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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 19 October 2019

::NATIONAL::

Government affirms commitment to conclude Naga peace deal soon

The Centre has said that it is determined to conclude the ongoing Naga peace process without delay and that endless negotiation under the shadow of guns is not acceptable.
Government of India’s Representative and Interlocutor for Naga Peace Talks, R N Ravi held a detailed consultation meeting with the primary stakeholders of the Naga society at Kohima in Nagaland yesterday.
The meeting was held as some NSCN (I-M) leaders through various media platforms were misleading the people with absurd assumptions and presumptions over what they have already agreed with the Government of India.
The meeting was attended by the apex leadership of all the 14 Naga tribes of Nagaland, all the minority non-Naga tribes of Nagaland, the Nagaland GB Federation, the Nagaland Tribes Council, the Church leaders and Civil Society Organizations.
The Framework Agreement with (NSCN I-M) and the Agreed Position with the Working Committee of Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs) were extensively shared with the leaders, pertinent issues discussed and doubts on competencies clarified.
An officialsaid, a mutually agreed draft comprehensive settlement, including all the substantive issues and competencies, is ready for inking the final agreement.

NGT gives first priority to drinking water, asks industries to find alternatives

National Green Tribunal has said that the availability of drinking water is the first priority. Industries and authorities concerned should find alternative ways for their sustenance instead of permitting indiscriminate withdrawal of groundwater.
A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice A K Goel said that the Precautionary principle, Sustainable Development principle and the Inter-generational equity are part of life.
The panel added that in the absence of replenishment of groundwater, unregulated withdrawal thereof cannot be held to be right of any commercial entity.
The bench also said that shortage of availability of water for commercial purposes cannot be remedied by the withdrawal of groundwater in overexploited, critically exploited and semi-critical exploited (OCS) areas. The bench also said that water is a scarce resource and the industry has to put up with such scarcity.
The Bench added that if industries continue to draw groundwater without NOC from Central Ground Water Authority as per current guidelines and orders of this tribunal in OCS areas, the industries will have to face legal consequences.
The tribunal's observation came while disposing a plea filed by Association of the Industrial Manufactures seeking impleadment in a petition filed by Ghaziabad resident.

::ECONOMY::

Commerce ministry to probe alleged predatory pricing by e-commerce companies

Union Commerce Minister PiyushGoyal has said that the government is probing WalMart-owned Flipkart and Amazon over the alleged predatory pricing. Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Mr.Goyal said detailed questionnaires have been sent to these companies and their response is awaited.
Stating that e-commerce companies have no right to sell products at discounts that will result in retail sector incurring major loss, Mr Goyal said these platforms are only allowed to connect potential sellers and buyers. The Minister said stringent action will be taken, if there is violation of any law in letter or in spirit.
The matter comes after the Confederation of All India Traders had written to the Ministry seeking an audit into the business model of all e-commerce firms and the foreign-owned Amazon and Flipkart in particular. The letter had asked the government to verify Amazon and Flipkart’s claims that individual brands are offering discounts and not them.
Mr.Goyal, who also holds the Railways portfolio, refuted rumours that the Railways might exit its ticketing arm IRCTC which had a stellar stock market debut earlier this week following a hugely successful IPO. Mr.Goyal said the government has no plan to fully sell IRCTC.

Indian defence exports grew by 7 times in last 2 years

India's defence exports have grown seven times in the last two years, reaching a value of two billion dollars. Joint Secretary in the Department of Defence Production Dr. Sanjay Jaju said that the country is working out modalities to become a hub in top class defence production with efforts being made to increase defence exports to five billion dollars in the near future.
Addressing a gathering of security and defence specialists in Bengaluru, he said 440 companies in the private sector have taken up defence production in the last five years. These companies have been given contracts worth five lakh crore rupees for the supply of defence equipment, he said.
On the role of start ups in defence sector, Dr.Jaju said that Artificial Intelligence, autonomous systems, cyber-defence, smart ammunition and weapons are areas in which the start ups are going to play an innovative role.
Speaking on the occasion, Chairman of National Security Advisory Board PS Raghavan pointed out that cyber and space attacks, sanctions and tariffs, drone attacks, electronic warfare, 5G communication network are areas in which future wars will be fought.
Chairman of National Technology Research Organization Satish Chandra Jha said that the need is to integrate ideas on national security with the policy making initiatives.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

External affairs ministry assures solving qualification issues of Indian nurse at UAE

Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan has assured Indian nurses in the United Arab Emirates that qualification issue pertaining to their job will be taken up with the authorities.
Hundreds of Indian nurses who potentially fear job loss due to change in the qualification condition in UAE met Mr Muraleedharan yesterday with their grievances. The Minister assured them that the issue of equivalency of their certificates and other related issues pertaining to their job condition will be taken up by the Indian Government with the UAE authorities.
Addressing a community event in Sharjah, the Minister said that the documents from the Indian Nursing Council have been submitted to the UAE government and due consideration will be given to the documents. He also expressed hope that there will be a positive outcome to this issue and a solution will be found in a very short span of time.
After the UAE made a bachelor's degree the minimum qualification for registered nurses last year, over 200 diploma holders had alleged job loss, while several others are facing demotion to the position of a practical nurse, irrespective of their years of experience.
The Minister also asked all gathered nurses to approach and register their issues with Education Consul at the Indian Consulate in Dubai. He also assured the nurses that during his next visit, he would meet the UAE Minister of Health and Minister of Education to resolve their problems. Mr Muraleedharan is on a two- day visit to UAE to attend the ministerial-level meeting of the 5th Abu Dhabi Dialogue.

FATF allows Pakistan to remain in Grey list

Pakistan continues to be on the Grey List of the international terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force. Islamabad has been warned of action for its failure to combat money laundering and terror financing. The decision of FATF was taken today after the completion of its five-day plenary session in Paris.
By making this decision public, the FATF has given notice to the global financial institutions that they need to prepare to red flag the jurisdiction and ready their systems for the eventuality in February 2020.
If Pakistan continues with the 'Grey List' or is put in the 'Dark Grey' list, it would be very difficult for the country to get financial aid from the IMF, the World Bank and the European Union which will make its financial condition more precarious.
The FATF Plenary noted that Pakistan addressed only five out of the 27 tasks given to it in controlling funding to terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. Both these groups are responsible for a series of attacks in India.
In light of the additional fact of Pakistan's poor performance on its mutual evaluation, chances of Pakistan exiting the Grey List in the next few years are now reduced to nil and the possibility of a formal Black Listing in February 2020 is now highly probable.
Pakistan was placed on the Grey List by the FATF in June last year. It was given a plan of action to complete it by October 2019 or face the risk of being placed on the blacklist with Iran and North Korea.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Study finds earth like worlds common in cosmos

Anew way of studying planets in other solar systems - by doing sort of an autopsy on planetary wreckage devoured by a type of star called a white dwarf - is showing that rocky worlds with geochemistry similar to Earth may be quite common in the cosmos.
In a study published on Thursday, researchers studied six white dwarfs whose strong gravitational pull had sucked in shredded remnants of planets and other rocky bodies that had been in orbit. This material, they found, was very much like that present in rocky planets such as Earth and Mars in our solar system.
Given that Earth harbors an abundance of life, the findings offer the latest tantalizing evidence that planets similarly capable of hosting life exist in large numbers beyond our solar system.
Planets and other objects that once orbited it can be ejected into interstellar space. But if they stray near its immense gravitation field, they "will be shredded into dust, and that dust will begin to fall onto the star and sink out of sight," said study lead author Alexandra Doyle, a UCLA graduate student in geochemistry and astrochemistry.
"This is where that 'autopsy' idea comes from," Doyle added, noting that by observing the elements from the massacred planets and other objects inside the white dwarf scientists can understand their composition.
The researchers observed a fundamental characteristic of the rocks: their state of oxidation. The amount of oxygen present during the formation of these rocks was high - just as it was during the formation of our solar system's rocky material. They focused on iron, which when oxidized ends up as rock.

::SPORTS::

Indian boxers perform well in Asian junior championships

Indian boxers at the Asian Junior Championships, clinched a bumper tally of 21 medals, including six golds and nine silvers, to end with the best medal haul among 26 competing countries in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.
The Indian men's squad fetched two golds, three silvers and an equal number of bronzes, while the women claimed four gold, six silver and three bronze medals. The team ended top in terms of medals won but finished second behind Uzbekistan (20) which had a better gold count of eight.
The gold-medallists among men were Vishvanath Suresh (46kg) and BishwamitraChongtham (48kg). The top women finishers for the country were reigning national champion Kalpana (46kg), PreetiDahiya (60kg), TanshbirKaurSandhu (80kg) and AlfiyaTarannumPathan (80kg).