Daily Current Affairs 13 September 2019

Daily Current Affairs 

1) Prime Minister Narendra Modi Launches Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana at Ranchi, the Capital of Jharkhand

The Scheme shall secure the lives of 5 Crore Small and Marginal Farmers by providing a minimum pension of Rs 3000 per month, to those who attain 60 years of age.

Prime Minister also launched the National Pension Scheme for the Traders and The Self-Employed.

The scheme aims at providing a minimum assured pension of Rs 3000, to small traders and self - employed after attaining the age of 60 Years.

Around 3 Crore Small traders would be benefitted from the scheme.

Ekalavya Model Schools

Prime Minister today launched 462 Ekalavya Model Schools across the country in Tribal Dominated Areas. The schools would focus to provide quality upper primary, secondary and senior secondary level education to ST Students in these areas

2) Indo-Thailand Joint Military Exercise Maitree - 2019

Joint Military Exercise MAITREE-2019 between India and Thailand will be conducted at Foreign Training Node, Umroi (Meghalaya) from 16-29 Sep 2019. Indian and Royal Thailand Army (RTA) comprising 50 soldiers each will participate in the exercise with an aim to share experience gained during various counter-terrorism operations in their respective countries.

About MAITREE

Exercise MAITREE is an annual training event that is being conducted alternatively in Thailand and India since 2006.  Notably, in the series of military training exercises undertaken by India with various countries, Exercise MAITREE with Thailand is significant in terms of the security challenges faced by both the nations in the backdrop of changing facets of global terrorism.  The scope of this exercise covers company level joint training on counter-terrorism operations in the jungle and urban scenarios.

The joint military exercise will enhance the level of defense co-operation between the Indian Army (IA) and the Royal Thailand Army (RTA) which in turn will further foster defense cooperation and bilateral relations between the two nations.

3) Contract Signed for Modernisation of Radar and Missile Systems of Delhi Class of Indian Navy Ships

The contract for modernization of “Air Defence Complex Kashmir and Radar Fregat MAE” on P-15 (Delhi Class) of ships was signed between the Ministry of Defence, India, and JSC Rosoboronexport, Russian Federation on September 12, 2019. The modernization of Radar and Missile systems would substantially enhance the Air Defence capability of the P-15 Ships.

4) Visit of Indian Naval Ships to  Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

As part of the Indian Navy's Overseas Deployment to South East Asia and  Western Pacific, Indian Navy ships Sahyadri and Kiltan made a port call at Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia today, for a days visit from 12 – 15 Sep 19. The ships are part of the Indian Navy's Eastern Naval Command under the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command, based at Visakhapatnam. The port call is a demonstration of India's warm ties with Malaysia.

About INS Sahyadri and Kiltan

IN Ships Sahyadri and Kiltan, are the latest, indigenously designed and built multi-role ships of the Indian Navy. The two ships are equipped with a versatile array of weapons and sensors, can carry multi-role helicopters and represent the ‘coming of age’ of India’s warship building capabilities.

Aim of Visit

During the port call, the Indian Navy and the Royal Malaysian Navy would be participating in the bilateral exercise Samudra Laksamana. The exercise would include a harbor phase wherein professional interactions, official calls, social engagements, visits by the local populace and various sports events would be conducted. The Sea Phase of the exercise would enable the two navies to further hone their skills in order to enhance interoperability between the navies to ensure peaceful and secure seas for all.

5) Union HRD Minister presents CBSE Teacher Awards - 2018 to 34 teachers of the country.

Union Human Resource Development Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ' Nishank' presented CBSE Teacher Awards - 2018 to 34 teachers of the country

6) Capital’s power skyline set to change

The Centre is planning on changing the skyline of the historic seat of power in New Delhi, with a new or completely retrofitted Parliament building, one common Central Secretariat for all Ministries after the demolition of existing office buildings and redevelopment of the 3­km Central Vista that stretches from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate.

By the time India celebrates its 75th Independence Day on August 15, 2022, the government is aiming to have a brand­ new Parliament building in the vicinity of the existing one or a retrofitted version of the British­ built the building

7) Retail inflation hits 10­month high in August

Retail inflation rose incrementally in August to hit a 10­month high of 3.21% on quickening food price rises, official data released on Thursday showed. This compares with 3.15% in July. Within the index, inflation in the food category touched a 14­ month high of 2.96% in August, from 2.33% in July.

8) Satya Pal Malik announced a market intervention scheme in J&K

There were smiles on the faces of scores of apple growers in Srinagar on Thursday when Governor Satya Pal Malik announced a market intervention scheme to buy crop worth ₹8,000 crore directly

from the farmers in Kashmir

Kashmir produces 75% of the total apple crop in the country at 20 lakh metric tonnes. “The fruit growers are not sure about prices and sell in distress. Even the grade ‘C’ apple will be bought. It will triple its price. The intervention of ₹8,000 crores will reach out to 60% of the total population of J&K” said Mr. Malik while launching the scheme at the horticulture department in Srinagar.

9) All 16 nations set for final RCEP deal

Amidst conflicting signals from the government over whether India will join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) this year, Australia’s lead negotiator for the 16­

nation free trade agreement (FTA) says all countries have “committed” to completing talks in time for the RCEP summit on November 1.

10) Water found in the atmosphere of a habitable exoplanet

Water has been discovered for the first time in the atmosphere of an exoplanet with earth­ like temperatures that could support life as we know it, scientists have revealed.

Eight times the mass of earth and twice as big, K2­18b orbits in its star’s “habitable zone” at a distance neither too far nor too close where water can exist in liquid form, they reported in

the journal Nature Astronomy. “This planet is the best candidate we have outside

our solar system” in the search for signs of life, coauthor Giovanna Tinetti, an astronomer at University College London said on Wednesday. “We cannot assume that it has oceans on the surface but it is a real possibility.”  Of the more than 4,000 exoplanets detected to date, this is the first known to combine a rocky surface and an atmosphere with water. Most exoplanets with atmospheres are giant balls of gas and the handful of rocky planets for which data is available to seem to have no atmosphere at all. Discovered in 2015, K2­18b is one of the hundreds of so-called “super­earths” planets with less than ten times the mass of ours spotted by NASA’s Kepler spacecraft. 

11) Niti Aayog selected McKinsey & Company to set up India's first Digital Capability Centre

National Institution for Transforming India (Niti Aayog) has selected McKinsey & Company to set up India's first Digital Capability Centre (DCC). McKinsey & Company supports 5 such centers globally- in Aachen, Chicago, Singapore, Venice, and Beijing. The government will act as a facilitator to bring together industry, academia, and research on one platform by forming DCC. DCC is a unique digital manufacturing learning center offering company leaders and their workforces hands-on experience and workshops in next-generation technology

12) Rami Ranger NRI industrialists were nominated to the UK's House of Lords

NRI entrepreneur Rami Ranger was nominated to Britain's House of Lords for his outstanding service to the business fraternity, the Conservative Party and the public. Former Prime Minister Theresa May had recommended Ranger's name for the peerage in her resignation letter.

13) United Nations Conference on Trade and Development released Digital Economy Report 2019

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released a report titled 'Digital Economy Report (DER) 2019'. DER was formerly known as the Information Economy Report. It examines the scope for value creation and captures in the digital economy by developing countries. Global Internet Protocol (IP) traffic has grown from about 100 gigabytes (GB) per day in 1992 to more than 45,000 GB per second in 2017. By 2022, global IP traffic is projected to reach 150,700 GB per second. Regarding value-added in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector, the United States and China together account for almost 40% of the world's total.

14) Shri Ram Nath Kovind addressed the Business Forum of India in Iceland

Shri Ram Nath Kovind addressed the India-Iceland Business Forum in Reykjavik, Iceland. India's growth and commitment to sustainability and Iceland's business strengths make for a natural partnership. Iceland's capacity in the fields of geothermal energy, circular economy, financial services, fisheries, food processing, shipping, tourism, and innovation. It is a pioneer in green technologies, be it carbon capture, energy-efficient buildings or waste-to-wealth projects.

15) India's DAIS ranks 10th in the "Global Top 50 IB Schools 2019" list.

In the "Global Top 50 IB Schools 2019" list released on September 7, 2019, by United Kingdom(UK) based education consultancy 'Education Advisers ltd', India's Dhirubhai Ambani International School (DAIS), Mumbai, Maharashtra was ranked at 10th position in the list. It is also the only Indian International Baccalaureate (IB) school featured in the list.

16) Indian Railways extends support for giving a boost to economy & announces measures of Freight incentive

Indian Railways announces certain Freight incentives to give a boost to the economy. Member (Traffic), Railway Board Shri P.S. Mishra, announced these measures, to support various segments of the industry. Details of these measures announced today are as under:

a) Freight rate related measures:

Levy of Busy Season Charge Deferred:

• BSC, which is levied @ 15% from 1 Oct-30 June, has been deferred till further advice (Except for iron ore and POL).
• Coal & coke and container traffic are already exempt.
• Waiver of Supplementary charges on Mini and Two-point rakes:
• The 5% Supplementary charges applicable on Loading on Mini and Two-point rakes are being waived off.
• This is likely to boost the loading of Smaller cargo sizes and help cement, steel, food grains and fertilizer loading.

Round-trip charging on container traffic:

• As per the haulage charge rating of container traffic, 0-50 km is the minimum distance slab for charging.
• It is seen that container traffic in this ultra-short lead (0-50 km) is very low at present.
• Therefore, round-trip charging of container trips has been introduced for a distance of less than 50 km each way.
• Under this scheme, haulage charge for 0-100 km slab will be charged for the total to and fro movement, instead of charging for 0-50 km slab each way.
• Impact- this comes out to be about  35% cheaper per TEU for the complete round-trip
• It is expected to especially give a fillip to EXIM traffic between ports and Inland Container Depots.

Discount on the movement of empty containers and empty flat wagons

• A discount of 25% discount in haulage charge of containers has been given to encourage the movement of empty/flat to ports; thereby increasing loaded container traffic in return
• It is expected to enhance the price-competitiveness of Railway vis-a-vis other modes of transport and expand freight basket by capturing new traffic.

Large-scale de-notification of commodities for container traffic

• As per container haulage charging policy, notified commodities are charged at Container Class Rates (CCR), which is 15% lower than General Tariff Rates (GTR). The rest of the commodities are charged at Freight All Kind (FAK) rates, which are even lower than CCR.
• Recently, 90 more commodities have been de-notified, which brought down their haulage charge from CCR to FAK rates.
• Now, out of a total of 635 commodities in Goods Tariff, only 38 commodities are under notified/CCR rates (11 of these are POL commodities).

Freight Marketing initiatives:

• Induction of more New Modified Goods car rakes and introduction of the new design of Bi-level auto car wagons (BCACBM wagons).
• Rationalization of Road Railer with 4 new weight slabs instead of earlier 3 weight slabs. More competitive rates.
• Weight and weighment conditions relaxed in perishable traffic  when loaded in goods wagons
• Measures to enhance ease of business and digitization
• Pan-India Implementation of eT-RR
• The facility of Electronic Transmission of Railway Receipts (eT-RR) has been successfully implemented across the country  01.08.2019
• eT-RR is a user-friendly and paperless transaction system where Railway Receipt is generated and transmitted electronically to the customer through Freight Operation Information System (FOIS). Delivery of goods is given through e-surrender of eT-RR. That is, the customer is saved the hassle of carrying physical Railway Receipt from originating to the destination station
• This facility is expected to bring down the transaction costs of rail customers, and also pave the way for greater digitization.

b) Weighment-related reforms

• The pre-weigh bin system for the weighment of goods traffic has been permitted in private sidings. This is expected to bring down the time for Weighment and loading, and also bring in higher accuracy in Weighment. It shall go a long way in redressing the issues related to Weighment.
• As per earlier policy, if a second Weighment of wagons was done, the higher of the two readings was considered final for charging or levy of penalty.  Now, the policy has been modified to state that the second weighment will be considered final for charging. This policy change makes the provision of second weighment meaningful and is expected to redress customers’ grievance inaccuracy of Weighment.
• Low-density commodities like Pet Coke, Met Coke, Chuni and De-oiled cake have also been exempted from mandatory weighment. This is likely to save transit time and increase fluidity, which translates into cost-saving for customers also.