WEEKLY CURRENT AFFAIRS · • Minor Planet ‘Jasraj’ 17 • Food Insecurity Affects Children’s...

• Sanitation Plan to Focus on Waste Managements 2 • School Education Quality Index 3 • Obesity and Under Nutrition Coexist, Finds Survey 3

• Apprenticeship Amendment Rules, 2019 4 • Right to be Forgotten on the Internet 4 • Supreme Court Recalls Verdict Diluting Sc/St Anti Atrocities

Law 4 • Mobile Association to Follow Code of Ethics During Polls 6 • ECI Cell to Monitor Fake News, Poll Code Violations on Social

Media 6

• Nuclear Suppliers Group 7 • Article 35 of UN Charter 7 • The Trump-Biden-Ukraine Story 8 • Joint Military Exercise Kazind-2019 9 • Challenges before Communist Party of China 9 • 20 Countries Sign Agreement to Stop Spread of Fake News

Online 10 • Maitree-2019 10

• Regulatory Sandbox 11 • Financial Technology 11 • Call Money Rates Should Be Close To Policy Rate: Liquidity

Panel 11 • Growth To Pick Up In Second Half: FM 12 • YSR RYTHU Bharosa Scheme. 12 • Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT) 13 • Govt Looking to Ease Foreign Investment Limits in Govt

Bonds 13 • Impact of Corporate Tax Cut on Firms, Economy 14

• Chandrayaan 2 Vikram Lander had a Hard-Landing: NASA 15 • Soot Found in Placenta 15 • A Technique to Trap and Move Tiny Objects in the Nanoscale

16

• Minor Planet ‘Jasraj’ 17 • Food Insecurity Affects Children’s Learning 17 • Starship Spacecraft 18 • Green Tech Fuel System which can Replace Air Polluting DG

SET 18 • Ins Nilgiri 19 • Goldschmidtite 19 • An Annual Interstellar 19 • Dermatoglyphics Multiple Intelligence Test (DMIT) 20 • Google Attains ''Quantum Supremacy'' with Chip of the

Future 20 • Drug Regulator Cautions Against Over-The-Counter use of

Ranitidine 21 • Meghalaya Experiment on Drone Delivery of Medicines 21

• Climate Change and its Impact on Habitat of Lepidopteras 22 • Humans Pollute More than Volcanoes 22 • A New Trapdoor Spider Species has been Discovered 23 • Innovation, Greenhouse Gas Emission Top IPCC Agenda 23 • India and China Lead Global Urbanisation Shift 24 • Green Energy Target Lacks Deadline 24 • Scientific Way of Reviving Rainforests 25 • IPCC Report Warns of Dire Threat to Oceans 25 • India, Nepal, Bhutan to Count Tigers in Himalayan Habitats

26 • National Water Mission Awards 26 • Ancient River Excavated In Uttar Pradesh 27

• Tuberculosis Report 2019 27 • National Tourism Awards 2017-18 28 • Prehistoric Ancestors of Humans in Europe 28 • GALOS 29 • Heart Attack Linked to Air Pollution 29 • Portal for Private Security Agency Licensing Launched 30 • Right Livelihood Award 30 • 4,300 Quit Tobacco a year after Calling QUITLINE 30

• E-WASTE MANAGEMENT 31 • FINANCIAL FEDERALISM 34 • FACETS OF INDIA IRAN TIES 36 • HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOUTH ASIA 39

ISSUES OF THE WEEK

MISCELLANEOUS

GEOGRAPHY & ENVIRONMENT

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

SOCIAL ISSUES

CONTENT

WEEKLY CURRENT AFFAIRS 26TH SEPTEMBER TO 2ND OCTOBER

https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/sanitation-plan-to-focus-on-waste-managementhttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/school-education-quality-indexhttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/obesity-and-undernutrition-coexist-finds-surveyhttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/right-to-be-forgotten-on-the-internethttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/mobile-association-to-follow-code-of-ethics-during-pollshttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/eci-cell-to-monitor-fake-news-poll-code-violations-on-social-mediahttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/eci-cell-to-monitor-fake-news-poll-code-violations-on-social-mediahttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/nuclear-suppliers-grouphttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/article-35-of-un-charterhttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/the-trump-biden-ukraine-storyhttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/joint-military-exercise-kazind-2019https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/challenges-before-communist-party-of-chinahttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/20-countries-sign-agreement-to-stop-spread-of-fake-news-onlinehttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/20-countries-sign-agreement-to-stop-spread-of-fake-news-onlinehttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/maitree-2019https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/concept/what-is-regulatory-sandboxhttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/concept/financial-technologyhttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/call-money-rates-should-be-close-to-policy-rate-liquidity-panelhttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/call-money-rates-should-be-close-to-policy-rate-liquidity-panelhttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/growth-to-pick-up-in-second-half-fmhttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/ysr-rythu-bharosa-schemehttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/dividend-distribution-tax-ddthttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/govt-looking-to-ease-foreign-investment-limits-in-govt-bondshttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/govt-looking-to-ease-foreign-investment-limits-in-govt-bondshttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/impact-of-corporate-tax-cut-on-firms-economyhttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/chandrayaan-2-vikram-lander-had-a-hard-landing-nasahttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/soot-found-in-placentahttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/minor-planet-jasrajhttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/food-insecurity-affects-childrens-learninghttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/starship-spacecrafthttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/green-tech-fuel-system-which-can-replace-air-polluting-dg-sethttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/green-tech-fuel-system-which-can-replace-air-polluting-dg-sethttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/ins-nilgirihttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/goldschmidtitehttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/dermatoglyphics-multiple-intelligence-test-dmithttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/google-attains-quantum-supremacy-with-chip-of-the-futurehttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/google-attains-quantum-supremacy-with-chip-of-the-futurehttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/drug-regulator-cautions-against-over-the-counter-use-of-ranitidinehttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/drug-regulator-cautions-against-over-the-counter-use-of-ranitidinehttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/meghalaya-experiment-on-drone-delivery-of-medicineshttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/humans-pollute-more-than-volcanoeshttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/a-new-trapdoor-spider-species-has-been-discoveredhttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/india-and-china-lead-global-urbanisation-shifthttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/green-energy-target-lacks-deadlinehttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/scientific-way-of-reviving-rainforestshttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/ipcc-report-warns-of-dire-threat-to-oceanshttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/india-nepal-bhutan-to-count-tigers-in-himalayan-habitatshttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/national-water-mission-awardshttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/ancient-river-excavated-in-uttar-pradeshhttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/tuberculosis-report-2019https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/national-tourism-awards-2017-18https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/heart-attack-linked-to-air-pollutionhttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/portal-for-private-security-agency-licensing-launchedhttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/right-livelihood-awardhttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/4-300-quit-tobacco-a-year-after-calling-quitline

BALIYANS.COM | AN INSIGHT INITIATIVE Telegram : https://t.me/baliyans | Youtube: https://bit.ly/2QdIs3n | Website: https://baliyans.com/

| Central Delhi: 73, Near Axis Bank, Old Rajinder Nagar | | PH. No. - 011-47401259, 9811906458, 9818333201 | 2

SANITATION PLAN TO FOCUS ON WASTE MANAGEMENT

Details: • The ten-year strategy framework presented by Jal Shakti Ministery also indicates that the Centre’s share of

financing the ODF Plus programme will be lower than in the last five years. • The first priority is to sustain the gains of ODF, to prevent slipbacks and continue behaviour change. • With regard to waste management elements, there will have to be a convergence of funds from the Centre,

states, Panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) and alternative financing, including credit and private funds.

Why in News? Govt set to declare that India is completely open defecation free (ODF) on October 2, the Centre has launched a 10-year strategy to maintain these gains and shift focus to solid and liquid waste management in rural areas of the country.

SOCIAL ISSUES

https://t.me/baliyanshttps://bit.ly/2QdIs3nhttps://baliyans.com/https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/sanitation-plan-to-focus-on-waste-management



SCHOOL EDUCATION QUALITY INDEX

Details: The index consists of 30 critical indicators that assess the delivery of quality education. These indicators are categorized as below: • Category 1: Outcomes which includes Learning outcomes, Access outcomes, Infrastructure and facilities for

outcomes, Equity outcomes, Governance processes aiding outcomes. • Category 2: Governance processes aiding outcomes • To facilitate a like-for-like comparison, States and UTs have been grouped as Large States, Small States and

UTs. Of the 20 Large States, 10 perform better on the Outcomes category, with the most noticeable performance differences observed in the cases of Karnataka, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh.

• The other Large States perform better on the Governance Processes Aiding Outcomes category, with the most noticeable performance differences observed in the cases of Odisha, Punjab and Haryana.

• Of the eight Small States, seven perform better on the Outcomes category, with the most noticeable performance differences observed in the cases of Manipur, Tripura and Goa. Sikkim is the only Small State that performs better on the Governance Processes Aiding Outcomes category.

• Of the seven UTs, four perform better on the Outcomes category, with the most noticeable performance differences observed in Dadra & Nagar Haveli. Delhi, Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep perform better on the Governance Processes Aiding Outcomes category.

• Five Small States have shown an improvement in their overall performance score between 2015-16 and 2016-17, with the average improvement being around nine percentage points.

• However, as in the case of Large States, there is considerable variation between the fastest and slowest improving States. States such as Meghalaya, Nagaland and Goa outpaced the others, improving by 14.1, 13.5 and 8.2 percentage points respectively, thus improving their ranks in the process.

• All seven UTs have shown an improvement in their overall performance scores. The average improvement is 9.5 percentage points. Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Puducherry improved their overall performance scores by 16.5, 15.0 and 14.3 percentage points respectively, which enabled them to improve their ranking on incremental performance.

• The index aims to bring an ‘outcomes’ focus on the education policy by providing States and UTs with a platform to identify their strengths and weaknesses and undertake requisite course corrections or policy interventions.

OBESITY AND UNDERNUTRITION COEXIST, FINDS SURVEY

Details: • National Nutrition Survey conducted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and UNICEF between

February 2016 and October 2018 is the first study undertaken to micronutrient deficiencies through biochemical

Why in News? National nutrition survey conducted by the Centre finds that Nearly 10% of children in the age group of 5-9 years and adolescents in the age group of 10-19 years are pre-diabetic, 5% are overweight and another 5% suffer from blood pressure.

Why in News? NITI Aayog releases School Education Quality Index (SEQI). It evaluates the performance of States and Union Territories (UTs) in the school education sector.

https://t.me/baliyanshttps://bit.ly/2QdIs3nhttps://baliyans.com/https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/school-education-quality-indexhttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/obesity-and-undernutrition-coexist-finds-survey



measures such as blood and urine samples, anthropometric data as well as details of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol and kidney function in children and adolescents.

• NFHS, however, collects anthropometric data (weight for age, height for age, weight for height, mid-upper arm circumference) to measure the prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight and household dietary intake to measure deficiencies.

• A quarter of 5-9 and 10-19 year-olds were thin for their age, one in five children 5-9 years’ old were stunted. • A total of 1.12 lakh children and adolescents (0-19 years) were surveyed for height and weight measurements

and 51,029 children (1-19 years) for biological samples.

APPRENTICESHIP AMENDMENT RULES, 2019

Salient features of the notified Apprenticeship (Amendment) Rules, 2019: • The hiring limit of apprentices has been raised to 15 per cent of the total strength of an establishment. The

minimum stipends have been doubled to between Rs 5,000 and Rs 9,000 per month. • The stipend for graduate apprentices or degree apprentices has been increased to Rs 9,000 per month. For

school pass outs, between Class 5th and 9th, the stipend has been increased to Rs 5,000 per month. • The Centre has also lowered the size limit of an establishment with a mandatory obligation to engage

apprentices on an optional basis from 40 to 30 and reduced the size limit of an establishment wanting to engage apprentices from 6 to 4. With this, the numbers of apprenticeships are expected to rise to 2.6 lakh as compared to 60,000 this year till now.

RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN ON THE INTERNET

Background: • In 2015, CNIL, an internet regulating agency in France, required that Google go beyond its practice of region-

specific delinking, and ordered the search engine company to delete links from its global database. • Google refused to abide by the order, arguing that following the same would impede the free flow of

information across the world. • Google challenged the CNIL’s order at the ECJ and contended that implementing the online privacy law

beyond the EU would hamper access to information in countries around the world, especially those ruled by authoritarian governments.

• Arriving at a landmark ruling, the ECJ has now restricted applying the privacy law beyond the EU. It has also observed that the EU cannot enforce the ‘right to be forgotten’ on countries which do not recognise such a right

Details:

• The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled in favour of the search engine giant Google, which was contesting a French regulatory authority’s order to have web addresses removed from its global database.

Why in News? The European Union’s highest court ruled that an online privacy rule known as the ‘right to be forgotten’ under European law would not apply beyond the borders of EU member states.

Why in News? The Centre announced a commitment of Rs 560 crore to state governments to promote demand-driven, industry-linked skill development at the ground level. The government has also notified changes in Apprenticeship Rules (1992) with an aim to increase skilled manpower in the country, and raise monetary compensation of apprentices.

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

https://t.me/baliyanshttps://bit.ly/2QdIs3nhttps://baliyans.com/https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/right-to-be-forgotten-on-the-internet



• The ruling comes as an important victory for Google and lays down that the online privacy law cannot be used to regulate the internet in countries such as India, which are outside the European Union.

What is the ‘right to be forgotten’ under European law? • The right to be forgotten empowers individuals to ask organisations to delete their personal data. It is provided

by the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a law passed by the 28-member bloc in 2018. The right to be forgotten appears in Recitals 65 and 66 and in Article 17 of the regulation, which states: • The data subject shall have the right to obtain from the controller the erasure of personal data concerning him

or her without undue delay and the controller shall have the obligation to erase personal data without undue delay

• Under Article 2 of the GDPR, “personal data” means “any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (“data subject”)”, and “controller” means “the natural or legal person, public authority, agency or any other body which determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data.

• After a search engine company like Google gets requests under the privacy law to get information deleted, it first reviews and then removes links on country-specific sites within the European Union, such Google’s ‘google.de’ for Germany.

• According to the New York Times, Google has so far received more than 8.45 lakh requests to take down 33 lakh internet links, and 45% of the latter have been delisted.

SUPREME COURT RECALLS VERDICT DILUTING SC/ST ANTI ATROCITIES LAW

Details: • On March 20, a judgment by Justice A.K. Goel diluted

the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, to grant anticipatory bail to accused persons and directed that the police conduct a preliminary enquiry into whether a complaint under the law is “frivolous or motivated” before registering a case.

• Both conditions were not part of the original legislation. Justice Goel had reasoned that members of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes use the 1989 law to lodge false complaints, leading to the arrest of innocent persons.

• In its judgment on the review petition, Supreme Court mentioned human failing and not caste is the reason for the filing of false criminal complaints. The court condemned its earlier judgment, saying it was against “basic human dignity” to treat all SC/ST community members as “a liar or crook”

• Members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, due to backwardness, cannot even muster the courage to lodge an FIR, much less, a false one, the judgment noted.

Why in News? The Supreme Court recalled its March 20, 2018 verdict, which bent the written law to protect persons accused of committing atrocities against the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.

https://t.me/baliyanshttps://bit.ly/2QdIs3nhttps://baliyans.com/



MOBILE ASSOCIATION TO FOLLOW CODE OF ETHICS DURING POLLS

Details: • The IAMAI and social media platforms Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, Google, Sharechat and TikTok pointed

that they had presented and observed the ‘Voluntary Code of Ethics’ during the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year.

• The IAMAI has assured the Election Commission that the platforms will cooperate in ensuring the conduct of free and fair elections.

• During the Lok Sabha elections, the social media platforms took action on 909 cases of violations reported by the Commission.

• The features of ‘Voluntary Code of Ethics’ include social media platforms voluntarily undertaking information, education and communication campaigns to build awareness, including about electoral laws and other related instructions.

• In addition, the social media platforms have created a high priority dedicated grievance redressal channel for taking quick action on the cases reported by the Commission.

• These platforms will ensure that all political advertisements on their platforms are pre-certified by the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee as per the order of the Supreme Court.

ECI CELL TO MONITOR FAKE NEWS, POLL CODE VIOLATIONS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Details: • The social media monitoring cell was set up earlier this month, in light of the observation that social media

has become a popular platform for election-related activities. • Watching out for any and all content uploaded on social media that could amount to a violation of any kind

and will be reporting these instances to the relevant authorities. This includes scanning all mediums like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

• The cell will also scan social media for posts by citizens drawing attention to willful violations of the model code of conduct by candidates or their supporters, including enticement for votes and use of force or intimidation

• The cell will mainly be keeping an eye out for three kinds of violations. The first kind is any content being shared that might amount to defamation, rumour-mongering or fake news, and such instances will be forwarded to the concerned police units for further action.

• The second is the violation of the model code of conduct, which will be reported to the ECI. The third category is of posts that might give rise to law and order problems, in which case they will be removed from the internet.

• There is a lot of scope for violations through social media, such as holding live events on Facebook or Instagram when campaigning is forbidden, or uploading advertisements of candidates on such platforms when it is not allowed.

• Apprenticeship Amendment Rules, 2019

Why in News? Election Commission of India (ECI) setting up a dedicated cell to monitor activities of candidates contesting the Maharashtra Assembly elections on social media platforms ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections.

Why in News? Members of the Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) have agreed to observe the ‘Voluntary Code of Ethics’ during all future elections.

https://t.me/baliyanshttps://bit.ly/2QdIs3nhttps://baliyans.com/https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/mobile-association-to-follow-code-of-ethics-during-pollshttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/eci-cell-to-monitor-fake-news-poll-code-violations-on-social-media



NUCLEAR SUPPLIERS GROUP

Details: • According to him one challenge that is

before India today is that of nuclear energy, because, since India is not a member of the NSG, India does not really have the ability to get the fuel for producing nuclear energy.

• The NSG controls most of the world’s nuclear trade. While the U.S. and other countries support India’s entry into the NSG, China has opposed it saying India has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

• India and the U.S. announced in March that six U.S. companies would set up nuclear power reactors in India.

ARTICLE 35 OF UN CHARTER

Details: • The ceasefire was brokered by a United Nations Mission. According to UN records, on January 1, 1948, the

Government of India reported to the Security Council. • Pointing out that J&K had acceded to India, the “Government of India considered the giving of this assistance

by Pakistan to be an act of aggression against India. • The Government of India, being anxious to proceed according to the principles and aims of the Charter,

brought the situation to the attention of the Security Council under Article 35 of the Charter. • Pakistan denied this on January 15, 1948, and argued India’s complaint under Article 35 contained a threat of

direct attack against it. • Pakistan accused India of the genocide of Muslims, failure to implement agreements between the two

countries, unlawful occupation of Junagadh and India’s actions in Jammu & Kashmir. Article 35 • Articles 33-38 occur in Chapter 6 titled “Pacific Settlement of Disputes”.These six Articles layout that if the

parties to a dispute that has the potential for endangering international peace and security are not able to resolve the matter through negotiations, or by any other peaceful means, or with the help of a “regional

Why in News? Union Home Ministry held India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru responsible for the existence of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as he had “declared an untimely ceasefire” to the hostilities after Pakistan had invaded Kashmir in October 1947. As per the ministry had Nehru taken the matter to the United Nations under Article 51 of the UN Charter, instead of Article 35, the outcome would have been different.

Why in News? Prime Minister of India made a pitch for India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in New York.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

https://t.me/baliyanshttps://bit.ly/2QdIs3nhttps://baliyans.com/https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/nuclear-suppliers-grouphttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/article-35-of-un-charter



agency”, the Security Council may step in, with or without the invitation of one or another of the involved parties, and recommend “appropriate procedures or methods of recommendation”.

• Specifically, Article 35 only says that any member of the UN may take a dispute to the Security Council or General Assembly.

Article 51 • This Article occurs in Chapter 7 titled “Action With Respect to Threats to the Peace, Breaches of the Peace, and

Acts of Aggression”. • Article 51 essentially says that a UN member has the “inherent right of individual or collective self-defence” if

attacked till such time that the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security.

The outcome • The decision to set up a United Nations Mission was taken on January 20. The UN invoked Article 34 to mandate

the mission to investigate facts of the situation, and to exercise any mediatory influence likely to smooth away difficulties.

THE TRUMP-BIDEN-UKRAINE STORY

Allegations on Donald Trump: • Trump is alleged to have tried to enlist a

foreign country, Ukraine, on his side in a personal political battle with Joe Biden, the senior Democratic Party leader.

• In a telephone conversation, Trump is alleged to have pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to open a corruption investigation in his country against Biden and his son Hunter Biden.

• Before this call, the President issued a personal order to freeze more than $391 million of US aid to Ukraine.

• The aid Trump allegedly ordered frozen was intended for use in training and equipping Kyiv’s forces against continuing Russian hostility.

• The money was in two packets: $250 million from the Defence Department’s Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative; $141 million from the State Department’s foreign military financing program.

• The announcement by Pelosi greatly increases the possibility that Trump will become the fourth individual in the 230-year history of the American presidency to face removal from office by impeachment.

Why in News? The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives has announced that the House would begin a formal impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump to hold him accountable for the betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections.

https://t.me/baliyanshttps://bit.ly/2QdIs3nhttps://baliyans.com/https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/the-trump-biden-ukraine-story



JOINT MILITARY EXERCISE KAZIND-2019

Details: • The aim of this exercise is to conduct company level

joint training with the emphasis on counter-terrorism operations in mountainous terrain.

• Exercise KAZIND-2019 is the fourth edition of an annual event which is conducted alternatively in Kazakhstan and India.

• During the exercise, aspects of emerging trends of global terrorism and hybrid warfare have also been included.

• The joint military exercise will enhance the level of defence cooperation further fostering bilateral relations between the two nations.

CHALLENGES BEFORE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA

Details: • Chinese economy was $30.55 billion in 1952; it stood at $13.6 trillion in 2018. China has almost eradicated

urban poverty. According to the World Bank, some 850 million people were lifted from poverty since the economic reforms.

• China is an industrial powerhouse and a leader in advanced technologies, a far cry from the poor, broken and primarily agrarian economy which the communists took over in 1949.

• While communist party is celebrating these achievements, but also faces transformational challenges like: Economic slowdown • With globalisation and free trade in crisis and the era of cheap labour in China over, the country’s exports

dependent economy has slowed down. In the second quarter of 2019, Chinese economy grew 6.2%, slowest in more than 27 years.

• The trade war with the U.S. has hurt China badly with its industrial growth rate falling to a 17year low of 4.8% in July. The numbers suggest that China is experiencing one of the worst economic slowdowns since it was opened up.

Geopolitical tensions • China’s foreign policy doctrine focus was on the country’s economic development, China was also “peacefully”

rising as a regional power in Asia. With China’s big power status, however, it can no longer hide. • Take the case of the U.S., for example. U.S. China ties have been normalised after President Richard Nixon’s

historic 1972 visit to China. When China liberalised its economy, economic and trade ties with the U.S. deepened.

Why in News? China celebrated 70th anniversary of the Communist revolution. The country has made great economic progress under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, especially in the last 40 years after Deng Xiaoping opened up the economy.

Why in News? Joint Military Exercise KAZIND-2019 between India and Kazakhstan will be conducted at Pithoragarh from 02 to 15 October 2019.

https://t.me/baliyanshttps://bit.ly/2QdIs3nhttps://baliyans.com/https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/joint-military-exercise-kazind-2019https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/challenges-before-communist-party-of-china



• But now, the U.S. and China are involved in a bitter tariff war which is hurting each other as well as the global economy. Tensions have also risen in the South China Sea region.

• President Donald Trump’s policy seeks to take on China, if not contain its rise. The cooperative competition between the two countries has entered into a phase of confrontational competition.

Political crises • President Xi gave his emphatic speech in Beijing recently then a protester was shot in the chest in Hong Kong

by the police. Hong Kong has been in turmoil for month. What began as a protest against an extradition Bill has morphed into a violent movement for political reforms and “liberation”.

• The Hong Kong protests are perhaps the greatest challenge Mr. Xi has faced since he became President. In Xinjiang, Beijing was accused of detaining one million Uighurs in “re education camps”. China pointed these were de radicalisation camps, but the detention has sparked a global outcry.

• Choosing the next Dalai Lama could be another major political challenge. China has insisted that the next Lama should come from Tibet so that Beijing can have some leverage on the reincarnation.

20 COUNTRIES SIGN AGREEMENT TO STOP SPREAD OF FAKE NEWS ONLINE

Details: • The signatories, who also included South Africa and Canada, committed to promoting independently reported,

diverse and reliable information on the internet under an accord initiated by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a press freedom watchdog.

• Last week, Twitter shut down thousands of accounts worldwide for spreading misinformation, including some artificially amplifying pro-Saudi messaging as part of a regional propaganda war.

• Fake accounts from China seeking to sow discord among protesters in Hong Kong were also found. Reporters without Borders: • Reporters without Borders is a non-profit and non-governmental organization with consultant status at the

United Nations located in Paris, France. • Its main aim to conducts political advocacy on issues relating to freedom of information and freedom of the

press. • World Press Freedom Index, Predators of Press Freedom ad Press Freedom Barometer are its two main

publications. MAITREE-2019

Details: • It is a joint military exercise which is being conducted between armies of India and Thailand since 2006. • This annual training event is held alternatively in Thailand and India. Aim of Military Exercise is to share

experience gained during various counter-terrorism operations. • It is significant in terms of security challenges faced by both countries in the backdrop of changing facets of

global terrorism. It will enhance the level of defence cooperation between the armies which will further foster defence cooperation and bilateral relations between two nations.

Why in News? Exercise MAITREE-2019, the joint military training exercise between Indian Army & Royal Thailand Army which commenced on 16 Sep 19, culminated on 29 Sep 2019 at Foreign Training Node, Umroi (Meghalaya).

Why in News? Twenty countries, including France, Britain and India, have signed an agreement at the United Nations to stop the spread of fake news on-line.

https://t.me/baliyanshttps://bit.ly/2QdIs3nhttps://baliyans.com/https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/20-countries-sign-agreement-to-stop-spread-of-fake-news-onlinehttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/maitree-2019https://baliyans.com/admin/news/fake-news



REGULATORY SANDBOX

What is Regulatory Sandbox? • A Regulatory Sandbox (RS) usually refers to live to test of new products or services in a controlled/test

regulatory environment for which regulators may (or may not) permit certain regulatory relaxations for the limited purpose of the testing.

• The RS allows the regulator, the innovators, the financial service providers (as potential deployers of the technology) and the customers (as final users) to conduct field tests to collect evidence on the benefits and risks of new financial innovations, while carefully monitoring and containing their risks.

• It can provide a structured avenue for the regulator to engage with the ecosystem and to develop innovation-enabling or innovation-responsive regulations that facilitate the delivery of relevant, low-cost financial products. The RS is potentially an important tool that enables more dynamic, evidence-based regulatory environments that learn from, and evolve with, emerging technologies.

FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY

What is Financial Technology? • Financial Technology or Fin-tech is a financial service sector that refers to the integration of technology into

offerings by financial services companies in order to improve their use and delivery to consumers. • At its core, fintech is utilized to help companies, business owners and consumers better manage their financial

operations, processes, and lives by utilizing specialized software and algorithms that are used on computers and, increasingly, smartphones.

CALL MONEY RATES SHOULD BE CLOSE TO POLICY RATE: LIQUIDITY PANEL

Details: • As per the report, the target rate is usually the rate at which reserves are borrowed or lent among banks, that

is, the call money market rate in India. • The framework should enable the central bank to be equipped with the required tools to inject and absorb

liquidity at either fixed or variable rates, on an overnight basis as well as for longer tenors. • The report suggested that the current liquidity management framework should largely continue in its present

form a corridor system with the call money rate as the target rate.

Why in News? An internal working group, formed by RBI to review the current liquidity management framework, has suggested that the framework should be guided by the objective of maintaining the target rate that is, the rate in the inter-bank market for reserves close to the policy rate.

Context: The Steering Committee on Fin-tech formed in March 2018, has recently submitted its report.

Context: Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) launched the Regulatory Sandbox system for innovative technology-led entities to enable them limited-scale testing of a new product or service before a wider-scale launch. The launch of the sandbox experiment may or may not involve some relaxation in a regulatory requirement.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

https://t.me/baliyanshttps://bit.ly/2QdIs3nhttps://baliyans.com/https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/concept/what-is-regulatory-sandboxhttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/concept/financial-technologyhttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/call-money-rates-should-be-close-to-policy-rate-liquidity-panelhttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/fintech-panel-bats-for-virtual-banks-easing-kyc-normshttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/regulatory-sandbox-for-tech-led-firms



• Suggesting that the liquidity framework should be flexible, the report mentioned while the corridor system would normally require the system liquidity to be in a small deficit, if financial conditions warrant a situation of liquidity surplus, the framework should be adaptable.

• The current provision of assured liquidity up to 1% of NDTL is no longer necessary since the proposed liquidity framework would entirely meet the system’s liquidity needs.

• In case build-up of a large liquidity deficit or surplus is expected to persist, it should be offset through appropriate durable liquidity operations.

• In addition to OMOs and forex swaps, the group recommended longer-term repo operations at market-related rates.

GROWTH TO PICK UP IN SECOND HALF: FM

Details: • As per the ministry, the private sector banks had assured that there was no liquidity crunch and there was

strong demand in rural areas. Many private banks had also agreed to take part in the government’s outreach effort to increase credit off take in rural India.

• Ministry added that they felt the slump in demand for commercial vehicles was a cyclical issue, but this was not the case for passenger vehicles. For commercial vehicles, it was a cyclical phenomenon and that it would be resolved in one or two quarters.

• According to the Ministry, some banks had also asked if the credit limit for affordable housing could be raised to ₹50 lakh from the current ₹45 lakh.

• Lenders flagged the need for self-declaration of their present address with respect to lenders who are already e-KYC authenticated to enable hassle-free lending and ease in the co-origination of loans by banks and NBFCs.

YSR RYTHU BHAROSA SCHEME.

Details: • Under the scheme, set to be launched on October 15, 15.36 lakh tenant farmers will each receive Rs 12,500 per

annum as farm investment support. A total of 64.06 farmers in Andhra Pradesh, both landowners and tenants, are eligible for the scheme

• Government has decided to include tenant farmers in this scheme as they are excluded from the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) scheme.

• The government will pay Rs 6,500 as farm investment support to 47.7 lakh farmers who own five acres or less but as these farmers are already included in the PM-Kisan scheme, they will each receive a total of Rs 12,500 per annum.

• The YSR Rythu Bharosa scheme is modelled on Telangana’s Rythu Bandhu scheme under which landowners get Rs 10,000 per acre, but Andhra Pradesh government has also decided to include tenant farmers.

• The state government will release its assured amount of Rs 6,500 to each landowner/farmer from October 15 while the tenant farmers will get Rs 12,500 each in a single tranche starting October 15.

• The government will also bear the entire expense of crop insurance premiums for approximately 60 lakh farmers for which an allocation of Rs 2,163 crore has been announced.

Why in News? Landless and tenant farmers in Andhra Pradesh are set to get monetary support from the government under the YSR Rythu Bharosa scheme.

Why in News? According to Finance Ministry India’s economic growth is likely to pick up in the October-March period as consumer demand is expected to improve. India’s economic growth in April-June fell to a six-year low of 5%.

https://t.me/baliyanshttps://bit.ly/2QdIs3nhttps://baliyans.com/https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/growth-to-pick-up-in-second-half-fmhttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/ysr-rythu-bharosa-scheme



DIVIDEND DISTRIBUTION TAX (DDT)

Details:

• The dividend distribution tax is a surrogate tax and it hinders foreign direct investment inflows. It is a return given by a company to its shareholders out of the profits earned by the company in a particular year.

• Dividends paid by a domestic company are subject to dividend distribution tax at 15 per cent of the aggregate dividend declared, distributed or paid. The effective rate is 20.35 per cent, including a 12 per cent surcharge and a 3 per cent education cess.

• According to sources, there is hardly any revenue loss by removing dividend distribution tax, since it will be offset by the taxes paid by shareholders.

• The task force has also suggested providing relief to the middle class by slashing personal income tax rates. However, the move to rationalise personal income tax will be taken by the government.

GOVT LOOKING TO EASE FOREIGN INVESTMENT LIMITS IN GOVT BONDS

Details:

• New Delhi is considering creating a special window for foreign passive investors that focus on index investing, one of the officials added, even as it seeks to counter the risk posed by hot money flows from more actively managed funds.

• The investors in the new window will not face the same caps as India currently has on such investments from foreign portfolio investors.

• Relaxing investment limits and a removal of restrictions on currency convertibility are among the criteria that firms operating global bond indexes consider before including any country and determining its weight in such indexes.

• India currently has limits on the amount of government and corporate bonds foreign investors can hold, and controls on the rupee’s convertibility, too.

• India is concerned with rapid inflows or outflows from foreign investors could cause sharp volatility and impact its balance of payments and currency reserves. Asia’s third-largest economy has a debt market size of around $1.6 trillion, of which only around $92 billion is accessible to foreign investors.

• RBI has also been meeting investors in global bond indexes to glean insights. Inclusion in such indexes would open India’s bond market to a much deeper investor base, lower yields and potentially reduce the government’s overall borrowing costs.

• Chinese renminbi-denominated government bonds were added to the Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index in April. The inclusion is likely to happen over a 20-month period and draw significant capital flows into the country by next year.

• Separately, state-owned firms like the National Highways Authority of India and Power Finance Corp have been increasing their debt raising plans every year to meet the steep government targets to make new roads and power units.

Why in News? As per government officials, India is looking to ease foreign investment limits in government bonds, as it seeks to get its securities included in global bond indexes in the next two years.

Why in News? The task force on direct tax code (DTC) has recommended abolishing dividend distribution tax (DDT) with a view to promoting investment.

https://t.me/baliyanshttps://bit.ly/2QdIs3nhttps://baliyans.com/https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/dividend-distribution-tax-ddthttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/govt-looking-to-ease-foreign-investment-limits-in-govt-bonds



IMPACT OF CORPORATE TAX CUT ON FIRMS, ECONOMY

Why has the government cut tax rates?

• In essence, a lower corporate tax rate means businesses have more money left with them; in other words, it increases their profits. A lower tax rate not only improves corporate profitability but also makes India a more competitive market for investments.

How does this affect economic activity?

• In the immediate term, it leaves corporates with more money, which they can use to either reinvest in existing firms or invest in new ventures if they think doing so would be profitable.

• But it is also possible that they may simply use this money to pay off old debts or pay higher dividends to their shareholders. Whether or not companies invest will depend on the prevailing economic conditions.

• If there is high consumer demand for, say, cars, firms in that sector would happily invest but if there is no demand for, say, chocolates, firms in that sector would not invest.

• In the medium to long term, that is anywhere between one or two and five years or more, a corporate tax cut is expected to boost investments and increase the productive capacity of the economy. That’s because regardless of a slump in demand in the short term, investment decisions are taken after considering long term demand projections.

• If demand is expected to grow, investments will bear fruit and with lowers taxes, profits will be higher. These investments will also create jobs and increased earnings in due course.

• However, a corporate tax cut also depresses economic activity to the extent that it reduces the money in the hands of the government in the form of tax revenues.

• If this money had been with the government, it would have been spent on either paying salaries or creating new productive assets such as roads, either way; this money would have gone straight to the consumers, instead of the investors.

Will the tax cut boost growth this year?

• It is difficult to argue that it would. There are greater chances that India’s GDP growth will continue to struggle in the current financial year despite the corporate tax cut.

Reasons:

• Workers in several key sectors of the economy such as agriculture and manufacturing, etc. have seen their incomes stagnate. There is also increased joblessness in the country.

• As an analysis of 2,377 companies by Care Ratings shows, 42% of the tax-saving as a result of the corporate tax cut will go-to firms in the banking, financial and insurance sectors. But these firms can at best lend to others they cannot directly invest and start manufacturing units.

• So while the tax savings will help them become stronger financially, there may not be an immediate boost to economic activity.

• while the headline rates show a sharp fall in tax rates, it has been pointed out that since the effective corporate tax rate paid by companies was already 29.5%, the new tax rate of 25% is not as dramatically lower as initially thought thus limiting the positive impact of the cut.

Why in News? Finance Ministry last month issued an ordinance to reduce the corporate tax rate for domestic firms and new manufacturing units by 10 to 12 percentage points, effectively bringing India’s tax rates on par with its competing Asian peers.

https://t.me/baliyanshttps://bit.ly/2QdIs3nhttps://baliyans.com/https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/impact-of-corporate-tax-cut-on-firms-economyhttps://baliyans.com/admin/news/govt-cuts-corporate-tax-rate



What happens to the fiscal deficit?

• The corporate tax cut will cost the government Rs 1.45 lakh crore in revenues foregone. That is 0.7% of GDP. If added to the budgeted fiscal deficit (which maps the government’s borrowing from the market) of 3.5% of GDP, the impact would have been substantial with the fiscal deficit going to 4.2%.

• This is again because of a variety of reasons like as mentioned earlier, the tax foregone may not be as high, a considerable portion of the tax foregone will come back to the government via the dividends that public sector firms may announce as they too pay lower taxes.

CHANDRAYAAN 2 VIKRAM LANDER HAD A HARD-LANDING: NASA

Details: • NASA released a set of hazy lunar surface images of the southern side where the lander probably crashed on

September 7. Vikram’s precise location eluded the sharp camera of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) when it last flew over the probable site on September 17.

• The LRO captured a 150-km-wide area in the southern lunar highlands but the pictures were not clear as it was sunset and light had faded. So far the LROC team has not been able to locate or image the lander.

• This was the reconfirmation that Indian Space Research Organisation and the space community have awaited to figure out where and how the lander of the Chandrayaan-2 mission had fallen when it attempted to touch down on the moon.

• The LRO, orbiting moon since September 2009, has a camera with 50-cm high resolution and goes around in an eccentric orbit of 20 km x 165 km. The remaining Indian orbiting module has a camera with a 30-cm resolution. ISRO already has pictures sent by it from its 100-km height soon after the landing failed.

• The landing region lies between two craters about 70° south of the lunar equator and about 600 km from its shadowy south pole. The orbiting Chandrayaan-2 and the LRO routinely fly over the same spot at regular intervals. Images from their next flyovers could help ISRO give conclusive information.

SOOT FOUND IN PLACENTA

Background: Previous studies have established a connection between prenatal exposure to ambient air pollution and impaired birth outcomes. None of the previous studies, however, had established that nano particles could cross the placental barrier as a result of inhalation in real-life settings. • Black carbon particles are a key part of particulate matter. It is one of the by products from the burning of

fossil fuels such as coal, oil, petrol and wood. Because of their small size, particulate matter, including black carbon particles, can be easily inhaled and can pass through the throat and into the rest of the body.

Why in News? In a recent study, scientists have reported that particles of black carbon commonly known as soot have been found in the placenta of women, who had breathed these in during their pregnancies.

Why in News? NASA has mentioned moon lander Vikram had a hard-landing and that its own orbiting spacecraft could not get clear pictures of Vikram’s crash site during its recent flyover.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

https://t.me/baliyanshttps://bit.ly/2QdIs3nhttps://baliyans.com/https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/chandrayaan-2-vikram-lander-had-a-hard-landing-nasahttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/soot-found-in-placentahttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/isros-vikram-lander-is-lost-but-this-hardly-matters



Key Findings: • The placenta is an organ attached to the wall of the uterus. It allows life-sustaining oxygen and nutrients to

pass from the mother to the foetus. • It lies on either end of the umbilical cord and has two sides, the maternal and foetal side. The study found tiny

particles of black carbon accumulating on the side of the placenta that faces the foetus. • The particles were embedded in the placentas, implying that this had happened before the babies were born. Why it is a concern? • The placenta is the sole point of contact between the mother and the foetus, carrying oxygen and nutrients

from the mother’s blood supply to the foetus. • Essentially, it is a temporary organ that keeps separate the mother’s and the baby’s blood supply, while also

being a link between the two. The finding is a signal of the health effects that air pollution could have even before birth.

• Because the particles are at the foetal side of the placenta and this side interacts directly with the foetal blood flow, it is very reasonable to assume that the foetus is directly exposed.

• Soot particles may cause DNA damage and air pollution, in general, can impact cellular ageing, cognitive development and can lead to lower birth weight. Lower exposure to air pollution is the only way that the foetus can be protected.

A TECHNIQUE TO TRAP AND MOVE TINY OBJECTS IN THE NANOSCALE

Details: • Optical tweezers have been known for about thirty years now and are used in biology to hold and manipulate

particles; however, they have a limitation when it comes to nano sized particles. • This was partly solved with the development of “plasmonic tweezer” which works on the principle that when a

disc of noble metal, like gold, is illuminated with light, it creates an electromagnetic field around the disc. This field can attract and hold on to tiny particles.

• Plasmonic tweezers are limited by the fact that they are fixed in space and can therefore only trap objects that come close to them.

• Though the team, in earlier work, showed that such plasmonic tweezers could be manoeuvred with a combination of light and magnetic fields, they could not apply the technique to some types of colloids.

• In the present work, scientists overcome this limitation by developing a method that uses only optical force. They integrate a silver nanodisc with a microrod made of glass and the combination can be manipulated using laser beams alone.

• This “tweezer-in-a-tweezer” approach can trap objects of about 40 nanometres in size, using a single laser beam. This is the typical size of a virus or DNA. The optical tweezer holds the plasmonic tweezer and the plasmonic tweezers trap our target nanoparticles, therefore tweezer (plasmonic) in tweezer (optical).

• As the size of any colloidal particle decreases, for instance from micro-scale to nano-scale, the movement due to Brownian motion or random fluctuation increases.

• Therefore, holding a single silver nanodisc with a focused laser beam (the optical tweezer) is challenging and needs high laser intensity to generate enough force to overcome the fluctuations.

• If in order to reduce the required laser intensity, the size of the disc were reduced, the plasmonic properties would be lost. Therefore, the team attached a dielectric microrod made of glass which while preserving the plasmonic property, reduces the thermal fluctuations by an order of magnitude.

• The intensity required is about 100 times lower than what a regular optical tweezer typically uses to hold an object of similar dimensions.

Why in News? IISc, Bengaluru, has developed a technique to trap and move tiny objects in the nano scale using optical “tweezers” employing light. This is a tool that can be used to pick and move small suspended particles even including cells.

https://t.me/baliyanshttps://bit.ly/2QdIs3nhttps://baliyans.com/



MINOR PLANET ‘JASRAJ’

Minor Planet: • These are celestial objects orbiting the Sun that are not large enough for their gravity to pull them into a

spherical shape Minor planets are also known as “small Solar System body. This distinguishes a minor planet from planets or ‘dwarf planets’, which are almost spherical.

• Small Solar System bodies include asteroids, comets, and several other celestial objects that go around the Sun.

• Names of celestial bodies are finally approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a global organisation of professional astronomers. In the case of small Solar System bodies, the discoverer has the privilege to suggest the name for 10 years since the discovery.

• Johann Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven and Rabindranath Tagore also have minor planets named after them. About Pandit Jasraj: • Pandit Jasraj (born 1930) is an Indian classical vocalist, belonging to the Mewati Gharana. He has been awarded

the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship (2010), Padma Vibhushan (2000) and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1987).

• Jasraj created a novel form of jugalbandi called Jasrangi that is styled on the ancient system of moorchhana, between a male and a female vocalist, who each sing different ragas at the same time.

FOOD INSECURITY AFFECTS CHILDREN’S LEARNING

Key Findings: • A UK- and India-based research study of over 1,900 schoolchildren in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The team

examined how the experience of food insecurity at home at ages 5, 8 and 12 years affected children’s performance in studying maths, reading the local language, vocabulary skills and English ability in adolescence (12 years old).

• The study shows that children whose families struggled with their food needs during different stages of childhood performed less well in all the four tests in adolescence compared to their peers.

• The link between food insecurity at home and learning was more pronounced for those children who experienced chronic food insecurity and/or experienced it during early childhood (at 5 years).

• Transitory spells of food insecurity at home did not affect the kids’ test scores in reading and vocabulary, but their mathematical skills were still affected. This suggests that children may be able to bounce back from short-term food insecurity in some learning domains, but not in others.

• Studies have shown that mid-day meal schemes can improve learning and classroom effort. Expanding this programme to include breakfast for children at higher risk of food insecurity or in the lean season may prevent hunger and its negative repercussions on child cognition.

• The researchers add that experiencing food insecurity at home during childhood can affect India’s economy through lower human capital accumulation.

Why in News? There has been an increase in the number of children enrolling in schools with the introduction of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the mid-day meal scheme. But according to new research Indian children are not able to perform well in their studies due to widespread food insecurity at home.

Why in News? A minor planet (Asteroid 300128) between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter has been named after the legendary vocalist Pandit Jasraj.

https://t.me/baliyanshttps://bit.ly/2QdIs3nhttps://baliyans.com/https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/minor-planet-jasrajhttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/food-insecurity-affects-childrens-learning



• Studies show that countries with better-educated workforces are more capable of innovating and grow at a faster pace than countries with lower human capital stock.

• If children from food-insecure households tend to learn less at school, a country is not reaching its potential in terms of human capital, thus hampering its economic performance.

STARSHIP SPACECRAFT

Details: • SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft will be capable of carrying up to 100 people on long-duration interplanetary

flights and deliver as much as around 100 tons of payload for building bases on Moon and Mars cities. • Starship will allow us to inhabit other worlds to make life as we know it multi-planetary. According to SpaceX,

Starship has been designed for full, rapid reusability. • The latest version of the Starship was showcased at the company’s test site at Boca Chica in South Texas in the

US on September 28. The date also marks the 11th anniversary of the first successful orbital launch of Falcon 1, which is SpaceX’s first rocket.

• According to the SpaceX CEO, the Earth will face a near-extinction event at some point in time, which is why a “backup” plan for all humankind is needed.

• As per Spacex Starship will be the most powerful rocket in history, capable of carrying humans to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. It is expected to reach orbit in six months.

GREEN TECH FUEL SYSTEM WHICH CAN REPLACE AIR POLLUTING DG SET

Details: • This 5.0 kW fuel cell system, generating power in a green manner using methanol/bio-methane, has the

potential to replace diesel generating (DG) sets and help in reducing air pollution. • It is developed by the council of scientific and industrial research (CSIR) in partnership with Indian industries

under the country’s flagship program named ‘New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative (NMITLI).

• The development of the High-Temperature Fuel Cell system is most suitable for distributed stationary power applications at places such as small offices, commercial units and data centres where highly reliable power is essential with the simultaneous requirement for air-conditioning.

• The developed technology is world-class and the development has placed India in the league of developed nations which are in possession of such a knowledge base.

• Claiming that the Fuel Cell distributed power generation systems are emerging as a promising alternative to grid power in the field of clean energy The Fuel Cells fit well in India’s mission of replacing diesel with green and alternate fuels.

• The development of fuel cell technology is indigenous and carries immense national importance in terms of non-grid energy security.

Why in News? India’s first indigenous high-temperature fuel cell system which will meet the requirement of efficient, clean and reliable backup power generator for telecom towers, remote locations and strategic applications unveiled.

Why in News? SpaceX unveiled a prototype design of its next-generation Starship spacecraft that will take people or cargo to the moon, Mars or other destinations in space or around Earth.

https://t.me/baliyanshttps://bit.ly/2QdIs3nhttps://baliyans.com/https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/starship-spacecrafthttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/green-tech-fuel-system-which-can-replace-air-polluting-dg-set



INS NILGIRI

Details: • INS Nilgiri is the first ship of Project17A. Project 17A frigates is a design derivative of the Shivalik class stealth

frigates with much more advanced stealth features and indigenous weapons and sensors. • These frigates are being built using integrated construction methodology. The P17A frigates incorporate new

design concepts for improved survivability, sea keeping, and stealth and ship manoeuvrability. • With a launch weight of 2,650 tonnes, INS Nilgiri has been built using an integrated construction methodology. • As per the ministry, India belongs to an elite group of nations which is building its own Aircraft Carrier and

Strategic Submarines. Out of total 51 ships and submarines on order at various shipyards as on date, 49 are being constructed indigenously.

• This contributes to India's target of building a five trillion dollar economy by 2025 and 70% defence indigenisation by 2027.

GOLDSCHMIDTITE

Details: • According to the University of Alberta, Goldschmidtite has an unusual chemical signature for a mineral from

Earth’s mantle, while the mantle is dominated by elements such as magnesium and iron, Goldschmidtite has high concentrations of niobium, potassium and the rare earth elements lanthanum and cerium.

• Researchers found a single grain of the mineral in the diamond, unearthed in Koffiefontein, South Africa. The university described it as dark green and opaque.

• Diamonds hold clues as they are found up to 160 km beneath the surface, in the upper mantle. Diamonds that are unearthed were brought up closer to the surface, probably as a result of violent volcanic eruptions when the Earth was hotter.

• Though the mantle makes up about 80 per cent of the Earth’s volume, very little is known about it. Reaching the mantle is not easy; it is about 2,900 km thick and no attempt to drill into it has been successful.

AN ANNUAL INTERSTELLAR

Details: • A few months back c a new object came, "dubbed 2I/Borisov". After centuries of never having had a known

interstellar visitor, Earth has had two in two years. • The astronomers suggest these strange visitors are going to keep coming. A few large objects can be expected

to show up every year and smaller objects entering the Solar System could reach into the hundreds each year.

Why in News? In October 2017, astronomers spotted the first interstellar object known to pass through the Solar System, and named it ‘Oumuamua’. It gave rise to initial speculation that it was an alien spaceship, but scientists have since concluded that ‘Oumuamua likely has properties similar to a comet.

Why in News? A new, mineral has been discovered inside a diamond unearthed from a mine in South Africa. The mineral has been named Goldschmidtite, after Victor Moritz Goldschmidt, the Norwegian scientist acknowledged as the founder of modern geochemistry.

Why in News? Defence Ministry launched Navy's first new stealth frigate, INS ‘Nilgiri’.

https://t.me/baliyanshttps://bit.ly/2QdIs3nhttps://baliyans.com/https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/ins-nilgirihttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/goldschmidtite



• The research proposes that interstellar objects could be material ejected from large, newborn planets, orbiting farther away from their suns. They suggest that these have carved out pronounced gaps in the proto planetary disks cosmic platters of gas and dust.

• To test their theory, researchers looked at three proto planetary disks from the Disk Substructures at High Angular Resolution Project (DSHARP), a survey conducted by a consortium of astronomers. DSHARP focuses on images of 20 nearby, bright and large proto planetary disks.

• If a disk has clear gaps in it, like several of the DSHARP disks do, it’s possible to extrapolate what type of planet would be there. Then, researchers can simulate the systems to see how much material should be ejected over time.

DERMATOGLYPHICS MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE TEST (DMIT)

• Dermatoglyphics is the scientific study of fingerprints, lines, mounts and shapes of hands, as distinct from the

superficially similar pseudoscience of palmistry. Multiple Intelligence is a scientific method of understanding Brain Lobes and its usages.

• So, Dermatoglyphics Multiple Intelligence Test (DMIT) is a combined study of Brain Lobes, 9 Multiple Intelligence and Human Psychology with the help of fingerprints. In the test, the unique fingerprints and dermal ridge patterns of individuals are studied.

Details: • The companies that offer DMIT services note that the test enables parents to develop an effective way to

interact with their child, based on his or her inborn communication style. • The test claims to allow users to help pick a proper way towards selecting a career for your child. As for adults,

DMIT claims to reveal to them the strength they possess and guide them to perform better at work. • The Indian Psychiatric Society has now urged schools and parents to stay away from “such ill-found

practices”. It is because there is no scientific evidence of this test being useful for measuring or accessing intelligence and brain lobe functioning or predicting future behaviour.

• Any child’s IQ and his abilities are governed by a number of factors, including genetic, dietary and environmental factors.

GOOGLE ATTAINS ''QUANTUM SUPREMACY'' WITH CHIP OF THE FUTURE

Details: • A Google research paper has claimed the feat, saying "their processor was able to perform a calculation in

three minutes and 20 seconds that would take today's most advanced classical computer, known as Summit (from IBM), approximately 10,000 years".

• In March 2018, Google unveiled its 72-qubit quantum computer chip Bristlecone, saying it was "cautiously optimistic that quantum supremacy can be achieved with Bristlecone".

Why in News? Google has reportedly built a quantum computer that is way ahead than the world's top supercomputers in the calculation - solving tasks in nearly three minutes that would otherwise take current supercomputers 10,000 years to achieve.

Why in News? Doctors in India have questioned the effectiveness of Dermatoglyphics Multiple Intelligence Test (DMIT), a popular test used on school children as a “scientific” study of fingerprints patterns and human brain lobes to determine the “intrinsic potential in a child.

https://t.me/baliyanshttps://bit.ly/2QdIs3nhttps://baliyans.com/https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/dermatoglyphics-multiple-intelligence-test-dmithttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/google-attains-quantum-supremacy-with-chip-of-the-future



• Not just Google but several tech giants like Microsoft, IBM and Intel have joined the race to build a scalable quantum computer. Earlier this week, IBM unveiled its quantum computer with 53 qubits.

• According to Google, if a quantum processor can be operated with low enough error, it would be able to outperform a classical supercomputer on a well-defined computer science problem, an achievement known as "quantum supremacy".

• A quantum computer can solve complex problems that would otherwise take billions of years for today's computers to solve. This has massive implications for research in health care, energy, environmental systems, smart materials and more.

DRUG REGULATOR CAUTIONS AGAINST OVER-THE-COUNTER USE OF RANITIDINE

Details: • Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation has written to State regulators, asking that they communicate to

the manufacturers of ranitidine active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and formulations under your jurisdiction to verify their products and take appropriate measures to ensure patient safety.

• The drug regulator notes that it is aware of reports from other countries that some ranitidine medicines contain a nitrosamine impurity called N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) at low levels.

• The drug ranitidine is approved for multiple indications in the country and available in various formulations including tablets, injections, etc.

• The drug is a prescription drug included in Schedule-H and therefore it should be sold by retail only under the prescription of Registered Medical Practitioner,’’ noted the letter.

• The USFDA had noted that NDMA levels in ranitidine from preliminary tests barely exceed amounts might be expected to be found in common foods.

• NDMA, an environmental contaminant found in water and foods, has the same impurity that the USFDA had investigated in blood pressure drugs valsartan and losartan over the last year.

MEGHALAYA EXPERIMENT ON DRONE DELIVERY OF MEDICINES

Details: • The National Health Profile of the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence published in 2017 mentioned

snakebite killed 1,770 people across the eight north-eastern States in 2016. • Meghalaya and Tripura recorded the most victims 404 each followed by Assam with 265 and Sikkim with 242. • Access to life-saving drugs such as anti-venom vials has been a major issue in Meghalaya. The number of

snakebite cases is one of the reasons behind trying out drones for carrying medicines to remote areas. • The NEC, a nodal agency for funding developmental projects in the region, had initiated a pilot project on

drone delivery of medicines and blood a week ago. • Apart from poor surface communication, many rural areas of Meghalaya do not have proper healthcare

facilities. The State is also hamstrung by the shortage of trained manpower.

Why in News? Venomous snakes have played a role in an experiment to deliver life-saving drugs to remote areas of Meghalaya by drones. The project is being undertaken in collaboration with the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) and North Eastern Space Application Centre (NESAC), both in Shillong.

Why in News? Indian doctors have advised patients to avoid over-the-counter use of popular antacid ranitidine, following concerns over its contamination by cancer-causing substances.

https://t.me/baliyanshttps://bit.ly/2QdIs3nhttps://baliyans.com/https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/drug-regulator-cautions-against-over-the-counter-use-of-ranitidinehttps://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/meghalaya-experiment-on-drone-delivery-of-medicines



CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS IMPACT ON HABITAT OF LEPIDOPTERAS

Details: • The butterfly named Himalayan tailless bushblue is known to occur at an altitude between 1,300 m to 2,400 m

in Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand. Recent studies have located the species at 3,577 m in Askot Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttarakhand, at least 1,200 m higher than its known range.

• This upward habitat shift has also been found for the blue baron, a butterfly species protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Known to be found at an altitude of 1,500 m in the central Himalayas, northeast India and the Western Ghats, researchers recorded it at 2,100 m at Neora Valley National Park, West Bengal.

• Similar uphill movement of habitat was recorded for moths as well. The Trachea auriplena described from Sri Lanka at about 300 m altitude was recorded at 3,100 m in the Valley of Flowers National Park (Uttarakhand).

• Another moth species Diphtherocome fasciata was recorded at 3,300 m in the Govind Wildlife Sanctuary (Uttarakhand), at least 2,200 m higher than its previous range.

Interpretations from the Study: • Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) are known as potent ecological indicators and the ZSI through the

publication has drawn attention to climate change and conservation of such species. • As per ZSI, There is an intricate relationship between Lepidoptera and vegetation and their distribution depends

on and shifts with changes in vegetation. • The study not only records specific Lepidoptera species at different altitudes but also creates a baseline and

longterm database of Lepidoptera assemblages of the Indian Himalayas required for assessing climate change. • The study has “bidirectional implications” to assess climate change impacts of the Himalayan ecosystem and

generating awareness among nature enthusiasts about immense ecological roles of insects and their conservation significance.

HUMANS POLLUTE MORE THAN VOLCANOES

Details: • The Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO), a 500 strong international team of scientists, released a series of papers

outlining how carbon is stored, emitted and re absorbed by natural and manmade processes. • The Study found that manmade carbon dioxide emissions drastically outstrip the contribution of volcanoes

which belch out gas and are often fingered as a major climate change contributor to current warming rates. • Modern manmade emissions were the same magnitude as past carbon shocks that precipitated mass

extinction. • By comparison, the CO2 released annually by volcanoes hovers around 0.3 and 0.4 giga tonnes roughly 100

times less than manmade emissions.

Why in News? According to a study human activity churns out up to 100 times more planet warming carbon each year as all the volcanoes on Earth. Manmade emissions in 2018 alone topped 37 giga tonnes.

Why in news? Climate change is prompting a habitat change in Himalayas finds a study conducted by Zoological Survey of India.

GEOGRAPHY & ENVIRONMENT

https://t.me/baliyanshttps://bit.ly/2QdIs3nhttps://baliyans.com/https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/humans-pollute-more-than-volcanoes



A NEW TRAPDOOR SPIDER SPECIES HAS BEEN DISCOVERED

Details:

• This new mygalomorph species has been described based on female specimens and named ‘Idiops nilagiri’ after Nilagiri town,from where the spider was recorded.

• This is a mediumsize spider that measures about 813 mm in length. With this discovery, the number of the members of the genus Idiops goes up to 95 species worldwide, of which 12 are from India.

• The discovery takes global spider count to 48,277 and Indian spider count to 1,910 species of which 263 species are recorded from Odisha. Among Indian spiders, only 116 species belonging to 33 genera and 8 families are mygalomorph spiders.

• Mygalomorphs are relatively large and longliving spiders (can live about 25 years) and represent primitive spiders that include tarantulas, funnel web and trapdoor spiders. Zoologists believe India’s diversity of these primitive spiders remains underrepresented

• Spider comes under family Idiopidae representing fronteyed trapdoors. Females live in tubular burrows with their walls lined by silk and have a corkshape lid at the entrance used as a door. Males are smaller in size, wandering and occasionally living in burrows, particularly during the breeding season.

The Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary:

• It is situated in the Balasore district of Odisha, India. The sanctuary is spread across 272.75 km2 in the Chota Nagpur Plateau region.

• It is linked with Simlipal National Park via the Sukhupada and Nato hill ranges.

• It is classified as an Eastern Highlands moist deciduous forests eco region.

INNOVATION, GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION TOP IPCC AGENDA

Details:

• This report will emphasise what can be done in the near term to mitigate climate change, and how mitigation actions can be enabled through policy, institution-building and finance.

• India is hosting the Second Lead Author Meeting of the IPCC Working Group III Sixth Assessment Report, which will look at arriving at solutions to combat climate change.

• The Sixth Assessment Report will examine topics like the link between consumption and behaviour and greenhouse gas emissions and the role of innovation and technology.

• The report will assess the connection between short to medium-term actions and their compatibility with the long-term temperature goal in the Paris Agreement.

• It will assess mitigation options in sectors such as energy, agriculture, forestry and land use, buildings, transport and industry.

Why in News? More than 200 experts from around 65 countries, including 12 scientists from India, are participating in a week-long consultative meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which began in New Delhi.

Why in News? A new trapdoor spider species has been discovered in a deciduous forest near Nilagiri town in Odisha during field surveys this year. It was found in Kuldhia Wildlife Sanctuary.

https://t.me/baliyanshttps://bit.ly/2QdIs3nhttps://baliyans.com/https://baliyans.com/daily-current-affairs/news/a-new-trapdoor-spider-species-has-been-discovered



INDIA AND CHINA LEAD GLOBAL URBANISATION SHIFT

Details:

• Developing Asia” refers to a group of 45 countries that are members of the ADB. As such, between 1970 to 2017, the urban population in this group of countries grew from 375 million to 1.84 billion.

• The region led the global increase in the urban population in this period and accounted for 53% of it. Two-thirds of the nearly 1.5.billion additional city dwellers in Developing Asia belong to China and India.

• Developing Asia urbanised faster than the rest of the world not only in terms of absolute growth but also in terms of growth rate. The urban population in this region increased at an average of 3.4% per annum from 1970 to 2017.

• This was much faster than the 2.6% in the rest of the developing world mainly Africa and Latin America and 1.0% in the developed world. Within the Developing Asia region, East Asia, at 3.7%, had the highest annual growth rate. It was followed by Southeast Asia at 3.6%, and South Asia at 3.3%.

• The Pacific saw an annual growth rate of 2.9% in the urban population, and Central Asia witnessed a 1.6% annual growth.

GREEN ENERGY TARGET LACKS DEADLINE

Details:

• India’s plan for installing 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022 was first announced in 2015 during then Finance Minister's Budget speech. Of this, 100 GW was to be from solar power, and so far about 80 GW has been installed.

• On the other hand, the ministry also reiterated that there would be no ban on single-use plastic from October 2, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, but advisories have been sent out to the States to restrict the use of this class of plastics.

• The States have been told which objects constitute single-use plastic and States have been asked to commit to eliminating their use. The several States already have rules in place to restrict their use.

Why in News? India would be aiming to increase its renewable energy target to 450 gigawatts,the Union Environment Ministry mentioned that there was not yet a deadline for when this target would be achieved.

Why in News? The economic outlook update released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) highlighted that, according to World Urbanization Prospects data, the number of urban inhabitants in developing Asia has increased almost five-fold since 1970.

https://t.me/baliyanshttps://bit.ly/2QdIs3nhttps://baliyans.com/h

Date post:	05-Feb-2021
Category:	Documents
Upload:	others
View:	1 times
Download:	0 times

WEEKLY CURRENT AFFAIRS · • Minor Planet ‘Jasraj’ 17 • Food Insecurity Affects Children’s...

Documents