Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 13-05-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 13-05-2020

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. COVID-19 Updates - PM announces Rs. 20 lakh crore economic stimulus package – Prime Minister Narendra Modi said a new-lock Lockdown 4.0 beyond May 17 was in the offing, while announcing an economic stimulus package for Rs. 20 lakh crore (estimated at 10% of the GDP), with a clearly defined leap towards economic reforms that will, in his words, lead to Atmanirbhar Bharat, or a self-reliant, resilient India. This amount includes packages already announced at the beginning of the lockdown, incorporating a slew of measures from the RBI and the payouts under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana.
2. COVID-19 Updates - Aarogya Setu app mandatory for returning NRIs, migrants – Expanding the ambit of the Aarogya Setu app, the Union Health Ministry directed that downloading it be made compulsory for all returnees (migrant labourers and those coming from abroad) for better contact surveillance and suitable medical intervention. It also asked the States to ramp up surveillance for Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) or Influenza-like illnesses (ILI) to detect any possible hidden infection at an early stage to ensure timely containment. The Ministry reported 3,604 new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours, taking the total number of positive cases in the country to 70,756. With 87 more deaths, the nationwide toll has risen to 2,293. The country now has 46,008 active cases and 22,454 recovered, discharged or migrated cases. India’s recovery rate is now at 31.74% while the fatality rate stands at 3.2%.
3. US-China-India Relations - India caught in US-China spat over Taiwan’s status at WHO – As tensions between the U.S. and China rise over the novel coronavirus pandemic, India, which is set to take over as the next Chairperson of the World Health Organization’s decision-making executive body in May, is faced with a major choice on whether to support a U.S. move to reinstate Taiwan’s observer status at the World Health Assembly (WHA) or to China’s opposition to it. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar attended a seven-nation virtual meeting of Foreign Ministers, convened by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, which appeared to be part of Washington’s efforts to gain support for its move to effect changes at the WHO.
4. Operation Samudra Setu Updates - INS Magar arrives from Male with 202 evacuees – INS Magar, carrying 202 Indians from the Maldives, arrived at the Kochi port as part of Operation Samudra Setu. INS Magar, based at the Southern Naval Command in Kochi, is the second ship to repatriate stranded Indians from the Maldives. INS Jalashwa had brought 698 people on Sunday and is set to evacuate another batch of around 700 people on May 15. Those who came on INS Magar included 91 people from Kerala, 83 from Tamil Nadu and 28 people from 13 other States and Union Territories.
5. Defence/India-China relations - No air space violation at Pangong Tso – Helicopters of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) came close to the border during the face-off with the Indian Army near Pangong Tso lake in Eastern Ladakh last week, but there was no air space violation on either side, Indian Air Force (IAF) sources said. There were two incidents of face-off between Indian and Chinese troops last week which resulted in injuries to several soldiers on both sides. The first incident occurred on May 5 near Pangong Tso in eastern Ladakh while the second face-off occurred on May 9 at Naku La in Sikkim.
6. COVID-19 Updates - Passenger services resumed partially – Almost 50 days after stopping passenger trains, the Railways on Tuesday partially resumed services with eight trains operating to and from New Delhi, ferrying over 10,000 passengers. The first to run was the New Delhi-Bilaspur train that left the national capital at 4 p.m. with a booking of 1,177 passengers. The other two trains to leave from Delhi were the New Delhi-Dibrugarh special train with booking for about 1,122 passengers.
7. COVID-19 Updates/Labour laws dilution - Parliamentary panel questions dilution of labour laws – The Parliamentary Committee on Labour has written to State governments demanding an explanation on dilution of labour laws during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Committee Chairman and BJD leader Bhartruhari Mahtab said any amendments to the law would need legislative sanction. The issue will be taken up, whenever the committee next meets.
8. Malnutrition in India – India may miss nutrition targets – India is among 88 countries that are likely to miss global nutrition targets by 2025, according to the Global Nutrition Report 2020 released It also identified the country as one with the highest rates of domestic inequalities in malnutrition. In 2012, the World Health Assembly identified six nutrition targets for maternal, infant and young child nutrition to be met by 2025. These require governments to reduce stunting by 40% in children under five and prevalence of anaemia by 50% among women in the age group of 19-49, ensure 30% reduction in low-birth weight and no increase in childhood overweight, increase the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months up to at least 50% and reduce and maintain childhood wasting to less than 5%.
9. COVID-19 Updates – Wuhan to test entire population after new virus cluster emerges – Wuhan plans to conduct COVID-19 tests on the Chinese city’s entire population after new cases emerged for the first time in weeks in the cradle of the global pandemic. Officials have been ordered to submit plans to administer nucleic acid tests on all residents in the city of 11 million people, according to an official notice carried by news outlets.
10. Afghanistan-Taliban Issue – New-borns among 13 dead in Kabul hospital attack – Gunmen attacked a hospital in the Afghan capital Kabul, where the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders runs a maternity clinic, killing 13 people, including two newborn babies. In a separate attack the same day, a suicide bomber struck the funeral of a police commander, attended by government officials and a member of Parliament, in the eastern province of Nangahar, killing at least 24 people and injuring 68. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack. The Taliban denied involvement in both.

 

Important Exam Notifications
S. No.	Institution	Exam or Post Name	Vacancies or Seats	Qualification	Last Date to Apply	Link for Details
1	AP High Court	System Officer, System Asst	12	Diploma, ITI, B.Sc, B.Tech, PG	May 26, 2020	http://117.200.63.133/application/Notification.pdf
2	DME, AP	General Duty Medical Officer	550	MBBS	May 18, 2020	https://img.freejobalert.com/uploads/2020/05/Notification-Directorate-of-Medical-Education-Specialist-Faculty-Posts.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	IIE, Guwahati	VDVK Coordinator	14	--	May 18, 2020	http://iietraining.org/upload/recruitment/VDVKCoordinator08052020.pdf
5	RGIPT	Asst Registrar, Superintendent, Asst, Technician	18	Diploma (Engg), Degree (Engg), Any Degree, PG	June 30, 2020	https://www.rgipt.ac.in/en/page/non-teaching-recruitment
6	District Hospital, Gondia	Medical Officer	10	MBBS, BAMS	May 13, 2020	http://zpgondia.gov.in/htmldocs/health_aid_2020.pdf
7	Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital	Senior Resident	10	PG Degree/ Diploma	May 14, 2020	http://health.delhigovt.nic.in/wps/wcm/connect/6bb645004e3cf3a39d3dffd194e333e1/WII+LBSH.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&lmod=-382874882

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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 1984 anti-Sikh riots case – Supreme Court (SC) refused to grant bail to Sajjan Kumar

• The SC refused to grant interim bail to ex-congress MP Sajjan Kumar, convicted and serving a life sentence in a 1984 anti-sikh riots case. A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde, Indu Malhotra and Hrishikesh Roy stated that there was no ground for hospitalisation reflected in the medical report submitted by AIIMS board warranting bail.
• Senior Advocate Vikas Singh appeared for Kumar. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that the case was in fact of "genocide" and that "Kumar was leading a mob".
• History – In early March 2020 SC had directed Kumar to appear before an AIIMS Board to his medical condition. The Board was directed to submit its report in a week. Mr. Kumar had moved a bail application on health grounds. Mr. Singh informed the court that Kumar had lost 7 kgs and was dealing with a life threatening disease due to which he must get interim bail to be admitted to hospital for immediate medical attention.  
• In January 200 SC bench headed by CJI R. Gogoi had issued notice on Congress Leader Sajjan Kumar's plea against his conviction and sentence in the 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots Case.
• The 1984 anti-Sikh riots was a series of organised pogroms against Sikhs in India in response to the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. The ruling Indian National Congress had been in active complicity with the mob, as to the organisation of the riots. Government estimates project that about 2,800 Sikhs were killed in Delhi and 3,350 nationwide, whilst independent sources estimate the number of deaths at about 8,000–17,000.

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

2.1 Industrial output of country, measured in terms of IIP (Index of Industrial Production), declines 16.7% to 120.1 in March 2020

• The data was released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
• The IIP had grown 2.7 per cent in March 2019.
• The industrial growth during the fiscal year 2019-20 (April-March) slipped 0.7 per cent, compared to a 3.8 per cent rise in 2018-19, the data showed.
• The steep fall in IIP during March was mainly on account of a dismal show by mining, manufacturing and electricity sector due to the nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus (COVID-19).
• The manufacturing sector saw a contraction of 20.6 per cent on-year to 114.8 during the month of March, while the mining sector remained flat at 0.0 per cent at 132.7 and electricity sector witnessed a fall of 6.8 per cent at 149.2, the MoSPI data showed.
• In March last year, the manufacturing sector had witnessed a growth of 3.1 per cent. During the same period, the mining sector had grown at 0.8 per cent and the electricity sector had witnessed a growth of 2.2 per cent, the data showed.
• In a separate release by MoSPI, the retail inflation which is measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), was revised to 5.84 per cent for the month of March. Last month, the provisional data released by the ministry showed a 5.91 per cent growth in consumer inflation. The provisional data for the month of April was not released.
• The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is an index for India which details out the growth of various sectors in an economy such as mineral mining, electricity and manufacturing.

2.2 Union Ministry of MSME launches CHAMPION (Creation and Harmonious Application of Modern Processes for Increasing the Output and National Strength) portal www.Champions.gov.in for assisting Indian MSMEs.

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

3.1 World Migratory Bird Day observed on May 9

• The day is celebrated every year is celebrated to raise awareness about conservation and ecological importance of such birds in the global ecosystem.
• The theme of World Migratory Bird Day 2020 is “Birds Connect Our World”.  
• This year's theme was chosen in order to highlight the importance of conservation and restoration of ecological connectivity and integrity of ecosystems that support the movement of these birds.
• The day was first introduced in 2006 after the Secretariat of Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals and the Secretariat of Agreement on the Conversation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) came up with a proposal but migratory birds are still under threat, from loss of habitat, climate change, poisoning, power lines, and illegal killing in recent years. 
• Each year a variety of events are held to raise awareness. 
• Various bird watching events too are held for bird enthusiasts but this year such events have been cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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

4.1 International Nurses Day celebrated on May 12 with the theme 'Nursing the World to Health'; was 200th Birth Anniversary of Florence Nightingale

• The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated 2020 as The Year of the Nurse and the Midwife.
• Nurses account for more than half of all the world’s health workers. It will encourage the entire nurse community and the public to celebrate the day as well as would provide necessary information and resources to raise the profile of the nursing profession.
• Nurses are at the forefront of fighting epidemics and pandemics providing high quality and respectful treatment and care.
• The Covid-19 pandemic is a stark reminder of the vital role nurses play.  
• Suggestions provided by the WHO -

1. To provide occupational safety including access to personal protective equipment.
2. They  should have access to mental health support, timely pay, sick leave and insurance.
3. They should be provided with access to the knowledge and guidance required to respond to all health needs, including outbreaks.
4. They should be given the financial support and other resources required to respond to future outbreaks.

• Step Taken by the Indian Government – 

1. The Indian Nursing Council is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare that establishes uniform standards of training for nurses, midwives and health visitors.
2. The Government has announced Rs. 50 lakh insurance cover per person (part of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana) 
3. The Government has also passed an ordinance for the protection of healthcare workers battling Covid-19 on the frontline.

• Florence Nightingale (1820 – 1910) was a British social reformer, statistician, and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, in which she organised care for wounded soldiers. She gave nursing a favourable reputation and became an icon of Victorian culture, especially in the persona of "The Lady with the Lamp" making rounds of wounded soldiers at night.

• Currently, there are 22 million nurses and two million midwives worldwide, accounting for half of the global health workforce.
• The WHO estimates that we are facing a shortfall of 18 million health workers to achieve and sustain universal health coverage by 2030—and approximately half of that shortfall, 9 million health workers, are nurses and midwives.
• That’s why the World Health Assembly has designated 2020 the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife.
• WHO is leading the development of the first-ever State of the World’s Nursing report, which will be launched in 2020. This report will describe the nursing workforce in WHO Member States providing an assessment of ‘fitness for purpose.
• Nightingale Challenge 2020: It is a challenge launched by Nursing Now global campaign which calls for every large employer of nurses globally to provide leadership and development training for 20 young nurses and midwives in 2020. Their aim is to have at least 20,000 young nurses and midwives benefiting from this in 2020 – the WHO Year of the Nurse.  
• Nightingale Challenge 2020 report  – 
• https://www.acn.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/Nightingale_Challenge_Brochure.pdf

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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 Weekly Roundup – Accidents and Natural Disasters

• Three CRPF personnel were killed on May 4, 2020 in a militant attack in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir.
• 15 migrant workers sleeping on railways tracks run over by train in Maharashtra - In a tragic incident at least 15 migrant workers, who were sleeping on the railway tracks while going back to their native places, were run over by a goods train between Maharashtra’s Jalna and Aurangabad on May 8, 2020.
• 8 dead from styrene vapour leak at R. R. Venkatapuram village in AP - 8 people died and more than 200 were hospitalised from leak of styrene vapour from the LG Polymers Limited plant at R. R. Venkatapuram village in Visakhapatnam district of in Andhra Pradesh on May 7, 2020. Styrene is a chemical used to make synthetic rubber and resins, among others.

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• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1 Not Available Today

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

8.1 Mother’s Day celebrated on May 10 (2nd Sunday of May every year)

• Every year Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May to honors the Mothers of this world for the unconditional love, adoration and indispensable affection they bestow upon their children, and try to make them live this day to the fullest.
• Though, Mother's Day 2020 is going to be different as much of the world is placed inside homes due to lockdown in-place to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus.
• The first Mother’s Day was celebrated in West Virgina, USA in 1908, when a school teacher Anna Jarvis organised a Memorial Service at St. Andrew’s Methodist Church commemorating the immaculate contribution of her mother in her life, three years after she had passed away in 1905.
• Anna Jarvis made a case for making ‘Mother’s Day’ a national holiday all over America.  
• Then, during First World War (1914-1919) she created a Mother’s day club to address the health issues of wounded soldiers.
• In 1917, nine years after Anna Jarvis first pressed for making ‘Mother’s Day’ a national holiday, the then US President Woodrow Wilson signed an order and declared second Sunday of every May as a nationwide holiday in America – to be celebrated as Mother’s Day.
• Since then, the second Sunday of May came to be celebrated as ‘Mother’s Day’ worldwide, and is currently celebrated in over 170 countries globally.
• Though, Anna Jarvis was against the commercialization of this day, but, during her lifetime itself several card companies started selling printed cards. And over the years, Mother’s Day gradually became a highly commercialized holiday.
• Though most of the countries celebrate Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May, Russia celebrates both International Day for Women and Mother’s Day on the same date, on 8th of March every year.

8.2 COVID-19 Updates

• TVS Group, Sundaram Medical Foundation and IIT-Madras develop automated respiratory assist device named ‘Sundaram Ventago’.
• US govt.’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) commits USD 3.6 million to assist India in COVID-19 fight.
• COVID-19: ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations) releases song ‘United We Fight’; written and composed by Joe Alvares.

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

9.1 The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research’s Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB) has developed India’s first paper strip test for Covid-19 named, ‘Feluda’.

• The Feluda is a paper strip test that detects the coronavirus in an hour. It is an acronym for FNCAS9 Editor Linked Uniform Detection. It is based on Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) technology.
• CRISPR is a gene editing technology, which replicates natural defence mechanisms in bacteria to fight virus attacks, using a special protein called Cas9. This technology behaves like a cut-and-paste mechanism on DNA strands that contain genetic information. The specific location of the genetic codes that need to be changed, or edited, is identified on the DNA strand, and then, using the Cas9 protein, which acts like a pair of scissors, that location is cut off from the strand. A DNA strand, when broken, has a natural tendency to repair itself. Scientists intervene during this auto-repair process, supplying the desired sequence of genetic codes that binds itself with the broken DNA strand.
• The Feluda test will cost less than Rs. 500 compared to Rs. 4500 for the real-time PCR test which is currently being used for Covid-19 diagnosis in India. The test also does not rely on expensive real-time PCR machines for RNA isolation, DNA conversion, and amplification which are already in limited supply in the country.

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

10.1 Child and maternal malnutrition were behind 68% of the under-five fatalities in India - India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative report

To download pdf visit here -  

https://www.healthdata.org/sites/default/files/files/policy_report/2017/India_Health_of_the_Nation%27s_States_Report_2017.pdf

10.2 Daily dose of  FIVE Facts -

• Former IAS officer Kapil Dev Tripathi was recently appointed as the Secretary to President.
• The Anak Krakatau volcano erupted in Indonesia in April 2020.
• Rating agency CRISIL to cut its growth estimate for the Indian economy for 2020-21 to2% in March 2020.
• The new GST rate on matchsticks announced by the GST Council on March 14, 2020 is 12%? 
• Indian Coast Guard’s latest offshore patrol vessel ICGS Vajra was commissioned in Chennai in February 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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