Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 27 September 2017

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 27 September 2017

::NATIONAL::

Rohingyas are pushed back by BSF from Tripura

• On instructions from the Home Ministry, the Border Security Force recently pushed back four Rohingya Muslims who were trying to cross over an unfenced stretch on the Bangladesh border in Tripura.
• This is the first instance of Rohingya being pushed back since the Home Ministry circular on August 19 to identify and deport them.
• The BSF had identified 75 vulnerable locations on a 21-km stretch in Tripura.
• The National Human Rights Commission has opposed the government’s move to deport and push back the Rohingya and sought a report from the Ministry.
• Assam and Manipur had asked the State police and the BSF to push back any Rohingya attempting to enter the country.
• In its affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on September 18, the Centre said Rohingya were a threat to national security and “some of the unauthorised Rohingya immigrants had linkages with Pakistan-based terror organisations.”
• It said there was an organised influx of “illegal” immigrants from Mynamar through agents and touts facilitating illegal immigration of Rohingya into India via
• Benapole-Haridaspur (West Bengal), Hili (West Bengal), Sonamora (Tripura), Kolkata and Guwahati.
• The first four points are authorised immigration checkpoints and manned by customs, immigration and BSF officials.
• In June, the Home Ministry constituted yet another committee to examine various methods to curb the misuse of free movement along the Myanmar border, a friendly country, with which it shares unfenced borders and unhindered movement of people across the border.
• The committee, headed by Rina Mitra, Special Secretary, Internal Security, visited the border areas.

India will provide help but not deploy troops in Afghanistan

• India will expand aid to strife-hit nation, Nirmala Sitharaman says after meeting U.S. Defence Secretary
• India ruled out deploying troops in Afghanistan even as it pledged to expand development and medical assistance for the strife-torn nation.
• The U.S. Defence Secretary Mr.Mattis is in New Delhi for the first Cabinet-level visit from the Trump administration. For Ms. Sitharaman, it was the first ministerial engagement with a counterpart since she took charge of South Block.
• The Defence Minister’s statement puts to rest speculation about India deploying troops in Afghanistan after U.S. President Donald Trump called for greater Indian involvement.
• India has already extended $3 billion aid to Afghanistan, provides security assistance in the form of training and has also supplied some utility and attack helicopters.
  Kabul has repeatedly sought lethal weapons and ammunition from India.
• With increasing Chinese presence in the region, Mr. Mattis said expanding “maritime engagements” was one of his top priorities.
• India had a “vital role to play in supporting South East Asia’s regional institutions, particularly ASEAN, and in building partner capacity across the region.” Both sides reiterated their support for “freedom of navigation, over-flight and unimpeded lawful commerce” in the Indian Ocean and Asia-Pacific Region.
• Stating that the recent Malabar trilateral naval exercises demonstrated the progress made in “operational synergies” between the navies, Ms. Sitharaman said, “In our talks today, we agreed to explore additional, specialised exercises.”

Health Ministry regulating the sale of tobacco

• In a blow to free-ranging sale of tobacco, the Health Ministry is tightening the screws on marketing, which will curb access and shield children.
• As part of the regulation of sale, the Ministry has asked all the State governments to develop a mechanism through the municipal authority to provide “permission/authorisation” to retail outlets selling tobacco products.
• Shops authorised to sell tobacco products will not be permitted to sell any non-tobacco products such as biscuits, toffees and chips that are essentially meant for non-tobacco users, especially children.
• This initiative will prove to be beneficial in achieving the objective of preventing children/ non-user from exposure to tobacco products.
• Essentially, the Ministry desires to license the sale of tobacco through authorised vendors only. Like alcohol, tobacco products too can be sold only by licensed retail outlets.
• Shopkeepers purposely store non-tobacco products that children consume to lure kids to get exposed to tobacco at an early age. Selling tobacco products through licensed shops will prevent mushrooming of outlets selling tobacco products and shrewd marketing of tobacco products to kids.
• Under the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COPTA), 2003, sale of tobacco products to minors is prohibited. However, as the 2009-2010 Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) revealed, over 56% of minors polled who bought cigarettes in a store were “not refused purchase because of their age.”
• The GYTS survey also found that in 2009 nearly 15% of children (19% of boys and over 8% of girls) in India who were 13-15 years used some form of tobacco.
• Another 15.5% of children belonging to the same group who had never smoked before were likely to begin smoking the following year. The overall tobacco use among students aged 13-15 increased from 13.7% in 2006 to 14.6% in 2009.
• The world over it has been proven beyond doubt and all hidden industry documents made available through the Minnesota agreement have revealed that the tobacco industry targets youth and children as its new consumer base.

Massive work plan to stop flow of garbage into Ganga before 2019

• A work plan worth Rs. 30,000 crore has been started under the Prime Minister’s ‘Namami Gange’ project.
• A massive work plan has been initiated to ensure that garbage and waste stop flowing into the Ganga before the 2019 ‘Ardhkumbh’, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said
• The river flows through 25 districts of Uttar Pradesh.
• A work plan worth Rs. 30,000 crore has been started under the Prime Minister’s ‘Namami Gange’ project to make Ganga and its tributaries ‘aviral, nirmal’ (ever flowing and clean).
• In the coming two years no one will be allowed to release garbage or waste in the river and treatment plants will be set up at different places to first treat the discharge before it is allowed to flow into the river
• In the first phase it was resolved to make all villages falling on the river’s banks open defecation free (ODF) and have also succeeded in it.
• A vast plantation drive has also been launched in the areas falling on the banks of the River Ganga.

INDIA AND WORLD

India-Afghanistan

• Intensifying trade links is at the top of the agenda as Afghanistan’s Chief Executive, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, arrives in Delhi for talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
• Dr. Abdullah, who will be accompanied by several ministers, is here to inaugurate an India-Afghanistan trade fair, sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development.
• India has been partnering with the Government and people of Afghanistan in their efforts to build a stable, peaceful, prosperous united and pluralistic country.
• The four-day “India-Afghanistan Trade and Investment Show” will be co-inaugurated by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Civil Aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju as well U.S. envoys in Delhi-MaryKay Carlson, and Kabul -Hugo Llorens.
• During the visit, the air cargo agreement for bilateral trade is expected to be signed by India and Afghanistan as well.
• According to the U.S. official, about 240 Afghan private and social sector businesses and about 800 Indian businesses have registered to participate in the fair, which is being held for the first time at this scale — smaller versions ohave been held seven times since 2003.
• At about $684 million (2014-15), India-Afghan trade is far lower than its potential for a number of reasons, the chief being the security situation in Afghanistan with civilian deaths peaking in 2016.
• However, Afghan officials say they hope Indian investors and traders will be reassured by the announcement of U.S. President Donald Trump’s new policy for Afghanistan which has committed to keeping troops there without a deadline.
• The new U.S. policy is already effecting a change in the security situation. Because there is a clear message of a long-term commitment based on the condition on the ground, not on timelines.
• The other obstacles to trade include Pakistan’s refusal to allow Indian exports to Afghanistan through the road route at Wagah, and delays for goods routed through Karachi port.

::INTERNATIONAL::

China to help in resolving Rohingya crisis

• China has said it would play a “constructive role” in resolving the Rohingya crisis. “We sincerely hope this issue will be settled as soon as possible. China is willing to play a constructive role towards this,” Chinese Ambassador in Dhaka Ma Mingqiang said.
• The envoy, who expressed China’s “heartfelt sympathy” for the refugees in Cox’s Bazar, also announced that some 150 tonnes of relief material provided by China would reach Chittagong within a couple of days.
• Mr. Ma’s statement comes at a time when many are suggesting that Bangladesh should lobby with China to exert pressure on Myanmar to stop violence and take back the refugees.
• A delegation from the Awami League is on a trip to China to discuss the Rohingya issue. The state news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) reported that Beijing on Monday assured Dhaka that it will provide help in finding a permanent solution.
• China will convince the Myanmar government to hold talks with Bangladesh as we think a permanent solution to the Rohingya problem is a must for ensuring peace in the region.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

• Centre promoting domestic cybersecurity tech
• With a view to promoting domestic technology and preventing data theft by foreign entities, the government will soon announce a policy that accords preference in official procurement to ‘Made in India’ antivirus and cybersecurity solutions.
• The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has issued a draft notification which states “preference shall be provided by all procuring entities to domestically manufactured/ produced cybersecurity products.”
• The notification will cover all products and software used for “maintaining confidentiality, availability and integrity of information by protecting computing devices, infrastructure, programs, data from attack, damage, or unauthorized access,” as per the notification.
• Currently, almost 70 categories of cybersecurity products have been identified. These include products used for data loss prevention, security analytics, big data analytics, web security, antivirus, mobile payments, mobile data protection, cloud security, spam free email solutions, among others.
• Preference for domestic products would also be given for cybersecurity products used by intelligence agencies.
• Indian companies can be taken to task under the India law in case of any breach. And in all probability they will not act against the sovereignty of the country. For foreign players, the priority will be business.
• The possibility of foreign vendors retaining some backdoor access and the risk of a third party gaining access was a key factor spurring the policy.
• The latest move takes forward the government order on public procurement in June this year to encourage ‘Make in India’ programme.
• The draft notification has defined ‘local supplier’ as a company incorporated and registered in India, adding that revenue from the product and revenue from Intellectual Property licensing should accrue to the company.

Regulatory review committee to review industrial policy

• The Centre will soon set up a ‘regulatory review committee’ to address policy-related roadblocks and other factors inhibiting the country’s industrial growth as well as impacting the ‘ease of doing business’ and private investments.
• The government is also mulling a new mechanism to monitor domestic and foreign investment proposals. The idea is to fast-track decisions on such proposals, in coordination with State governments and the Centre’s investment facilitation and promotion arm, ‘Invest India’.
• In addition, the Centre is looking at ways to ensure use of the industry’s unutilised capacity. Currently, the country-wide average unutilised capacity is about 26% (In other words, average utilisation of industrial capacity is only 74%).
• Measures will soon be taken soon to increase domestic demand as well as boost exports to ensure the entire capacity is utilised.
• The proposal to constitute the committee, which will be chaired by the Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, and include India Inc. representatives, comes in the backdrop of a slowdown in industrial growth and sluggish private investment.
• These decisions followed a meeting that Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu held with industry bodies including the CII, FICCI and Assocham, as well as senior government officials including Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian.
• Official sources said the Minister would soon hold another meeting with the representatives of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and exporters to address their problems, including those related to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.

High level panel to work on plans for 5G roll-out by 2020

• The government has formed a high-level panel to evaluate and approve road maps and action plan to achieve the target of rolling out 5G technology in India by 2020. The Centre has created a support fund of about Rs. 500 crore to facilitate research and development for 5G.
• ‘We missed the opportunity to participate when the standards were being set for 3G and 4G, and don’t want to miss the 5G opportunity. Now, when the standards are being set for 5G across the world, India will also participate in the process,” Minister of State for Communications Manoj Sinha told reporters.
• As per the OECD Committee on Digital Economic Policy, it has been stated that 5G technologies roll-out will help in increasing GDP, creating employment and digitising the economy.
• The forum, which comprises secretaries of the ministries of Communications, Information Technology and Science and Technology, and representatives from the industry and academia, will aim to have Indian participation in the process of defining global standards for the next generation of wireless technology.
• The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which will finalise the standards, has already proposed key performance requirements for the fifth-generation mobile technology.
• Under the 5G technology, the government aims to deliver about 10,000 megabit per second (10 gbps) in urban areas and 1,000 mbps (1 gbps) in rural areas.
• The ‘5G 2020’ forum will also aim to strengthen domestic telecommunication equipment manufacturing that is necessary for the technology, with the aim that local manufacturers should be able to capture 50% of the Indian market and 10% of the global market over the next five to seven years.

::SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY::

Ten scientists win laurels

• Ten scientists were announced winners of the annual Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize at a function presided over by President Ram Nath Kovind.
• The winners this year for the Biological Sciences are Deepak Nair at the Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Faridabad, and Sanjeev Das, National Institute of Immunology, Delhi; Chemical Sciences, Naresh Patwari, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay; Earth Sciences, Suresh Babu, VSSC, Thiruvanantha-puram; Engineering Services, Aloke Paul and Neelesh Mehta, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.

Nerve stimulation pulls patient out of 15-year vegetative state

• Researchers say that a nerve stimulation technique may have raised the level of consciousness in a 35-year-old man who has been in a vegetative state for years.
• The report in the U.S. journal Current Biology is based on just one patient, but researchers say they plan to expand their work to others because of the improvements they have seen in the man, who was incapacitated by a car accident 15 years ago.
• The process involves using a chest implant to send pulses of electricity to the vagus nerve, which connects the brain to other major organs of the body. Vagus nerve stimulation is already used to treat people with epilepsy and depression.
• The man showed significant improvements in attention, movement and brain activity after one month of vagal nerve stimulation, according to the report.
• He began responding to simple orders, such as following an object with his eyes and turning his head on request. He also appeared more alert and was able to stay awake when listening to his therapist read a book.
• He was classified as having moved from a vegetative state to a “state of minimal consciousness”, according to brain scans that showed improvements in areas of the brain involved in movement, sensation and awareness.
• This means consciousness remains severely altered but, in contrast to the vegetative state, there is minimal but definite behavioural evidence of self or environmental awareness.
• The patient was scored on a scale of 0 to 23, where 0 represents no real verbal, visual or motor response and 23 indicates good ability. Before any stimulation, the patient scored 6/23 and at the end of the study, when the patient was on the maximum stimulation, he scored 8/23 on the functional scale.

::SPORTS::

‘One Million Goal’ to promote FIFAUnder-17 World Cup

• Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate ‘One Million Goal’ campaign at the Central Stadium.
• The ‘One Million Goal’ is a unique programme launched by the Kerala Government as part of propaganda for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup.
• The CM will kick a goal into an open post at the Central Stadium to trigger the campaign across the State which will see personalities from various walks of life take part in it.
• The programme will be conducted at 3,000 centres and will be supervised by around 5,000 volunteers. It will see at least 10 lakh people line up to take shots at goalposts of varying dimensions during the designated period of four hours.

Now players will be sent off for misconduct

• Players being sent off for misconduct is all set to become a reality in cricket with the ICC’s revamped playing rules, which will be effective in all series starting September 28 or later.
• The significant changes also include a restriction on the dimensions of the bat, and changes to the Decision Review System.
• All of these rules will come into effect from the two upcoming Test series — when South Africa hosts Bangladesh and Pakistan takes on Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates.

Cricket ground in Louisville to be named after Gavaskar

• A cricket ground in Louisville, Kentucky USA — known as the hometown of celebrated professional boxer and sports icon Mohammad Ali — is to be named after India’s legendary opening batsman Sunil Gavaskar.
• Jai Bokey, who moved from Mumbai to Louisville in 2001, said the city authorities would make the official announcement soon and that the naming of the ground will happen.
• The Louisville Cricket Club has organised an evening with Gavaskar at the Muhammad Ali Center on Sunday, October 15.

CULTURE

When Kathale Basadi came to life for World Tourism Day celebrations

• As part of the World Tourism Day celebrations organised by the district administration, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and other organisations, the Kathale Basadi, one of the archaeological sites in Udupi district, was lit with lamps.
• This basadi is said to be have been built between the eighth century AD and 12th century AD. There are three structures (places of worship) on the basadi premises and a 20-ft long monolithic stone pillar has been erected at its entrance.
• This basadi was built by the rulers of Alupa dynasty, who ruled over Tulunadu for about 600 years.
• The basadi, built in local style, is a protected monument under the ASI. In fact, Barkur was one of the capitals of the Alupa rulers.
• It was also essential that people protected the monuments and ensured that they were not damaged. A large number of people from foreign countries visited the State just to see the monuments.
• It was also essential to prevent any encroachment around the monuments. Priority should also be given to maintaining cleanliness around them. The ASI was observing Cleanliness Fortnight at all monuments under it from September 15.

Lost and found in Iraq

• Archaeologists in Iraq have discovered signs of a 2000-year-old city that is thought to have been founded by Alexander the Great.
• Researchers at the British Museum in London used drones to find the remains of Qalatga Darband, a fortified settlement in northern Iraq, that went unrecorded in history.
• Statues of Greco-Roman deities and terracotta roof tiles show a strong Greek influence, indicating that its early residents were Alexander’s subjects and those of his successor, the researchers said.
   

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