Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 28-07-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 28-07-2020

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Polity & Governance – Rajasthan Governor gives nod to House session but with riders – Declaring “Raj Bhavan has no intention to not call the (assembly) session”, Rajasthan governor Kalraj Mishra has directed the Ashok Gehlot cabinet to submit a fresh request based on his “three point advice”, including a “clear notice of 21 days”, to convene the House, unless it spells out it wants to seek a trust vote. Sources said the Gehlot government’s fresh proposal could be for a session at a week’s notice, albeit without committing to a trust vote. Governor Mishra’s rider for a session “at short notice” comes two days after the Gehlot government put in a “revised” cabinet proposal to convene the House to discuss the ongoing pandemic, take stock of the state’s finances and pass some bills. Besides giving a 21-day notice, the “points” that the cabinet now needs to comply with include video-recording and live telecast of the House proceedings if the government chooses to go for a trust vote.
   
2. Economy – Govt imposes quality curbs on ‘China goods’, 370 items – Nearly 371 categories of items such as toys, steel bars, steel tubes, consumer electronics, telecom items, heavy machinery, paper, rubber articles and glass which are imported from countries such as China would be brought under the mandatory Indian Standards regime by next March. This will put a curb on the import of sub-standard items. The commerce ministry had identified these items last year. Officials said the process has been expedited to meet the requirement under Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative to reduce imports and increase exports.
3. Defence – First 5 Rafales head for India, will touch down tomorrow – So, it’s finally jet, set, go! The first five Rafale fighters tore into the skies over France with sonic booms on July 27 to begin their 7,000-km flight to India, which will include mid-air refuelling and an overnight pit stop in UAE. The three single-seat and two twin-seat omni-role fighters, flown by seven IAF pilots led by commanding officer Group Captain Harkirat Singh, will touch down in Ambala to launch the 17 ‘Golden Arrows’ squadron on July 29. The fighters, dubbed “game-changers” by IAF, will touch down here in the middle of the ongoing military confrontation with China. But top IAF sources played down the “overhype”, stressing that new fighters take time to settle down and be properly integrated into the war-fighting machinery.
   
4. Polity & Governance – Won’t move money in PM Cares Fund to NDRF: Centre to SC – The Centre has strongly defended the PM CARES Fund in the Supreme Court saying it's a public trust meant to receive "voluntary contributions" to fight COVID-19 pandemic and the budgetary allocations for NDRF and SDRF are not "being touched". The statement was made by the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, before a bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan which reserved its order on one of the prayers of the PIL, filed by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), seeking a direction that all the money collected under the PM CARES Fund for the COVID-19 pandemic should be transferred to National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).
5. Economy – Govt. to go ahead with divestment of 23 PSUs cleared by Cabinet: Nirmala Sitharaman – The government is working to complete stake sale process of 23 public sector companies whose divestment has been cleared by the Cabinet. The FM said the government is willing to listen to all issues being faced industry and has an open mind with regard to further measures that may be needed to support the economy. To a query on whether the government will provide support to small finance banks (SFB) and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), the FM said she would soon meet them to review their situation.
   
6. COVID-19 – Covid-19 toll crosses 33,000 as daily cases dip to just over 46k – A day after India had added over 50,000 infections to its Covid-19 count for the first time, fresh cases dropped to their lowest in five days, with 46,357 infections being detected in the country on Monday (July 27). The day’s toll, at 638, was also the least in a week. The dip was consistent with the long-running trend of lower number of cases recorded on Mondays. However, unlike in previous weeks, this time testing had seen a rise on Sunday, with over 5 lakh conducted in the country for the first time. With rising numbers, active cases were set to cross the 5-lakh mark, and stood at over 4,97,000 on Monday, as per data collated from state governments.
   
7. World – China seizes U.S. consulate in Chengdu – China took over the premises of the U.S. consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu on Monday (July 27), after ordering the facility to be vacated in retaliation for China’s ouster last week from its consulate in Houston, Texas. The seizure capped a dramatic escalation in tensions between the world’s two biggest economies that began when employees at China’s Houston consulate were seen burning documents in a courtyard last Tuesday, hours before Beijing announced that it had been ordered to leave the facility.
8. Defence – India and Indonesia resolve to expand defence ties – India and Indonesia have vowed to expand security cooperation in a range of areas including defence industries and technology sharing, as the two maritime neighbours aimed at injecting a new momentum to their strategic partnership. The possible areas of further expansion of defence and military ties were discussed during talks between both the countries. Sources said the issue of possible export of BrahMos cruise missile to Indonesia by India and ways to further deepen maritime security cooperation figured prominently in the talks.
   
9. Arts & Culture – 300 year old Kali temple reconstructed with Indian support in Bangladesh – The High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Riva Ganguly Das has jointly inaugurated the reconstructed Sree Sree Joykali Matar temple at Natore with the State Minister of ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak. The MoU for the reconstruction of the temple at Lalbazar, Natore was signed in 2016. The Government of India provided a grant assistance of Taka 97 lakh for the reconstruction of the historic temple under its High Impact Community Development Project (HICDP). The Sree Sree JoyKali Matar temple is among the oldest temples in Bangladesh. It was built approximately 300 years back in the early 18th century by Shri Dayaram Roy. He was an influential Dewan of Queen Bhahani of Natore and the founder of Dighapatia Royal Family.
   
10. Awards & Honours – Top Pak civilian award for separatist Geelani – The Pakistani senate has unanimously passed a resolution conferring the country’s highest civilian award, Nishan-e-Pakistan, on Kashmiri separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani, besides proposing an engineering university in his name. The senate also decided to hold its session in the “legislative assembly” of Muzaffarabad in POK on August 5, which marks the first anniversary of the defanging of Article 370 in J&K.

Important Exam Notifications
S. No.	Institution	Exam or Post Name	Vacancies or Seats	Qualification	Last Date to Apply	Link for Details
1	SBI	Circle Based Officer	3850	Any Degree with expe.	AUG-16-2020	http://www.freejobalert.com/sbi-cbo/860145/
2	RBI	Consultant/ Specialist/ Analyst	39	B.E/ B.Tech, PG (Relevant Disciplines), CA/ ICWA	AUG-22-2020	https://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/Content/PDFs/ADV26032020FLD7EABB7E213B4D5C9CB0328FF0EB04B0.PDF
3	BECIL	Sr Programmer & Programer	9	B.Tech/ BCA/ MCA	AUG-2-2020	https://www.becil.com/uploads/vacancy/fe9fa78912d78c3f42bacac0215a90d7.pdf
4	NIRD&PR	State Programme Coordinator, Young Fellow	510	Any Degree, PG	AUG-10-2020	http://www.freejobalert.com/nird-recruitment/60682/
5	Tata Memorial Centre	Scientific Asst, Nurse, Assistant Medical Social Worker, Technician	26	12th Class, GNM, Diploma, Deg.	AUG-12-2020	https://tmc.gov.in/m_events/Events/JobDetail?jobId=6950
6	North Central Railway	Physician Specialist, General Duty Medical Officer	8	----------------	29-07-2020 – Walk in	https://ncr.indianrailways.gov.in/uploads/files/1595759389495-in_english.pdf
7	Women & Child Development Dept, Amreli	Anganwadi Worker, Helper	203	7th Class & 10th Class	AUG-13-2020	https://img.freejobalert.com/uploads/2020/07/Notification-Women-Child-Development-Dept-Amreli-AWW-AWH-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 Indian Railways to cover all wagons under RFID for tracking by 2020

• Key points -

1. The Indian Railways said that it will use radio-frequency identification tags (RFID) for tracking of all wagons by 2022.
2. With the introduction of RFID, the issue of shortage of wagons, locomotives and coaches is expected to be addressed in a more transparent and expeditious manner.

• Important details – 

1. A total of 23,000 wagons have been covered under the RFID project so far and the target is to cover all wagons by December 2022.
2. Using RFID devices, it would be easier for the railways to know the exact position of wagons, locomotives and coaches.
3. Currently, such data is maintained manually, which leaves scope for errors.
4. While the RFID tag will be fitted in the rolling stock, trackside readers will be installed at stations and key points along the tracks to read the tag from a distance of about two meters and transmit the wagon identity over a network to a central computer.

2.2 Other major happenings

1. India-UK hold 14th Joint Economic and Trade Committee meeting; co-chaired by Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and UK Secretary of State for International Trade Elizabeth Truss.
2. RBI signs documents to extend $400 mn currency swap facility to Sri Lanka till November 2022.
3. First Container train for Bangladesh flagged off from Kolkata; to arrive in Benapole on July 26.
4. TRIFED signs MoU with IIT, Delhi for Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA); 2600+ institutions to help TRIFED skill tribals for livelihoods.

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

3.1 A study by the WIHG, has revealed that the Arunchal Himalaya area is generating moderate earthquakes at two different crustal depths

• Key point -   

1. Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology is an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India.
2. WIHG has conducted a study to understand the elastic properties of rocks and seismicity in the easternmost part of India. It used both teleseismic (earthquakes that occur more than 1000 km from the measurement site) and local earthquake data with the help of seismometers.

• Findings –

1. Low magnitude earthquakes are concentrated at 1-15 km depth
2. Slightly higher than 4.0 magnitude earthquakes are mostly generated from 25-35 km depth
3. Extremely high Poisson’s ratio (that describes the expansion or contraction of a material in directions perpendicular to the direction of loading) was also obtained in the higher parts of the Lohit Valley, indicating the presence of fluid or partial melt at crustal depths.

• Importance of the study – Improved underthrusting of the Indian Plate

1. Himalaya is a result of collision between the Indian and the Eurasian plates about 50-60 million years ago. This process keeps modifying the drainage patterns and landforms and is the pivotal reason for causing an immense seismic hazard in the Himalayan mountain belt and adjoining regions, necessitating assessment and characterization of earthquakes in terms of cause, depth and intensity.
2. The Tuting-Tidding Suture Zone (TTSZ) is a major part of the Eastern Himalaya, where the Himalaya takes a sharp southward bend and connects with the Indo-Burma Range which has gained importance in recent times due to the growing need of constructing roads and hydropower projects.
3. The crustal thickness in this area varies from 46.7 km beneath the Brahmaputra Valley to about 55 km in the higher elevations of Arunachal, with a marginal uplift of the contact. This marginal uplift defines the boundary between crust and the mantle, technically called the Moho discontinuity (distinct change in velocity of seismological waves as they pass through changing densities of rock).
   

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

4.1 Trump launches ‘Operation Legend’ which has federal agents move into U.S. cities to fight violent crime

• Highlights

1. U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a plan to send federal agents to more U.S. cities to crack down on violent crime in an escalation of his “law and order” theme going into the November 3 presidential election.
2. “Operation Legend” is named for LeGend Taliferro, a 4-year-old boy who was shot and killed while he slept early June 29 in Kansas City, Missouri.
3. Mr. Trump has emphasized a robust policing and military approach to the protests across the United States about racial inequality after Floyd's death in Minneapolis.
4. The program involves deploying federal law enforcement agents to assist local police in combating what the Justice Department has described as a “surge” of violent crime.
5. The law enforcement personnel from a variety of agencies will serve as street agents and investigators who will be working to “solve murders and take down violent gangs.
6. The Republican president has sharply criticized Democratic leaders for presiding over cities and states that are experiencing crime waves, using the issue as part of a “law and order” push he hopes will resonate with his political base.
7. But the initiative risks inflaming tensions running high in many major cities in the wake of the death in police custody of Black man George Floyd.

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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: Banking and Finance

• Moratoriums on term loans don’t apply to MFs, debentures: Bombay HC - The Bombay High Court on July 16, 2020 ruled that two circulars issued by RBI granting moratoriums on payment of instalments on term loans do not apply to mutual funds and debentures. The court was hearing a Zee Learn Ltd. petition seeking a three-month extension on the July 8 redemption date for debentures issued in 2015.
• BSE signs MoU with IIT Alumni Council to encourage listing culture for startups - BSE (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange) has signed MoU with IIT Alumni Council to encourage listing culture for startups and develop a ‘high investor depth’ startups platform. The Council would use AI and other automation tools to reduce time, cost and efforts involved in the listing process.
• RBI approves reappointment of Shyam Srinivasan as MD & CEO of Federal Bank - Federal Bank on July 17, 2020 said it has received the Reserve Bank of India’s approval for the reappointment of Shyam Srinivasan as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer till September 22, 2021. Srinivasan took charge as MD and CEO of the bank on September 23, 2010.

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• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1 Government imposes restrictions on public procurement from China, neighbours

• Key points –

1. The Centre has amended its General Financial Rules to restrict public procurement from countries which share a land border with India on grounds of national security, a move squarely aimed at China.
2. However, it provided relaxation in case of medical supplies in light of Covid-19.
3. And keeping in mind some other neighbouring countries, nations with which India has a line of credit or provides development assistance were also exempted.

• Highlights –

1. According to the new order, any bidder from countries sharing a land border with India will be eligible to bid in any procurement whether of goods, services or works only if the bidder is registered with the ‘Competent Authority.’
2. The Competent Authority, in this case, is the Registration Committee constituted by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
3. Political and security clearance from the Ministries of External and Home Affairs respectively will be mandatory.
4. The order is applicable for central and state governments, public sector banks and financial institutions, autonomous bodies, state-owned companies and public private partnership projects, receiving financial support from the Government.
5. In case of tenders already invited, if the first stage of evaluation of qualification has not been completed, bidders, who are not registered under the new order, will be barred. If this stage has been crossed, ordinarily the tenders will be cancelled and the process started de novo.
6. The Order will also apply to other forms of public procurement.

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

8.1 Not Available Today

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

9.1 India-European Union Agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation renewed for next five years (2020-2025) 

• Key points –

1. India and European Union have renewed its Agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation for the next five years (2020-2025).
2. This has been done by exchange of Note Verbale between two sides. The Agreement was initially signed in on 23 November 2001 and renewed two times in past in 2007 and 2015.

• Detailed news – 

1. In the last five years, the level of co-investment on India-EU Research Technology Development projects has been stepped up for addressing societal challenges such as affordable healthcare, water, energy, food and nutrition.

• The cooperation has been focused on water, green transport, e-mobility, clean energy, circular economy, bio-economy, health and ICT.
• Additional areas such as climate change, sustainable urban development, manufacturing, advanced materials, nanotechnologies and biotechnology, food processing, and ocean research may also be considered in future endeavours.

• What it means – 

1. The EU and India are at the forefront of human development and innovation.
2. For India, addressing the basic needs of its people, including through frugal innovation, and excelling in high-tech markets are twin objectives.
3. Both areas offer mutually beneficial opportunities for EU-India cooperation.
4. Increased exchanges between students, researchers, and professionals would benefit both sides.

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

10.1 Not Available Toay

10.2 Daily dose of  FIVE Facts -

• India’s first plasma bank for Covid-19 patients became operational at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences in New Delhi.
• Striped Hairstreak and Elusive Prince are the two new species of Butterflies discovered in India recently.
• HDFC Ergo company has launched India’s first cover for property damages and physical injuries from drones.
• Colombia was the host country for the World Environment Day celebrated on June 5.
• According to UN’s World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) report released in May 2020, the growth forecast for the Indian economy in 2020 is 1.2%.

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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