Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 13 APRIL 2019
::NATIONAL::
Nation pays tribute to Jallianwallahbagh martyrs
- Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu will pay homage to martyrs of
JallianwalaBagh massacre on the centenary of the gruesome incident at the
JallianwalaBagh Memorial, in Amritsar, Punjab today.
- Mr Naidu will release a Commemorative Coin and Commemorative Postage
Stamp. The event is marked to observe the centenary of the massacre in which
hundreds of innocent men, women and children were killed by Brigadier
General Reginald Dyer, during a peaceful meeting at the park on this day in
1919.It was declared a national memorial by an Act of Parliament in 1951.
- President Ram NathKovind today paid tribute to the martyrs of
JallianwalaBagh tragedy. In a tweet, Mr Kovind said, 100 years ago on this
day, the country's beloved freedom fighters were martyred at JallianwalaBagh.
He said, a horrific massacre, a stain on civilisation, can never be
forgotten by India.
- In a tweet, Mr Modi said, when the country is observing 100 years of the
horrific massacre today, India pays tributes to all those martyred on that
day.
- He said, their valour and sacrifices will never be forgotten. Mr Modi
said, their memory inspires us to work even harder to build an India they
would be proud of.
CDSCO asks drug makers to display information on antibiotics
- Alerted by the Union Health Ministry’s pharmaceutical watchdog, the
National Co-ordination Centre of the Pharmacovigilance Programme of India (PvPI),
on adverse reactions that were being reported from some commonly-used
antibiotics, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has now
asked manufacturers to ensure that this information be made available to the
general public.
- CDSCO has written to drug manufacturers, to mention in leaflets inserted
into drug packets or on promotional literature, information about the
adverse reactions of these medicines. All of the seven formulations —
antibiotics Cefotaxime, Ofloxacin and Cefixime; Tranexamic Acid, used to
control bleeding; antipsychotic drug Quetiapine; anti-rheumatoid drug
Sulfasalazine and the anti-epileptic medicine Sodium Valproate have been
instructed to warn patients of the “new” side effects. The letter was sent
out by CDSCO on April 9.
- Speaking about the decision, Eswara Reddy, the Drug Controller General
of India and head of the CDSCO said: “We were alerted to this adverse
reaction last year and, after talks with the Ministry and the PvPI, the
decision was taken to write to all State authorities to ask manufactures to
include this information on the packaging itself. The idea is to ensure that
doctors and users are aware of the adverse reactions.”
- “All zonal and sub-zonal officers have been instructed to direct the
manufacturers of these formulations to mention the additional reaction in
the package insert or promotional literature of the drug,” notes the letter
sent the State Drug Controllers.
- Antibiotic Cefixime is used to treat a wide variety of bacterial
infections and is known to have adverse reactions, including pain, diarrhoea,
nausea and headaches.
::ECONOMY::
Telecom department wants banks to upgrade PoS machines
- Banks need to upgrade their Point of Sale (PoS) devices to run on 3G and
4G in the backdrop of the impending phase-out of 2G technology to which they
are mated now, a senior telecom department official said.
- “The PoS the banking sector uses is right now 2G-enabled. In a couple of
years, there will be no 2G in the country. [There will only be] 3G and 4G
and beyond. Are we getting the PoS ready for the 2G moving out?,” Joint
Secretary AmitYadav said.
- Unless such upgrade happens, banks would face challenges. “I think we
need to see to it that [more advanced] technology is there,” the official
said, inaugurating the 5G Use Cases Lab for the Banking and Financial
Sector, set up at the Institute for Development and Research in Banking
Technology (IDRBT). Stating that 5G had arrived, Mr.Yadav said it was time
for all those concerned to discuss the areas where the technology could be
applied once it is rolled out in the country by developing use cases.
- The infrastructure in the country had also improved, Mr.Yadav said,
adding that in three years, the number of mobile towers had increased from
less than two lakh to five lakh, while the Base Tower Stations (BTS) numbers
had gone up from 5-6 lakh to over 20 lakh. The number of mobile phone users
is 1.2 billion, he said.
Industrial growth in first quarter declines
- Industrial growth slowed in February to 0.1%, driven by an
across-the-board slowdown, especially in key sectors like manufacturing,
mining, capital goods, and infrastructure, according to latest official
data.
- Separate data showed that retail inflation quickened in March to 2.86%
from 2.57% in February, driven in large part by the food and fuel sectors.
- Growth in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) slowed in February
from 1.44% in January.
- Within the Index, the mining and quarrying sector saw growth slowing to
2% from 3.92% over the same period.The manufacturing sector saw a
contraction of 0.31% in February from 1.05% in January.
- ““On the monetary side, steps have been taken through two successive rate
cuts by the Reserve Bank of India,” Mr.Srivastava added. “On the fiscal
side, however, the prospects were limited because both direct and indirect
tax revenue collections have shown a shortfall compared to the revised
estimates. So, in order to meet the 3.4% fiscal deficit target, it appears
the government has gone in for curtailing expenditure in general, and
capital expenditure in specific.”
- The capital goods sector continued its contraction in February,
contracting 8.84% compared with a contraction of 3.42% in the previous
month.
::INTERNATIONAL::
UN votes to end Haiti peacekeeping mission
- The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to completely end its
peacekeeping operations in Haiti on October 15 and establish a political
mission to support government efforts to promote order and development in
Latin America's poorest country.
- The resolution approved gives a final six-month period for such
operations and asks Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to plan a political
mission. Haiti's leaders had asked the UN to allow government authorities to
fully assume responsibility for security.
- Acting US Ambassador Jonathan Cohen welcomed the resolution, saying it
"will mean a significant handover of responsibility back into the hands of
the Haitian government and its people.
::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::
Indian Navy unveils virtual reality centre
- Admiral Sunil Lanba, Chief of the Naval Staff, inaugurated the maiden
‘state-of-the-art’ Virtual Reality Centre (VRC) at the Directorate of Naval
Design (Surface Ship Group), today. This centre would provide major boost to
the Indigenous warship design capabilities of Indian Navy, providing impetus
to self-reliance and greater fillip to warship construction under “Make in
India” initiative of the Indian government.
- During his address at inauguration ceremony, Admiral Lanba complimented
the Directorate for their untiring efforts, foresight and initiatives to
conceptualise design and execute the project. This project will facilitate
collaborative design reviews for continuous interaction between the
designers and the end users to improve design and ergonomics onboard
warships.
- Directorate of Naval Design (Surface Ship Group) had a humble beginning
in 1960s and since then has made major contributions towards indigenous
warship design capabilities of the Indian Navy improving self-reliance for
warship design and construction. The multi-disciplinary team has
successfully developed 19 warship designs on which more than 90 platforms
have been constructed todate.
::SPORTS::
India beats china in junior davis cup
- Ajay Malik and DiveshGahlot helped India beat eighth seed China 2-0 in
the match for the 9-12 places in the Asia Oceania Junior Davis Cup under-16
tennis tournament here on Friday.
- Ajay fought his way past Jiang Yun-An in the first singles, clinching
the rubber 11-9 in the super tie-break. Divesh secured the victory with a
6-4, 6-2 triumph in the second match.
- In the semifinals, third seed Australia beat top seed China 2-0. Second
seed Hong Kong stopped the fine run of Syria with a 2-0 victory.
