Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 17-03-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 17-03-2020

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. No pre-arrest bail for activists Navlakha and Teltumbde–The Supreme Court rejected pleas made by activists Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha for pre-arrest bail in the Bhima Koregaon case. A Bench of Justices Arun Mishra and M. R. Shah invoked Section 43D (4) of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and held that the provision “bars” the relief of anticipatory bail. The Bench made it clear that there seemed to be “prima facie evidence” under the UAPA.
2. WEF Young Global Leaders List–Five Indians named by World Economic Forum (WEF) in its new list of 115 Young Global Leaders (under the age of 40): Tara Singh Vachani (CEO of Antara Senior Living), VinatiMutreja (MD and CEO, Vinati Organics Ltd), and Swapan Mehra (CEO, Iora Ecological Solutions), Byju Classes’ founder ByjuRaveendran and Zomato’s co-founder Gaurav Gupta.
3. Gantz chosen to form Israel govt. - Israel’s ex-military chief Benny Gantz was nominated to try to form a government but further talks were expected with his bitter rival, Premier Benjamin Netanyahu, on an emergency alliance to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr.Gantz, who heads the centrist Blue and White party, called for “unity” and urged Prime Minister Netanyahu to join him as Israel seeks to end a crippling political stalemate after three inconclusive elections in less than a year. Mr.Gantz, 60, won recommendations from 61 lawmakers, a razor thin majority in the 120-member Knesset, or Parliament. His backers did not include Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud, but Mr.Rivlin has urged the two men to work together in an emergency unity government, in order to avoid a national policy vacuum in response to the pandemic.
   
4. Sri Lanka Opposition parties ask President to postpone election - Many Opposition parties in Sri Lanka have called for postponing the general election scheduled for April 25, in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country. Their request comes a day after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa told SAARC leaders that Sri Lanka’s parliamentary election will be held as scheduled.
5. Nath rules out floor test after meeting Governor – Capping a day of hectic political activity, MP CM Kamal Nath called on Governor Lalji Tandon at the Raj Bhavan. He later ruled out holding a floor test in the Assembly, claiming that his government enjoyed a majority. The Speaker’s decision, soon after the Governor’s address on the first day of the Budget session, scuttled an expected floor test.
   
6. Zero tolerance: Centre notifies new Pocso rules - The government has notified the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Rules 2020, enabling implementation of recent amendments to the Act that made punishment provisions more stringent and, for the first time, defined child pornography and provided for crackdown for possession of pornographic material involving children. The Pocso rules became effective from March 9. The rules specify that state governments must formulate a child protection policy based on the principle of zero-tolerance to violence against children, which shall be adopted by all institutions, organisations, or any other agency working with children.
7. Travel from EU, U.K. banned as India tightens preventive steps - In a series of temporary preventive measures, the Group of Ministers (GoM) on COVID-19 banned the entry of travellers from European Union nations, the European Free Trade Association, Turkey and the United Kingdom to India from March 18. After its seventh meeting on the COVID-19 outbreak, the GoM also called for expanding the compulsory quarantine for a minimum period of 14 days for passengers coming from/transiting through UAE, Qatar, Oman, and Kuwait. Central government sets up a central helpline -- 011-23978046 -- related to coronavirus outbreak.
   
8. COVID 19 pandemic - Odisha reports first case - The Union Health Ministry update on COVID-19 cases reported four new cases, taking the tally to 114 confirmed cases, including 13 discharges and two deaths, and 5,200 contacts, who are under surveillance. One fresh case each was reported from Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Kerala. But reports from States put the total number of cases, including fatalities, at 123. The highest number of cases at 39, is from Maharashtra, with two more people, including a Philippine national, testing positive. With one more confirmation, Karnataka now has eight cases.
9. NCOIS launches three new advance warning systems - The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has launched three new products for the benefit of fishermen, people living in coastal areas of South India. First, the Small Advisory and Forecast Services System (SVAS). Second, Swell Surge Forecast System (SSFS) and third Algal Bloom Information Service (ABIS). All three products are available for free and will help in significantly reducing damage and losses for the users concerned and for authorities to make contingency plans for reducing damage.
   
10. The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has launched ‘Higher Education Leadership Development Programme for Administrators’ in New Delhi - The programme is a joint initiative of University Grants Commission (UGC) and the British Council under the auspices of UK India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI). It is to train the senior and middle level academic administrators to enable them to bring about systemic changes with renewed approaches, capacity, tools and skill in Universities in India. The programme is a step towards institutional development in line with Governments’ commitment to improve the quality of education being imparted in Universities.

Important Exam Notifications
S. No.	Institution	Exam or Post Name	Vacancies or Seats	Qualification	Last Date to Apply	Link for Details
1	BECIL	Technical Assistant, Multi Tasking Staff	32	10th Class, Any Degree	March 20, 2020	https://www.becil.com/uploads/vacancy/0438dca25e05acf980ead4d8abebc7b9.pdf
2	CSIR	UGC NET June 2020	-	BE/ B. Tech/B. Pharma/ MBBS or PG	April15, 2020	https://img.freejobalert.com/uploads/2020/03/Public-Notice-English-CSIR-UGC-NET.pdf
3	NTA	UGC NET June 2020	-	PG	April 16, 2020	https://img.freejobalert.com/uploads/2020/03/Notification-NTA-UGC-NET-June-2020.pdf
4	RPCAU	Sr Scientist, Head, Subject Matter Specialist & Other	143	10th Class, 12th Class, Degree, PG, Ph.D	April 17, 2020	https://www.rpcau.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Detailed-Advertisement-General-Instructions-KVK-Positions-.pdf
5	Knowledge Consortium of Gujarat	Consultant	36	LLB, Any Degree, PG	March24, 2020	https://kcg.gujarat.gov.in/sites/default/files/Instruction%20(English).pdf
6	National Law University, HP	Professor, Asst Professor, Finance Officer & Other	51	10th Class, 10+2, Diploma, Any Degree, M.Sc, MCA	March31, 2020	https://hpnlu.ac.in/PDF/bfab9174-bb02-4662-beaf-f798537ad916.pdf
7	NIMHANS	Psychiatric Social Worker, Jr Scientific Officer & Other	16	Degree, PG, Ph.D	April2, 2020	http://nimhans.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/1.-Notification-Advt-17.pdf

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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 Plea of Nirbhaya convict quashed

• The Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by one of the Nirbhaya case convicts, Mukesh, for restoration of his legal remedies, including a curative petition, against his death sentence.
• The four convicts in the case are scheduled to be hanged to death on March 20. Mukesh, through his counsel M. L. Sharma, said his earlier lawyer had coerced him to sign documents for vested political interests hatched in a joint criminal conspiracy.
• The petition claimed the limitation period to file a curative petition was three years from the date of dismissal of the review plea. He sought to “restore” the rights available to him and allow him to file curative and mercy petitions till July 2021.
• As of now, all four — Pawan, Mukesh, Vinay and Akshay — have exhausted their available remedies.
• A 23-year-old physiotherapy student was gang-raped in a moving bus in South Delhi on December 16, 2012. She died after a fort night from the massive injuries she suffered. Six people, including the four convicts and a juvenile, were named as accused. Ram Singh, the sixth accused, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar Jail days after the trial began.
         

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

2.1 Eleventh National Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) Conference

• Context - The Eleventh National Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) Conference-2020 inaugurated by the Ministry for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare
• Details - A Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) is an agricultural extension centre in India created by ICAR (Indian Council for Agricultural Research) and its affiliated institutions at district level to provide various types of farm support to the agricultural sector. In India there are total 668 KVKs. These centres serve as the ultimate link between the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and farmers, and aim to apply agricultural research in a practical, localized setting. K.V.K. will operate under the administrative control of State Agricultural University (SAU) or Central Institute situated in a particular area. Different scientists from different disciplines as per the specific requirement of that particular area are posted in the Krishi Vigyan Kendra. 
• The mandate of KVK is Technology Assessment and Demonstration for its Application and Capacity Development. To implement the mandate effectively, the following activities are envisaged for each KVK.

1. On-farm testing to assess the location specificity of agricultural technologies under various farming systems.
2. Front line demonstrations to establish production potential of technologies on the farmers' fields
3. Capacity development of farmers and extension personnel to update their knowledge and skills on modern agricultural technologies
4. Provide farm advisories using ICT.
5. To produce quality technological products (seed, planting material, bio-agents, livestock) and make it available to farmers
6. To organize front line extension activities, identify and document selected farm innovations and converge with ongoing schemes and programmes within the mandate of KVK.

2.2   Centre nominated Financial Services Secretary Debasish Panda to RBI board.

2.3  RBI revised exposure limits for urban cooperative banks (UCBs) to a single borrower and a group of borrowers to 15% and 25%   respectively, of tier-1 capital. 

2.4 Cabinet approves 4% increase in dearness allowances (DA) for central government employees and pensioners.

2.5 Cabinet approved construction of 780 km of green highways at a cost of Rs. 7,660 crore in four states -Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

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

3.1 Assam-based Jadav Payeng won Commonwealth 128thPoints of Light Award for environmental conservation

• Environmental activist Jadav Payeng, popularly called the 'Forest Man', was named as the 128th Commonwealth Points of Light Award winner.
• Queen Elizabeth II has honoured Payeng for his exceptional voluntary service to environmental conservation.
• Based in Assam's Jorhat district, 57-year-old Payeng has transformed a treeless sandbar along the Brahmaputra river into a 1,360-acre vibrant wildlife haven.
• Payeng has worked for years to transform the sandbar into a home to animals and birds of varied species, named 'Molai forest' after him.
• He has also received a Padma Shree Award.
• The Points of Light Award recognises people across the 53 Commonwealth nations for the difference they are making in their communities and beyond.

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

4.1 Former high court judge Katerina Sakellaropoulou sworn in as the first woman President of Greece

• Greece’s first female president, a former high court judge, was formally sworn in to office, nearly two months after the country’s parliament voted overwhelmingly to elect her.
• The swearing-in ceremony for Katerina Sakellaropoulou, 63, took place in an almost empty parliament, as part of measures to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. Only a handful of officials and a limited number of journalists were present.
• Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis nominated Sakellaropoulou as a non-partisan candidate who would enjoy broad support from across the political spectrum.
• All major parties voted in favor, with Sakellaropoulou being elected to the largely ceremonial post in a 261-33 vote in January, well above the 200 votes required. Six lawmakers were absent. She was an independent candidate.
• Greece has a low number of women in senior positions in politics, and Mitsotakis had been criticized for selecting a nearly all-male Cabinet after he won general elections in July 2019. In the current Greek Cabinet, all but one of the 18 senior positions are held by men.
• She was elected to succeed former President of Greece, Prokopis Pavlopoulos.   

4.2 Shutdown in Spain as virus spreads.

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

5.1 Kerala government launched digital literacy programme titled ‘I am also digital’

• The campaign is being powered by the Kerala State IT Mission under the Department of Information Technology, and the Kerala Literacy Mission..
• The campaign aims at building the capacity of the society to be able to enjoy benefits of the digital technology, and educating the public about cyber security issues. It will seek to create awareness about e-governance and equip it to make use of various digital platforms through which services are delivered.
• The campaign will seek to create public awareness about the e-governance and equip them to make use of digital platforms through which a wide array of services are being delivered. Educating people on the increasing significance of social media and equipping them against their misuse for mischievous purposes like spreading fake news will be part of the programme.
• The campaign will be piloted in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation soon, with the selection of 50 master trainees having sound basic knowledge of handling online IT tools. Alongside, five instructors from each of the 100 wards of the city will be selected. The master trainees will instruct the ward-level instructors, who, in turn, will take the campaign to their respective localities.
   

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• 6. MISCELLANEOUS (Prelims, Various GS Papers)

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

• Indian Naval Ship (INS) Shardul handed over 600 tonnes of rice and relief material to flood-hit Madagascar.Earlier, on 30th January, INS Airavat brought immediate relief material. India was the first country to respond during devastation caused by Cyclone. The Foreign Minister of Madagascar stated that the assistance is historic and proves the excellent relationship of Madagascar and India and that a friend in need is a friend indeed.
• IAF’s C-17 Globemaster military transport aircraft brought back 58 Indians from coronavirus-hit Iran; lands at Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad.

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• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1 Centre for Policy Research (CPR) to organised conclave ‘CPR Dialogues 2020: Policy Perspectives for 21st Century India’ in New Delhi on March 2-3

• Fifth CWMA meeting - TN and Puducherry strongly objected to Karnataka’s bid to seek approval for the Mekedatu dam project, at the fifth Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) meeting. 
• CWMA was formed by the Centre under  Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 to adjudicate upon the water dispute regarding the Inter-State river Cauvery and the river valley thereof among the States of Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union territory of Puducherry. It is functioned to implement the water-sharing award of the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal and to share water as modified by the Supreme Court.
• Cauvery River rises on Brahmagiri Hill of the Western Ghats in southwestern Karnataka state, flows in a south easterly direction through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and descends the Eastern Ghats in a series of great falls. Some of its tributaries are Arkavathi, Hemavathi, LakshmanaTheertha, Shimsa, Kabini and Harangi.
• Mekedatu Project - A multi-purpose balancing reservoir project over Mekedatu, built at a cost of Rs 5,912, was aimed at solving the drinking water problems of Bengaluru and Ramnagar district. This project was also touted as one that could generate hydroelectricity to meet the power demand in the state.
• Reasons for TN’s objection - The state contended that the proposed reservoir would affect the natural flows of the river Cauvery. It argued that Cauvery was already a deficit basin and the construction of the project, or any other project would drastically affect the lower riparian State in getting their due share of waters.

7.2 Bihar Legislative Assembly passes resolution to conduct a caste-based census in the state.

7.3 KPP Samy, DMK MLA from Tiruvottiyur Assembly constituency, passed away at 57.

7.4 Ministry of Information and Broadcasting suspends broadcast of two Kerala based news channels -- Media One and Asianet News TV Channel -- for 48 hours for insensitive reporting of Delhi Violence.

7.5 NMCG (National Mission for Clean Ganga) organises “Ganga AmantranAbhiyan” rafting and kayaking expedition from Devprayag (Uttarakhand) to Gangasagar (West Bengal).

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

8.1 NCOIS launched three new advance warning systems

• The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has launched three new products for the benefit of fishermen, people living in coastal areas of South India. First, the Small Advisory and Forecast Services System (SVAS). Second, Swell Surge Forecast System (SSFS) and third Algal Bloom Information Service (ABIS). All three products are available for free and will help in significantly reducing damage and losses for the users concerned and for authorities to make contingency plans for reducing damage.
• SVAS is for small vessels of beam width up to seven metres covering the entire range of beam widths of the fishing vessels used in all the nine coastal States and Union Territories. It warns them about potential sites where vessel overturning can take place, 10 days in advance. The warning system is based on ‘Boat Safety Index' (BSI) derived from wave model forecast outputs like wave height, steepness, directional spread and rapid development of wind at sea which is boat-specific.
• SSFS has been designed for forecasting swell surges occurring in the west coast two-three days in advance as they generally catch the local people by surprise. Such events are intermittent throughout the year. ‘Kallakkadal' is a colloquial term used by Kerala fishermen to refer to the freaky flooding episodes. During ‘Kallakkadals', the sea surges into the land and inundates vast areas. It is different from Tsunamis as two different kind of waves are involved.
• The ABIS is to help fishermen, fishery resource managers and ecologists get realtime information about the spread of phytoplankton blooms with details of species and size in North Eastern Arabian Sea, coastal waters off Kerala, Gulf of Mannar and coastal waters of Gopalpur. Harmful algal blooms are not only detrimental to coastal fisheries but tend to induce respiratory problems within the coastal population.
• Earth System Science Organization (ESSO) – INCOIS – It was established as an autonomous body in 1999 under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) and is a unit of the ESSO. Its aim is to provide the best possible ocean information and advisory services to society, industry, government agencies and the scientific community through sustained ocean observations and constant improvement through systematic and focussed research. For this it provides round-the-clock monitoring and warning services for the coastal population on tsunamis, storm surges, high waves, etc. through the in-house Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC). The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO designated ITEWC as a Regional Tsunami Service Provider (RTSP) to provide tsunami warnings to countries on the Indian Ocean Rim. It also provides daily advisories to fisher folk to help them easily locate areas of abundant fish in the ocean while saving on both fuel and time used to search for the same.
   

8.2 Diet chart for pregnant women and lactating mothers formulated by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and shared with all anganwadi centres across the country: WCD Minister Smriti Irani.

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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–  Report–Report based on government data available on Central Adoption Resources Authority (CARA) website    

• More than 29,000 prospective parents registered with CARA and just 2,317 children available for adoption.
• Among the orphan children, 1401 are with special needs.
• There are just 89 ‘normal’ children below two years, the most sought after age group for adoption while there are 649 ‘normal’ children who are over two years.
• There are 178 children in the ‘siblings’ category. As per rules, siblings have to be adopted together by the prospective parents.
• The data reflect a worrisome trend about a wide and consistently growing gap.
• In 2018-19, 3,374 in-country adoptions and 653 inter-country adoptions were recorded.
• CARA is focussing on simplifying procedures, expediting the process for declaring a child free for adoption, ensuring no child is given away in adoption outside the legal system, and bridge the gap between the Juvenile Justice Act 2015 and Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act (HAMA), 1956.
• CARA faces a big challenge in HAMA, which is a personal law where there is no monitoring mechanism for adoption which is executed by families involved.
• Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) is a statutory body of Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India. It functions as the nodal body for adoption of Indian children and is mandated to monitor and regulate in-country and inter-country adoptions. CARA is designated as the Central Authority to deal with inter-country adoptions in accordance with the provisions of the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, 1993, ratified by Government of India in 2003.
• CARA primarily deals with adoption of orphan, abandoned and surrendered children through its associated /recognised adoption agencies.

 For more information download pdf from here –

 http://cara.nic.in/resource/adoption_Stattistics.html

 10.2 Daily dose of  FIVE Facts -

• According to Public Enterprises Survey 2018-19, ONGCis the top profit-making PSU.
• Govind Dev Giriwas appointed Treasurer of the Shri Ram Janma bhoomi Tirth Kshetra Trust in Feb2020? 
• Usha Sharmais the Director General of Archaeological Survey of India.
• The Pradhan Mantri Fasal BimaYojana (PMFBY) was launched in the year2016.
• Sustaining all life on Earthwas the theme of the World Wildlife Day observed in March 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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