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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 18 August 2018

::NATIONAL::

NCMC reviews flood situation in kerala

The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), in its third meeting today in three days, reviewed the ongoing massive rescue and relief operation in the flood affected areas in Kerala.
In the unprecedented efforts being mobilised under the instructions of the Prime Minister ShriNarendraModi, 67 helicopters, 24 aircraft, 548 motorboats and thousands of rescue personnel from Indian Navy, Army, Air Force, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Coast Guard, other CAPFs, have been pressed into service to rescue and evacuate people from submerged areas to relief camps and for distribution of relief materials.
So far, various Central Ministries have made available food, water and medicines which include 3,00,000 food packets, 6,00,000 MT of milk, 14,00,000 litres of drinking water, 150 potable water purification kits with capacity of 1,00,000 litre each.
Chief Secretary, Kerala, while appreciating timely Central assistance, informed that there is some respite from the rainfall and water level in the dam reservoirs are stabilized. Further, as per IMD forecast, rainfall is expected to recede further barring in one or two districts.

High dropouts in tribal districts due to flawed policies

The flawed policy of the NITI Aayog and the Human Resource Development Ministry to close public schools that have low enrolment rate or single teachers in tribal districts is leading to a huge spike in dropout rates.
Research by the Centre for Adivasi Research and Development has revealed that following the NITI Aayog recommendations in Jharkhand, 1,300 primary and middle schools were merged or closed and the government was targeting another 4,600 schools this year.
The Right to Education Act promises neighbourhood schools. Moreover because of the geographical conditions of the tribal region you need a decentralised system. Many villages are in remote locations and even if only for few children, the school must be located within the village.
Participants at the convention said the government had not paid the post-matric and pre-matric scholarship for students and has an arrears of Rs. 716 crore in unpaid scholarships.
The convention demanded that the medium of instruction at the primary level should be in Adivasi languages.
The students should be given right to choose the language of instruction at pre-matric and post-matric levels. Participants also criticised the government’s decision to stop funds for ashram schools without providing a viable alternative.

::ECONOMY::

MSME credit growth recoveres decline phase

The flow of bank credit to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that took a hit in the aftermath of demonetisation seems to have picked up again, a study by officials at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed.
Data shows that during the April-June quarter, bank credit to MSMEs increased on average by 8.5% year-on-year, mirroring the level of growth during April-June 2015. Credit to micro and small enterprises grew at an even healthier rate.
“MSME credit and especially micro credit to MSMEs, including loans by banks and NBFCs, shows a healthy rate of growth in recent quarters,” the officials wrote. In contrast, while GST implementation does not seem to have had any significant impact on credit, it adversely impacted MSME exports.
The sector faces operational problems due to its size and nature of business, and is, therefore, relatively more susceptible to various shocks to the economy. MSMEs largely operate in the informal sector and comprise a large number of micro enterprises and daily wage earners.

RBI urges payment operators to ensure cybersecurity

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel has urged payment system operators to ensure adequate attention is paid to ensuring cybersecurity and redressing customer grievances.
Operators should ensure that no corner is cut regarding cybersecurityafter all, in a network environment we are only as strong as the weakest link,” Dr. Patel said in his address at the release of UPI 2.0 by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
The RBI posted the text of the speech on its website on Friday. While the RBI would continue to focus on appropriate regulations, strong infrastructure and supervision, Dr. Patel said operators ought to ensure effective redressal of customer grievances and reasonableness of user charges.
The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is one of NPCI’s more successful products as it powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application thus enabling both immediate fund transfers and a variety of payments without a user having to part with sensitive information, Dr. Patel said.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Imran khan sworn in as Pak PM

Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Imran Khan was sworn in at a ceremony here on Saturday, ushering in a new political era as the former cricket captain and World Cup hero officially took the reins of power.
The ceremony at the President’s House marks the end of decades of rotating leadership between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), punctuated by periods of army rule.
No Prime Minister of Pakistan has ever completed a full five-year term. Mr. Khan will have to contend with the same issue as many predecessors: how to maintain a power balance in civil-military relations.
Mr. Khan and his Cabinet face a myriad of challenges, including militant extremism, water shortages, and a rapidly growing population negating growth in the developing country, among others. A massive power outage that plunged over 60% of the port city of Karachi and southwestern Balochistan province on Friday evening starkly highlighted a chronic energy crisis the country faces.

NSCN-Kousts last Indian leader

The Myanmar-based ShangnyuShangwangKhaplang faction of the extremist National Socialist Council of Nagaland, or NSCN-K, has ousted the last of its ‘Indian’ leaders.
Mr.Konyak, 70, is a Naga of Indian origin. A China-trained rebel, he had taken over as chairman of the NSCN-K after Khaplang died in June 2017 in a Yangon hospital after prolonged illness.
After the impeachment, the outfit has appointed Yung Aung, 45, as its acting chairman. Like his uncle Khaplang, he belongs to the Hemi Naga community, native to Myanmar.
A statement issued by the NSCN-K on Friday said Mr.Konyak was found guilty of absolute control of powers and functions and trying to enforce a one-man government in violation of the constitution of the ‘party.’
However, Mr.Konyak “will be allowed to leave unharmed and given safe passage” in recognition of his long service to the “cause of the nation,” the statement said.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Scientists decode wheat genome

In a major scientific breakthrough, a team of international researchers, including 18 from India decoded the wheat genome, considered insurmountable so far.
The information generated will help to identify genes controlling complex agronomic traits such as yield, grain quality, resistance to diseases and pests, as well as tolerance to drought, heat, water logging and salinity.
Reacting to the breakthrough, Science & Technology Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said, “cracking of the bread wheat genome will go a long way in developing climate-resilient wheat and help tide over possible impact of climate change on farm output.” The minister congratulated the Indian team involved in the research and said, it proves our scientists are capable of matching the best in the world in any discipline.
In an article published in ‘Science’, the authors said, the DNA sequence has been ordered and it represents the highest quality genome sequence generated to date for the bread wheat.
The reference genome covers 94% (14.5 Gb) of the entire wheat genome. The bread wheat has a complex hexaploid genome which is 40 times larger than that of the rice genome and 5 times larger than the human genome.

::SPORTS::

Usain Bolt to join Australian A-league club

Usain Bolt says he’s deadly serious about becoming a professional footballer and plans to show what he’s capable of after arriving in Australia on Saturday for a trial stint with an A-League club.
He has been given the chance to prove his worth by the Central Coast Mariners, who have agreed to let him train with the team indefinitely in his pursuit of a playing contract.