Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 09 November 2020
Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 09 November 2020
::NATIONAL::
Himachal Pradesh’s law against religious conversion
- Haryana Home Minister said that his government is considering a law against forced religious conversions and has sought information about such a law already in force in Himachal Pradesh.
- Last year, the Himachal Pradesh assembly passed the Freedom of Religion Bill, 2019.
- According to the Act, “no person shall convert or attempt to convert, either directly or otherwise, any other person from one religion to another by use of misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, inducement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage; nor shall any person abet or conspire such conversion”. The Act does not cover a person re-converting to his “parent religion”.
- It further says that any marriage done for the sole purpose of religion conversion may be declared null and void by a court on a petition by either party.
Provisions for punishment:
- All offences under the Act are cognizable and non-bailable.
- The violator can be punished with a prison term ranging from one to five years, along with a fine.
- In case the victim is a minor, woman or member of a Scheduled Caste or Tribe, the imprisonment may extend up to seven years. Failure to declare the conversion in advance can also result in an imprisonment of up to two years.
::ECONOMY::
AtalBeemitVyaktiKalyanYojana
- The Ministry of Labour and Employment said, for the beneficiaries of AtalBeemitVyaktiKalyanYojana, the Employee State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has done away with the requirement of submitting the claim on an Affidavit form, in a release.
- The decision was taken after reports of many beneficiaries facing problems in submitting the claim on the Affidavit form emerged, the statement added.
- The beneficiaries who have from now submitted their claims online under the AtalBeemitVyaktiKalyanYojana and submitted the scanned copies of their Aadhar card and other bank details will no longer be needed to file the claim on the Affidavit form.
- The beneficiaries who have not even submitted the claim online can submit the print out of the claim after duly signing the required documents.
::INTERNATIONAL::
U.N. Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions
- VidishaMaitraanIndian diplomat has been elected to the UN’s Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ).
- India has won with 126 UN members supporting her candidature for the only post for the Asia-Pacific group while 64 voted for the opposing candidate who was from Iraq.
- India’s permanent representative to the UN, TS Tirumurthy confirmed the news on Twitter.
- India has been a member of the committee since its inception in 1946. It is recognised as one of the most coveted committee in the United Nations system as it controls the financial and budgetary purse of the UN.
- India’s win in this committee comes as India also prepares to take a seat as one of 10 non-permanent members in the UN Security Council for a two-year period starting 1 January 2021.
- The ACABQ performs several functions including the examination of the budget submitted by the UN Secretary-General to the General Assembly and advising the Assembly on administrative and budgetary matters referred to it.
World Science Day for Peace and Development
- The World Science Day for Peace and Development is celebrated every 10 November.
- It highlights the significant role of science in society and the need to engage the wider public in debates on emerging scientific issues.
- It also underlines the importance and relevance of science in our daily lives.
- The Day offers the opportunity to mobilize all actors around the topic of science for peace and development – from government officials to the media to school pupils.
- UNESCO strongly encourages all to join in celebrating World Science Day for Peace and Development by organizing your own event or activity on the day.
- To celebrate the 2020 World Science Day, UNESCO is organizing an online roundtable on the theme of “Science for and with Society in dealing with COVID-19.”
Science and Technology
Plastic contamination in drinking tea from disposable paper cups
- Disposable paper cups are not safe for drinking tea.
Key highlights:
- According to IIT Kharagpur study, a person drinking three cups of tea in them will end up ingesting 75,000 tiny microplastic particles.
- The research has confirmed contamination of the hot liquid served in paper cups due to the degradation of microplastics and other hazardous components from the lining material of the cup.
- Paper cups are usually lined by a thin layer of hydrophobic film which is made of mostly plastic (polyethylene) and sometimes co-polymers to hold the liquid in the paper cup. Within 15 minutes this microplastic layer degrades as a reaction to hot water.
- According to study, 25,000 micron-sized (10 µm to 1000 µm) microplastic particles are released into 100 mL of hot liquid (85 — 90 degrees C) residing in the paper cups for 15 minutes. Thus, an average person drinking 3 regular cups of tea or coffee daily, in a paper cup, would be ingesting 75,000 tiny microplastic particles which are invisible to the human eye.
- The researchers followed two different procedures - in the first process, hot ultrapure (MilliQ) water (85—90 degrees C) was poured into the disposable paper cups, and it was allowed to sit for 15 minutes.