Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 29-07-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 29-07-2020

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. COVID-19 – National tally zooms past 15L, 781 deaths on Tue – India’s Covid-19 caseload went past the 15-lakh mark on Tuesday (July 28), with the last 5 lakh cases having come in just 12 days, even as the country reported its secondbiggest jump in infections and the highest death toll of 781 in a single day. After showing a dip on Monday, fresh cases again rose to 49,292 on Tuesday, the second-highest daily count after over 50,000 infections on Sunday. Deaths recorded went past the previous high of 757 on July 24. India’s coronavirus caseload is the third highest in the world after the US (44.3 lakh) and Brazil (24.4 lakh). Russia has the fourth largest count of cases at 8.2 lakh.
   
2. Education – New education policy set to get Cabinet nod today – The draft New Education Policy (NEP 2020), likely to be placed before the Union cabinet on Wednesday (July 29), gives nod to global universities to set up campuses in India and a complete overhaul of the regulatory system in higher education besides suggesting, among other things, that standalone technical institutions become multi-disciplinary. It also seeks to achieve 50% and 100% gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher and school education by 2030 and increase government’s investment on education by up to 20% in the next ten years. The new policy also states that medium of instruction should be in mother tongue or local language till Class VI and preferably till Class VIII and beyond. The HRD ministry had released the draft NEP in 2019 which recommended revision of curriculum and pedagogical structure from a 10+2 system to a 5+3+3+4 system covering ages 3-18, with focus on language and mathematics in Class I to III.
3. COVID-19 – No indication virus is seasonal: WHO – The spread of the novel coronavirus does not appear to be impacted by seasonality, the WHO has said, warning against false beliefs that summer is safer. Officials pointed out that some of the hardest-hit countries are currently in the midst of different season. While it is summer in the U.S., which with nearly 1,48,000 deaths and close to 4.3 million cases is the hardest-hit country, the second most affected country Brazil, which counts more than 87,000 deaths, is in winter.
   
4. People & Personalities – Malaysia’s former PM gets 12 years in jail – Malaysia’s former leader Najib Razak was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to 12 years in jail on July 28 in the first trial over a multi-billion-dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB that stretched to the Gulf States and Hollywood. In a case widely seen as a test of the nation’s resolve to stamp out corruption and which could have big political implications, high court judge Mohamad Nazlan Mohamad Ghazali sentenced Mr. Najib to 12 years and a fine of 210 million ringgit ($49 million) on a charge of abuse of power. Mr. Najib, 67, also received 10 years in jail on each of three charges of criminal breach of trust and three charges of money laundering for illegally receiving nearly $10 million from SRC International, a former unit of the state fund.
5. World – China halts HK extradition pacts with Canada, Australia and U.K. – China has announced the suspension of Hong Kong’s extradition treaties with Canada, Australia and Britain in a tit-for-tat move following similar decisions by those countries over a controversial new security law. Western nations have angered Beijing over their responses to the law imposed on Hong Kong which they see as an erosion of the civil liberties and human rights the city has enjoyed since its handover from Britain in 1997. Canada, Britain and Australia are part of the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance. The other members are New Zealand, which suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong earlier on Tuesday (July 28), and the United States, which has signalled it is preparing to do the same.
   
6. Economy – EU to restrict exports to Hong Kong – The European Union will restrict exports to Hong Kong of equipment that could be used for surveillance and repression after Beijing imposed a controversial new security law. The bloc has expressed deep concerned over the new law, which critics say will severely curb Hong Kong’s longstanding autonomy and relative freedom. But the EU has struggled to agree a united response to China, with member states deeply divided over whether to stand up to Beijing — a hugely important trading partner — or to try to cooperate with it. France and Germany proposed the restriction on so-called “dual use” technology at a meeting of Foreign Ministers earlier this month. Along with the export restriction, the EU will also bring in measures to support the population of the former British colony by making it easier for them to travel to Europe through the granting of visas, scholarships and academic exchanges.
   
7. World – For third straight year, desis lead in acquiring Australian citizenship – For the third consecutive year, Indians have emerged as the largest group to obtain Australian citizenship. As many as 38,209 Indians were conferred citizenship during the twelve-month period that ended on June 30, 2020, constituting 18.6% of the total number of new citizens. The Australian government termed the recently concluded fiscal year as a ‘record year’ in which over two lakh people became new citizens. In fiscal year 2017-18, 17,756 Indians had acquired Australian citizenship, topping the charts for the first time with the UK being relegated to the second spot. In the next year, 28,470 Indians obtained Australian citizenship.
8. Study/Research – Ray of hope: Scientists get closer to blood test to diagnose Alzheimer’s – A newly developed blood test for Alzheimer’s has diagnosed the disease as accurately as methods that are far more expensive or invasive, a significant step toward a long-time goal for patients, doctors and dementia researchers. The test has the potential to make diagnosis simple, affordable and widely available. The test determined whether people with dementia had Alzheimer’s instead of another condition. And it identified signs of the degenerative disease 20 years before memory and thinking problems were expected in people with a genetic mutation that causes Alzheimer’s. Such a test could be available for clinical use in as little as 2 to 3 years.
   
9. Economy – Global electronic giants seek to ramp up India play – As many as six global electronics equipment manufacturers, including Samsung Electronics and Taiwan’s Pegatron, are in final stages of discussion with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to either set up units or expand their present ones in India under a special window that expires in three days. Among the other global electronic manufacturing companies, Singapore-based Flextronics, now re-christened as Flex, has also approached the government to avail benefits under the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme by expanding its Chennai unit.
   
10. Economy – ‘Notification on 74% FDI in defence soon’ – The government is going to come out with a decision on 74% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in defence and a notification is likely in the next few days. In May, the government announced a series of measures to promote domestic defence manufacturing. These include a negative import list, separate budgetary allocation for domestic procurements, indigenisation of spares and components and raising the FDI cap through automatic route from 49% to 74%.

Important Exam Notifications
S. No.	Institution	Exam or Post Name	Vacancies or Seats	Qualification	Last Date to Apply	Link for Details
1	BECIL	Burner/ Miller, Chemist, Electrician cum SBA & Other	10	ITI, Diploma/ B.Sc (Chem)	AUG-10-2020	https://www.becil.com/uploads/vacancy/ca7e2e86e2c5c1b03c666d8d29ddf465.pdf
2	BECIL	Fitter, Welder, Motor Mechanic, Electrician & DEO	13	ITI, Diploma/ Degree (Civil Engg.)	AUG-10-2020	https://www.becil.com/uploads/vacancy/0b7aadefb5b4b73556763d5166853492.pdf
3	BECIL	Fitter, Welder, Plumber, DEO & Other	11	ITI, Diploma/ Degree (Civil)	AUG-10-2020	https://www.becil.com/uploads/vacancy/9634af7e029bcdc02f511d16c1fafee4.pdf
4	NIBMG	Technical Specialist, Manager & Other	8	B.Tech/ M.Tech, M.Sc, Ph.D	AUG-11-2020	https://www.nibmg.ac.in/academic/plp/27_07_2020/SyMeC.pdf
5	AAI	Junior Executive	108	Degree (Civil, Ele., Electro./ TCom Engg)	02-09-2020	http://www.freejobalert.com/aai/23620/#JuniorExecutive
6	Indian Army	Technical Graduate Course (TGC – 132)	40	Degree (Engg)	26-08-2020	http://www.freejobalert.com/indian-army/18464/#TGC
7	Mira Bhayander Municipal Corp.	Physician, Intensivist, Anesthesiologist, MO	234	GNM, MBBS, PG	JULY-30-2020	https://img.freejobalert.com/uploads/2020/07/Notification-Mira-Bhayander-Municipal-Corporation-Phisician-MO-Other-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 Government releases guidelines for schemes to boost domestic manufacturing of bulk drugs, medical devices

• Key point –

1. The government has released guidelines for four schemes to boost domestic manufacturing of bulk drugs and medical devices as part of its drive to reduce dependency on imports for these critical products.

• Highlights –

1. The schemes—a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme and industry park scheme each for bulk drugs and medical devices—seek to make India self-reliant in pharmaceuticals raw materials such as drug intermediates, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and key starting materials (KSMs), and medical devices.
2. Currently the country almost entirely depends on imports—mostly from China—for production/supply of 53 critical bulk drugs, while 86% of medical devices, too, are imported.
3. Bulk drug parks "will be based on plug and play model with prior regulatory approvals, state of art infrastructure, excellent connectivity, affordable land, competitive utility charges, and strong R&D ecosystem and so on.
4. This will significantly reduce time and investment cost for setting up new manufacturing units.
5. In addition, new units will be eligible for PLI scheme of the government.
6. Eligible manufacturers will be selected for the PLI scheme on the basis of marks obtained in the evaluation criteria as per the guidelines.

2.2 BIS-Care

1. BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) to frame quality norms for 371 items by March 2021 to curb non-essential imports.
2. Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Minister Ram Vilas Paswan launched BIS Mobile App ‘BIS-Care’. Using ‘BIS-Care’, consumers can check the authenticity of the ISI-marked and hallmarked products; lodge complaints.
3. Paswan launches Standardization, Conformity Assessment and Training Portals of e-BIS on www.manakonline.in.

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

3.1 LCOs conduct operations to control locusts in 10 districts of Rajasthan, Gujarat

• Key point –

1. The government has said operations to control locusts were carried out in 10 districts of Rajasthan and Gujarat during the intervening night of July 26-27.

• Highlights –

1. Starting from April 11 till July 26, control operations have been done in 2,14,642 hectares area in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana by LCOs.
2. No significant crop losses have been reported in the states of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Haryana. However, some minor crop losses have been reported in some districts of Rajasthan.
3. Currently, 104 central control teams with spray vehicles are deployed in Rajasthan and Gujarat, and more than 200 central government personnel are engaged in locust control operations.
4. Moreover, five companies with 15 drones are deployed at Barmer, Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Nagaur and Phalodi in Rajasthan for effective control of locusts on tall trees and in inaccessible areas through spraying of pesticides.
5. A bell helicopter has been deployed in Rajasthan for use in scheduled desert area as per the need.
6. The Indian Air Force is also conducting trials in anti-locust operation by using Mi-17 helicopter.
7. The Food and Agriculture Organization''s Locust Status Update of July 21 indicates that the risk of swarm migration from Horn of Africa prevails in the coming weeks.

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

4.1 India-UK affirmed their shared commitment towards a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) during the 14th virtual Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) meeting

• Prerequisite –

1. Free Trade Agreeement (FTA) – An agreement in which two trading partners eliminate or significantly reduce import duties on the maximum number of goods traded between them.

• Highlights of the meeting –

1. Agreed to an early harvest scheme or a limited trade agreement to lower tariffs on a small set of goods apart from easing rules for select services. 
2. Resolved to cooperate in the health sector especially in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.
3. Discussions on a preferential trading arrangement under the proposed India-European Union FTA.
4. To continue the dialogue the next meeting is scheduled to be held around Sept, 2020 in New Delhi.

• India-UK Trade -  

1. UK is a significant partner of India as an FDI investor after Mauritius and Singapore which ranked second and first respectively.
2. UK is one of the largest investors in India, among the G20 countries.
3. The bilateral trade between the two countries stood at 15.5 billion US $ in 2019-20 as against 16.87 US $ billion in 2018-19.
4. India has engagement with the UK in sectors like pharma, textiles, leather, industrial machinery, furniture, and toys.
5. India is also looking to the UK to support it with technology based products such as high quality cameras, medical devices, and automobiles. 

• Importance - 

1. The UK has been pushing India for a bilateral trading arrangement ever since it voted to leave the EU in June 2016 but India had been resisting these efforts as it decided that the Brexit process should complete first. India has been keen to understand how much of a "special and preferential" access the UK will get in the vast European market when it is out of the EU’s single-market dynamics. These talks would help in intensifying the beneficial aspect of the UK as a trading partner of India.
2. India opted out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) deal in Nov 2019. There is renewed focus on trade deals with the US, the EU and the UK, which are key markets for Indian exporters and are keen to diversify their sourcing.
3. The UK is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and one of the strategic partners of India. Strengthening bonds with the trade would seek UKs support at global issues like standoff with China. 

• The road ahead - 

1. FTAs with the UK has played a significant role in enhancing the trade volume but have not brought the expected tangible benefits and have hurt the country’s manufacturing sector (due to liberal rules of origin), therefore, detailed assessment of FTAs in terms of goods, services and investment flows by all the stakeholders involved is needed. 

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

5.1 Government launches ‘Mausam’ app for weather forecasts

•  Key points –  

1. The Ministry of Earth Sciences launched a mobile application 'Mausam' for the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday (July 27), which is designed to communicate the weather information and forecasts to the general public.
2. Using the app, the general public can access observed weather, forecasts, radar images and be proactively warned of impending weather events.
3. The app has been designed and developed jointly by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics' (ICRISAT's) Digital Agriculture and Youth (DAY) team, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune and India Meteorological Department.

• Key details about the app –  

1. The app will forecast weather conditions of around 450 cities, which will show the weather conditions of the past 24 hours and seven days.
2. 'Mausam' has services such as Nowcast, which will give three hourly warnings of localised weather phenomena and their intensity issued for about 800 stations, and districts of the country by the State Meteorological Centres of IMD.
3. In case of severe weather, its impact also included in the warning.
4. Apart from this, as a warning in case of approaching dangerous weather, alerts will be issued twice a day for all districts for the next five days in colour code (Red, Orange and Yellow) to warn citizens.

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• 6. MISCELLANEOUS (Prelims, Various GS Papers)

6.1 Weekly Roundup: Science and Technology

• ARCI, Vehant Tech co-develop KritiScan® UV Baggage Disinfection System - In order to control spread of infection through baggage, International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), Hyderabad and Vehant Technologies, Noida have co-developed KritiScan® UV Baggage Disinfection System. The system is suitable for use in airports, railway and bus stations, hotels, commercial and private establishments.
  
• CSIR-CMERI, Durgapur unveils COVID Protection System (COPS) for Workplace - CSIR-CMERI, Durgapur, unveiled the COVID Protection System (COPS) for Workplace for safety against COVID-19 through infected individuals and contaminated objects. The COPS for Workplace includes 1. contactless Solar Based Intelligent Mask Automated Dispensing Unit cum Thermal Scanner (IntelliMAST), 2. Touchless Faucet (TouF) and 3. 360° Car Flusher.
• “Corosure”, the COVID-19 Diagnostic Kit developed by IIT Delhi, launched - Union HRD Ramesh Pokhriyal on July 5, 2020 virtually launched the world’s most affordable RT-PCR based COVID-19 diagnostic kit “Corosure” developed by IIT Delhi, and approved by the ICMR and DCGI. Corosure has been manufactured by Delhi NCR-based Newtech Medical Devices.
• New blood test to trace coronavirus in 20 minutes developed in Australia - Researchers at the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia claimed to have developed a new blood test that they say can detect positive COVID-19 cases in just about 20 minutes. Using a simple lab setup, this discovery could see medical practitioners across the world testing up to 200 blood samples an hour.
• COVID-19: IIT Kanpur develops UV product SHUDH for sanitising rooms - Imagineering Laboratory department of IIT Kanpur has developed an Ultraviolet (UV) sanitizing product named SHUDH (Smartphone operated Handy Ultraviolet Disinfection Helper) that can disinfect a 10x10 squared feet room in about 15 minutes.

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• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1 India hand over 10 broad gauge locomotives to Bangladesh

• Key points –

1. India has provided 10 railway locomotives to Bangladesh as grant assistance, with the leadership of the two sides committing themselves to more connectivity and infrastructure initiatives to boost trade and create new supply chains.
2. The handing over of the 10 locomotives fulfilled a commitment made by India during Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to New Delhi last October.
3. The railways of the two countries began cooperating in 1996 with the export of 10 locomotives from India. Since then, 40 more locomotives and 120 coaches were exported till 2016-17.
4. The 10 locomotives provided by India have a residual life of almost three decades.

• Highlights –

1. The move was part of a sharpened focus on India’s “neighbourhood first” policy, with New Delhi unveiling several moves in recent days to boost economic activity and help countries in the region cope with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
2. It also followed close on the heels of the launch of parcel and container train services by India and Bangladesh and the trans-shipment of goods from Kolata to Agartala via Chattogram port.
3. Noting that India’s concessional lines of credit of nearly $10 billion for Bangladesh are the largest provided to any country, and Dhaka’s exports increased by 43% to cross the $1-billion mark in 2019, India invited Bangladesh’s business community to enhance their engagement with India.

• What do the offcials say –

1. Bilateral rail cooperation played a key role in mitigating the impact of the pandemic after trade via land border posts was disrupted.
2. Both countries saw the highest ever exchange of freight trains during June, when 103 trains transported essential goods and raw materials.

• What do the experts say –

1. It is crucial for India to boost trade and strategic ties with Bangladesh. 
2. Bangladesh is India’s largest trading partner in South Asia and connectivity via Bangladesh is important for the development of India’s northeastern states. 
3. Bangladesh is also a crucial partner for India’s Act East policy and sub-regional cooperation under the rubric of BBIN [Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal].

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

8.1 Aspirational districts: Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur tops Niti’s delta ranking 

• Key points –

1. Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh has topped the list of aspirational districts ranked by government think-tank Niti Aayog for the February-June 2020 period.
2. The aspirational districts programme, launched in January 2018, aims to transform districts that have shown relatively lesser progress in key social areas and have emerged as pockets of under-development.

• Detailed report –  

1. Ri-Bhoi (Meghalaya) and Bahraich (Uttar Pradesh) have been placed at the second and third positions respectively.
2. Nawada (Bihar) has been ranked fourth and Moga (Punjab) is at the fifth place.
3. The delta rankings took into account incremental progress made by over 112 aspirational districts across six developmental areas during February-June this year.
4. Health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion, skill development and basic infrastructure were the development areas that were taken into consideration for the ranking.

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

9.1 PM launches three ICMR labs to boost testing capacity by 30k

• Key points - 

1. PM Modi has launched three state-of-the-art high throughput Indian Council of Medical Research labs in Mumbai, Kolkata, and Noida to further ramp up the country’s daily Covid-19 testing capacity by 10,000.
2. High throughput facilities can test a large number of samples as compared to a normal testing machine that can run a limited number of samples in one go.

• Highlights –

1. The tests are being conducted using both real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and antigen-based testing.
2. According to government data, at least 25% of the daily testing is antigen-based.
3. Experts say that it is quicker, cheaper, and easier to perform than the RT-PCR testing, which remains the gold standard for diagnosing Covid-19.
4. More tests will assist early detection and treatment, and thereby help fight the virus spread.
   

• India’s recovery rate – 

1. India’s recovery rate is also higher than in other countries and is improving on a daily basis.
2. The total number of people who have recovered from the virus is about to reach a million.

• PM Modi’s views – 

1. Modi cited the government’s pre-emptive and proactive efforts and added it was due to these timely decisions that India is better placed as compared to other countries in terms of the Covid-related deaths.
2. Modi said the Centre announced Rs 15,000 crore package at the beginning of this battle and that the country now has over 11,000 Covid-19 facilities and more than 1.1 million isolation beds.
3. The PM said from not having even a single personal protection equipment kit manufacturer as recently as six months ago, India now has over 1,200 manufacturers now, who are producing more than 500,000 such kits daily. 

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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 -

• Padma Shri Nagindas Sanghvi passed away in Surat at the age of 100 in July 2020.
• David Pine has taken charge as the new envoy of New Zealand to India?.
• Botswana has world’s largest elephant population, estimated to be around 130,000.
• Cricketer Rajinder Goel passed away in Rohtak at the age of 77 in June 2020.
• Pratinidhi Sabha is the lower house of parliament in Nepal.

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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