Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 09 August 2020

::NATIONAL::

PM launches 1 lakh crore agri infrastructure fund under PM KISAN scheme

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched a financing facility of one lakh crore rupees under the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund for agri-entrepreneurs, startups, agri-tech players and farmer groups for post-harvest management and nurturing farm assets.
Today, only 30 days after the Cabinet formally approved the scheme, the first sanction of over 1000 Crore rupees was made to over 2,280 farmer societies. The event was conducted through a video conference and was attended by lakhs of farmers. Mr Modi also released the sixth installment of 17,100 crore rupees to more than 8.55 crore farmer beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Modi reiterated that India has a huge opportunity to invest in post-harvest management solutions like warehousing, cold chain, and food processing, and build a global presence in areas such as organic and fortified foods.
He also mentioned that this scheme provides a good opportunity for start-ups in agriculture to avail the benefits and scale their operations, thereby creating an ecosystem that reaches farmers in every corner of the country.
The Prime Minister expressed his satisfaction with the pace of implementation of the PM-KISAN scheme. He also noted that the scale of the program is so large that the funds released today have reached more people than the entire population of several countries taken together.
He also congratulated state governments for playing an important role in the implementation of the schemes and assisting farmers through the entire process from registration all the way to disbursals.

Former Jammu & Kashmir LG takes charge as new CAG

Former Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) Lieutenant-Governor (L-G), Girish Chandra Murmu on Saturday took charge as the new Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).Mr. Murmu was sworn in by President Ram Nath Kovind, the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a communiqué.
The ceremony, held in the Ashoka Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, among others.

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::ECONOMY::

Former NITI Aayog vice chairman moots stimulus on demand side

As India’s economic growth begins to pick up, the country is going to need perhaps ‘a little bit of stimulus’ on the demand side, noted economist and former Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya said on Saturday.Mr. Panagariya also said that he was more worried about the general trend of rising import tariffs in India.
“Down the road, as the economy is continuing to open up, if we see that inventories are accumulating rapidly then that would be a clear sign that there is a demand deficiency problem. At that point, I think stimulus would be very useful,” he said at CII’s India@75 virtual event.
Mr. Panagariya pointed out that even with the current level of intervention, India was staring at debt-to-GDP ratio rising from 72% to about 85% at least by the end of the current year.“And we are going to need perhaps a little bit of stimulus on the demand side as the economy begins to pick up,” the eminent economist said.
Mr. Panagariya, a professor of economics at Columbia University, said the economy was in stress even before COVID-19 hit it. India’s economy grew at 4.2% in 2019-20.

Centre releases fund for farm mechanisation

The Centre has released ₹553 crore to States under a scheme to promote mechanisation in the agriculture sector.The Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation (SMAM) was introduced in April 2014 with an aim to have inclusive growth of farm mechanisation to boost productivity.
“In the year 2020-21, budget of ₹1,033 crore has been provided for the scheme, out of which ₹553 crore has been released to state governments,” an official statement said.
Agricultural mechanisation helps in increasing production through timely farm operations and cut in operations by ensuring better management of inputs.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Bangladesh to construct war memorial for 1971 Indian soldiers

Bangladesh will construct a memorial for the Indian soldiers martyred during the country’s liberation war in 1971. The memorial will be constructed coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Bangladesh, said the Minister of Liberation War Affairs of Bangladesh AKM Muzammel Haq.
According to a press release issued by the govt of Bangladesh on Friday, Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Muzammel Haq recalled the support of the government and people of India during the Bangladesh liberation war against Pakistan in 1971.
High Commissioner of India in Bangladesh Riva Ganguly Das had called on the minister for Liberation War Affairs and discussed issues of mutual interest and the upcoming 50 year anniversary of Liberation War on Thursday.
High Commissioner Riva Ganguly Das said some people are spreading misleading information about the relations between India and Bangladesh but the relations between the two countries were time tested.
She said the two countries are working as development partners and a lot of work has been done in the last few years to resolve several long standing issues like land-border issue among others.

WHO scientist warns against vaccine nationalism

With over 200 COVID-19 vaccine candidates in development and 27 of them on clinical trials across the world, Chief Scientist at the World Health Organisation (WHO) Soumya Swaminathan raised the need to have a multilateral or global approach to vaccine deployment and distribution, rather than a more nationalistic approach.
Dr. Swaminathan was delivering the Lawrence Dana Pinkham Memorial Lecture on “COVID-19 pandemic: What we know and the role of the media” — the commencement lecture for Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) class of 2020-2021 on Saturday.
However, she said it was a difficult issue because most political leaders would first think about protecting their own people.
Referring to the WHO’s Solidarity Trial in which 25 countries were participating and over 6,500 patients were recruited, she said this was something that they wanted to promote for vaccines as well.

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::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Solar physicists measure sun’s coronal magnetic field

The Sun is our closest star and we have been studying it for a long time. Yet, it has many associated puzzles that are unexplained. A significant advance has been made by an international team of solar physicists led by those from Peking University, China, and National Center for Atmospheric Research of the U.S.
The group has measured the global magnetic field of the sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere, for the very first time. This research has been published in the journal Science.
There are two main puzzles about the Sun which this advancement will help address. First is the coronal heating problem. Though the core of the Sun is at a temperature of about 15 million degrees, its outer layer, the photosphere is a mere 5700 degrees hot.
The team used a technique known as coronal seismology or magnetoseismology to measure the coronal magnetic field which has been known for a few decades. This method requires the measurement of the properties of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves and the density of the corona simultaneously.

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::SPORTS::

England wins first test against Pakistan

A magnificent partnership between Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes propelled England to an unlikely three-wicket win over Pakistan in a topsy-turvy first Test at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Woakes joined Buttler at the crease with England having slumped to 117 for five and seemingly sliding to defeat in its pursuit of a daunting 277 on a bowler-friendly pitch.
But between them Buttler and Woakes launched a superb counter-attack to turn the tide of the match towards the host with a sixth-wicket stand worth 139 runs.

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