Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 28 July 2019

::NATIONAL::

PM reiterates no compromise attitude when it comes to national security

Prime Minister NarendraModi has said that India will not bow to pressure when it comes to national security of the country. Mr Modisaid, when the country is secure, only then it will be able to touch new heights of development.
The Prime Minister was speaking at a function to mark the 20th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Delhi yesterday evening. He said that terrorism and proxy wars pose a threat to the entire world today.
The Prime Minister said those defeated in war, are resorting to proxy war and supporting terrorism, to achieve their political objectives. Mr Modi said, the need of the hour is for all those who believe in humanity, to stand in support of the Armed Forces.
The Prime Minister said, modernization of defence forces is the top priority of the government. Mr Modi said, the emphasis is being laid on indigenization of defence production and equipment along with strengthening of the Defence forces.
Mr Modi said the Armed Forces are being rapidly modernized, and efforts are being made to increase the participation of the private sector for Make in India in the defence sector.
The Prime Minister asserted that India has never been an aggressor, in history. Mr Modi said, the Indian Armed Forces are perceived as defenders of humanity and peace across the world.

Vice president stresses on need to empower panchayati raj bodies

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has said there is a need to empower panchayati raj bodies so that democracy could be more meaningful and robust. He was addressing the 1st Democracy Awards ceremony in Mumbai today.
The award has been instituted by State Election Commission of Maharashtra. Mr Naidu regretted that even after 26 years since local bodies have been constitutionally empowered, devolution of powers and functions seems to be less than satisfactory.
He emphasised that all the States must review the progress they have made with regard to devolution of powers.
He said, the State Governments are duty bound to provide all the resources to State Election Commissions in order to help them conduct elections in a free, fair and transparent manner.

::ECONOMY::

RBI governor calls for joint monetary and fiscal policies to spur growth

Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das has called for well-calibrated policies by monetary and fiscal authorities in the backdrop of slowing global growth.
Emphasising on the need for prudent policies that are critical to growth, Mr. Das said, “Globally, we need to focus on policy space, judiciously use it, and simultaneously undertake structural reforms to improve productivity, innovation and job creation.”
He said solutions were turning more difficult to come by as the global economy seemed to be moving into a new and unsettling phase in an environment of stressed trade negotiations, rising geopolitical confrontation, and limited policy space and high debt levels in several economies.
He said the general government debt of advanced economies as a group had surpassed 100% GDP and fiscal space too was constrained in many of the advanced economies.
“The global order today faces several challenges that will test the skills of the international organisations as well as those of national monetary and fiscal authorities,” Mr. Das said.

Centre affirms priority to water conservation

Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has said the Centre accords a special priority to water conservation. He said many schemes have been started for conservation of rainwater.
He was speaking in Ranchi today during the inaugural function of 'Jal Shakti Abhiyan', a national drive to promote water conservation. The Minister said that all have to work together in the national mission to increase ground water level.
In a review meeting held at Ranchi itself, of his Ministry, alongwith Minister for State RatanLalKataria, he was briefed about the diffrent measure that are being undertaken by state government through various projects of drinking water and rain water harvesting. AIR correspondent reports that
Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said in the review meeting that Water Conservation Projects is in the priority list of Prime Minister NarendraModi. He said that no efforts should be left to complete the projects on time.
He also stressed the need of utility assessments of the projects by independent third party. So by these two events at Ranchi today, Central government has conveyed the clear message that how serious it is on strengthening water conservation.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

U.S satisfied with Taliban promise on terror : special envoy

President Donald Trump’s special envoy ZalmayKhalilzad said that he’s satisfied with the Taliban’s commitment to prevent international terrorist organisations from using Afghanistan as a base to plot global attacks.
“The world needs to be sure that Afghanistan will not be a threat to the international community,” he said earlier this month. “We are satisfied with the commitment that we have received (from the Taliban) on counterterrorism.”
SuhailShaheen, spokesman for the Taliban’s political office in Doha said such guarantees will be written into law once U.S. and NATO troops leave the country.
“After withdrawal of foreign troops from the country and formation of a new Islamic government, legislation will be made that no one can use the soil of Afghanistan against U.S. and its allies,” Mr.Shaheen said.

UN reports over 4 lakh displacements in Syria in 3 months

More than 4,00,000 people have been displaced in northwestern Syria over the past three months, the UN said on Friday, as the government presses an intensified bombardment of the opposition-held region.
UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet condemned “international indifference” in the face of the mounting death toll in government air strikes on the region’s schools, hospitals, markets and bakeries.
The jihadist-dominated Idlib region is supposed to be protected by a months-old international truce deal, but has faced growing bombardment by the government and its ally Russia since late April.
The spike in violence has killed more than 740 civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Aid groups have described the latest bloody episode of Syria’s eight-year civil war as a “nightmare”.
The region under attack is home to some three million people, nearly half of them already displaced from other parts of the country.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Study reveals bees use complex memory for communication

Bees use waggle dance to communicate with their nest mates the flight distance and direction to foraging sites. Now, a research team led by Axel Brockmann at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru, has studied how bees use complex memory to generate dance duration to communicate a change in foraging distance.
Bees are known to waggle dance near the entrance of the hives. The duration of the waggle run of a dancing bee correlates with the distance between the food site and the hive. For instance, as the distance to the foraging site increases, the duration of waggle increases too.
The team used the honey bee species Apismellifera for the study. “Most of the research on the brain and behaviour of bees around the world is done with the help of A. mellifera and therefore we could put our results into the context of all the research done previously,” says Dr.Brockmann.
“Previously, there was no easy way to dissociate the waggle dance activity of honey bee foragers from their foraging activity. Our experiments now provide us with the means to dissociate them, an essential first step towards understanding the mechanisms underlying the conversion of flight information to waggle dance information”, adds co-author Ebi George, another PhD student at the institute.

::SPORTS::

Indian boxers finish Thai campaign with 8 medals

Indian boxers finished their campaign at the Thailand Open in Bangkok today with a rich haul of eight medals, comprising a gold, four silver and three bronze.
The Indian contingent's performance was commendable considering some of the world's best boxers from 37 countries had participated in the tournament.
Asian Championships silver medallist Ashish Kumar bagged his first international gold in the 75 kg category, outpunching Korea's Kim Jinjae 5-0 for the biggest medal of his career.
On the final day, the Indians who settled for the silver were former world junior champion NikhatZareen (51kg), Asian Championships silver medallist Deepak (49kg), GeeBee Boxing silver medallist Mohammed Hussamuddin (56kg), and India Open silver medallist BrijeshYadav (81kg).