DAILY DIGEST for 01-02-2020 - USEFUL FOR ALL COMPETITIVE EXAMS

Namaste dear student

Happy to bring to you DAILY DIGEST. Read, digest, click, learn, succeed :)

PARTS -

(1) Daily Current Affairs + MCQ quiz to solve,

(2) TAP preparation videos playlists,

(3) VARTALAP Forum for answer-writing,

(4) CA with PT - 365 content

(5) Courses and solutions for you.

* * * * *

PART 1 - Daily Current Affairs + MCQ quiz to solve

SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Economic Survey for Year 2019-20 released: estimates GDP growth rate between 6 to 6.5% for 2020-21 – The Economic Survey for 2019-20 expects GDP growth to revive from the 5% estimated for this year to a range between 6%-6.5% next year (2020-21). The Survey hints at going easy on fiscal deficit targets to shore up growth and makes a valiant attempt to evangelise wealth creation by entrepreneurs, instead of demonising them.It also calls for unravelling multiple regulations stifling Indian industry’s global competitiveness and urges policy makers to stop being “judgemental” about importing inputs, assembling them and re-exporting them, even if it means little value-added at home.
2. Jamia Milia Juvenile firing case – The young man who fired at a Jamia Millia Islamia student during a protest march against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act was sent to 28-day protective custody in a correction home by the Juvenile Justice Board a day later. Purportedly 17 years old, a bone ossification test would be conducted to ascertain if he is indeed a little over two months of being an adult. Police said they have approached Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital to form a board of doctors for the test.
3. Nirbhaya Case: Execution postponed – The execution of the death sentence awarded to all four convicts in the December 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case was postponed for the second time. Additional sessions judge Dharmender Rana directed that the execution be postponed till further orders after considering the pleas by three convicts — Pawan Gupta, 23, Akshay Kumar, 31, and Vinay Sharma, 24. On January 7, the court had ordered the execution of the death sentence on January 22. This was postponed to February 1.
4. Apex court needs explanation from UP government over arbitrary action – The Supreme Court asked the Uttar Pradesh government to explain its notices to certain persons to cough up money for destruction of public property during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in December last year. A Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud issued formal notice to the State government on a petition filed by Uttar Pradesh resident Parwaiz Arif Titu, who said the notices for payment of damages were “arbitrarily” sent to people. They include a person, Bannu Khan, who died six years ago at the age of 94, to two others, Fasahat Mir Khan and Sufi Ansar Hussain, both in their 90s and bedridden.
5. Coronavirus update: Evacuation of Indians from China begins –India started evacuation of its people from Wuhan (China) with a special Air India double decker Boeing 747 aircraft. The evacuation started even as World Health Organisation (WHO) declared novel coronavirus a global health emergency. The 423-seater flight is expected to return to Delhi from Wuhan (China) at 2 a.m. on Feb 1 and another special flight may depart from T3, Delhi on Feb 1. The death toll due to coronavirus rose to 213, with 1,982 new cases pushing up the coronavirus-stricken figure to 9,692.
6. Trump impeachment: Trump likely to get free from charges –With a key Senator declaring that he would vote against new witnesses in the impeachment trial of U.S. President Donald Trump, the President is likely to be acquitted before the close of Friday’s Senate session. GOP Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee said Mr. Trump’s relationship with Ukraine were inappropriate but not grounds for his removal.Mr. Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives in December for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. A House Democrat-led inquiry had concluded that Mr. Trump withheld aid for Ukraine to put pressure on the government to launch investigations into former Vice-President Joseph Biden, and his son, Hunter.
7. West Asia Peace Plan: Reactions–Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blasted several Arab countries for backing a West Asia peace plan unveiled by the United States, condemning it as treason. Mr. Erdogan, a strong advocate of Palestinian rights, singled out Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman. U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday unveiled the details of the long-awaited plan aimed at resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ambassadors of Oman, the UAE and Bahrain were at the White House event in Washington. The three countries do not recognise Israel as a legitimate state.
8. Abidali Neemuchwala quits Wipro – Abidali Neemuchwala is exiting as CEO and MD of Wipro after a turbulent period during which the company saw its business growth slide and stock value move at a slow pace compared to those of its peers in the Indian tech services market. Wipro repeatedly under-performed and fell behind its rivals — Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Also, it lost its third position now and then to a highly aggressive HCL Technologies during Mr. Neemuchwala’s tenure, according to market watchers.
9. Arvind Krishna appointed as next CEO of IBM – Indian-origin technology executive Arvind Krishna has been elected chief executive officer of American IT giant IBM, succeeding Virginia Rometty, who described him as ‘the right CEO for the next era at IBM and well-positioned’ to lead the company into the cloud and cognitive era. The IBM board of directors elected Mr. Krishna as company CEO and member of the board effective April 6. Mr. Krishna is currently IBM senior VP for Cloud and Cognitive Software and will succeed Ms. Rometty, 62 who will retire after almost 40 years with the company at the end of the year. Mr. Krishna, 57, had joined IBM in 1990 and has an undergraduate degree from IIT-Kanpur, and a Ph.D in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
10. 1Brexit is done, 1317 days after referendum – Britain will officially depart from the European Union 1,317 days after voting in favour of leaving the bloc in a referendum that plunged the country into a three-year-long debate. In a pre-recorded address to the nation that will be broadcast on social media and TV an hour before Britain leaves the EU, PM Boris Johnson said Brexit was a historic opportunity to unleash the country’s full potential. “Our job as the government — my job — is to bring this country together and take us forward. This is the dawn of a new era in which we no longer accept that your life chances should depend on which part of the country you grow up in. This is the moment when we begin to unite and level up.”

SECTION 2 - DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

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

1.1 PEN Gauri Lankesh Award for democratic idealism 2019-20

• The 2019-20 recipient of the PEN Gauri Lankesh Award for Democratic Idealism is Srinagar journalist Yusuf Jameel.
• PEN originally stood for "Poets, Essayists, Novelists", but now stands for "Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists, Novelists", and includes writers of any form of literature, such as journalists and historians.
• The announcement comes on January 29, the journalists’s birth anniversary.
• The award was instituted by PEN South India and PEN Delhi to remember the Gauri Lankesh (in photo) who was assassinated in 2017.  
• It is given annually to a select individual or organisation whose “work reflects an abiding passion and courage towards advancing democratic culture in India,” the organisers wrote in a statement.
• Jameel was chosen by a jury of scholar Chandan Gowda, editor Vinutha Mallya and poet Asiya Zahoor. The jury is established afresh each year.
• Jameel is the 1996 winner of the International Press Freedom Award. A veteran in both print and radio journalism and one who is as adept in English language reporting as he is in Urdu.
• Starting his career as a journalist with Aftab, the Srinagar-based Urdu daily, in the early 1980s, he has worked for various newspapers and media agencies since, including The Telegraph, BBC, Reuters, Time, Voice of America and The Asian Age.
• Through the period of rising insurgency in the Kashmir Valley in the eighties and the nineties, Jameel’s reporting has remained fearless. There were few beats that Jameel did not cover. His reports ranged from waterlogging and drainage issues to national security plans and NIA raids.
• Jameel will receive Rs one lakh and a citation from the organisers.
• In 2018 (the first), award was given to cartoonist P. Mahamud.

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

2.1 FICCI Economic Outlook Survey, 2020

• Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
• The annual median GDP growth forecast for 2019-20 at 5.0%.
•  The median growth forecast for agriculture and allied activities has been put at 2.6% for 2019-20.
• The industry and services sector are expected to grow by 3.5% and 7.2% respectively during the current year.
• Growth is likely to improve to 5.5% in 2020-21 as per the projections.
• A median forecast of 4.7% for GDP growth has been pegged at for the third quarter of 2019-20.
• The survey was conducted during the months of December and January 2019-20 amongst economists belonging to the industry, banking and financial services sector.
• Merchandise exports are expected to decline by 2.1%, while imports are expected to decline by 5.5%.
• Median current account deficit forecast was pegged at 1.4% of GDP for 2019-20. 
• Moderation in global growth forecast, escalating geo-political tensions, and uncertainty around trade deal between US-China and BREXIT outcome still form major risk factors to India's growth in 2020. 
• The current slowdown in India, although more prolonged than what was anticipated, has nearly bottomed out and will follow a U-shaped recovery.
• Consumption demand as a major impediment to India's growth, economists cautioned against any changes in the GST rates to improve revenue collections as it would prove to be counterproductive. 
• More measures must also be taken to formalize the informal sector by mandating e-payments. Aggressive disinvestments and monetization of government assets (real estate, telecom spectrum).
• Expectations from the Union Budget 2020-21 - The fiscal deficit target be relaxed as supporting economic growth was increasingly becoming more important. Stimulus must be directed towards boosting the rural economy where the propensity to spend was higher than their urban counterparts. Larger allocations to schemes such as MGNREGA, PM-KISAN and direct income transfers must be undertaken to alleviate the prolonged distress in rural sector.
• Measures to enhance manufacturing and export competitiveness must be announced on priority. 
• Focusing on efficiency of government expenditure was of importance.
• Need for enhanced tax benefits and incentives for home buyers which could provide the much-needed boost to the real estate sector.

2.2 According to World Gold Council gold demand of India fell 9% to 690.4 tonnes in 2019.

2.3 Department of Telecom took over process to issue and manage International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) from private body Mobile Standard Alliance of India (MSAI).

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

3.1 Railways minister announced that the fleet would be a net-zero carbon emitter by 2030

• Context: Railways minister of India Piyush Goyal announced at the India-Brazil Business Leaders Forum in New Delhi that the fleet would be a net-zero carbon emitter by 2030. This would be achieved through 100 per cent electrification by 2024.
• Indian Railways (IR) became one of the world’s largest organizations to set a net-zero targets.
• This represents an enhancement of previous climate ambition of Indian Railway.
• Reducing the emission intensity of its operations by 33 per cent over 2005 levels by 2030.
• Railways account for 1.2 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions from transport, which itself accounted for 24 per cent of all emissions globally.
• Railways facilitated 7 per cent of all motorised passenger movements and 8 per cent of freight movement.
• Roads account for 59 per cent of India’s freight traffic compared to 35 per cent on the railways.
• The transport sector accounted for 13 per cent of India’s energy related emissions of which over 90 per cent was from road transport (compared to the railways’ 3 per cent).

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

4.1 Guyana takes over chairmanship of the Group of 77 for 2020

• The Group of 77 (G77) at the United Nations is a coalition of 135 developing nations, designed to promote its members' collective economic interests. There were 77 founding members of the organization, but by November 2019 the organization had since expanded to 135 member countries (including China). It was founded in 1964. India is the part of G77.
• Guyana officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana,is a country on the northern mainland of South America. It is the only English speaking country in South America, and is culturally considered part of the Anglophone-Caribbean sphere.
•  Guyana -President: David A. Granger; Prime Minister:Moses V. Nagamootoo; Capital:Georgetown;
• Currency: Guyanese dollar (GYD); Guyana is bordered by: The Atlantic Ocean to the north, Brazil to the south and southwest, Venezuela to the west, Suriname to the east.
• Guyana assumed the chairmanship of the Group from the State of Palestine.   

5. GOVERNMENT SCHEMES (Prelims, GS Paper 2, GS Paper 3)

5.1 Not Available Today

6. MISCELLANEOUS (Prelims, Various GS Papers)

6.1    Sports –Weekly Round up

• Badminton – Indonesia Masters 2020 tournament - Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand won women’s singles and Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia won men’s singles titles
• Basketball – Obituary – 

1. 41-year old American basketball legend Kobe Bryant among nine people killed in a helicopter crash in United States of America.
2. Former India basketball captain Matthew Satya Babu passed away in Chennai at 79.

• Billiards – Senior National Billiards Championship 2020 - Pankaj Advani won. Championship held in Pune.

• Boxing –

1. 9th Nation’s cup Women’s Boxing Tournament– India won 6 medals. Four Silver and Two Bronze. Silvers were won by M. Meena Kumari (54 kg), Monika (48 kg), Ritu Grewal (51 kg) and Bhagyabati Kachari (75 kg). Bronzes were won by Pavitra (60 kg) and Pwilao Basumatary (64 kg). Tournament held in Sombor, Serbia.
2. Strandja Cup Boxing Tournament – India won three medals. One Silver and two Bronze. Silver was won by Mohammed Hussamuddin (men’s 57kg). Bronzes were won by Sonia Lather (women’s 57kg) and Shiva Thapa (men’s 63kg). Tournament held in Sofia, Bulgaria.
3. Strandzha is a mountain massif in southeastern Bulgaria and the European part of Turkey
4. The Strandzha Cup is an international amateur boxing tournament held annually in Bulgaria. It often determines who will qualify to compete at the upcoming summer Olympic games. The Strandja Cup is the oldest international amateur boxing competition in Europe. The first tournament was held in 1950 in Sofia.

• Chess –

1. Russian Grand Master Pavel Ponkratov wins Chennai Open international Grand Master chess tournament
2. Fabiano Caruana of United States won Tata Steel Masters chess tournament at Wijk Aan Zee, the Netherlands

• Football –

1. Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid in Jeddah to won Spanish Super Cup football title.
2. Christine Sinclair of Canada became all-time leading scorer in international football with 185 goals.
3. Ngangom Bala Devi (in photo) became first Indian woman to earn a professional football contract abroad after signing for Scottish club Rangers FC.

• Lawn Tennis – Anil Khanna nominated as Life President of Asian Tennis Federation. 
• Squash – Fares Dessouky of Egypt beats Saurav Ghosal of India in final to won Pittsburgh Open squash tournament 
•  Shooting – Meyton Cup tournament in Innsbruck, Austria - Indian shooters Divyansh Singh Pawar (men's 10m air rifle) and Apurvi Chandela (women's 10m air rifle) won gold medals.
• Table Tennis – National Table Tennis Championships, Hyderabad - Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) won men’s title. Railways won women’s title.
• Events-Competitions –Bhubaneswar to host first edition of Khelo India University Games from Feb 22 to March 1.

7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

7.1 Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) MLA from Agar Malwa assembly constituency of Madhya Pradesh, Manohar Untwal, passed awayin Gurugram at the age of 54.

• MLA: Member of Legislative Assembly
• Untwal, who started his career as a corporator had scaled his way up the party ranks and became an MP in 2014. Prior to this, he was an MLA on four occasions. 

7.2 The 72nd death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi observed as Martyr’s Day on January 30

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

8.1    Ram Van Gaman Path

• The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to constitute a trust for the development of infrastructure along 'Ram Van Gaman Path', the route believed to be taken by Lord Ram headed for his exile in forest.
• The project will be implemented by the Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corporation.
• Construction will begin after completing survey work of the first phase, which includes a 30-km route in Amarkantak and another one in Chitrakoot.
• A provision of Rs 22 crore has been made for road infrastructure, beautification, plantation and other works along 'Ram Van Gaman Path'
• The Madhya Pradesh government had earlier announced the construction of a Sita temple in Sri Lanka. 

8.2 Access to casinos for the locals in Goa will be banned from February 1 – Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.

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

9.1    ISRO to send lady robot 'Vyommitra' in unmanned Gaganyaan

• Before orbiting astronauts on India's first manned mission to space in December 2021, ISRO will send 'Vyommitra', a 'lady robot' in the unmanned Gaganyaan spacecraft.
• Vyommitra is a combination of two Sanskrit words Vyoma (Space) and Mitra (Friend).
• The robot was the centre of attraction at the inaugural session of the "Human Spaceflight and Exploration - Present Challenges and Future Trends" in Bengaluru in January 2020.
• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and the Astronautical Society of India (ASI) organised the first IAA-ISRO-ASI Symposium on Human Spaceflight Programme in Bengaluru in January 2020.

10. FACTS, CHARTS, RANKINGS and EDITORIALS (Prelims + GS Mains)

10.1  Ranking – Positive Impact Rating (PIR), 2020

• The ranking was released at recently held meeting of World Economic Forum in Davos.
• Two educational institutes from India – IIM, Bangalore and XLRI, Jamshedpur -ranked among top 30 global B-Schools.
• IIM – Indian Institute of Management; XLRI - Xavier School of Management (formerly Xavier Labor Relations Institute)
  
  Download pdf of the report from here –
   
   https://4d7bfdf5-e48e-44f8-9aae-099e82448ba1.filesusr.com/ugd/d46c06_d0fdc1dc16224eb796692ad49b40d791.pdf

10.2 Daily dose of FIVE Facts -

1. Swedish PEN’s Tucholsky Prize was awarded to detained Chinese-Swedish book publisher Gui Minhai in Nov 2019. (PEN: Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists, Novelists)
2. Vashishtha Narayan Singh passed away in Patna at the age of 74 in Nov2019. He was well-known Mathematician.
3. The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) launched Operation Clean Artto curb trade in paint brushes made from the hair of Mongoose.
4. ‘Do not be greedy for Anyone’s wealth’ is the motto of Lokpal announced in Nov2019.
5. Satoshi Suzuki was appointed as the new Ambassador ofJapan to India recently.

10.3 Today’s best editorials to read 

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