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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 28 September 2020

::NATIONAL::

Centre relaxes rules for beneficiaries of family pension

Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Dr Jitendra Singh has said that rules have been relaxed for divorced daughters to receive Family Pension. He said, now a daughter will be entitled to receive the Family Pension even if the divorce had not finally taken place, but the divorce petition had been filed by her during the lifetime of her deceased parent employee or pensioner.
Dr Singh said, the earlier rule provided for payment of Family Pension to a divorced daughter only if the divorce had taken place during the lifetime of deceased parent pensioner or his spouse.
He said, the new circular will not only bring ease in the life of pension receiving individuals but also ensure respectable and equitable rights for the divorced daughters in the society.
The Minister said, one of the most noteworthy initiatives taken by the Pension Department is with regard to the Digital Life Certificate. Keeping in view the difficulty faced by the senior citizens who have gone and settled abroad with their children after retirement, Dr Singh said, circular has been brought out on Consolidated Instructions on Life Certificate and commencement of Family Pension for those living abroad.
He said, the concerned Bank Branch abroad and the Indian Embassy, Consulate and High Commission have been instructed to provide Life Certificate and commencement of Family Pension there itself.
Dr Singh said, at the same time, all Pension Disbursing Banks have been instructed to provide doorstep Life Certificate to those pensioners who are unable to visit the bank.

Over one lakh activities taken under NYKS scheme

A total of over one lakh activities have been taken up so far by Nehru Yuva Kendra Sanghathan, NYKS during PoshanMaah. More than 51 lakh youth and villagers took part in these activities.
Youth Affairs Minister KirenRijiju said, the youth volunteers are continuously engaged in nation building activities like education, health and sanitation, environment, awareness on social issues, women empowerment and civic education among others. He said, NYKS is one of the largest youth organisations in the world.
Mr Rijiju said, the Ministry has undertaken several activities during PoshanMaah started from 1st September this year. PoshanMaah aims to create mobilization across the country for improving Nutrition indicators.

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::ECONOMY::

Srilanka seeks fresh currency swap agreement from India

Sri Lankan Prime Minister MahindaRajapaksa sought an additional currency swap facility and deferment of debt payments from India during an online bilateral summit with Prime Minister NarendraModi on Saturday, Indian officials said.
Sri Lanka owes about $960 million to India and earlier this year India agreed to a $400 million currency swap facility for Sri Lanka until November 2022.
Sri Lanka, located off the southern tip of India, has become an arena of competing influence between India and China, which has built ports, power stations and highways as part of President Xi Jinping's signature "Belt and Road Initiative", designed to boost trade and transport links across Asia.
But the terms of some of these projects have drawn domestic criticism in Sri Lanka and opened the way for countries such as India, the United States and Japan to rebuild ties in the Indian Ocean country that lies near key shipping lanes.
Rajapaksa, who won a general election last year after promising to pull the country out of its deepest economic slump, has to service mounting external debt amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

Virtual meet on tourism and rural development held

On the occasion of the World Tourism Day, Petroleum Minister DharmendraPradhan today addressed a virtual meet on the theme of Tourism and rural development, along with Tourism and Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel.
Mr Pradhan commended the Ministry of Tourism for its novel initiative DekhoApnaDesh that promotes and encourages local heritage and tourist sites. He spoke about India's rich culture, history and ancient architectural marvels which offer immense scope for the growth of tourism industry.
Talking about Internet’s role in making the world a global village, Mr Pradhan called for effective use of technology to further strengthen India's position as a global tourist hotspot.
Mr Pradhan said that tourism industry offers unprecedented potential for employment generation and empowerment of our youth, also in the rural areas.
He said that every district of our country has a historic story to share or a legend to narrate, and as India celebrates 75 years of independence in 2022, we must work on creating more tourism sites around the heroism of our freedom fighters.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

WB approves loan for water & sanitation facilities in Bangladesh

The World Bank (WB) has approved a 200 million dollar loan for Bangladesh to improve access to safe water and sanitation services in the rural areas of the country. The Bangladesh Rural Water, Sanitation and Hygiene project will help 6 lakh people to have access to clean water through piped water schemes in rural areas.
The WB said that the project will help prevent diseases and protect from pandemics like COVID 19 by providing better access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities at homes and in public places.
World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan Mercy Tembon said that the project will provide clean water and sanitation services that will reduce diarrheal diseases, improve nutrition, health and reduce stunting among children under five.
The project will also help in setting up more than 2500 handwashing stations in public places with overhead tanks for running water and sanitation facilities. To ensure quality and sustainability of piped water scheme and fecal sludge management, the project will also train local entrepreneurs.
The 30 year concessional credit has a five year grace period. It comes from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA). Bangladesh currently has the largest ongoing IDA program totaling over USD 13.5 billion.

Swiss rejects bid to reduce immigration from European Union

The Swiss have rejected a bid to dramatically reduce immigration from the European Union, but have embraced offering paid paternity leave for the first time, projections from several votes in the country Sunday showed.
Shortly after polls closed at noon (1000 GMT), projections from gfs.bern polling institute indicated that 63% of Swiss voters had balked at the initiative to tear up an agreement permitting the free movement of people between Switzerland and the surrounding EU.
The initiative, backed by the populist right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) — Switzerland’s largest party — had been opposed by the government, Parliament, unions, employer organisations and all other political parties out of fear it would jeopardise overall relations with the bloc.
Public support for the initiative had also been seen slipping in recent opinion polls, but the suspense remained high since SVP has eked out surprise victories in the past in its war against tightening relations with the EU.
Most people vote in advance in the popular polls and referendum held in Switzerland every few months as part of the country’s famous direct democratic system, usually making it possible to quickly surmise which way the vote is headed.
SVP’s initiative called for Switzerland to revise its Constitution to ensure it can autonomously handle immigration policy.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Spike disease threatening India’s sandalwood forests

India’s sandalwood trees, the country’s pride particularly of Karnataka are facing a serious threat with the return of the destructive Sandalwood Spike Disease (SSD).
The infection has resurfaced in the aromatic tree’s natural habitats in Karnataka and Kerala.
According to a study by scientists R. Sundararaj and R. Raja Rishi of the Bengaluru-based Institute of Wood Science & Technology (IWST), the natural population of sandalwood in Marayoor of Kerala and various reserve forests in Karnataka, including MM Hills, are heavily infected with SSD for which there is no cure as of now.
Presently, there is no option but to cut down and remove the infected tree to prevent the spread of the disease, caused by phytoplasma — bacterial parasites of plant tissues — which are transmitted by insect vectors.
With between 1 and 5% of sandalwood trees lost every year due to the disease, scientists warn that it could wipe out the entire natural population if measures are not taken to prevent its spread. Also, they fear that any delay in arresting the trend may result in the disease spreading to cultivated sandalwood trees.
The present rapid spread of the infection is largely due to restrictions on green felling in forests, which has allowed vectors to spread the disease to healthy trees, says the IWST study.
In an effort to combat the killer disease, the IWST will join hands with the Pune-based National Centre for Cell Sciences for a three-year study, initiated by the Union Ministry of Ayush with a financial allocation of ₹50 lakh.

::SPORTS::

East Bengal becomes new team in ISL

The East Bengal club was, on Sunday, officially inducted into the Indian Super League as the 11th team.
Football Sports Development Limited’s chairperson Nita Ambani, who made the announcement, welcomed East Bengal for the 2020-2021 season.
The club, which was recently acquired by Shree Cements, will be joining its archrivalMohunBagan, which merged with reigning ISL champion ATK earlier this year.

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