(FREE) UPSC Current Affairs 2024 PDF

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 03 October 2018

::NATIONAL::

PM inaugurates first session of International Solar Alliance

The Prime Minister, ShriNarendraModi, today inaugurated the first Assembly of the International Solar Alliance at VigyanBhawan. The same event also marked the inauguration of the second IORA Renewable Energy Ministerial Meeting, and the 2nd Global RE-Invest (Renewable Energy Investors’ Meet and Expo).
In this context, he expressed confidence that in future, when people talk of organisations for the welfare of mankind established in the 21st century, the International Solar Alliance will be at the top of the list. He said this is a great forum to work towards ensuring climate justice.
The Prime Minister said that the effect of increased use of renewable energy is now visible in India. He added that India is working towards the goals of the Paris Agreement through an action plan. He said that the target is to generate 40 percent of India's total energy requirements in 2030, by non fossil fuel based sources. He said India is developing with a new self-confidence of "Poverty to Power.
The Prime Minister said that along with power generation, power storage is also important. In this context, he mentioned the National Energy Storage Mission. He said that under this Mission, the Government is focusing on demand creation, indigenous manufacturing, innovation and energy storage.
The Prime Minister said that besides solar and wind power, India is working on biomass, biofuel and bio-energy. He said efforts are being made to make India's transport system clean fuel based. He said that by converting bio-waste to biofuel, India is converting a challenge into an opportunity.

Centre accepts few demands of famers after protest

As the thousands of protesting farmers affiliated to the BhartiyaKisan Union (Tikait group) were prevented from entering Delhi in support of their demands, Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Tuesday said the Centre would consider reducing GST on farm equipment to 5%. The farmers have demanded that farm equipment be exempt.
While the Centre is prepared to cede ground on some of the demands, it is refusing to budge with regard to higher minimum support prices (MSP) and wants further discussion on issues such as loan waivers, Mr.Shekhawat told.
The Centre agreed to seek a legal review petition against the National Green Tribunal’s ban on diesel vehicles more than ten years old in the NCR, and bring on board the four affected State governments as well. “Tractors can’t be counted as vehicles,” said Mr.Shekhawat.
He added that he would chair a committee to resolve implementation problems on crop insurance and farmer credit schemes, and review the possibility of including crop damage by wild animals for insurance.
Farmer representatives would also be included in a NITI Aayog special committee that will focus on linking agriculture with MGNREGA, he said.
The Centre also agreed to ensure that crops were procured at MSP rates within 90 days.

::ECONOMY::

SIDBI launches National Level Entrepreneurship Awareness Campaign

Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), had launched a National Level Entrepreneurship Awareness Campaign, UdyamAbhilasha in 115 Aspirational Districts identified by NITI Aayog in 28 States and reaching to around 15,000 youth.
The campaign would create and strengthen cadre of more than 800 trainers to provide entrepreneurship training to the aspiring youths across these districts thus encouraging them to enter the admired segment of entrepreneurs.
SIDBI is also taking-up with stakeholders including Banks, NABARD, NBFCs, SFBs, District Industries Centres, State Govt. etc. to be a part of this campaign and ensure mutlifold impact. Further, CSC Village Level entrepreneurs (VLEs) would play role of catalyst for these aspiring entrepreneurs.
VLEs would also provide handholding support to the aspirants to establish new units by assisting them in availing loans for their enterprise and making them aware about various initiatives of Government of India like PradhanMantri Mudra Yojana, SUI etc. and educate the youths in these districts on business literacy.
Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), is the Principal Financial Institution for the Promotion, Financing, Development and Coordination of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector. SIDBI meets the financial and developmental needs of the MSME sector with a Credit+ approach to make it strong, vibrant and globally competitive.

PM urges world leaders to move towards single electricity grid

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Tuesday urged world leaders to move towards a future of ‘one world, one sun, one grid’ in which countries around the world would share electricity so that none is without it.
Addressing leaders of 40 countries attending the inauguration of the first general assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), Mr.Modi also said that the membership of the Alliance — so far restricted to countries between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn — would be expanded to include all member countries of the United Nations.
“Imagine a world where we would have ‘one world, one sun, one grid’,” Mr.Modi said. “In such a world, where there is no sun-down, where the sun is bright in some part of the world, where is the question of lack of energy?In the last 150-200 years, humanity has used fuels from below the ground for its lighting needs,” Mr.Modi added.
The International Solar Alliance was launched in 2015 and is headquartered in India. So far, 70 countries have signed its framework agreement and 44 have ratified it.
“Today, the ISA has become a ray of hope for the world in just three years,” Mr.Modi said. “My belief is that the ISA will top the list of climate change organisations in the 21st Century. What OPEC was doing for the world, in the future the ISA will do. The role of oil wells will be replaced by the sun’s rays.”
Regarding India, the Prime Minister said that the country had set a target of 40% of electricity generation capacity from non-fossil fuels by 2030.

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

::INTERNATIONAL::

India to deliver relief materials to ailing Indonesia

The Indian Air Force and the Navy on Tuesday launched efforts to deliver relief material to the tsunami-hit Indonesia.
The Navy has diverted its ships INS Tir ,Sujata and Shardul on deployment to Singapore to Palu in Indonesia. The IAF has deployed one C-130J and one C-17 transport aircraft to ferry medical teams and relief material.
Besides bricks and other relief material normally carried, these ships have on board 30,000 litres of bottled drinking water, 1,500 litres of packaged juices, 500 litres of milk, 700 kg of biscuits and 20 tents. The ships were dispatched at first light on Tuesday morning, a Navy officer said.
On Monday, Prime Minister NarendraModi called up Indonesian President JokoWidodo and offered assistance.
The C-130J aircraft is carrying a field hospital from Agra. The C-17 aircraft is carrying tents, generators, medicines and others from the National Disaster Management Authority. The C-130J carrying 37 medical personnel took off from the Hindon Air Force Station to Chennai. From Chennai, the aircraft will fly to the Kualanamu international airport and from there, to Palu. “Light medical equipment, including an X-ray machine, and medicines are being carried,” an IAF officer said.

WHO launches global guidelines on sanitation and health

The world will not reach the goal of universal sanitation coverage – where every person has access to toilets – by 2030 unless countries make comprehensive policy shifts and invest more funds, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday as it launched the first global guidelines on sanitation and health.
In a release, the WHO said that by adopting its new guidelines, countries can significantly reduce diarrhoeal deaths due to unsafe water and poor sanitation and hygiene. For every US $1 invested in sanitation, the WHO estimates a nearly six-fold return as measured by lower health costs, increased productivity and fewer premature deaths.
Worldwide, 2.3 billion people lack basic sanitation (with almost half of them forced to defecate in the open). They are among the 4.5 billion without access to safely managed sanitation services – in other words a toilet connected to a sewer or pit or septic tank that treats human waste.
“Sanitation is a fundamental foundation of human health and development and underpins the core mission of WHO and ministries of health worldwide. WHO’s Sanitation and Health Guidelines are essential to securing health and well being for everyone, everywhere,’’ said Dr.SoumyaSwaminathan, deputy director-general for programmes, WHO.
The WHO developed the new guidelines on sanitation and health because current sanitation programmes are not achieving anticipated health gains and there is a lack of authoritative health-based guidance on sanitation.
“Billions of people live without access to even the most basic sanitation services,” said Dr. Maria Neira, director, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health, WHO.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Three more Indian sites gets UNESCO’s GlobalGeopark Network status.

In a first, an ancient circular lake created by a meteorite strike in Maharashtra and a hexagonal mosaic of basaltic rocks in an island off Udupi are poised to become global geoparks, under a Geological Survey of India (GSI) plan.
Lonar Lake in Maharashtra and St. Mary’s Island and Malpe beach in coastal Karnataka are the GSI’s candidates for UNESCO Global Geopark Network status.
The road to recognition, however, is long. An aspiring Global Geopark must have a dedicated website, a corporate identity, comprehensive management plan, protection plans, finance, and partnerships for it to be accepted. In mid-August, GSI moved ahead with the plan, setting a follow-up time frame of 100 days.
“These are spectacular to look at even for the general public who may not understand that they are also geologically important. Lonar lake is the only known meteorite crater in basaltic rock and is world famous, while St. Mary’s island is a unique phenomenon that has been preserved well,” says AsitSaha, Director, Geodata, at the GSI Headquarters in Kolkata.
Lonar crater became a geo-heritage site in 1979. It is relatively young geologically, at just 50,000 years old. A meteorite estimated to weigh two-million-tonnes slammed into the Earth, creating a 1.83-km diameter crater where the lake formed. It is distinguished by a near-perfect, circular ejecta blanket, which refers to earth thrown up during the collision, around it.

::SPORTS::

AFI asks Anjali to take assessment tests

She may have walked away with the best athlete award at last week’s Open Nationals in Bhubaneswar, but the Athletics Federation of India has asked Haryana quartermiler Anjali Devi Kundu to undergo assessment tests after joining the National camp which begins in various parts of the country on October 10.
Anjali had clocked a very impressive 51.79s — the fourth best time in Asia this year — while winning the 400m gold at Bhubaneswar.
The camp for quartermilers and 400m hurdlers will be held in Patiala and Anjali is among the 17 athletes — eight men and nine women, mostly juniors and all from the same group — who have been asked to undergo assessment tests.