Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 10 October 2019

::NATIONAL::

Police withdraws case against those who wrote letter to PM on mob lynching

Muzaffarpur Police on Wednesday gave a clean chit to 49 eminent personalities who had written an open letter to Prime Minister NarendraModi raising concerns over the increasing incidents of mob lynching in the country earlier this year.
Muzaffarpur SSP Manoj Kumar Sinha said order has been issued by him for the closure of the case as investigation so far revealed that allegations were levelled against the accused out of "mischief" and "lacked substance"
The FIR was lodged at the Sadar police station last week upon the order of the Chief Judicial Magistrate which had forwarded a petition filed by local advocate Sudhir Kumar Ojha.
It was lodged against historian RamchandraGuha and other eminent artists namely AparnaSen, KonkonaSen, AnuragKashyap and ShyamBenegal last week in Muzaffarpur following directions of Chief Judicial Magistrate SuryakantTiwari.
The court hearing a complaint petition filed by petitioner and local lawyer SudhirOjha had found merit in the complaint and had ordered registering of FIR against these artists charging them with sedition, hurting religious sentiment, breach of peace and tarnishing the image of the country.
SudhirOjha, in July this year had filed a complaint case in the CJM court these artists alleging that their open letter had tarnished the image of the country, hurt religious sentiment and tantamount to sedition.
"During the investigation, it was found that there was no merit in the charges that were level against these personalities and the case filed by the petitioner was maliciously false," told Manoj Kumar SSP Muzaffarpur.

Monsoon season leaves around 2000 dead in India

More than 2,100 people have lost their lives and another 46 were reported missing this monsoon season in rains and floods which affected more than 25 lakh people in 22 states, Union home ministry officials said on Wednesday.
The highest 399 people died in Maharashtra, followed by 227 deaths in West Bengal in rains, floods and landslides that hit as many as 357 districts in the country.
According to the officials, 738 people were injured and nearly 20,000 animals were lost. The heavy rains and floods fully damaged 1.09 lakh houses, partially damaged 2.05 lakh houses and destroyed 14.14 lakh hectares of crops.A total of 2,120 people died during the monsoon season, an official said.
During the four-month monsoon period, India recorded the highest rainfall since 1994, according to the India Meteorological Department. In Maharashtra, where 22 districts were hit by floods, 399 people died, 369 were injured and 7.19 lakh people were forced to seek shelter in 305 relief camps.
The monsoon rains and floods hit 22 districts in West Bengal, where 227 people lost their lives, 37 received injuries, four were reported missing and 43,433 took shelter in 280 relief camps.
In Bihar, 166 people have lost their lives and 1.96 lakh have taken shelter in 235 relief camps following the deluge that hit 28 districts in the state.
A total of 182 people were killed, 38 were injured and seven have gone missing in Madhya Pradesh, where 32,996 people took shelter in 98 relief camps set up in 38 districts.
In Kerala, heavy rains and floods claimed 181 lives and injured 72. Fifteen people were reported missing in 13 districts. As many as 4.46 lakh people in the state took shelter in 2,227 relief camps.

::ECONOMY::

IMF warns of global economic slowdown

The new managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) KristalinaGeorgieva warned of an economic slowdown in 2019 in 90 per cent of the world during her first speech at the helm of the multilateral organisation.
"This widespread deceleration means that growth this year will fall to its lowest rate since the beginning of the decade," the Bulgarian economist, who takes over from Christine Lagarde who will become the president of the European Central Bank, explained.
Georgieva made this assessment one week ahead of the joint Annual Meeting between the IMF and World Bank (WB) in which both institutions will present their economic projections in a gathering of top central bankers and economy ministers.
The IMF chief warned that the World Economic Outlook for 2019 and 2020 reflects a complex situation compared to the previous figures presented in July in Chile.
In her analysis, Georgieva argued that economic activity is softening in advanced economies, such as the US, Japan and, especially, the eurozone, while in other emerging markets, such as India and Brazil, the slowdown is even more pronounced this year.
However, she said that about 40 emerging markets and developing economies, including 19 in sub-Saharan Africa, will have real GDP growth rates above 5 per cent.
Georgieva blamed trade disputes, such as the commercial war between Washington and Beijing, for global economic sluggishness, in addition to geopolitical tensions, such as Brexit, that have sparked uncertainty.

Govt. to consider tax concessions for defence manufacturing industry

The Government of India (GoI) is willing to consider tax concessions for the defence manufacturing industry, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told honchos of French defence majors in Paris on Wednesday.
Addressing CEOs of French defence industry, Rajnath Singh said, "Government is ready to consider further tax rationalisation measures to encourage Make in India. We had Rafale induction yesterday which signifies deep defence relationship."
"Primary aim is to invite you for Make in India. There can be collaborations on technology," Rajnath Singh said.Rajnath Singh stressed that ease of doing business in India has gotten better.
Earlier, Secretary Defence Production BarunMitra made a presentation on the changing scenario of defence industry in India.He mentioned that there has been and 80 per cent increase in defence production and a 130 billion dollar market that awaits them in India.
Rafale manufacturers Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier was also among 16 industry leaders who were present there.The other companies represented were Airbus helicopters, Safran, MBDA, Nexter, RafautRoxel, Naval group, Roxel, Arquus and Thalas among others dealing with various defence equipment.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Second Modi-Xi meeting to be held inTamilnadu

Chinese President Xi Jinping will arrive in Chennai on the 11th of this month on a two-day visit to India for the Second Informal Summit. Sources said, Mr Jinping will be accompanied by Member of Politburo and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Mr Jinping and Prime Minister NarendraModi had their inaugural Informal Summit in Wuhan, China in April last year.
An official release said, the forthcoming Chennai Informal Summit will provide an opportunity for Prime Minister NarendraModi and President Xi Jinping to continue their discussions on overarching issues of bilateral, regional and global importance and to exchange views on deepening India-China Closer Development Partnership.
The objective of the summit is building contacts at highest level, exchanging views on strategic issues and creating broad pathway for progress in bilateral ties. Government sources said, no signing of documents is expected during the Chinese President's visit as this is an informal summit. India and China are also likely to hold joint anti-terror exercise in December.
Government sources said, on Article 370, India's position is clear that the matter is a sovereign decision and there will be no discussion from Indian side. They also said India does not see Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to China ahead of Mr Jinping's visit to India as hyphenation, as it is of no concern to India.

Turkey launches military operation against Kurdish forces

Turkish troops have begun an offensive in northern Syria, which could bring them into direct conflict with Kurdish-led forces allied to the United States. The decision was announced by Turkey's President RecepTayyipErdogan.
He wrote on Twitter, the operation is called Operation Peace Spring targeting Islamic State and the Kurdish People's Protection Units. Erdogan said the mission is to prevent the creation of a terror corridor across Turkey's southern border and to bring peace to the area.
President Donald Trump controversially withdrew US troops ahead of the action but says Turkey may face economic consequences.
According to media reports, several large explosions were reported in the Syrian town of Ras al Ain, across the border from the Turkish city of Ceylanpinar.
Turkey's Anadolu news agency reported shelling of Kurdish militant positions in the border town of Tal Abyad.
According to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), civilian areas came under attack from Turkish planes.
Meanwhile, Syrian Kurds called on Damascus' ally Russia to facilitate dialogue with the regime. The plea came after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow has contacted both the Kurdish authorities and Damascus, urging them to begin dialogue to ensure security on the Turkish-Syrian border.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

India launches new disaster warning devices for coastal areas

The government today launched a device that will help provide information related to disaster warnings when fishermen move away from the coast beyond 10 to 12 kilometres.
Gagan Enabled Mariner’s Instrument for Navigation and Information (GEMINI) device will disseminate seamless and effective emergency information and communication on disaster warnings, Potential Fishing Zones, PFZ, and the Ocean States Forecasts to fishermen.
After unveiling the device in New Delhi, Science and Technology Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said satellite-based communication is suitable to the dissemination of such emergency information.
He said affordable satellite-based communication system should be made part of the dissemination chain to deal with cyclones, high waves and tsunamis.
On the occasion, the Minister also inaugurated PFZ forecasts which will provide advisories to fishermen three days in advance. He stated that PFZ advisories have become part of the value chain of the fishing community.
Over six lakh fishermen are regularly accessing advisories directly through their mobiles to avoid wasting time for searching shoals of fish.

::SPORTS::

Mithali Raj sets record in international cricket

India women's cricket captain Mithali Raj today became the first female player to last more than 20 years in international cricket.
She achieved the feat while leading India to an emphatic eight-wicket win over South Africa Women in the first ODI at Vadodara today.
Mithali, who made her ODI debut against Ireland on June 26, 1999, completed 20 years and 105 days in the 50-over format. The right-handed batswoman has played 204 ODIs till now, the most by a female. 36-year-old Mithali who retired from T20 cricket last month has also played 10 Tests and 89 T20 Internationals for India.