Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 07 June 2020

::NATIONAL::

COVID-19 has not “exploded” in India, but the risk of it happening remains as the country moves towards exiting the lockdown that was imposed in March to contain the disease, according to a top WHO expert.
WHO Health Emergencies Programme executive director Michael Ryan on Friday said the doubling time of cases in India was about three weeks at this stage. So the direction of travel of the epidemic was not exponential but it was still growing, he said.
“In South Asia, not just in India but in Bangladesh and in Pakistan, other countries in South Asia, with large dense populations, the disease has not exploded. But there is always the risk of that happening,” Mr. Ryan said in Geneva.
WHO Chief Scientist SoumyaSwaminathan said the over 2,00,000 current novel coronavirus cases in India, a country of over 1.3 billion people, “look big but for a country of this size, it’s still modest.” She stressed that it was important for India to keep track of the growth rate and the doubling time of the cases and make sure that the number did not get worse.

Government has constituted a task force to examine issues related to age of motherhood, lowering Maternal Mortality Rate and improvement of nutritional levels.
The task force will be headed by Jaya Jaitly and it will submit its report by 31st July of next month. The task force set up by the Women and Child Development Ministry will suggest suitable legislations and amendments in existing laws and also chalk out a detailed roll-out plan with timelines to implement these recommendations.
It will also suggest measures for promoting higher education among women. Union Finance Minister, NirmalaSitharaman in her Budget Speech for 2020-21 has announced to set up a task force for women.

Business activity failed to pick up even as the country has started to gradually exit from the lockdown as was evident from bank loans contracting for the fourth straight week, latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed.
In the current financial year, so far, the contraction in bank credit has been ₹1.48 lakh crore while deposits have shown growth of ₹2.63 lakh crore.
Loan demand remained weak despite the RBI reducing interest rates sharply since the lockdown was imposed. At end March, the RBI reduced the repo rate by 75 basis points (bps), and then again by 40 bps on May 22.
The repo rate now stands at 4%. The central bank has hinted that more rate cuts could be coming as RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das emphasised on the need for going ‘full throttle’ to revive consumption and investment.
Bankers expect credit demand to pick up in the coming days as more borrowers avail themselves of the Centre’s full credit guarantee scheme through which ₹3 lakh crore will be extended, mainly to micro, small and medium enterprises.

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allied nations have agreed to extend a production cut of nearly 10 million barrels of oil a day through the end of July, hoping to boost energy prices hard hit by the Coronavirus pandemic.
Ministers of the cartel and outside nations like Russia met via video conference to adopt the measure, aimed at cutting out the excess production depressing prices as global aviation remains largely grounded due to the pandemic. It represents some 10 per cent of the world's overall supply.

High level talks between the Indian and Chinese military officials are in progress at Moldo- Chushul border post on Chinese side. AIR correspondent reports, Lieutenant General level Army officers of India and China are holding discussions to address the current situation in the border areas.
Ahead of the talks, Indian Army in a statement said, Indian and Chinese officials continue to remain engaged through the established military and diplomatic channels to address the current situation in the India-China border areas. This comes a day after the foreign ministry officials of both nations on Friday reviews overall scenario of bilateral relations.
Joint Secretary (East Asia) in Ministry of External Affairs Naveen Srivastava held talks with Wu Jianghao, Director General in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs through video conference yesterday.
In this context, they recalled the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries that peaceful, stable and balanced relations between India and China will be a positive factor for stability in the current global situation.

Researchers have identified a bunch of districts in India that have the maximum prevalence for diabetes among women. At least 50 of the 640 districts studied have high prevalence of diabetes greater than one in 10 among women aged 35-49 years.
Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha have districts with the highest prevalence. The results were published in the Journal of Diabetes & Metabolic Disorders.
Previous studies of the incidence of diabetes in men and women in India have thrown up mixed results with some finding greater evidence of the disease in women, in North India, and others reporting men in South India as more susceptible.
However, a skewed gender ratio as well unequal access to medical care has led to the disease being under-reported in women, says a 2014 article in the Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Previous work had found that diabetes-related mortality is higher among women in India. According to Ms.Puri, the prevalence of diabetes among women in India didn’t substantially differ from that of men.
The authors also point to the higher levels of diabetes in the southern and eastern parts of India as being linked to diets of “rice-meat-and-fish” and a higher intake of “sweets and snacks” that were rich in trans-fats. These however weren't explanatory, the authors note. “Being a cross-sectional survey, we found correlations not causation,” Ms.Puri added.