Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 13 June 2020

::NATIONAL::

SC asks firms to negotiate with workers on lockdown wages

The Supreme Court on Friday asked factory owners and other private industrial establishments to negotiate terms and enter into settlements with their workers on the payment of wages during the lockdown period.
The court urged employers and employees to sort out their differences and resume work in a congenial atmosphere.
The court’s order came on a batch of petitions filed by industry owners against a March 29 government notification compelling them to pay full wages to workers. The notification was rescinded on May 17, after 54 days.It said that employers whose factories had continued to work during the lockdown, though not to full capacity, may also enter into talks.
Employers and workers could seek the help of Labour Department authorities and trade unions to reach a settlement. The court highlighted that the government, too, had an obligation to ensure conciliation between private employers and their workers for the smooth running of industrial establishments.
The court said a balance has to be found. Some industries would be able to bear the financial burden of payment of full or substantial wages for lockdown period, others may not be ableto.The workers and employees, although ready to work, could not due to closure of industries. They have suffered.
With this, the court continued its existing order that no................

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Centre issues advisory on urban transports in view of COVID

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has issued an advisory to the States, Cities and Metro Rail Companies suggesting measures to be taken by them for providing urban transport services in view of COVID-19.
In the advisory, the Ministry has suggested a three-pronged strategy related to Short term within six months, Medium term within one year and Long term from one to three years.
The advisory sent by the Secretary, Housing and Urban Affairs, DurgaShanker Mishra suggested to encourage and revive Non-Motorised Transport (NMT). He said, as most of the urban trips are clocked in under five kilometres, NMT offers opportunity in this COVID 19 crisis as it requires low cost, less human resource and it is environment friendly as well as easy to implement.
On recommencing Public Transport with greater confidence of Commuters, the advisory said that public transport is the backbone in urban areas especially for the low and middle income commuters for which these services are the mainstay of their daily transit needs.
It said, however, it is imperative at this stage that transmission of infection through usage of public transport should be curbed by adopting the right sanitization and social distancing measures.
The Ministry said, the advisory has been issued in view of COVID-19 pandemic which has suddenly impacted the way of life and local, regional and global transport systems.

::ECONOMY::

Indian Forex reserves cross $500billion for the first time

India’s foreign exchange reserves crossed $500 billion for the first time as the Reserve Bank of India builds up a war chest even as the rupee has been the worst performer among emerging market currencies since the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic in March.
The latest data from the RBI showed that India’s forex reserves surged by $8.2 billion during the week ended June 5 — the biggest weekly jump since September 2007 — to $500.02 billion. The increase in reserves was mainly due to a rise in foreign currency assets, which increased by $8.4 billion in the week.
Currency dealers said the sharp increase was due to gains from both currency revaluation (as the dollar depreciated against major currencies) and dollar mop-up through intervention by the central bank. India now has reserves to meet an import cover of about 14 months.
So far in 2020, foreign exchange reserves have climbed by $40 billion even as the rupee fell 6% in the same period, indicating that the RBI has not been aggressive in intervening in the currency market to stem the Indian currency’s fall.
Dealers said India was one of the highest recipients of foreign currency inflows this month, which was being used by the central bank to boost its war chest during uncertain times.
“The RBI’s FX policy has reverted to the Jalan-Reddy policy of building high FX reserves to insure against contagion. Experience suggests that higher FX reserves paradoxically lead to higher FPI inflows by comforting investors. We estimate the RBI should ‘conservatively’ build up $550 bn” of reserves, the economists wrote.

Agri ministry launches new SahakarMitra internship programme

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar launched SahakarMitra Internship programme to provide paid internship to youth and ensure availability of assured project loans to young cooperators.
Launching the scheme, Mr.Tomar said that, National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), has embarked upon a series of initiatives in the cooperative sector entrepreneurship development ecosystem, through capacity development.
He asserted that, SahakarMitra Scheme will provide the young professionals an opportunity of practical exposure and learning from the working of NCDC and cooperatives as a paid intern.
Under the scheme, professionals in disciplines including Agriculture and allied areas, IT, Agri-business, Cooperation, Finance, International Trade, Forestry, Rural Development, Project Management will be eligible for the paid internship.
Each intern will get financial support over the 4 months internship period

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::INTERNATIONAL::

India reiterates commitment towards development of Tanzania

India today reiterated its commitment to partnering Tanzania in its development journey. Prime Minister NarendraModi assured this to Tanzanian President Dr John Pombe Joseph Magufuli.
Prime Minister warmly recalled his July 2016 visit to Dar-es-Salaam and stressed on the importance that India attaches to its traditionally friendly ties with Tanzania during a telephonic talk with Dr Magufuli.
The Prime Minister thanked President Dr.Magufuli for the assistance provided by the Tanzanian authorities for evacuation of Indian citizens from Tanzania in the wake of COVID-19.
The leaders reviewed the overall bilateral relationship. They expressed satisfaction at the growing development partnership, educational linkages, and trade and investment flows between India and Tanzania, and discussed possibilities of further accelerating these trends.
Prime Minister conveyed his best wishes to President Magufuli and the people of Tanzania for the forthcoming Presidential and Parliamentary elections in Tanzania later this year.

Myanmar decides to scrutinise China’s BRI rail project

The government of Myanmar has decided to scrutinize the Muse-Mandalay railway project connecting Mandalay with the capital city of Yunnan province in China.
Speaking about the decision of the government, Myanmar Railways Managing Director U Ba Myint said on Wednesday that a Swiss company will review the feasibility study of the railway project submitted by the Chinar Railway Eryuan Engineering Group (CREEG), reported Irrawaddy.
According to the report, the Swiss company will check the detail of the feasibility study including route details and alignments. It will also look if the cost projection by the Chinese company is justified. U Ba Myint said that Myanmar has no plan to implement the project if it is bad for the country.
The 430 kilometre long railway project is a key component of the China Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) which is part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for creation of infrastructure spanning the Asia Pacific region.
The 8.9 billion dollar project seeks to connect Kyaukphyu in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State with Kunming via Muse in Shan State through a high speed railway connection.
There have been criticism from the local people about the influx of Chinese people, environmental and other implications of the project like displacement and water resources depletion.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

NHAI becomes first construction sector to be fully digital

National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has gone fully digital, with the launch of unique cloud based and Artificial Intelligence powered Big Data Analytics platform.
The highway construction organisation is first in its league to integrate Data Lake and Project Management Software to ensure transparency, speed and quick decision making in the process.
Under the fully digitalised set up, entire project management work flow of NHAI is transformed from manual to online portal.
The complete project execution operations including workflow with time lines and mechanism have been configured digitally. All project documentation, contractual decisions and approvals are now being done only through the portal.

::SPORTS::

ICC brings in changes in both forms of cricket, bans saliva use

International Cricket Council, ICC on Tuesday has approved substitution in case a player shows symptoms of COVID-19 during a Test match besides ratifying the interim ban on using saliva to shine the ball. ICC has also re-introduced non-neutral umpires for bilateral series as part of its interim playing regulations to tackle the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ICC said, ban on use of saliva was taken as it is considered to be a transmitter of novel coronavirus unlike sweat which will still be allowed to shine the ball. Repeated violation of the ban would at first invite a warning before a five-run penalty is imposed.
It added, A team can be issued up to two warnings per...............

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