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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 25 September 2019

::NATIONAL::

VP says education policy must focus on comprehensive Indian history

Vice President M.Venkaiah Naidu has said the new education policy must focus on incorporating a complete and comprehensive history of India, apart from the rich culture and heritage.
He was addressing the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations of BHS Higher Education Society in Bengaluru today.
Mr. Naidu said it is time to revamp our education system and reorient the curriculum to suit the needs of the 21st century, while upholding the Indian values and ethos.
Mr. Naidu said all teachers, educationists, researchers and parents should study the draft of the new education policy and make suggestions for making it robust and more Indian. He said India should once again become a vishwaguru and a hub of innovation and knowledge.
The Vice President called for drastically revamping the education system to make our institutions of higher learning the centres of excellence with international standards.

Supreme court asks centre to frame guidelines to deal with social media misuse

The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to apprise it within three weeks about the time-frame needed to come up with guidelines to curb misuse of social media.
It said neither the Apex Court nor the High Court is competent to decide this scientific issue and it is for the government to come up with appropriate guidelines to deal with.
A bench of justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose expressed serious concern over some social media platforms not being able to trace the originator of a message or an online content and said the government must step in now.
The bench said neither the apex court nor the high court is competent to decide this scientific issue and it is for the government to come up with appropriate guidelines to deal with these issues.

::ECONOMY::

RBI imposes restrictions on PMC bank

In a surprising move, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed restrictions on Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank, under which the depositors cannot withdraw more than ₹1,000 from their accounts.
A former chief general manager (CGM) of the central bank has been appointed as an administrator.
The directions, which have been imposed under Sub-section (1) of Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, also barred the lender from extending any fresh loans or making any investments, except in government securities.
The lender will be allowed to pay salaries to the staff, as also rent. The bank is also allowed to renew term deposits on maturity in the same name.
The move came as a surprise because the bank’s financials were not in a bad shape. It had made a net profit of ₹99.69 crore in 2018-19 compared with ₹100.90 crore in the previous year.
The net non-performing asset ratio of the bank was 2.19% as at end March 2019, much lower than many public sector banks. The deposit base of the bank was ₹11,617 crore as on end March 2019 - registering a growth of 17% on-year while advances growth was 13% to ₹8383 crore.

Railway zones asked to identify scope of private player participation

The Railways have asked the different zones to identify potentially-viable and operationally-feasible routes for the introduction of privately-operated passenger trains.
The Railways have asked the zones to identify the routes by September 27, when a meeting will be held with the Member Traffic on the issue. The indicative list identified by the Railway Board for private train operation includes intercity, long-distance and suburban routes.
In the note, the Railway Board has said that private operators would be identified through a participative bid process to run private passenger day/overnight trains that would connect important cities.
On September 23, the Railways notified that the Delhi-Lucknow Tejas Express would be operational from October 5.
This is the first train that will be fully run by the Railways’ subsidiary, IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation), and is the national transporter’s first step towards privatising operations of some trains.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

India to accept RCEP norms on investments

While India has not yet signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement, it has accepted suggestions of other countries regarding rules on investments, a source aware of the developments told.
India and the other RCEP countries are currently in the final phase of negotiations in Vietnam.
India has so far agreed to several provisions that bring it in line with the investment rules applicable in most comparable countries, including banning host countries from mandating that the investing companies transfer technology and training to their domestic partners, and removing the cap on the quantum of royalties domestic companies can pay their foreign partners.
If the RCEP agreement is signed, these rules are expected to attract greater investment in India from the other 15 RCEP countries.Indian laws currently have the provision wherein companies investing in the country can be made to transfer technology or know-hows to their domestic counterparts.
The government and Reserve Bank of India also currently impose a cap on the royalties a domestic company can pay to its foreign parent or partner, for certain kinds of investments.

Russia gives support to Paris climate agreement formally

Russian Prime minister Dmitry Medvedev today gave formal support to the Paris climate agreement and ordered Russian laws to be adapted to its obligation.
According to a decree posted on the government's website, the document signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that Russia is formally adopting the 2015 Paris agreement and will now allocate financial resources to developing countries for prevention and adaptation to climate change.
The news comes just hours ahead of a new major UN climate summit, aimed to reinvigorate the faltering Paris accord as mankind is releasing more greenhouse gases than ever into the atmosphere.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

UN report says 2015-2019 as the hottest 5 year period

Average global temperature between 2015-2019 is on track to be the hottest of any five-year period on record, a U.N. report by the world’s leading climate agencies said on September 22.
“It is currently estimated to be 1.1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial [1850-1900] times and 0.2 degrees Celsius warmer than 2011-2015,” said the report titled United in Science, a synthesis of key findings.
Other major takeaways from the report include that the extent of Arctic summer sea ice has declined at a rate of 12% per decade over the past 40 years, with the four lowest values between 2015 and 2019.
Overall, the amount of ice lost from the Antarctic ice sheet increased by a factor of six each year between 1979 and 2017, while glacier loss for 2015-19 is also the highest for any five-year period on record.
The report comes ahead of a major U.N. climate summit on September 23 that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called to ask countries to raise their greenhouse gas reduction targets.
On this metric, too, the world is failing. The report found that rather than falling, carbon dioxide grew 2% in 2018, reaching a record high of 37 billion tonnes.

::SPORTS::

Manipur wins national women’s football championship

Defending champion Manipur have clinched the title of the 25th Senior Women's National Football Championship for the 20th time.
In the final at CHF Ground in Pasighat today, Manipur defeated Railways 1-0 in a thrilling contest. The first half witnessed no goals from either side.Though both the teams got good opportunities but failed to convert them.
In the 67th minute, Bala Devi gave the breakthrough for Manipur. Railways fought back and created opportunities till the last second, but had to settle with the runner’s up.
Bala Devi is the highest scorer in the tournament with 20 goals. Railways’ Sanju was declared the Player of the tournament.