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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 09 May 2020

::NATIONAL::

NGT asks LG polymers to deposit compensation upholding ‘absolute liability’ clause

The National Green Tribunal's order on Friday in the Visakhapatnam gas tragedy found LG Polymers prima facie liable under the 19th century English law principle of “strict liability”, which was made redundant in India by the Supreme Court in 1986. Lawyers say the term “absolute liability” should have been used instead.
Even though the NGT directed the company to deposit an initial amount of ₹50 crore and formed a fact-finding committee, its use of the term “strict liability” has been questioned. For, under the “strict liability principle”, a party is not liable and need not pay compensation if a hazardous substance escapes his premises by accident or by an “act of God’” among other circumstances.
The Supreme Court, while deciding the Oleum gas leak case of Delhi, found strict liability woefully inadequate to protect citizens’ rights in an industrialised economy like India and replaced it with the ‘absolute liability principle’.
So, under the absolute liability principle, the apex court held that a company in a hazardous industry cannot claim any exemption. It has to mandatorily pay compensation, whether or not the disaster was caused by its negligence. The court said a hazardous enterprise has an “absolute non-delegable duty to the community”.

Very few take up ration card portability scheme by centre

Although 60 crore people are now potentially covered under the Centre’s ration card portability scheme, inter-State usage has been very low so far, says Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan.
If utilised properly, the One Nation, One Ration Card scheme could allow migrant workers to access free foodgrains wherever they are, providing a lifeline for desperate migrants during the COVID-19 lockdown.
The portability scheme could not work without biometric authentication using electronic point of sale machines, Mr.Paswan said. In fact, during a recent conference with the Centre, several States had suggested allowing distribution using just ration cards.
On procurement of wheat from farmers during the ongoingrabi marketing season, the Minister said it was lagging behind by 18.35% following shortage of jute gunny bags due to the lockdown.
Mr.Paswan urged the State governments to ensure speedier distribution of pulses, noting that while the entire allocation of 1.95 lakh tonnes for April had been despatched by the Centre and 93% of that had been received by States, only 27% had actually reached beneficiaries.

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::ECONOMY::.

Finance ministry announces relief package for NRI’s and foreign visitors

Union Government yesterday gave relief on residency status to NRIs and foreign visitors whose stay in India got prolonged due to lockdown in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak. In its circular, Central Board of Direct Taxes- CBDT said that the prolonged stay in India will be discounted.
It said, the circular for determining the residential status in such cases for Financial Year 2020-21 will be issued in due course, depending upon normalization and resumption of international flights.
Considering various representations received from people who had to prolong their stay in India due to lockdown, expressed concerns that they will be required to file tax returns as Indian residents.
Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman has allowed discounting of prolonged stay period in India for the purpose of determining residency status.
The CBDT has decided that for the purposes of determining the residential status during the previous year 2019-20 in respect of an individual who has come to India on a visit before 22nd March, 2020 and were unable to leave India on or before 31st March 2020, his period of stay in India from 22nd March to 31st March shall not be taken into account.

India-AIIB sign agreement to strengthen public health preparedness

India and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, AIIB today signed a 500 million dollar “COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Project” in New Delhi to strengthen its public health preparedness.
This is the first ever health sector support from the Bank to India.Finance Ministry said, this new support will cover all States and Union Territories across the country and address the needs of infected people, at-risk populations, medical and emergency personnel and service providers, medical and testing facilities, and national and animal health agencies.
The agreement was signed by Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Sameer Kumar Khare and RajatMisra, Director General (Acting) on behalf of the AIIB.
Mr Kharesaid, that AIIB’s timely assistance will help Government in its efforts to respond to the threat posed by COVID-19 and strengthen the national health systems for preparedness in India.
The project will also enhance the resilience of India’s health system to provide core public health prevention and patient care to better manage COVID-19 and future disease outbreaks. It will help strengthen country's Integrated Disease Surveillance Program, revamp infectious disease hospitals and medical college hospitals.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

India helps African nations affected by COVID

In response to the pandemic, India has readily come to the assistance of various African countries affected by COVID-19.
It is in keeping with India’s traditionally strong bonds of friendship and solidarity with Africa, which has reached new heights in the last few years.
India is dispatching packages of medicines to more than 25 countries in Africa. This package of medicines includes hydroxychloroquine, paracetamol and other drugs which are immediately required to fight the pandemic.
These medicines are expected to complement the national efforts of the various countries in Africa to combat the pandemic.
Prime Minister NarendraModi had telephonic conversation on 17th April with President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, who is also the current Chairperson of the African Union.
Last month, External Affairs Minister had also spoken to his counterparts in several African countries to reiterate India’s solidarity with African people in the fight against COVID-19 and offered them all assistance. His offer was deeply appreciated by these countries.
The e-ITEC course for healthcare workers and others on "COVID-19 Pandemic : Prevention and Management Guidelines for healthcare professional” organised by the Ministry of External Affairs along with its partner AIIMS Raipur is also now been extended to all healthcare workers of Africa.

WHO says countries must return to public health surveillance to control COVID

World Health Organization’s top emergency health expert has said that countries must return to basic principles of public health surveillance if they are to bring the Corona virus outbreak under control.
The WHO issued the call for more surveillance as many countries including the United States, Switzerland, Mexico and Germany have turned their efforts toward re-opening economies battered by the pandemic.
Head of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme Mike Ryan said that all nations should focus on the fundamentals of the global Corona virus fight : scouting potential new infections, hunting them down, confirming them and then separating those afflicted, to save others from the disease.
In another press briefing yesterday, WHO Food Safety and Animal Diseases Expert Peter Ben Embarek said, live animal markets are critical to providing food and livelihoods for millions of people globally. He said, authorities should focus on improving such markets rather than outlawing them - even though they can sometimes spark epidemics in humans.
Mr Embarek said, investigations are continuing in China to pinpoint the animal source from which COVID-19 jumped into humans. He said, it might take considerable time to identify the original animal source for the Novel Corona virus, explaining that extensive studies need to occur first. China is yet to invite WHO or other external experts to be part of that investigation.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Indian scientists develop energy efficient photodetector

The scientists from the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advances Scientific Research (JNCASR) has fabricated energy efficient photodetector for security applications.
The autonomous institute has fabricated energy efficient, economical and wafer scale photodetector. The photodetector was designed using gold-siliconinterface for security applications. It will also help to detect weak scattered light.
The scientists in the new invention have fabricated gold-silicon interface that shows high sensitivity towards light. The interface was brought between the elements with the help of galvanic deposition. Water based solutions were used to deposit the ions. This has made the detector affordable and also more efficient.
The detector has a rapid response time of 40 micro seconds. It covers broad range between UV and IR. As the device works in self-powered mode, no external power source is required. This makes the device highly energy efficient.
Today, photodetectors are used in wide range of applications. They are employed in wide range of applications from control of automatic lighting in supermarkets to detect radiations from outer galaxy.

::SPORTS::

BCCI ad hoc body might take control of DDCA administration

Without a president and its secretary in jail, the controversy-ridden Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) is set to be directly governed by the BCCI through an ad-hoc committee.
The BCCI, which has already stopped DDCA’s annual grant, conducted an Apex Council members’ teleconference a couple of days back to discuss the formation of an ad-hoc panel.
“There are endless complaints of corruption at all levels in the DDCA. Most of the Apex Council members feel that an ad-hoc panel should manage the association’s affairs until a proper set-up can be put in place,” said a senior BCCI official.

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