Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 05 February 2017

:: National ::

Controversial travel ban suspended by US

• U.S. authorities suspended President Donald Trump’s controversial ban on travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries, following a court ruling that blocked its enforcement.

• “We have reversed the provisional revocation of visas,” a U.S. State Department spokesman told AFP.

• The department had said some 60,000 travel visas had been revoked in compliance with the President’s recent executive order.

• Those individuals with visas that were not physically cancelled may now travel if the visa is otherwise valid.

Assembly polls in Punjab and Goa saw a big turnout

• Despite overcast and cold conditions, the Assembly polls in Punjab saw a voter turnout of 78.62%.

• Voter turnout was 78.62% with Mansa district witnessing the highest polling at 87.34%, while the least polling was seen at 71.9% in SAS Nagar (Mohali). The State recorded 78.57% polling in 2012.

• Reports suggested that EVMs with voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) developed technical snags at few polling booths in Majitha and Sangrur. These were later replaced with regular EVMs.

• VVPAT was being used for the first time and hence at a few places we did face problems due to which polling was hindered for a while. These machines were replaced,” said Chief Electoral Officer.

Samples from the oil spill analysed by the Central Pollution Control Board (Register and Login to read Full News)

:: International ::

Sanctions over notorious Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar lifted by UN

• The UN Security Council has lifted sanctions on the notorious Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, previously branded “a global terrorist” and accused of war crimes.

• The move follows a peace deal between Hekmatyar’s insurgent group Hezb-i-Islami and the Afghan government in September that granted him legal immunity from past offences, sparking outrage from rights groups.

• Although Hekmatyar is accused of killing thousands in Kabul during the 1992-1996 civil war, many foreign governments, including the U.S., praised the landmark accord as a step towards peace in Afghanistan.

• A statement on the UNSC’s website said an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo targeting Hekmatyar no longer applied.

• It theoretically opens the way for Hekmatyar’s return to Kabul after two decades of exile in Iran and then in Pakistan.

Iran remain defaint of USA sanctions (Register and Login to read Full News)

:: Science and Technology ::

Anticancer agent promotes regeneration of damaged heart muscle

• In a new development, researchers have found out that a cancer drug could promote regeneration of heart tissue.

• An anticancer agent in development promotes regeneration of damaged heart muscle. This is an unexpected research finding that may help prevent congestive heart failure in the future.

• Many parts of the body, such as blood cells and the lining of the gut, continuously renew themselves throughout a person’s life.

• Others, such as the heart, do not. Because of the heart’s inability to repair itself, damage caused by a heart attack causes permanent scarring that frequently results in serious weakening of the heart, known as heart failure.

• These molecules are crucial for tissue regeneration, but also frequently contribute to cancer.

• Essential to the production of Wnt proteins in humans is the porcupine (Porcn) enzyme, so-named because fruit fly embryos lacking this gene resemble a porcupine. In testing the porcupine inhibitor, the researchers noted a curiosity.

• Based on their initial results, the researchers induced heart attacks in mice and then treated them with a porcupine inhibitor. Their hearts’ ability to pump blood improved by nearly twofold compared to untreated animals.

:: Business and Economy ::

The increased focus on human capital development in Budget 2017

• The increased focus on human capital development in Budget 2017 to empower the youth is indeed a welcome step.

• The several key announcements in education, skills and youth development shall have structural and long term impact on quality of education, availability of qualified manpower and preparing the next generation.

• All aspects of human capital development have been addressed in the Budget. The provision to introduce measurement of annual learning outcome in schools of 3,479 educationally backward blocks could be a game changer in improving the quality of elementary education.

• To ingrain the element of innovation at the school level, an innovation fund is to be created for secondary education for ideation on solutions for universal access, gender parity and quality improvement.

• The quality of higher education is sought to be improved through greater autonomy for colleges based on quality metrics and accreditation.

• These efforts will be further amplified by online courses through the SWAYAM platform which will offer at least 350 online courses.

• In medical education and healthcare, the Budget has made provisions for increasing 5000 PG seats to tide over the severe lack of specialists in clinical practice.

• It has also proposed to allow select private hospitals to offer DNB courses in specializations and has added to the provision of public sector tertiary care through 2 additional AIIMS in Gujarat and Jharkhand.

• Budget has emphasised on reforming the UGC and has proposed a new authority for conducting all entrance exams, thereby freeing the CBSE and ICSE from the tedious administrative exercise.

• The skills ecosystem will be improved by extending the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras to more than 600 districts.

• Separately, 100 India International Skills Centres are proposed across the country to make life easier for outbound immigrants looking for soft skills and foreign language proficiency.

• The next phase for Skill India is envisaged as Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement (STRIVE) to be launched with an additional budget of INR 2,200 crore.

• STRIVE will focus on improving the quality and market relevance of vocational training provided in ITIs and strengthen the apprenticeship programmes through industry cluster approach.

• India was ranked 130th among 188 countries in the 2015 edition of the UNDP HDI Index which broadly measures life expectancy, education and per capita income.

• This was despite the fact that real per capita GDP has grown 6.2% during 1990-2014; improving the education and health standards are therefore imperative for raising living standards of the population.

• This holds true for an evolving world driven by new age technologies, automation and digitisation.

• The announcements in the Budget aim at creating an enabling ecosystem for financing social sector and channelising private sector capital towards actualising the much needed change in India’s socio-economic development.

WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo’s to visit India (Register and Login to read Full News)

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