(FREE) UPSC Current Affairs 2024 PDF

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 03 July 2019

::NATIONAL::

Centre adopts multi-pronged approach to tackle illegal migrants

The government has adopted a multi-pronged approach to ensure effective surveillance and domination of international borders to check infiltration of illegal migrants.
In a written reply to a question in the LokSabha, Minister of State for Home Affairs, G Kishan Reddy said, physical infrastructure like border fencing, floodlighting, construction of border roads and establishment of border outposts has been created.
He said the Home Ministry has issued instructions to States and Union Territories advising them to ensure that no Aadhaar card is issued to illegal migrants.
Mr Reddy said state governments have further been advised to cancel other state-level identification documents fraudulently obtained by illegal migrants.
In another instance Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba has asked Maoist-affected States to increase the number of inter-State operations and conduct joint operations.
The Home Ministry convened a meeting of eight Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected States to review the various aspects of security and the ongoing development projects.

Supreme court seeks report on cash transfer schemes from EC

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought a response from the Election Commission of India (ECI) on a plea to declare the implementation of direct cash transfer schemes such as the PM KisanSammanNidhi scheme, by “parties in power” in the Centre and six States immediately before or during polls as “illegal and unconstitutional” and contrary to the “right of equal participation of each citizen in polity.”
The Court issued the notice on a writ petition filed by PentapatiPullaRao, represented by senior advocate Santosh Pal and advocate Sravan Kumar. Mr.Rao was a contestant from the Eluru Parliamentary constituency in Andhra Pradesh on a JanaSena Party ticket.
Mr.Rao has arraigned, besides the ECI, the Centre and States Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand as respondents in the petition. He alleged that these States had done cash transactions to sections of voters under various direct cash transfer schemes during or just before the polls.
Besides the PM kisan scheme, the schemes mentioned in the petition are PasupuKumkuma, NTR Atmabandhu, RytuBandhu, KALIA and MukhyaMantriKrishiYojana.
The plea sought action under Article 324 and Section 123 of the Representation of People Act.

::ECONOMY::

Centre ratifies agreement to curb BEPS

The government announced on Tuesday that it had ratified the international agreement to curb base erosion and profits shifting (BEPS), a bid to stop companies from moving their profits out of the country and depriving the government of tax revenue.
The MLI is a result of concerted work by the G20 countries to tackle the issue of base erosion and profit shifting, something that affects them all.
India was part of the Ad Hoc Group of more than 100 countries and jurisdictions from the G20, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and other interested countries, which worked on the finalising the text of the Multilateral Convention.
“The MLI will be applied alongside existing tax treaties, modifying their application in order to implement the BEPS measures.”Out of 93 tax treaties notified by India, 22 countries have already ratified the MLI so far and the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with these countries will be modified by MLI.
For the remaining countries with tax treaties with India, the MLI will come into force when they ratify it. The MLI will come into force for India from October 1, 2019.

Centre extends KCC scheme to fisheries and animal husbandry sector

Government has extended the facility of Kisan Credit Card (KCC) to fisheries and animal husbandry farmers to help them meet their working capital needs. Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Pratap Chandra Sarangi said this in a written reply in LokSabha today.
He said, the KCC facility will help fisheries and animal husbandry farmers to meet their short term credit requirements of rearing of animals, poultry birds and other aquatic organisms and capture of fish.
Under Kisan Credit Card facility, for the existing KCC holders the credit limit is three lakh rupees to meet their working capital requirements.
Under KCC, interest subvention is available for animal husbandry and fisheries farmers at the rate of two per cent per annum at the time of disbursal of loan and additional interest subvention of three per cent per annum in case of prompt repayment.

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

::INTERNATIONAL::

Bangladesh PM embraces relationship with India

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said, its ties with India are organic and they go beyond a few billion dollars of trade as both countries have shed blood together during the liberation struggle of the country.
She was speaking at the meeting of the World Economic Forum in Dalian on the first day of her five-day visit to China yesterday. Ms Hasina said, despite differences in size and capacity compared to India, Bangladesh can only secure its peace and security through sustainable development and connectivity.
She said Bangladesh and India are joining hands to develop the river navigation between the two countries.
The Bangladesh Prime Minister said she is not worried about falling into a debt trap due to Chinese involvement in many of the developmental projects.
Ms Hasina also outlined a five-point agenda to address key concerns of weaker economies of the world. Expanding upon her vision, she said, stability in the region, sustainable development, mutual trust for mutual benefit, inclusive development and competition rather than rivalry are its key elements.

Britain warns China on violation of agreement with Hongkong

Britain has warned China of serious consequences if it breaches a bilateral agreement to preserve Hong Kong's freedoms, after an unprecedented night of anti-government protests.
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said in Belfast today that Hong Kong is part of China but the freedoms in Hong Kong are enshrined in a joint declaration signed with former colonial ruler Britain.
He said the legally binding agreement should be honoured. Mr Hunt was speaking during a campaign event in Northern Ireland as part of his bid to lead the ruling Conservative Party and become Prime Minister.
Junior foreign minister Alan Duncan said in London that the British government rejected Beijing's assertion that the joint declaration was no longer valid.
He told parliament, the government's clear view is that the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 obliges the Chinese government to uphold Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy and its rights and freedoms.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

India to become co investigator in NASA mission

NASA has selected Texas-based Southwest Research Institute to lead its PUNCH mission which will image the Sun. This is a landmark mission that will image regions beyond the Sun’s outer corona. Dipankar Banerjee, solar physicist from Indian Institute of Astrophysics is also a Co-Investigator of the PUNCH mission.
PUNCH, which stands for “Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere,” is focused on understanding the transition of particles from the Sun’s outer corona to the solar wind that fills interplanetary space.
“The Sun and the solar wind are one interconnected system, but [these] have until recently been studied using entirely different technologies and scientific approaches,” explains Prof. Banerjee.
India is planning to send up its own satellite Aditya-L1, a mission to study the Sun’s corona, and Prof. Banerjee is the co-Chair of the Science Working Group. “We expect co-ordinated observations of Aditya and PUNCH in order to understand our space weather environment,” he says.
The mission will image and track the solar wind and also the coronal mass ejections – which are huge masses of plasma that get thrown out of the Sun’s atmosphere. The coronal mass ejections can affect and drive space weather events near the Earth.

::SPORTS::

India beats Bangladesh to enter world cup semi finals

India secured a place in the semi-finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup with a 28-run win over Bangladesh at Birmingham last night.
Opting to bat, the Men in Blue posted 314 for 9, riding on Rohit Sharma's 92-ball 104, his 26th ODI ton. He became the first Indian and second after Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara to score four centuries in a World Cup.
The winner of today's game will book a semi-final berth, while the losing team will still have the chance to qualify. It will have to wait for the result Pakistan's final game against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka's last match against India. Pakistan and Sri Lanka are alive in the tournament mathematically.