Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 15 JANUARY 2019

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 15 JANUARY 2019

::NATIONAL::

Centre to set up forums to spread voter awareness

• • Voter Awareness Forums will be set up in Ministries, Government Departments, Non-Government Departments and other Institutions to promote electoral awareness. Election Commission of India will be briefing the Nodal Officers of Ministries, Government of India and a representative from Federations on 16th January 2019 at Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra, New Delhi.
• • Similar briefing sessions are being held across the country by the Chief Electoral Officers and District Election Officers on the same day where nodal officers of Departments, Non-Govt Departments, CSOs, Corporate and Media Houses in the State and District are being briefed respectively.
• • Voter Awareness Forums are informal Forums for generating awareness around electoral process through activities like discussions, quizzes, competitions and other engaging activities. All employees of the Organisation are expected to become members of the VAF with the Head of the Organisation acting as Chair of VAF.
• • VAF is part of the Electoral Literacy Club programme of ECI. Launched on the 8th National Voters Day, 25th January 2018, the ELC programme envisages setting up of Electoral Literacy Club in every educational institution and Chunav Pathshala at every booth to cover those outside the formal education system.
• • Around 2.11 Lakh ELCs have already been established across the country in the first year of the launch of the programme.

Centre claims reduction in interception request by agencies since 2014.

• • As a petition was filed in the Supreme Court against the Home Ministry’s order authorising 10 Central agencies for the purposes of “interception, monitoring and decryption of any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer”, a senior Home Ministry official clarified that the government had not given blanket power to any agency and they would have to adhere to rules.
• • According to the official, the number of interception has gone down since 2014, though the number of mobile phone connections in the country has gone up to around 120 crore. The number of electronic messages had also grown exponentially.
• • The December 20 notification means that websites and Web-based applications visited by a “suspect” on a computer or a mobile handset can be intercepted by telecom service providers on a request by an authorised agency after clearance by the Union Home Secretary.
• • The service provider will be liable to share the information with the agency under Section 69 (1) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. “There is no new law or procedure and there is no blanket authorisation. There is no change of even a comma or a full stop in the existing rules and regulation (framed in 2011),” the official said.
  
  • The official said that while listing the 10 agencies, the Home Ministry had reiterated the Standard Operating Procedures of 2011, which mandates that every such interception requires prior approval of the competent authority: the Union Home Secretary or State Home Secretary.

::ECONOMY::

Centre to unveil New Air Cargo policy

• • India’s first Air Cargo Policy will be unveiled at the two-day Global Aviation Summit starting here on Tuesday.
• • Despite registering a double-digit growth for nearly four years in a row, India has remained without a specific policy for air cargo.
• • Emphasising that security, safety, convenience and affordability were the key aspects, the Minister said the aviation vision for 2040 would address all the issues so that India will have sustainable growth in the sector at all times.
• • Mr. Prabhu said that the success of the aviation sector in the country was completely propelled by the participation of private players, adding that infrastructure for the movement of air cargo could be created in the same way.
• • The Minister said night hours, when air passenger traffic was negligible, could be used to airlift cargo.
• • Civil Aviation Ministry officials said that solutions to critical issues relating to agriculture and manufacturing output and their supplies had been sufficiently explored in the policy which was integrated with logistics.
• • Mr. Prabhu indicated that the government is of the view that the basic objective on which the logistics and cargo policy is being put in place is based on the premise that its context is important because both logistics and cargo are one of the biggest growth-driven sectors in India after services.

Government e Marketplace [GeM] has launches “Womaniya on GeM” initiative

• • Government e Marketplace [GeM] has launched “Womaniya on GeM”, an initiative to enable women entrepreneurs and women self-help groups [WSHGs] to sell handicrafts and handloom, accessories, jute and coir products, home décor and office furnishings, directly to various Government ministries, departments and institutions.
• • The initiative seeks to develop women entrepreneurship on the margins of society to achieve gender-inclusive economic growth.
• • CEO GeM,S Radha Chauhan, released a 3-minute video to highlight the essence and benefits of the Womaniya initiative. She stressed the fact that nearly 80 percent women-owned establishments are self-financed and more than 60 percent of 8 million units are owned and or led by women entrepreneurs from socially-challenged sections of the society.
• • Since women tend to invest up to 90 percent of their earnings back in their families to provide better nutrition, health care and education to their children, economic empowerment of women is a step in the direction of poverty alleviation.
• • India has approximately 500 million Internet users and nearly 54 percent of them are more than 25 years of age with higher discretionary income and likely to transact more online, half of internet users reside in small towns and present new opportunities for e-commerce and most importantly women constitute 33 percent or 143 million Internet users and control 44 percent of household spending in India.
• • Womaniya on GeM will spur hyper-local economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs and address goals and objectives under United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Qatar confirms no reopening of embassy in Syria

• • Qatar has ruled out the possibility of re-opening an embassy in Damascus, calling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a war criminal.
• • Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani today told reporters in Doha that normalisation of relations with the Syrian regime at this stage is equivalent to the normalisation of a person involved in war crimes.
• • Al-Thani added that Damascus under Assad should not be allowed back into the Arab League as the Syrian people are still under bombardment by the Syrian regime.
• • His comments come after Gulf neighbours the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain announced late last month they reopened their Damascus embassies.

Crucial vote on British PM’s brexit deal today

• • British Prime Minister Theresa May has said that she is against delaying Britain's exit from the European Union, insisting the March 29 departure date was still her target.
• • In her speech ahead of Tuesday's crucial vote by MPs in the House of Commons, May today warned that if her deal is voted down, the most likely result would be a paralysis in Parliament and a risk there being no Brexit.
• • She said if the latter happens, people's faith in the democratic process and their politicians would suffer catastrophic harm. May said she is opposed a second referendum.
• • The British Prime Minister added that having Britain leave the EU without a deal would cause turbulence in UK's economy, create barriers to security cooperation and disrupt people's daily lives. She insisted that the only deal on the table is the one MPs will vote on tomorrow night.
• • The EU has repeatedly said they would not renegotiate the withdrawal agreement agreed between Brussels and May's government in November last year.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Govt. to launch end to end lightning prediction system

• • Last year during the pre monsoon season a series of thunderstorm/dust storm affected the northern states and claimed about 200 lives. In view of this the India Meteorological Department will be implementing an end-to-end prediction system for predicting thunderstorms/lightning by April 2019.
• • Union Minister of Science and Technology, Earth Sciences and Environment and Forests and Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan told at a press conference in New Delhi that Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) and IMD are developing prediction tools for thunderstorm/lightning.IITM Pune has already installed 48 lightning sensors around the country which can locate the thunderstorm/lightning activities on real time.
• • IITM Pune also developed a Mobile App called “DAMINI” to give alerts on impending lightning activity over the area. The DAMINI App is available from Google Stores.
• • Dr. Harsh Vardhan also informed that currently IITM Pune and IMD are developing a new website for IMD along with the Mobile Apps for Farmers and City Forecasts. These new tools will help IMD to disseminate forecasts and warnings on time and more effectively to the users and the new website and mobile Apps will be ready for launch by June 2019.

::SPORTS::

India ousted from AFC Asian cup football after defeat

• • India crashed out of the AFC Asian Cup with a heartbreaking 0-1 defeat at the hands of Bahrain, who scored in the stoppage time, in their final Group A match at Sharjah today.
• • Bahrain converted a penalty in the 91st minute through Jamal Rashed, who made no mistake after India captain Pronay Halder committed a careless tackle inside the box.
• • India finished outside the top two after the the group's other game between UAE and Thailand ended in a 1-1 draw.
• • Entering their final group game following a 4-1 win over Thailand and a 0-2 loss to hosts United Arab Emirates, a determined India held on for 90 minutes before conceding.

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