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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 23 June 2020

::NATIONAL::

MP’s panel to workout on AarogyaSetu app

After several failed attempts to organise a meeting, both online and offline, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Technology has started working on the various questions of privacy and data security of the government-run AarogyaSetu app, which was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chairperson of the committee ShashiTharoor said the committee’s work “must and will” continue, even though the panel members can’t meet in person or via videoconference.
For now, the committee is forwarding all the questions raised by the members on the AarogyaSetu app to the government and other stakeholders concerned. These replies are then circulated amongst the members for further deliberations.
“Despite the considerable challenges the current situation imposes on us as elected representatives, we will continue to carry out our duties of parliamentary oversight of the government, by providing a constructive check and balance to the working and functioning of the various Ministries under our jurisdiction,” he said.

Supreme court allows PuriRathYatra with restrictions

The Supreme Court today allowed Puri'sRathYatra, scheduled to start from tomorrow, saying it cannot micro-manage the rituals and left it to the wisdom of state, the Centre and temple management to deal with that issue.
The apex court said PuriRathYatra will be held with coordination of Temple committee, State and Central Governments without compromising with health issue. It said, Odisha can even stop the yatra or festivities if they feel it is going out of hand.
The apex court had on June 18th said that in the interest of public health and safety of citizens, this year's PuriRathYatra cannot be allowed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Only selective servitors and police officials will be allowed to pull the chariots of the holy siblings of Lords Jagannath, Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra in view of COVID19.
Odisha Chief Secretary AsitTripathy informed that RathYatra will be conducted smoothly without devotees and with strict adherence to the COVID-19 guidelines.” On the other hand, Chief Minister Naveen Pattanaik has directed the law minister, health minister and school and mass education minister...............

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::ECONOMY::

RBI asks payment systems operators to promote education of digital transactions

Reserve Bank of India has directed payment system operators to undertake targeted multi-lingual campaigns by way of SMS and advertisements to educate their users on safe and secure use of digital payments.
In a circular, the Reserve Bank of India said it has been taking measures to improve awareness through its e-BAAT programmes and organizing campaigns on the safe use of digital payment modes to avoid sharing critical personal information like PIN, OTP and passwords.
RBI said, it is necessary to reinforce efforts to spread awareness as incidents of fraud continue to bedevil digital users, often using the same modus operandi.
To promote safe digital transactions among the general public, RBI has reiterated that users should take care by not sharing with anyone their debit, credit or pre-paid card details. RBI has further advised users not to share their password, PIN, OTP, CVV and UPI-PIN.
The apex bank has also cautioned the public from undertaking banking or other financial transactions through public, open or free WiFi-networks and storing important banking data on the mobile, e-mail, electronic wallet or purse.

Centre launches food processing edition of exclusive investment forum

Minister of Food Processing Industries HarsimratKaurBadal today said that new opportunities are opening up in Food processing sector.
She was launching the Food Processing Edition of the Exclusive Investment Forum. Invest India has designed this forum of unique sectoral series to conduct detailed conversations between global industry leaders and key decision makers from the highest levels of the Central and State Governments.
The Minister said that due to the COVID pandemic, the sector has seen unique challenges and has been playing a very important role in ensuring that the lockdown remained successful.
She said, a few challenges that are currently being faced are those related to global trade which has seen a dip along with the dip in domestic demand. She said, these challenges are leading to opening up of new opportunities such as the exclusive forum which has made it possible for over 180 investors, 6 state governments and the Central government to be at the same place at the same time.
Ms Badal further explained about the opportunities available in the Indian food processing sector to the participants. She also informed that many projects funded by the Ministry have also been getting new orders from new geographies recently.She said that her Ministry will support all states to pick.................

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Japan decides to rename disputed islands with China

A local council in southern Japan voted on Monday to rename an area, including islands disputed with China and Taiwan, a move Beijing denounced as illegal and a “serious provocation”.
The local assembly of Ishigaki city approved a plan to change the name of the area covering the Tokyo-controlled Senkaku Islands — known by Taiwan and China as the Diaoyus — from “Tonoshiro” to “TonoshiroSenkaku”. Local media said another part of Ishigaki is also known as Tonoshiro, and the name change was cast as a bid to avoid confusion.
But the uninhabited islands are at the centre of a festering row between Tokyo and Beijing and the move sparked anger in both Taiwan and mainland China.
“The passing of the so-called administration designation bill by Japan is a serious provocation to China’s territorial sovereignty,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian.
Taiwan says the islands are part of its territory, and also protested the move. “The sovereignty of Diaoyu islands belongs to our country and any move attempting to alter this fact is invalid,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

China to join global pact on arms sales regulation

China will join a global pact to regulate arms sales, with Beijing saying on Monday that it is committed to efforts to “enhance peace and stability” in the world.
The Communist Party leadership’s top legislative body voted on Saturday to adopt a decision on joining the UN Arms Trade Treaty that is designed to control the flow of weapons into conflict zones.
It comes after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans last year to pull the U.S. out of the agreement — which entered into force in 2014.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters that joining the treaty was “another important measure for China to support multilateralism”. It is among the agreements reached under the Obama administration that Mr. Trump has moved to pull out of.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Scientists develop receiver chip for NAVIC and GPS satellites

IIT-Bombay has developed a homegrown receiver chip - Dhruva – that can be used in smartphones and navigation devices to find locations and routes within the country. Dhruva will receive signals from India’s NAVIC group of navigation satellites as well as the US Global Positioning System-based satellites to determine these accurately under all weather conditions.
The radio frequency receiver chip was designed in 18 months by students and researchers at IIT Bombay. It can receive in multiple frequency bands and handle weak signals. Besides, it can be converted into digital bits and processed by any standard digital signal processor (DSP) to determine one’s location precisely.
India has had a fleet of navigational satellites for a few years, but there have been no commercial receivers so far that could receive its signals in multiple frequencies, IIT Bombay said in a statement.
The nine satellites under NAVIC were built as an alternative to the GPS, as part of India’s space agency’s efforts to make the navigation system accessible for commercial applications.
“Since the satellites are far away from the Earth, the received signals are extremely weak compared to the ambient noise floor. This chip can clean up all the interfering signals, sifting out the weak desired navigation signals,” according to IIT Bombay.
The note added that these signals are further amplified by approximately 400,000 times before converting to digital bits using on-chip Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADCs).

::SPORTS::

Indian cricketer RajinderGoel passes away

RajinderGoel, one of the finest left-arm spinners never to have played for the country, passed away on Sunday. Rohtak-based Goel, 77, lost the battle against age-related health issues. He is survived by his wife and son.
Goel, whose cricket journey began with Patiala (later Southern Punjab) during the 1957-58 season, played his last Ranji Trophy match for Haryana in 1984-85.
In 2012, Goel was bestowed the Lifetime Achievement Award by the BCCI. In fact, former.........................

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