DAILY DIGEST for 07-02-2020 - USEFUL FOR ALL COMPETITIVE EXAMS - Gk Adda

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Monday, February 17, 2020

DAILY DIGEST for 07-02-2020 - USEFUL FOR ALL COMPETITIVE EXAMS

PART 1 - Daily Current Affairs + MCQ quiz to solve
 
SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES
    1. Omar, Mehbooba booked under Public Safety Act – The Jammu and Kashmir administration slapped the stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) against former Chief Ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah. A National Conference leader also confirmed that Mr. Abdullah was formally served the PSA order. By virtue of these PSA notices, the detention of PDP leader Ms. Mufti and NC leader Mr. Abdullah is extended by three months, and could be extended further, first up to six months and then one year without trial.
    2. Delhi Assembly poll campaign concludes – A election campaign that kicked off with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asking voters for a second term based on his government’s performance ended with him calling BJP leaders “fake Hindus” for running an “abusive” campaign. The tenor of the campaign changed drastically in the past two weeks with political parties warring over who can be called a true patriot. The BJP deployed U.P. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union Minister Anurag Thakur and West Delhi MP Parvesh Sahib Singh among others to assist Home Minister Amit Shah, who was leading the party’s campaign in the absence of a chief ministerial face.
    3. Coronavirus outbreak - updates – In a major breakthrough for global preclinical response to the novel coronavirus (nCoV) outbreak, a team led by an overseas citizen of India has grown the first batch of the virus outside China in sufficient stocks to cater to forthcoming studies in the high security lab of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia. While researchers at Australia’s Doherty Institute had last week managed to isolate the virus from a human sample, the growth of the virus at CSIRO assumes importance given that it has the mega scale needed to conduct preclinical studies.
    4. Monetary Policy Review – Loans for housing, auto and small businesses are likely to get cheaper even without the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy committee reducing interest rates. RBI governor Shaktikanta Das took some unconventional steps to bring down borrowing costs. In his last monetary policy for the current fiscal, Das said RBI would provide cheap long-term financing to banks for up to Rs 1 lakh crore through long-term (one-year to three-year) repos. He also said cash reserve requirements would be waived on deposits that are used to provide retail loans between January 21, 2020 and July 31, 2020. This will make housing, auto and SME loans cheaper as 4% of deposits impounded in cash reserves will be freed.
    5. OIC foreign ministers’ meeting – SA reluctant – Saudi Arabia is reluctant to accept Pakistan’s request to immediately convene a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) on Kashmir, a Pakistani daily newspaper, Dawn, reported. Amid Islamabad’s growing unease over failing to garner support for OIC’s CFM meeting, Pakistan PM Imran Khan had voiced frustration over the silence of the 57-member bloc of Muslim countries on Kashmir while speaking at a think tank during his recent visit to Malaysia.Pakistan has been pushing for an OIC foreign ministers’ meeting since India revoked the special status of Kashmir in August last year.
    6. Right to internet not fundamental, says govt – Union law and communication minister Ravi Shankar Prasad justified snapping of internet services for maintaining law and order and national security while saying that the right to internet is not fundamental. The minister said the right to expression is subject to reasonable restrictions as provided in the Constitution.Responding to a question on if internet is a fundamental right based on a recent Supreme Court observation, Prasad said there is a misconception that needs to be cleared. He said that the decision to stop internet services is taken by local authorities considering the law and order situation.
    7. Malala shooter claims to have escaped Pak prison – Ehsanullah Ehsan, the former Pakistan Taliban spokesman who was responsible for the shooting of Malala Yousafzai in 2012 and carrying out the deadly Peshawar Army school terror attack in 2014, has escaped from prison, according to a audio clip released by him. In the audio clip, which surfaced on social media, Ehsan said that he escaped the confinement of Pakistani security agencies on January 11, claiming Pakistani forces failed to keep their promises made to him.
    8. Nepal Census Will Add 3rd Gender – Nepal will count a third gender in its next population census, for the first time counting LGBT people as a minority group that can be allocated government jobs and education. The LGBT community in the Himalayan nation has long demanded the census taken every 10 years count sexual minorities. Nepal's laws prescribe special quotas for minorities in workplaces, schools and colleges, and access to discounted healthcare, but LGBT people say the absence of census data omits them from such programs.
    9. NIRMA and Emami Cement merger – Nuvoco Vistas Corporation Limited (Nuvoco), part of the Ahmedabad-based Nirma Group, has signed a binding agreement with the Emami Group to buy 100% equity stake in Emami Cement Limited (ECL) for an enterprise value of Rs. 5,500 crore. Emami Cement Ltd. operates one integrated cement plant in Risda, Chhattisgarh and grinding units in Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha with a total installed capacity of 8.3 million tonnes per annum. The company has mining leases in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. With this acquisition and ongoing expansion, Nuvoco will become one of the leading cement players in the country and specifically in the East.
    10. Kirk Douglas passed away– Kirk Douglas, one of the last surviving movie stars from Hollywood’s golden age, whose rugged good looks and muscular intensity made him a commanding presence in celebrated films like “Lust for Life”, “Spartacus” and “Paths of Glory”, died at his home in Beverly Hills, California. He was 103. In the 1950s and 1960s, Douglas was as big a star as there was — a member of a pantheon of leading men, among them Burt Lancaster, Gregory Peck, Steve McQueen and Paul Newman.
     
    SECTION 2 - DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

    1. CONSTITUTION AND LAW (Prelims, GS Paper 2, Essay paper)
     
    1.1 The second National Judicial Pay Commission submitted its report
      • It recommended hike In pay, pension and allowances of Judicial Officers across the country.
      • The Commission was constituted by the Supreme Court as per its orders in the All India Judges Association case.
      • Justice P. V. Reddi, former Judge of the Supreme Court is the Chairman, R. Basant, Senior Advocate and former Judge of Kerala High Court is the Member and Vinay Kumar Gupta, District Judge of Delhi Higher Judicial Service is the Member-Secretary of the Commission.
      • Some of the salient features of the recommendations are –  
      1. As per the revised pay structure evolved by the Commission, the Junior Civil Judge/First Class Magistrate whose staring pay is Rs.27,700/- will now get Rs.77,840/-.
      2. The next higher post of Senior Civil Judge starts with the pay of Rs.1,11,000/- and that of the District Judge Rs.1,44,840/-.
      3. The highest pay which a District Judge (STS) will get, is Rs.2,24,100/-.
      4. Pension at 50% of last drawn pay worked out on the basis of proposed revised pay scales is recommended. The family pension will be 30% of the last drawn pay. Additional quantum of pension to commence on completing the age of 75 years (instead of 80 years) and percentages at various stages thereafter are increased.
      5. The existing allowances have been suitably increased and certain new features have been added.
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            2. ECONOMY (Prelims, GS Paper 3, Essay paper
             
            2.1 Sixth bi-monthly Monetary Policy Review of 2019-20
            • Reserve Bank of India (RBI) opted for a status quo on benchmark interest rate (Repo Rate). But it unleashed a string of other growth-oriented measures found missing from the Union Budget 2020-21.
            • Policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 5.15%.
            • The reverse repo rate under the LAF remains unchanged at 4.90%.
            • Marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate unchanged at 5.40%.
            • Accommodative stance to revive growth maintained; inflation to remain elevated in short-run.
            • GDP growth for 2020-21 fiscal pegged at 6%.
            • Retail inflation projection revised upwards to 6.5% for Jan-March quarter.
            • Pricing of loans by banks for the medium enterprises to be linked to an external benchmark effective April 1.
            • Time for restructuring of GST-registered MSME loans extended till December 2020, from March 2020 at present.
            • Rs. 1 lakh crore of LTRO started – Long Term Repo Operations – to pump durable liquidity into the system.
            • Banks given exemption from CRR of 4% for new loans to some sectors till July 2020. 
              2.2 Third PRIVATE TRAIN of the IRCTC to run between Indore and Varanasi as Humsafar Express.

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              3. ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY (Prelims, GS Paper 3, Essay paper)
               
              3.1 World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS), 2020
              • WSDS, the annual flagship event of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), was organised in New Delhi on January 29-31, 2020.
              • Theme - ‘Towards 2030: Making the Decade Count’.  
              • Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar felicitated Jeffrey Sachs, University Professor and Director, Center for Sustainable Development, Columbia University, with the Sustainable Development Leadership Award 2020for championing the cause of sustainable development.
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                    4. FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Prelims, GS Paper 2, Essay paper)
                     
                    4.1 Palestine announces cutting of ties with Israel and the US
                    • Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced in Feb2020 a cut of all ties with Israel and the United States, including security cooperation, after Washington unveiled a controversial Middle East plan seen as favouring Israel.
                    • At a meeting of Arab Foreign Ministers in Cairo, Abbas reiterated his complete rejection of Trump’s peace plan, which calls for creating a demilitarised Palestinian state with borders drawn to meet Israeli security needs.
                    • The Trump plan also gives Israel the green light to annex the strategic Jordan Valley - constituting some 30 percent of the West Bank - and all Israeli settlements, which number more than 200.
                    4.2 India, France discuss co-production of films, set up joint working group
                    1. India and France in Jan2020 discussed ways and means to co-produce films and collaborate on audio visual exchanges.
                    2. The two countries also agreed to set up a joint working group towards implementation of these objectives after wide-ranging discussions between Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar and French Culture Minister Franck Riester in New Delhi. 
                    4.3 India, Maldives sign five MoUs for establishing Addu Tourism zone

                    1. India and Maldives in Feb2020 signed five MoUs for establishing the Addu Tourism zone in five islands of Addu atoll at a cost of 2.49 million dollars.
                    2. The MOUs were signed between the High Commissioner of India Sunjay Sudhir, Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid and Addu City Council.
                    3. A 6th MoU to set up a bottled water plant was also signed.
                    4. All six projects are grant projects falling under India’s High Impact Community Development Scheme (HICDP).
                    5. These projects are driven by the needs of communities on the islands.

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

                    5.1 Employment mobile app ‘Rozgar Sangi’
                    • Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel launched the Employment Mobile App named ‘Rozgar Sangi’ developed by Chhattisgarh State Skill Development Authority in Raipur.
                    • The app will connect employment providing institutions and skilled trained youth.
                     
                    6. MISCELLANEOUS (Prelims, Various GS Papers)
                     
                    6.1  Sports–Weekly Roundup
                    • Archery - Arjun Munda became President of suspended Archery Association of India (AAI). The elections for the position were held as per the Delhi High Court order. 
                    • Badminton - Indonesia Masters 2020 –
                    1. Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand won the women’s singles title by defeating Carolina Marin of Spain in the final in Jakarta in Jan 2020.
                    2. Men’s singles title was won by Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting who defeated Denmark’s Anders Antonsen.
                    3. Men's doubles title was won by Indonesia’s Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo.
                    4. Women's doubles title was won by Indonesia’s Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu.
                    5. Mixed doubles title was won by China’s Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong.
                    • Chess – 
                    1. Abhijeet Gupta won Delhi Open International Grand Masters Chess Championship. Gupta finished with 8.5 points followed by Aleksej Aleksandrov (8) of Belarus and Pavel Ponkratov (8) of Russia. 
                    2. P.T. Ummer Koya, the former FIDE vice-president, passed away in Kozhikode in Jan2020 at the age of 69. Koya also served as the secretary of the All India Chess Federation.
                    • Cricket – India won 3-match ODI series against Australia 2-1.
                    • Hockey– Sports Authority of India, Hockey India launch High Performance Centres in 7 places across the country.
                    • Lawn Tennis
                    1. Australian Open tennis: Sofia Kenin (US) won women’s singles title; Barbora Krejcíková (Czech Republic) and Nikola Mektic (Croatia) won mixed doubles title. Serbia’s Novak Djokovic won men’s singles title; Rajeev Ram (US) and Joe Salisbury (UK) win men’s doubles.
                    2. India’s Sania Mirza and Nadia Kichenok of Ukraine won the women’s doubles title at Hobart International tennis tournament by defeating Zhang Shuai and Peng Shuai of China.
                    3. Australia’s Ashleigh Barty won women’s singles title at the ATP-WTA Adelaide International tennis by defeating Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska.
                    4. India’s Ankita Raina won singles title in $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Thailand.
                    5. Rohit Rajpal to continue as India's Davis Cup captain.
                    • Marathon– Anjali Saraogi (3:24.02) won women’s race the IDBI Federal Life Insurance Kolkata marathon. Men’s race won by Awadh Narayan Yadav (2:30:30).
                    • Table Tennis– 81st National Table Tennis Championships in Hyderabad. PSPB’s Harmeet Desai (men’s), Haryana's Sutirtha Mukherjee (women’s) won singles titles
                    • Wrestling–
                    1. India returned with 7 medals from the Rome Ranking Series wrestling tournament organised in January 2020. Bajrang Punia won the gold medal in men’s 65kg freestyle category. Ravi Kumar Dahiya won gold in men’s 61kg freestyle category. Gurpreet Singh won gold in men’s 82kg Greco-roman, Sunil Kumar won silver in men’s 97kg Greco-roman and Sajan Bhanwal won bronze in men’s 77kg Greco-roman. On January 17, Vinesh Phogat won gold medal in women’s 53 kg freestyle category. Anshu Malik won silver in women’s 57kg freestyle category. 
                    2. Rocky Johnson, former WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) wrestler, passed away at the age of 75 in Los Angeles in January 2020. His real name was Wayde Bowles.
                    • 36th National Games  – Flame-throated bulbul 'Rubigula' unveiled as mascot for 36th National Games in Goa in October 2020. It is also the state bird of Goa.
                    • Appointments -Indian Olympic Association invites BCCI President Sourav Ganguly to became the Goodwill Ambassador of the Indian contingent at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
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                    7. POLITY (Prelims, GS Paper 2)
                     
                    7.1 ‘Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra' trust set up 
                     
                    • Ram Mandir Trust will be completely free to take decisions on the construction of Lord Rama's temple in Ayodhya.
                    • There will be 15 trustees in Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. One trustee will always be from Dalit society.
                    • 67.703 acres of land will be transferred to the trust.
                    • Trust Members - K. Parasaran (92) has been appointed the chairman of the trust. He will now oversee the construction of a temple at Ayodhya. ThePrint has learnt. Other names of members of the trust are - Jagadguru Shankaracharya, Jyotish Peethadhishwar Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati ji Maharaj (Allahabad), Jagadguru Madhvacharya Swami Vishwaprasanna Tirtha ji Maharaj (from Pejawar Math in Udupi), Yugpurush Parmanand ji Maharaj (Haridwar), Swami Govinddev Giri Pratham Mohanraj (Pune) Vimlendra Mohan Pratap Mishra (Ayodhya).
                    • About K. Parasaran - He was the lead counsel for the Hindu parties in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case.An erudite Hindu scholar, Parasaran was referred to as the 'Pitamaha' of the India Bar by Supreme Court judge and former chief justice of Madras High Court Sanjay Kishan Kaul. He is awarded with Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan and also nominated to the Upper House.
                    • Supreme Court’s historic decision - The Supreme Court delivered the historic verdict on November 9, 2019. The bench had declared the ownership of the entire land to Ram Lala while giving the decision of the land related to the Ram temple dispute. On the other hand, the court had directed that 5 acres of land be provided to Sunni Waqf Board at another place for construction of a Masjid. 
                    7.2 Congress MLA and former Assam Assembly speaker Pranab Gogoi passed away in Guwahati at the age of 84.

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                    8. SOCIAL ISSUES (Prelims, GS Paper 1, GS Paper 2)
                     
                    8.1 Composite Regional Center for Persons with Disabilities
                    • Union Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot inaugurated the Composite Regional Center (CRC) for Skill Development, Rehabilitation and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities in Port Blair in Jan2020.
                    8.2 A. M. Sapre appointed as chairman of committee on road safety

                    •  The Supreme Court has decided to appoint one of its retired judges, Justice A. M. Sapre, as the chairman of its committee on road safety after the panel’s current head - former apex court judge Justice K. S. P. Radhakrishnan - expressed difficulty in continuing in that position.
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                    9. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (Prelims, GS Paper 3)
                     
                    9.1 Christina Koch returns to Earth
                    • Christina Koch of NASA returned to Earth after 328 days aboard the International Space Station.
                    • She had broken record for longest spaceflight of 289 days by a female held by another NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson.
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                    10. FACTS, CHARTS, RANKINGS and EDITORIALS (Prelims + GS Mains)
                     
                    10.1  Ranking – Global Go To Think Tank Index Report   
                    • India’s Observer Research Foundation (ORF) has jumped more than 90 places to 27th position among 176 global think tanks.
                    • The 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report has been compiled by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP) of the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania (US).
                    • The list was topped by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace of US, followed by Belgium’s Bruegel and French Institute of International Relations (IFRI). UK’s Chatham House was ranked 6th on the list.
                    • Other Indian think tanks in list include, Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) at 41st rank, while Indian Council for Research on International Economic Research (ICRIER) was at 110 position, Centre for Civil Society (CCS) at 83rd and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) at 111th. Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) was ranked at 149th place, according to the report.
                    • The report defined ‘think tanks” as public-policy research analysis and engagement organisations that generate policy-oriented research, analysis, and advice on domestic and international issues, thereby enabling policymakers and the public to make informed decisions about public policy.
                    • India has the second-largest number of think tanks at 509.
                    • The US has the highest number at 1,871.

                      Download pdf of the report from here –

                       

                    10.2 Daily dose of FIVE Facts -
                    1. The India-Sri Lanka organised Mitra Shaktimilitary exercise in December 2019.
                    2. In Nov 2019, PSLV-C47 of India successfully launched Cartosat-3 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota.
                    3. Tata Motors has announced the launch of SUV Gravitas.
                    4. The Armed Forces Flag Day is observed in India on December 7 every year.
                    5. Pune hosted the All India Conference of Director Generals /Inspector Generals of Police-2019.
                      10.3 Today’s best editorials to read 
                      • We offer you 7 excellent editorials from across 10 newspapers we have scanned.

                      Source: PTeducation.com

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