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Happy to bring to you DAILY DIGEST. Read, digest, click, learn, succeed :)
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PART 1 - Daily Current Affairs + MCQ quiz to solve
SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES
- 100% stack of Air India is on offer – The Union government invited bids for a 100% stake sale of Air India (AI) and transfer of management control along with its complete share in two subsidiaries — low-cost international carrier Air India Express and ground-handling arm AISATS. The government has offered to hive off liabilities worth nearly Rs. 40,000 crore to sweeten the deal. This is the second attempt in two years by the Narendra Modi-led government at privatising the national carrier. On May 31, 2018, when the deadline for bids closed, not even a single private player had shown interest.
- CAA: Proof of Religion may be needed, WB passes anti-CAA resolution –The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019 rules are expected to seek ‘proof of religion’. The draft CAA rules are likely to seek documents from applicants that they entered India before December 31, 2014, and that they belong to the six religions exempted under the Act. The Assam government had asked MHA to impose a three-month time limit to apply under the CAA and not keep it “open-ended”.The CAA has the provision to grant citizenship to members of six undocumented minority communities — Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain and Parsi from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh — who entered India before December 31, 2014.
- North-East: Assam, Bodoland issue – The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the Assam government and Bodo groups signed an agreement to redraw and rename the Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD) in Assam, currently spread over the four districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri. As per the agreement, villages dominated by Bodos that were presently outside the BTAD would be included and those with non-Bodo population would be excluded, Assam Finance Minister HimantaBiswaSarma said. Bodos living in the hills would be granted Scheduled Hill Tribe status.Several Bodo groups, led by the All Bodo Students Union (ABSU), have been demanding a separate land for the ethnic community since 1972, a movement that has claimed nearly 4,000 lives.
- Nirbhaya Case: SC to hear plea today – A three-judge Bench led by Justice R. Banumathi is scheduled to hear a plea by Nirbhaya case convict Mukesh Singh challenging the President’s rejection of his mercy petition on January 17. Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde asked Mukesh’s counsel to approach the apex court registry for urgent listing of the condemned man’s plea. Chief Justice Bobde orally observed that the plea of a man, whose execution is scheduled for February 1, ought to be given top priority. The Bench, also comprising Justices AsholBhushan and A.S. Bopanna would hear the plea. The petition filed under Article 32 of the Constitution has sought a stay of the execution of the death warrant. The Sessions Court had ordered that the death sentence be carried out on February 1.
- Corona virus outbreak: Li Keqiang visited Wuhan, Chinese tourist in Sri Lanka tests positive – Chinese Premier Li Keqiang inspected and directed efforts to control a virus outbreak in the central city of Wuhan and promised reinforcements, as provincial authorities faced accusations from the public of a failure to respond in time. Mr. Li, thanked medical workers in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province and the epicentre of the outbreak, as the death toll rose on Monday to 81.
- Trump Impeachment: – President Donald Trump denied that he told his former National Security Advisor John Bolton that military aid to Ukraine was tied to Kiev investigating his political rivals. Mr. Trump’s tweets came after The New York Times reported that Mr. Bolton alleges as much in a draft of his upcoming book.
- Epstein probe: Prince Andrew provided zero cooperation on – Britain’s Prince Andrew has provided zero cooperationto the American investigators who want to interview him about his dealings with the late millionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said prosecutors and the FBI had contacted Prince Andrew’s lawyers and asked to interview him.Prince Andrew announced last year that he was withdrawing from his royal duties amid renewed public attention to a woman’s claim that she had several sexual encounters with the Prince at Epstein’s behest, starting at the age of 17.
- 62nd Grammy Awards – Ms.Eilish, won five awards, including the four most prestigious and competitive prizes — album, record and song of the year, and best new artist. She was the first artist to sweep the top awards since Christopher Cross in 1981, besting competition from Lizzo, Lil Nas X, Ariana Grande. Bad Guy, a No. 1 hit, took record and song of the year — the latter prize recognises songwriting — while When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? won album of the year and best pop vocal album. Mr.Finneas, as he is known, also won producer of the year and an engineering award. Lil Nas X, a gleeful master of internet memes, won two for his “country-trap” hybrid Old Town Road: best pop duo/group performance and best music video.
- IndiGo’s profit rises – Low-cost carrier IndiGo reported a steep rise in profit after tax to Rs. 496 crore for the quarter ended December 2019, almost three times the profit after tax of Rs. 185.2 crore recorded in the year-earlier period. The airline’s total income surged by a robust 25.5% Rs. 10,330.2 crore in the latest December quarter from the Rs. 8,229.3 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.
- ED Traces suspicious flows in PFI accounts – The Enforcement Directorate is probing a series of financial transactions involving the Popular Front of India (PFI) as part of a widening probe into the alleged role of the controversial Islamist outfit in fanning protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. A preliminary probe by the anti-money laundering agency has established a suspicious pattern of deposits into and withdrawal of money from PFI’s accounts. The ED has claimed that Rs 1.04 crore was deposited in 10 accounts of PFI and five belonging to another entity, the Rehab India Foundation, between December 4 last year and January 6 when protests against the change in the citizenship law were most intense.
SECTION 2 - DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS
1. CONSTITUTION AND LAW (Prelims, GS Paper 2, Essay paper)
1.1 Election Commission successfully tested facial recognition technique in Telangana.
- The facial recognition application is for voter verification at polling stations using real time authentication capabilities.
- The application which useslatest technologies like artificial intelligence, big data and machine learning was uploaded in mobile phones and tested in 10 polling stations for urban local body elections in Kompally Municipality.
- An analysis of the tendered votes during the previous elections to the local bodies revealed that there was violation in voting procedure leading to conduct of re-poll in these areas. There was likelihood of more number of impersonation cases but they did not come to the notice. In view of this, it was decided to test the application on a pilot basis in some of the polling stations.
- Process: An additional polling officer will verify the ID of a voter and then take their picture and upload it to the servers of Telangana State Technology Services, using a Face Recognition app. The photograph will then be “photo matched” using a deep learning based photo comparison app. Prior to that, a voter’s Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC), along with something called an “asynchronous ID” would be uploaded to the EPIC system at each polling booth.
2. ECONOMY (Prelims, GS Paper 3, Essay paper
- Financial year 2019-20 has been one of the most challenging years for the sector due to record decline in demand, increased cost and liquidity crunch.
- Passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles reported 16% and 21% drop in sales volumes.
- Key Challenges –
- Higher upfront cost – Customers are required to pay a higher upfront insurance premium for two-wheelers and four-wheelers and hence, sales volumes have dipped in these segments.
- Shift to BS VI – The shift to BS-VI to April 2020 will be challenging for automakers as well as it will result in price increase which is likely to adversely impact demand.
- Industry Expectations –
- Reduction in GST rate applicable to automobiles to 18% from the current 28% to absorb the extra price impact of shift to BS-VI
- A cut in personal income tax rate will provide more disposable income in the hands of consumers, which could lead to automotive demand recovery.
2.2 Road transport and highways ministry launched ‘GATI’ portal to enable contractors to raise project related issues.
2.3 NIRDPR (National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj) tied up with UNICEF for communication resource unit.
3. ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY (Prelims, GS Paper 3, Essay paper)
3.1 Not Available Today.
4. FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Prelims, GS Paper 2, Essay paper)
4.2 Slovenian Prime Minister MarjanSarec resigned and called for fresh elections.
4.3 International Holocaust Remembrance Day observed on January 27.
5. GOVERNMENT SCHEMES (Prelims, GS Paper 2, GS Paper 3)
5.1 Shiv BhojanThali Scheme
6. MISCELLANEOUS (Prelims, Various GS Papers)
6.1 Defence– Awards and Honours–Army Gallantry Awards 2020
- MahaVikas Aghadi government of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress in Maharashtra launched 'Shiv BhojanThali' scheme
- Meal will be provided to the poor for just Rs 10.
- The scheme will be run as a pilot project for three months. The state government to incur an expenditure of Rs. 6.4 crore for the pilot project.
- The scheme was one of the poll promise made by Shiv Sena.
- In the past, similar canteens have been started in Tamil Nadu (in 2013) – Amma Unavagam and Karnataka (in 2017) – Indira Canteen.
6. MISCELLANEOUS (Prelims, Various GS Papers)
- Shaurya Chakra – To six persons. Lt Col. Jyoti Lama, Major Konjengbam Bijendra Singh, Naib Subedar Narender Singh, Naib Subedar Sombir (posthumous), Naik Naresh Kuma, and Sepoy Karmdeo Oraon.
- Sena Medals – To 151 persons. Including 10 ParamVishisht Seva Medal, 32 Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and 8 Yudh Seva Medal (YSM).
- Police Awards –To 1040 police personnel. President’s Police Medal for Gallantry (PPMG) to 4 persons. Police Medal for Gallantry (PMG) to 286 persons.
- President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service to 93 persons and Police Medal for Meritorious Service to 657 persons.
- Jeevan Raksha Padak Awards – To 54 persons. Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak to 7, Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak to 8 and Jeevan Raksha Padak to 39 persons.
6.2 Sports –Rowing Federation of India (RFI) de-recognised by the Sports Ministry for violating the Sports Code during polls in Dec 2019.
6.3 Arts –Latest edition of Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary features 26 new Indian English words, including Aadhaar, chawl, dabba, hartal and shaadi.
6.3 Arts –Latest edition of Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary features 26 new Indian English words, including Aadhaar, chawl, dabba, hartal and shaadi.
7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)
- Himachal Pradesh celebrated its 50th statehood day on January 25.
- It was on this day in 1971 when Himachal Pradesh was carved out as the 18th State of the country.
- In last 46 years, the state has not only emerged as fastest developing economy of the country but has also become the hub of pharmaceutical industries.
- Himachal Pradesh was established in 1948 as a Chief Commissioner's Province within the Union of India.The province comprised the hill districts around Shimla and southern hill areas of the former Punjab region. Himachal became a part C state on 26 January 1950 with the implementation of the Constitution of India.
- Himachal Pradesh became a Union Territory on 1 November 1956. On 18 December 1970 the State of Himachal Pradesh Act was passed by Parliament and the new state came into being on 25 January 1971.
- In earlier times, the area was variously divided among smaller kingdoms, such as those of Chamba, Bilaspur, Bhagal and Dhami.
- After the Gurkha War of 1815–1816, it became part of the British India.
8. SOCIAL ISSUES (Prelims, GS Paper 1, GS Paper 2)
8.1 Padma (Vibhushan, Bhushan and Shri) Awards, 2020
- 141 recipients of the 2020 Padma awards announced by the government.
- The Seven winners of Padma Vibhushan - George Fernandes (posthumous), Arun Jaitley (posthumous), ex-PM of Mauritius Anerood Jugnauth, boxer M. C. Mary Kom, Hindustani classical singer Chhannulal Mishra, SushmaSwaraj (posthumous), Sri VishveshateerthaSwamiji Sri Pejavara Adhokhaja Matha Udupi (posthumous).
- The 16 winners of Padma Bhushan -P. V. Sindhu (Badminton), Venu Srinivasan (Industry), Anand Mahindra (Industry), Former Nagaland Chief Minister S. C. Jamir, Balkrishna Doshi (Architect), Ajoy Chakrabarty (Hindustani classical vocalist), former Bangladeshi diplomat Syed Muazzem Ali (posthumous), former Goa CM Manohar Parrikar (Posthumous), legal education pioneer N. R. Madhava Menon (posthumous), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig.
- The 118 winners of Padma Shri include film producers Karan Johar and Ekta Kapoor, actress Kangana Ranaut, singers Suresh Wadkar and Adnan Sami, former cricketer Zaheer Khan, Rani Rampal (Hockey), former hockey player M. P. Ganesh, shooter Jitu Rai, boxer Bembem Oinam and archer Tarundeep Rai.
- 34 women awardees received the honour.
- Saluting the 21 unsung heroes – Padma awards were bestowed on Mohd. Sharif, who performed the last rites of over 25,000 uncliamed bodies and Usha Chaumar, who began as a manual scavenger at the age of 7 and now heads Sulabh International as its president.
- The Padma Vibhushan is the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, second only to the Bharat Ratna. It was instituted in 1954. Upto Jan 2020, the award has been bestowed on 314 individuals.
- The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India. It was instituted in 1954. As of 2019, the award has been bestowed on 1254 individuals.
- Padma Shri Award was also instituted in 1954.
9. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (Prelims, GS Paper 3)
- Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras have developed a novel device that can be used to generate hydrogen fuel from seawater
- The advance that may contribute to a cleaner energy future.
- Using the technology, hydrogen can be produced on-demand at the point of use, and hence it need not to be stored.
- This overcomes the storage-related challenges associated with hydrogen as its highly inflammable and may cause an explosion.
- Research was published in journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering.
- Hydrogen can be a good source of energy for the future. Combustion of hydrogen does not produce carbon dioxide, unlike fossil fuels, making it a clean source of energy.
- Sea-water covers two-third of the surface of the earth.
- Commercial method required 1000°C temperature and 25 bar pressure.
10. FACTS, CHARTS, RANKINGS and EDITORIALS (Prelims + GS Mains)
- India fourth best market after US, China and Germany for global companies looking for growth abroad.
Download pdf of the report from here –
10.2 Daily dose of FIVE Facts -
- Mohammad Imran is the present High Commissioner of Bangladeshto India.
- Dr. Cyrus Poonawalla is the CMD of Serum Institute of India.
- Lee CheukYiu won the Men’s Singles title at the Hong Kong Open Badminton in Nov 2019.
- Indian Navy in Nov 2019 successfully test-fired the 290-km strike range Brahmos supersonic cruise missile.
- Taro Konois the Defence Minister of Japan.
- We offer you 7 excellent editorials from across 10 newspapers we have scanned.
All credit for this compilation goes to: www.pteducation.com
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