Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 26 September 2020

::NATIONAL::

National medical commission comes into existence

The National Medical Commission (NMC), in place of the Medical Council of India (MCI), as the country's apex regulator of medical education and profession has come into existence from today.
With the NMC coming into being, the Board of Governors (BoG) which superseded the MCI on September 26th, 2018, to perform its functions, has been dissolved and the nearly 64-year-old Indian Medical Council Act abolished.
Dr Suresh Chandra Sharma, former head of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences ENT department, Delhi, has been appointed as chairman for a period of three years.
The NMC Act, which seeks to usher in mega reforms in the medical education sector, received the assent of the president on August 8th last year. The NMC comprises a chairman, 10 ex-officio members and 22 part-time members.
“Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 (102 of 1956) is hereby repealed with effect from September 25. The BoG appointed under section 3A of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 (102 of 1956) in supersession of the MCI constituted under sub-section (1) of section 3 of the said Act shall stand dissolved,” stated the gazette notification issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW).

Centre brings in Post-Harvest Management Centre for medicinal plants

Union Minister for AYUSH ShripadYessoNaik and Union Minister of State PMO Dr.Jitendra Singh today jointly laid e-foundation of Post-Harvest Management Centre for Medicinal Plants at Bhaderwah in Jammu and Kashmir.
AIR Jammu correspondent reports that 21 AYUSH Health & Wellness Centres were also e-inaugrated by YessoNaik and Dr.Jitendra Singh across different districts of the Union Territory.
The inauguration was done through a digital event. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Singh said that during the last five years some unprecedented developmental works and projects of national importance have started to come up in J&K particularly in Doda-Udhampur -Kathua region.

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::ECONOMY::

IRDAI lists some insurance companies as systemically important ones

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has identified the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) and The New India Assurance Co. as Domestic Systemically Important Insurers (D-SIIs) for 2020-21.
Given the nature of operations and their systemic importance, the regulator has asked the three public sector insurers to raise the level of corporate governance, identify all relevant risks and promote a sound risk management culture. As D-SIIs, they will also be subjected to enhanced regulatory supervision, IRDAI said in a statement.
D-SIIs refer to insurers of such size, market importance and domestic and global interconnectedness whose distress or failure would cause a significant dislocation in the domestic financial system. Their continued functioning is critical for the uninterrupted availability of insurance services to the national economy.
D-SIIs are perceived as insurers that are too big or too important to fail. Such a perception and the expectation of government support may amplify risk taking, reduce market discipline, create competitive distortions and increase the possibility of distress in future.
Thus, D-SIIs should be subjected to additional regulatory measures to deal with the systemic risks and moral hazard issues, IRDAI said.
Size in terms of total revenue, including premium underwritten and the value of assets under management are among the parameters on which the insurers are identified. IRDAI said it will list D-SIIs on an annual basis.

Centre suspends operation of IBC proceedings by another 3 months

The Central government has suspended the operation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) by another three months in order to protect companies in distress due to the Covid pandemic.
A gazette notification issued in this respect said that the suspension of the section 7, 9 and 10 of the IBC Code initially for six months has been further extended for another three months starting from 25th September.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

India-Cambodia discuss expansion of defence cooperation

A webinar between India and Cambodia was held today. The theme of the webinar was “Indian Defence Industry Global Outreach for Collaborative Partnership: Webinar and Expo”. It was organized under the aegis of Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence through Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers, SIDM.
This webinar is the part of the series of webinars which are being organized with friendly foreign countries in order to boost defence exports and achieve defence export target of 5 billion dollars in the next five years.
Senior Defence Ministry officials from Indian side and senior army officials from Cambodian side participated in the webinar and spoke about enhancing the defence cooperation between both the nations.
The webinar was attended by more than 200 delegates and 100 virtual exhibition stalls have been set up in the Expo.

China remains non-committal towards UNSC reforms by G4

China has once again parried questions on permanent membership of the UN Security Council for India, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson chose to remain non-committal on reforms at the Security Council sought by the G-4 countries.
He stated that there is enormous division and lack of a widespread consensus on the arrangement for reforms at UNSC.
However, he stated that Beijing is willing to work with other UN members to seek a package solution which can accommodate all parties' interests and concerns through dialogue and negotiation.
India and other G4 countries have called for the start of text-based negotiations without delay at a virtual meeting on Wednesday on the side-lines of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly.
In a statement, they have lamented that there is no meaningful progress in the Intergovernmental negotiations.
It may be recalled that China has been supporting the intergovernmental negotiations which are more in the form of a general discussion and lack transparent working methods.
However, G4 countries comprising India, Japan, Brazil and Germany have been demanding the expansion of UN Security Council through substantive negotiations based on a single comprehensive text, which is formal in nature.

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::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

New evaluation standards for hydrogen fuel-cell based vehicles released

The government on Thursday said it has notified standards for safety evaluation of hydrogen fuel cell-based vehicles.The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has issued a notification in this regard.
"The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has notified the Standards for Safety Evaluation of vehicles being propelled by Hydrogen Fuel cells through an amendment to Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989 dated 23rd September, 2020," the ministry said in a statement.
This would facilitate the promotion of hydrogen fuel cell-based vehicles in the country, which are energy-efficient and environmentally friendly, it added.
"The prospective manufacturer and suppliers of such vehicles have the standards available for the testing of such vehicles," the statement said.
These standards are also at par with the available international standards, it noted.

::SPORTS::

Bayern Munich wins UEFA super cup

Bayern Munich beat Sevilla 2-1 after extra time on Thursday to lift the UEFA Super Cup and complete a quadruple under coach Hansi Flick, in the first European game played with fans in the stands since the sport returned amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The result: Bayern 2 (Goretzka 34, Martinez 104) btSevilla 1 (Ocampos 13-pen).

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