Daily Current Affairs for UPSC IAS: 30th December 2019

Daily Current Affairs for Government Exams:

Today Current Affairs: 30th December 2019  for UPSC IAS exams, State PSC exams, SSC CGL, State SSC, RRB, Railways, Banking Exam & IBPS, etc.

 

Contents:

1. Poshan Abhiyaan.
2. First elephant colony.
3. ADITYA-L1.
4. World Economic League Table 2020.
5. Rating shopping.
6. PREAMBLE.
7. Dada Saheb Phalke Award.
8. The instrument of Accession(Jammu and Kashmir.
9. UN backs Russia on internet convention.
10. India State of Forest Report 2019.
11. The longest single spacewalk by a woman.
12. The Drake Passage.
13. eBक्रय.
14. Other important current affairs.

 

1. Poshan Abhiyaan(Fund used):

According to an analysis of the data shared in Parliament, The State governments/UTs have utilised a mere 30% of the funds released under the Poshan Abhiyaan, or the National Nutrition Mission, since it was launched in 2017

About:

• Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Himachal Pradesh and Bihar, none of the governments used even half of the sum granted in the past three years.
• The five best performers in terms of fund utilisation were Mizoram (65.12%), Lakshadweep (61.08%), Bihar (55.17%), Himachal Pradesh (53.29%) and Meghalaya (48.37%).
• The worst five performers were Punjab (0.45%), Karnataka (0.74%), Kerala (8.75%), Jharkhand (13.94%) and Assam (23.01%).

Poshan Abhiyaan (National Nutrition Mission)?

• The Poshan Abhiyaan, the Centre’s flagship programme, is aimed at improving nutritional outcomes among pregnant women, lactating mothers and children by reducing the level of stunting, underweight, anaemia and low birth weight by 2022.
• It is meant to benefit more than 10 crore people.
• It was launched in 2018 with a total budget of ₹9,046.17 crores for three years.
• 50% of which is through budgetary support, which is further divided into 60:40 between the Centre and the
• States, 90:10 for the north-eastern region and the Himalayan States and 100% for the Union Territories without legislature.
• The remaining 50% is from the World Bank or other multilateral development banks. As a result, the Centre’s total share will be ₹2,849.54 crores.

 

2.Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve(First elephant colony):

Madhya Pradesh has got its first elephant colony in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve.

About:

• Bandhavgarh National Park is located in the Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh.
• Bandhavgarh was declared a national park in 1968 and then became Tiger Reserve in 1993.
• The park derives its name from the most prominent hillock of the area, which was said to be given by Hindu Lord Rama to his brother Lakshmana to keep a watch on Lanka. Hence the name Bandhavgarh (Sanskrit: Brother’s Fort).
• The ‘Tiger State’ of Madhya Pradesh, which in the 2019 census recorded the most number of estimated tigers at 526, thus securing the title.

 

3. ADITYA-L1:

In his ‘Mann ki Baat’ programme of AIR, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that ISRO is planning to launch a satellite called Aditya to study the sun.

About:

• The probe named Aditya-L1 will be sent by PSLV-XL from Sriharikota to observe the solar corona, the outer layers of the Sun.
• Its main payload is Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC) which will study the diagnostic parameters of solar corona and dynamics and origin of Coronal Mass Ejections (3 visible and 1 Infra-Red channel).
• It will be inserted in a halo orbit around the Lagrangian point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, which is 1.5 million km from the Earth.

Significance of Mission:

A Satellite placed in the halo orbit around the Lagrangian point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any eclipses.

 

4. World Economic League Table 2020′:

The report titled ‘World Economic League Table 2020’ was released by the UK-based Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).

Key findings:

• India will overtake Germany to become the fourth-largest economy in the world by the year 2026.
• India is all set to overtake Japan to become the third-largest economy by 2034.
• India is also set to become a 5 trillion dollar economy by 2026, 2 years later than the government’s target of 2024.
• India has decisively overtaken both France and the UK to become the world’s fifth-largest economy in 2019.

The World Economic League Table is an annual calculation by Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) jointly published by CEBR and Global Construction Perspectives.

 

5. Rating shopping:

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has criticised Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) for allowing low-rated companies to do “rating shopping”.

About:

• According to RBI, Rating shopping refers to how a company or a debt paper manages to get the same or better rating from another agency within three months of it getting a poor rating.
• In the 25th edition of the Financial Stability Report, RBI has warned of ‘rating shopping’ by companies for long-term bank loans based on indicative ratings given by CRAs which are not available to the banks or investors.
• Rating agencies have been largely blamed for their lax policies and oversight for the 2008 global financial crisis.

 

6. PREAMBLE:

Many of the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act have been marked by a reading of the Preamble, which is reflective of the essence of the Constitution of India.

About:

• The original Preamble, adopted by the Constituent Assembly in 1949, declared India a “Sovereign Democratic Republic”.
• By the 42nd Amendment of 1976, the words “Socialist” and “Secular” were inserted; the Preamble now reads “Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic”.
• The Preamble is based on the Objective Resolution moved by Jawaharlal Nehru in the Constituent Assembly on December 13, 1946. The Resolution was adopted on January 22, 1947.

 

7. Dada Saheb Phalke Award:

The President of India presented Dada Saheb Phalke Award to Amitabh Bachchan.

About:

• Dadasaheb Phalke award, India’s highest award in cinema, is presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals (an organisation set up by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting).
• The award prize consists of a golden lotus, a cash prize of ₹10 lakh and a shawl.
• The award is given to people for their “outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema”.
• It was first presented in 1969. The first recipient of the award was actress Devika Rani, “the first lady of Indian cinema.”

Information:

Dadasaheb Phalke (1870–1944), was an Indian film-maker who directed India’s first full-length feature film, Raja Harishchandra (1913). He is regarded as “the father of Indian cinema.”

 

8. The instrument of Accession(Jammu and Kashmir):

From 2020, people in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will have a public holiday on October 26 for the first time. The day, which will be observed as Accession Day, marks the signing of the Instrument of Accession by the last Dogra ruler of J&K, Maharaja Hari Singh, with the then Governor-General of India, Lord Mountbatten.

What happened on October 26?

• As per the Indian Independence Act, 1947, British India was divided into India and Pakistan and the roughly 580 princely states that had signed subsidiary alliances with the British had their sovereignty restored to them.
• In essence, these princely states were given the option to remain independent or to join the Dominion of India or Pakistan.

What is an Instrument of Accession of J&K?

• It is a legal document executed by Maharaja Hari Singh, the then ruler of the princely state of Jammu & Kashmir, on October 26, 1947.
• It declared that the state of Jammu and Kashmir accedes to India.
• The IoA gave India’s Parliament the power to legislate in respect of J&K only on the matters of defence, external affairs and communications.
• Apart from defence, communications and external affairs, the IoA mentions ancillary subjects that include elections to the dominion legislature and offences against laws with respect to any of the said matters.
• Using IoA, Article 370 was incorporated in the Constitution of India.

 

9. UN backs Russia on internet convention:

• The United Nations has approved a Russian-led bid that aims to create a new convention on cybercrime, alarming rights groups and Western powers that fear a bid to restrict online freedom.
• The General Assembly approved the resolution sponsored by Russia and backed by China, which would set up a committee of international experts in 2020.
• US is worried because A new UN treaty on cybercrime could render the Budapest Convention obsolete, further alarming rights groups.
• The Budapest Convention was drafted by the Council of Europe, but other countries have joined, including the United States and Japan.
• Russia has opposed the Budapest Convention, arguing that giving investigators access to computer data across borders violates national sovereignty.

What is the Budapest convention?

Also known as the Convention on Cybercrime, it is the first international treaty seeking to address Internet and computer crime by harmonizing national laws, improving investigative techniques, and increasing cooperation among nations.

 

10. India State of Forest Report 2019 :

The India State of Forest Report 2019 has been released.

Key findings:

• Total tree and forest cover in the country increased by 5,188 square kilometres in the last two years.
• There is an increase of 42.6 million tonnes in the carbon stock of the country as compared to the last assessment of 2017.
• There is a decrease of forest cover to the extent of 765 sq km (0.45 per cent) in northeast India region. Except for Assam and Tripura, all states in the region show a decrease in forest cover.
• The loss in the North East is attributed primarily due to the traditional farming practice of Shifting Cultivation.
• The mangrove cover in the country has increased by 54 sq km (1.10 per cent) as compared to the previous assessment.
• Karnataka tops the country in growing the maximum amount of forest in the last two years.
• Karnataka is followed by Andhra Pradesh (990 sq km) and Kerala (823 sq km).
• The total bamboo bearing area of the country is estimated as 1,60,037 sq km. There is an increase of 3,229 sq km in the bamboo bearing area as compared to the previous estimate.

 

 

11. The longest single spacewalk by a woman:

 

US astronaut Christina Koch has set the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman when she reached and crossed, 289 days in her current mission.

The previous record for women was set by another American, Peggy Whitson, in 2016-2017.

 

12. Drake Passage:

It is the body of water between South America’s Cape Horn and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica.

• It connects the southwestern part of the Atlantic Ocean (Scotia Sea) with the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean and extends into the Southern Ocean.
• It is the shortest crossing from Antarctica to any other landmass. There is no significant land anywhere around the world at the latitudes of the Drake Passage, which is important to the unimpeded flow of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current which carries a huge volume of water through the Passage and around Antarctica.
• The passage is named after Sir Francis Drake, who was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe.

 

13. eBक्रय:

Union Finance Minister launched eBक्रय for online auction of assets attached by banks.

About:

• Public Sector Banks (PSBs) have attached assets worth over Rs. 2.3 lakh crore over the last three financial years.
• To enable online auction by banks of attached assets transparently for the improved realisation of value, eBक्रय, a common e-auction platform has been launched by the Finance Minister.
• The platform is equipped with property search features and navigational links to all PSB e-auction sites provides single-window access to information on properties up for e-auction as well as a facility for comparison of similar properties.

 

Other important current affairs:

1. Afghan Peace Deal: The Taliban’s ruling council has agreed to a temporary ceasefire in Afghanistan. It provides a window during which a peace agreement with the United States could be signed. However, the Taliban chief has not yet approved the cease-fire decision. Also, the duration of the cease-fire has not been specified.

2. Recently, The Uttar Pradesh government accepted ₹6.27 lakh as “compensation” for damages caused to public property during anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 protests. It lacks the due process as mandated by the Supreme Court’s guidelines.

3. Tropical Cyclone Sarai hit Fiji on December 28, 2019, causing widespread damage.

4. Recently, a red sand boa snake (Eryx johnii), worth around ₹1.25 crore, was rescued from five persons, who were trying to sell it in Madhya Pradesh. It is a rare non-poisonous snake that is used for making certain medicines, cosmetics and in black magic and is in huge demand in the international market.

5. Fausta, a female black rhino, who was believed to be the world’s oldest rhino has died at the age of 57 in a Tanzanian conservation area.

6. Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy claimed the 2019 Women’s World Rapid Chess Champion title.

7. Long March-5: China successfully launches largest carrier rocket.