Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 06 October 2019

::NATIONAL::

Home ministry holds meeting to review border security

Union Home Minister Amit Shah today chaired a High-Level Meeting in New Delhi to review the current status of border security and measures to be taken to strengthen it further.
During the meeting, Mr Shah stressed upon Modi Government’s policy of ‘Zero Tolerance’ towards terrorism, insurgency, corruption as well as smuggling of weapons, narcotics and cattle.
He directed the senior officers to take stringent measures against these practices.The Home Minister also directed the DGs to identify all issues affecting border security and submit a detailed action plan to the Ministry in this regard.
Mr Shah stressed that it must be ensured that the best facilities for housing, health and training are available to the security personnel who are posted on the border.
The meeting was attended by Home Secretary, Secretary (Border Management), Special Secretary (Internal Security) and Directors General of Border Security Force, SashastraSeemaBal, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and Assam Rifles, along with other senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Finance minister claims demonetisation and GST encouraged digitisation

Finance Minister NirmalaSitaraman has said that demonetisation and GST encouraged digitisation that will drive the country towards the open and transparent economy.
Addressing the gathering during the National Tax Practitioners’ Day event in Dharwad today, the Finance Minister asked the tax Practitioners to create awareness among the assessees to consider tax not as a burden but as a contribution to nation-building, for reaching basic needs to the poor and fight climate change.
Digitisation of economy she pointed out has made it possible to find the money trail on one side and also helped avoid double taxation or overlapping taxations.
She called upon taxpayers to contribute to the economic freedom of our country, energise the economy by the honest declaration of income and property. She stressed that wider and deeper the tax basket, less will be the tax burden on individuals.

NITI Aayog stresses on need to develop indigenous medical devices

Member NITI Aayog, Vinod Paul has stressed the need for integrated efforts to promote innovations and development of indigenous medical devices for having a vibrant domestic medical devices industry for the society.
He assured full support of NITI Aayog to ensure that the intent of the domestic industry of providing access to the safe, effective and quality medical device to the patients are kept in all government policies.
Mr Paul was speaking at a conference on Comprehensive Regulation of Medical Devices jointly organized by Association of Indian Medical Device Industry and Biotech Consortium India Limited in New Delhi today.
The objective of the conference was to have deliberation on the need for Comprehensive Regulation of Medical Devices in India. A large number of participants from medical service-related sector attended the conference.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

India-Bangladesh expand cooperation via agreements

Prime Minister NarendraModi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina held bilateral discussions in New Delhi today and reviewed all aspects of bilateral relations and exchanged views on regional issues. India and Bangladesh exchanged seven agreements in areas including water resources, youth affairs, culture, education and coastal surveillance following the talks.
Both leaders inaugurated three projects through video conferencing including one on import of bulk LPG from Bangladesh. The other projects are the Vivekananda Bhavan at Ramakrishna Mission in Dhaka and the Bangladesh-India Professional Skill Development Institute, a facility to benefit small and medium enterprises at the Institute of Diploma Engineers.
In his statement, Mr Modi said the two sides launched a total of 12 projects in the last one year, which reflects the intensity in ties between the two sides.
Ms Hasina said ties have been on an upswing in the last few years including in areas of maritime security, civil nuclear energy and trade.
In the India-Bangladesh Joint Statement, both leaders recognised the need for increased cooperation in defence for a secure neighbourhood. They welcomed the initiatives for the development of closer Maritime Security Partnership and noted the progress made in finalization of anMoU on Establishment of Coastal Surveillance Radar System in Bangladesh.
Mr Modi appreciated the zero-tolerance policy of the Bangladesh government against terrorism and commended Ms Hasina for resolute efforts to ensure peace, security and stability in the region.

India regretted statements made by Turkey and Malaysia on Kashmir issue

India today regretted the statements made by Turkey and Malaysia on Kashmir issue saying these statements are biased, factually incorrect and unwarranted.
On Turkey raising the Kashmir issue at United Nations General Assembly, External Affairs Ministry Spokesman Raveesh Kumar asserted that Kashmir is an internal matter to India.
He called upon the Turkey Government to get a proper understanding of the situation on the ground before they make any further statements on this issue. The Spokesman was briefing media in New Delhi.
On Malaysian Prime Minister's statements on Kashmir issue, Mr Kumar said such statements are surprising and added that facts of the matter have been articulated by Prime Minister NarendraModi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on several occasions.
He said the Malaysian Government should bear in mind the friendly relations between the two countries and desist from making such remarks.
The Spokesman said, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan does not know how to conduct international relationships as he asked people to head towards Line Of Control.
He said that Pak Prime Minister's open call for Jihad against India is not normal and very serious. He said, Mr Khan had used provocative and irresponsible statement in UNGA as well.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Country’s first corporate train flags off

In Uttar Pradesh, the first corporate run train of the country, Lucknow-Delhi Tejas Express was today flagged off by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from Lucknow Junction.
AIR Lucknow correspondent reports that While flagging off the First IRCTC run Tejas express, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath requested IRCTC to run such trains on other routes like Lucknow to Varanansi and Lucknow to Agra to boost tourism.
He said that there was need of such train in which public including businessman, officers can go to delhi in morning and will be able to come back in late evening.
Apart from offering passengers a more comfortable and fastest ride experience between Lucknow and Delhi, IRCTC has introduced several firsts in terms of service standards, refund of money in case of delay, travel insurance up to 25 lakhs, full refund of wait listed tickets, tickets booking till 2 minutes before departure, tea-coffee vending machines, call bell and toilet indicator facilities in train.
Talking to AIR on board the tejas train, Chief Managing Director of IRCTC, M.P. Mall told that Tejas train is quite different from other trains in term of infrastructure and facilities.
He said that special focus is on cleanliness and apart from providing automatic dustbins, toilets of the train will be cleaned in every 15 minutes.
The Tejas train will run 6 days in a week barring Tuesday. The commercial run of the train will start from tomorrow. Passengers can get ticket till 2 minutes before departure of train through IRCTC website and app only.

::SPORTS::

South Africa beats Indian women at T20

In Women's Cricket, South Africa beat India by 105 runs in the sixth and final T20I match at the Lalabhai Contractor Stadium in Surat last night. With this win, Proteas recorded their first win on the tour of India. India won the series 3-1.
Chasing the victory target of 176 runs, India were all out for 70 runs. For India, Veda Krishnamurthy scored 26 and Arundhati Reddy made 22 runs. For South Africa, N de Klerk took 3 wickets for 18.
India and South Africa will next take on each other in a three-match ODI series, slated to begin from Wednesday.