Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 15-12-2020

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 15-12-2020

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Farmers Protests – Govt. talks to breakaway leaders as farmers hold hunger strikes - As several thousand farmers held hunger strikes and dharnas at Delhi’s border and across the country, demanding a repeal of the three recent agricultural marketing laws, the Centre continued to engage with individual elements in the farmers’ movement, in an effort to restart negotiations and broker a settlement. The national convener of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), one of the farmer groups leading the protest, was removed from his position after he expressed willingness to engage in separate talks with the government, focussing on demands for a minimum support price (MSP) law, rather than the repeal of all the three contentious laws. As the protest reached its nineteenth day, leaders of the movement held a day-long hunger strike from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal joined the fast in solidarity. Dharnas, or sit-ins, were held across the country, with people coming out in 60% of districts.
2. Economy – November sees food inflation drop to 9.43% – India’s retail inflation based on the consumer price index (CPI) moderated marginally in November to 6.93%, from 7.61% recorded in October, with food price inflation cooling off to 9.43% from 11% in the previous month. In rural India, both overall retail inflation and food price inflation were about 0.5 percentage points higher than the 6.73% and 9.1% respectively recorded in urban India. The National Statistical Office (NSO) combines the rural and urban inflation rates to arrive at all-India inflation rates. The headline CPI inflation for November 2020 printed appreciably lower, benefiting from stable vegetable prices at the retail level.
3. Defence – US agencies hit by massive cyber-attack - The U.S. government issued an emergency directive to federal agencies in the wake of a major cyberattack, at least two departments — including the Treasury — had been targeted by hackers with ties to Russia. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said it had ordered federal agencies to immediately stop using SolarWinds Orion IT products following reports that hackers had used a recent update to gain access to internal communications. IT company SolarWinds over the weekend admitted that hackers had exploited a backdoor in an update of some of its software released between March and June. The hacks are part of a wider campaign that also hit major cybersecurity firm FireEye, which said its own defences had been breached by sophisticated attackers who stole tools used to test customers’ computer systems. Microsoft also alerted its users to what it described as a sophisticated campaign aimed at “high value targets” in government and cybersecurity and which it said represented “nation-state activity at significant scale.”.
4. Education – 4 lakh questions in twelve languages: ’21 JEE-M to be held in four cycles - Sixteen days of tests, 384 question papers in 12 languages and 4.2 lakh questions will define the scale of the Joint Entrance Examination (Main), to be held in four cycles starting Feb 2021, for admission to engineering courses. Registration of candidates for the February cycle is likely to start later this week. JEE (Main) 2021 will be conducted once each month, from February to May. The results would be announced in four to five days so as to give a window of around a week to candidates to apply for the subsequent month’s test.
5. Covid-19 Updates - New coronavirus variant found in UK, may be spreading faster; London to move to highest alert - Britain’s capital will be placed under the highest level of coronavirus restrictions from Dec. 16 amid a “very sharp” spike in COVID-19 cases in London and its surrounding areas and a new variant of coronavirus being identified as responsible for the “faster spread”, the UK government announced in Parliament. Tier-3 restrictions, the highest level in England’s three-tier system, mean a near-complete lockdown, with people allowed to meet those they do not live with only in outdoor settings and hospitality venues directed to shut except for takeaways and deliveries. Experts had identified over 1,000 cases with the variant, predominantly in the south of England.
6. Science and Technology - IIT Kanpur Researchers have developed ‘Damaru’ Inspired Lattice that finds applications in stealth submarines and high speed trains – The project is sponsored by A SPARC project of Ministry of Education. With the use of a micro-structured hour-glass shaped meta-structure in the lattice unit, one can get a wider variation of propagation and stop bands. Inspiration of the lattice has come from a two-headed drum called ‘Damaru’ or which is used in ancient Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism. In this application, the researchers have also shown that the nature of stiffness of a vibrating medium could be altered drastically by controlling the lattice micro-structure from regular honeycomb to auxtetic honeycomb structure. This has wide applications in the field of vibration isolation in high speed trains, stealth submarines and helicopter rotors.
7. Geography - El Niño was not the only cause for dry spells in the Indian Subcontinent - Indian Institute of Science’s (IISc) Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (CAOS) found in an examination that 43% of the droughts that occurred during the Indian summer monsoon season in the past century may have been driven by atmospheric disturbances from the North Atlantic region and  during these years El Niño was absent.  Between 1900 and 2015, India suffered 23 droughts but only 13 were associated with El Nino, unusual heating of the waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. What triggered the other 10, including the 2014 drought, remained a mystery.
8. Business -  Ola plans world’s largest scooter factory in Tamil Nadu - Ola Electric said it will make two million electric scooters at a greenfield facility in Hosur, Tamil Nadu. This would displace Honda’s Vithalpur facility in Gujarat, which makes 1.2 million units of petrol-powered scooters a year. Ola has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state government for the factory, which will entail an investment of Rs 2,354 crore. The Ola investment will create nearly 2,200 jobs. Ola’s pact was part of 18 MoUs signed by the TN government, worth a cumulative investment of Rs 19,995 crore with the potential to create more than 26,500 jobs. The factory will produce Ola’s upcoming range of two-wheeler products, starting with its electric scooter. Ola plans to bring many such design and software innovations to its entire product line of two-wheelers.
9. Corporate World – Tatas, US fund, group of employees submit EOIs for Air India - The government said it has received “multiple expressions of interest” for Air India as it tries to save the beleaguered carrier. While the Centre did not disclose the names, AI founder Tata Group, a group of AI employees and US-based retirement asset fund of NRIs Interups are among those to have placed expressions of interest in the Maharaja. There was speculation a global airline and SpiceJet’s Ajay Singh might have submitted an EoI, but there was no confirmation. Dec. 14 was the final day for placing an EoI for AI. Tata Group, which has a play in both budget and premier full-service carriers through AirAsia India and Vistara, is seen as the most likely winner.
10. Arts and Culture – John le Carré, the spy who elevated thrillers to high art, dies at 89 - John le Carré, whose exquisitely nuanced, intricately plotted Cold War thrillers elevated the spy novel to high art by presenting both Western and Soviet spies as morally compromised cogs in a rotten system full of treachery, betrayal and personal tragedy, died of pneumonia in Cornwall, England. He was 89. Before his bestselling 1963 novel ‘The Spy Who Came in From the Cold’, the fictional model for the modern British spy was Ian Fleming’s James Bond—urbane, devoted to queen and country. Le Carré upended that notion. His spies are lonely, disillusioned men whose work is driven by budget troubles, bureaucratic power plays and the opaque machinations of politicians—men who are as likely to be betrayed by colleagues and lovers as by the enemy.

Important Exam Notifications
S. No	Institution	Exam or Post Name	Vacancies or Seats	Qualification	Last Date to Apply	Link for Details
1	UPSC	Asst Legal Adviser, Medical Physicist, Pub Prose. and AE (Elect.)	34	Degree (Law), Degree (Elect Engg), PG	31-12-2020	https://www.upsc.gov.in/sites/default/files/AdvtNo-16-2020-Engl.pdf
2	C-DAC, Kolkata	Project Officer, Project Support Staff	6	B.Com, CA/ LLM/ CS	31-12-2020	https://cdac.in/index.aspx?id=ca_job_kol_11_12_20
3	SACON	Information Officer, Research Biologist, Technical Asst	7	Diploma (Computer Software), PG	04-01-2021	http://www.sacon.in/careers/
4	Indian Institute of Geomagnetism	Prof, Reader, Fellow, Sr Tech. Asst, Sr Hindi Translator, Driver	11	SSC, PG	15-01-2021	http://iigm.res.in/sites/default/files/ADVT.2020.pdf
5	BHEL	Young Professional	7	PG Degree/ Diploma	31-12-2020	https://careers.bhel.in/lateral2020/static/Advertisement%20for%20Young%20Professional%20-%20CE05-2020.pdf

 

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• SECTION 2 - DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

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• 1. CONSTITUTION AND LAW (Prelims, GS Paper 2, Essay paper)

1.1 Polity - Round-up

 

• Amish Devgan vs UOI – Supreme Court refuses to quash FIRs against Journalist Amish Devgan for remarks against Sufi Saint Moinuddin Chishti. Justices A. M. Khanwilkar and Sanjiv Khanna
• Batch petitions – Won’t pass any order which will lead to econnomy going haywire, says Supreme Court on pleas for loan moratorium extension. Justices Ashok Bhushan, R. Subhash Reddy and M. R. Shah
• Kush Kalra vs UOI – No Covid-19 posters outside patients homes without direction form compotent authority under DMA: Supreme Court. Justices Ashok Bhushan, B. R. Gavai and M. R. Shah
• Siddhant Batra vs The Director, IIT Bombay – Supreme Court directs IIT Bombay to grant interim admission to student who lost admission after clicking wrong link. Justices S. K. Kaul, Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy
• Ashok Arora vs SCBA – Supreme Court allows Ashok Arora to argue in person plea against his suspension as SCBA secretary. Justices A. M. Khanwilkar and B. R. Gavai
• No coercive action against ‘Roshni Act’ benefciaries for now, centre tells Supreme Court; SC asks J&K HC to hear review petitions. Justices N. V. Ramana, Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose
• APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University vs Jai Bharath College of Management and Engineering Technology – Universities can stipulate enhanced norms and standards for granting affiliation than those prescribed by AICTE: Supreme Court CJI SA Bobde. Justices A. S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian.
• Board of Control for Cricket vs Cricket Association of Bihar – Supreme Court vacates two year old blanket ban restraining other courts from hearing disputes related to BCCI, State Cricket Association. Justices Nageswara Rao, Hemant Gupta, Ajay Rastogi
• Rajiv Suri vs UOI - Supreme Court allows foundation ceremony for new parliament building without altering site in any manner. Justices A. M. Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and Sanjiv Khanna.  

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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 National Energy Conservation Day 2020    

 

 

Highlights – 

• Energy Conservation Day is observed every year on December 14.
• The day focuses on making people aware of global warming and climate change and promotes efforts towards saving energy resources.
• Energy conservation emphasises the judicious use of energy to minimise wastage and to save sources for the future. Energy conservation also advocates the importance of non-renewable resources.
• Most of the energy sources we use in our daily lives are 'non-renewable' they cannot be reused and renewed. It is said that our energy resources may last only for another 40 years or so.
• Therefore, every individual must include energy conservation in their behaviour and to make energy conservation plan more effective.

History –

• In India Energy Conservation Act was implemented by the Energy Efficiency Bureau (BEE) in 2001.
• Energy Efficiency Bureau (BEE) is a constitutional body which works under the Government of India and helps in the development of policies and strategies to reduce the use of energy.
• On this day, a large number of events such as discussions, conferences, debates, workshops, and competitions, etc are held across the country to observe the day.

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

4.1 Iran executes journalist

 

Highlights –

• Dissident Iranian journalist Rouhollah Zam was hanged in Iran on Saturday (December 12) morning.
• Zam was found guilty of "corruption on earth," a charge that does not specify a crime but is sometimes used by the Iranian government for alleged attempts to overthrow it.
• Zam ran the online opposition news site Amad News, which was accused by Tehran of inciting violence during deadly protests in 2017 and 2018.
• Zam had been living in exile in France when he was arrested by Iranian authorities in October 2019.
• The circumstances of how and where he was detained remain unclear.
• The journalist left France on October 11, according to the French foreign ministry. Three days later, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps released a statement saying it had detained him.
• He was found guilty and sentenced to death in June 2020.
• The European Union condemned the execution, calling on Iran to "refrain from any future executions and to pursue a consistent policy towards the abolition of the death penalty."
• As per reports, Iran had accused Zam of working with US, French and Israeli intelligence that provided him with "overt and covert" protection.
• Reporters Without Borders says Iran has been one of the world's most repressive countries for journalists for 40 years. The group says at least 860 journalists and citizen-journalists have been imprisoned or executed in Iran since 1979.

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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 Operation Oliva

 

 

Highlights –

• The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has launched ‘Operation Oliva’ to protect the endangered Olive Ridley turtles on the coast of Odisha.
• Two ships have been deployed at the major nesting sites of the turtles at Gahirmatha marine sanctuary, Rushikulya beach and Devi river mouth to prevent entry of fishing vessels into the prohibited zone.
• Besides, an aircraft has also been pressed into service to protect the turtles as part of the operation.
• The ICG is working in coordination with the Forest department, fishery officials and marine police to keep watch on illegal fishing in the restricted zone.
• The Union government had launched ‘Operation Oliva’ in 1999 to save the marine species.
• The ICG headquarters at Paradip  launches the operation off Odisha coast every year. ICG is the nodal agency for protecting the environment in the country’s coastal areas.
• As per reports, 65 fishermen have been arrested and 12 fishing vessels seized since November 1 by the marine police and ICG.

6.2 Vijay Diwas

 

 

Highlights –

• Vijay Diwas is commemorated every 16th December in India, to observe Indian military's victory over Pakistan in Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 for the liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistan.
• The end of the war also resulted in the unilateral and unconditional surrender of the Pakistan Army and subsequent secession of East Pakistan into Bangladesh.
• On this day in 1971, the chief of the Pakistani forces, General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi, along with 93,000 troops, surrendered to the allied forces consists of Indian Army and Mukti Bahini, led by General Jagjit Singh Aurora, of India in the Ramna Race Course, now Suhrawardy Udyan, in Dhaka after their defeat in the war.
• Same day and event is commemorated in Bangladesh as Bijoy Dibos.
• On 16 December every year, Citizens, senior officials, students & war veterans lay wreaths and remember the sacrifices of the soldiers.
• In the nation's capital New Delhi, the Indian Minister of Defence and heads of all three wings of the Indian armed forces pay homage at Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate in New Delhi as well as in the National Military Memorial, Bangalore.

Important details –

• The Government of India decided on December 03, 1971, that India would go for war with Pakistan to save Bengali Muslims and Hindus.
• This war was fought between India and Pakistan for 13 days only. But, the Pakistani army surrendered before India with 93,000 soldiers.
• This war was fought under the leadership of Field Marshal Manekshaw. About 1500 soldiers of India were martyred during this war.
• It was the Indian Army’s one of the biggest victories ever made against Pakistan.
• Prior to 1971, Bangladesh was a part of Pakistan, which was called 'East Pakistan'.
• It is believed that people of ‘East Pakistan’ were beaten, exploited, raped and murdered by the Pakistani Army.
• India supported Bangladesh against Pakistan’s oppression in ‘East Pakistan’.

6.3 Weekly Round-up – Accidents, Natural and Manmade disasters

• Cyclone Burevi has weakened into a deep depression and will cross the Tamil Nadu coast on the morning of Dec 4, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in Dec 2020.
  

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• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1 Polity - Round-up

 

Highlights – 

• The UNESCO has decided to launch an international prize in the field of ‘creative economy’ in the name of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
• Starting November 2021, the dollar 50 thousand award will be given away once in two years for global economic initiatives of the youth.
• According to UNESCO, the international award will create a knowledge-sharing mechanism by capturing, celebrating and communicating best practice in the development of creative entrepreneurship.
• The award will recognise exceptional initiatives taken by cultural workers and organizations in the development of the creative economy.
• The award is likely to create an opportunity to spread the ideology of Bangabandhu in the world and inspire the cultural workers to develop the creative economy.
• UNESCO has declared 2021 as ‘International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development’.
• Currently, there are 23 UNESCO International Awards in the name of international celebrities and organisations.

7.2 UNESCO to launch international prize in the name of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib

• Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar unveiled an e-compendium of articles on the Constitution, Fundamental Rights and Fundamental Duties in New Delhi on the occasion of Constitution Day on November 26, 2020. The compilation by Press Information Bureau has articles penned by eminent personalities.
• Senior Congress leader and party treasurer Ahmed Patel (71) passed away on November 25, 2020 in Delhi. An eight-time parliamentarian, Patel served three terms in the Lok Sabha and five terms in the Rajya Sabha.
• On the occasion of completion of 3 years of UMANG App, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad unveiled the newly instituted UMANG Awards for Partner Departments of Centre and States based on average transactions in the past six months across all services. Employees' Provident Fund Organisation has been conferred with Platinum Partner Award for registering more than 25 lakh transactions on UMANG App.
• The Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR) and the Uttar Pradesh Forest department have bagged the first-ever international award, TX2, for doubling the number of tigers in four years against a target of 10 years. It achieved this goal in just four years from 2014, when it had 25 tigers which went up to 65 in 2018.
• Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel on November 28, 2020 gave assent to an ordinance against forcible or fraudulent religious conversions that provides for imprisonment up to 10 years and a maximum fine of Rs 50,000 under different categories. The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020, also curbs religious conversions only for the sake of marriage.
• The Uttar Pradesh government has approved an ambitious 594-km Ganga Expressway project worth Rs 36,402 crore running along the river from Hardwar to Allahabad.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the celebration of Centennial Foundation Day of the University of Lucknow via video conferencing on November 25, 2020. He released a special stamp and Rs 100 coin to commemorate the foundation day.
• Food Processing minister Narendra Singh Tomar inaugurated a mega food park (MFP) at Phagwara in Kapurthala district of Punjab. Spread over 55 acres of land, the Sukhjit MFP is equipped with warehouses, silos, cold storage, deep freezer and other related food processing facilities.

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

8.1 Not Available Today

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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 -

• Parul Chaudhary finished first among female Indian runners at the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon in Nov 2020.
• MiG-29K fighter trainer jet of the Indian Navy met with an accident at Arabian Sea in Nov 2020.
• Sadat Rahman of Bangladesh was awarded the International Children’s Peace Prize for his work to stop cyber bullying of teens in Nov 2020.
• Centre has renamed the Ministry of Shipping as the: Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.
• Migration and Development Brief report of World Bank forecast that remittances to India would fall by 9% to $76 billion in 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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