Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 23 September 2018

::NATIONAL::

Centre to seek parliament support for triple talaq bill

Days after the promulgation of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights of Marriage) Ordinance, 2018, Prime Minister NarendraModi announced here on Saturday that the NDA government would soon get the triple talaq Bill approved by Parliament.
“Three days ago, the Centre took a decision that was needed for years. The decision was on triple talaq. Nobody was ready to mention it and talk about the problem fearing loss of votes,” Mr.Modi said at a public meeting.
“When our government passed the triple talaq Bill in the LokSabha, attempts were made to stall it in RajyaSabha. But now we are committed to saving our Muslim sisters and daughters from the practice. We have made the practice illegal by bringing in a new ordinance,” he said.
The PM was on a day’s visit to Odisha to inaugurate a number of projects, including the Veer SurendraSai Airport at Jharsuguda, the Garjanbahal open cast mines project and the Jharsuguda-Sardega railway line of the MCL in Sundargarh district, and coal production and transportation from the Dulanga coal mine of the NTPC in Sundargarh.
He laid the foundation stone for a coal gasification-based fertiliser plant at Talcher Fertilizers Ltd. here. Governor GaneshiLal, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Union Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas DharmendraPradhan and Union Tribal Affairs Minister JualOram were present at the inauguration of the airport at Jharsuguda.

International day of sign languages celebrated

International Day of Sign Languages” was celebrated by Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC) under Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment here today.
Addressing on the occasion, ShriKrishan Pal Gurjar congratulated all Deaf and Dumb persons on the International Day of Sign Languages and said the Union Government is committed to the welfare of Divyangjan and many important steps have been taken during past 4 years.
He said that his ministry has written to all ministries to make special provision for Sign language interpreter in all their functions and programmes so that the deaf and dumb persons may also get benefitted. He said that Sign language is a powerful visual language which can revolutionize deaf education and develop qualified human resources.
International Day of Sign Languages is celebrated annually across the world on 23 September every year along with International Week of the Deaf. The choice of 23 September is the same date that the WFD was established in 1951. The theme of International Day of Sign Languages is "With Sign Language, Everyone is Included !” With Sign Language, Everyone is Included.
Sign language has been used for over centuries. The language capabilities of deaf children who use sign language are better. There is no advantage to delaying exposure to sign language, and research on the development of language has found that early exposure reduces the risks of language development. Lot of intensive therapy is needed after CI, even then the success is not guaranteed.

::ECONOMY::

Centre’s new MSP procurement policy makes bumper kharif

The biggest increases in acreage this kharif season come from water guzzling crops such as sugarcane and paddy. More resilient crops such as nutri-cereals — ragi, jowar, bajra — have dropped in acreage this year, Agriculture Ministry data reveals.
As on September 20, paddy has been planted over 2.5% more area than usual for the corresponding week. Sugarcane acreage is up a whopping 12% from the norm.
On the other hand, the acreage of nutri-cereals has dropped 4.3%, despite the government increasing the MSP for these millets and allowing their inclusion in the Public Distribution System.
The acreage of pulses has risen 16% compared to the average over the past five years, but has actually dropped by more than a percent from last year’s acreage.
Ashok Gulati, Infosys Chair Professor for Agriculture at ICRIER, pointed out that all sugarcane and a large chunk of the paddy harvest are procured by the government or bought at government-mandated prices. “So farmers’ market risk is covered.”

PM launches AyushmanBharat at Ranchi

The Prime Minister, ShriNarendraModi, today launched the health assurance scheme: Ayushman Bharat - PradhanMantri Jan ArogyaYojana - at Ranchi, Jharkhand.
At the same event, the Prime Minister unveiled plaques to lay the Foundation Stone for medical colleges at Chaibasa and Koderma. He also inaugurated 10 Health and Wellness Centres.
Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said that this launch has been done with a vision to provide the poorest of the poor, and the underprivileged sections of society, with better healthcare and treatment. He said this scheme, which envisions health assurance of 5 lakh rupees per family per year, will benefit over 50 crore people, and is the world's biggest health assurance scheme.
He said the first part of Ayushman Bharat - the health and wellness centres, was launched on BabasahebAmbedkar's birth anniversary, and the second part - the health assurance scheme, is being launched two days before DeendayalUpadhyay's birth anniversary.
The Prime Minister said that for the States that are a part of PMJAY, people can get the benefit of the scheme in whichever of these States they go to. He said more than 13,000 hospitals across the country have joined the scheme so far.
The Prime Minister expressed confidence that through the efforts of all those involved with PMJAY, and the dedication of the doctors, nurses, healthcare providers, ASHAs, ANMs etc, the scheme would become a success.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Vice president inaugurates Bhutan week

The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu has said that India considers Bhutan to be part of its own family. He was addressing the gather after inaugurating the Bhutan Week, along with Her Majesty the Queen Mother of Bhutan, SangayChoden, on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between India and Bhutan, here today. He was give the traditional Bhutanese welcome on his arrival at IGNCA.
The Vice President said that India-Bhutan partnership is anchored on utmost trust, goodwill and mutual understanding at all levels. It is a celebration of the shared values that we cherish and we feel Bhutan is part of our family, he said.
Calling India & Bhutan equal partners in their endeavor to achieve peace, prosperity and development of our two peoples, the Vice President lauded the contribution of people on the both sides for strengthening India-Bhutan friendship.
The Vice President said that India Bhutan partnership is multi-faceted and encompasses several areas of cooperation in sectors such as trade and economic ties, infrastructure development, security cooperation and most importantly people to people contacts.
The Vice President said that Bhutan’s rich cultural traditions and its unique way of life have charmed and fascinated the people of India over the centuries and added that events such as Bhutan Week would further strengthen the bond between the two culturally rich nations. This event will also enable people of India, including youth, to experience first -hand the rich cultural heritage of Bhutan, its arts and crafts, cuisine, textile and other organic and home-grown agricultural produce, and its enchanting music and dance traditions, he added.
Lauding Bhutans development model, the Vice President said that Bhutan has managed to combine sustainable development with enhanced quality of living and happiness quotient of its and called it a feat worthy of emulation.

Defence minister Concludes Visit to the Arab Republic of Egypt

RakshaMantri Smt. NirmalaSitharaman concluded a two-day official bilateral visit to Egypt (20-22 September 2018), at the invitation of the Minister of Defence and Military Production & Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Arab Republic of Egypt.
RakshaMantri and her counterpart, General Mohamed Ahmed Zaki Mohamed, Minister of Defence and Military Production & Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, noted with satisfaction the steadily growing bilateral defence ties between the two nations. They reviewed ongoing bilateral cooperation activities and discussed potential opportunities to further deepen ties and exchanges in the defence sphere.
The Ministers decided to explore deeper cooperation in the fields of defence industry and R&D, including joint production of defence equipment. Both sides reaffirmed their intent to enhance cooperation in counter-terrorism. Naval cooperation, including cooperation in Maritime Domain Awareness, was identified as an area of potential.
India and Egypt would also intensify training interactions between their militaries. The two countries are also working towards holding joint exercises. The two Ministers agreed that technical and expert level delegations in relevant fields would be exchanged to follow up on their discussions.
RakshaMantri's visit to Cairo was reflective of the vision to build a New Partnership for a New Era between India and Egypt as articulated by Prime Minister Modi and President Sisi during the Egyptian President's State Visit to India in 2016.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Lithium Metal battery to help reduce carbon emissions

Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a new battery made partly from carbon dioxide captured from power plants. While still based on early-stage research and far from commercial deployment, this battery could continuously convert carbon dioxide into a solid mineral carbonate as it discharges, said the study published in the journal Joule.\
The researchers believe that the new battery formulation could help reduce the emission of the greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.The battery is made from lithium metal, carbon and a novel electrolyte.
In lithium–carbon-dioxide batteries, which use the gas as a reactant during discharge, the low reactivity of carbon dioxide has typically required the use of metal catalysts.These remain expensive, poorly understood, and the reactions are difficult to control.
By incorporating the gas in a liquid state, however, Betar Gallant, Assistant Professor at MIT, and her coworkers found a way to achieve electrochemical carbon dioxide conversion using only a carbon electrode.The key is to pre-activate the carbon dioxide by incorporating it into an amine solution, the study said.
“ Aqueous amines and non-aqueous battery electrolytes are not normally used together, but we found their combination imparts new and interesting behaviours that can increase the discharge voltage and allow for sustained conversion,” Dr Gallant added.

::SPORTS::

Wrestling federation gets SAI approval to appoint foreign coaches

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has got the Sports Authority of India’s approval to hire three foreign coaches for one year.
Names of HosseinKarimi of Iran, TemoKazarashvili of Georgia and Andrew Cook of USA have been cleared as foreign coaches for National men’s freestyle, Greco Roman and women sides resp ectively.
“Their appointment is for one year and can be extended, depending on their performance,” said WFI assistant secretary VinodTomar on Saturday.
The trio will work with present Indian coaches, Jagminder Singh (freestyle), Kuldeep Singh (Greco Roman) and Kuldeep Malik (women).
However, it may be difficult for the foreign coaches to join the squad before the World championships, starting in Budapest on October 20.