Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 04-01-2021

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 04-01-2021

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Covid-19 – India approves two COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use – The Central Drugs and Standards Committee (CDSCO) has formally approved the COVID-19 vaccines by Bharat Biotech and the Serum Institute of India (SII). This allows the vaccines — Covishield by SII and based on the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, and Covaxin by Bharat Biotech — to be offered to healthcare workers and frontline workers in India. The Health Ministry had said that 3 crore such personnel, considered at the highest risk for COVID-19, would be given the vaccine for free. Neither Covishield nor Covaxin has completed the crucial Phase-3 trial, under which a vaccine candidate is administered to volunteers at multiple locations across the country. The approval was based on a recommendation by a Subject Expert Committee which deliberated for two days on granting approvals to the vaccines.
2. Covid-19 – U.K. set for tougher virus restrictions – British PM Boris Johnson has said that he is “reconciled” to the prospect of tougher restrictions to combat spiralling coronavirus cases, as a row flared over whether schools should reopen. Britain recorded 57,725 new cases on January 2, its highest total of the entire pandemic. Opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer urged the Prime Minister to immediately impose national lockdown measures. Much of Britain is already under regional lockdown, although primary schools are set to reopen in most of the country when the Christmas holiday ends on January 4. However, around one million four to 11-year-olds will learn remotely after the government announced primary schools in London, where case rates are particularly high, would remain closed.
3. World – China amends defence law to boost war preparedness – China’s President Xi Jinping has signed an order that has amended China’s National Defence Law, giving the Central Military Commission (CMC), which he heads, greater power in mobilising resources to protect a new and broader definition of what constitutes the national interest. The revised regulations on military equipment, which are effective as of January 1, focus on “war preparedness and combat capabilities”. They “define the basic tasks, contents and management mechanisms for military equipment work under the new situation and system.” The document follows “the general principle of the CMC exercising overall leadership, theater commands responsible for military operations and the services focusing on developing capabilities.”
4. World – 12 GOP Senators to oppose Biden win – The U.S. Congress convened its new session on January 4, kicking off an explosive week in Washington as Republican lawmakers vow to challenge Joe Biden’s election win, pro-Trump protesters gather and voters in Georgia decide who controls the Senate. The rebel push by a group of 12 Senators loyal to President Donald Trump to block formal certification of Mr. Biden’s November victory is all but certain to fail, but has raised tensions on Capitol Hill as lawmakers return to work. In the House of Representatives, top Democrat Nancy Pelosi faces a possibly tricky battle for re-election as Speaker — an office that places her only two heartbeats from the presidency.
5. Environment & Ecology – Woolly rhino from the Ice Age found in Russia – A well-preserved Ice Age woolly rhino with many of its internal organs still intact has been recovered from permafrost in Russia's extreme north. Russian media has reported that the carcass was revealed by melting permafrost in Yakutia in August. Scientists are waiting for ice roads in the Arctic region to become passable to deliver it to a lab for studies in February 2021. It’s among the best-preserved specimens of the Ice Age animal found to date. The carcass has most of its soft tissues still intact, including part of the intestines, thick hair and a lump of fat. Its horn was found next to it. Recent years have seen major discoveries of mammoths, woolly rhinos, Ice Age foal, and cave lion cubs as the permafrost increasingly melts across vast areas of Siberia because of global warming. Scientists dated the carcass as anywhere from 20,000- to 50,000-years-old. More precise dating will be possible once it is delivered to a lab for radiocarbon studies. It was three-or four-years-old when it died.
6. Polity & Governance – Govt. ropes in I-T Dept. to crack down on GST fraud – Tightening the noose around fraudsters rigging the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, the government has roped in the Income Tax Department to tap illicit incomes as part of a crackdown against 7,000 fraud companies, identified using data analytics tools. Any income traceable to the use of fake bills and other GST frauds shall be considered concealed income and attract severe penalties so that direct tax collections may also get a leg-up while better compliance pushed GST collections to a record high of ₹1.15 lakh crore in December 2020. In a recent case, an e-commerce player was found to have even procured manpower services from a fake company. Around 187 persons have already been arrested, including five chartered accountants and a company secretary.
7. People & Personalities – Malayalam poet-lyricist Anil Panachooran passes away – Poet and lyricist Anil Panachooran passed away on January 3 following health complications. He was 55. A lawyer by profession, he came into the limelight in 2007 with the much appreciated songs in Arabikkadha, including ‘Chora Veena Mannil...’ and ‘Thirike Njan...’. ‘Chora Veena Mannil...’, sung with revolutionary fervour by the poet himself, is played regularly at Left cultural events. Even before his arrival in films, he had attained popularity among the poetry aficionados in the State with poems such as ‘Anaadhan’, written in the 1990s. Panachooran was working on his first directorial Kaadu when the end came.
8. World – Iran plans to enrich uranium to up to 20% purity, says IAEA – Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it intends to produce uranium enriched to up to 20% purity, well beyond the threshold set by the 2015 Vienna accord. According to the latest report, Tehran was enriching uranium to levels greater than the limit provided for in the Vienna agreement (3.67%) but not exceeding the 4.5% threshold, and still complied with the Agency’s very strict inspection regime. But there has been turmoil since the assassination in late November of Iranian nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
9. Economy – ‘Rabi foodgrain output likely to exceed previous record’ – The country’s Rabi foodgrain production, including wheat, in the ongoing 2020-21 crop year is expected to be better than the previous year’s record of 153.27 million tonnes. Sowing of Rabi (winter) crop is under way. The Rabi sowing begins from October immediately after the harvest of Kharif (summer) crops. Wheat and mustard are major crops. The crop year runs from July to June. For the 2020-21 crop year, the Centre has set a target of a record foodgrain output of 301 million tonnes, out of which it expects 151.65 million tonnes to come from the Rabi season.
10. Economy – China warns of action against U.S.’ delisting of its telcos – China will take ‘necessary measures’ to safeguard the interests of its companies after the New York Stock Exchange began delisting three Chinese telecom firms that Washington says have military ties. The NYSE had said that it would delist China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom following President Donald Trump’s move in November to bar U.S. investment in 31 firms that Washington says are owned or controlled by the Chinese military. While the ministry said it would take action to protect its firms, it also called on the U.S. to put bilateral trade relations back on track. In its final weeks before President-elect Joe Biden takes office on Jan. 20, the Trump administration has stepped up its hard line stance against China.

Important Exam Notifications
S. No	Institution	Exam or Post Name	Vacancies or Seats	Qualification	Last Date to Apply	Link for Details
1	IPIRTI	Project Scientist, Project Asst – 5 Posts	5	Diploma (Engg)/ B.Sc (Relevant Disciplines), ME/ M.Tech or Ph.D	22-01-2021	https://img.freejobalert.com/uploads/2021/01/Notification-IPIRTI-Project-Scientific-Asst-Posts.pdf
2	NPCIL	Scientific Asst, Leading Fireman, Assistant & Other – 11 Posts	11	Diploma, Any Degree	25-01-2021	https://img.freejobalert.com/uploads/2021/01/Notification-NPCIL-Scientific-Asst-Fireman-Other-Posts.pdf
3	Press Council of India	Assistant Section Officer, Junior Translation Officer – 5 Posts	5	–	01-02-2021	http://www.barc.gov.in/careers/vacancy512.pdf
4	BARC	Stipendiary Trainee & Technician/ B – 60 Posts	60	SSC, HSC, Diploma (Engg), B.Sc (Chemistry)	22-01-2021	https://www.rrljorhat.res.in/jobs/Advt-43-2020-HRD.pdf
5	NEIST	Sr Project Associate, Project Associate & Asst, Field Worker – 77 Posts	77	Any Degree, Degree, PG, Ph.D (Relevant Discipline)	08 to 25-01-2021	http://www.incometaxbhopal.in/Document/Recruitment_of_Meritorious_Sportspersons_English.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 Law to raise legal age of smoking

 

 

 Highlights – 

• The Centre has prepared a bill to raise the age for allowing sale of cigarettes and tobacco products to 21 years from the current 18 years.
• The government has drafted the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Amendment Act, 2020.
• The provision for raising the age limit to 21 years is part of the new bill being piloted by the Union Health Ministry.
• The bill seeks to amend further the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003.
• Under the amendments proposed in the bill, "No person shall sell, offer for sale, or permit sale of, cigarette or any other tobacco product - (a) to or by any person who is under twenty-one years of age, and in an area within a radius of one hundred meters of any educational institution."
• Section 7 is being amended to say, "Provided that the trade and commerce in cigarette or any other tobacco product shall be in sealed, intact and original packaging." It also adds a provision, "No person shall, directly or indirectly, produce, supply or distribute cigarettes or any other tobacco products unless every package of cigarettes or any other tobacco products produced, supplied or distributed by him is having minimum quantity as may be prescribed."
• Contravention of this Section 7 will lead to imprisonment of two years or fine going up to Rs 1 lakh and second conviction leading to prison for 5 years or fine going up to Rs 5 lakh.
• Sale of illicit products will lead to punishment of imprisonment of 1 year and a fine of Rs 50,000 and a second conviction of imprisonment of 2 years and Rs 1 lakh. The fine on manufacture of illicit cigarettes is imprisonment of 2 years and fine of Rs 1 lakh.
• The penalty for smoking at restricted areas is being increased from Rs 200 to Rs 2,000.

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• 2. ECONOMY (Prelims, GS Paper 3, Essay paper

2.1 IFSCA – now a permanent member of the global lobby group IOSCO

 

• International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) has become an associate member of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).
• The IOSCO works closely with the G20 nations and the Financial Stability Board (FSB), in setting up the standards for strengthening the securities markets.
• The IOSCO Objectives and Principles of Securities Regulation have been endorsed by FSB as one of the key standards for sound financial systems.
• The membership of IOSCO is likely to provide the IFSCA a platform to exchange information at the global level, and even at the regional level, on areas of common interests.
• The IOSCO platform is also expected to enable the IFSCA to learn from the experiences and best practices of the regulators of other well established financial centres.
• The first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in the country has been set up at the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) in Gandhinagar. To regulate such institutions, the government established IFSCA on April 27, 2020 with its head office in Gandhinagar.
• In December 2019, Parliament passed a bill to set up a unified authority for regulating all financial activities at IFSCs in the country.

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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 Kazakhstan scraps death penalty 

  

Highlights – 

• TPresident Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has signed a decree abolishing the death penalty in Kazakhstan.
• The new law makes permanent the existing moratorium on state executions in place since 2003, introduced by then-President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
• In September 2020, Tokayev spoke before the UN General Assembly saying that the decision was driven "to fulfill a fundamental right to life and human dignity."
• In 2020, the oil-rich country joined the UN's International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a multilateral treaty included in the International Bill of Human Rights.
• The UN convention stipulates that capital punishment may only be used in exceptional circumstances, such as war crimes or terrorist acts.

Important details –

• While the former Soviet republic has not carried out an execution in almost two decades, death sentences have continued to be handed down to those convicted of serious crimes.
• However, since the mid-1990s, women, minors and those over the age of 65 have been excluded from the death penalty.
• One of the last death sentences handed down was to mass murderer Ruslan Kulekbayev who shot and killed eight police officers and two civilians during a rampage in Kazakhstan's largest city Almaty in 2016. He will now serve a life sentence instead.
• The last state-sanctioned executions carried out in the country were on May 12, 2003, when 12 people were put to death by firing squad.

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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 Home Minister Amit Shah releases ‘National Police K-9 Journal”

 

 

Highlights –

• Union home minister Amit Shah has released the inaugural issue of “National Police K-9 Journal.” It is the 1st publication on the subject of Police Service K9s, Police Dogs.
• The publication of the Police K9 Journal is believed to be an another step in creating an ecosystem in the country to train and learn on augmenting this vital resource.
• The journal comprises different sections in Hindi and English.
• This is considered to be a unique initiative which will further enrich the subjects related to Police Service Canine (K-9) (PSK) teams in the country.
• A special ‘Police K9 Cell’ was established in November 2019 under the Police Modernisation Division of the ministry of home affairs with the mandate of ‘Mainstreaming and Augmentation of Police Service K9s in the country’.
• Apart from security personnel, a few eminent foreign experts have also contributed their articles in the inaugural issue. It is a biannual journal which will be released in April and October every year.

Note –

• In English-speaking countries, police dog units are often referred to as K-9 or K9, which is a pun upon the word canine.

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• 7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1 Buta Singh dies at 86

 

• Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Buta Singh died at Delhi's AIIMS early on January 2, 2021. He was 86 years old. He was in a coma since October 2020 after he suffered a brain haemorrhage.
• Mr Singh was a member of the Shiromani Akali Dal before joining the Congress in the 1960s.
• Born in 1934 in Punjab's Jalandhar, Buta Singh joined the Congress under Jawaharlal Nehru's leadership and was close to Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, both. Mr Singh was first elected to the Parliament in 1962.
• Over the years, he served as the Home Minister in the Rajiv Gandhi government from 1986 to 1989, National President of Scheduled Caste Commission, governor for West Bengal and Bihar, and Union minister for Agriculture, Railways, Commerce and Sports, among other departments.
• Mr Singh's last political assignment was a two-year term as the Governor of Bihar in 2004, after which he only held organisational posts within the Congress.

7.2    News Round-up – Polity and Governance

• As farmers intensify their protest seeking repeal of three farm laws, the government on December 17, 2020 issued a 100-page e-booklet ‘Putting Farmers First’ highlighting the success stories of farmers who have benefited from contract farming after enactment of these legislations.
• The Union Health Ministry on December 18, 2020 listed out the documents that can be used for registering to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Beneficiaries can produce driving licence, health insurance smart card issued under the scheme of the Labour Ministry, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) job card, official identity cards issued to MPs, MLAs and MLCs, PAN card, bank or post office passbook, passport, pension document, service identity card issued to employees by the Union or the State government or public limited companies and voter ID cards.
• Vaccinating 100-200 people in each session per day and monitoring them for 30 minutes after administering the shots for any adverse event are among the guidelines issued by the Centre to the states for the COVID-19 inoculation drive. The COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN) system--a digitalised platform--will be used to track enlisted beneficiaries for the vaccination and anti-coronavirus vaccines on a real-time basis.
• NITI Aayog on December 14, 2020 released a white paper Vision 2035 - Public Health Surveillance in India. The white paper lays out India’s vision for public health surveillance through the integration of the three-tiered public health system into Ayushman Bharat. It also spells out the need for expanded referral networks and enhanced laboratory capacity. The white paper was released by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar, Member (Health) Dr Vinod K. Paul and CEO Amitabh Kant.
• Balram Bhargava, the Director-General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), has tested positive for COVID-19 and has been admitted to the COVID-19 centre at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
• External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar launched ‘Reporting India’ in Delhi on December 19, 2020. The book is written by ANI (Asian News International) Chairman Prem Prakash.
• The maiden District Development Council (DDC) polls in J&K concluded peacefully on December 19, 2020. These polls were held in eight phases and were the first electoral process undertaken since the abrogation of J&K’s special status in 2019. The maiden DDC polls saw elections held in 280 DDC constituencies.
• The greenfield airport being built in Uttar Pradesh’s Jewar has been named Noida International Airport. The logo of the airport shows a Sarus Crane, the state bird of Uttar Pradesh, in flight.
• Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari inaugurated and laid foundation of 33 National Highway projects in Karnataka on December 19, 2020 through virtual mode. These projects include 1197 kms long roads worth Rs 10,904 crore.
• Senior ideologue of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its former spokesperson Madhav Govind Vaidya passed away in Nagpur on December 19 at the age of 97.

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

8.1 News Round-up – Indian Society

• A report released on December 19, 2020 by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) said the population in Indian prisons reduced by 10.42% from April to June due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The report titled ‘Responding to the Pandemic: Prisons and Overcrowding’ urged the State governments and prison authorities to continue the measures to decongest prisons.
• The Indian Institute of Technology-Madras in Chennai has been hit by the coronavirus outbreak with over 100 people, a majority of them students, testing positive for the contagion. All departments and labs have been shut and as of now only about 700 students, mostly research scholars were accommodated in nine hostels.
• Any exploitation of the North Sentinel Island of the Andamans for commercial and strategic gain would spell the death knell for its occupants, the Sentinelese, a most secluded, particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG) who reside in complete isolation on the island, the Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) said. US citizen John Allen Chau was allegedly killed by the Sentinelese on the Island almost two years ago.

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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 -

• Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) facility became available for round the clock transactions with effect from Dec 14, 2020.
• India’s GPS-like navigation system NavIC gets IMO (International Maritime Organisation) recognition as a component of WWRNS (World-Wide Radio Navigation System).
• Infosys will be the Global Technology Services Partner and Digital Innovation Partner of ATP (the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuit) till 2023.
• The Indian Army gifted 20 fully trained military horses and 10 mine detection dogs to Bangladesh Army in Nov 2020.
• Turkey’s Izmir province was hit by an earthquake in October 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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