Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 01 September 2020

::NATIONAL::

Naga groups seek review of framework agreement with centre

• The Working Committee of the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs) has sought a review of the Framework Agreement (FA) the Centre had signed with the rival Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, or NSCN (I-M), in August 2015.
• The NSCN (I-M) had in the second week of August released the FA after accusing Nagaland Governor R.N. Ravi of tweaking its content to put the Naga political issue “under the purview of the Indian Constitution.The outfit also said the agreement was based on shared sovereignty between India and the Naga domain.
• Seeking to know whose political conflict the FA was about, the NNPGs said the six decades mentioned accounted for a fraction of the conflict and was tantamount to dismissing a “people’s political journey” in an “abject manner”.
• The NNPGs also alleged that the NSCN (I-M) was seeking from the Centre the permission to make the Intangki Reserve Forest near Nagaland’s commercial hub Dimapur as their resettlement and rehabilitation area as part of the solution to the Naga peace process.
• “Any consideration of any part of the reserve forest as a bargaining chip for rehabilitation shall not be acceptable at any cost,” the NNPGs said, adding that they were on the same page as all other Naga civil society groups on this issue.

Chola era inscription unearthed from Andhra Pradesh

• A rare inscription dating back to the RenatiChola era has been unearthed in a remote village of Kadapa district that has kindled interest among the fraternity of archaeology and history.
• Found engraved on a dolomite slab and shale, which are part of a fragmentary pillar recently excavated from the fields of B. Sivanarayana Reddy, a farmer of Chinnadudyala village in Muddanurmandal, the inscription was first identified by Vasudeva Reddy, a student of M.A. History and Archaeology, Yogi Vemana University, who gave the details to his Assistant Professor Ramabrahmam Vellore.
• Going by the language and characters, the inscription was written in archaic Telugu, which was readable in 25 lines — the first side with 11 lines and the remaining on the other side. It was assigned to the 8th Century A.D., when the region was under the rule of the Chola Maharaja of Renadu.
• “The inscription seems to throw light on the record of a gift of six marttus (a measuring unit) of land gifted to a person Sidyamayu, one of the Brahmins serving the temple at Pidukula village,” Dr.Ramabrahmamtold.The last lines are indicative of the priority given to morality in those days.

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::ECONOMY::

RBI set to ease liquidity further

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday announced more measures to ease liquidity pressures amid rising yields on government securities and concerns of higher government borrowing and said that it would conduct additional, special open market operations (OMOs) as part of its efforts to ensure orderly market conditions and congenial financial conditions.
• The OMOs via auctions involving the simultaneous purchase and sale of government securities for an aggregate amount of ₹20,000 crore in two tranches of ₹10,000 croreeach, would be conducted on September 10 and September 17. “The RBI remains committed to conduct further such operations as warranted by market conditions,” the central bank said.
• The central bank’s announcement came on a day when the government announced the biggest quarterly contraction in economic output and other data showed the Centre’s fiscal deficit had exceeded 100% of its full-year budget target in the first four months of the current fiscal.
• RBI said it will conduct term repo operations for an aggregate amount of ₹1 lakh crore at floating rates (i.e., at the prevailing repo rate) in the middle of September to assuage pressures on the market on account of advance tax outflows. “Thus, the banks may reduce their interest liability by returning funds taken at the repo rate prevailing at that time (5.15%) and availing funds at the current repo rate of 4%.”
• Observing that market sentiment had recently been impacted by concerns relating to the inflation outlook, the RBI said, “there are indications that food and fuel prices are stabilising and cost push factors are moderating”. It said the recent appreciation of the rupee was also working towards containing imported inflationary pressures.

Postal department set to transport local products across the country

• Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said India Post has provided cash to the tune of 629 crore rupees at the door steps, of which  Rs 447 crore were provided to 32 lakh people through Aadhaar enabled payments system during the lockdown. 
• Mr Prasad said 60 thousand food packets were distributed by the postal department in Bihar and over one lakh in India.The Postal department have delivered 10,133 tonnes of medicines,besides ventilators and personal protective equipment kits across the country.
• Speaking at the inauguration and foundation stone laying ceremony via videoconferencing for various projects of Bihar circle yesterday, Mr.Prasad said.
• Madhubani painting is a popular art form in Bihar while people are also engaged in button making business.The postal department will promote such small products with the help of post offices.He asked the MPs,MLAs and MLCs to provide the list of popular products of their respective regions.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Indian high commission gifts books to Bangladeshi colleges and universities

• The High Commission of India on Monday gifted books on the life of Bangabandhu Sheikh MujiburRahman and the liberation war of Bangladesh to 100 universities and colleges in the country in places like Dhaka, Chattogram, Khulna, Rajshahi and Sylhet among others. According to a press release issued by the High Commission of India, the books have been written by acclaimed authors and historians.
• The High Commission organised the online book gifting session as part of MujibBarsho- the birth centenary year of Bangladesh’s founder president Sheikh MujiburRahman.
• Speaking as the keynote speaker during the online function, Deputy Minister of Education, government of Bangladesh Barrister MohibulHasanChowdhury thanked the Indian High Commission for the initiative and reiterated the extraordinary strength and warmth of India Bangladesh relations.
• High Commissioner Riva Ganguly Das described Bangabandhu Sheikh MujiburRahman as the founder of modern Bangladesh and one of the most influential and courageous leaders of the 20th century. 
• She said that Bangabandhu laid the foundation of India-Bangladesh relations. Vice Chancellors of select universities from Bangladesh participated in the programme.

Intelligence sources reveal Chinese acquisition at Ladakh

• About 1,000 square kilometres of area in Ladakh along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is now under Chinese control, intelligence inputs provided to the Centre suggest.
• China has been amassing troops and fortifying its presence along the LAC since April-May. Twenty soldiers were killed on June 15 in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh in violent clashes with China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops.
• A senior government official told The Hindu that from Depsang Plains to Chushul there had been a systematic mobilisation by the Chinese troops along the undefined LAC. The official revealed that in Depsang Plains, from patrolling point 10-13, the scale of Chinese control of India’s perception of the LAC stood at about 900 sq. km.
• About 20 sq. km in Galwan Valley and 12 sq. km in Hot Springs area is said to be under Chinese occupation, the official said. In PangongTso, the area under Chinese control is 65 sq. km, whereas in Chushul it is 20 sq. km, the official said.

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::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

DST carries out susceptibility study of landslides at Himalayas

• The scientists from the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology operating under the Department of Science and Technology carried out a study covering 84 square kilometres in the Lesser Himalayas. According to the study, 15% of the region is highly susceptible to landslides.
• Mussoorie in Uttarakhand witnessed several landslides recently. The increase in the disaster hazard has led the scientists to map the landslide susceptibility in the region. The study has found that the very high and high landslide susceptible zone lies in areas that are covered by highly fractured Krol limestone.
• The study says that the possible causative factors of the landslides are land use, road cut drainage, curvature, elevation.

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::SPORTS::

Olympic flame to be displayed at Japanese Olympic museum

• The Olympic flame is going on display here, just a short walk from the new National Stadium where it was supposed to be burning a month ago. 
• The flame arrived in Japan from Greece in March and has been largely hidden away here since the Olympics were postponed until next year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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