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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 04 March 2020

::NATIONAL::

The Central government is working on the establishment of an exclusive body to implement projects for linking rivers.
To be called the National Interlinking of Rivers Authority (NIRA), the proposed body is expected to take up both inter-State and intra-State projects. It will also make arrangements for generating funds, internally and externally.
The proposal for an apex body on river linking has been under discussion for the past 18 months. However, the official said that as of now, no specific timeline has been determined for the constitution of the Authority. Also, the earlier idea of framing a Bill, envisaging the creation of the NIRA, is not being pursued now.
The subject of establishment of the Authority was discussed at the last meeting of the Special Committee on Inter-Linking of Rivers (ILR) last week in New Delhi. Headed by Union Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the panel includes Irrigation or Water Resources Ministers and Secretaries of States. Since its formation, the Committee has held 17 meetings.
It is being assisted by a Task Force for ILR, which is a committee of experts essentially drawn from the Jal Shakti Ministry, Central Water Commission and the NWDA.
A Tamil Nadu government official said the Centre has not yet shared with States details regarding the new body though it has conveyed to them that it is planning to have an implementation agency for ILR projects.

India restricted the export of common medicines such as paracetamol and 25 other pharmaceutical ingredients.................

Automated teller machines (ATMs), mostly in rural areas, are being recalibrated to replace the cassettes for Rs.2,000 bank notes with either those for Rs.500 or Rs.200.
This is because in such areas the demand for Rs.2,000 bank note is not high while lower denomination notes are more sought after.There are a total 2.1 lakh bank-deployed ATMs in the country apart from about 30,000 white label ATMs.
According to Mr. Dastur, in the urban and metro locations, ATMs typically carry Rs.2,000 notes. Bank branches in the urban areas also prefer putting Rs.2,000 notes in their ATMs.
The Rs.2,000 notes came into calculation after the demonetisation exercise of 2016 when Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 currency notes were withdrawn from the system.
According to RBI data, 3,291 million pieces of Rs.2,000 notes were in circulation as at March 2019, which was roughly the same figure for the previous two years.A recent report by RBI has showed that the country continues to have a strong bias for cash payments.
Cash withdrawals from ATMs have increased over the past five years and India is next only to China in terms of cash withdrawals from ATMs. However, the percentage of cash withdrawals to GDP has been constant in India at about 17%.

The Finance Ministry’s move to cut down the budgetary allocation for the Tourism Ministry in the upcoming financial year will ‘seriously jeopardise’ the targeted tourism outcomes during 2020-21, a Parliamentary panel has said in its report.
In the Union Budget 2020-21, the Tourism Ministry has witnessed a ................

In an unprecedented and rare move, the Geneva-based Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has announced that it plans to file an application in the Supreme Court, asking to be impleaded in petitions challenging the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
Responding to the announcement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the United Nations body had no right to file a petition that will ask the court to appoint the Commissioner for Human Rights as an assistant or amicus curiae in the case.
The OHCHR plan has been criticised by diplomatic and legal experts here, including one of the 22 petitioners in the case, as an “overreach”.
Last week, Ms. Bachelet informed the Human Rights Council that the UN body had “great concerns over the CAA”. She had also met with MEA Secretary (West) Vikas Swarup, who had travelled to Geneva to represent India at the 43rd session of the Human Rights Council last Thursday.
MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said on Tuesday, “The Citizenship (Amendment) Act is an internal matter of India and concerns the sovereign right of the Indian Parliament to make laws. We strongly believe that no foreign party has any locus standi on issues pertaining to India’s sovereignty.”
“We are confident that our sound and legally sustainable position would be vindicated by the Honourable Supreme Court,” he added.

World Bank has unveiled a 12 billion dollar aid package that will provide fast-track funds to help countries combat the coronavirus outbreak.
World Bank President David............................

Black carbon concentrations near the Gangotri glacier rose 400 times in summer due to forest fires and stubble burning from agricultural waste, and triggered glacial melt, says a study by scientists at the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG).
The team of scientists from WIHG, led by P.S. Negi, measured ................

Young Indian shuttlers Tasnim Mir and Mansi Singh won a bronze medal each in the girls' singles Badminton event at the Yonex Dutch Junior International 2020 in Haarlem, Netherlands. It was the first time India won.........................