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

Daily Current Affairs,DCA-CS,November 2020,

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Polity & Governance – M.P. bypolls: BJP wins 16 seats, secures govt. – The BJP expanded its footprint across Madhya Pradesh and found the means to retain the government by winning 16 seats and maintaining lead in three others as results for the by-elections trickled in on Tuesday (November 10). Of the 28 seats, the Congress won just seven, while it was leading in two others when results last came in at 11.30 p.m. In the 2018 Vidhan Sabha election, the Congress had won 27 seats and the BJP one. The BJP’s vote share stood at 49.4% compared with the Congress’s 40.5%. In the 230-member Assembly, the BJP improved its tally to 123, crossing the simple majority mark of 115. The Congress numbers climbed to 94. Byelection remains due on one seat vacated by a Congress MLA who recently switched over to the BJP.
2. Polity & Governance – NDA has clear edge in tough Bihar fight – Bihar’s electorate kept the National Democratic Alliance and Mahagathbandhan parties on tenterhooks for most of Tuesday (November 10), but counting trends late at night pointed to a narrow but clear edge for the NDA. Till 1 a.m., results for 220 of the 243 seats had been declared on the EC website. Votes continued to be counted, with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leading in 75 seats and the BJP running close at 74. The Janata Dal (United) was ahead in 43 seats, while the Congress (19 leads) and the Left parties with 16 seats made the competition stiffer. Overall, the NDA was ahead with 125 leads, while the Mahagathbandhan was leading in 110 seats at the time of writing. The number of seats required for a simple majority is 122.
3. World – Barr orders probe into poll fraud claims – Attorney-General William Barr has authorised federal prosecutors across the U.S. to pursue “substantial allegations” of voting irregularities, if they exist, before the 2020 presidential election is certified. Mr. Barr’s action comes days after Democrat Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump and raises the prospect that Mr. Trump will use the Justice Department to try to challenge the outcome. It gives prosecutors the ability to go around long-standing Justice Department policy that normally would prohibit such overt actions before the election is certified. Mr. Trump has not conceded the election and is instead claiming without evidence that there has been a widespread, multi-State conspiracy by Democrats to skew the vote tally in Mr. Biden’s favour.
4. World – Armenia, Azerbaijan agree on peace deal – Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on a deal with Russia to end fierce clashes over Nagorno-Karabakh on November 10, after a string of Azerbaijani victories in its fight to retake the disputed region. Hundreds of Russian peacekeepers were en route to the ethnic Armenian territory, which broke from Azerbaijan’s control during a war in the 1990s, just hours after ceasefire took effect. But the agreement sparked outrage in Armenia, with angry protesters storming the government headquarters in the capital Yerevan where they ransacked offices and broke windows. Crowds also entered Parliament and demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
5. Economy – Health premium sees up to 200% jump – Policyholders are seeing their renewal premiums go up by 5-200%. Most insurance companies have raised the premium on health policies after the insurance regulator ordered them to widen the scope of cover and standardise conditions for exclusions. While the policies are offering wider coverage, the flip side is that for some they are becoming unaffordable. Senior citizen Jamshed Sukhadwalla saw his premium rise 221% to Rs 50,076 from Rs 15,600 when he went for renewal in October. Policyholders pay premiums over a lifetime. And during their sunset years, when they need coverage the most — particularly amid the Covid pandemic, where the elderly are the most vulnerable — insurers hike rates. An additional reason for price increases is the discontinuation of a product line. This forces customers to shift to other policies, which are invariably costlier.
6. Study/Research – PC sales hit 7-yr high in July-Sept on WFH: Study – As more people worked from home, personal computer shipments, led by laptops, registered their best ever quarter in seven years during the July-September period. At 3.4 million units, PC shipments recorded a 9.2% year-over-year growth rate in the September quarter. The share of desktops as a proportion of total shipments reduced from 29% in the same quarter last year to 16% in July-September 2020. The share of laptops increased from 69% to 83%. The consumer segment recorded its biggest quarter ever. At 2 million units, shipments grew over 40% year-on-year and nearly tripled from the previous quarter. Schools and colleges continuing to function virtually led to a surge in demand for laptops, especially in metros and large cities. In the commercial segment, enterprises reduced their dependency on desktops anticipating a longer work-from-home possibility but small and medium firms resumed purchases as business operations started with a relaxation in lockdown.
7. People & Personalities – Top Palestinian negotiator dies of Covid at 65 – Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian negotiator who passionately advocated the establishment of an independent state as a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has died. He was 65. A statement by his Fatah party did not give a cause of death, but in his last years, he battled lung disease and then contracted Covid-19 last month. He was one of the main authors of key parts of the landmark Oslo peace accords of the 1990s, the first deals between Israelis and Palestinians, which established Palestinian self-government in parts of the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Fluent in English as well as his native Arabic, he was a high-profile spokesman for Palestinian leaders such as Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas. Tributes poured in from both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and from around the world after the death of Saeb Erekat.
8. World – Lockdown named word of the year by Collins – Lockdown, something experienced, dreaded and needed by much of the world in 2020, is Collins English Dictionary’s word of the year. The dictionary defines the word as “the imposition of stringent restrictions on travel, social interaction, and access to public spaces.” The dictionary counted over a quarter of a million uses of the word this year, up from 4,000 in 2019 — a 6,000% increase in its usage. Because of the way the pandemic has affected the daily use of language, six of Collins’ 10 words of the year in 2020 are related to the global health crisis.
9. International Relations – PM seeks respect for ‘territorial integrity’ – In an indirect reference to the Chinese infrastructure projects in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, PM Modi on November 10 urged members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to respect “territorial integrity” and “sovereignty”. The 20th summit of SCO heads of state is important as it brought President Xi Jinping of China and Mr. Modi together in the virtual format even as both sides are caught in a stand-off along the LAC in eastern Ladakh.
10. Economy – Retired PSU bankers may get one rank, one pension plan – A one-rank, one pension (OROP) kind of scheme is in the works for retired PSU bank employees. OROP was a longstanding demand of armed forces’ veterans, where the pension would be reworked so that everyone who retired in the same rank will get the same pension, irrespective of the date of retirement. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has sounded off banks to do more for employees who retired earlier so they are not discriminated against in terms of pension. The government has also asked banks to review the family pension scheme so that the pension for the spouse is the same as the government.

Important Exam Notifications
S. No.	Institution	Exam or Post Name	Vacancies or Seats	Qualification	Last Date to Apply	Link for Details
1	Visakhapatnam Coop Bank Ltd	Probationary officer (Asst Manager)	30	Any Degree	NOV-30-2020	https://vcbl.in/public/images/admin/20201104071840744_recruitment_notification_probationary_officers_2020.pdf
2	Min. of Envi., Forest & Climate Change	Scientist F, D, RO/ RA, UDC, MTS & Other	7	10tn, 12th, Degree, PG	NOV-17-2020	http://moef.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Engagement-of-contractual-staff-for-IRO-guwahati.pdf
3	Visakhapatnam Cooperative Bank Ltd.	Probationary officer (Asst Manager)	30	Any Degree	NOV-30-2020	https://vcbl.in/public/images/admin/20201104071840744_recruitment_notification_probationary_officers_2020.pdf
4	Sri Venkateswara Vedic Univ.	Pro. Officer, Pro. Associate, Pro. Fellow, Data Entry Operator	12	Degree, PG, Ph.D	NOV-13-2020	http://www.svvedicuniversity.ac.in/svvu/Research_Publications.pdf
5	Min. of Envi., Forest & Climate Change	Scientist F, D, RO/ RA, UDC, MTS & Other	7	10tn, 12th, Degree, PG	NOV-17-2020	http://moef.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Engagement-of-contractual-staff-for-IRO-guwahati.pdf
6	WAMUL	Assistant I	7	ITI (Elec.), Dip. (Dairy Tech.)/ B.Sc (PCM)	NOV-28-2020	https://www.purabi.org/hiring-page.php
7	CMHO, Korba	Microbiologist, Staff Nurse, Lab Technician	87	GNM, B.Sc (Nursing), DMLT/ BMLT	NOV-23-2020	https://cdn.s3waas.gov.in/s3d2ddea18f00665ce8623e36bd4e3c7c5/uploads/2020/11/2020110770.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 First tranche of commercial coal mine auction generates Rs. 7,000 crore

 

 Highlights –

• The first round of coal block auctioning has come to a close, leaving the government coffers richer by 7,000 crore rupees.
• Union coal and mining minister Pralhad Joshi has claimed that just the first tranche of 19 mines auctioned across five states will provide employment to nearly 70,000 people.
• The present auctioning of coal blocks to private players is significant as the rules have been simplified much further as compared to earlier.
• Previously, only organisations with end-use plants, with prior experience and a certain net worth, could bid. But, the new simplified rules meant even a company without prior experience in coal mining could bid, and were free to sell the coal commercially.
• The cabinet committee on economic affairs has approved the auctioning on a revenue sharing basis, but with full freedom to the winners to sell the coal, unlike before.
• Important details –
• The first auctions under the new regulation were flagged off by PM Modi on June 18. While there were 38 coal blocks in total up for grabs, only 23 got bids, and only 19 got more than one bid, which went under the hammer over the past week.
• 11 of these are opencast, 5 underground and 3 mixed-use. The coal blocks were spread across five states—Madhya Pradesh (8), Jharkhand (5), Odisha (2), Chhattisgarh (2) and Maharashtra (2).
• A total of 42 companies participated in the auctions, with final winners including the likes of Adani, Anil Agarwal's Vedanta and the Aditya Birla group.
• Two public sector undertakings were also among the list of winners, including the Andhra Pradesh Mineral Corp which won Brahmadiha coal block in Jharkhand by offering the government a particularly high revenue share of 41%.
• The mine has reserves of 50 lakh tonnes only but is expected to gain revenues of 114 crore rupees once peak capacity is reached.

Note –

• India has one of the largest coal reserves in the world, yet also remains one of the largest importers as well.
• The Modi government has repeatedly argued that this skewed ratio has to change, with the post-Covid new economic order forcing the government to step up its measures for self-reliance, particularly in the area of energy.

2.2 Weekly Round-up - Economye

• The labour ministry has notified draft rules for the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, paving way for greater flexibility to employers to retrench workers while making it mandatory for unions to give prior notice before a strike. The government aims to implement the four labour codes from April 1, 2021. The ministry has sought comments from stakeholders within 30 days after which the rules will be finalised. Parliament had recently approved three labour codes. These include the IR Code, the Code on Social Security and the Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions.
• 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 aim is to reduce a large number of land related litigations and also improve land acquisitions for the infrastructure projects.  
• The Unit Run Canteens (URC) of the armed forces will stop selling 422 directly imported items following an order from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in support of “Atmanirbhar Bharat”. The Canteen Stores Department (CSD) has issued a notification to all its depot managers to this effect.
• The cabinet committee on economic affairs on October 29, 2020 approved a Rs 10,211-crore project to improve the safety and performance of select dams across India. The dam rehabilitation and improvement project (DRIP)--phase II and phase III--is financially supported by the World Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
• The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has come out with quality control norms for different leather footwear including anti-riot shoes with a view to contain imports and production of sub-standard products in the country. The products would have to conform to the specified standards and bear the standard mark under a licence from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
• The Union Cabinet on October 29, 2020 raised the price of ethanol for doping in petrol by 5-8% to help farmers get remunerative price while also cutting down oil imports. As much as 10 per cent ethanol, an environment-friendly fuel, is doped in petrol.
• The Union Cabinet on October 29, 2020 decided that 100% food grains and 20% sugar will be mandatorily packaged in jute bags. The decision will benefit workers engaged in the jute sector along with farmers. Jute is primarily grown in West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Andhra Pradesh.
• The Commerce and Industry Ministry on October 28, 2020 released the next edition of its consolidated foreign direct investment (FDI) policy document, incorporating all the changes made over the past year. The consolidated policy is a compilation of various decisions taken by the government with regard to FDI in different sectors.
• Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN), the IT backbone of GST system, has launched the facility of filing of ‘Nil’ statements by composition taxpayers through SMS. This means that composition taxpayers needn’t log on to the GST portal for filing nil returns. However, the facility of filing nil statements on GST portal will remain available to taxpayers.
• Road Transport and Highways Ministry (MoRTH) has issued a notification in respect of Construction Equipment Vehicles to address the issue of safety of the operator and to ensure safety while such machines are running on public roads.
• The Electronics Sector Skill Council of India (ESSCI) on October 30, 2020 announced appointment of PVG Menon as its chief executive officer. ESSCI works with industry, the National Skill Development Corporation, and the Ministry of Electronics and IT to provide both skilling and re-skilling services to the industry.

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

3.1 Discoms to come under Energy Conservation Act

 

 

Highlights –  

• The power ministry on Monday has mandated all electricity distribution utilities or discoms to comply with the Energy Conservation (EC) Act, 2001, which would reduce energy losses and bring in more transparency in the sector.
• Earlier, only discoms with annual energy losses equal to or above 1,000 MU (million units), notified as designated consumers, used to come under the purview of the EC Act.
• All discoms will be governed under various provisions of the EC Act, such as appointment of energy manager, energy accounting and auditing, identification of energy losses category-wise, and implementation of energy conservation and efficiency measures.
• With this move, the number of discoms covered under the EC Act will increase from 44 to 102.
• The decision will facilitate energy accounting and auditing as mandatory activity for all the discoms, leading to the actions towards reducing losses and increase their profitability.
• The amendment is likely to help discoms to monitor their performance parameters and bring in transparency in the distribution sector through professional inputs.
• It will also help in developing projects for reducing the electricity losses by discoms and implementing effective solutions. It is also expected to improve the financial state of discoms.
• The quarterly data of these discoms will be accumulated and monitored by the government to suggest measures for increasing the efficiency and reduce the energy losses.
• The move is expected to gradually become more effective if extended upto the level of end-consumers.

Important details –

• The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) is a statutory body under the Ministry of Power.
• It assists in developing policies and strategies with the primary objective of reducing the energy intensity of the Indian economy.

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

4.1 Indian-American named co-chair of President-elect Joe Biden’s Covid Task Force

 

Highlights –

• Indian-American Vivek Murthy has been named one of the three co-chairs of the COVID-19 Advisory Board that will guide President-elect Joe Biden on dealing with the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed over 236,000 lives in the country.
• Dr Murthy, 43, a former US Surgeon General, along with two other co-chairs -- Dr David Kessler and Dr Marcella Nunez-Smith -- would lead a team of leading public health experts who will advise Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on the Covid pandemic.
• Kessler is a former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner from 1990 to 1997.
• The US is currently the world's worst-hit nation from the pandemic.
• The Biden-Harris transition team launched its official website on Sunday (November 15). It is called BuildBackBetter.com, and it lists Covid-19 as the main priority — in addition to economic recovery, racial equity and climate change.
• New cases are rising in at least 40 states, with more than 9.3 million total infections and more than 236,000 deaths.
• Dr Beth Cameron and Dr Rebecca Katz are serving as advisors to the Transition on COVID-19 and will work closely with the Advisory Board.
• Murthy served as the 19th Surgeon General of the US from 2014-2017. Nunez-Smith is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, Public Health, and Management at Yale University and the Associate Dean for Health Equity Research at the Yale School of Medicine.
• Other members of the Advisory Board are Luciana Borio, Rick Bright; Ezekiel Emanuel; Celine Gounder; Julie Morita; Michael Osterholm; Loyce Pace; Robert Rodriguez; and Eric Goosby.

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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 – Corporate World

 

• The Cupertino-based tech giant has made its all-in-one subscription bundle called Apple One available that will bring together Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, and Apple News Plus. With a single subscription, customers in over 100 countries and regions can enjoy their favourite Apple services across devices, including iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, and Mac.
• IBM on October 29, 2020 said it has collaborated with Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) to transform the latter's customer experience using digital tools. Around 12,400 IOCL distributors can now use the IndianOil One mobile app and portal, developed by IBM Services.
• The Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), on October 28, 2020 launched the portal “meetha.org” that seeks to be a source of complete information on sugar to the consumer.
• Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Tech Mahindra signed a contract worth Rs 400 crore for implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) to support HAL's 'Project Parivartan'.
• Infosys has turned carbon neutral. In 2011, Infosys made a pledge to become carbon neutral by 2020.
• A US court has asked Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of ISRO, to pay compensation of USD 1.2 billion to a Bengaluru-based startup, Devas Multimedia, for cancelling a satellite deal in 2005. As per the agreement in January 2005, Antrix agreed to build, launch and operate two satellites and to make available 70 MHz of S-band spectrum to Devas. The agreement was terminated by Antrix in February 2011.
• Microsoft on October 28, 2020 said it has collaborated with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to impart digital skills to more than one lakh underserved women in India over the next 10 months. As part of the collaboration, more than 70 hours of course content will be made available free of cost.
• Wipro said it would acquire Encore Theme Technologies, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) and cloud solutions provider for the financial services sector, for up to Rs 95 crore. Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Chennai, Encore Theme provides trade finance solutions developed by Finastra, to financial services institutions across the world.
• National carrier Air India's regional subsidiary Alliance Air on October 30, 2020 announced Harpreet A De Singh as its chief executive officer, making her the first woman head to lead an Indian Airline.

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• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1 Pictorial anthology on Mahatma Gandhi  

 

  

Highlights –

• A pictorial anthology on Mahatma Gandhi in the Nepali language has been released by President Bidya Devi Bhandari to mark his 151st birth anniversary and bring the Nepalese youth closer to the revered global peace icon.
• The book titled Maile Bujheko Gandhi or the Gandhi as I understood, has been released at a special function at Rashtrapati Bhawan in Kathmandu in the presence of Ambassador of India to Nepal, Vinay Mohan Kwatra.
• The book has been brought out by the Embassy of India along with the B. P. Koirala India-Nepal Foundation.
• The publication also hopes to bring the youth of Nepal closer to Mahatma Gandhi, whose life and ideals remain timeless, universal and relevant for today's world.

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

8.1 Australia-India Water Centre 

 

Key points – 

• Australia-India Water Centre has been inaugurated virtually through a Webinar, in view of the pandemic situation.
• The Water Centre is led by University of Western Sydney from Australia and IIT Guwahati from India along with 21 other partners from India and Australia.

Highlights –

• The water issues and challenges of India and Australia share several common elements, including natural extremes of floods and droughts, increasing competition for water between urban, peri-urban and rural sectors and increased threats to water security from climate change.
• There are also pressures due to the over-exploitation and water quality degradation of surface and groundwater resources.
• Recently, The joint declaration at the virtual summit of the Prime Ministers of Australia and India, in June 2020 stated that “Water security is a critical challenge for both countries, and it was jointly decided to deepen policy and technical cooperation on mutually agreed activities to improve water management and sustainable economic development.”
• With this statement in view, a number of universities, research organisations and business partners from Australia and India have committed to establish the Australia India Water Centre (AIWC).
• The MoU signed during this occasion strives to establish an understanding of cooperation for the Australia India Water Centre (AIWC) between the parties.
• The Australia India Water Centre will enable Australian and Indian partners to explore opportunities and create synergy for a longer-term collaboration in research and education between the two countries.
• Particularly, the parties anticipate this will include collaboration in water research, a joint Master’s level programme in water futures, student and staff exchanges, workshops and conferences and provide short-term training in water sector to government agencies and other participants.
• The proposed activities within the MoU are to develop longer-term collaboration in water research, capacity building and knowledge and technology transfer, particularly focusing on water and food security, safe drinking water supplies, river health, water-energy-food nexus, water for liveable cities and other related aspects of mutual benefits to Australia and India.

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

9.1 Not Available Today

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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 -

• World Migratory Bird Day was observed on the second Saturday of October every year.
• The University Grants Commission (UGC) in Oct 2020 announced a list of 24 “self-styled, unrecognised institutions” in the country, terming them as “fake”. Maximum 8 of these 24 are from Uttar Pradesh.
• International Day for Tolerance was observed on October 2.
• Well known for his work in Ayurveda P. R. Krishna Kumar passed away in Coimbatore at the age of 68 in Sept 2020.
• The Pinaka rockets, developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, have a range of 37.5 km.

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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