Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 02-11-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 02-11-2020

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Covid-19 Updates – Active cases are falling: Ministry – India has managed to maintain its active COVID-19 caseload below the six-lakh mark for the third consecutive day. According to the Ministry, the country’s total active caseload stands at 5,70,458 currently. At the same time, 76% of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 States/Union Territories, including Maharashtra and Kerala. Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra have contributed the maximum to the new recovered cases with each State registering more than 7,000 single-day recoveries. Delhi and West Bengal together has registered more than 8,000 new recoveries. The active cases have dropped to 6.97% of the total positive cases of the country, demonstrating a steady falling percentage of the total cases.
2. Terrorism – Hizbul chief killed in encounter in J&K – Hizbul Mujahideen ‘operation chief’ Saif-ul-Islam Mir, who succeeded Reyaz Naikoo, was killed in an encounter in Srinagar. During a search operation in Rangreth area of Srinagar, the presence of a terrorist was ascertained. He was given an opportunity to surrender. However, he fired indiscriminately. In the ensuing encounter, Saif-ul-Islam Mir alias Dr. Saif alias Ghazi Haider, a resident of Malangpora affiliated with Hizb, was killed. Mir was Hizb’s chief operational commander and had been active since 2014. He was involved in many terror crimes, besides being instrumental in recruiting innocent youth into the terror fold. The Hizb outfit is once again leaderless. Mir was behind the killing of three BJP workers in a militant attack in Kulgam district this week.
3. Polity and Governance – After Uttar Pradesh, Haryana government mulls law against ‘love jihad’ – Haryana is contemplating a law against “love jihad”, a term used by fringe groups to describe interfaith relationships. The Centre and the State governments were taking the issue very seriously. A three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been set up to probe the case. State Home Minister Anil Vij took to Twitter to declare that the State government was mulling a law but did not divulge details.
4. Constitution and Law – ‘Delay in reason for a verdict violates right to life’ – Breach of a ninteen-year-old guideline laid down by the Supreme Court to high courts and trial courts to be prompt in providing reasons behind judgments led the SC to observe that inordinate delay in giving reasons for a verdict violated litigants' right to life. The Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court had pronounced a cryptic judgment in a case on January 21, saying “reasons will follow", meaning that the detailed judgment would be given later. The litigant filed an appeal in March against the HC judgment well within the 90-day limitation period. The appeal could not be listed as the litigant had not provided the detailed judgment giving reasons behind the verdict.
5. Agri-economics – Gene-edited crops are here but lack of norms hinders harvest – India’s use of technology for crop improvement might be finally catching up after years of neglect with Indian scientists making progress in using gene-editing to develop Vitamin A-rich banana and improved varieties of rice, millets, pulses and tomato even as absence of a regulatory policy prevents their release for commercial use. Though the department of biotechnology (DBT) has prepared detailed guidelines on how to use gene-editing to improve crop varieties, the regulatory body Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is yet to distinguish it from genetically modified (GM) technology and is still considering the matter despite clarifications from top scientific academies and research institutions.
6. Internal Security – China set to build key rail line close to Arunachal border – China is all set to begin the construction of the strategic Sichuan-Tibet Railway between Ya’an in southwest Sichuan province and Linzhi in Tibet, close to the Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh. China Railway announced the bidding results for the construction of two tunnels and one bridge, as well as the power supply project for the Ya’an-Linzhi section of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway, indicating that construction of the project is about to begin. The Sichuan-Tibet Railway is the second such project in Tibet after the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. It will go through the southeast of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, one of the world’s most geologically active areas. The Sichuan-Tibet Railway starts from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, and travels through Ya’an and enters Tibet via Qamdo, shortening the journey from Chengdu to Lhasa from 48 hours to 13 hours.
7. US Presidential Elections – Trump launches his final battleground pitch; Biden focuses on Pennsylvania –  With hours to go until Election Day, both presidential candidates and their star campaigners were engaged in hectic campaigning across battleground States, with Democratic candidate Joe Biden leading U.S. President Donald Trump in key States and nationally. The messaging and campaign style of both camps reflected a deeply polarised electorate and the candidates’ contrasting approaches to the coronavirus pandemic, which continues to rage across the country. Mr. Biden and Mr. Obama made their first joint campaign appearance in Michigan on Oct 31 with Biden events scheduled in Philadelphia for Nov 1. An unprecedented 90 million Americans or 43% of all registered voters had voted early or by mail by the end of Saturday with over 50 million voting by mail.
8. World – UK government announces four-week lockdown – PM Boris Johnson has announced a second national lockdown for England to prevent a "medical and moral disaster" for the National Health Service (NHS). He said Christmas may be "very different" but he hoped taking action now would mean families can gather. Pubs, restaurants, gyms and non-essential shops will have to close for four weeks. But unlike the restrictions in spring, schools, colleges and universities can stay open. After 2 December, the restrictions would be eased and regions would go back to the tiered system.
9. Tanzania elections – President Magufuli in landslide win amid fraud claims – Tanzania's President John Magufuli has won re-election with a landslide victory in a poll that the opposition has described as fraudulent. Mr Magufuli's main rival, Tundu Lissu, has said his party's agents were prevented from entering polling stations during Wednesday's election. The National Electoral Commission (NEC) has dismissed the claims of fraud. In its final results, the NEC said the president took 84% of the vote, while Mr Lissu received 13%.
10. Economy – GST inflows cross Rs. One lakh crore in October – Revenues from the Goods and Services Tax surpassed ₹1.05 lakh crore in October, up 10% from a year ago, and the highest recorded since February 2020. The government cited the GST inflows that crossed the ₹1 lakh crore mark for the first time in this financial year as a ‘clear’ sign of a recovery in the economy after its 23.9% contraction in the first quarter of this year. However, economists and businesses are cautious about the sustainability of this trend. Tax experts said the expected shortfall in GST compensation for the States could be lower than the current estimate of ₹2.35 lakh crore if this revenue momentum is maintained through the rest of 2020-21. As per data released by the Finance Ministry on Sunday, the gross GST revenue collected in October was ₹1,05,155 crore, 10.25% higher than a year ago, and 10.1% more than the indirect tax revenue garnered in the month of September.

Important Exam Notifications
S. No.	Institution	Exam or Post Name	Vacancies or Seats	Qualification	Last Date to Apply	Link for Details
1	IBPS	Specialist Officer (CRP SPL-X)	647	Degree, PG	NOV-23-2020	http://www.freejobalert.com/ibps-specialist-officer/109063/#SpecialistOfficerCRP-SPL-X
2	Oil India Limited	Superintending Engineer, Manager, MO, Sr Officer	54	Diploma, Degree, PG	NOV-30-2020	https://www.oil-india.com/Document/Career/FINAL_Detailed_Website_Advertisement.pdf
3	ESIC Med. College & Hosp., Faridabad	Senior Resident	23	DNB/ PG Degree/ Diploma	03-11-2020	EShttps://www.esic.nic.in/attachments/recruitmentfile/c6d17eda1bcde9b980b318ae46fbdf42.pdf
4	IOCL, Pipelines Division	Technician & Trade Apprentice, DEO	482	10+2, Diploma (Engg)	NOV-22-2020	http://www.freejobalert.com/iocl-recruitment/17021/#Apprentice
5	NPCIL	Stipendiary Trainee/ Scientific Asst, Asst, Steno, Sub Officer	206	10+2, Dip. (Engg)	NOV-24-2020	http://www.freejobalert.com/npcil-recruitment/17037/#Stipendiary-Trainee
6	NCL	Technician, Technical Asst	45	-	DEC-2-2020	http://www.freejobalert.com/ncl/22594/
7	SPA, New Delhi	Asst Registrar, Sports Officer, Driver, Plumber, Mechanic	17	Deg (Engg), PG with NET/ SELT/ SET, Ph. D	One Month	https://img.freejobalert.com/uploads/2020/10/Notification-SPA-New-Delhi-Asst-Rigistrar-Sports-Officer-Other.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 Remittances to India to decline by 9% to $76 billion in 2020 due to Covid-19

 

 

Key point –

• The World Bank has said that remittances to India would fall this year by nine per cent to USD 76 billion due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and global economic recession.

World Bank report –

• India followed by China, Mexico, the Philippines, and Egypt continue to be the top five countries in 2020 to receive foreign remittances.
• As the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis continues, the amount of money migrant workers send home is expected to go down by 14 per cent by 2021 compared to the pre-COVID-19 levels in 2019.
• Remittance flows to low and middle-income countries (LMICs) are expected to fall by 7 per cent to USD508 billion in 2020, followed by a further decline of 7.5 per cent to USD 470 billion in 2021.
• Major factors driving the decline in remittances include weak economic growth and employment levels in migrant-hosting countries, weak oil prices, and depreciation of the currencies of remittance-source countries against the US dollar.
• The declines in 2020 and 2021 are likely to affect all regions, with the steepest drop expected in Europe and Central Asia (by 16 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively).
• Remittances to South Asia are expected to decline by around 4 per cent in 2020 to USD1 35 billion.
• In Pakistan and Bangladesh, the impact of the global economic slowdown has been somewhat countered by the diversion of remittances from informal to formal channels due to the difficulty of carrying money by hand under travel restrictions.

Important details –

• Pakistan introduced a tax incentive whereby withholding tax was exempted from July 1 2020, on cash withdrawals or on the issuance of banking instruments/transfers from a domestic bank account.
• Bangladesh witnessed a large increase in remittance inflows in July after the floods that inundated a quarter of its landmass.
• Remittance costs –
• At just under 5 per cent in the third quarter of 2020, South Asia was the least costly region to send USD 200 to but the costs are well over 10 per cent in some corridors from Japan, South Africa and Thailand, and from Pakistan to Afghanistan.

2.2 Weekly Round-up – Banking and Finance

 

• Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) has asked mutual fund distributors to not identify themselves as advisors. In a circular released by AMFI in Oct 2020, the mutual fund industry body said, “No person, while dealing in distribution of securities, shall use the nomenclature Independent Financial Adviser or IFA or wealth adviser or any other similar name, unless registered with SEBI as an investment adviser.”
• According to Reserve Bank of India  banks can deploy money drawn from Rs 1 trillion on-tap targeted long-term repo operations (on-tap TLTRO) in six sectors - agriculture, agri-infrastructure, secured retail, MSMEs, and drugs, pharmaceuticals and healthcare. Liquidity availed by banks under the scheme has to be deployed in corporate bonds, commercial paper and non-convertible debentures issued by the entities in specific sectors. Liquidity availed under the scheme can also be used to extend loans and advances to these sectors. On tap TLTROs are intended to enable banks to conduct their operations smoothly and seamlessly without being hindered by illiquidity frictions.
• Three weeks after informing the Supreme Court that the Centre would bear the additional compound interest on loans of up to ₹2 crore taken by retail borrowers as well as MSMEs, the government formally communicated the modalities of the scheme to lenders. Banks and other lenders, including cooperative banks and NBFCs, have been asked to credit the difference between the compound interest and simple interest for the six-month period between March 1 and August 31 into these loan accounts by November 5. This would be implemented even for borrowers who had not availed themselves of the moratorium on loan repayments allowed by the Reserve Bank of India up to August 31.
• According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) payment system operators (PSOs) who use proprietary QR codes have to shift to one or more interoperable QR codes by March 31, 2022. It also said PSOs cannot issue any new proprietary QR codes for transactions, henceforth. There are two interoperable QR codes at present — UPI QR and Bharat QR.
• RBI on Oct 22, 2020 fixed the minimum Net Owned Fund (NOF) size for housing finance companies (HFCs) at Rs 25 crore. HFCs holding a Certificate of Registration (CoR) and having an NOF of less than Rs 25 crore will be required to achieve NOF of Rs 15 crore by March 31, 2022 and Rs 25 crore by March 31, 2023.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) conducted the first open market operation (OMO) in state development loans (SDLs) on October 22, 2020, buying Rs 10,000 crore of securities under the scheme. The OMOs in state bonds are aimed at keeping the borrowing cost low for states.
• Union Bank of India’s MD & CEO Rajkiran Rai G was on October 16, 2020 elected as the Chairman of the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) for 2020-21.  SBI’s Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara was elected as the deputy chairman. IBA is an association of banks and other entities in the banking ecosystem in India catering to its members.

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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 New Zealand votes to legalize euthanasia

 

 

Key points –  

• New Zealanders have voted in favor of legalizing euthanasia for people with a terminal illness -- clearing the way for the controversial proposition to become law in 2021.
• More than 2.4 million people took part in the poll, which was conducted alongside New Zealand's general election on October 17.
• PM Jacinda Ardern won the election by a landslide, securing a second term and an unprecedented majority for her center-left Labour Party.

Highlights –

• More than 65% of voters have backed the proposed law – according to preliminary results of a referendum announced.
• Lawmakers voted 69-51 to approve the End of Life Choice Act 2019 last year (2019) before sending the issue to a referendum.
• New Zealanders were also asked to vote on whether cannabis should be legalized – to this, 53.1% said ‘NO’.
• New Zealand Electoral Commission information materials on the End of Life Choice (euthanasia) and Cannabis Legalisation and Control referendums.
• Official results of the euthanasia vote will be published on November 6, and the law will take effect one year later.

Several stipulations for those eligible to receive "assisted dying"

• The person must be a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident over the age of 18 with a terminal illness "likely to end the person's life within 6 months; is in an "advanced state of irreversible decline in physical capability"; and is experiencing "unbearable suffering that cannot be relieved in a manner that the person considers tolerable."
• They would have to be evaluated by multiple medical professionals, including one from a government-appointed medical practitioner.
• Doctors and nurses are not permitted to start the conversation about assisted dying, and health practitioners are not obligated to assist people who wish to die if they have a conscientious objection.

Note –

• Assisted suicide and euthanasia are only legal in a handful of countries and jurisdictions around the world, including Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Canada.

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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 Round-up – Accidents and Natural Disasters

• India launches Flash Flood Guidance services for South Asian countries - The Ministry of Earth Sciences on October 23, 2020 dedicated Flash Flood Guidance services, first of its kind for South Asian countries namely India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Dr. M. Mohapatra, Director General of IMD and Permanent Representative of India with WMO said that the guidance for flash floods in the form of Threats 6 hours in advance and Risks 24 hours in advance will be provided to all stake holders for taking necessary mitigation measures.

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• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1 Draft model Act on land titles

 

 

Highlights –  

• The Niti Aayog has released a draft model Act and rules for states on conclusive land titling with an aim to reduce litigations and ease the land acquisition process for infrastructure projects.
• The model Act and rules are to provide state governments power to order for establishment, administration and management of a system of title registration of immovable properties.
• The goal of the draft model Act is to reduce a large number of land related litigations and also improve land acquisitions for the infrastructure projects.
• According to the model Act, the land dispute resolution officer and land title appellate tribunal are one-shot institutions which will fade away as the work reduces.
• Apart from that, after three years of its notification, the register of title attains conclusivity without any external action.
• Conclusive land titles are guaranteed by the state for correctness and entail provision for compensation by the state in case of any dispute.
• As per the draft Act, any person aggrieved by an entry in the Record of Titles notified under Section 11 may file an objection before the Title Registration Officer within three years from the date of such notification.
• After that, the Title Registration Officer shall make an entry to that effect in Register of Titles and in the Register of Disputes and refer the case to the land dispute resolution officer.
• A party aggrieved with an order of the land dispute resolution officer may file an appeal before the Land Titling Appellate Tribunal within 30 days of passing of such an order.
• A special bench of High court shall be designated to deal with appeals against the orders passed by the Land Titling Appellate Tribunal.

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

8.1 Indian Army launches SAI

Key point –

• The Indian Army has launched a messaging app called SAI that will provide secure voice, text and video calling services to its soldiers.
• Officials have said that SAI will be utilised pan Army to facilitate secure messaging within the service.

Important details –

• The model (of SAI) is similar to commercially available messaging applications like WhatsApp, Telegram, SAMVAD and GIMS and utilises end-to-end encryption messaging protocol.
• The Army developed and named this messaging app as SAI, which stands for Secure Application for Internet.
• This newly developed messaging application is also in line with PM Narendra Modi's call for `Atmanirbhar Bharat`.
• The application supports an end-to-end secure voice, text and video calling services for Android platform over internet.
• SAI is believed to score over on security features with local in-house servers and coding, which can be tweaked as per requirements.
• The application has been vetted by CERT-in empanelled auditor and Army Cyber Group, and the process for filing Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) hosting the infrastructure on NIC and working on iOS platform is currently in progress.

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

9.1 ISRO’s Antrix to pay $1.2 billion to Devas as compensation

 

 

Key point –

• Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), has been ordered to pay $1.2 billion to Bengaluru-based Devas Multimedia as compensation for cancelling a satellite deal.

Detailed news –

• A US court has upheld a 2015 verdict of the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce in this regard.
• The payout includes $562.5 million in compensation and related interest charges, taking the total damages to $1.2 billion.
• The company is expected to appeal the verdict in the US court. The US District Court, Western District of Washington, said that Antrix could file its appeal by November 3.
• In 2005, Antrix had signed a deal with Devas to build two communication satellites, which were to use the S-band spectrum and offer hybrid satellite and terrestrial communication services throughout India.
• In 2011, some media reports alleged that Antrix had offered the S-band at a throwaway cost, and that a few senior officials in the company as well as in Isro had benefited monetarily from it.
• The deal soon got mired in a political storm. Subsequently, a panel led by senior aerospace scientist Roddam Narsimha found only procedural lapses in the deal and no evidence of corruption.
• In 2012, the then UPA government cancelled the satellite order citing national security issues.
• Following the cancellation, Devas went to the international tribunal claiming damages of $1.6 billion for scrapping the deal. Apart from that, Devas also subsequently appealed in the US federal court saying its investors as well as senior executives were US nationals.
• Deutsche Telekom had invested $75 million in Devas, whose other investors include Columbia Capital and Telecom Ventures.
• Devas is separately fighting charges of corruption by the CBI and money laundering by the Enforcement Directorate.
• In 2017, the ED attached nearly ₹80 crore worth assets of Devas under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for the alleged illegal deal with Antrix.

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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 Golden Dawn party is the third largest party of Greece.
• Well-known Guitarist Eddie Van Halen passed away in Oct 2020 at the age of 65 in US.
• Mubadala Investment Co is the sovereign wealth fund based in Abu Dhabi.
• Europe was hit by storm Alex recently.
• ITBP Director General S. S. Deswal was given the additional charge of National Security Guard in Sept 2020.

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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