Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 07 July 2020

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 7 July 2020

National Security Advisory AjitDoval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi discussed border issues in a telephone conversation last Sunday. The two Special Representatives of India and China on the Boundary Question had a frank and in-depth exchange of views on the recent developments in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas.
The External Affairs Ministry said that the two Special Representatives agreed that both the sides should take guidance from the consensus of the leaders that maintenance of peace and tranquility in the India-China border areas was essential for the further development of bilateral relations. They also said that the two sides should not allow differences to become disputes.
Therefore, they agreed that it was necessary to ensure at the earliest complete disengagement of the troops along the LAC and de-escalation from India-China border areas for full restoration of peace and tranquility.

At least 1.4 lakh poor rural households have already completed their quota of 100 days of work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the first three months of the year, and will not be eligible for further benefits under the scheme for the rest of the year.
Another seven lakh households have completed 80 days and are on the verge of running out of work as well, according to the scheme’s database.
With COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown resulting in thousands of unemployed migrant workers returning to their villages and now dependent on MGNREGA wages, activists are urging the government to increase the limit to at least 200 days per household.
The MGNREGA scheme contains a provision for districts affected by drought or other natural disasters to request an expansion of the scheme to allow for 150 days of work per household. Given that COVID-19 was declared a national disaster, activists have demanded that this provision be implemented immediately.

The Government and the World Bank today signed a 750 million US dollar agreement for the MSME Emergency Response Programme.
It aims at supporting increased flow of finance into the hands of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) which are severely impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.
The World Bank’s MSME Emergency Response Programme will address the immediate liquidity and credit needs of some 1.5 million viable MSMEs to help them withstand the impact of the current shock and protect millions of jobs.
Ministry of Finance in a statement said this is the first step among a broader set of reforms that are needed to propel the MSME sector over time.
The agreement was signed by Additional Secretary in the Finance Ministry Sameer Kumar Khare on behalf of the Government and Country Director Junaid Ahmad, on behalf of the World Bank.

The Centre is reviewing about 50 investment proposals involving Chinese companies under a new screening policy, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Under new rules announced in April, all investments by entities based in neighbouring countries need to be approved by the Government, whether for new or additional funding. China is the biggest of these investors and the rules drew criticism from Chinese investors and Beijing, which called the policy discriminatory.
The new investment rules were aimed at curbing opportunistic takeovers during the COVID-19 outbreak. However, industry executives says a deterioration in bilateral relations since a border clash last month, in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed, could further delay approvals.

Britain on Monday announced economic sanctions against individuals and organisations from Russia, Saudi Arabia, Myanmar and North Korea under new U.K. powers to punish human-rights offenders. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the sanctions targeted those behind “some of the notorious human rights violations in recent years.”
They include senior Saudi intelligence officials accused of involvement in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and Russian authorities implicated in the death of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who died in a Moscow prison after exposing a tax fraud scheme involving Russian officials.
North Korean organisations — the Ministry of State Security Bureau and the Ministry of People’s Security Correctional Bureau — were sanctioned for running prison camps in the authoritarian state.

Taiwan would welcome a visit by exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, its Foreign Ministry said on Monday, a trip that would infuriate Beijing which views him as a dangerous separatist.
The Dalai Lama has not visited the Chinese-claimed, democratic island under the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen, who first took office in 2016. He last came in 2009.
In a birthday message via video link to supporters in Taiwan on Sunday, the Dalai Lama said he would like to visit again. “As the political scenario changes, it may be that I’ll be able to visit you in Taiwan again. I hope so. Whatever happens I’ll remain with you in spirit,” he said on his website.

Lepidopterists in Arunachal Pradesh have helped add two species to India’s expanding list of butterflies.
One of them, the Striped Hairstreak, was first recorded by Japanese entomologists in Hainan province of China. The other, Elusive Prince, has a Vietnamese connection and was thought to be the more familiar Black Prince found in the Eastern Himalayas.
“Our team has added the two butterfly species, which has been published in the April-June edition of the Bionotes journal. India now has 1,327 species, up from 1,318 in 2015,” said MinomPertin, deputy director of the Society for Education and Environmental Development (SEED) from Miao in Changlang district.
The Striped Hairstreak (Yamamotozephyruskwangtugenesis) was located in Vijaynagar bordering Myanmar while the Elusive Prince was found in Miao on the periphery of the Namdapha National Park.

The Indian Super League on Monday approved the 3+1 foreign player regulation, bringing it down from the existing five to boost “increased participation” of local players.
The regulation will become part of the competition guidelines from the eighth season in 2021-22.The decision was taken during a Football Sports Development Ltd. (FSDL) meeting and is being communicated to the stakeholders, including clubs and the All India Football Federation (AIFF).
Meanwhile, the seventh edition is set to be held behind closed doors from November to March and it is likely to be restricted to two states with Goa and Kerala emerging as frontrunners.
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