children by promoting their health and well-being.
• The initiative will be linked with other government initiatives such as the Eat Right campaign, Fit India movement and Poshan Abhiyaan for the overall development of children’s health.

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• 6. MISCELLANEOUS (Prelims, Various GS Papers)

6.1 Movie Review –Parasite

• Director –Bong Joon-ho
• Running Time – 132 minutes
• Theme - A poor family, the Kims, con their way into becoming the servants of a rich family, the Parks. But their easy life gets complicated when their deception is threatened with exposure. Film is about class revolution set in a dystopia. It throws light on issues like the impending climate catastrophe, human-rights abuses, and the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor.
• Awards and Honours – 

1. Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. It was the first South Korean film to do so, as well as the first film to win with a unanimous vote since Blue Is the Warmest Colour at the Festival in 2013.
2. 77th Golden Globe Awards, won Best Foreign Language Film, becoming the first ever Korean film to achieve that feat.
3. 92nd Academy Awards - It went on to win four awards: Best Picture, Best Director, International Feature Film and Original Screenplay.

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• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1 Recent decisions of Maharashtra government

• Maharashtra government employees to have 5-day work week from Feb 29.
• Current daily work hours increased by 45 minutes.
• Singing national anthem made compulsory in Maharashtra colleges from Feb 19.
• Made teaching Marathi mandatory in all schools in the state up to Class 10 irrespective of the board.

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

8.1 Dan David Prize, 2020

• Gita Sen of India won Dan David Prize for ‘Present-Gender Equality’ jointly with Debora Diniz of Brazil.
• Lonnie G. Bunch III (US) and Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (US) won for ‘Past-Cultural Preservation and Revival’.
• Demis Hassabis (UK) and Prof. Amnon Shashua won for ‘Future-Artificial Intelligence’
• The Prizes are given by the Dan David Foundation at Tel Aviv University, Israel.
• Who was Dan David? - Dan David (1929-2011) was a Romanian-born Israeli businessman and philanthropist.He joined a Zionist youth movement at the age of 16.

8.2 First-ever helicopter services of Uttarakhand were started by Heritage Aviation from Dehradun’s Sahastradhara helipad to Gauchar and Chinyalisaur under centre’s RCS-UDAN (Regional Connectivity Scheme. 

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

9.1 World Radio Day(WRD) was celebrated on Feb 13

• The Day was decided by UNESCO on November 3, 2011 during its 36th conference.
• It is celebrated on Feb 13 because on this day United Nations Radio was established in 1946.
• World Radio Day 2020 theme: This edition of WRD is divided into three main sub-themes -

1. Advocating for pluralism in radio, including a mix of public, private and community broadcasters.
2. Encouraging representation in the newsroom, with teams comprised of diverse society groups.
3. Promoting a diversity of editorial content and programme types reflecting the variety of the audiences.

• Radio in India:

1. All India Radio (AIR) is one of the largest radio networks in the world, was founded in 1956.
2. FM broadcasting began in July 23, 1977, in Chennai.
3. Until 1993, AIR was the only radio broadcaster in India.
4. Radio City Banglore was the first private FM radio station that started on July 3, 2001.
5. In India, private FM is not allowed to broadcast news.

• Jagadish Chandra Bose was the person who first demonstrated the science behind capturing radio waves and Guglielmo Marconi was the one who invented the radio transmitter in the 1890s.

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

10.1  Ranking – Military Balance report, 2020

• Global spending on defence rose by 4% in 2019
• Report is prepared by International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

• Visit link to know more about the report –
  
  https://www.iiss.org/publications/the-military-balance

10.2 Daily dose of FIVE Facts -

• All India Police Science Congress was organised in Lucknow in Nov 2019. 
• 20th edition of Nagaland Hornbill Festival was organised in Dec 2019. 
• Deepika Kumari won gold medal for India in individual event at the Asian Archery Championships in Bangkok in November 2019.
• Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Leander Paes won the doubles match in India’s Davis Cup tennis tie against Pakistan in November 2019.
• Sumit Nagalwon two singles matches for India in India’s Davis Cup tennis tie against Pakistan in November 2019.

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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