Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 16 September 2018

::NATIONAL::

PM launches Swachhta hi Seva campaign

Prime Minister NarendraModi launched the “Swachhata Hi Seva” (“cleanliness is service”) campaign on Saturday, and took up a broom to clean a school named after Dalit icon B.R. Ambedkar. Union Ministers and BJP leaders and workers participated in similar exercises across the country.
In a nearly two-hour video interaction with people from across the country, including religious leaders, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and noted personalities such as Amitabh Bachchan and Ratan Tata, Mr.Modi said the sanitation coverage in India had increased from 40% to over 90% in the four years of the “Swachh Bharat” (Clean India) project.
He launched the “cleanliness is service” exercise to push for greater public participation in one of his government’s centrepiece programmes launched on October 2, 2015. It will continue till Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary next month.
All sections of society and every part of the country had joined the cleanliness drive, he said, exhorting people to rededicate themselves to fulfilling Gandhiji’s dream of a clean India.
The Prime Minister spoke to people in States such as Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana. He also interacted with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel involved in cleaning the Pangong Lake and its surroundings in Leh, besides religious and spiritual figures, including SadhguruJaggiVasudev, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Mata Amritanandamayi.

Centre worried upon report on diabetes

The recently-released Global Burden of Disease Study 2016 has shown that the prevalence of diabetes has increased more rapidly in the less-developed States of the country. The report has also highlighted the need for policy and health system action commensurate with the disease burden in each State to ensure more effective prevention and management of diabetes.
The study, authored by Nikhil Tandon et al, goes on to warn: “If uncontrolled, diabetes and its complications are likely to take a heavy toll on India’s healthcare system in the coming decades.” The total number of people with diabetes grew from 26 million in 1990 to 65 million in 2016. The prevalence of diabetes in India was 5.5 % in 1990, but it has increased to 7.7 % in 2016.
Terming the increase “a potentially-explosive public health situation”, it calls for effective policy implementation. When combined with appropriate allocation of financial and human resources, and a robust disease monitoring system, this would help in prevention, treatment and reduction of diabetes deaths and, in turn, curb the growing disease burden.
Diabetes contributed to 3% of all deaths in India, with an increase in death rates due to diabetes from 1990 to 2016. This highlights the low likelihood of meeting national and global targets for reducing deaths due to diabetes by 2025 and 2030, respectively, the report states.
Among the risk factors contributing to diabetes in India in 2016, high BMI had the highest impact, while the other factors were dietary risks, tobacco use, occupational exposure to secondhand smoke, low physical activity, and alcohol use.

::ECONOMY::

ParyatanParv programme inaugurated by tourism ministry

The ‘ParyatanParv’ by the Ministry of Tourism was inaugurated by ShriRajnath Singh, Union Home Minister, in presence of Shri K.J. Alphons, Union Minister for Tourism, Smt. RashmiVerma, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and other dignitaries from participating Central Ministries and State GovernmentsatRajpath Lawns, New Delhi, today. This is the second edition of “ParyatanParv”, a nation-wide celebration of Tourism, from the 16th to 27th September, 2018.
Inaugurating the Parv, ShriRajnath Singh said that India is the only country where all major religions of the world, diverse culture, customs and cuisinesare found and, we should see and experience this Incredible India. The Home Minister added that the Government has ensured ‘ease of travel’ through various steps like simplificationof process of e-touristvisa application.
The Minister also urged Indians to visit various places in the country and thereby understand its rich and varied culture &heritage, also enjoy its natural beauty.
Speaking at the event the Shri K J Alphons said that Indians have made 1.8 billion domestic trips in the last year and added that the Ministry is aiming for double these visits in next 3 years. The Tourism Minister also called upon everyone to see, experience and get transformed by travelling across India.
Earlier in the day, India Tourism Kolkata, along with IHM, Kolkata and other stakeholders organized a Heritage Walk, from iconic Victoria Memorial Hall after a Swachhata activity, walking through the famous Queensway, Cathedral Road, Chowringhee covering Heritage monuments like St. Paul’s Cathedral, Kolkata Race Course and Indian Museum.

HRD ministry inagurates practice centres for higher education entrance examinations

The Union Minister for HRD ShriPrakashJavadekar has inaugurated a network of more than 3,400 Test Practice Centres (TPCs) spread across the 622 Districts in the country. 25 Test Practice Centres (TPCs) joined Minister of HRD through Google Hangouts in this inauguration at New Delhi today.
These test centres have been set up to facilitate students appearing in entrance examinations for Higher Education to hold practice sessions to enable them to get used to the changed mode and pattern of examination.
While interacting with Test Practice Centres (TPCs), the Union Minister said that the government is committed to provide quality education with equity, therefore we are launching Test Practice Centres across the countryfor those students who do not have computers and smart phones. Now no student will suffer due to lack of resources, the Minister added.
He further said that the government has changed the pattern of JEE (Mains) and UGC NET Examination from this year. Now it has become computer based instead of Pen and Paper mode. The new exam pattern is more Transparent, leak proof, scientific, student friendly and fast.
In order to provide facility for practice for the changed pattern, National Testing Agency (NTA) has established Test Practice Centres across the country.NTA has also launched a practice App through which students can practice on their own on their computers or on smartphones.This is the real revolution in the field of competitive examinations, the Minister explained.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Vice president addresses Serbian parliament

Marking the revival of the spirit of warmth and cooperation of Marshal Tito-Pandit Nehru years, the Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu was extended the rare honour of addressing the special session of the Parliament of the Republic of Serbia in Belgrade last night.
It was in the same hallowed hall of the National Assembly of Serbia that former Prime Minister,Shri Jawaharlal Nehru addressed the world leaders while launching the Non-Alignment Movement along with the veteran leader of Yugoslavia Marshal Tito.
In his hour long address to the laws makers of the host country, Shri Naidu fondly recalled the close affinity and shared vision with which leaders of both the countries played a key role in launching the Non Aligned Movement (NAM).
From the early days of Independent India, both countries laid great emphasis on NAM and contributed much to creation of a new and democratic world order, particularly for the post-colonial third world that challenged the concept of bipolar world. The changes in global geo-politics now again give us an opportunity to work together for mutual benefit and for sharing prosperity with others”.
During his talks with the top leaders and businessmen of Serbia, the Vice President gave a detailed account of the rapid strides being made by India in various fields including an enabling, predictable and reform oriented financial and investment eco-systems offering mutually beneficial partnerships. Voicing concerns over the menace of terrorism, he called for early finalization of draft Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT).

Myanmar and China establish new economic corridor

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) got a high-octane boost last week, when Myanmar — facing the heat from the West because of the Rohingya refugee crisis — inked an agreement with Beijing to establish a cross-border economic corridor.
The 1,700 km corridor will provide China yet another node to access the Indian Ocean. Already, Gwadar port has become Beijing’s star gateway to the Arabian Sea.
“The China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) can become a major factor in lifting the economies of landlocked southwest China, which includes the provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan, by providing them a passage to the Indian Ocean,” said Long Xingchun, associate professor at China’s West Normal University.
The CMEC will also reduce Beijing’s trade and energy reliance on the Malacca Straits — the narrow passage that links the Indian Ocean to the Pacific. Chinese planners worry that the military domination of the U.S. there can threaten one of China’s major economic lifelines.
The CMEC will run from Yunnan Province of China to Mandalay in Central Myanmar. From there, it will head towards Yangon, before terminating at the Kyaukpyu Special Economic Zone (SEZ) on the Bay of Bengal.
India’s tepid enthusiasm for the previously proposed Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor also appears to have persuaded China to head for the CMEC.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

UN sets up plan to combat TB

UN member-states have agreed on a global plan to step up the fight against tuberculosis, the world’s number one killer among infectious diseases, settling a row with the U.S. over access to cheap drugs.
Following weeks of tough negotiations, the text of a final declaration won approval and will be formally adopted at the first-ever TB summit on September 26 in New York.
In July, South Africa clashed with the U.S. over proposals to water down language recognising the right of poorer countries to access cheaper medicines.
The contested language referred to the so-called TRIPS trade arrangements dealing with intellectual property rights. A compromise was reached that strengthened references to TRIPS. At the summit, world leaders will commit to end the epidemic by 2030 and come up with $13 billion annually to achieve that goal.

PSLV set to launch 2 U.K satellites

A PSLV launch on Sunday night will put two earth observation satellites from the U.K. to space.There is no Indian satellite on this flight. PSLV-C42 will be the first fully commercial trip of the year, breaking a five-month-long lull for the Indian Space Research Organisation.
ISRO did not make any launch post-April 12, after it put replacement navigation satellite, IRNSS-1I to space on the PSLV-C41 rocket.
A few days after that, it recalled its GSAT-11 from the South American launch port of Kourou and weeks before it was due for a launch ISRO Chairman K. Sivan said the interval was not connected with the satellite recall but for the sake of readiness of the two customer satellites.
PSLV-C42 is scheduled for launch at 10.08 p.m. from the first launch pad of the SatishDhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. It will lift NovaSAR and S1-4 to a sun-synchronous ('pole-to-pole') orbit 583 km from Earth. The entire flight up to the release of the satellites is designed to happen within 17.5 minutes.
The satellites are owned by Surrey Satellite Technologies Ltd., which signed a commercial launch contract with Antrix Corporation, an ISRO release said.

::SPORTS::

Lewis Hamilton triumphs in Singapore grand prix

Lewis Hamilton scorched to Singapore Grand Prix pole position in his Mercedes with a red hot lap of 1min, 36.015sec at the Marina Bay street circuit on Saturday.
Max Verstappen of Red Bull will start on the front row for Sunday’s race alongside Hamilton after coming second, 0.319sec behind the Englishman, but Sebastian Vettel could only manage third.

Indian mens hockey team aims for world cup

They scored loads of goals, even broke the World record while doing so, but one loss undid all the good work the Indian men’s hockey team had done at the recent Asian Games in Jakarta.
The painful semifinal loss to Malaysia spoiled India’s chances of booking an automatic berth to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“The Asian Games was the easiest opportunity for us to qualify for the Olympics, we missed that, but that was not our last chance. Rather than worrying about what happened in Jakarta, we should learn from the mistakes there,” said Sreejesh, also India’s goalkeeper.
The focus is on the World Cup, which begins in Bhubaneswar on November 28, and next month’s Asian Champions Trophy in Muscat.