Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 11-05-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 11-05-2020

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. COVID-19 Updates - India reports 128 more deaths, 3,277 fresh cases in 24 hours – India reported 3,277 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and an additional 128 deaths, taking the total tally to 62,939 and 2,109 deaths. During this period, 1,511 patients were discharged after treatment, which takes the total recovery rate to 30.76%. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that so far a total of 16,09,037 samples have been tested. Data released by the Ministry noted that in 10 States/Union Territories no COVID-19 cases have been reported in the past 24 hours. State Health Departments reported a total of 66, 918 positive cases nationwide, with 43,888 active ones. The death toll stood at 2,200.
2. COVID-19 Updates - Truck carrying migrant workers overturns, 5 killed – Five migrant workers were killed and 13 others injured when a truck in which they were travelling overturned on a highway in Narsinghpur district of Madhya Pradesh. District officials said 15 migrant workers were travelling in the Agra-bound truck laden with mangoes coming from Hyderabad. They were headed towards Jhansi and Etah districts of Uttar Pradesh.
3. COVID-19 Updates - Norms issued for restart of industrial units – The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has issued a series of guidelines for restarting manufacturing industries after the lockdown period. Certain economic activities have already been allowed on gradual lifting of restrictions in some zones. Instructions have been issued for safekeeping of hazardous and flammable materials. Guidelines also pertain to chemical disasters, management of chemical (terrorism) disasters, and strengthening of safety and security for transport of petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL) tankers. The State governments have been told to ensure, through the district officials concerned, that the off-site disaster management plan of the respective major accident hazard (MAH) units are up to date.
4. India-Sino Relations - Troops face off in Ladakh, Sikkim – Two incidents of face-off occurred between Indian and Chinese troops last week, resulting in injuries to several soldiers on both sides. The first incident occurred in eastern Ladakh on May 5 and the second at Naku La, Sikkim, on May 9. The issues were resolved locally.
5. COVID-19 Updates - 15 pairs of trains to run from tomorrow – The Indian Railways said it planned to restart passenger services in a phased manner — initially with 15 pairs of trains — from May 12 onwards, almost 50 days after the services were stopped amid COVID-19 lockdown. The announcement comes even as the Centre has extended the lockdown till May 17 to contain the spread of the virus. To begin with, the 15 pairs of trains, meaning a total of 30 return journeys, would be run as special trains from the New Delhi station connecting Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi. Only passengers with valid confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter the stations.
6. Environment and Ecology - Massive revamp of Forest Ministry units – A proposal from “various VIPs” in Himachal Pradesh last year to change the jurisdiction of the Dehradun regional office of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to Chandigarh has triggered a massive restructuring plan. The reorganisation plan entails merging the 10 regional offices of the MoEF&CC and 19 centres of the Forest Survey of India (FSI), National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and Central Zoo Authority (CZA) into just 19 regional offices of the Ministry. The stated objective of merging regional offices with the NTCA, WCCB, CZA and FSI centres is improving efficiency and ensuring better coordination bur environment and wildlife activists see the push for restructuring during the COVID-19 lockdown as a design to make these key conservation wings of the Ministry toothless.
7. Operation Vande Bharat / Samudra Setu Updates - Naval ship brings back 698 from Male – Naval ship INS Jalashwa carrying 698 Indians from the Maldives arrived at Kochi port. Part of Operation Samudra Setu, the mission brought the first group of Indian evacuees by sea after an international lockdown of all modes of transport took effect about two months ago against the COVID-19 pandemic. The ship berthed around 10 a.m. at the international cruise terminal of the port, which was ready to receive the evacuees, comprising 595 male and 103 female passengers. Among them were 14 children below the age of 10 and 19 pregnant women.
8. COVID-19 Updates – Clusters in S. Korea, Germany show risks of ‘second wave’ – A family in China, nightclubs in South Korea and a slaughterhouse in Germany — new clusters of infections are igniting concerns about a second wave even as calls grow in some countries to relax restrictions even further. In Germany, where thousands have protested remaining restrictions in recent days, health officials say the number of people each confirmed coronavirus patient infects rose above 1 again, reflecting a renewed increase in cases. The number must be below 1 for outbreaks to decline. 
9. COVID-19 Updates – Trump aides stress need for reopening –  Two top U.S. economic advisers defended the need for an expeditious reopening of the economy even as COVID-19 reached into the White House despite the extraordinary precautions taken there. Secretary Steven Mnuchin and economic adviser Larry Kudlow also again expressed optimism that the U.S. economy would register a sharp recovery in the second half of the year, with Mr. Kudlow predicting “a tremendous snapback” in 2021. But their comments on Sunday talk shows came just two days after the country recorded its steepest job losses in history, for an overall unemployment rate of a historic 14.7%.
10. COVID-19 Updates - NIV develops test to detect antibodies – The National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, has developed an immunological assay — enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) — to detect antibodies that the body develops in response to infection by the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus. The test will detect antibodies in blood samples. ELISA is routinely used for detecting HIV infection.

Important Exam Notifications
S. No.	Institution	Exam or Post Name	Vacancies or Seats	Qualification	Last Date to Apply	Link for Details
1	NIMR	Scientist, Project Officer/ Section Officer, MTS & Other	24	High School, 12th Class, Degree, PG	May 18, 2020	https://nimr.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/VACANCY-NOTIFICATION-FOR-CONTRACTUAL-POSTS-2.pdf
2	NHM, Naharlagun	Nurse	100	GNM, B.Sc (Nursing)	May 15, 2020	http://nrhmarunachal.gov.in/Advertisements/8.05.2020.%20Advertisment%20Covid-19.pdf
3	DME, Assam	Staff Nurse, Technician & Other	331	GNM, HSSLC, ITI, Diploma, Degree	May 30, 2020	https://img.freejobalert.com/uploads/2020/05/Notification-DME-Assam-Staff-Nurse-Nursing-Sister-Other.pdf
4	IKDRC, Ahmedabad	Physician, Medical Officer & Other	278	GNM, Degree, PG	May 15, 2020	http://ikdrc-its.org/img/207/File/WALK%20IN%20INTERVIEW.pdf
5	DME, Assam	Ward Boy, Group-IV, Attendant, Packer, Workshop Worker & Other	176	8th Class	May 30, 2020	https://dme.assam.gov.in/sites/default/files/swf_utility_folder/departments/dme_lipl_in_oid_8/menu/document/advertisement-grade-iv_posts_lakhimpur_medical_college_north_lakhimpur.pdf
6	Chhattisgarh Assembly Secretariat	Counter Reporter	8	Any Degree	May 30, 2020	http://cgvidhansabha.gov.in/recruitment/reporterMay2020/reporter-05052020.PDF
7	SHKM Govt Medical College	Research Scientist, Lab Technician	9	MBBS, B.Sc, M.Sc, Ph.D	--	https://img.freejobalert.com/uploads/2020/05/Notification-SHKM-Govt-Medical-College-Research-Scientist-Lab-Technician-Posts.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 Not Available Today

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

2.1 Pharmaceutical exports from India grew 7.57% to $20.58 billion in 2019-20  

• The Indian pharmaceuticals market is the third largest in terms of volume and thirteenth largest in terms of value.
• A rather subdued show, considering the 10.72% growth in 2018-19 and the target for FY20 set at $22 billion, this came amid COVID-19 denting the fourth quarter performance, especially that of March.
• The pandemic impact cast a shadow on the gains made in the previous three quarters.
• As the fourth quarter brought in a negative growth of almost 3%, overall exports growth rate has been brought down to 7.57% from 11.5% which was the growth at the end of the first nine months.
• Pharma is one of the few sectors in India that have consistently shown a growth rate, despite economic slowdown.
• The exports during 2018-19 totalled $19.13 billion and the growth trajectory continued well into 2019-20 with a growth of 11.21% in Q1; 8.69% in Q2; and 14.64% in Q3.
• Exports in January 2020 increased 11.72%. But in February and March, growth rates were 7.7% and minus 23.24% respectively, resulting in a negative growth of 2.97% in Q4.

2.2 Government hiked market borrowing estimate to Rs. 12 lakh crore in 2020-21; Budget target was Rs 7.8 lakh crore.

2.3 ICMR, Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Ltd (BBIL) tie up to develop COVID-19 vaccine.

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

3.1 Scientists from the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), Dehradun have found a seasonal advancement in 220 surging or surge-type glaciers in the Karakoram Range of Ladakh

• WIHG is an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
• Surge-type glaciers are glaciers that have shown increase in volume and length over a period of time. They go against the normal trend of considerable reduction in volume and length of most glaciers in the Himalaya in recent decades. This glaciers contain 40% of the total glaciated area of the Karakoram range. This glaciers are subjected to cyclical flow instabilities instead of flowing with a constant speed.
• The oscillation of such glaciers have been broadly classified into, first Active (Surge) Phase - brief (months to years) rapid flow and Quiescent Phase - lengthy (tens to hundreds of years) slow flow or stagnation. Since there is low amount of melt water to flow unsteadily underneath the glaciers surge is more controlled in winter compared to summer.
• Surging glaciers can lead to the destruction and can form an ice-dammed lake which can bring catastrophic outburst floods. Thus its monitoring is important.  
• Masses of ice moving as sheets over the land (continental glacier or piedmont glacier if a vast sheet of ice is spread over the plains at the foot of mountains) or as linear flows down the slopes of mountains in broad trough-like valleys (mountain and valley glaciers) are called glaciers.

 3.2 A Black Panther was spotted in Goa’s Netravali Sanctuary

•  For the first time a black panther has been captured on camera in the sanctuary.
• A black panther is the melanistic colour variant of any Panthera, particularly of the leopard in Asia and Africa, and the jaguar in the Americas. Melanism is the increased development of the dark-colored pigment melanin in the skin or hair. It is as shy as a normal leopard and very difficult to detect. It is mostly found in densely forested areas of southern India.
• Black panther has been spotted earlier at - Periyar Tiger Reserve (Kerala); Bhadra Tiger Reserve, Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve and Kabini Wildlife Sanctuary (Karnataka); Achanakmar Tiger Reserve (Chhattisgarh)
• Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary (Goa); Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (Tamil Nadu).
• Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary is in South Eastern Goa. It is bounded by Cotigao wildlife sanctuary on the eastern side and Bhagwan Mahaveer Sanctuary and Mollem National Park on the northern side. Netravali or Neturli river is an important tributary of River Zuari, which originates in the sanctuary. It has two important waterfalls namely, Savari and Mainapi. Forests mostly consist of moist deciduous vegetation interspersed with evergreen and semi-evergreen habitat. Leopard, Giant Squirrel, Mouse Deer, Nilgiri Wood Pigeon and Ceylon Frogmouth are the commonly found animal species.

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

4.1 Visa-free travel facility granted to Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card holders not in India at present would continue to be suspended till the time a prohibition on international air travel of passengers

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

5.1 Not Available Today

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• 6. MISCELLANEOUS (Prelims, Various GS Papers)

6.1 Longest-running TV cartoon show switches to re-runs in Japan

• Aired every Sunday since 1969, the “Sazae-san” show features the everyday ups and downs of suburban Japanese housewife Sazae and her extended family, is a household name for many generations.
• It can still attract around 10% of the viewing audience, according to some estimates, for its 30-minute slot at 6.30 p.m. on Sundays. The show, adapted from four-frame comic strips by late author Machiko Hasegawa, was acknowledged by Guinness World Records in 2013 as the longest-running animated series, a title that had previously been attributed by the record-keeping organisation to U.S. show “The Simpsons”.
• Accoridng to Fuji TV, a unit of Fuji Media Holdings Inc, re-runs will begin next week for the first time since February 1975, when the global economy was massively disrupted by an oil price crisis.
• While the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths has been low in Japan by some international comparisons, the Japanese economy — the world’s third-largest — has been seriously hit by the global repercussions of the pandemic and is expected to have sunk into a recession in the second quarter of the year. 
• Earlier this month the government extended the country’s state of emergency to the end of May as part of efforts to stem the spread of the virus, prolonging shutdowns for many businesses.
  

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• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1 The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has allowed the construction of chariots for the annual Rath Yatra at Jagannath Puri in Odisha

• The complete segregation of the construction site should be ensured and social-distancing norms be followed. The Rath Yatra is expected to be held on 23rd June 2020.
• Jagannath Ratha Jatra (Chariot Festival), is a Hindu festival associated with Lord Jagannath held at Puri, Odisha. The festival is celebrated on the 2nd day of Shukla Paksha of Ashadh, the third month. It is a 9 day-long event and marks the return of Lord Krishna to Vrindavan with his brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra to Gundicha Temple via Mausi Maa Temple (maternal aunt's home) near Saradha Bali, Puri.  Three holy chariots carrying idols of these three are pulled by thousands of devotees from India and abroad.
• Jagannath Temple is believed to be constructed in the 12th century by King Anatavarman Chodaganga Deva of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty. It is called ‘Yamanika Tirtha’ where, the power of ‘Yama (the god of death)’ has been nullified due to the presence of Lord Jagannath.
• This temple was called the “White Pagoda” and is a part of Char Dham pilgrimages (Badrinath, Dwaraka, Puri, Rameswaram).
• The four gates to the temple are Eastern ‘Singhdwara’ which is the main gate with two crouching lions, Southern ‘Ashwadwara’, Western 'Vyaghra Dwara and Northern ‘Hastidwara’. In front of the entrance stands the Aruna stambha or sun pillar, which was originally at the Sun Temple in Konark.

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

8.1 COVID-19 related developments

• Telangana became first state to extend lockdown beyond May 17; till May 29.
• Indian Naval Ship Kesari departs for Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Comoros, to provide food and medical supplies under ‘Mission Sagar’.
• National Institute of Virology, Pune develops first indigenous antibody detection kit for COVID-19.
• DRDO’s RCI (Research Centre Imarat) lab in Hyderabad develops DRUVS (Defence Research Ultraviolet Sanitiser) to sanitise electronic gadgets, papers and currency notes.
• ICMR to test for community transmission in the worst-affected 75 hotspot districts. 
• Health Ministry to send central teams to 10 States witnessing high case load and spurt in cases.

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

9.1 A group of astrophysicists have found the closest known brown dwarf, Luhman 16A which shows signs of cloud bands similar to those seen on Jupiter and Saturn

• Scientists used the technique of polarimetry to determine the properties of atmospheric clouds outside of the solar system.
• The concept of polarimetry technique was put forth by Indian astrophysicist Sujan Sengupta, that the light emitted by a cloudy brown dwarf, or reflected off an extrasolar planet, will be polarised. So it is the study of polarization.  
• Polarization is a property of light that represents the direction that the light wave oscillates. When light is reflected off of particles it can favour a certain angle of polarization. By measuring the preferred polarization of light from a distant system, astronomers can deduce the presence of clouds.
• But in case of Luhman 16A, the researchers have found the actual structure of the clouds (not only their presence).
• Luhman 16A is part of a binary system (Luhman 16) containing a second brown dwarf, Luhman 16B. This pair of brown dwarfs Luhman 16A and Luhman 16B orbit each other. It is situated at a distance of about 6.5 light years from the Sun and the third closest system to the Sun after Alpha Centauri and Barnard’s star. Luhman 16B shows no sign of stationary cloud bands, instead showing evidence of more irregular, patchy clouds.
• Luhman 16B, therefore, has noticeable brightness variations as a result of its cloudy features, unlike Luhman 16A which has less brightness variation due to a band of clouds.
• Understanding the cloud system over a brown dwarf can shed light on the pressure, temperature and climate on the surface of the celestial body.
• Brown dwarfs are also called failed stars, because their masses are heavier than planets but lighter than stars. Due to their small masses, they are unable to sustain fusion of their hydrogen to produce energy.
• It is believed that some of the more massive brown dwarfs fuse deuterium or lithium and glow faintly.
• Binary stars are two stars orbiting a common center of mass.

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

10.1 Reports/ Rankings – Not Available Today

10.2 Daily dose of  FIVE Facts -

• According to data released by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) recently Green colour districts are highest in number regarding COVID-19.
• Moon Jae-in is the President of South Korea.
• Well-known Actress Patricia Bosworth died at the age of 86  recently in New York.
• Sydney Morning Herald newspaper in association with the WWF started the practice of observing ‘Earth Hour’.
• Zagreb was hit by an earthquake on March 22, 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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