Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 25-08-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 25-08-2020

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Polity & Governance – Sonia to stay on as interim Cong. chief – Sonia Gandhi will continue to be the interim president of the Congress until the All India Congress Committee (AICC) holds its next session, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) said in a resolution on August 24, after a marathon virtual meeting. The meeting also witnessed verbal exchanges between members supporting the Gandhis and the dissenters, with the party’s leader in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, accusing Mr. Azad of “defending the indefensible”, forcing Ms. Gandhi to intervene. he CWC session was prompted by the letter, written by 23 senior Congress leaders, including Mr. Azad, Rajya Sabha Deputy Leader Anand Sharma and Lok Sabha members Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari, among others, which questioned the party’s style of functioning, demanded collective leadership and talked of a “full time and visible party president”.
2. World – German doctors say Alexei Navalny was poisoned – German doctors have said that medical examinations indicated that Russia opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who is in a Berlin hospital after collapsing on a plane in Russia last week, had been poisoned. Mr. Navalny, a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, had been flown to Germany for treatment on Saturday (August 22). The Kremlin has said it was unclear what caused Mr. Navalny to fall ill and that initial tests did not show he was poisoned, as his aides charged. Berlin’s Charite hospital said a team of doctors there had examined him in detail after his arrival. The clinical findings indicate poisoning by a substance from the group of active substances called cholinesterase inhibitors.
3. World – 14 killed, 75 wounded in Philippines blast – Militants allied with the Islamic State group set off a powerful motorcycle explosive followed by a suicide bombing that together killed 14 people on August 24, many of them soldiers, in the worst extremist attack in the Philippines this year. At least 75 soldiers, police and civilians were wounded in the midday bombings in Jolo town in southern Sulu province. The bombings were staged as the government grapples with the highest number of COVID-19 infections in Southeast Asia. A second blast, apparently from a female suicide attacker, occurred about an hour later and killed the bomber, a soldier, a police commando and wounded several others.
4. World – China launches warship for Pakistan Navy – China has launched first of the four advanced naval warships it is building for Pakistan, amid deepening defence ties between the two all-weather allies. Pakistan-China defence ties turn a new chapter with the launch of the first ship of Type-054 class frigate, Pakistan’s state-run APP news agency reported. The Type-054 class, equipped with the latest surface, subsurface, anti-air weapons, combat management system, and sensors, will be one of the technologically advanced surface platforms of the Pakistan Navy fleet.
5. COVID-19 – Active coronavirus cases in India decline after record recoveries – With 60,975 people testing positive for coronavirus infection in a day, India's COVID-19 tally rose to 31,67,323, while recoveries surged to 24,04,585 pushing the recovery rate over 75.92 per cent. The total active cases in India declined by 6,423 after a record 66,550 patients were cured in a day on August 24. The death toll climbed to 58,390 with 848 fatalities being reported in a span of 24-hours. The COVID-19 case fatality rate has declined to 1.84 per cent. There are 7,04,348 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 22.24 per cent of the total caseload. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7. According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 3,68,27,520 samples have been tested up to August 24 with 9,25,383 samples being tested on August 24.
6. Science & Technology – Global team of scientists discovers one of the earliest galaxies using India’s AstroSat – In a major breakthrough, a global team led by scientists of the Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) has discovered one of the earliest galaxies in extreme ultraviolet light. AstroSat, India’s first multi-wavelength satellite that has five unique X-ray and ultraviolet telescopes working in tandem, has detected extreme UV light from a galaxy called AUDFs01, 9.3 billion light-years away from Earth. The discovery was made by an international team of astronomers led by Dr Kanak Saha, associate professor of astronomy at IUCAA, and was published on August 24 by Nature Astronomy. The team comprises scientists from India, Switzerland, France, USA, Japan and Netherlands. The team observed the galaxy, which is located in the Extreme Deep field, through AstroSat. These observations lasted for more than 28 hours in October 2016. But it took nearly two years since then to carefully analyse the data to ascertain that the emission is indeed from the galaxy.
7. Economy – Covid-led rush for cash slows: Currency with public falls for first time in five months – The sudden rush for cash by public — which started alongside the Covid-19 pandemic and anticipation of lockdown announcement in March, and kept on piling each fortnight — witnessed its first fall, in five months, in the fortnight ended July 31. The dip in currency with public came in line with the relaxation in lockdown restrictions and large number of businesses and transactions returning to normalcy. As per RBI data, currency with public rose by Rs 3,24,500 crore between February 28, 2020 and July 17, 2020, and hit an all-time high of Rs 25.8 lakh crore on July 17. It fell by Rs 3,982 crore in the fortnight ended July 31, and the currency with public fell to Rs 25.76 lakh crore.
8. Polity & Governance – Republicans formally renominate Trump as convention kicks off – Delegates kicked off the scaled-down 2020 Republican National Convention by officially renominating President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence on August 24 in Charlotte. The expected vote was unanimous and took place inside a socially distanced ballroom at the Charlotte Convention Center. The nomination proceedings were attended by six delegates from each state and territory, for a total of 336 delegates.
9. COVID-19 – Govt may ask passengers flying out of India to get Covid test before flight – The Centre is planning to ask outbound flyers from India on international flights to have a COVID-19 test done prior to their flight. This comes in the aftermath of Hong Kong government banning Air India flights till August 31 after 11 people tested positive for coronavirus on arrival there from Delhi. Currently, India has mandated a seven-day institutional quarantine and a seven-day home quarantine for passengers arriving into India on international flights.
10. Economy – Tough for Indian pharma to sustain Q1 performance: Ind-Ra – Strong revenue growth in the active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) business segment and lower operational expenses that perked up the April-June performance of the Indian pharmaceutical companies are unlikely to be the same for them amid global unlocking, says India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra). Ind-Ra said the API business revenue grew 31% year-on-year and 18% quarter-on-quarter in Q1. This came as demand from global and Indian formulation players remained robust, aided by higher pricing opportunities. Growth in API business was primarily attributable to the export business. Indian API players benefited due to a thrust on supply chain continuity from customers and better inventory management in view of supply disruptions from China and the run up in the prices of API. Channel stocking also contributed to the growth.

Important Exam Notifications
S. No.	Institution	Exam or Post Name	Vacancies or Seats	Qualification	Last Date to Apply	Link for Details
1	-	Specialist Grade-III, Res. Officer, Sen. Sci. Officer, GDMO	35	MBBS, Homeopathy, PG	SEPT-10-2020	https://upsc.gov.in/sites/default/files/Advt-09-2020-Eng_0.pdf
2	IIT, Guwahati	Asst. Pro. Officer, System Eng., Office Asst, Attendant	6	High School, B.E/ B.Tech, PG, Ph.D	SEPT-1-2020	https://iitg.ac.in/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Advertisement%20for%20Additional%20Manpower_IDF.pdf
3	IIT, Guwahati	Project Engineer	5	Ph.D (Mech. Engg)	AUG-27-2020	https://iitg.ac.in/ckfinder/userfiles/files/IITGISxDST00228xTIH101.pdf
4	STPI	Member Tech Support Staff, Asst, Multi Tasking Staff	13	Matric, Dip, Deg, PG	SEPT-22-2020	http://noida.stpi.in/upd/EmploymentNotice.pdf
5	RIMS, Imphal	Biomedical Engineer, Echo Technician	14	ITI, Diploma/ B. Sc	AUG-27-2020	http://www.rims.edu.in/secure/wp-content/uploads/Advt-bio-echo-asst-22-8-2020.pdf
6	Prasar Bharati	Chief Researcher, Sr Researcher, Jr Researcher	7	Any Degree or Equivalent	SEPT-11-2020	http://www.prasarbharati.gov.in/vacancies/Contractual_609433.pdf
7	NLC India Limited	Apprentice	75	10th, 12th Class	SEPT-10-2020	https://www.nlcindia.com/new_website/careers/app-aug-2020.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 frames norms for enforcement of ‘rules of origin’ for imports under FTAs

• Key points –

1. The government has come out with norms for the enforcement of ‘rules of origin’ provisions for allowing preferential rate of customs duties on products imported under free trade agreements.
2. The new norms have been framed with a view to checking inbound shipments of low quality products and dumping of goods by a third country routed through an FTA partner country.
3. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech had stated that the government would review ‘rules of origin’ requirements, particularly for certain sensitive items, “so as to ensure that FTAs are aligned to the conscious direction of our policy”.

• Highlights –

1. The government has come out with norms for the enforcement of ‘rules of origin’ provisions for allowing preferential rate of customs duties on products imported under free trade agreements.
2. The Department of Revenue has notified the ‘Customs (Administration of Rules of Origin under Trade Agreements) Rules, 2020’ which would “come into force on September 21, 2020”.
3. These rules “shall apply to import of goods into India where the importer makes a claim of preferential rate of duty in terms of a trade agreement.
4. The “rules of origin” provision prescribes for the minimal processing that should happen in the FTA country so that the final manufactured product may be called originating goods in that country.
5. Under this provision, a country that has inked an FTA with India cannot dump goods from some third country in the Indian market by just putting a label on it. It has to undertake a prescribed value addition in that product to export to India. Rules of origin norms help contain dumping of goods.
6. India has inked FTAs with several countries, including Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and ASEAN members.
7. Under such agreements, two trading partners significantly reduce or eliminate import/customs duties on the maximum number of goods traded between them.
8. According to the notification, to claim preferential rate of duty under a trade agreement, the importer or his agent, at the time of filing bill of entry, has to make a declaration in the bill that the imported products qualify as originating goods for preferential rate of duty under that agreement; and produce certificate of origin.
9. The importer also has to possess all relevant information related to country of origin criteria, including the regional value content and submit the same to the proper officer on request.
10. An officer may, during the course of customs clearance or thereafter, request for verification of certificate of origin from verification authority where there is a doubt regarding genuineness or authenticity of the certificate for reasons such as mismatch of signatures or seal when compared with specimens of seals and signatures received from the exporting country.

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

3.1 Nitin Gadkari launches Harit Path app, stresses on greener national highways

• Key points –

1. Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday stressed the need for utilising modern and green technologies in highways construction besides reducing the cost of road building by at least 25 per cent.
2. The road transport minister also launched a mobile app 'Harit Path' to monitor the plantation along the national highways.

• Important details –

1. The app has been developed by NHAI to monitor location, growth, species details, maintenance activities, targets and achievements of each of its field units for each and every plant under all plantation projects.
2. While inaugurating the mobile app, the minister emphasised on strict monitoring of plantation and transplantation of trees.
3. The minister suggested that specialised persons/agencies should be hired for plantation of trees along the highways.
4. He suggested involving NGOs, self-help groups and horticulture and forest department in this.
5. The officials assured that they will be able to achieve the goal of 100 per cent plantation on highways by March 2022.
6. Gadkari also said that right choice of species suiting local conditions is also very important.
7. He said that specific areas like hilly areas, border areas and coastal areas need different approach and technologies.
8. The minister appreciated the use of such technology in road construction in Andaman and Nicobar and motivated the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd to follow the example in rest of the projects.
9. Meanwhile, the the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in a statement said the mobile app 'Harit Path' launched by the minister will provide digital address to every tree planted along the national highways.
10. To commemorate 25 years of its service to the nation, the National Highways Authority of India has also recently undertaken 'Harit Bharat Sankalp', a nation-wide plantation drive which is in line with NHAI’s commitment to promote environment protection and sustainability.
11. Under this initiative, the NHAI planted over 25 lakh plants in 25 days along the stretches of the national highways between July 21 and August 15, 2020.
12. The drive takes the total cumulative number of plantations done during the current year to 35.22 lakh.
13. In order to ensure 100 per cent survival of the plants, avenue plantation of minimum height of 1.5 metre has been emphasised along the national highways.

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

4.1 Myanmar government, armed groups sign framework accord for ceasefire implementation

• Highlights – 

1. The government of Myanmar and ten armed ethnic groups signed a framework agreement  for the implementation of the National Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) at Nay Pyi Taw on August 21 at the end of the 4th session of the Union Peace Conference - 21st Century Panglong.
   The agreement also includes the framework for implementation of various processes beyond 2020, and basic principles to establish a democratic federal union.

• Important details –

1. State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi said that the accord opens a door to solving misunderstanding regarding the NCA and difficulties faced in its implementation.
2. The spokesperson of the President Office termed the agreement as a great success as it contains a step by step peace process for implementation beyond 2020 in working for peace, democratic reform, federalism and national reconciliation.
3. The peace accord called Union Peace Accord III contains 15 provisions to implement the NCA. These include troop deployment, protocol to deal with skirmishes between government troops and the armed groups among others.
4. Currently, the 4th round of the peace process is being held between the government and armed ethnic groups that signed the NCA.
5. The peace process in Myanmar was started in 2011 by President Thein Sein to end the long standing conflict with ethnic armed groups active in the country.
6. A National Ceasefire Accord (NCA) was signed in October 2015 with armed ethnic groups.
7. Subsequently the dialogue to initiate a political peace process was started in 2016 which is continuing.

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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 NATIONAL SPORTS AWARDS

• Key points –  

1. RAJIV GANDHI KHEL RATNA AWARD  – Rohit Sharma: Cricket; Mariyappan T.: Para Athletics; Manika Batra: Table Tennis; Vinesh Phogat: Wrestling; Rani Rampal: Hockey
2. DRONACHARYA AWARD: Lifetime Category - Dharmendra Tiwary: Archery; Purushotham Rai: Athletics; Shiv Singh: Boxing; Romesh Pathania: Hockey; Krishan Kumar Hooda: Kabaddi; Vijay Bhalchandra Munishwar: Para Powerlifting; Naresh Kumar: Tennis; Om Parkash Dahiya: Wrestling
3. DRONACHARYA AWARD: Regular Category - Jude Felix Sebastian: Hockey; Yogesh Malviya: Mallakhamb; Jaspal Rana: Shooting; Kuldeep Kumar Handoo: Wushu; Gaurav Khanna: Para Badminton
4. ARJUNA AWARD - Atanu Das: Archery; Dutee Chand: Athletics;  Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy: Badminton; Chirag Chandrasekhar Shetty: Badminton; Vishesh Bhriguvanshi: Basketball; Subedar Manish Kaushik: Boxing; Lovlina Borgohain: Boxing; Ishant Sharma: Cricket; Deepti Sharma: Cricket; Sawant Ajay Anant: Equestrian; Sandesh Jhingan: Football; Aditi Ashok: Golf; Akashdeep Singh: Hockey; Deepika: Hockey; Deepak: Kabaddi; Kale Sarika Sudhakar: Kho-Kho; Dattu Baban Bhokanal: Rowing; Manu Bhaker: Shooting; Saurabh Chaudhary: Shooting; Madhurika Suhas Patkar: Table Tennis; Divij Sharan: Tennis; Shiva Keshavan: Winter Sports; Divya Kakran: Wrestling;  Rahul Aware: Wrestling; Suyash Narayan Jadhav: Para Swimming; Sandeep: Para Athletics; Manish Narwal: Para Shooting.
5. DHYAN CHAND AWARD - Kuldip Singh Bhullar: Athletics; Jincy Philips: Athletics; Pradeep Shrikrishna Gandhe: Badminton; Trupti Murgunde: Badminton; N. Usha: Boxing; Lakha Singh: Boxing; Sukhvinder Singh Sandhu: Football; Ajit Singh: Hockey; Manpreet Singh: Kabaddi; J. Ranjith Kumar: Para Athletics;  Satyaprakash Tiwari: Para Badminton;  Manjeet Singh: Rowing;  Late Shri Sachin Nag: Swimming;  Nandan P Bal: Tennis; Netarpal Hooda: Wrestling
6. TENZING NORGAY NATIONAL ADVENTURE AWARDS 2019 - – Land Adventure: Anita Devi, Col. Sarfraz Singh, Taka Tamut, Narender Singh, Keval Hiren Kakka; Water Adventure: Satendra Singh; Air Adventure: Gajanand Yadava;  Life Time Achievement: Late Magan Bissa
7. MAULANA ABUL KALAM AZAD (MAKA) TROPHY - Panjab University, Chandigarh;
8. RASHTRIYA KHEL PROTSAHAN PURUSKAR - Identification and Nurturing of Budding and Young Talent: Lakshya Institute Army Sports Institute; Encouragement to sports through Corporate Social Responsibility: ONGC; Employment of sportspersons and sports welfare measures: Air Force Sports Control Board;  Sports for Development: International Institute of Sports Management (IISM).

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• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1 Centre forms National Council for Transgender Persons 

• Key points –

1. The Centre has constituted the national council for transgender persons, headed by the Union social justice minster and comprising representatives from 10 central departments, five states and members of the community.
2. The council – India’s first and formed under Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 – was announced in a gazette notification issued late on August 21.
3. Representatives from five states or Union Territories, on a rotational basis, will be members of the commission.
4. The first such clutch comprises Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Tripura and Gujarat.
5. Five members of the community and five experts, from non-governmental organisations, have also been named to the commission.
6. The tenure of the community members and expert shall be three years.

• According to the legislation, the council has five main functions –

1. Advising the central government on the formulation of policies, programmes, legislation and projects with respect to transgender persons.
2. Monitoring and evaluating the impact of policies and programmes designed for achieving equality and full participation of transgender persons.
3. Reviewing and coordinating the activities of all the departments.
4. Redressing grievances of transgender persons.
5. And performing such other functions as prescribed by the Centre.

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

8.1 SWACHH SURVEKSHAN 2020

1. Swachh Survekshan 2020 report released by Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry
2. Among the cities with population above 1 lakh, Indore was ranked the cleanest for the fourth year in a row
3. Among cities with population under 1 lakh, top three cities are Karad, Sasvad and Lonavala – all from Maharashtra
4. Indore, Ambikapur, Navi Mumbai, Surat, Rajkot and Mysuru rated as 5-star cities, 86 cities as 3-star and 64 cities as 1-star
5. Jharkhand was ranked the cleanest state among those with less than 100 ULBs
6. Chhattisgarh was ranked the cleanest state out of those with over 100 urban local bodies (ULBs)
7. In the category of cantonments, Jalandhar got the top rank
8. In the category of “Ganga towns”, Varanasi ranked the cleanest
9. Survey covered 4,242 cities, 62 cantonment boards and 97 “Ganga towns” earlier this year over 28 days.
10. In the category of capitals, New Delhi was cleanest.

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

9.1 ISRO and IISc Bengaluru develop sustainable process to make space bricks on lunar surface

• Key point –   

1. In a significant step towards space exploration, a team of researchers from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru has developed a sustainable process to make space bricks on the lunar surface.

• Highlights –

1. The process enables making load bearing bricks by using lunar soil, bacteria and guar beans.
2. Named as space bricks, it could be used to assemble structures for habitation on the moon surface in future. Sending bricks from Earth is not viable as it takes Rs 7.5 lakh to transport one pound of construction material.
3. The process developed now uses urea sourced from human urine, which could be mixed with lunar soil to build structures on the moon. This decreases the overall expenditure considerably.
4. Since guar gum is used instead of cement, there will be a lower carbon footprint.
5. The bacteria is added to further crystalise the brick in any shape needed.nt –

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

10.1 Not Available Today

10.2 Daily dose of  FIVE Facts -

• The U.N. Security Council in August 2020 resoundingly defeated a U.S. resolution to indefinitely extend the U.N. arms embargo on Iran.
• Nandi Yellaiah passed in Hyderabad at the age of 85 on August 8, 2020. He was leader of Indian National Congress.
• The National Handloom Day was observed on August 7, 2020. The day marks the launch of Swadeshi movement on August 7, 1905.
• C.S. Seshadri passed away in Chennai at the age of 88 on July 17, 2020.  He was well-known Mathematician.
• U.S. President Donald Trump announced a plan called ‘Operation Legend’ on July 22, 2020 to send federal agents to more U.S. cities to crack down on violent crime.

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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