Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 26 September 2017

::NATIONAL::

‘Saubhagya’ scheme for household electrification

• The welfare of the poor is linked to the identity of the NDA government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.
• He was speaking at the launch of a Rs. 16,000 crore scheme, Saubhagya, under which households across the country that have no access to electricity, will be given power connections free of cost.
• Under the PM SahajBijli Har GharYojana (Saubhagya), every household in the country, whether it is in a village or a city or in a far-flung area, will be given an electricity connection. No price will be charged for the poor to get an electricity connection, and the government will go to their houses to give them the connection.
• The government will bear the expected Rs. 16,000 crore cost of giving electricity connections to the four crore households in the country, which the Prime Minister regretted are yet to get any electricity and haven’t seen a light bulb.
• “It’s been over 125 years when the famous scientist Thomas Alva Edison invented the bulb and said: ‘We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles’,” Mr. Modi stressed, highlighting that it was unfortunate many households were still lit only with candles or lanterns.
• Arguing that few would have imagined a government that would give bank accounts to 30 crore poor people, insure 15 crore people at a cost of 90 paise per day and reduce the price of stents and knee replacements, the Prime Minister said the dreams of the poor were the dreams of his government.

Stone mining activity in Shivapura village stayed by NGT

• The Chennai Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), on September 20, 2017, stayed stone mining activity in a stone mining unit at Shivapura village beyond the area stipulated under Environmental Clearance given to it on September 18, 2015.
• Taking cognisance of the Google imagery of the mining site produced by the applicants as evidence which showed that stone mining has taken place much beyond the permitted area and without demarcating the boundary, the NGT had further directed the Deputy Commissioner to report to it the nature/ extent of quarrying that has taken place in the area, on the next date of hearing on November 7, 2017.
• The residents of the village had submitted a memorandum on August 14, 2017, stating that stone mining and stone crushing activity was being conducted by the private firm at Shivapura without following any safety guidelines/procedures thereby risking the life of poor workers and villagers.
• As illegal and indiscriminate stone mining had caused damage to flora and fauna in the village, the district administration should, in the larger interest of the environment, ensure implementation of the order of the NGT without waiting for the order copy.

Two Telangana districts secured top rankings in Swachh Bharat Mission implementation
 

• Adding another feather to the State’s cap, two districts from Telangana have featured in the top position for their performance under the Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen (SBM (G)) initiative of the Central Government.
• Jagtial and RajannaSircilla districts have found place in the 39 out of the 619 districts across the country for their performance in improving sanitation with individual household latrines and open defecation-free coverage as parameters.
• The two districts secured top rankings in performance, sustainability and transparency. These districts were ahead of many others in their performance in terms of IHHL and ODF coverage, forming pillars of SBM (G) implementation.
• In terms of transparency, the Union government had taken into consideration verification and implementation of the SBM (G) parameters through geo-tagging and capturing Aadhaar details and the two districts received full marks on this count too, according to an official release.
• Jagtial and Rajanna- Sircilla along with Udipi in Karnataka are the only districts from the South to figure in the list.

Economic Adviosry Council to be reconstituted

• With the economy hitting a rough patch in recent months, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to reconstitute the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, rendered defunct after the previous UPA government demitted office in May 2014.
• NITI Aayog member BibekDebroy has been picked as the Chairman of the Council, which will include NITI Aayog’s Principal Adviser and former Finance Secretary Ratan Watal as its member-secretary.
• Economist SurjitBhalla, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy director Rathin Roy and Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research professor Ashima Goyal have also been roped in as members of the Economic Advisory Council.
• The terms of reference of the Council include analysis of any issue, economic or otherwise, referred to it by the PM and advising him on the same, and attending to any task ‘as may be desired’ by the PM from time to time, as per an official statement.
• The formation of the Council at this time suggests it could play a critical role in reviving the economy’s growth momentum that has slumped over the past few quarters, with the first quarter of this financial year clocking just 5.7% growth, down from 7.9% a year ago.
• The last chairperson of the PM’s Economic Advisory Council, when Manmohan Singh was the PM, was former Reserve Bank of India Governor C. Rangarajan.

Oxytocin drug misuse

• The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation under the Directorate General of Health Services has directed all State drug controllers to initiate strict regulatory control on manufacture, sale and distribution of Oxytocin drug to curb its misuse.
• The drug, used to induce labour in women, is illegally used by dairy farmers to augment milk production in cows. This drug has long-term ill effects on cattle.
• G.N. Singh, Drugs Controller General (India), has asked all State drug controllers to set up a special task force in each district (of their States) to ensure that no prohibited/regulated drug, including Oxytocin, is freely available in the open market, except in the manner prescribed.
• The State drugs controllers have also been asked to post monthly statement of licences issued, production and sale of Oxytocin.

Uneven rain to have toll on farm output

• The uneven distribution of monsoon will impact output of kharif, or summer crop, according to data released by the Union Agriculture Ministry.
• The first advanced estimates of kharif crop for 2017-18 put the overall production at 134.67 million tonnes, 3.86 million tonnes lower than last year’s record output of 138.52 million tonnes.
• The Agriculture Ministry said “these are preliminary estimates and will undergo revision based on further feedback from the States.”
• Among food grains, rice will see a drop of 1.91 million tonnes from the previous year as the estimates suggest 94.48 million tonnes of rice production.
• Pulses, a staple Indian diet that is highly sensitive to supplies, too will see a marginal drop of 70,000 tonnes. Estimates put the pulse production at 8.61 million tonnes for 2017-18.
• Production of coarse cereals too might decrease to 31.49 million tonnes. Maize production is pegged at 18.73 million tonnes
• However, sugarcane production for 2017-18 will go up. That should be sweet news for consumers.

Delhi HC says consent to be key factor in defining sexual assault

• The High Court discusses the various “models” of sexual consent in the modern world. The debate is part of an 82-page judgment which acquits film-maker MahmoodFarooqui in a rape case giving him the benefit of the doubt that he might have misread the ‘no’ of the woman as a ‘yes’.
• In normal parlance, consent would mean voluntary agreement of a woman to engage in sexual activity without being abused or exploited by coercion or threats, Justice Ashutosh Kumar, who authored the verdict, observes.
• The consent can be revoked any moment. “Thus, sexual consent would be the key factor in defining sexual assault as any sexual activity without consent would be rape,” the judgment says.
• On the “various models of sexual consent”, the judge starts with the “traditional and the most accepted” one, which is the “affirmative model” where a “yes is yes and no is no.”
• But the judgment goes on to tackle a situation where a woman’s affirmative consent or positive denial is not asserted, but conveyed in an “underlying/dormant” fashion, leading to a “ confusion in the mind of the other.” The court says there are “differences between how men and women initiate and reciprocate sexual consent.”
• “The normal construct is that man is the initiator of sexual interaction. He performs the active part whereas a woman is, by and large, non-verbal. Thus, gender relations influence sexual consent,” Justice Kumar notes. But this may not be true in the case of modern society where gender equality is the “buzzword”, Justice Kumar adds.

Effort to promote Odisha’s rich traditional rural games

• A sports tournament of a different kind has been organised in Odisha’s Berhampur to promote traditional rural games for girls.
• Due to urbanisation, these rural community games have been losing their sheen. So the MadhumayaPanigrahy Foundation (MPF) has organised this tournament in Berhampur, where around 400 girls are competing in six different events.
• According to HrushikeshPanigrahy of the MPF, their aim is to select around 20 girls. The selected girls would be trained to perform a dance ballet related to the ‘Kumar Purnima’ festival of the State.
• The first ballet performance would be held in Berhampur during the ‘Kumar PuneiJanha Lo’ cultural programme of the foundation on the day of ‘Kumar Purnima’ on October 5.
• The troupe will also perform in different parts of the State and outside to popularise the dying rural games, said Mr. Panigrahy.
• The girls took part in six traditional rural games. They were ThiaPuchi, BasaPuchi, Hulahuli, Khapara Dian, KaudiKhela and Sankhanada or blowing of conch shells.
• Both types of Puchi are linked to the Kumar Purnima festivities in rural areas where girls used to play it under the full-moon-lit sky. ThiaPuchi is performed in a standing position and BasaPuchi is played in a squatting position.
• They strengthen the whole body, especially thighs and feet. Khapara Dian is a team sport where participants have to perform various tasks while jumping on one leg on a special court.
• KaudiKhela is a traditional board game of rural Odisha and Hulahuli is a typical sound made by vibrating the tongue during every auspicious happening in any Odia household.

::INTERNATIONAL::

Pakistan-Russia

• Pakistan and Russia are holding a two-week long military exercise focussing on counterterrorism operations to enhance defence ties, ahead of Army chief General QamarJavedBajwa’s visit to Moscow next month.
• The joint exercise DRUZBA 2017 between special forces of Pakistan and Russia Armies started in MinralnyeVody, Russia

India-Myanmar

• India is examining the impact of an existing bilateral agreement with Myanmar, which allows free movement of Indian and Myanmarese citizens within 16 km of the border, as the pact is being exploited by militants for smuggling arms, drugs and fake Indian currency.
• The move comes amid the mass exodus of the Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar.

Putin to send special representative for Afghanistan to Delhi

• Close on the heels of U.S. Defence Secretary James Mattis, who held talks in Delhi, and the arrival of Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, Russia is sending President Putin’s special representative for Afghanistan, ZamirKabulovto Delhi in October.
• Mr. Kabulov’s visit, when he is also expected to discuss Moscow’s new position on talks with Taliban, will come amid growing concerns in India over Russia’s ties with Pakistan.
• The tough predictions are in sharp contrast to the U.S.’s new Afghanistan policy, that will see at least 3,000 more troops sent to fight in Afghanistan, and offers India an increased role in development projects while pushing Pakistan to act against terrorist “safe havens”.
• Moscow has already criticised the U.S. plan as a “dead-end policy”, and warned against “putting pressure” on Pakistan. Another sign of the growing shift in Russian policy came as Russian and Pakistani special forces began military exercises in the MineralnyeVody region. The exercises will be a precursor to a visit by Pakistan’s Army Chief General Bajwa to Moscow in October.
• Regular high-level exchanges between the two sides in the past few years have set the stage for translating political goodwill into a substantial partnership in particular, in the field of defence
• During the visit to Delhi, Mr. Kabulov would also talk about the “Moscow format” for talks on Afghanistan, which was started last year with only Russia, China and Pakistan, and then expanded to include Afghanistan, Iran and India.
• However, after the U.S. rejected an invitation to join, the talks have been shelved “temporarily” according to officials, as the Ghani government now wants all such processes to be held in Kabul and led by the Afghan government.
• Russian officials told that they are already in discussions with India about the possibility of security cooperation for Afghanistan. This would include facilitating an ongoing proposal to refurbish Soviet-era planes and repair Russian Mi-25 helicopters donated by India, along with talks on providing spare parts and ammunition to Afghan forces, but conceded that the talks had not yet been concluded.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

Aadhaar linking of GPF, PPF and EPF accounts of employees

• The Cabinet Secretariat is keen on a central database of government and private sector employees who have subscribed to the general provident fund (GPF), public provident fund (PPF) and employees’ provident fund (EPF) with Aadhaar as the primary identifier.
• It has directed the various departments monitoring such savings schemes to ensure that 100% Aadhaar seeding of all salaried accounts takes place by December 31,
• The proposal came up in a meeting chaired by the Cabinet Secretariat with the Ministry of Finance, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Ministry of Labour and Employment on August 25 to discuss the “interoperability of savings schemes” and linking them to Aadhaar.
• The objective of meeting is to deliberate on Aadhaar linking of GPF, PPF and EPF accounts of employees, examine the possibility of a centralised repository of employees’ fund details with Aadhaar as the primary identifier and establishing portability of fund accounts across organisations.
• The Department of Economic Affairs informed that small savings schemes, including PPF, were operated by post offices, public sector and private banks. The Cabinet Secretariat asked the Ministry of Finance to examine whether a centralised platform of all savings schemes was being worked out as all banks had their own systems in place.
• For government employees, the Ministry of Finance said that it is developing Employees’ Information System, an online salary application system, which may also be used to maintain information related to GPF.
• While EPF is the savings scheme for private sector employees, the GPF is meant for government employees and PPF can be subscribed to by all workers.
• The Department of Posts informed the Cabinet Secretariat that 4.7 crore out of 56 crore PPF accounts in post offices were linked with Aadhaar. “All stakeholder departments to ensure 100% Aadhaar seeding of GPF, PPF and EPF accounts by December 31, 2017” the Cabinet Secretariat directed.

Telecom operators requested TRAI to defer new call drop rule by six months

• Telecom operators have requested the sector regulator TRAI to defer the new call drop rules by six months in order to tune their networks as per the new norms.
• “We have written to TRAI that give us two quarters to actually tune networks to implement the new regulation. TRAI has said that they would consider it. However, the regulator has not come back to us. It is a measurement issue. We are facing problem in getting space for installing cell towers,” COAI director general Rajan S. Mathews told reporters.
• The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on August 18 issued stricter version of quality of service rules which will be come into effect from October 1.
• Under the new rule, penalty of up to Rs. 10 lakh will be imposed if telecom operators fail to meet call drop benchmark and call drop will be measured at mobile tower-level instead of telecom circle.

India, S. Korea will expand FTA soon

• Even as the India-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will be expanded soon to boost bilateral trade and investment, New Delhi has voiced concerns about the low utilisation of the FTA by India due to the ‘complicated’ provisions in the pact as well as South Korea’s regulations.
• The recent bilateral talks in Seoul saw India cite the difficulties being faced by its English teachers in getting permission to teach in South Korea. Though, going by the FTA, Indian English language teachers should be getting opportunities to teach in primary and secondary schools in South Korea, this is not being implemented effectively in practice.
• This is because the ‘English Program in Korea’ (EPIK) stipulates that those eligible to teach English in South Korea must “be a citizen of a country where English is the primary language.”
• The EPIK specifies that “EPIK teachers must be citizens of one of the following countries: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, U.K, U.S., or South Africa.”
• India has now asked that it be included in the EPIK country-list by pointing out that South Africa was on the list though that country has 11 official languages including Afrikaans, and English was only one of them.
• India is also keen on sending its yoga teachers for short-term work while Seoul has stated their services may not be needed since many Koreans are now learning yoga in India and returning to teach it in South Korea.
• On the goods side, India is keen that norms are eased to upgrade the FTA in a way that Indian goods get greater market access.
• Since the implementation of the FTA in 2010, India’s trade deficit with South Korea has increased from about $5 billion to more than $8 billion.
• To ensure greater market access for Indian products, India is seeking a set of mutually accredited bodies for export inspection.

::SPORTS::

Sindhu recommended for Padma Bhushan by Sports Ministry

• Olympic silver medallist shuttler P.V. Sindhu has been recommended for the prestigious Padma Bhushan, the country’s third highest civilian award, by the Sports Ministry.
• The 22-year-old clinched the 2016 China Open Super Series Premier, India Open Super Series, bagged a historic silver at the Glasgow World Championship before laying claim to her third Super Series title at the Korea Open this month.
• A three-time Macau Open champion, Sindhu also won the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold in Lucknow this year.
• Riding on a series of good performances, Sindhu achieved a career-best world ranking of No. 2 in April for a brief period. Last week, she climbed back to her No. 2 position, following a good week at Seoul.
• In 2014, Sindhu won four bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games, Incheon Asian Games, Uber Cup and Asia Championship.
• In March 2015, Sindhu was awarded India’s fourth highest civilian honour, the Padma Shri.

::SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY::

FingoPay that relies on the vein pattern on a finger

• Biometrics-based financial transactions are considered secure because it's unique to a person. Based on this premise, a new payment method, using a technology called FingoPay that relies on the vein pattern on a finger, is being tried out at the Costcutter supermarket at Brunel University in London, to authenticate payment — the first time ever it’s being tested at a supermarket.
• This technology, ever since its development by Sthaler in 2015, has been undergoing trials at various payment gateway systems.
• To use the technology, an infrared scan is done of the finger veins, and the unique vein pattern is mapped to bank cards. So, at the time of payment, all you need to do is place your finger on the reader.
• Sthaler says dozens of students are using the system, and it expects 3,000 out of 13,000 students to sign up by November. There are plans to deploy it at various locations across the UK.
   

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