Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 06 September 2020

::NATIONAL::

SC orders removal of slum clusters near railway lines in Delhi

The Supreme Court has ordered the removal of about 48,000 slum clusters located within safety zones along railway tracks in Delhi within three months.The move could plunge nearly 230,000 poor residents into even deeper poverty.
"No interference, political or otherwise, should be there and no court shall grant any stay with respect to removal of the encroachments," the judges said in this week's order, which did not mention any plans for rehousing residents.
The court also direct stakeholders to prepare a comprehensive plan for removal of slum clusters. The plan is to be made and executed in a phased manner.
The pandemic and strict months-long lockdown have left millions of people jobless in the world's second most-populous country, exacerbating the poor's access to food, healthcare and housing.
Railways shall bear 70% of the expenses and the rest will be given by the Delhi government, the court directed.The court has sought an action-taken report to be filed within a month.

IMD claims August 2020 rainfalls were the wettest in 120years

According to a report by PTI, the country received 27 percent more rainfall than normal in August, the fourth highest amount in the last 120 years, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
The overall rainfall recorded in India from June 1 to August 31 was 10 per cent more than normal, the IMD said on Monday. The official rainfall season in the country is from June 1 to September 30.
This is also one of the rainiest months of August recorded. The August of 1926 saw 33 per cent more rainfall than normal, the highest precipitation recorded so far in the month; 1976 recorded 28.4 per cent more rainfall than normal, while the August of 1973 recorded 27.8 percent than normal. This year saw 27 per cent rainfall.

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::ECONOMY::

RBI revises audit norms for banks

The RBI on Saturday came up with revised long format audit report (LFAR) norms with a view to improving the efficacy of internal audit and risk management systems.
The LFAR, which applies to statutory central auditors (SCA) and branch auditors of banks, has been updated keeping in view the large scale changes in the size, complexities, business model and risks in banking operations, the RBI said.The revised LFAR format will be put into operation for the period covering 2020-21 and onwards, the central bank said.
While issuing the revised norms, the RBI asked the banks to ensure timely receipt of the LFAR from auditors.The RBI further said that the LFAR should be placed before the Audit Committee of Board and Local Advisory Board of the bank indicating the action taken or proposed to be taken for rectification of the irregularities.
Under the new norms, the banks would be required to send a copy the LFAR and the relative agenda note, together with the Board’s views or directions, to the Reserve Bank within 60 days of submission of the LFAR by the statutory auditors.
The RBI said the coverage in the LFAR should be ‘credit risk areas’, ‘market risk areas’, assurance functions and operational risk areas’, ‘capital adequacy’ and ‘going concern and liquidity risk assessment’, among others.

Finance ministry claims India’s investor reforms would be taken care seriously by foreign investors

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Saturday said India’s commitment to reform was being taken seriously by foreign investors, which was evident from the good inflow of FDI even during the time of COVID-19.
“India’s commitment to reform is taken seriously by investors abroad and they take India to be a very desirable destination, otherwise we wouldn’t be seeing good amount of FDI coming even during the pandemic time when India, as many of our critics would say, had the strictest lockdown,” Ms.Sitharaman said.
Releasing the State rankings based on the implementation of State Business Reform Action Plan 2019, Ms.Sitharaman said Aatmanirbhar Bharat would help India build on its strengths and become self-reliant.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

India- Maldives cooperate on building security infrastructure

India is not just assisting its Southern neighbour Maldives with development projects but also providing support for its security related infrastructure.The Maldives Police Service(MPS) executed the project through a cash grant assistance of MVR 8 million from India.
This project is part of the 29 grant projects covering different facets of Maldives-India cooperation that are being implemented across the Atolls with a total Indian grant assistance of about MVR 200 million i.e $ 12.6 million.
India is associated with the Development of Phase II of the Dh. Vaanee Police Training Center, which will focus on providingspecialized operational training to Maldivian police personnel, according to an official statement.
This project complements India’s largest grant project in the Maldives under a grant assistance of $ 30 million – the Institute of Security and Law-Enforcement Studies (ISLES) in Addu ,which will serve as a general Training Center for the Maldives Police personnel.
India-Maldives traditionally share close linkages in the field of police training and capacity building. Our cooperation has continued regardless of the challenges posed by the global Covid pandemic.
“This project is yet another shining example of thenature of the development partnership between India and the Maldives, which is transparent, participative and tailored to the requirements of the implementing agency on the Maldivian side,” according to an official statement.
Japan to provide subsidy to companies shifting from China to India
The Japanese government has said that it will provide subsidies to Japanese companies that shift their manufacturing setup from China to India, Bangladesh and ASEAN Countries.
This comes as the world's supply chain was disrupted after the outbreak of COVID-19 which originated in China. The countries have now started mulling on options to either exit from China or at least reduce their dependence on it with respect to trade or other procurements.
Japan too aims to decentralise its supply chain by reducing its dependence on a particular country for medical and well as electronic components supply. The Japanese government has allocated 23.5 billion yen in the 2020 supplemental budget for the subsidy to encourage companies to disperse their manufacturing sites across the ASEAN region.

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::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Study finds inhalation of polluted air causing brain damage

New research on mice shows that continually inhaling dirty air could be bad not just for the lungs but could also damage the brain tissue. In the study, led by Richard N. Zare of Stanford University, eight male mice were exposed to polluted air, and eight controls were exposed to filtered air.
Afterwards, on examining the brain tissues of the 16 mice, the researchers found that the mice that inhaled dirty air had developed amyloid deposits, neurofibrillary tangles and plaques, while those that had inhaled filtered air showed no such developments.
“The exposure system we used in this study could filter the ambient PM2.5. The composition of filtered air is similar with the outdoor air from which PM2.5 has been filtered,” says Dr Zhao, who is an author of the study, said. “However, the system cannot completely filter the PM2.5, so a little PM2.5 still exists in the filtered air.”
The brains of mice exposed to dirty air showed tangles and plaques as well as neurofibrillary inflammations. “In addition, we made a chemical analysis, and we found upregulation (concentration increase) in ceramide and sulfatides,” Prof. Zare explained.

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::SPORTS::

English star Ian bell retires from all forms of cricket

Stylish England batsman Ian Bell on Saturday announced he will retire from all forms of cricket at the end of the 2020 domestic season. The five-time Ashes winner has spent his entire career with Warwickshire.
Bell has scored 7727 runs, including 22 hundreds, at an average of 42.69 in 118 Test matches while in the ODIs, he has 5,416 runs in 161 matches.

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