Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 26 MARCH 2019

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 26 MARCH 2019

::NATIONAL::

Supreme court wants EC to increase VVPAT verification

•  The Supreme Court said on Monday that it was in favour of increasing the random physical verification of Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in the LokSabha and Assembly elections, though the idea was met with stiff resistance from the Election Commission.
•  Deputy Election Commissioner Sudeep Jain said the current practice of physically checking the VVPAT paper slips of one randomly selected polling station in an Assembly constituency and each Assembly segment in the case of the LokSabha election was “all that is needed.” There was no need whatsoever to extend the physical count of VVPATs.
•  “It was the judges of this court that pushed you into introducing the VVPATs in the first place. If you are so conscious of improving your parameters, why did you not take the first step to introduce VVPATs in elections? Why did the judges of this court have to think for you?” Justice Gogoi said.
•  In 2013, in the Subramanian Swamy case, the Supreme Court held that the paper trail through VVPAT of votes cast was an indispensable requirement of free and fair elections.
•  The court was hearing a joint petition filed by 21 Opposition parties demanding the random verification of at least 50% EVMs-VVPATs in every Assembly segment or constituency.
•  The Opposition parties have further sought to quash an EC guideline that physical counting should be conducted “only for VVPAT paper slips of one randomly selected polling station of an Assembly constituency in case of election to State Legislative Assembly and each Assembly segment in case of election to the House of the People.”

Survey reports suggest more than half of internet users scared of airing political views

•  As many as 55% of sampled English Internet users were concerned that expressing their political views online could get them into trouble with the authorities, an India digital report prepared by the Reuters Institute showed.
•  “These high levels of concern could be based in part on recent events in India. Since 2012 at least 17 people have been arrested for posting material that was considered offensive or threatening to a politician,” the report said on Monday.
•  As many as 68% of those surveyed identified smart phones as their main device for online news with 52% stating that they got their news from Facebook. WhatsApp (52%), Instagram (26%), Twitter (18%), and Facebook Messenger (16%) were the other sources of news.
•  “Online news generally (56%), and social media specifically (28%) have outpaced print (16%) as the main source of news among respondents under 35, whereas respondents over 25 still mix online and offline media to a greater extent,” the Reuters Institute report said.
•  Respondents overall had low trust in news overall (36%) but expressed higher levels of trust in news search (45%) and social media (34%). As many as 57% of those surveyed were worried whether the news they consumed was fake or real.
•  The Reuters Institute said that the report was based on data from a survey of English-speaking, online news users in India. “Our respondents are generally more affluent, have higher levels of formal education, skews male, and are more likely to live in cities than the wider Indian population and our findings only concern our sample .”

::ECONOMY::

Government Notifies latest drugs & Cosmetics rules

•  Health and Family Welfare Ministry have notified the Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019 with an aim to promote clinical research in the country. The new rules will change the regulatory landscape for the approval of new drugs and conduct of clinical trials in the country.
•  These rules will apply to all new drugs, investigational new drugs for human use, clinical trial, bioequivalence study and Ethics Committee. It has reduced the time for approving applications to 30 days for drugs manufactured in India and 90 days for those developed outside the country.
•  The rules stated that in case of no communication from Drugs Controller General of India, the application will be deemed to have been approved. It said the requirement of a local clinical trial may be waived for approval of a new drug if it is approved and marketed in any of the countries to be specified by the Drugs Controller General with the approval of the government.
•  The new rules will ensure patient safety, as they would be enlisted for trials with informed consent. The ethics committee will monitor the trials and decide on the amount of compensation in cases of adverse events.

India improves its rank in WEF energy transition Index

•  India has moved up two places to rank 76th on a global energy transition index. This annual list, compiled by Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF), has ranked 115 economies on how well they are able to balance energy security and access with environmental sustainability and affordability.
•  The report, released by the WEF today, said India is amongst the countries with high pollution levels and has a relatively high CO2 intensity in its energy system. It added that despite this, India has made significant strides to improve energy access in recent years, and currently scores well in the area of regulation and political commitment towards energy transition.
•  The report suggested there was a ground for optimism regarding India despite the current outdated energy system not being ready for the transition because an enabling environment is being built to support the future transition.
•  While India has scored low in terms of system performance, it ranks considerably higher when it comes to readiness to adapt to future energy needs.
•  India is also the second best in the BRICS block of emerging economies, with Brazil being the best at 46th place globally. However, India is the only amongst the five economies to improve its rank since last year.
•  Sweden remains on the top on this annual list and is followed by Switzerland and Norway in the top three. Among major economies, the UK is ranked 7th, Singapore 13th, Germany 17th, Japan 18th and the US 27th. Within Asia, Malaysia is ranked highest at 31st, Sri Lanka is 60th, Bangladesh 90th and Nepal 93rd.
•  While the US has made progress in reducing the use of coal in power generation, it slipped in the rankings by four places reflecting concerns about the affordability of energy to households, and regulatory uncertainty on environmental sustainability.

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

::INTERNATIONAL::

U.S and Russia in a rift over Venezuelan issue

•  The US and Russia clashed publicly over Venezuela today, raising geopolitical stakes over the oil-producing nation after Moscow sent dozens of soldiers to Caracas amid what it alleged was a budding coup.
•  US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov over the phone that the United States and regional countries will not stand idly by as Russia exacerbates tensions in Venezuela.
•  The tense conversation came after Russia sent two planes reportedly carrying around 100 soldiers and 35 tons of military equipment to Venezuela's main airport outside Caracas on Saturday.
•  The US has thrown its weight behind opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president against President Nicolas Maduro.
•  According to his office, Mr Pompeo said, the continued ion of Russian military personnel to support the illegitimate regime of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela risks prolonging the suffering of the Venezuelan people.
•  The statement said, such moves constitute violations of the UN charter and undisguised interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state.

China reiterates commitment to ease Indo-Pak tensions

•  China on Monday reiterated its intent to remain engaged in easing tensions between India and Pakistan.
•  In response to a question regarding the exchange of greetings between Prime Minister NarendraModi and his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan on the occasion of Pakistan’s National Day, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson GengShuang said China welcomed “the goodwill sent out to each other by both India and Pakistani leaders.”
•  He added: “We support the two sides in maintaining engagement and improve their relations, stabilise the situation and resolve their differences.”
•  China, he said, will “continue to play a constructive role to this end.”
  Asked specifically whether Beijing would pursue “mediation” between India and Pakistan, Mr.Geng said: “China’s position on the Issue of India-Pakistan relations is consistent”.
•  “These two are important South Asian countries, and we hope they will resolve the issues through dialogue and consultation.”Mr.Geng added.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Navy commissions new nuclear,biological training facility

•  Admiral Sunil Lanba, PVSM AVSM ADC, Chief of the Naval Staff commissioned a state of the art "Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Training Facility - ABHEDYA", at INS Shivaji, Lonavla today.
•  M/s. GSL had signed the contract with Indian Navy for construction of NBCTF on 31 Mar 2016. In line with its tradition of delivering projects ahead of schedule, GSL has handed over the facility to Indian Navy on 28 Sep 2018, well ahead of schedule.
•  Cmde BB Nagpal CMD GSL stated “The timely completion of this Project is a reflection of the superior technical design and execution abilities of the Indian Navy and Goa Shipyard Limited”.
•  “This unique facility will assist Indian Navy in providing realistic simulation of Nuclear, Chemical & Biological warfare to its personnel during their NBC damage control training, which till now was limited to theoretical training largely.”
•  The trainees will have to detect, monitor, survey and decontaminate the areas using actual NBC equipment, providing real time NBC scenarios.

::SPORTS::

T-10 league to be held in Abudhabi for the next 5 years

•  In Cricket, there are two short formats so far, that is, ODI and T-20. Now, brace for T-10. The Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi will be the new home of T10 cricket for the next five years, starting with the 2019 season.
•  Abu Dhabi Cricket, in partnership with Abu Dhabi Sports Council and the Department of Culture and Tourism-Abu Dhabi, has signed a five-year agreement with the organizers of the T10 Cricket League.
•  The shortest form of the game will now be played exclusively at Zayed Cricket Stadium. The first match of the T10 League 2019 will be held on October 23.
   

Click Here For Today's Current Affairs MCQ's

Click Here for Old Current Affairs Archive

This is a Part of Online Coaching Programme for UPSC Exam

Buy Printed Study Material for UPSC PRELIMS EXAM

Join Test Series for IAS (Pre.) Exam