Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 04 May 2020

::NATIONAL::

Central health team to monitor districts with high COVID cases

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in India crossed 40,000 on Sunday, making it one among 16 countries that have crossed that figure. With 83 more deaths since Saturday, a single-day high, the death toll nationwide has gone up to 1,306.
India currently has 28,070 active cases and 10,886 patients have recovered, according to the latest numbers available on the Health Ministry website. Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi led with the maximum number of cases.
These teams, comprising experts from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), AIIMS, JIPMER and the All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health among others, will submit reports to the State health authorities with recommendations.
In terms of total cases, three other countries are comparable to India — the Netherlands, Peru and Belgium, with confirmed infections from 40,000-49,900.
India is one of 11 countries that have tested over one million samples, with the latest Health Ministry update reporting 74,000 tests a day. However, at just 758 tests per million of population, India ranks among countries that have tested the lowest fraction of their population.
In an interview to the Press Trust of India, NITI Aayog Member, V.K. Paul said extending India’s lockdown was part of a plan to curb infection transmission.

Folk artists releases paintings to spread awareness against COVID

India's prominent folk artists have released a series of paintings to spread the message of social distancing and hygiene to prevent the spreading of coronavirus.
Working during the lockdown, which has now lasted more than a month, a group of folk artists and craftspeople across India have produced these illustrations and paintings in traditional styles.
LailaTyabji, chairperson of Dastkar, India's prominent society for crafts and craftspeople, told that though many fear the impact of Covid-19 may be the end of craftspeople, it is their creativity and resilience that could save them.

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::ECONOMY::.

RBI assures full repayment to CKP cooperative bank depositors

Reserve Bank of India has said that over 99 per cent of CKP Co-Op Bank's 1.32 lakh depositors will get full money through Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC).
RBI's chief general manager in the Department of Communication, YogeshDayal, said that the CKP co operative bank had been under all inclusive directions that had restricted its activities since 2014 itself, and the decision to cancel the license was taken as there was no scope for its revival.
In its order cancelling the license of CKP Bank, the RBI said the cooperative bank is not satisfying the stipulated minimum regulatory capital requirement of 9 per cent and the financial position of the bank is highly adverse and unsustainable.
The Registrar of Co-operative Societies, Pune has been asked to issue an order for winding up the affairs of the CKP Co-operative Bank and appoint a liquidator for the bank, as per the RBI notification on Saturday.
The RBI action on the bank had come over seven months after it placed the city-based Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank under directions in September last year due to financial mismanagement by officials.
PMC was one of the largest banks in the space, and the directions, which include capping of deposit withdrawals, had led to protests by the depositors.
The RBI has said that on liquidation, every depositor is entitled to repayment of his/her deposits up to a monetary ceiling of 5 lakh rupees from the DICGC as per usual terms and conditions.

Commerce ministry to identify sectors to establish India as a manufacturing hub

The commerce and industry ministry is working to identify certain key sectors -- like capital goods, leather and chemicals -- with a view to establish India as manufacturing hub, according to sources.
Several meetings have taken place with stakeholders, including industry chambers, to identify those sectors which have the potential to become global winners and make India a strong manufacturing hub, the sources said.
Commerce and Industry Minister PiyushGoyal has recently stated that in the post-COVID era, there is going to a be perceptible change in the global supply-chains, and Indian industrialists and exporters should be looking to capture significant share in the world trade.
Promoting manufacturing will help in creating more jobs and pushing India's dwindling exports.Manufacturing sector contributes about 15 per cent in the country's economy and the government is aiming to increase it significantly.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

World press freedom day celebrated across the globe

World Press Freedom Day was being celebrated across the globe yesterday. As the entire world is going through COVID-19 pandemic, this year the theme of the day is "Journalism without Fear or Favour."
In his message, UN Secretary-General AntónioGuterres said that as the COVID-19 pandemic is spreading, it has also given rise to a second pandemic of misinformation, from harmful health advice to wild conspiracy theories.
He focussed on the importance of the press in this situation saying that the press provides the antidote: verified, scientific, fact-based news and analysis.
World Press Freedom Day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in December 1993, following the recommendation of UNESCO's General Conference.
Since then, 3 May, the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek is celebrated worldwide as the World Press Freedom Day to pay gratitude to those journalists who lost their lives in order to bring us honest and real news.

India asks Pakistan to vacate all areas under illegal occupation

India has protested against efforts to bring material change in Pakistan occupied territories and asked the neighbouring country to vacate them.
External Affairs Ministry said that India demarched senior Pakistan diplomat and lodged a strong protest against Supreme Court of Pakistan order on the so-called "Gilgit-Baltistan”.
It was clearly conveyed that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including the areas of Gilgit and Baltistan, are an integral part of India by virtue of its fully legal and irrevocable accession.
Pakistan government or its judiciary has no locus standi on territories illegally and forcibly occupied by it.
India has completely rejected such actions and continued attempts to bring material changes in Pakistan occupied areas of Jammu and Kashmir.It has asked Pakistan to immediately vacate all areas under its illegal occupation.
It was further conveyed that such actions can neither hide the illegal occupation of parts of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh by Pakistan nor the grave human rights violations, exploitation and denial of freedom to the people residing in Pakistan occupied territories for the past seven decades.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Scientists develop new code to study earth’s magnetosphere

The Indian Scientists at the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism has developed fluid simulation code to study electric field structure in the magnetosphere of the earth.
The study will help to plan the future space missions. The study will also lead to control fusion experiments to fulfill ever-expanding energy demands of humanity.
The scientists have developed one-dimensional fluid simulation code. The study helps to see the electric field in isolated pulses.
The sun is the major source that deposits plasma around the earth. It forces its plasma towards the earth through its solar wind. This creates interplanetary magnetic field that is carried by the solar magnetic field.
The interaction of the earth’s magnetic field and the interplanetary magnetic field creates magnetosphere of the earth.
The magnetosphere of the earth has several numbers of satellites revolving. When the satellites leave the observational domain of one satellite and enter into the other, a blind arena is created.

::SPORTS::

PrithviSai named ISRL-2 champion

The practice arena turned into a battlefield for the new generation of India’s racers in the lockdown time. Cooped up inside homes and missing out on valuable wheel time, racers from 14 cities took part in the country’s most popular online competition — the Indian Sim Racing League (ISRL), in association with Volkswagen Motorsport.
And Chennai’s SaiPrithvi made the best use of it to tally a maximum of 252 points over the five rounds to emerge Season Two’s undisputed champion.He enjoyed four victories which was sufficient enough to give him the crown and testing in a Volkswagen Motorsport race car.

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