Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 30 May 2020

::NATIONAL::

Reports suggest locust attacks could turn out to be global plague

• The current upsurge in desert locust attacks could turn into a full-fledged global plague by the end of the year if it spreads to West Africa and the insects begin breeding there, says the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s senior locust forecasting officer Keith Cressman.
• However, despite the dramatic images of locusts in Jaipur and at the Panna tiger reserve, and the fears of attacks as far as Delhi, Mr. Cressman says the swarms are unlikely to linger in the central Indian States or over large urban centres, and will return to the deserts of Rajasthan with the arrival of monsoon.
• A changing climate and the recent cyclonic activity have brought the swarms into India earlier than expected and driven them further east than usual, he added.
• “Locusts don’t like urban areas, they will simply overfly the urban areas. They will make enough of a bother to scare people, [but] they don’t attack humans, of course. There’s not much to eat in urban areas. They’re not good at eating cement and concrete, they really like to eat the natural vegetation,” he said on Friday, speaking at a webinar organised by the Centre for Science and Environment.

Labour ministry starts online career skill training programmes

• Ministry of Labour and Employment under its National Career Service (NCS) project has now started offering free online Career Skills Training for its registered job-seekers.
• This course on soft skills assists the learners in enhancing personality development with modules on corporate etiquette, improving inter personal skills, making impactful presentation including other necessary soft skills demanded by the industry at present.
• The training module is available in Hindi and English on the NCS portal. The Ministry is implementing the NCS Project for transformation of the National Employment Service to provide a variety of employment related services like ......................................

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::ECONOMY::

Fiscal deficit widens to 4.6% due to revenue crunch

• The country’s fiscal deficit widened to 4.6% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019-20 mainly on account of poor revenue realisation, according to official data.
• The deficit, which signifies the gap between government revenue and expenditure, is higher than the revised estimate of 3.8% for the fiscal.
• According to the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) data, the fiscal deficit for 2019-20 worked out to be 4.59% of the GDP, while the revenue deficit was 3.27%.
• The effective revenue deficit was 2.36%, the data showed. The increase in the fiscal deficit has been mainly on account of shortfall in revenue collection during 2019-20.
• Revenue receipts during the year worked out to be only 90% of the revised estimate.In absolute terms, total receipts of the government were ₹17.5 lakh crore against the estimate of ₹19.31 lakh crore.
• The data showed the government’s total expenditure was ₹26.86 lakh crore, lower than the ₹26.98 lakh crore projected earlier.

TRAI recommends new national numbering plan

• The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Friday recommended that a new National Numbering Plan be issued at the earliest so that a uniquely identifiable number can be provided to every subscriber in India.
• Some of the options that TRAI has recommended include switching to a 11-digit mobile number, reallocation of mobile numbering resources surrendered by operators who have shut shop and prefixing zero for all mobile calls .............................................

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::INTERNATIONAL::

UN awards Indian army women with gender advocate award

• Major Suman Gawani, an Indian Army officer who served as a women peacekeeper with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan in 2019 is being awarded the prestigious - United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the year Award.
• She will receive the award from the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres during an online ceremony today being organised at the UN Headquarters, New York on the occasion of International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. Major Suman will receive this award along with a Brazilian Naval Officer Commander Carla Monteiro de Castro Araujo.
• Major Suman served as a Military observer in United Nations Mission in South Sudan,UNMISS from November 2018 to December 2019. The officer encouraged participation in joint military patrols to maintain gender balance, irrespective of the hardships under extreme field conditions. She visited various mission team sites across South Sudan to integrate gender perspective into the planning and military activity in the mission.
• The officer was selected to attend a specialised training on Conflict Related Sexual Violence at Nairobi and participated in various UN forums to demonstrate how a gender perspective can help in protecting civilians, especially from conflict related sexual violence.
• Apart from supporting the UNMISS Force initiatives, she also trained the South Sudan government forces on Conflict Related Sexual Violence related aspects. The officer also commanded the UN Peacekeepers Day Parade organised at UNMISS.

U.S decides to terminate relationship with WHO

• United States President Donald Trump has announced that America is terminating its relationship with World Health Organization over its handling of the Corona virus.
• He blamed WHO and China for the deaths and destruction ..............................

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::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

New dredging technology helps improve population of Irrawaddy dolphins

• A research project by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has helped Odisha's Chilika lake, Asia's largest brackish water body, in tripling the population of the Irrawaddy dolphins. The searchers conducted geotechnical, hydraulic and satellite imagery studies and developed a dredging methodology with minimum impact on the lake ecosystem.
• The process of dredging consists of the excavation (loosening or dislodging) of the material from the bottom, removal of the loosened material to the dredge vessel and ultimately transportation of the material to the placement area.
• Restored at a cost of Rs 10 crore by opening the mouth and other related works in six months', the lake is now off the threatened list (Montreux record).
• The IIT Madras team developed the dredging methodology identifying the location of dredging along with disposal and selection of suitable dredger with minimum impact on the ecosystem.
• The Chilika Lake Authority has developed an Ecosystem Health Report Card and periodical monitoring of salinity, fish and dolphin, freshwater weeds, birds and other biological parameters are being carried out.

::SPORTS::

Hockey India introduces grading system for match officials

• To improve umpiring standards and bring more structure to officiating, Hockey India has decided to introduce grading system for all officials, including umpires and technical officials. Tournament officials — technical delegates, umpire managers, technical officials, judges and umpires — will be divided into three grades.
• While for Umpires the final score will be based on performance reports from all domestic tournaments, fitness tests and online tests, for technical officials the parameters will be the same without fitness tests.

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