Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 14 July 2020

::NATIONAL::

The Union Health Ministry has pushed for an increased expenditure on public health. In a meeting with the 15th Finance Commission, the Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan, yesterday highlighted that the government aims at gradually increasing the public health expenditure to 2.5 per cent of the nation's GDP by the year 2025.
The Minister asserted that the outlay for primary health expenditure will also be made nearly two third of the total public health expenditure in the country.
Reiterating the government's target of the National Health Policy 2017, Dr.Vardhan emphasized on the importance of increasing the state’s health sector spending to nearly 8 per cent of their total budget.
The Health Ministry apprised the Finance Commission of the need to further strengthen the public health sector, surveillance and public health management, preventive and promotive health care system in the country.
The Health Ministry has also revised its requirement of around 4.9 lakh crores to 6.04 lakh crores in view of the COVID pandemic. It has asked for additional resources for the States which would be utilized for achievement of the National Health Policy targets.

Prime Minister NarendraModi has said that India is among the most open economies in the world. He was interacting with the CEO of Google, SundarPichai through video conferencing yesterday. The Prime Minister said that Indians are adjusting to and adopting technology at a rapid pace.
Mr.Modi and Mr.Pichai spoke on a wide range of subjects, particularly leveraging the power of technology to transform the lives of India’s farmers, youngsters and entrepreneurs. Mr.Modi also spoke about the recent steps taken by the government towards reforming agriculture and creating new job opportunities.
The Prime Minister explored the idea of virtual labs that can be used by students as well as farmers. On issue of data security and cyber safety, he said, tech companies need to put in efforts to bridge the trust deficit.

The challenging economic and credit conditions stemming from COVID-19 will weigh on ASEAN and Indian banks’ asset quality and profitability, Moody’s Investors Service said in a new report.
Moody’s said the asset quality and profitability will deteriorate from good levels in 2019 across most banking systems, with Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines having the best asset quality with non-performing loans below 2%.
While government support measures will offset some of the pressure on banks, they will not fully eliminate the negative impact, the report said.
Despite the challenging outlook, the majority of banks are adequately capitalised, and their funding and liquidity will remain sound and stable in 2020-21.
For instance, regulators in India, Thailand and Vietnam have restricted bank dividends, a credit positive for banks, while the largest banks will continue to benefit from deposit inflows as they are seen as safe-heavens in times of stress.
“Moody’s expects the GDP of most ASEAN economies and India will contract in 2020 and gradually recover in 2021.

Indian Railways has stepped up its efforts to become a Green Railway within a span of 10 years. It has set the target to achieve net zero carbon emission by the year 2030.
Railways has taken a number of initiatives for mitigation of global warming and combating climate change to achieve the Green Railway status. Electrification of lines, improving energy efficiency of trains, green certification for installation and stations, fitting bio toilets in coaches and switching to renewable sources of energy are parts of Railways’ strategy for achieving net zero carbon emission.
Indian Railways has completed electrification of more than 40 thousand route kilometres which is 63 per cent of the total broad gauge routes. More than 18 thousand six hundred kilometre electrification work has been completed during the last six years.
Railways has fixed a electrification target of seven thousand route kilometres for this financial year. All routes on the broad gauge network have been planned to be electrified by the end of year 2023. In all, 365-kilometre major connectivity work has been commissioned during COVID pandemic period.

Four years after India and Iran signed an agreement to construct a rail line from Chabahar port to Zahedan, along the border with Afghanistan, the Iranian government has decided to proceed with the construction on its own, citing delays from the Indian side in funding and starting the project.
The development comes as China finalises a massive 25-year, $400 billion strategic partnership deal with Iran, which could cloud India’s plans.
The railway project, which was being discussed between the Iranian Railways and the state-owned Indian Railways Construction Ltd (IRCON), was meant to be part of India’s commitment to the trilateral agreement between India, Iran and Afghanistan to build an alternate trade route to Afghanistan and Central Asia.
In May 2016, during Prime Minister NarendraModi’s visit to Tehran to sign the Chabahar agreement with Iranian President Rouhani and Afghanistan President Ghani, IRCON had signed anMoU with the Iranian Rail Ministry.

The United States officially dismissed China's claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea and termed Beijing's campaign of bullying to control them as completely unlawful.
US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo issued a statement on the US position on Maritime claims in the South China Sea, saying that the Chinese government has no legal grounds to unilaterally impose its will on the region.

Mars is about to be invaded by planet Earth - big time. Three countries - the United States, China and the United Arab Emirates - are sending unmanned spacecraft to the red planet in quick succession beginning this week, in the most sweeping effort yet to seek signs of ancient microscopic life while scouting out the place for future astronauts.
The US, for its part, is dispatching a six-wheeled rover the size of a car, named Perseverance, to collect rock samples that will be brought back to Earth for analysis in about a decade.
Scientists want to know what Mars was like billions of years ago when it had rivers, lakes and oceans that may have allowed simple, tiny organisms to flourish before the planet morphed into the barren, wintry desert world it is today.

The All India Football Federation plans to go ahead with the 2020-21 season even if the clubs’ foreign recruits are unable to make it due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
The whole of ISL could be held in Goa, Das stated, while Kolkata may end up hosting all the I-League matches as the ISL cannot be held there with the Salt Lake Stadium undergoing renovation for the women’s U-17 World Cup.