Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 05 DECEMBER 2019

::NATIONAL::

The Cabinet approved a proposal to extend reservation for SCs and STs in the LokSabha and the State Assemblies for another 10 years. The reservation for these categories in the LokSabha and State Assemblies was to expire on 25th of January, 2020.
Government also approved The Central Sanskrit Universities Bill to be introduced in the Parliament. The bill has provision for conversion of three Sanskrit Deemed to be Universities into Central Universities.
The Cabinet also approved land monetization at PragatiMaidan to build a five-star hotel. ITPO will undertake the mega project to redevelop PragatiMaidan into a world class International Exhibition and Convention Centre.

India has asked several countries to take action against so-called Kashmir cells set up by Pakistan at its missions abroad, asserting that they openly incite violence.
This was stated by Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan in a written reply to a question in the LokSabha yesterday. The Minister said the main objective of these cells/desks is to incite local population and radicalise them through false propaganda.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah MehmoodQureshi had directed establishing Kashmir cells in Pakistan's Foreign Office and Missions abroad.
Mr Muraleedharan said the government has urged other countries to realise the dangers posed by these cells operating from their soil, and take appropriate action.
In response to another question, the Minister said India has categorically and unequivocally rejected Pakistan's blatant misrepresentation of facts and fabricated narratives at international fora, including at the United Nations.

The Reserve Bank of India, RBI, will release its fifth bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement for 2019-20, today. The six-member Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, of the RBI, led by Governor Shaktikanta Das, will announce the credit policy for the current fiscal, a resolution passed by the ongoing three-day MPC meet in Mumbai.
The RBI has cut interest rates on every single occasion the MPC met since Shakti kanta Das took over as the Governor in last December.
The Reserve Bank is likely to cut the repo rate for the sixth time in a row in this fiscal’s bi-monthly credit policy statement to support the weak economic growth.
In the last bi-monthly monetary policy announced in October, the RBI cut the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) for the fifth time in a row by 25 basis points to 5.15 per cent from 5.40 per cent with immediate effect.

Union Minister for Communications Ravi Shankar Prasad today informed the LokSabha that there are no known adverse impacts of the radiation found in the Cell Phone Towers and the birds are not affected by that.
He said this while answering to a question posed by Shivsena member SadashivLokhande of Shirdi constituency during the question hour today.
The Minister said that the birds in India are healthy and they migration of birds takes place as usual. He also said that India’s cellphone towers are 10 times safer than world norms and the laws are stringent in India.
So far, a sum of 20 crore rupees have been slapped as fine on erring operators and out of which 13 crore rupees have been collected.
Mr Prasad also said that mobile towers are inevitable for the operation of cell phones and government has given permission to share the tower by other operators to prevent proliferation of towers.

Prime Minister NarendraModi and Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih jointly inaugurated four key development projects covering a wide range of sectors through video conferencing this evening.
One of the projects includes the lighting up of Male using LED lights. Another project is the launch of the RuPay card in Maldives.Three fish processing plants were inaugurated and a Fast Interceptor Craft was gifted to the Maldives.
Prime Minister Modi said, it has been a landmark and significant year for India-Maldives relationship. He said, NDA government's 'Neighbourhood First' and the Maldives Government's "India First" policies have strengthened bilateral cooperation in all sectors.
He said, the "Made in India" Fast Interceptor Craft that was officially handed over to Coast Guard of the Maldives has been constructed in his home state. He said, the Fast Interceptor Craft will help enhance Maldive's maritime security, and promote the blue economy and tourism.
Mr Modi said, Indian tourist figures in Maldives have more than doubled and India has moved from 5th to 2nd position. He said, the RuPay Payment mechanism will further ease the travel of Indian to the Maldives. He said, both countries are also working on building a Cancer Hospital and a Cricket Stadium in Hulhulmalé.

The CSIR-IICT, Hyderabad on December 3, 2019, announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) cleared the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Test facility at the centre.
The inspection was conducted between August 21, 2019 and August 22, 2019 with regard to Current Good Manufacturing Practices and was certified “No Action Initiated”.
The Research institute has largest facility of NMR laboratory in the country. It is equipped with nine NMR spectrometers. With the USFDA clearance the research centre will gain further motivation to high quality research.
US is the top export destinations of India’s Pharmaceuticals. In 2018-19, the Indian pharma exports to the US were 5820 million USD. Next to US, UK stands second with Indian pharma exports amounting to 630 million USD (2018-19), which is merely a tenth of exports to the US. Therefore, the USFDA certification is highly important to keep up the exports.

At the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal, India topped the medals tally on the fourth day with 70 medals comprising 34 gold, 23 silver and 13 bronze. Indian athletes dominated in most of the competitions yesterday.
On the fourth day of games, India clinched 28 medals including 17 gold. Athletics grabbed maximum 10 medals including 5 Gold. In Tennis, Table Tennis, Kho-Kho, Indian men's and women's teams won gold each. In Taekwondo India clinched six medals, including 3 Gold.