Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 08-12-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 08-12-2020

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Farmer’s Protests – Farmer leaders seek non-political support - On the eve of the Bharat Bandh, farmer leaders tried to find a balance between highlighting Opposition endorsement of the nationwide strike call as a sign of the widening support for their movement and refuting the government’s accusation that the protests have now been hijacked by vested political interests. So far, 24 political parties have come out in support of the bandh, according to farmers’ groups. They include Congress and Left parties, and regional outfits such as DMK, TRS, SP, BSP, RJD, Shiv Sena, NCP, SAD, Trinamool Congress, AIMIM, AAP, JMM and the Gupkar Alliance. Ahead of the bandh, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an advisory to all the States and Union Territories that no untoward incident should occur during strike. The advisory asked them to maintain peace and tranquility and ensure that all COVID-19 guidelines are strictly followed.
2. Polity and Governance – SC nod for Central Vista inauguration - The Supreme Court allowed the foundation stone laying ceremony of a new parliament building to go ahead as scheduled on Dec 10 after the government gave an undertaking to keep in abeyance the construction or demolition of buildings and the shifting of trees in the Central Vista area for now. A Bench, led by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, expressed displeasure with the government for “aggressively” continuing with the construction, demolition and shifting of trees even as questions concerning the legality of the Central Vista project were in court. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, after receiving instructions from the government, apologised to the court and gave an undertaking that no physical changes would be made to the area.
3. Environment and Ecology – Tribals come together to protect soil biodiversity - Tribals in the villages of southern Rajasthan, who utilised their indigenous agricultural practices to survive during the COVID-19 pandemic, have come together to protect soil biodiversity during an agriculture and tribal sovereignty campaign launched through 27 ‘Swaraj Sangathans’ in Banswara, Dungarpur and Pratapgarh districts. The villagers took a pledge to preserve their resources of farmland, water, livestock and indigenous seeds on the World Soil Day on Dec. 05. The Vaagad region, comprising the three tribal-dominated districts, witnessed the activities for spreading awareness about the livelihood rights of tribals, traditional farming and an effective resource management during 11 days of the campaign. Villagers from Dahod district in Gujarat and Bajana and Thandla regions of Madhya Pradesh also joined the campaign.
4. Environment and Ecology – One District One Product Scheme - Only organic farming allowed in Lakshadweep - Entire Lakshadweep group of islands being declared an organic agricultural area, the island administration is eyeing an expansion of the traditional business in coconuts through value addition, marketing, and round-the-year processing. Around ten crore coconuts are produced on the island in 12,000 small holdings with an average size of 0.25 hectares. The total acreage under coconuts is around 2,800 hectares. The nuts are processed mostly for oil. At present, only about three crore nuts are processed on the island and there is an excess of around seven crore nuts, which are mostly sold in mainland India. The period between May and Dec sees the coconut industry come to a standstill. When the industry idles, coconuts are lost. Keeping this in view, the island administration plans to introduce dryers and other machinery to utilise the nuts even during the wet months (other than May to Dec.). The move is expected to increase coconut utilisation from the present level of around 50% to more than 70%. The business in coconuts and coconut products is worth around ₹75 crore a year now.
5. Defence – Biological Weapons – VC of the Army Staff Lt. Gen Saini has recently hinted the use of biological weapons in future-warfare specially by weak armies. Any of a number of disease-producing agents such as bacteria, viruses, rickettsia, fungi, toxins, or other biological agents that may be utilized as weapons against humans, animals, or plants are called biological or germ or weapons. It also include chemical, radiological and nuclear weapons and are commonly referred as weapons of mass destruction. The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), which came in to force from 1975, is the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning the development, production and stockpiling of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction.
6. Polity and Governance – Government announced two initiatives to eliminate manual scavenging - The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has announced to amend the law to end the hazardous practice of manual cleaning of septic tanks and sewer lines and making the mechanised cleaning must. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has launched the Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge for this matter. Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge - The challenge has been launched among 243 major cities on the World Toilet Day (19th November). It was aimed to prevent hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks and promote their mechanized cleaning.
7. World - Biden picks California AG as first Latino Health Secretary – President-elect Joe Biden has picked California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be his health secretary, putting a defender of the Affordable Care Act in a leading role to oversee his administration’s coronavirus response. Separately, Mr. Biden picked a Harvard infectious disease expert, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And he announced a new role for Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert. Mr. Becerra, will be the first Latino to head the Department of Health and Human Services, a $1 trillion-plus agency with 80,000 employees and a portfolio that includes drugs and vaccines, leading-edge research and health insurance programmes covering more than 130 million Americans.
8. Social - Jharkhand Govt banned consumption tobacco (in any form) for all State Government employees - Tobacco products include cigarettes, bidi, khaini, gutkha, pan masala, zarda or supari as well as hukka, e-hookah, e-cigarettes etc. The decision was taken at a meeting of the National Tobacco Control Programme's state chapter, with an aim to implement the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 (COTPA). The decision will be implemented from April 1, 2021. There has been no clarity over penal provision in case of violation of the order. Zila Parishads, Panchayat Samitis and Gram Panchayats are asked to organise tobacco control discussions in every gram sabha meeting by the government. The Police have been ordered to increase vigil at checkposts to stop entry of banned tobacco products. In April 2020, Jharkhand had banned sale and consumption of tobacco products in public places, including online sales.
9. Social - Set up of a task force for preparing a roadmap on imparting technical education in the mother tongue – The taskforce will be set-up under the chairmanship of the secretary, higher education, Amit Khare. The aim of the task force achieve the vision of PM that students may pursue the professional courses such as medicine, engineering, law, etc in their mother tongue. This is part of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 which suggests teaching in regional language till class 8 and enabling teaching the curriculum in a language which a student is comfortable in.
10. Economy – Global mkt cap crosses $100tn first time ever – In a historic event, thanks to stocks on the American and Chinese markets rising at a fast clip, the total value of all the listed stocks in the world crossed $100 trillion for the first time ever last week. It was $100.5 trillion, or about Rs 7,400 lakh crore, on December 5. At close of trading last week, US had a market cap of $41.6 trillion while China’s was $10.7 trillion. India, with a market cap of $2.4 trillion, or about Rs 180 lakh crore, was placed 10th.

Important Exam Notifications
S. No.	Institution	Exam or Post Name	Vacancies or Seats	Qualification	Last Date to Apply	Link for Details
1	NEERI	Project Assistant, Project Associate I, II	11	B.Sc/ Dip (Engg), BE/ B.Tech, M.Sc	21-12-2020	https://www.neeri.res.in/file_homes/25015711_MZC-PA-05122020.pdf
2	NCRA	Engineer Trainee, Scientific Assistant, Work Assistant	13	10th, Dip (Engg), B.Sc, BE/ B.Tech, NTC	31-12-2020	http://www.ncra.tifr.res.in/ncra/opportunities/non-academic/openings/2020-3
3	NCRA	Engineer Trainee, Technical Assistant, Technical Trainee	14	10th, Dip (Engg), Any Deg, Deg(Engg)	31-12-2020	http://www.ncra.tifr.res.in/ncra/opportunities/non-academic/openings/2020-2
4	Vigyan Prasar	Project Consultant, Project Manager, Reporter, SRF	10	Degree, PG Degree/ Diplomaa	17-12-2020	https://vigyanprasar.gov.in/details-advertisement-for-various-post-2020/
5	Bank of India	Security Officer, Fire Officer	21	Any Degree, B.E. (Fire Engg)	21-12-2020	https://bankofindia.co.in/pdf/Final_Notice_Security_Officers_2020-21-3_05122020.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 Weekly Round-up 

• Attorney General granted consent for contempt action against Artist Rachita Taneja for illustrative tweets against Supreme Court.
• GS Mani vs UOI – ‘Not Maintainable’. Supreme Court dismisses PIL seeking removal of Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Mohan Reddy. Justices S. K. Kaul, Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy.
• Chanda Kochchar vs ICICI – Supreme Court dismisses Chanda Kochar’s challenge against ICICI Bank terminating her services. Justices S. K. Kaul, Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy.
• ‘Rakhi for Bail’ Order – Attorney General says Judges should avoid patriarchal approaches; Supreme Court reserves judgement. Justices A. M. Khanwilkar and B. R. Gavai.
• Kush Kalra vs UOI – Supreme Court reserves judgeent on legality of pasting posters outside Covid-19 patient’s homes. Justices Ashok Bhushan, B. R. Gavai and M. R. Shah.
• Sumedh Singh Saini vs UOI – Supreme Court allows anticipatory bail to former Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini in Multani Murder case. Justices Ashok Bhushan, B. R. Gavai and M. R. Shah.
• Paramvir Singh Saini vs Baljit Singh – Ensure CCTV Cameras are installed in each and every police stations – Supreme Court directs States/UTs. Justices R. F. Nariman, K. M. Joseph, Aniruddha Bose.

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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 Conservation outlook of Western Ghats grim – International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) report

 

 

The report –

• India’s iconic Western Ghats, inscribed by UNESCO in 2012 as a natural world heritage site, is threatened by population pressure, urbanisation and climate change.
• According to the 2020 report, the conservation outlook of the mountain chain of the Western Ghats, one of the world’s eight hottest hot spots of biological diversity, is of significant concern.
• If a sites conservation outlook is of significant concern, its values are considered to be threatened by a number of current and/or potential threats with significant additional conservation measures being required to preserve these values over the medium to long term.
• While the state of world heritage values in the property was considered as good at time of inscription and appears to remain so, there is some concern regarding threats from outside the site.
• Fragmentation caused by development pressure in the Western Ghats are shrinking the availability of wildlife corridors and suitable habitats outside protected areas.
• The ongoing pressure for development such as new road construction and broadening of existing roads, and power production would continue to place the property under threat.
• Functional corridors that assure wildlife movement between protected areas are required and this is a great lacuna in the conservation scenario in Western Ghats and India as a whole.
• The protection and management challenges are compounded by high population pressure and the appetite for development as well as the apparent weak integration of the sites management with broader national, state and local development planning.

Important details –

• The protection and management challenges are compounded by high population pressure and the appetite for development as well as the apparent weak integration of the sites management with broader national, state and local development planning.
• Older than the Himalaya mountains, the mountain chain of the Western Ghats represents geomorphic features of immense importance with unique biophysical and ecological processes.
• Moderating the tropical climate of the region, the site presents one of the best examples of the monsoon system on the planet.
• According to the UNESCO, the forests of the site include some of the best representatives of non-equatorial tropical evergreen forests anywhere and are home to at least 325 globally threatened flora, fauna, bird, amphibian, reptile and fish species.
• The property was inscribed in 2012 amid some controversy given the difficulty to decide how best to represent the extraordinary biological richness of the Western Ghats.

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

4.1 Full reinstatement of DACA program

 

 

Highlights –  

• In a rebuke to President Trump's administration, a judge has ordered the U.S. government to reopen to first-time applicants a program that protects from deportation and grants work permits to hundreds of thousands of immigrants who live in the United States unlawfully after arriving as children.
• The action by U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in Brooklyn centered on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program created by Trump's Democratic predecessor Barack Obama in 2012.
• Recently, the Supreme Court blocked Trump's 2017 bid to end DACA. But, his administration continued its policy of not accepting new applications for the program.
• Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, who takes office on January 20, 2021, has said he plans to revitalize DACA.
• The judge directed the Department of Homeland Security to post a public notice "displayed prominently" on its websites by December 7 announcing that it is accepting new DACA applications.
• The judge also ordered that the notice make clear that employment authorization under DACA would last for two years rather than one.
• The Supreme Court decided that the administration's attempt to end DACA was "arbitrary and capricious" and violated federal law.

Key details –

• Trump's administration had argued that Obama exceeded his constitutional powers when he created DACA by executive action, bypassing Congress.
• Obama created DACA after Congress failed to pass bipartisan legislation to overhaul U.S. immigration policy.
• DACA recipients often are called "Dreamers" based on the name of legislation considered but never passed in Congress.

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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 Lt Gen Paramjit Singh – First Deputy Chief of Army 

 

Highlights –

• As part of the reorganisation of Army Headquarters, the PM Modi-led government has approved the creation of a new deputy chief of strategy in the headquarters as per a plan first envisaged during the Doklam crisis with China in 2017.
• The government has also cleared the creation of the post of Director General Information Warfare in the headquarters who would be dealing with media affairs too.
• The first officer to assume the new appointment is the present Director General of Military Operations Lt General Paramajit Singh.
• The new office of the third deputy chief in the Army would reduce the burden on the vice chief of the Army as he would have important officers including the in-charges of military intelligence and military operations under him.
• The new post was envisaged during the Doklam crisis when a need for closer and direct coordination was felt in the headquarters.
• The government has also given sanction for creating a new post of Director General Information Warfare.
• The office will have the Additional Director General (Strategic Communications) under him.

6.2 Gwalior, Orchha on Unesco’s ‘world heritage cities’ list

 

Highlights –

• Gwalior and Orchha in Madhya Pradesh have been included in the list of Unesco’s ‘world heritage cities’ under its urban landscape programme.
• Urban heritage can act as a catalyst for socio-economic development through tourism, commercial use, and higher land and property values – thereby providing the revenues out of which to pay for maintenance, restoration and rehabilitation - Unesco.
• Unesco’s scheme aims to manage historic urban landscapes by integrating heritage conservation with social and economic development.
• The Historic Urban Landscape approach moves beyond the preservation of the physical environment and focuses on the entire human environment with all of its tangible and intangible qualities.

History of Gwalior and Orchha -

• Gwalior, about 400km from Bhopal, is believed to date to 6-8 AD and its strategic position has kept in the thick of historic developments for centuries.
• It is home to a stunning fort. Temple town Orchha, about 115km from Gwalior, was founded in the 16th Century and is part of the Khajuraho tour circuit.
• It houses the famous Ram Raja temple where Lord Ram is worshipped as a king and is given a guard of honour by armed policemen daily.
• Orchha (or Urchha) is a town in Niwari district of Madhya Pradesh state, India. The town was established by Rudra Pratap Singh some time after 1501, as the seat of an eponymous former princely state of covering parts of central & north India, in the Bundelkhand region. Orchha lies on the Betwa River, 80 km from Tikamgarh & 15 km from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh.

6.3 Weekly Round-up – Accidents and Natural and Man-made Disasters

• Indian Navy’s MiG-29K trainer crashes over Arabian Sea - MiG-29K fighter trainer jet of the Indian Navy met with an accident at Arabian Sea on November 27, 2020 after which one of the two pilots has been missing while the other one has been recovered.
• Cyclone Nivar hits coastal areas of TN, Puducherry - The very severe cyclonic storm Nivar crossed the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coast on November 26, 2020.

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• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1 Not Available Today

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

8.1 International Volunteers Day 2020

 

Highlights – 

• International Volunteers Day is observed to promote volunteerism, encourage governments to support volunteer efforts.
• The day is observed internationally on December 5th every year. The UN General Assembly mandated the day in 1985.
• The day is an opportunity for everyone to promote volunteerism, encourage governments to support volunteer efforts, and recognize their role in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at local, national, and international levels.
• International Volunteers Day 2020 campaign is to thank volunteers worldwide and throw light on the challenges faced by the volunteers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Theme –

• The theme for International Volunteers Day 2020 is 'Together We Can Through Volunteering'.

Importance in 2020 –

• The Covid-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan by the WHO has recognised community volunteers as key stakeholders for risk communication and community engagement. It shows the belief WHO has in the volunteers' efforts during the pandemic.

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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 -

• The World Television Day was observed on Nov 21.
• A model of indigenously developed Anti-Satellite Missile was unveiled by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh the DRDO Bhawan premises in New Delhi in Nov 2020.
• Financial Action Task Force has decided to keep Pakistan on the grey list in October 2020.
• India recently announced to build a 100-bedded cancer hospital 22,000-seater cricket stadium in Maldives.
• India has delivered trains to Nepal for the cross-border railway line connecting Jaynagar in India to Kurtha in Nepal.

10.3 Today's best editorials to read

• We offer you 7 excellent editorials from across 10 newspapers we have scanned. 

CLICK HERE TO OPEN AND READ!

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• SECTION 3 - MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions)

Solve the online quiz given, right now. Check scores, and relative performance!

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