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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 12 April 2020

::NATIONAL::

PM holds video conference with chief ministers of states

In the video conference with Chief Ministers of states, Prime Minister NarendraModi today said that measures are being taken to ensure availability of protective gear and critical equipment for all front-line workers.
He also gave a stern message against black marketing and hoarding. Condemning and expressing distress at the instances of attacks on the doctors and medical staff, and at incidents of misbehavior with students from North-East and Kashmir, Prime Minister underlined that such cases need to be dealt with firmly.
Prime Minister talked about strengthening healthcare infrastructure and reaching out to patients through tele-medicine. He also suggested that direct marketing for farm produce can be incentivised to prevent crowding in mandis, for which model APMC laws should be reformed.
The Prime Minister also spoke about popularizing the AarogyaSetu app to ensure downloads in greater numbers. He said, based on the experiences of South Korea and Singapore, India has made its own effort at contact tracing through the app.
He also referred to the possibility of the app being an e-pass which could subsequently facilitate travel from one place to another.Talking about the economic challenges, Prime Minister said that the crisis is an opportunity to become self-reliant.

Call for president’s rule in Madhya Pradesh

President’s rule should be imposed in Madhya Pradesh if Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is unable to form Cabinet, RajyaSabha member from the State and senior advocate VivekTankha said on Saturday in a letter to President Ram NathKovind.
The Congress leader said the patience of the 7.5 crore people of the State was “wearing thin” as they face a grim situation with regard to the spread of the COVID-19.
He argued that an “illegally designed and poorly conceived one-man show” had been unconstitutionally thrust upon the people amid a lockdown.
“If the Chief Minister is unable to form his Cabinet because of issues beyond his control, then a case of breakdown of constitutional machinery will be self-evident warranting the Union to consider the imposition of President’s rule,” Mr. Tanka said in the letter, copies of which were sent to the Prime Minister and the Home Minister.

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::ECONOMY::

Over 30 crore gets relief under PM GaribKalyanYojana

More than 30 crore poor people have received financial assistance of ₹28,256 crore under the PradhanMantriGaribKalyanYojana announced by Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman last month to protect them from the impact of the lockdown.
As part of the ₹1.70 lakh crore relief package, the government announced free foodgrains and cash doles to women and poor senior citizens and farmers.
“More than 30 cr. beneficiaries have been directly given support through Direct Benefit Transfer amounting to ₹28,256 cr. under #PradhanMantriGribKalyanPackage,” a tweet from the Finance Ministry said. Of the total disbursement, ₹13,855 crore has gone towards payment of the first instalment of PM-KISAN.
Under the scheme, nearly 6.93 crore out of the 8 crore identified beneficiaries got ₹2,000 directly in their account.As many as 19.86 crore women Jan Dhan account holders received ₹500 each in their account. The total disbursement under the head was ₹9,930 crore, it said.
The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) disbursed about ₹1,400 crore to about 2.82 crore old age persons, widows and disabled persons, it added.

TRIFED seeks procurement of minor forest produce at MSP

The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) which functions under Ministry of Tribal Affairs, has asked the State Nodal Departments and Implementing Agencies to initiate procurement of Minor Forest Produces (MFPs) at Minimum Support Price (MSP) from the available funds under MSP for MFP Scheme.
In a letter to Chief Secretaries, State Nodal Departments and Implementing Agencies, the Managing Director of TRIFED Pravir Krishna said that TRIFED in collaboration with UNICEF is hosting Webinar sessions for the Van Dhan Self Help Group members of the Van DhanVikasKendras.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

U.S to impose visa sanctions on countries refusing to accept its citizens

President Donald Trump has ordered the relevant departments of his administration to impose visa sanctions on countries that do not accept their citizens who are currently in the U.S., if the U.S. seeks to repatriate them to their home countries.
The order is motivated by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a memorandum issued by the White House on Friday night.
As it is worded, the scope of the order is unclear. While the clause above says it is motivated by the U.S. wanting to repatriate foreigners violating U.S. laws, there is another clause that says the sanctions process could be initiated if a foreign country delays accepting its nationals and such an action hampers the U.S.’s response to the ongoing pandemic.
Within seven days of receiving such a notice from the Department of Homeland Security, the Secretary of State is required to initiate a plan to impose visa sanctions.
Sanctions shall end when the Secretary of Homeland Security certifies that the host countries are accepting their nationals.The memorandum expires on December 31 this year unless extended.

Nepal rules out lifting of lockdown until Indian situation normalises

Nepal's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has ruled out lifting lockdown in the Himalayan nation till situation normalises in India.
In a video conference with Chief Ministers of all seven provinces, Prime Minister Oli said Nepalese government cannot lift lockdown as Covid 19 cases continued to rise in India. He said, the government will have to adopt stricter measures to control the spread of COVID-19.

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::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Researchers find sex specific differences in immune system

A study led by researchers from Australia finds crucial differences in the way the immune system acting in the body fat of male and female mice operates. Studying the visceral adipose tissue (VAT) in the mice, they find key differences.
Visceral adipose tissue is fat tissue that is found in the abdominal region, surrounding various organs. This includes perigonadal VAT which surrounds the ovaries in females and testes in males, which is what the researchers studied.
“Historically, visceral adipose tissue was simply regarded as an energy storage [organ]. Many studies, however, have highlighted its endocrine function. Visceral adipose tissue has an endocrine function, meaning it secretes adipokines and hormones that play key roles in energy balance and metabolism,” says Dr.Vasanthakumar.
The study has implications for the way trials are conducted with animal models when carrying out research on diseases. For instance when studying metabolic disease, mostly male mice are used. This study implies that findings of such a test will not hold equally good for males and females.
“Until the recent past, for clinical trials mostly men were recruited although it is clear that disease susceptibility and response to drugs are different,” he says. “In this context tailoring drugs to gender is a possibility in the future. We will continue to explore the role of sex hormones in metabolism and other inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.”

::SPORTS::

BhaichungBhutia to consider AIFF president post

Former India captain BhaichungBhutia has said he will consider contesting for the post of All India Football Federation (AIFF) president in future. Bhutia retired in 2011, after being Indian football’s posterboy for more than a decade.
“At the moment I am focusing on grassroots football with the BhaichungBhutia Football School and United Sikkim Club and also at district level (in Sikkim),” said Bhutia.
Current AIFF president Praful Patel has effectively been at the helm of affairs since 2008, when then chief PriyaRanjanDasmunshi fell ill. He was elected president in 2012 and again in 2016, and is unlikely to be eligible this year under the Sports Code.

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