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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 30 November 2020

::NATIONAL::

Karnataka government, has deferred plan to provide OBC status to Lingayat community in the Central OBC List.
Lingayats are member of a Hindu sect with a wide following in southern India that worships Shiva as the only deity.
They are followers of 12th-century social reformer, Basaveshwara who was against caste system and Vedic rituals.
They have been classified as a Hindu subcaste calledVeerashaiva Lingayats.
Lingayats had distanced itself from Hindu Veerashaivas because latter followed Vedas and supported castesystem, to which Basaveshwara was against.

With less than two months of his tenure remaining, US President Donald Trump exercised his powers under the Constitution to pardon Michael Flynn, his former National Security Advisor, who had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

Status in USA:

The President of the US has the constitutional right to pardon or commute sentences related to federal crimes. The US Supreme Court has held that this power is “granted without limit” and cannot be restricted by Congress.
Clemency is a broad executive power, and is discretionary — meaning the President is not answerable for his pardons, and does not have to provide a reason for issuing one.

Status in India:

Unlike the US President, whose powers to grant pardons are almost unfettered, the President of India has to act on the advice of the Cabinet.
Under Article 72 of the Constitution, “the President shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence where the sentence is a sentence of death”.
In several cases, the SC has ruled that the President has to act on the advice of the Council of Ministers while deciding mercy pleas. These include Maru Ram vs Union of India in 1980, and Dhananjoy Chatterjee vs State of West Bengal in 1994.

Union government has notified the Andaman & Nicobar, and Lakshadweep Islands will be using renewable energy to meet their total requirement under the goals.
India has installed about 1,36,000 megawatts (MW) of Renewable Energy capacity with capacity addition of another 57,000 MW under implementation.
The target is now to achieve 450 gigawatts of Renewable Energy capacity by 2030.
India is in the midst of a major transformative shift in its energy sector, to end energy poverty in India.
It aims to enhance availability and affordability of clean fossil fuels and green fuels, and to reduce the carbon footprint through a healthy mix of all commercially-viable energy sources.
In earlier government has launched the National Biofuel Policy (NBP) in 2018 to promote biofuels in mass scale with a target of 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrol and 5 per cent of bio-diesel by 2030. Also, government is planning for setting up twelve 2G Ethanol Bio-Refineries in 11 States with an overall capacity of 1100 Kilo Litre per Day (KLPD).
The SATAT (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation) initiative targets to setup 5,000 compressed biogas plants with a target of 15 million metric tonnes per year with an investment potential for $ 20 billion. Indian oil marketing companies are offering to private entrepreneurs assured price and offtake guarantee.

China will build a “super” dam on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo river close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Tibet, in a move that could have a far-reaching impact on northeast India’s water security.
It originating in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), the trans-border Yarlung Zangbo flows into Arunachal Pradesh where it is called Siang and then to Assam as Brahmaputra before flowing into Bangladesh.
The dam could come up in the Medog county of TAR, which is close to Arunachal Pradesh.China has already built several smaller dams on the Yarlung Zangbo river.
The new dam’s ability to generate hydropower could be three times that of central China’s Three Gorges Dam, which has the largest installed hydropower capacity in the world.
The new dam will be built with focus on maintaining China’s national security.
The project will play a significant role in realising China’s goal of reaching a carbon emissions peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060.

Kalpakkam Atomic Power Plantalso known as Madras Atomic Power Station recently activated the cyclone protection machineryagainst Cyclone Nivar.
KAPP is one of the operational nuclear plant in the country situated in Tamil Nadu.
It was the first indigenously built nuclear power station in India.
It has two Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors of 170MWe each.

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has recently launched India Climate Change Knowledge Portal.
It will be a single point Information resource on different climate initiatives taken by various Line Ministries.
It will help in disseminating knowledge among citizens about all the major steps Government is taking atboth national and international levels to address climate change issues.
Major components of portal:India's Climate Profile, National Policy Framework, Bilateral and MultilateralCooperation, International Climate Negotiations etc

According to the Sport Ministry the Olympics-bound duo of race walker K.T. Irfan and javelin thrower Shivpal Singh along with sprinter Dutee Chand have been included in the core group of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS).
The Target Olympic Podium Scheme is a flagship program of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.It is an attempt to provide assistance to India’s top athletes.
The Scheme looks to add a premium to the preparations of these athletes so that they can win Olympic medals in 2020 and 2024 Olympics.
Under the Scheme, the Department of Sports shall identify athletes who are potential medal winners in 2020 / 2024 Olympics.
The idea of the Scheme is to also keep an eye in the future and fund a Developmental Group of Athletes who are medal prospects for the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 and Los Angeles Games in 2028.
The Mission Olympic Cell is a dedicated body created to assist the athletes who are selected under the TOP Scheme.