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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 06 October 2020

::NATIONAL::

SC quizzes centre and RBI over implementation of Kamalnath committee recommendations

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India about the steps taken to implement the K.V. Kamath Committee report on recommendations to bail out sectors affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan noted that an additional affidavit filed by the government late last week did not address “several issues” raised in writ petitions highlighting the plight of borrowers, small and big, who were being charged compound interest, post the pandemic moratorium which expired on August 31.
During the hearing, the court asked the government whether it had so far issued any circulars, policy decisions and so on, based on the Kamath panel report, which has made suggestions for a loan resolution or restructuring scheme for 26 pandemic-distressed sectors.
The court said it was not just about placing the report on record, but implementing it. The RBI and the government should issue circulars so that people knew what benefits had been extended to them. “It will be done,” the government and RBI sides responded.

Survey finds majority rural consumers unaware of transfat

Despite an increase in cardiovascular diseases in the rural areas during the COVID-19 pandemic, 61% of consumers in the villages in Rajasthan are unaware of the hazards of trans fats, which are responsible for heart ailments by raising the cholesterol levels. Very few consumers know about the sources of trans fats, according to a survey.
The sample survey, conducted by the Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS)-International in 12 districts of the State recently, has found that the consumption of industrially produced partially hydrogenated vegetable oils had increased by 19% from its pre-lockdown level in the rural areas.
In the urban areas, 46% of the consumers were found unaware of the health harms associated with trans fats, though 21% of them had heard the term.

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::ECONOMY::

Centre decides to take street food vendors online under PM SVANIDHI scheme

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has entered into anMoU with Swiggy, one of the leading food delivery platforms, to onboard street food vendors on its e-commerce platform.
The MoU aims at giving the street food vendors online access to thousands of consumers and help them grow their businesses. The arrangement has been facilitated under the Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNibharNidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme.
The Ministry and Swiggy will run a pilot programme by on-boarding 250 vendors across five cities namely - Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Indore, and Varanasi. The street vendors will be helped with PAN and FSSAI registration, training on technology, menu digitization and pricing along with hygiene and packaging best practices.
Upon the successful completion of the pilot programme, Urban Affairs Ministry and Swiggy plan to expand this initiative across the country in phases.
In a first of its kind initiative, the Urban Affairs Ministry has coordinated with the key stakeholders including Municipal Corporations, FSSAI, Swiggy and GST officials to ensure that necessary pre-requisites are completed for this initiative.

GST council fails to decide upon state compensation

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council was deadlocked on the issue of compensation to be paid to states on account of the shortfall stemming from the transition to the levy in 2017. It however decided to extend the compensation cess beyond 2022—the five-year period that had been agreed originally. The council will meet again on October 12 to discuss the issue.
The Centre will immediately disburse Rs 20,000 crore collected in the cess fund in the current financial year to states, Union finance minister NirmalaSitharaman, also the council chairman, told reporters after its Monday meeting.
The Centre proposed to raise the borrowing limit to Rs 1.1 lakh crore from Rs 97,000 crore as suggested by some states in their feedback, pruning the expected revenue growth to 7% instead of the 10% previously estimated over the last financial year.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

India-South Korea to expand cooperation in health sectors

Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey and United Kingdom’s Minister of State for South East Asia Affairs Lord Tariq Ahmed discussed bilateral relations in the health sector of the two countries through video conference today.
The two Ministers discussed in detail the current status of the COVID-19 vaccine, its efforts to reach the public and the efforts being made by both countries to stop the pandemic.
Mr.Choubey said that COVID-19 has given humanity an opportunity to come together and fight this pandemic with full force and resolve.
Highlighting the need to include the theme of "Ayushman Bharat" in the agenda of the next joint working group meeting to enhance cooperation between the two countries, Mr.Choubey suggested to further cooperation in the fields of e-health, drug regulations, regulatory cooperation, pharma exports, collaborative research, capacity building, among others to strengthen the relationship between the two countries.
UK's Minister of State for South East Asia, Lord Tariq Ahmed took this occasion to discuss the work being done by India and the United Kingdom on the COVID-19 vaccine. He thanked Prime Minister NarendraModi for India's critical help in the form of medicines during this transition period.

New Caledonia votes to remain within French territory

The South Pacific territory of New Caledonia chose to remain French on Sunday, narrowly rejecting independence in a tightly-fought referendum marked by a high turnout.
The vote rejecting a breakaway from France after almost 170 years came in at 53.26 percent, down from 56.7 percent in a referendum two years ago.
Sunday's vote was part of a carefully negotiated decolonisation plan agreed in 1998 which ended a deadly conflict between the mostly pro-independence indigenous Kanak population and the descendants of European settlers.
New Caledonia, situated between Australia and Fiji and sometimes called "The Pebble", was seized by France in 1853 and is home to 270,000 people.
The economy's mainstays are the production of metals, especially nickel of which New Caledonia is a major global producer, as well as tourism and financial support from mainland France.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

DRDO test fires ASW missile system

Supersonic Missile Assisted Release of Torpedo, SMART was successfully flight tested today from Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha.
Defence Research and Development Organisation, DRDO said, all the mission objectives including missile flight upto the range and altitude, separation of the nose cone, release of Torpedo and deployment of Velocity Reduction Mechanism (VRM) have been met perfectly.
SMART is a missile assisted release of lightweight Anti-Submarine Torpedo System for Anti-Submarine Warfare or ASW operations far beyond Torpedo range.
The launch and demonstration are significant in establishing Anti-Submarine warfare capabilities. A number of DRDO laboratories including DRDL, RCI Hyderabad, ADRDE Agra, NSTL Visakhapatnam have developed the technologies required for SMART.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the DRDO Scientists and other stake holders for the important feat. Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO Dr G Satheesh Reddy, said that SMART is a game changer technology demonstration in the Anti-Submarine Warfare.

::SPORTS::

Vishnu pandian wins gold in online shooting championship

India's VisnuShivarajPandian won the 10m air rifle event at the fifth edition of the International Online Shooting Championship yesterday. The 16-year-old Visnu shot 251.4 to win the title by a clear margin of two points.
The second place was won by world no. 27 Etienne Germond of France while Olympic quota winner Martin Strempfl of Austria took the third place.
Shooters from 15 countries are participating in the two-day competition. The 10m air pistol event will be held today. Leading India's challenge will be Olympic quota winner Yashaswini Singh Deswal.

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