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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 15 August 2020

::NATIONAL::

PM salutes Covid warriors and armed forces on Independence day

Addressing the nation from the ramparts of historic Red Fort, Prime Minister NarendraModi saluted the Corona warriors who have helped the nation fight against the pandemic. He greeted the nation on the occasion of Independence Day and said people breathe in Independent India today because of the sacrifice of thousands of heroes.
He also saluted all members of the armed forces and personnel who guard the nation's independence and keep everyone safe. He expressed confidence that the country will together fight all the challenges that it is facing including floods, landslides.
The Prime Minister said India will celebrate the 75th year of independence next year and a huge festival is in front of the people. He pointed out that there was no period of slavery in the past when there was no attempt for freedom.
He said all attempts were made to root out the country's cultures and traditions in the past. He said the idea of expansionism led to the enslavement of many countries but even in the midst of fierce wars, India did not falter in its freedom struggle. He said India became a challenge to forces of expansionism with its freedom struggle.
The Prime Minister said in the midst of the Corona pandemic, 130 crore Indians have pledged to build an AtmaNirbhar Bharat. Mr Modi expressed confidence that India will realize this dream. He said he has firm belief on the abilities, confidence and potential of Indians.
Mr Modi stressed that women empowerment has a huge role to play in AtmaNirbharbharat. He informed that of the 40 crore Jan Dhan accounts opened in the country, about 22 crore accounts belong to women. He said that in April, May and June this year, about Rs 30,000 crore have been directly transferred to the accounts of women.

Centre claims RTI disposal rate unaffected due to COVID

The RTI disposal rate in the country remained unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic. During certain given intervals of time, the disposal rate was even higher than the usual. Union Minister for Public Grievances, Dr.Jitendra Singh informed this presenting relevant facts and figures pertaining to RTI disposal in the last few months.
Mr. Singh reviewed the functioning of Central Information Commission (CIC) with Chief Information Commissioner BimalJulka today. Dr. Singh said, the functioning of the Commission had not been interrupted even for a single day during the entire course of the pandemic.
He said, in the midst of the pandemic on 15th May this year, the Central Information Commission started entertaining, hearing and disposing of RTIs from the newly created Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, through virtual means.

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::ECONOMY::

RBI decides to transfer 51000cr surplus to centre

The board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the transfer of ₹57,128 crore as surplus to the government for the accounting year 2019-20, while deciding to maintain the Contingency Risk Buffer at 5.5%, the RBI said in a statement on Friday.
Last year, the central bank had transferred ₹1.76 lakh crore, which included ₹1.23 lakh crore as dividend and ₹52,637 crore of excess provisions.
While the RBI’s payout will partly bolster the Centre’s pandemic-hit finances, it is unlikely to help bridge a huge shortfall in receipts as both tax revenue and capital proceeds from planned disinvestments are set to suffer setbacks with the economy poised to shrink this fiscal in the wake of the national and regional lockdowns to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
The Board discussed a proposal for setting up an Innovation Hub and also approved the Annual Report, the RBI added.
RBI’s financial year runs from July-June at present and is scheduled to be harmonised with the government’s April-March fiscal starting FY22, Press Trust of India reported. In the current year, the RBI will have a nine-month financial year, ending in March.

India to impose equal and proportional measures on trade barriers, claims centre

India will take "equal and proportional measures" to protect domestic manufacturing if other countries continue imposing restrictions or barriers on Indian goods, Commerce and Industry Minister PiyushGoyal said on Friday.
He also said that if some countries continue exporting low-quality goods or dumping products or routing exports through India's free trade agreement (FTA) partners, India would take actions.
Goyal also said that the government is looking at providing 'plug and play' infrastructure, faster clearances, more affordable finance and lower logistics cost to invite businesses to India.
On a question that MNCs in India are not taken as local vendors when it comes to participation in government procurement, the minister said problems come when such companies set up just "screw-driver" operations.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

India welcomes peace deal between Israel and UAE

India has welcomed the normalisation of relations between UAE and Israel. Addressing a press briefing, Spokesperson of Ministry of External Affairs, AnuragSrivastava said that both UAE and Israel are key strategic partners of India.
He said, India continues its traditional support for the Palestinian cause and hopes to see early resumption of direct negotiations to find an acceptable two-state solution.
Mr.Srivastava said that India has consistently supported peace,stability and development in West Asia. Earlier, in a joint statement released yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan said they have agreed to the full normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

Turkey- France lock horns over eastern Mediterranean region

Turkey accused France on Friday of acting like a bully and stepped up its own charm offensive as EU Foreign Ministers met to address an emerging crisis in the energy-rich eastern Mediterranean.
The search for oil and gas in disputed waters not far from Cyprus has pitted Turkey against its uneasy NATO ally Greece and the entire EU bloc.
Turkey’s decision to send a seismic vessel accompanied by a small Navy fleet into the increasingly volatile region on Monday prompted Greece to dispatch in its own military assets to observe what was going on.
France on Thursday also announced it was “temporarily reinforcing” its military presence in the eastern Mediterranean in support of Greece. That decision only further worsened France’s tensions with Turkey — already high because of opposing approaches to the Libya conflict and other parts of the region — and saw the diplomatic rhetoric rise another notch.
President RecepTayyipErdogan on Thursday underscored the fraught nature of the stand-off by warning of a “heavy price” to pay for those who threaten Turkey’s Oruc Reis research ship.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

IITM study finds coral reefs could answer many questions with respect to monsoons

The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) has recently stated that the Corals in the North Indian Ocean have vital answers about the onset and withdrawal of Indian Monsoons. The Indian Monsson has been arriving with variabilities in the recent years.
This is due to several factors apart from Climate Change. The Lakshadweep and Maldives Corals have answers to these variabilities according the IITM Study.
The study states that the bands growing on the coral surface is capable of revealing about paleoclimatic conditions, ambient water temperature, rainfall and other aspects in the past. This is similar to that of the tree rings used to determine the information about the past climate.
Sea Surface Temperature is the vital factor that governs Indian Monsoon. It regulates moisture production in the sea and also affects wind circulation patterns causing rainfall in the monsoon season. The salinity of the sea water increases with increase in Sea Surface Temperature.
This means that increased temperature leads to higher rate of evaporation leaving behind larger concentrations of salt in the sea. This is common in summers. However, the study has found that there has been departure in this trend in the Northern Indian Ocean especially in the seas of Lakshadweep.
The Lakshadweep seas began to cool after the onset of monsoon in June. This was because of supply of low saline water flowing from Bay of Bengal into the southern regions of Arabian Sea. Because of the above reasons, the corals in the Lakshadweep Islands enjoy favourable conditions.

::SPORTS::

Australia to go ahead with England tour

Australia’s limited-overs tour of England will go ahead this month at bio-secure venues, officials said on Friday, after its players were given government clearance to travel.
With this tour on, IPL teams will likely be without those selected for the tour for at least a week. The latest the players can arrive in the UAE is September 18 and as per the IPL SOP, will be quarantined for six days with RT-PCR tests on day 1, 3 and 6.

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