Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 29 APRIL 2020

::NATIONAL::

The Union government is drawing up a major evacuation plan involving the Navy, the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Air India to bring back Indians stranded in West Asia following the nationwide lockdown and travel restrictions due to COVID-19, multiple defence sources said.
The IAF has a fleet of US origin C-130 Hercules medium transporters and C-17 Globemaster heavy transport aircraft, in addition to older Russian IL-76 aircraft, which have been playing a major role in recent Humanitarian and Disaster Relief (HADR) efforts.
Naval ships need enough time to sail from their home ports with requisite preparations to handle civilians. “The nation lockdown ends on May 3. So there is reaction time and there is also lot of administrative and logistical issues to be worked out,” another defence source said on this.

Government has announced around 11 per cent increase in annual central allocation of cooking cost under Mid-day meal scheme to eight thousand 100 crore rupees in view of situation arising out of COVID-19.
Human Resources and Development Minister Ramesh PokhriyalNishank announced this while interacting with Education Ministers and Education Secretaries of all States through video conference in New Delhi.
AIR Correspondent reports that earlier, the annual central allocation of cooking cost for procurement of pulses, vegetable, oil, spices and fuel under Mid Day Meal Scheme was seven thousand 300 crore rupees.
The scheme covers more than 12 crore children studying in over 11 lakh schools across the country. The cooking cost per child per day has been increased from four rupees 48 paise to four rupees 97 paise for students of Class one to Class five.
For students of Class six to Class eight, the cooking cost per child per day has been increased from six rupees 71 paise to seven rupees 45 paise. The new rates are effective from 1st of April this year.

Government has said that record sales of Fertilizers took place during lockdown period. During 1st to 22nd of April sale of fertilizers to farmers community was over 10 lakh tonnes which is 32 percent higher than the last year of sale during the same period.
Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister DV SadanandaGowda has said, his Ministry is committed to ensure availability of fertilizers to the farmer community before sowing time.
With the concerted efforts of Department of Fertilizers, Railways, States and Ports production and supply of fertilizers in the country is going on without hindrance. During 1st April to 22nd April dealers purchased over 15 lakh tonnes fertilizers which is 46 percent higher than last year of sale during the same period.

Transport ministry asks states to release funds earmarked for land acquisition

Union road transport and highways ministerNitinGadkari on Tuesday asked state governments to release Rs 25,000 crore earmarked for land acquisition to inject liquidity into the markets and speed up highway projects in the country.
States, including Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, have pending dues of over Rs 4,500 crore each that needs to be disbursed, officials aware of the matter told. Bihar, Karnataka, Rajasthan also have close to Rs 2,000 crore lying unutilised.
A presentation was made showing the works being carried out during the lockdown period, the statement said. It was stated that 1,315 projects covering 49,238 kms worth Rs 5,89,648crore were under progress. Of these, 819 projects covering 30,301 kms costing about Rs 3,06,250crore were delayed.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has downgraded India to the lowest ranking, “countries of particular concern” (CPC) in its 2020 report.
The report, released in Washington by the federal government commission that functions as an advisory body, placed India alongside countries, including China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
India was categorised as a “Tier 2 country” in last year’s listing. This is the first time since 2004 that India has been placed in this category.The Centre reacted sharply to the USCIRF report on Tuesday, terming it “biased and tendentious” and rejected its observations.
The commission also recommended that the U.S. government take stringent action against India under the “International Religious Freedom Act” (IRFA).
The USCIRF 2020 report makes a specific mention of Home Minister Amit Shah, for not taking what it deemed as sufficient action to stop cases of mob lynching in the country, and for referring to migrants as “termites”.

India is on the radar of a consortium of veterinary scientists formed to train a new generation of ‘animal disease detectives’ in the Asia-Pacific region amid the coronavirus crisis.
The $4.3 million programme currently involves 11 countries in the region — Cambodia, Fiji, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Vanuatu and Vietnam.The three-year programme is funded by the Indo-Pacific Centre for Health Security at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
“The coronavirus outbreak has underlined how urgent this work is. The majority of emerging infectious diseases, such as coronaviruses, are zoonotic: they spread from animals to humans,” added Mr.Dhand, who heads the consortium of more than 40 experts from veterinary schools across Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific.
Researchers, however, said that while this coronavirus has its origins in animal transfer, there is no evidence the virus can be contracted from pets or other animals.
The ‘detective’ model will see the consortium engaging with government animal health authorities and educators in the Asia-Pacific region for strengthening the capacity to detect, respond, control and prevent animal disease outbreaks.

India lost the hosting rights of the 2021 men’s boxing World Championship to Serbia after the International Boxing association (AIBA) alleged non-payment of host fee by the National federation.
Boxing Federation of India (BFI) blamed it on “procedural complications” arising out of AIBA’s failure to resolve “issues” with regards to the account to which the money was to be transferred. The payment was due on Dec. 1 last year.