Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 08-10-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 08-10-2020

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Awards and Honours – Makers of gene ‘scissors’ win Chemistry Nobel – Emmanuelle Charpentier of France and Jennifer Doudna of the U.S. won the Nobel Chemistry Prize for the gene-editing technique known as the CRISPR-Cas9 DNA snipping “scissors”, the first time a Nobel science prize has gone to a women-only team. Using the tool, “researchers can change the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with extremely high precision,” the Nobel jury said. “This technology has had a revolutionary impact on the life sciences, is contributing to new cancer therapies and may make the dream of curing inherited diseases come true.” The technique has been tipped for a Nobel nod several times in the past, but speaking to reporters, Ms. Charpentier said the call was still a surprise.
2. Indian Politics – Palaniswami is AIADMK CM candidate – Edappadi K. Palaniswami will be the ruling AIADMK’s candidate for Chief Minister in the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly election. This was announced by Deputy Chief Minister and party coordinator O. Panneerselvam at the party headquarters in the presence of senior leaders and Ministers. The announcement ended the unease in the party over the issue since Aug 15. As an indication of his agreeing to Mr. Panneerselvam’s principal demand for an 11-member steering committee, the Chief Minister made public the composition of the panel that would guide the organisation in all matters.
3. Bihar Elections – BJP gives eleven of its seats to VIP – The Bharatiya Janata Party gave eleven seats from its quota to Mukesh Sahni-led Vikashil Insaan Party, the new entrant to the National Democratic Alliance in Bihar. Earlier, the two major alliance partners had shared the 243 Assembly seats between themselves: the JD(U) 122 and the BJP 121. The three-phase elections to the Assembly are scheduled to begin on October 28. The JD(U) allocated seven seats from its quota to another alliance partner, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), led by former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi..”
4. USA – In sudden strike, US tightens H-1B wages and ‘speciality’ norms – A month before the elections, the Trump administration has conducted a surgical strike on the H-1B visa programme, a popular work visa which helps many Indian aspirants, especially in the technology sector, to fulfil their American dream. It has hiked the minimum wage requirements across all four levels (from entry level to experienced) and tightened norms - the definition of speciality occupation, which determines H-1B visa eligibility, is now narrower. However, it is the IT services/consultancy sector that will bear the biggest brunt of the new rules. The visa tenure in cases where H-1B workers are to be placed at client sites will be for a maximum of one year only. For companies in this sector, the new rules reimpose the need to submit customer contracts and itineraries of H-1B workers. Officials have also been given more powers to conduct site visits, including at third-party client sites.
5. Constitution and Law – SC: public places cannot be occupied indefinitely – The Supreme Court found the indefinite “occupation” of a public road by the Shaheen Bagh protesters unacceptable. The court said the protest, considered an iconic dissent mounted by mothers, children and senior citizens of Shaheen Bagh against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, became inconvenient to commuters. The thirteen-page judgment upheld the right to peaceful protest against a law but made it unequivocally clear that public ways and public spaces cannot be occupied, and that too indefinitely. The court suggested that the outcry may have even gone out of hand for the women protesters. It referred to reports about how women were ensconced inside a tent while a “huge periphery” of “male protesters, volunteers and bystanders”, who wanted the blockade to continue, milled around.
6. International Relations – India-Japan cyber security pact to promote cooperation in 5G, AI – The thirteenth India-Japan foreign ministers’ strategic dialogue on Wednesday saw the two sides finalising the text of a cyber security agreement that promotes cooperation in 5G, Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) apart from security and resilience in the areas of Critical Information Infrastructure. While details of the cooperation on 5G technology are not clear yet, the agreement is still significant coming as it does in the middle of the international backlash against China’s telecom major Huawei and as Japanese companies prepare to roll out 5G services ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. According to a statement issued by the MEA, recognising the increasing role being played by digital technologies, India and Japan highlighted the need for “robust and resilient’’ digital and cyber systems.
7. World – Greek neo-Nazi party a criminal group: court – A Greek court found the leaders of neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn guilty of running a criminal organisation on Wednesday at the end of a historic trial that was hailed by the PM as a victory for democracy. The judgment in an Athens court came as police and anti-fascist demonstrators clashed outside the courthouse, on the sidelines of a large protest of some 15,000 people. After a trial lasting over five years, presiding judge Maria Lepenioti said Golden Dawn founder and leader Nikos Michaloliakos and other senior members were guilty of running a criminal organisation. The prosecutions were sparked by the late-night murder of 34-year-old anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas in Sept 2013.
8. Central Asia – Kyrgyz opposition groups make rival power grabs after toppling government – The Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan slid deeper into chaos as rival opposition factions jostled for power, a day after they stormed government buildings, forcing the prime minister to quit and a parliamentary election to be annulled. Left isolated by the resignation of Prime Minister Kubatbek Boronov’s government late on Tuesday, President Sooronbai Jeenbekov called for all-party talks in a statement on Wednesday, reiterating his willingness to mediate. Representatives of eight parties gathered at government headquarters on Wednesday evening to try to iron out their differences, but several large factions were absent while two rival candidates for the premiership emerged. Two presidents have been overthrown in Kyrgyzstan in the past 15 years, and longtime ally Russia expressed concern as protests spread across the country in the wake of latest vote.
9. US Presidential Elections – Pence, Harris to clash in VP debate amid Covid-19 outbreak at White House – VP Mike Pence and Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris were set to face off in their only debate, as President Donald Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis and the pandemic continue to roil the U.S. presidential contest. The televised encounter in Salt Lake City, Utah, comes after the Republican president announced last Friday that he had tested positive for the coronarivus amid a White House outbreak. Former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, is leading Trump in national polls, including an advantage of 12 %  points in the latest Reuters/Ipsos survey of likely voters, with less than four weeks until the Nov. 3 election. Polls show the race to be closer in some of the election battleground states that could determine the winner.
10. India and its neighborhood – Pakistan to keep top suspect in Daniel Pearl murder in jail – A British-born Pakistani man who has been on death row over the 2002 killing of American journalist Daniel Pearl will remain in jail for another three months despite his acquittal by a lower court earlier this year. The development was announced by prosecutors during a brief hearing of the high-profile case at Pakistan’s Supreme Court, which was to decide whether the key suspect in Pearl’s slaying, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, should stay in jail following his acquittal.

Important Exam Notifications
S. No	Institution	Exam or Post Name	Vacancies or Seats	Qualification	Last Date to Apply	Link for Details
1	-	CGS (Prelims) Exam 2021	40	PG	OCT-27-2020	http://www.freejobalert.com/upsc-geologist/159704/#CGS-2021
2	WII	Principal Pro Asso, ProAsso 1	5	PG	OCT-15-2020	https://wii.gov.in/images//images/documents/recruitments/technical_manpower_oct_2020.pdf
3	NIRT	Project Technician II, III, Sr Project Asst, DEO, Lab Tech	6	Diploma (Medical Lab Tech), Degree	OCT-15-2020	http://www.nirt.res.in/pdf/2020/ADVT/06.10.2020/NATBPS%20ad%20for%20West%20Bengal%20for%20online%20interview%20last%20date%2015-10-2020.pdf
4	CCRUM	Jr Research Fellow & Field Attendant	6	Higher Sec, M.Sc	OCT-13-2020	https://ccrum.res.in/writereaddata/UploadFile/Advertisement%20along%20with%20Application%20Form637365919326861545.pdf
5	NIIST	Project Associate – I, II	50	Degree (Eng), PG, Ph.D	OCT-19-2020	https://www.niist.res.in/english/wp-content/files/PA042020.pdf
6	DMHO, Srikakulam	Specialist MO, Medical Officer, Staff Nurse, Lab Tech	225	GNM, MBBS, Degree, PG	OCT-10-2020	https://cdn.s3waas.gov.in/s3f899139df5e1059396431415e770c6dd/uploads/2020/10/2020100327.pdf
7	Medical & Health Dept, Prakasam	Specialist MO, Physician/ Consultant, Staff Nurse, MO	225	MBBS, GNM, Deg, PG Dip/ Deg	OCT-12-2020	https://cdn.s3waas.gov.in/s3f3f27a324736617f20abbf2ffd806f6d/uploads/2020/10/2020100637.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 Not Available Today

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

3.1 Not Available Today

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

4.1 Weekly Round-up – Foreign Affairs I

 

• Fighting breaks out between Armenia and Azerbaijan - Fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan broke out on September 27, 2020 over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia claimed two Azerbaijani helicopters were shot down. Nagorno-Karabakh is an ethnically Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan that has been out of Azerbaijan’s control since the end of a war in 1994.
• UN, Britain to co-host a global climate summit on Dec 12 - United Nations and Britain will co-host a global climate summit on December 12, the fifth anniversary of the landmark Paris Agreement. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will co-host the event.
• Nobel Prize winners to get $110,000 more as prize money increased - Winners of the prestigious Nobel prizes this year will receive an extra 1 million crowns ($110,000), the Nobel Foundation announced on September 24, 2020. Dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel left around 31 million crowns - about 1.8 billion crowns in today's money to fund the prizes, which have been awarded since 1901.
• World Tourism Day celebrated on September 27 - World Tourism Day was celebrated on September 27, 2020 with the theme “tourism and rural development”. UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organisation) has named the Mercosur bloc (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, with Chile joining with observer status) as hosts of 2020 World Tourism Day.
• International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons observed on Sept 26 - International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons was observed on September 26, 2020. This Day provides an occasion for the world community to reaffirm its commitment to global nuclear disarmament as a priority.
• World Maritime Day celebrated on September 24 - World Maritime Day (last Thursday of September) was celebrated on September 24, 2020 by UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) with its theme as ‘Sustainable Shipping for a Sustainable Planet’.
• International Day of Sign Languages observed on September 23 - International Day of Sign Languages was observed on September 23, 2020. The day is observed by the UN in order to raise awareness of the importance of sign language in the full realization of the human rights of people who are deaf.
• International Day of Peace observed on September 21 - The International Day of Peace was observed on September 21, 2020 with its theme as: ‘Shaping Peace Together’. The UN General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, through observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire.
• World Alzheimer’s Day observed on September 21 - World Alzheimer’s Day was observed on September 21, 2020. The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared September 21 as World Alzheimer’s Day in 1994.
• Lebanon PM-designate Mustapha Adib quits - Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib quit on September 26, 2020 after differences over Cabinet formation that hit a roadblock over a demand by Lebanon’s two main Shi’ite groups, Amal and the heavily armed Iran-backed Hezbollah, that they name several Ministers, including finance, a position previously held by a Shi’ite.

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

5.1 Government and Swiggy join hands to take street food vendors online under ‘PM Svanidhi Scheme’

 

 

 Key point –

• Empowering street vendors with digital technology and to facilitate greater earning opportunities, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has entered into an MoU with Swiggy, the leading food ordering and delivery platform in India.

Highlights –

• As part of the PM Street Vendor’s Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme, the initiative aims to put onboard street food vendors on its ecommerce platform, giving them online access to thousands of consumers.
• During the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, where physical distancing is the key to check its spread, this novel scheme is expected to radically transform the business of street vendors across cities, so they can receive orders online and serve customers.
• The MoHUA has coordinated with key stakeholders including municipal corporations, FSSAI, Swiggy and GST officials to ensure that the necessary prerequisites are completed for this initiative.
• MoHUA and Swiggy will run a pilot programme by on-boarding 250 vendors across five cities namely Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Indore, and Varanasi.
• The street vendors will be helped with PAN and FSSAI registration, training on technology/partner app usage, menu digitisation and pricing, hygiene and packaging best practices.
• Upon the successful completion of the pilot, MoHUA and Swiggy plan to expand this initiative across the country in phases.
• The Ministry has been implementing PM SVANidhi Scheme since 1 June 2020, for providing affordable working capital loans to street vendors to resume their livelihoods, which have been adversely affected due to Covid-19 lockdown.
• This scheme hopes to benefit over 50 lakh street vendors who had been vending on or before 24 March, 2020, in urban areas, including those from surrounding peri-urban/ rural areas.
• Under the scheme, vendors can avail of a working capital loan of up to Rs 10,000, which is repayable in monthly instalments within one year.
• On timely/early repayment of loan, an interest subsidy at the rate of 7 per cent per annum will be credited to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer on quarterly basis.
• There will be no penalty on early repayment of loan.
• The scheme promotes digital transactions through cash-back incentives up to an amount of Rs 1,200 per annum.
• As on 4 October 2020, over 20 lakh loan applications have been received under the PM SVANidhi Scheme.
• Out of these, over 7.5 lakh loans have been sanctioned and over 2.4 lakh loans disbursed.

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• 6. MISCELLANEOUS (Prelims, Various GS Papers)

6.1 Weekly Round-up – Defence

 

• DRDO kick starts key process for production of Pinaka missiles - The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on September 25, 2020 kick started a key process for production of Pinaka rockets, launchers and related equipment. The DRDO handed over to the Directorate General of Quality Assurance (DGQA) all relevant details for mass production of the Pinaka rocket systems. Pinaka is a free flight artillery rocket system having a range of 37.5 km. Pinaka rockets are launched from a multi barrel rocket launcher which has a capability to launch 12 rockets in 44 seconds. The weapon system is designed and developed by Pune-based DRDO lab, Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE).
• DRDO test fires indigenously developed laser-guided anti-tank guided missile - An indigenously developed laser-guided anti-tank guided missile has been successfully test fired by the DRDO at a firing range in Ahmednagar in Maharashtra on September 23, 2020. The weapon, having a range of up to four km, was test fired from an MBT Arjun Tank at KK Ranges in Armoured Corps Centre and School (ACC&S) in Ahmednagar.
• India conducts successful flight test of ABHYAS from Odisha test range - India on September 22, 2020 successfully conducted the flight test of missile ABHYAS - High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) - from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur near Balasore in Odisha. The trial, carried out by DRDO, was tracked by various radars and electro-optic systems.
• India-Japan maritime exercise (JIMEX) held - Indian and Japanese navies conducted a three-day mega military exercise (India-Japan maritime exercise-JIMEX) from September 26 to 28, 2020 in the North Arabian Sea to further consolidate their operational convergence.

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• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1 No need of min seven-year constant service for enhanced family pension

 

Key points –  

• The Defence Ministry has scrapped the requirement of minimum continuous service of seven years for grant of enhanced ordinary family pension (EOFP) to the next of kin of deceased defence personnel.
• The requirement of continuous qualifying service of 7 years (to get EOFP) is done away with effect from October 1, 2019.

Highlights –

1. An EOFP is 50 per cent of personnel's last emoluments and is payable for 10 years from the date of the death of the personnel in service.
2. If the service personnel dies after his or her release, retirement, discharge or invalidment, the EOFP is given for seven years from the date of death or up to the time when the personnel would have reached 67 years of age, whichever is earlier.
3. Further, the family of armed forces personnel who died within 10 years before October 1, 2019, without completing continuous service of seven years, would be getting the EOFP.
4. As per the rules till date, "there is a requirement of continuous qualifying service of 7 years for grant of the EOFP to the next of kin of defence forces personnel".
5. While the EOFP is 50 per cent of last emoluments of the personnel, the ordinary family pension (OFP) is 30 per cent of last emoluments of the personnel.

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

8.1 Saudi Arabia resumes Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca

 

Highlights – 

• The Saudi Arabian authorities have resumed the Umrah pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca.
• Riyadh suspended the pilgrimage for foreign and domestic Muslims in March, after Saudi Arabia reported its first COVID-19 case.
• Over 108,000 foreign and local pilgrims, who are in the country, have now received permission to take part in Umrah.
• Protective measures, such as disinfection and social distancing, will be taken during the pilgrimage.

The resumption will take place in four stages –

• During the first stage, it will resume from October 4 only by 30 per cent.
• The second stage will begin on October 18 with a 75 per cent participation of willing pilgrims.
• From November 1, Umrah will gradually begin to accept the participation of all interested pilgrims from within the country and from abroad.
• 100 per cent conducting of Umrah, as it was before, depends on when the end of the pandemic is announced or when the danger disappears.

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

9.1 C-DAC to commission India’s fastest HPC-AI Supercomputer ‘PARAM Siddhi—AI’ with NVIDIA 

Key points –  

• Graphics giant Nvidia has said that India’s largest high performance computing-Artificial Intelligence (HPC-AI) supercomputer PARAM Siddhi-AI will use its technology along with indigenously developed HPC-AI engine, software frameworks and Cloud platform by the country’s Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).
• The supercomputer will have 210 AI Petaflops (6.5 Petaflops Peak DP) and will be based on the NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD reference architecture comprising 42 NVIDIA DGX A100 systems, connected with NVIDIA Mellanox HDR InfiniBand networking along with indigenously developed HPC-AI engine, Software Frameworks, Cloud Platform by C-DAC.

Important details –

• Nvidia has said that the supercomputer will be based on its DGX SuperPOD reference architecture, a turnkey AI infrastructure, making it possible for organisations to install powerful AI supercomputers with extraordinary speed — in many cases in just a few weeks’ time.
• The turnkey Nvidia DGX SuperPOD architecture is central to helping C-DAC deploy its supercomputer in record time.
• With this new AI supercomputer, C-DAC will be able to unleash AI innovation at incredible scale to help India address some of its most important challenges now, and in the future.
• C-DAC has said that the PARAM Siddhi-AI scalable infrastructure will accelerate experiments and outcomes for India-specific grand challenge problems in healthcare, education, energy, cybersecurity, space, automotive and agriculture.
• PARAM Siddhi-AI will play a crucial role in developing a vibrant ecosystem for research and innovation in science and engineering.

9.2 The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2020

 

  

Key points –

• The Alfred Nobel Prize committee has awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine this year jointly to UK and US scientists Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice for their role in the discovery of the hepatitis C virus.
• The Nobel Prizes for Medicine, Physics, and Chemistry are the pinnacle of scientific achievement, honoring great minds and life-changing discoveries.
• The winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded by the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
• For the prize in medicine, a five-member Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute screens nominations and chooses candidates.
• The winners are awarded with a gold medal and prize money of 10 million Swedish kronor (over USD 1,118,000). The other prestigious prizes include physics, chemists, literature, peace and economics.

Important details –

• The hepatitis C virus (HCV) causes inflammation of the liver and can spread through blood transfusions.
• Blood-borne hepatitis C is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality, causing over a million deaths a year globally.
• The disease is considered a global public health problem at a scale comparable to HIV and tuberculosis.
• Nearly 80 per cent of people exposed to the virus get the disease but nearly half the people infected with the virus recover on their own.
• No approved vaccines exist for HCV even though there are vaccines for hepatitis A and B. However, the disease can be treated successfully.
• Preventive measures include using sterile injections where needed and rigorous screening of blood donors.

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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 -

• According to recent TRAI data the number of internet subscribers in India at the end of March 2020 was 743 million.
• ICICI Bank in Sept 2020 announced the launch of a programme for startups, iStartup2.0’, to take care of aspects such as regulatory assistance and digital outreach to customers.
• Employee of Xiaomi Manu Kumar Jain is in 2020 Fortune 40 Under 40 list.
• Rajnath Singh is the Indian counterpart of Amir Hatami of Iran.
• Vidit Gujrathi was the captain of the Indian team that won the 2020 Online Chess Olympiad.

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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