Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 18-02-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 18-02-2020

• [message]
• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. SC appoints mediators to get Shaheen protesters off road –Disapproving the continuing blockade at Shaheen Bagh and expressing hope that good sense would prevail over anti-CAA agitators leading them to vacate the road and shift their protest to an alternative site, the Supreme Court asked senior advocates Sanjay Hegde, Sadhana Ramachandran and former chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah to hold consultations with the agitators.Though a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K M Joseph held organising protests is good for democracy and people have a fundamental right to dissent against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act even when the matter is pending in court, they disapproved the practice of blocking roads and public places during stir.
2. UK MP vocal on J&K refused entry, India cites invalid –A British Labour MP, who has been highly critical of India’s decision to scrap J&K’s special status and who runs a British cross-party parliamentary group on Kashmir, was refused entry into the country. Debbie Abrahams, senior vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Kashmir (APPGK), landed in New Delhi with her PIO parliamentary aide Harpreet Uppal, to be told her visa was not in order. She claimed she was granted an e-visa in October 2019 that was valid till October 2020, adding she had wanted to visit a bereaved relative before travelling to Pakistan for an official visit with the APPGK.
   
3. Centre starts delimitation of assembly seats in UT of J&K –In a move that will pave the way for assembly elections in the Union Territory of J&K, the Centre has begun the process of fresh delimitation of assembly seats as well as readjustment of boundaries of parliamentary constituencies. The move comes more than six months after abrogation of Article 370 in J&K and three-and-a-half months since J&K was reorganised into the UTs of J&K and Ladakh.
4. 1951 proposed as cut-off year to define indigenous Assam people – A home ministry-appointed committee is learnt to have proposed 1951 as the cut-off year for determining indigenous people of Assam while also recommending introduction of Inner Line Permit (ILP) to control the influx of outsiders into the state. The committee — set up to suggest ways to implement Clause 6 of the Assam Accord that envisages constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to protect, preserve and promote cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people — has in its report, likely to be submitted to home minister Amit Shah soon, also suggested reservation of 67% of seats in the state assembly for indigenous people. The recommendations, if accepted, may help soothe frayed nerves in Assam over CAA, which the local population sees as contrary to provisions of the Assam Accord.
   
5. Pak no longer a terror safe haven, claims PM –There are no “safe havens” for terror groups in Pakistan “right now”, PM Imran Khan said while admitting publicly that it was possibly not the case under previous regimes.Addressing an international meet marking 40 years of hosting Afghan refugees in the country, he said instability in the war-torn neighbouring country was not in Pakistan’s interest. Khan’s assertion came as the FATF, the global anti-money laundering watchdog, began a crucial meeting in Paris where Pakistan is trying to wriggle out of being blacklisted for not doing enough to combat terror funding.
6. China’s Uighurs detained for growing beards, wearing veils –A newly revealed database exposes in extraordinary detail the main reasons for the detentions of Emer, his three sons, and hundreds of others in Karakax County: their religion and their family ties. The database obtained by AP profiles the internment of 311 individuals with relatives abroad and lists information on more than 2,000 of their relatives, neighbours and friends. Each entry includes the detainee’s name, address, national identity number, detention date and location, along with a detailed dossier on their family, religious and neighbourhood background, the reason for detention, and a decision on whether or not to release them. Issued within the past year, the documents do not indicate which government department compiled them or for whom..
7. SEBI split advisory and distribution –The regulator did not specify the upper limit of fees, a consultation paper floated by SEBI in January had proposed capping the fees at 2.5% of the assets under advice or a fixed fee of Rs.75,000 per year per family.Further, an Individual Investment Adviser will not be able to provide distribution services.
8. Taliban fighters attacked Afghan government forces overnight, and militant commanders said on Monday insurgency operations would go-ahead until they receive fresh instructions based on a deal with the U.S. to reduce violence in the country.Last week, a senior U.S. administration official said negotiations with Taliban representatives in Qatar had resulted in an agreement in- principle for a week-long reduction of violence, but the seven-day period had not commenced. The official said the agreement covered all Afghan forces, and would be closely monitored.
   
9. Gunmen killed twenty-four people, including a pastor, in an attack on a church during Sunday mass in northwestern Burkina Faso.It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack, which comes as jihadist groups with links to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State seek to gain control over once peaceful rural Burkina Faso, fuelling ethnic and religious conflict.
10. COVID 19 - Updates– More than 300 American cruise liner passengers, including 14 who were diagnosed with COVID-19, were flown home to military bases in the U.S., after two weeks under quarantine off Japan. The cruise ship Diamond Princess, with more than 400 cases, has become the biggest test so far of other countries’ ability to contain an outbreak that has killed 1,770 people in China and five elsewhere. Although U.S. officials said passengers with virus symptoms would not be taken, 14 passengers found at the last minute to have tested positive were permitted to board the planes. The U.S. State Department said they were kept in isolation on the flights. Across mainland China, officials said the total number of cases rose by 2,048 to 70,548. That was slightly more new cases than were reported on Sunday, but hundreds fewer than reported on Saturday..  

Important Exam Notifications
S. No.	Institution	Exam or Post Name	Vacancies or Seats	Qualification	Last Date to Apply	Link for Details
1	Kodagu DCCB Bank	Manager, Asst Manager, Driver & Attender	41	SSLC, M.Com, MBA	Feb26, 2020	http://www.kodagudccbank.com/recruitment/recruitment_notification.pdf
2	South Indian Bank	Probationary Manager (CA)	15	CA	Feb 23, 2020	https://www.southindianbank.com/UserFiles/file/Notification_Probationary_Manager_CA_2020.pdf
3	National Institute of Hydrology	Scientist B,C,D,F	8	Degree (Engg), PG, Ph.D	March 17, 2020	http://nihroorkee.gov.in/sites/default/files/advertisement.pdf
4	ECIL	Technical Officer, Scientific Asst, Jr Artisan	5	ITI, Diploma, Degree (Engg)	Feb29, 2020	http://www.ecil.co.in/jobs/Advt_No_10_2020.pdf
5	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
6	Bureau of Indian Standards	Technical Assistant & Sr Technician	50	10th Class, ITI, Diploma (Engg), Degree	March 8, 2020	https://img.freejobalert.com/uploads/2020/02/Notification-BIS-Technical-Asst-Sr-Technician-Posts.pdf
7	STPI	Member Technical Staff	11	Degree, PG, Ph.D	March15, 2020	https://recruitment.stpi.in/ad/notice.php

• [message]
• SECTION 2 - DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

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

1.1 Women Army officers eligible for permanent commission: SC 

• Context -The SC dismissed the submissions of Union government that women are physiologically weaker than men as a “sex stereotype” and declared that Short Service Commission (SSC) women officers are eligible for permanent commission and command posts in the Army irrespective of their years of service.
• Details -The verdict came on a nearly 10-year-old appeal filed by the government against a March 12, 2010 decision of the Delhi High Court to grant SSC women officers permanent commission. The Supreme Court ordered the government to implement its judgment in three months. 
• What government said? - The order castigated the government for submitting a note containing written submissions portraying women as physiologically unfit for answering the “call beyond duty” of the Army. The note had shown women officers in a poor light, saying isolation and hardships would eat into their resolve and they would have to heed to the call of pregnancy, childbirth and family. The note had mentioned that women ran the risk of capture by enemy and being taken prisoner of war.
• What the court said? - Justice Chandrachud, who wrote the judgment, countered that 30% of women officers were deputed in conflict zones. He said the note screamed of the age-old patriarchal notion that domestic obligations rested only with women. The court found the remarks in the note not only constitutionally invalid but also discriminatory, affecting the dignity of women officers.
• Important Features –
  
  1. The judgment recorded that the policy statement had endorsed permanent commission for SSC women officers in 10 streams of the ‘Combat Support Arms’ and ‘Services’ sections.
  2. These are Signals, Engineers, Army Aviation, Army Air Defence, Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME), Army Service Corps, Army Ordinance Corps and Intelligence, in addition to the existing streams of Judge Advocate General (JAG) and Army Education Corps.
  3. SSC for women is available only in the ‘Combat Support Arms’ and ‘Services’ wings of the Army.
  4. he court dismissed the government’s stand that only women officers with less than 14 years of service ought to be considered for permanent commission, and those with over 20 years of service should be pensioned immediately.
  5. Applying the judgment retrospectively, the court declared that all serving women officers would be eligible for permanent commission.
  6. The court held that a blanket ban of women SSC officers from command posts cannot be sustained by law.
  7. The court held that since command appointments were not automatic for men officers, so would it be for women. It was left to the Army to take a call on a case-to-case basis.

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

2.1 Moody’s cuts India’s growth projection

• Context -Moody’s Investors Service cuts India’s growth forecast to 5.4% for 2020 from 6.6% earlier in its update on Global Macro Outlook.
• Details -The growth projections are based on calendar year and as per its estimates, India has clocked a GDP growth of 5 per cent in 2019.
• Background - The country's real GDP grew at a meagre 4.5 per cent in Q3 2019.
• Reasons –

1. With a weak economy and depressed credit growth reinforcing each other it is difficult to envision a quick turnaround of either, even if economic deceleration may have troughed.
2. On the fiscal front, it said, the Union Budget 2020 did not contain a significant stimulus to address the demand slump.

Global growth –

1. With regard to global growth the coronavirus outbreak has diminished optimism about prospects of an incipient stabilization of global growth this year.
2. Global GDP growth forecast has been revised down, and Moody's now expect G-20 economies to collectively grow 2.4 per cent in 2020, a softer rate than last
   year, followed by a pickup to 2.8 per cent in 2021.

2.2 Rating agency Standard and Poor affirms India’s sovereign rating of 'BBB’ - maintains stableoutlook.

2.3 Cabinet approves Rs. 2,500-crore capital infusion into three public sector general insurance companies - Oriental Insurance Company Limited (OICL), National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) and United India Insurance Company Limited (UIICL).

2.4 Golden Jubilee celebrations of the National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM) in Pune held.

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

3.1 The State of India’s Birds 2020 (SoIB) Report

• Over a fifth of India’s bird diversity, ranging from the Short-toed Snake Eagle to the Sirkeer Malkoha, has suffered strong long-term declines over a 25-year
  period.
• More recent annual trends point to a drastic 80% loss among several common birds.
• Reasons for decline - Human activity, widespread presence of toxins, including pesticides; hunting and trapping for the pet trade.
• For every bird species that was found to be increasing in numbers over the long term, 11 have suffered losses, some catastrophically.
• Rare urban sparrows - Among widely known species, the common sparrow, long seen as declining in urban spaces, has a stable population overall, although the
  data from major cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai confirm the view that they have become rare in cities and urban areas.
• Vultures -The severe long-term decline of vultures, recorded and analysed for years now, is underscored by the report.
• Migratory shorebirds, along with gulls and terns, seem to have declined the most among waterbirds, the report states, consistent with population trends among Arctic-breeding shorebirds based on independent assessments.
• Habitats need help– The report find need of urgent emphasis on habitats of species of high concern, notably grasslands, scrublands, wetlands and the Western Ghats.
• The SoIB was produced using a base of 867 species, and analysed with the help of data uploaded by birdwatchers to the online platform, eBird.

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

4.1 Pakistan issues visas to Hindu pilgrims

• Pakistan issued visas to Hindu pilgrims to visit Shree Katas Raj temples in Chakwal district of Punjab province.
• The group is planning to visit Shree Katas Raj temples, also known as Qila Katas or complex of Katas temples, from February 19 to 25, the Pakistan High Commission said in a statement.
• A group of 88 Indian Hindu devotees had also visited Shree Katas Raj temples last year from December 13 to 19.
• Both these visits are covered under the Pakistan-India Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines, 1974.
• The issuing of visas to Sikh and Hindu pilgrims is in line with Pakistan government’s efforts to facilitate visits to religious shrines.
• The Katas Raj Temples also known as Qila Katas is a complex of several Hindu temples connected to one another by walkways. The temple complex surrounds a pond named Katas which is regarded as sacred by Hindus. The complex is located in the Potohar Plateau region of Pakistan's Punjab province.

4.2  Europe - Parliament of North Macedonia approved country's accession to NATO.

4.3  Asia - Vietnam's national media group VOV (Voice of Vietnam) opens its first Indian bureau in Delhi.

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

5.1 'Appreciate and Commend' scheme

• Punjab Police launch the scheme to honour diligent police officers.
• The aim of scheme to keep the moral of cops high.
• Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta, launched the scheme at Phillaur.
• Nominations will be sought from police chiefs of various districts by the 25th of every month, and these will be screened by a committee comprising senior
  Police Officers from the headquarters and the field. The names would be announced by the 5th of every month.
• The awardees included two Inspectors, six Sub Inspectors, three Assistant Sub Inspectors, one Head Constable, and three Constables.

• [message]
• 6. MISCELLANEOUS (Prelims, Various GS Papers)

6.1 Weekly Roundup –Accidents and Natural and Man-made Disasters

• Memorial for 40 CRPF personnel killed in a terror attack in Pulwama on February 14, 2019 inaugurated at the Lethpora camp of the force in J&K. The names of all the 40 personnel along with their pictures will be part of the memorial along with the moto of the CRPF- "Seva and Nishtha" (Service and Loyalty).
• Storm Dennis wreaks havoc across United Kingdom, parts of France.

• [message]
• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1 Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Babulal Marandi announced MERGER of his Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) with the Bhartiya Janta Party.

7.2 Veteran journalist Nandu R Kulkarni passed away at the age of 70. He was Mumbai bureau chief of “The Statesman”.

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

8.1 High Level Global Conference on Road Safety for Achieving Global Goals 2030

• Edition – 3rd
• Place – Stockholm
• Time – Feb 19 – 20, 2020
• Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways and MSMEs Nitin Gadkari representing India.
• Significance –

1. Road safety is an urgent health and development matter. The number of deaths on the world’s roads remains unacceptably high, with an estimated 1.35 million people killed each year. As many as 50 million people are injured.
2. Road traffic crashes are the eighth leading cause of death globally for people of all ages, and the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5–29 years.
3. Road traffic deaths and injuries shatter lives and throw families into poverty. On average, they cost countries 3% of their GDP.

8.2  Two-day Destination Management and Community Participation event/meeting held at Rann of Kutch in Gujarat.

8.3 Kerala government launched 'Yodhavu' (Warrior) mobile app for public to inform police about drug abuse and distribution.

8.4 Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu in Feb 2020 inaugurated the Hubballi-Dharwad Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in Karnataka.

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

9.1 BioAsia 2020

 

• Edition – 17th
• Time – February 17-19, 2020
• Place – Hyderabad, India
• Significance – Asia's largest biotechnology and life sciences forum
• Theme 2020 – 'Today for Tomorrow'.
• Details –Around 2,000 Delegates representing 37 Countries, 800 Corporates, 75 Startups will participate.

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

10.1  Ranking – World Population Review (US), 2020

• Economy of Indiawas fifth largest in the world in 2019 with a GDP of $ 2.94 trillion.

• For detail information visit here –
  
  http://worldpopulationreview.com/

10.2 Daily dose of FIVE Facts -

•  Bandhan Express train starts its journey from Khulna in Bangladesh and ends at Kolkata in India.
• The International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, observed on January 27.
• Sarsai Nawar wetland is in Uttar Pradesh.
• Pavel Ponkratov won the 12th Chennai Open international GM chess tournament 2020.
• The first Ganga-Volga Dialogue of Civilizations was organised in January 2020 in New Delhi.

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!

• [message]
• SECTION 3 - MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions)

Solve the online quiz given, right now. Check scores, and relative performance!

---