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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 18 August 2019

::NATIONAL::

Centre to form committee to review Defence Procurement Procedure

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has constituted a committee chaired by the Director-General (Acquisition) to review the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP), 2016 and the Defence Procurement Manual (DPM), 2009.
“The committee will revise and align the procedures to ensure seamless flow from asset acquisition to lifecycle support,” the Defence Ministry said in a statement. The committee has been given six months to submit its recommendations.
The Ministry said the DPP 2016 and the DPM 2009 had been due for revision and aligning the procedures “will ensure seamless flow from asset acquisition to life cycle support and strengthen the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the government”. Apart from DG (Acquisition), 11 members, not below the rank of Joint Secretary/Major General equivalent, are part of this committee.
The terms of reference include revising the procedures to remove procedural bottlenecks and hasten acquisition; align and standardise the provisions to optimise lifecycle support for equipment; simplify policy and procedures to facilitate greater participation of the industry; and develop robust defence industrial base.

Govt. to launch pension plan for small traders

A pension scheme for small traders, one of the priorities of Prime Minister NarendraModi’s government in the first 100 days of its second term, is likely to have a soft launch on the evening of August 19, two officials from the Union Labour and Employment Ministry said.
According to the Ministry’s 100-day plan, the PradhanMantriLaghuVyapariMaan-Dhan scheme will target enrolling 25 lakh subscribers in 2019-2020 and 2 crore by 2023-2024.
Apart from an online portal that will be launched, people will be able to apply for the scheme through the common service centres already in place for other schemes.
Modelled on the pension scheme for the unorganised sector workers launched in the first term of the Modi government, the scheme for traders was among the proposals passed by the Cabinet on May 31 in its first meeting after re-election. The scheme was notified by the Ministry on July 22, the date from which it will be considered applicable.
Traders aged between 18 and 40 who have an annual turnover of less than Rs. 1.5 crore are eligible.

::ECONOMY::

Loan growth dragged on by service segments

Growth in bank credit moderated during the first quarter of the current financial year following a slowdown in the services sector while loans for consumer durables contracted significantly.
According to the latest data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on the sector-wise deployment of bank loans, there was a 71.5% year-on-year contraction in the consumer durables category till June 21, compared with the 17.3% growth in the year-ago period.
Consumer loans are under the personal loan category where growth slowed down to 16.6% from 17.9%.Outstanding bank credit to the consumer loan segment fell sharply to Rs. 5,800 crore from Rs. 20,300 crore.
Loan growth to the services sector slowed to 13% year-on-year from 23.3% from a year ago. After recording 13.2% year-on-year growth in 2018-19, bank credit moderated to 12.2% year-on-year till August 2.
One marked exception is in home loans, which is still holding steady. Housing loans have grown 18.9% year-on-year on top of the 15.8% growth a year ago.While there is a demand slowdown, RBI has cut interest rates by 110 basis points in 2019 to boost loan growth.

Centre to provide debt waivers under insolvency law

The government plans to give debt waiver for small distressed borrowers under the insolvency law framework.
The proposed waiver would be offered as part of 'Fresh Start' provisions under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
Corporate Affairs Secretary InjetiSrinivas said, discussions have been held with the microfinance industry regarding criteria for the proposed waiver for small distressed borrowers from the economically weaker section (EWS).
Mr Srinivas emphasised that the waiver, as part of individual insolvency, would be for the most distressed within the EWS.The IBC provides the framework to deal with distressed assets through a market-driven and time-bound process.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

North Korea and Chinaexpand defence cooperation

Top military leaders from North Korea and China have recommitted themselves to strengthened exchanges between their armed forces during a meeting in Beijing.
The yesterday's meeting came as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised another test-firing of an unspecified new weapon, seen as an attempt to pressurise Washington and Seoul over nuclear negotiations and joint military exercises.
The official Xinhua News agency reported that Zhang Youxia, the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, met Kim Su Kil, director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army.
Zhang said China's military wanted closer communication to promote cooperation and mutual support, so as to contribute to the consolidation and development of bilateral relations and regional peace and stability.

India-Bhutan relationship strengthens further

Prime Minister NarendraModi has returned home after a successful two-day visit to Bhutan.
During the visit, Prime Minister Modi and the Bhutanese leadership resolved to take the bilateral cooperation beyond hydroelectric power sector. The two countries signed various MoUs to diversify the friendship. The sectors include, space, education, science, technology and legal education.
Prime Minister Modi also addressed the students of Royal Bhutan University in Thimphu this morning. He said that happiness shall always prevail over mindless hate.
He said, Bhutan’s message to humanity is happiness which springs from harmony. Mr Modi appreciated that Bhutan has understood the essence of happiness as well as the spirit of harmony, togetherness and compassion.
The Prime Minister said, going beyond the traditional sectors of cooperation, both countries are seeking to cooperate extensively in new frontiers, from schools to space, and digital payments to disaster management.
He said that 1.3 billion Indian people are ready to partner with Bhutanese people in their future endeavours, especially in education.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Researchers develop AI system to detect pests,diseases in banana

Identifying diseases and pests on banana crops will now be just a click away. Researchers have developed a new artificial intelligence system (AI) which can look at photographs and tell what disease the plant has and also give recommendations and treatment options to the farmers. The results showed that the model was over 90% accuracy.
The neural network was given about 20,000 images showing diseased and healthy plants. “Just like teaching a kid to tell an elephant from a horse, we taught the AI to identify leaf, root, fruit diseases and pests. Pictures from Uganda, Colombia, Congo and India were fed into the system for the training,” says Dr.SivalingamElayabalan from the Department of Biotechnology.
The app is now being tested across many countries and when the confidence of 100% is reached it will be available for free download. “Yellow leaf spot and Fusarium wilt are the major fungal diseases in India and farmers spend a lot of money on fungicides.
Apart from the fungal disease, the viral disease such as Banana Bunchy top virus is a big problem in hilly areas of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Northeast region.

::SPORTS::

India wins gold at Asian tennis championships

India have won gold at the Under 12 Asian Tennis Team championship held in Kazakhstan. India defeated Chinese Taipei 2-1 in the summit clash to win the title.
The final was a tie of three matches - 2 singles and one doubles and India won both the singles matches while lost the doubles encounter.
The team comprised ManasDhamme, ArnavPaprakar and Tamil Nadu's PranavRethin. Manas and Rethin won their singles matches. Manas and Arnav, however, lost their doubles encounter. 12-year-old Manas remained unbeaten in the entire tournament.