Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 26 AUGUST 2020

SSC CGL Current Affairs

::NATIONAL::

The National Green Tribunal has slammed the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) over its report on the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) which proposes 20-30% reduction of air pollution by 2024.
The NGT disapproved the submission of the MoEF that a committee, upon further deliberation, has concluded that 20-30% pollutant reduction under the NCAP seems realistic.It said the MoEF’s view was against the constitutional mandate under Article 21.
A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice A.K. Goel said the MoEF’s stand that pollution could not be controlled except to the extent of certain percentage was directly hit by the constitutional and statutory mandate.

The BharatiyaJanata Party government in Arunachal Pradesh has decided to appeal to the Centre for bringing the State under the purview of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution towards protecting the rights of its indigenous peoples.
The Sixth Schedule consists of provisions for the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.A resolution would be moved and discussed in the monsoon session of the Assembly from August 27 and would be submitted to the Centre, Home Minister Bamang Felix said.
“No government had sought Sixth Schedule status since Arunachal became a State more than three decades ago. From the suggestions from the Consultative Committee, community leaders and advocates, we have come to understand that we were living under the wrong expression of being protected by the Inner Line Permit,” Mr. Felix said.
The ILP, warranted by the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act of 1873, is an official travel document issued by the State government concerned to let in an Indian citizen into a protected area for a limited period.

The Reserve Bank has projected India's growth rate at (-) 4.5 percent for 2020-21. In its annual report released today, RBI projected global growth rate between (-) 6.0 per cent and (-) 7.6 per cent. The report says that expected headline inflation will remain elevated in the current quarter, but likely to ease in the second half of the fiscal.
Stating that it is difficult to accurately assess the economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic as the dynamics are still evolving, RBI said it looks like the decline in economic activity reaches its trough in April-June quarter of 2020-21 and recovers thereafter, albeit at a gradual pace. It adds that the growth is likely to turn positive from January-March quarter 2020-21.
In its report, RBI has asked for wide-ranging reforms to regain losses due to COVID-19 crisis adding that it will take quite some time to mend and regain the pre-COVID-19 momentum. Noting that meeting the fiscal targets budgeted in 2020-21 has become even more challenging due to COVID-19, RBI has said that the government must have a clear exit strategy with credible consolidation milestones and timelines in reworking the path towards fiscal rectitude in the coming years.

Khadi and Village Industries Commission, KVIC has taken a big leap towards AtmaNirbhar Bharat by creating local employment for migrant workers through its flagship Honey Mission programme.
Minister of State for MSME, Pratap Chandra Sarangi today distributed 700 bee boxes to 70 migrant workers of Saharanpur and Bulandshahr districts of Uttar Pradesh. They had returned to their hometown from Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat due to COVID-19 lockdown. KVIC has imparted them training on bee-keeping and provided the necessary tool kit and bee boxes for them to carry out bee-keeping activities.
The Ministry said, KVIC has distributed 1,35,000 bee boxes so far in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Tripura. This has benefitted around 13,500 people across the country.

Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan today co-chaired the first India-Uzbekistan National Coordination Committee meeting virtually with Uzbek Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Investments and Foreign Economic Relations SardorUmurzakov.
Ministry of External Affairs said, both sides comprehensively reviewed the ongoing and planned activities of bilateral economic and trade cooperation, including the status of negotiations for concluding a Bilateral Investment Treaty, Preferential Trade Agreement and mutual market access for agricultural produce of both countries.
They also reviewed implementation of identified projects under India’s Lines of Credit, cooperation between the State of Gujarat and the Andijan region of Uzbekistan, and the India-Uzbekistan Entrepreneurship Development Centre at Tashkent.
The Co-Chairs expressed satisfaction at the progress achieved in various projects and expressed hope that the expeditious completion of the projects will further strengthen bilateral trade and investment.

ASTROSAT, the first multi wavelength satellite has detected extreme UV light from galaxy that 9.3 billion light years away from the Earth.
ASTROSAT is the first multi-wavelength space telescope of India. It was launched on September 28, 2015. With its success, ISRO is planning to launch ASTROSAT-2 as its successor. The five major instruments on board covers soft X-ray, hard X-ray, far UV, near UV, and visible light.
The first multi-wavelength satellite of India has five unique X-ray and UV telescopes. They detect extreme UV light from galaxies that are billion light years away from the earth. It is an IRS class satellite. IRS is Indian Remote Sensing Satellite.
The NASA Hubble Space Telescope is larger than the UV Imaging Telescope (UVIT). However, it did not detect UV emission from the galaxy as it is too faint. On the other hand, the UVIT was able to achieve the detection as the background noise in the UVIT detector is much less than that on the HST.
The sub-dwarf class star was a mystery to astronomers since 1995. Astrosat UVIT solved the puzzle. It revealed that a sub-dwarf star is binary system, meaning there are two stars, one hot and the other cool. Sub dwarfs are of luminosity Class VI under Yerkes spectral classification system.

England paceman James Anderson cemented his place in cricket history by taking his 600th Test wicket when he dismissed Pakistan captain Azhar Ali in the rain-marred third and final Test, which ended in a draw on Tuesday. The tourists reached 187 for four in their second innings at the close on the short final day.
The host claimed the series 1-0.Anderson produced a rising delivery that moved away from first-innings century-maker Azhar on 31, with England skipper Joe Root holding a head-high catch at first slip.