Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 16 July 2019

::NATIONAL::

PM KISAN Scheme

•  The government today said three crores ten lakh 77 thousand 444 beneficiaries have received the second instalment under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi.
•  In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said around 7,121 crore rupees is already credited into the bank accounts of 3 crores 56 lakh three thousand 344 beneficiaries as the first instalment.
•  Earlier under PM-Kisan, landholding farmer families having cultivable land up to two hectares were provided direct income support at the rate of six thousand rupees per year in three instalments of two thousand each.
•  The ambit of the scheme has been expanded to cover all farmers in the country irrespective of the size of their landholdings. With this, the expected expenditure of the scheme for the financial year 2019-20 has been revised to over 87,217 crore rupees.
•  Government has also approved a pension scheme for all Small and Marginal Farmers in the country.The scheme provides for payment of a minimum fixed pension of three thousand rupees per month to the eligible farmers on attaining the age of 60 years with minimal or no savings.
• Over 1.28 Lakhs Gram Panchayats linked with optical fibre under Bharat Net
•  Union Panchayat Raj Minister Narendra Singha Tomar informed Lok Sabha today that over one lakh 28 thousand Gram Panchayats have been linked with optical fibre under Bharat Net programme .
•  These Panchayats are uploading photographic evidence of the works taken up by them and assistance given to beneficiaries.
•  In reply during the Question Hour, the Minister said two lakh 19 thousand Gram Panchayats have uploaded their Development plan and the details of 16 lakh works taken up by them are on the website ensuring transparency.

::ECONOMY::

India permits sugar export to US

•  The government has permitted the export of 1,239 tonnes raw sugar under its tariff-rate quota (TRQ) to the US, which enables shipments to enjoy relatively low tariff.
•  TRQ is a quota for a volume of exports that enter the US at relatively low tariffs. After the quota is reached, a higher tariff applies on additional imports.
•  Directorate General of Foreign Trade in a public notice said that additional quantity of 1,239 tonnes of raw cane sugar to be exported to US under TRQ up to September 30, 2019 has been notified.
•  The country enjoys duty-free sugar exports to the US for up to 10,000 tonnes annually under preferential quota arrangement.

WPI declines in June

•  Wholesale price-based inflation declined for the second consecutive month to its 23-month low of 2.02 per cent in June, helped by a decline in prices of vegetables as well as fuel and power items.
•  According to official data released today, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation was at 2.45 per cent in May.
•  It was 5.68 per cent in June last year. Inflation in food articles basket eased marginally to 6.98 per cent in June from 6.99 per cent in May.
•  Vegetable inflation softened to 24.76 per cent in June, down from 33.15 per cent in the previous month.Inflation in the fuel and power category cooled substantially to minus 2.20 per cent from 0.98 per cent last month.
•  Manufactured items too saw a decline in prices with inflation at 0.94 per cent in June, against 1.28 per cent in May.WPI inflation data for April has been revised upwards to 3.24 per cent from provisional 3.07 per cent.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

UN hold highlevel meeting on Ebola Outbreak in Congo

•  Almost a year after the outbreak of Ebola was declared in eastern Congo, the UN has held a high-level meeting in Geneva to take stock of the coordinated response and galvanize further support for the government-led effort to defeat the deadly disease.
•  The meeting was chaired by WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock.
•  The first case of Ebola was confirmed in Goma, a city of about one million people south of the outbreak's epicentre.
•  Almost 3,000 health workers have so far been vaccinated against the disease in Goma. More than 1,650 people have died in the current outbreak, while about 12 new cases are reported every day.

Over 820 million people suffering from hunger: UN Report

•  UN report has said, more than 821 million people suffered from hunger worldwide last year. It is the third year in a row that the number has risen.
•  The report named, 'The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World', produced by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and other UN agencies, including WHO, was released on Monday.
•  It noted that the number of people without enough to eat had risen from 811 million in 2017 and getting to a world where no one is suffering from hunger remains an immense challenge.
•  The report said, after decades of decline, malnutrition began to increase in 2015, mainly because of climate change and war. Reversing the trend is one of the 2030 targets of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals which aim to improve the planet and its people.

::SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY::

Launching the Broadband Readiness Index for Indian States and Union Territories (2019-2022)

•  The Department of Telecom (DoT) and the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop a Broadband Readiness Index (BRI) for Indian States and Union Territories (UT). The first estimate will be made in 2019 and subsequently every year until 2022.
•  The National Digital Communication Policy (NDCP) 2018 acknowledged the need for building a robust digital communications infrastructure leveraging existing assets of the broadcasting and power sectors including collaborative models involving state, local bodies and the private sector.
•  Accordingly, the policy recommended that a BRI for States and UTs be developed to attract investments and address Right of Way(RoW) challenges across India.
•  This index will appraise the condition of the underlying digital infrastructure and related factors at the State/UT level. Such an exercise will provide useful insights into strategic choices made by States for investment allocations in ICT programmes.
•  The framework will not only evaluate a state’s relative development but will also allow for better understanding of a state’s strengths and weaknesses that can feed into evidence-based policy making.
•  The BRI consists of two parts. Part I will focus on infrastructure development based on the measurement of nine parameters.
•  Part II consists of demand side parameters which will be captured through primary surveys. It will include indicators such as percentage of households using computers/ laptops with internet connection, percentage of households with fixed broadband connection, internet users as a percentage of the population, smart phones density, percentage of households with at least one digitally literate member, etc.
•  Theprimary survey will be conducted annually until 2022.

::SPORTS::

Inzamam steps down as Pak selector

•  Former Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq has decided to step down as Pakistan chief selector. Speaking at a press conference in Lahore, Inzamam said that he would not seek an extension or renewal of his contract, which is due to expire by the end of this month.
•  He, however, made it clear that he was ready to take up any new job that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) offered him.
•  Inzamam came under severe criticism as the chief selector after Pakistan failed to qualify for the knockouts in the recently concluded ICC Cricket World Cup.

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