Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 04-06-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 04-06-2020

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Natural Disasters – Cyclone Nisarga Updates – Torrential rain, accompanied by wind speeds of up to 120 kmph over a radius of 60 km, marked Cyclone Nisarga’s landfall at Murud in Raigad district of Maharashtra. Nisarga, which was categorised as a severe cyclone and which had kept the authorities on their toes for the past few days, made landfall around noon. At least two died in the cyclone. While one died when an electric pole fell in Raigad district, a senior citizen lost her life and five of her relatives were injured in a house collapse in Khed taluk of Pune district.
2. Internal Security – India-China Standoff 2020 – To ramp up infrastructure along the China border, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has decided to spend 10% funds of a Centrally sponsored scheme only on projects in Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim. The Border Area Development Programme (BADP) has been allocated Rs. 784 crore in the 2020-21 fiscal and the money is distributed to the border States and Union Territories depending on various criteria such as the length of the international border and population. In 2019-20, Rs. 825 crore was granted for the scheme.
3. COVID-19 Updates – India registers massive spike of 9,577 cases; toll rises to 6,077 – India registered a massive spike of 9,577 new COVID-19 cases and 253 fatalities, according to data from the State Health Departments. The number of active cases stands at 2,16,735, including 1,06,658 actives ones, while 1,04,000 people have recovered. The death toll rose to 6,077. The Indian Council of Medical Research said that 1,37,158 samples were tested on June 3, going up from 1,28,868 on June 2, when India registered 8,917 cases.
4. Environment and Ecology – Row over death of pregnant elephant in Kerala – The death of a pregnant elephant in a stream at Thiruvizhamkunnu, near Mannarkkad, in Kerala’s Palakkad district on May 27 has erupted into a huge controversy, with a section of the national media and their social media arms branding it an act of human cruelty. The elephant death came to light two days ago when a forest officer wrote about it in a Facebook post. The elephant was found to be sick and had waded into the Velliyar stream near Thiruvizhamkunnu forest station under the Mannarkkad forest division. It spent more than two days in the stream, often coming to the shore for brief while. Forest officers tried to save it using a kumki elephant. However, the pachyderm succumbed to its injuries before the kumki reached it.
5. Social – Student taking own life disheartening: HC – Observing that it was disheartening to learn that a student allegedly took her own life owing to lack of access to the Internet for attending virtual classes, a single judge of the Kerala High Court referred to a Division Bench a writ petition for a direction to CBSE schools not to collect additional fee for online/virtual classes. Justice C.S. Dias passed the order, restraining CBSE-affiliated Sree Budha Central School, Karunagapally, from collecting any fee for online classes from Sreelekshmi S. and Dhanvin M. Pillai, Std. III and VII students. The judge said the right to education was mandated under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.
6. USA George Floyd Protests Updates – Peaceful protests defy US curfews despite Trump crackdown demands – Big groups of protesters stayed on the streets despite curfews after hundreds of thousands of people earlier had massed from Washington to Houston, but the demonstrations were largely peaceful. The protests in Washington against the killing of George Floyd continued despite Donald Trump threatening the previous evening to send “thousands of heavily armed soldiers” into the streets of the capital. The president continued his refrain on Wednesday morning, tweeting: “The National Guard is ready!”.
7. COVID-19 Updates - Germany to lift travel ban for 29 European countries on June 15 – German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas unveiled Germany's plan to lift travel restrictions on 29 European countries. The easing of travel restrictions applies to passport-free Schengen-area countries as well as the UK and will apply from June 15. The ban currently in place will be changed to travel guidelines. Although the news will be welcomed by many, Maas warned Germans against rushing to travel.
8. Hong Kong Protests Updates – Johnson pledges to admit 3 million from Hong Kong to UK – Prime Minister Boris Johnson raised the stakes in a brewing confrontation with China, promising to allow nearly 3 million people from Hong Kong to live and work in Britain if Beijing moves forward with a new national security law on the former British colony. Johnson’s offer, made in a column in the Times of London, opens the door to a significant influx of people fleeing Hong Kong, should the situation in the territory deteriorate further. But it leaves unanswered thorny questions about how difficult it would be for these arrivals to obtain British citizenship.
9. Indian Economy – Nifty Reclaims 10,000 – India’s stock indices gained for the sixth straight day to the highest level in about three months as investors bet that the easing of the countrywide lockdown will reboot economic growth. Both the Sensex and the Nifty ended up 0.8%, with the latter closing above the 10,000-mark for the first time since March. The Sensex ended up 284.01 points, or 0.8%, at 34,109.54 while the NSE Nifty closed 82.45 points, or 0.8%, higher at 10,061.55. Mahindra & Mahindra, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India and Nestle India were up over 2-5%, ending as the top gainers on the Sensex.
10. Indian Economy – Mobile trading surges during lockdown – The two-month lockdown against the COVID-19 pandemic gave investors a lot of time to stay at home and trade in the capital market, especially using their smartphones, as the share of mobile trading touched record highs during the period. Data from the stock exchanges show that the share of mobile trading witnessed a spike in April and continued in May. Further, with the recent surge, the quantum of such trades has more than doubled in the last one year.

Important Exam Notifications
S. No.	Institution	Exam or Post Name	Vacancies or Seats	Qualification	Last Date to Apply	Link for Details
1	IASST	Project Asst, Field worker, Laboratory Asst & Other	14	--	June 21, 2020	https://iasst.res.in/web/Advt_no-242.pdf
2	IVRI	SRF, YP-II	6	PG	June 16, 2020	http://www.pdfmd.ernet.in/index_files/Content/Jobs/Revised_SRF_FMDCP.pdf
3	Army Recruiting Office, Hisar	Soldier	--	10th Class, 10+2	July 14, 2020	http://joinindianarmy.nic.in/writereaddata/Portal/BRAVO_NotificationPDF/Rally_Noitification_Sirsa_Rally_30_Jul_to_08_Aug_2020.pdf
4	Vadodara Municipal Corporation	Additional Assistant Engineer	5	Diploma (Electrical Engg), BE	June 12, 2020	https://vmc.gov.in/VMCDocs/Recruitment/Recruitment_Advertise/2020//Add.%20Asst%20Engineer%20(Electrcal)%20RR.pdf
5	RUHS	Medical Officer	2000	--	June 30, 2020	https://img.freejobalert.com/uploads/2019/11/Short-Notification-RUHS-MO.pdf
6	Assam Legislative Assembly	Under Secretary, Librarian & Other	11	Degree, PG	June 20, 2020	http://assamassembly.gov.in/recruitment.pdf
7	UPPSC	Asst Prosection Officer 2018 Main Exam	--	--	June 12, 2020	http://www.freejobalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Notification-UPPSC-APO-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 No coercive action against employers on MHA order for full payment of wages: SC

• The Supreme Court passed an interim order that no coercive action should be taken against employers for failure to comply with the March 29 order of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for full payment of wages.
• The Court reserved orders for June 12 on the petitions challenging the MHA notification and restrained coercive action till then.
• The direction issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs was intended to prevent human suffering amid the national lockdown, said Attorney General, KK Venugopal.
• The AG also submitted that the National Executive Committee under the Disaster Management Act can issue the notification, as the Act gives it wide powers "lay down guidelines of any kind" to deal with disasters.
• The bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, S K Kaul and M R Shah however raised concerns regarding the viability of direction to pay 100% wages when the industries and establishments were forced to shut down.
• The bench also noted that the Government invoked Disaster Management Act, instead of the Industrial Disputes Act, and insisted that employers should pay 100% wages.
• The bench said that there has to be negotiations with the industry, and government should play the role of a facilitator.
• The AG insisted that the Court should consider the background of humanitarian situation due to which the order was issued
• The bench also invited the AG's attention to the prayers of some petitioners seeking to direct the Government to subsidize wages.

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

2.1 Electronics Manufacturing

• Government launched 3 schemes to promote the manufacturing of electronics -

1. Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) for large-scale electronics manufacturing
2. Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS)
3. Modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC 2.0) Scheme.

2.2 OFB (Ordnance Factory Board) gets Rs 1,094 crore order from Defence Ministry to make 156 Infantry Combat Vehicles (ICVs) for the Army.

2.3 TRAI removes clause requiring a min 50 paise charge per SMS on SMS beyond 100 per day.

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

3.1 Total Horticulture Production estimated at 320.48 million tonnes in 2019-20  - Agriculture Ministry

• The second advance estimates also places total horticulture production in 2019-20 to be at 320.48 million tonnes - 3.13% higher than last year.
• The production of fruits is likely to be 99.07 million tonnes as compared to 97.97 million tonnes in 2018-19.
• The production of vegetables is also likely to be higher in 2019-20.
• The production of tomato is estimated to be 20.57 million tonnes - 8.2% higher than last year.
• Government expects 17% rise in the onion output from last year.
• As per the second advance estimate, the production onion is likely to be 26.74 million tonnes in 2019-20 as against 22.82 million tonnes in 2018-19.

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

4.1 South Africa-based HIV-AIDS researcher Quarraisha Abdool Karim won 0.5 mn-euro Christophe Merieux Prize given by French government.

• Quarraisha Abdool Karim, a South African HIV researcher who found that a topical gel could stop many women catching the virus has been awarded one of France’s top science prizes. Karim won the half a million-euro Christophe Merieux Prize for her work for the Durban-based Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa.

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

5.1 Government launched SWADES (Skilled Workers Arrival Database for Employment Support) initiative for skill mapping of returning citizens.

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• 6. MISCELLANEOUS (Prelims, Various GS Papers)

6.1 Not Available Today

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• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1 J&K approves new media policy

• J&K approves new media policy to create ‘sustained’ government narrative and get rid of fake news.
• The ‘Media Policy-2020’ comes in the backdrop of J&K Police filing FIRs against two journalists for their reporting and social media posts.
• The policy includes establishment of a media academy/institute/chair in reputed national institutes in J&K such as IIMC, IIM that will promote the highest standard of journalism, and coordinate study and research in the field of journalism.
• It will help the government carry the message of “welfare, development and progress” to the people in an effective manner.
• It ensures that different kinds of media are given due consideration to keep pace with the changing demands of present times.
• It also includes institution of media awards to be given each year to two outstanding media or communication professionals.
• Key issue -

1. The policy comes weeks after the J&K government terminated the services of 45 contractual employees, most of them from Kashmir, who worked as reporters, camera persons and translators in the DIPR for the last five years.
2. The termination took place despite an advisory from the Ministry of Labour and Employment against termination of employees during Covid lockdown. 

• Basis for SOP - The policy will be the basis for creating the Standard Operating Procedure to reach out to people in situations of crises like health issues and natural disasters.

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

8.1 China’s Parliament passes law empowering Beijing to draft national security laws for Hong Kong

• China’s Parliament on May 28, 2020 passed new legislation for Hong Kong that will for the first time empower Beijing to draft national security laws for the Special Administrative Region (SAR).
• At the closing session of the annual National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing, the draft legislation was passed overwhelmingly, with 2,878 votes for, one against and six abstentions in the Communist Party-controlled legislature.
• The law, called the “NPC Decision on Establishing and Improving the Legal System and Enforcement Mechanisms for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to Safeguard National Security”, essentially empowers the NPC to draft new national security laws for Hong Kong.
• The draft legislation said the scope of the laws could cover any activity that “seriously endangers national security”. It said it was aimed at enabling “measures to counter, lawfully prevent, stop and punish foreign and overseas forces’ use of Hong Kong to carry out separatist, subversive, infiltrative, or destructive activities”.
• Since 1997, Hong Kong has been governed by the Basic Law, which gives the SAR “executive, legislative and independent judicial power, including that of final adjudication”. Only matters of defence and foreign affairs are handled by the central government.
• While the law says the state would “fully, and accurately implement the principles of one country, two systems”, it also enables organs of the central government “for the protection of national security” to set up “institutions in the HKSAR”, a provision that has been a particular source of concern.

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

9.1 National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP),  2020

• The government has initiated a consultation process for formulation of a new national Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP 2020).
• The fifth S&T policy of the country is being formulated at a crucial time when India and the world are tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The policy will integrate the lessons of COVID-19, including building of an 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' by leveraging country’s strengths in R&D, design, S&T workforce and institutions, huge markets, demographic dividend, diversity and data.
• 4 highly interlinked tracks –

1. Track I – It involves an extensive public and expert consultation process through Science Policy Forum
2. Track II – It comprises experts-driven thematic consultations to feed evidence-informed recommendations into the policy drafting process.
3. Track III – It comprises extensive intra-state and intra-department consultation with Ministries and States.
4. Track IV: It involves a highest level of multi-stakeholder consultation.

• The consultation processes have already begun and are running in parallel.
• Previous Four STIPs:

1. Scientific Policy Resolution 1958
2. Technology Policy Statement 1983
3. Science and Technology Policy 2003
4. Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2013

• Official statement: As the crisis changes the world, the new policy with its decentralised manner of formation will reorient STI in terms of priorities, sectoral focus, the way research is done, and technologies are developed and deployed for larger socio-economic welfare.

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

10.1 Global Economic Prospects (GEP) report by World Bank

• Covid-19 pandemic can push 60 million people into poverty – this is likely to rise further.
• The report outlines “Worst Global Economic Crisis” in eight decades. 
• The scope and speed with which the Covid-19 pandemic and economic shutdowns have devastated the poor around the globe are extraordinary in modern times.
• The GEP report finds a deep global recession, accompanied by a collapse in global trade, tourism and commodity prices and unprecedented market volatility.
• Disruptions to production and international transport have increased the risk that critical inputs will be unavailable, which in turn will create production shortfalls.
• The financing and building of productive infrastructure are among the toughest-to-solve development challenges in the post-pandemic recovery.
• The crisis will have acute and long-lasting socioeconomic impacts that may weaken long-term economic growth prospects, lower investment, and erode human capital.
• Suggestions – 

1. Developing countries and the international community can take steps now to fast track recovery after the worst of the health crisis has passed and blunt long-term adverse effects.
2. Policymakers can make a robust recovery more likely by maintaining private sector systems and infrastructure and allowing markets to allocate resources toward productive activities.
3. An orderly allocation of "capital toward productive sectors in the post-pandemic structures – using systems that can build and retain more human and physical capital during the recovery.
4. We need focus on measures to fast track litigation and the resolution of bankruptcies and reform the costly subsidies, monopolies and protected state-owned enterprises that have slowed development.

To download complete report visit here –  

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/33748/9781464815539.pdf

10.2 Daily dose of  FIVE Facts -

• Finland was ranked as world’s happiest country by the UN in March 2020.
• Head of Brahmakumaris Sansthan spiritual mission passed away in March 2020.
• Under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) announced in March 2020, daily wage under MNREGA has been increased to Rs 202.
• The Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) was started in the year 1993.
• The US government announced approval for sale of Harpoon anti-ship missiles to India recently.

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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