Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 12 August 2018

::NATIONAL::

Centre to boost North East Infrastructure Spending

To boost connectivity in the northeastern States of the country, the Union government on Saturday announced investments worth nearly Rs. 10,000 crore in the region over the next four years to implement more than 400 projects.
The Digital North East Vision 2022, which has been announced just a year ahead of 2019 general elections, has identified a total of eight thrust areas to enhance connectivity, including telecom infrastructure, electronics manufacturing units, BPOs and cyber security, besides promotion of digital innovations.
The majority of the projects will be implemented by the Department of Telecom. The Ministry of Electronics and IT is expected to fund projects to the tune of Rs. 1,397 crore, while the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region will spend Rs. 411 crore.
As part of the initiative, Mr. Prasad also inaugurated the first electronics manufacturing cluster in the northeastern region in Guwahati on Saturday.

Government allows 100% FDI under automatic route in educational institutions

As per consolidated FDI Policy, 2017, the Government has allowed Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) up to 100% under automatic route in the educational institutions subject to applicable laws/sectoral rules/regulations/ security conditions.
Also, the University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) have issued regulations/guidelines on collaboration between Indian and Foreign Universities with a view to increase synergy between Indian and foreign academic institutions.
As per these regulations, Indian Universities and Colleges having the highest grade of accreditation/threshold accreditation, and conforming to other eligibility conditions as laid down in the regulations, can apply online to the UGC for starting twinning arrangement with Foreign Educational Institutions (FEI) having the prescribed quality.
The AICTE has set norms for regulating collaboration and twinning program between Indian and Foreign University/Institutions in the field of Technical Education Research and Training with an objective to safeguard the interest of student community in India and ensure uniform maintenance of Norms & Standards as prescribed by various statutory bodies.

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::ECONOMY::

Wind energy generators urges State Electricity Boards to sell surplus

Wind energy generators have urged State Electricity Boards to arrange to sell surplus energy generated through power exchanges and not to back down on renewable energy generation.
K. Kasthurirangaian, chairman of the association, said that in Tamil Nadu, which has 8,700 MW of the 34,000 MW installed wind energy capacity in the country, 6,234 million units of wind energy was generated between April 1 and August 5 this year.
The winds started late in the State this year and evacuation can be improved, he said. Several other States have 4,000 to 5,000 MW each. Evacuation of wind energy is better in States such as Gujarat and Karnataka.
“When the load drops, the State Electricity Boards should not back down wind energy generation. Instead, they should look at options such as spot selling of the excess power or swapping it with power deficit States,” Mr.Kasthurirangaian said.

‘PrathibandhitSahityameinSwatantrataSangram’ (Freedom Movement through Proscribed Literature) exhibition held

The Minister of State for Culture (Independent Charge) and Minister of State for Environment Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Mahesh Sharma inaugurated an exhibition entitled ‘PrathibandhitSahityameinSwatantrataSangram’ (Freedom Movement through Proscribed Literature) in the premises of National Archives of India, in New Delhi.
The Exhibition is based on the unique collection of proscribed literature in its possession. This exhibition of proscribed literature is from vast collection of poetry and prose that portrays the nationalistic fervour prevalent in the days of freedom struggle.
Each and every thought of the poetry conveyed the spirit of nationalism that inspired the people of this country, determined to attain freedom from the clutches of the British. The publication and circulation of these literature among the masses was banned by the colonial government judging them ‘dangerous’ to the ‘security’ of the country. This literature is now a part of our national heritage.
The exhibition is an attempt to sensitize the young generations of the sacrifices and contributions of these martyrs in our freedom struggle and to inculcate the spirit of patriotism in them.
There are over 50 lakhs files, documents presently in the holdings in the National Archives of India. Out of which the reference media of about 27 lakhs files, records are available in the search portal of the Department AbhilekhPatal.

UNHRC condemns chinese Uighur camps

UN human rights experts have expressed alarm over what they said were many credible reports that China had detained one million or more ethnic Uighurs in the western region of Xinjiang and forced as many as two million to submit to re-education and indoctrination.
In the name of combating religious extremism, China had turned Xinjiang into “something resembling a massive internment camp, shrouded in secrecy, a sort of no-rights zone,” Gay McDougall, a member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, said.
Raising questions about the fate of Uighur students, who had returned to Xinjiang from overseas, Mr. McDougall said more than a hundred had disappeared, some had been detained and others had died in detention.
Chinese officials have said tightened security measures and limits on the religious practices of Uighurs, who are mostly Sunni Muslim, are aimed at trying to prevent violent, anti-state episodes in Uighur areas, which they have attributed to separatism, terrorism and religious extremism.
Beijing tightened controls and surveillance of Xinjiang’s population after an eruption of violence aimed at Han Chinese, the dominant ethnic group in China, in Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi, in 2009 and an attack in Beijing in 2013 attributed to Uighur Muslims.

INDIA’s aid to SAARC nations fall

India’s financial assistance to SAARC neighbours declined considerably in the past five years, a reply by the government in Parliament this week showed.
The startling figures were revealed in the LokSabha in answer to a question whether India had completed projects committed to countries in the neighbourhood. Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh submitted a chart of India’s grant assistance (GA), or projects financed through a grant, to neighbouring countries.
The one exception was the Maldives, to which Indian assistance has been consistently increasing year on year since 2013, despite the dip in bilateral ties.
When contacted, the External Affairs Ministry declined to make any formal comment. In its reply in Parliament, the Ministry had said: “An assessment of fund requirement is made before each financial year, based on the progress in execution aligned with project implementation cycle. Time lines fixed for projects vary, and are determined based on consultations with host governments and ground situation.”
When asked, officials conceded that one of the major reasons for the decline was that many projects had been completed in the neighbourhood, and there were fewer projects started in the period since 2014.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Researchers find out ways to regulate iron in the body

Using zebrafish, researchers at the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB) have successfully discovered a pathway that regulates hepcidin hormone production. The hepcidin hormone, released by the liver, is a central regulator of iron in the body.
Dysregulation of the hormone leads to anaemia on one hand and excess iron accumulation in organs such as liver and heart leading to multi-organ failure.
Hemochromatosis is a rare hereditary disease that is characterised by iron accumulation or overload in various tissues. The symptoms are non-specific and hence difficult to diagnose. Current options only manage the disease by removing excess iron.
In the conventional drug discovery approach, the target protein and even the pathway are already known and molecules that would either inhibit or overproduce the target protein are screened for. But the researchers adopted a different approach for this study.

::SPORTS::

New Delhi to host shooting World Cup in 2020

The Indian shooters preparing for the Tokyo Olympics will have top-class competition at home as the International Shooting Federation (ISSF) has awarded a World Cup in principle to India in 2020.
India is scheduled to host a World Cup next year from February 20 to 28, which will offer Olympic quota places for Tokyo.
The dates for the World Cup in India in 2020 will be finalised soon, as the ISSF has only put the dates for the Olympic Games as well as the World Cup in Tokyo, a test event for the Olympics, for 2020.