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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 29 January 2020

::NATIONAL::

Centre plans to bring in food parks in all north eastern states

Union Minister of State for Ministry of Food Processing Industries RameswarTeli has said that Centre has planned to set up Food Parks in all states of North East Region.\
He said a number of food parks have already been completed and started functioning. The Minister said this while addressing a workshop on PradhanMantriKisanSampadaYojana (PMKSY) at Aizawl yesterday.
A large number of entrepreneurs engaged in Agro-based sector and members from many Self Help Groups participated in the workshop.
Mr.Teli also discussed on various central schemes that can help boost the food processing industry in Mizoram. He said that entire North East has huge potential for Agro-based enterprises and several attractive schemes are already in place in the PMKSY policy framework.
These schemes include financial incentives Mega Food Parks and Integrated Cold Chain.He further said that these schemes can assist entrepreneurs to establish market linkage across the country and also for exports to ASEAN countries.

Jammu & Kashmir to prepare blacklist of websites post 2G network restoration

The Jammu & Kashmir administration, which is grappling with complaints after resuming lowspeed 2G internet services and select broadband connections in Kashmir, is likely to formulate a new list of websites which cannot be accessed –– a change from the current list of websites which can accessed.
The new list being planned, locally called the ‘Black List’, would help the authorities when the internet is restored completely. Service providers are currently facing difficulties in ensuring restricted access to subscribers.
Officials are tight-lipped on the further course of action regarding internet access but resumption of broadband services is being considered and could be restored soon.
Resumption of 2G internet services last week has not ended the woes of subscribers as they are unable to surf many important websites due to restricted access and struggle to open even ‘white listed’ websites owing to extremely low speed, a source said.
The administration snapped all forms of communication and internet services on August 5, 2019, following the abrogation of special status to J&K.
The government then resumed landline phone services in the last week of September; post-paid mobile phones on October 14, 2019; and prepaid connections in January following a Supreme Court order regarding internet suspension in J&K.

::ECONOMY::

Govt.urges banks to address pending disciplinary cases

The government on Tuesday directed all banks to set up committees of senior officials to monitor progress of pending disciplinary and internal vigilance cases and set timelines for completion of such cases to prevent damaging morale of staff, according to a release by the finance ministry.
The government has also delegated powers to the boards of PSBs to set mechanisms to ensure compliance with fraud reporting timelines set by the central bank and the Central Vigilance Commission.
The government has also modified the framework on dealing with large value frauds to remove personal liability of managing directors chief executive officers of banks for adherence to timelines related to identifying and reporting cases of fraud.
The release noted that the government had taken several steps to protect honest commercial decisions by bankers including the incorporation of Section 17A in the Prevention of Corruption Act requiring prior permission from the government “before initiating investigation against a public servant.”

Government blocks GST claims worth 40000crores on returns mismatch

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has frozen tax credits of around Rs 40,000 crore as the returns did not match, exposing alleged fraud by close to 2,000 entities, apart from cases where returns were not filed.
Last week, the indirect tax wing of the revenue department blocked the credits within four hours, CBIC chairman John Joseph said at an event on Monday.
Companies are entitled to credits on tax paid on inputs in the production chain so that there is no cascading effect of taxes. But major discrepancies in returns and instances of a large number of frauds prompted the government to crack the whip.
The standard operating procedure developed by the revenue department is to share the data with the state governments, which then move in, first asking them to make the corrections or pay up.
But the scrutiny of the data has revealed that several flyby-night operators were misusing the benefit. There were entities which were set up just for the sake of showing bogus turnover and relied on a web of shell companies.
These companies, many of which used forged documents, then vanished from the scene, prompting the government to tighten norms for GST registration.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Bangladesh to allow formal education to Rohingyans

The Rohingya children living in refugee camps in Bangladesh will be allowed to receive formal education. This was announced today by Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr. A.K. Abdul Momen in an interview to AFP. Dr.Momen said that Bangladesh does not want a lost generation of Rohingyas and it will provide education to them.
According to reports in the local media, government plans to provide school education to Rohingya children up to the age of 14. Older children will be provided skill based training. A pilot programme involving more than 10,000 students would be launched soon, with UNICEF and government agencies jointly designing the curriculum.
The Rohingya refugee children in Bangladesh were earlier barred from formal education. They received primary education in temporary learning centres set up by the UN children's agency UNICEF.
UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Mia Seppo said that the move will make it easier for the Rohingyas to go back home to Myanmar when the time is right for their return. Organisations working for Rohingya refugees and Human rights bodies have also welcomed this step of the government.

India and Luxembourg to review bilateral relations

Visiting Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn met External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in New Delhi today.
The Ministers reviewed the bilateral relations between the two countries and discussed ways to further strengthen ties in the areas of trade and economic cooperation, space, political and strategic relations among others. The Ministers agreed to the further intensification of high level political contacts.
Mr Asselborn arrived in Delhi yesterday on a three day official visit to India. He is one of the longest serving Foreign Ministers in Europe, has close associations with the Indian leadership and has visited India four times.
During the current visit, he visited Rajghat to pay respects to Mahatma Gandhi. As part of the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Luxembourg had issued a special postage stamp.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Government plans to use ISRO satellite data for planning services

Indian space agency will share high resolution geospatial data it generates from its remote sensing satellites to help in planning across rural parts of the country ranging from e-government services to optimization of schools in the country.
Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) and Ministry of Panchayati Raj have are working on creating an ecosystem for using high resolution thematic data for better planning, said Uday Raj, Chief General Manager, Regional Centres and Project Director, Space-based Information Support for Decentralised Planning (SISDP).
Isro said for the first time thematic database (on 1:10,000 scale) for the entire country is available with integrated high resolution satellite data for planning. The space agency’s will use its geoportal - BhuvanPanchayat V-3.0 - for database visualisation, data analytics, generation of automatic reports, model based products and services for the benefit of gram panchayat members and other stakeholders.
These initiatives are part of the advanced Space-based Information Support for Decentralised Planning (SISDP) project. The first phase of SISDP was completed in 2016-17.
The space agency said 28 states are “part of this exercise” of planning using high-resolution satellite data. National Informatics Centre will provide data on assets across different parts of the country for this project.

::SPORTS::

EsowAlben wins gold in Berlin cycling event

In Cycling, India's EsowAlben has bagged a gold in the men's Keirin individual event of the Six Day Berlin Tournament. The 18-year-old finished on top of the podium, earning 20 classification points last night.
Czech Republic's Tomas Babek, who won a silver in the 2017 World Championship, came in second while Maximilian Lev of Germany took home the bronze.
Earlier in the competition, the teenager had won a bronze on day two followed by a silver medal on the fourth day in the individual Keirin event.