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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 10 September 2019

::NATIONAL::

PM calls for global water action agenda

The Prime Minister was speaking at the 14th Conference of Parties (COP14) of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification(UNCCD) at Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh today. He called upon the leadership of UNCCD to conceive a global water action agenda which is central to the Land Degradation Neutrality strategy.
Mr Modi proposed initiatives for greater South-South cooperation in addressing issues of climate change, biodiversity and land degradation.
The Prime Minister said that time has come for the world to say goodbye to single-use plastic. He added, apart from having adverse health implications, plastic renders lands unfit for agriculture. He affirmed India's commitment towards the development of environment-friendly substitutes of plastic.
Mr Modi said, India will raise the target of restoring the land with degraded status from 21 million hectares to 26 million by 2030.The Prime Minister said, the country has increased its tree and forest cover by 0.8 million hectares between 2015 to 2017.
Addressing media in New Delhi this afternoon, Environment Minister PrakashJavadekar said, discussions at COP14 throughout last week, on the restoration of degraded land, were very productive.
Mr Javadekar said, the Delhi declaration will be announced tomorrow that will hold various countries accountable for their actions.

Home ministry assures citizenship bill not to curtail rights of people

Home Minister and BJP President Amit Shah has made it clear that the proposed Citizenship Amendment Bill will not affect the rights of the indigenous people of the North East. He was addressing a conclave of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) in Guwahati today.
Mr. Shah said that three Chief Ministers of the North East had raised the Citizenship Amendment Bill issue today, with apprehensions that the proposed legislation may curtail the rights of the indigenous people.
The bill has the provision of giving citizenship to minorities from neighbouring countries, including Bangladesh.
The Home Minister reiterated that the Centre will not touch Article 371 of the Constitution, that ensures certain special provisions for the North Eastern States.

::ECONOMY::

DPIIT to launch plastic waste management campaign

Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) of Commerce Ministry will launch plastic waste management campaign under Swachhta Hi Sewa 2019 tomorrow.
Under the campaign, DPIIT will ensure recycling of plastic waste collected on 2nd October this year in cement kilns. It will also collect plastic waste through nationwide shramdaan on 2nd of next month.
For this, DPIIT has urged States and Union Territories to mobilise the Industrial Parks for collection of plastic waste across all Industrial Estates, Parks, Corridors, Nodes and Industrial Areas.
The Department has also asked the state governments to sensitize Industrial Parks by focusing on Plastic Waste Management on a sustained and continuous basis. The move comes after Prime Minister NarendraModi's call for action against Plastic Waste.

Aadhar enabled services rolled out by IPPB

The government today announced the rollout of Aadhaar Enabled Payment System Services by India Post Payments Bank, IPPB.
Minister for Communications, Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad said this gives a strong boost to the Centre's efforts in expanding access to financial services for millions of unbanked and underbanked customers.
He was speaking at the first anniversary celebrations of India Post Payments Bank in New Delhi.
With today's launch, IPPB has become the single largest platform in the country for providing interoperable banking services to customers of any bank by leveraging the last mile unprecedented reach of the Postal network.
Mr Prasad congratulated the bank for achieving the milestone of one crore customers, and exhorted them to achieve five crore target in the next one year.
Referring to 440 Central schemes on-boarded to the DBT platform, he said all these schemes must ride on IPPB platform, too.
Stating that inclusive is the government's key mantra, he said the Department of Posts should strive for banking the unbanked, funding the unfunded and securing the unsecured.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

India-Nepal inaugurates new energy pipeline

Prime Minister NarendraModi and his Nepal counterpart K.P. Sharma Oli on Tuesday jointly inaugurated the Motihari-Amlekhganj energy pipeline, via video link.
Mr.Modi said that India-Nepal ties will continue to expand across multiple sectors.
"Prime Minister Modi said that the 69-km Motihari-Amlekhganj pipeline, having a capacity of 2 million metric ton per annum will provide cleaner petroleum products at affordable costs to the people of Nepal. He welcomed the announcement made by Prime Minister Oli to reduce the price of petroleum products by Rs. 2 per litre in Nepal," said a press release from the office of the Prime Minister of India.
The pipeline had been in the planning stages for several years and was inked in 2015 by both sides. A test supply was carried out last month after which both sides agreed to operationalise the energy route, a first-time effort in South Asia.
Sources say that such a pipeline will help Nepal ensure stable energy supply for its market. The project is being led by public sector giants Indian Oil Corporation and Nepal Oil Corporation which has built the necessary infrastructure in Amlekhganj for distribution of energy in the Himalayan country.

U.S enquires on Bangladeshi action against NGO’s in Rohingyan camps

The US has enquired about strong action taken by the Bangladesh government against some NGOs working in Rohingya refugee camps of Cox's Bazar.
Speaking to media in Dhaka, Road Transport and Bridges Minister ObaidulQuader said US Ambassador to Bangladesh, Earl R Miller enquired about the tough stance taken by the government against some NGOs.
ObaidulQuader said he informed the Ambassador that some NGOs took permission from the government for offering prayers on the second anniversary of Rohingyas fleeing Myanmar on August 25, but instead held a big political rally.
The incident is being enquired. He said ambassador Miller appreciated the Bangladesh government for giving shelter to Rohingya refugees. He also extended support to Dhaka in its steps to repatriate the Rohingyas back to Myanmar.
Bangladesh had barred 41 NGOs from undertaking any activity in Cox's Bazar Rohingya camps for their alleged role in encouraging Rohingyas not to accept repatriation to Myanmar.
Subsequently, the government banned two more international NGOs Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) and Al MarkazulIslami for their role in organising a rally of Rohingyason August 25.
In the wake of the August 25 rally, Bangladesh has taken a tough stance against some NGOs who are allegedly instigating Rohingya refugees to oppose repatriation to Myanmar.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Centre releases new mobile app to help farmers access technologies

Farmers can now get affordable access to cutting-edge technology at their doorsteps.
Minister of State for Agriculture ParshottamRupala launched a multilingual Mobile App “CHC Farm Machinery” during a conference on Crop Residue Management in New Delhi today.
It will allow farmers to avail custom hiring services of CHCs located in a radius of 50 km.
The App connects the farmers with Custom Hiring Service Centers in their area. It can be downloaded on any android phone from Google Play Store.
The Minster sought ideas from farmers to ensure zero burning in all villages. He thanked the farmers for bringing down incidents of stubble burning. Several farmers shared experiences and gave suggestions during the conference. More than 1000 farmers attended the conference from four States.

::SPORTS::

Srilankan players to pull out from Pakistan series

A total of 10 Sri Lankan cricket players have chosen to stay away from the upcoming Pakistan series, mainly for security reasons. This was revealed to Sri Lankan Cricket board yesterday during a meeting with players, who were chosen as part of a preliminary squad to play 3 ODIs and 3 T20 matches in Pakistan beginning later this month.
The meeting was aimed at informing the players about the security arrangements, during the forthcoming tour and also to find out players decision to participate. The players were briefed about the security situation in Pakistan and the security arrangements PCB plans on implementing during the tour.
Accordingly, 10 players including LasithMalinga and Angelo Mathews chose to stay away from the tour. The cricket board has suggested alternative names for the proposed tour. It may be mentioned that Sri Lankan cricket team faced a terrorist attack during their tour to Pakistan in 2009.