Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 01 FEBRUARY 2020
::NATIONAL::
President addresses both houses of parliament ahead of budget session
- President Ram NathKovind said abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A
related to Jammu and Kashmir, has paved way for equal development of the
regions and people in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh have got rights on par
with the rest of the country. He was addressing the joint sitting of both
the houses f Parliament at Central Hall today.
- The President hailed the Citizenship Amendment Act as historic and said
it has fulfilled wishes of Father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi. Mr.Kovind
said, the mutual debate and discussion on any issue strengthen democracy,
while violence during protests weaken it.
- Mr Kovind highlighted several work done by the government at the ground
level in the last five years which has helped India's ranking on several
International ranking indices. Lauding the contributions of farmers, the
President said that bringing about a change in their lives is the priority
of the government.
- Talking about the health initiatives, Mr.Kovind said, impact of the
Ayushman Bharat Scheme on the health sector of the country is visible. On
women safety, the President said that the more than 600 One Stop Centres
have been set up in the country and a national database has been created to
identify the perpetrators of crimes against women.
Delhi high court postpones death warrant execution of Nirbhaya case convicts
- A Delhi court today postponed execution of death warrants of the four
convicts in the Nirbhayagangrape and murder case till further order.
Additional Sessions Judge DharmenderRana passed the order on plea by the
convicts seeking a stay on their execution on February 1.
- Earlier today, Supreme Court dismissed the plea filed by one of the four
death row convicts in the Nirbhaya case, Pawan Gupta, seeking review of its
order rejecting his juvenility claim. The review plea filed earlier in the
day was taken up for consideration in-chamber by a bench comprising Justices
R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan and A S Bopanna.
- The trial court on January 17 issued black warrants for the second time
for the execution of all the four convicts in the case - Mukesh Kumar Singh,
Pawan, Vinay and Akshay in Tihar jail at 6 am on February 1. Earlier, on
January 7, the court had fixed January 22 as the hanging date.
- Convict Akshay's curative petition was dismissed by the top court on
January 30. Another death row convict Vinay moved mercy plea before
President on January 29, which is pending. Mukesh has also approached the
trial court seeking stay on the execution scheduled on February 1, saying
the legal remedies of some of the convicts are yet to be availed.
::ECONOMY::
Economy survey emphasizes on wealth creation at grassroot level
- Economic Survey 2019-20 has emphasised on entrepreneurship and Wealth
Creation at the Grassroots. It has suggested that industrial sector
performance is a key to achieve the target of a five trillion dollar
economy.
- The Economic Survey 2019-20, tabled by the Finance Minister
NirmalaSitharaman in Parliament today, also suggested sectoral initiatives
for industrial revival. The survey has projected economic growth at 6 to 6.5
percent in the next fiscal. It called for more reforms for making it easier
to do business in country.
- The survey said for India to achieve a five trillion US dollar economy
depends on promoting pro-business policies, strengthening the invisible hand
of the market and ease of doing business.
- The Economic Survey gave a detailed analysis of the trends in India’s
infrastructure sector which is necessary for growth. Power shortages,
inadequate transport and poor connectivity affect overall growth
performance.
- To achieve GDP of five trillion dollar by 2024 - 25, India needs to
spend about 100 lakh crore rupees on infrastructure. According to the
survey, there is a significant jump of around 2.62 crore new jobs with 1.21
crore in rural areas and 1.39 crore in urban areas. Over 69 lakh candidates
have been trained under PradhanMantriKaushalVikasYojana till November last
year.
Centre bans export of all kinds of respiratory masks
- India banned exports of all kinds of personal protection equipment,
including clothing and masks used to protect people from air borne
particles.
- The move assumes significance as there could be a spurt in demand for
such products due to outbreak of deadly coronavirus that has claimed more
than 200 lives in China while the number of confirmed cases reached near
10,000.
- Air India's 423-seater jumbo B747 plane took off from the Delhi airport
on Friday to evacuate Indian nationals from Wuhan as China deals with the
novel coronavirus outbreak.
- In a separate notification, the DGFT has also banned imports of stock
lot papers.These are kind of discarded, improper sized and unused papers.The
move aims at cutting down imports of non-essential items into the country.
::INTERNATIONAL::
WHO declares corona outbreak as global emergency
- The World Health Organization declared a global emergency over the new
coronavirus, as China reported Friday the death toll had climbed to 213 with
nearly 10,000 infections.
- The UN health agency based in Geneva had initially downplayed the threat
posed by the disease, but revised its risk assessment after crisis talks.
- Many countries have already urged their citizens not to visit China,
while some have banned entry for travellers from the central Chinese city of
Wuhan, where the virus first surfaced.
- More than 6,000 tourists were temporarily put under lockdown aboard a
cruise ship at an Italian port after two Chinese passengers were isolated
over fears they could be carrying the virus. They later tested negative for
the illness.
UN affirms commitment to resolve Palestine-Israel conflict
- UN chief Antonio Guterres said the global body remains committed to
supporting Palestinians and Israelis to resolve the conflict on the basis of
UN resolutions, international law and bilateral agreements, a day after US
President Donald Trump unveiled his Middle East peace plan aimed at settling
the longstanding dispute between the two sides.
- Standing along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the
White House on Tuesday, Trump proposed a two-state solution and said no
Israelis or Palestinians would be uprooted from their homes.
- Describing it as "historic" and a "giant step" towards peace, he said
that under his vision, Jerusalem "will remain Israel's undivided, very
important capital." He proposed Palestinian capital in Eastern Jerusalem and
that US will set up its embassy there.
- Asserting that his peace plan will more than double the size of
Palestinian territory, Trump said that Palestinian people "deserve a far
better life" than being trapped in a cycle of terrorism and violence."
::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::
Google to promote news literacy amongst Indians,prepares AI model to study
whales
- On January 31, 2020, Google announced I million USD grant to promote
news literacy among Indians. Also, the organization has launched a new
application called Tangi.
- The Google News Initiative has announced to contribute 1 million USD
grant to improve news literacy of Indians.
- The grant is to be used to build a strong network against fake news
producers in the country. Around 300 workshops, boot camps and sessions are
to beorganized to train journalists, academicians and fast-checkers on the
authentication of the published content on the internet. The training is to
be provided in 7 Indian languages.
- The Tangi Application of Google focuses on Do It Yourself videos. The
name of the application has been inspired from Teach and Give.
- Google has used an AI model that listens to Killer Whales, identifies
the origin of sound and displays its location. The model has been installed
in Canada.
- According to Centre for Whale Research, only 73 Southern Resident Orcas
(a sub species of Killer Whales) are left in the world.
::SPORTS::
India beats New Zealand to clinch series
- India beat New Zealand via Super Over in the fourth T20 International
after a second successive tie at Wellington today. Chasing the target of 166
set by India, New Zealand were coasting at one stage before the hosts were
restricted to 165 for 7.
- Needing 7 runs of Shardul Thakur's last over, New Zealand buckled under
pressure and lost two wickets as India took the match into the Super Over
for the second consecutive game. Earlier, sent in to bat, India posted 165
for 8, riding on Manish Pandey's 36-ball 50.
