Daily Current Affairs 21 September 2019

Current Affairs of Today

1) All Areas Entrusted With Functions of Urban Planning Included in Swachh Survekshan - 2020

 It has been decided to include all areas, which are notified Planning/ Special Area Development Authority/ Urban Development Authority or any such Authority under State/Central legislations, which is entrusted with the functions of urban planning, regulations and development function akin to Statutory Urban local Bodies for all purposes including sanitation, in Swachh Survekshan - 2020. Examples for such bodies could be Industrial Estate Townships like Noida, Greater Noida, Jamshedpur or Bokaro Steel City, Port Area Development Authority, SADA for a specific purpose, etc. Only such Urban Development Authority will be included in the category where there is no statutory urban local body e.g. Amravati Development Authority. A separate category of such cities has been created for evaluation under Swachh Survekshan-2020.

2) Shri Amit Shah launches Emergency Response Support System (ERSS- Dial 112), ‘E-Beat Book’ System and ‘E-Saathi’ App in Chandigarh

About ERSS

ERSS is one of the key projects of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs under the Nirbhaya Fund. It has been designed to play a pivotal role in mitigation or preventing escalation of crime, especially against women and children. ERSS provides a single emergency number (112), computer-aided dispatch of field resources to the location of distress. Citizens can send their emergency information through call, SMS, email and through the 112 India mobile app.

Dial 112

The ‘Dial 112’ emergency response service is an initiative to strengthen proactive community policing that would end confusion amongst distress callers, who at times end up dialing 100 in fire or medical emergency cases. Till now, there were more than 20 numbers that were running for the help of the public for various emergency situations, which were creating confusion for the distress callers. But after starting this service, the public will not face these problems. In the future, the Emergency Number for Road Accidents (1073), Women Helpline (1091, 181), Child Help Line (1098), including other Helpline services would be added under the 112 unified emergency response number.

About ‘E-Beat Book’

The ‘E-Beat Book’ is a web and mobile-based application which will ease the collection, updating, and analysis of the information related to crime and criminals in real-time. Chandigarh has been divided into 54 divisions. In each division, there is one ‘Atal Sehbhagita Kendra’that is under the supervision of a Beat Officer, having an Android Phone to the use of the app. The E-Beat Book would be linked with Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS), which would help in real-time updates of crime/criminal data. The citizen can directly approach the‘Atal Sehbhagita Kendra’ for redressal of their grievances and can render their suggestions too.

About  ‘E-Saathi’ App

The ‘E-Saathi’ App would help the general public, including senior citizens, to remain in touch with the police and also give suggestions to facilitate participative community policing(‘Your Police at Your Doorstep’ initiative). The beat officer would be able to provide services like passport verification, tenant verification, servant verification, character certification, etc. at a click of a button through the app, without the people needing to visit the police station. With this initiative, on one hand, where the beat officer would become more efficient in his/her working, this would make police-people communication a two-way process, on the other.

3) Joint Unveiling of Buddha Statue by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and President of Mongolia HE Mr. Khaltmaagiin Battulga

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr. Khaltmaagiin Battulga, President of Mongolia, jointly unveiled a statue of Lord Buddha and his two disciples, installed at the historic Gandan Tegchenling Monastery in Ulaanbaatar.

About Lord Buddha Statue

• The Statue depicts Lord Buddha in a sitting posture along with his two disciples conveying the message of compassion along with peace and co-existence. The statue was installed and consecrated at the Gandan Monastery earlier this month during the third edition of SAMVAAD dialogue held in Ulaanbaatar from 6 – 7 September 2019. The third edition of SAMVAAD dialogue brought together Buddhist religious leaders, experts and scholars from different countries to deliberate on contemporary issues related to Buddhism.
• Gandan Tegchenling Monastery is a prominent center of Mongolian Buddhists and a treasure house of valuable Buddhist heritage. It hosted the 11th General Assembly of the Asian Buddhist Conference for Peace (ABCP) from 21-23 June 2019 marking the 50th anniversary of the Conference. Over 150 guests from 14 countries including India, South Korea, Russia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, North Korea, LPDR, Thailand, Japan, etc. had participated in the event.
• The Statue unveiled by Prime Minister and Mongolian President  Khaltmaagiin Battulga symbolizes the shared respect of our two countries for the universal message of Lord Buddha.

4) The Vice President calls for expanding bilateral ties between India and Mongolia in different sectors including renewable energy and IT

• The Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu has called for expanding bilateral ties between India and Mongolia in different sectors including renewable energy, especially solar energy and Information Technology. Shri Naidu also said that Mongolia joining the International Solar Alliance is an important step in expanding the cooperation between the two nations in this field.
• Mongolia’s will provide visa-on-arrival service to Indian tourists and businesspersons visiting Mongolia.
• The A.B. Vajpayee Centre for Excellence in IT would provide IT education and employment to the Mongolian youth and called for its early completion. 
• The Vice President also held delegation-level talks with the President of Mongolia. Both leaders condemned terrorism and agreed upon the need for a united global response to tackle the menace. Discussions on infrastructure projects, including an oil refinery and railway line were also held.
• India and Mongolia signed MoUs on space cooperation and disaster management that will provide a new dimension to the India­ Mongolia strategic partnership. A press note issued by the Ministry of External Affairs said the agreements would allow India to support Mongolia in resource management and satellite communication. A joint statement said the space cooperation would allow “peaceful exploration” of outer space and include remote sensing and weather forecasting.

5) National Conference on Agriculture- Rabi Campaign 2019

• The National Conference on Agriculture for Rabi Campaign 2019 was organized on 20.09.2019 at NASC, Pusa, New Delhi. The conference was inaugurated by Sh. Parshottam Rupala, Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.
• Shri Parshottam Rupala highlighted the record production achieved for food grains (285 million tonnes) and also complimented state governments for the effective implementation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes. He said that this cooperation has made possible an all-time high production of rice (116 million tonnes), wheat (102.5 million tonnes), pulses and oilseeds
• Due to a shortage of oilseeds Union Minister suggested launching a separate mission to increase capacity and reduce the import of edible oils.
• 45 biofortified varieties have been released with an enhanced percentage of nutrients, protein, etc. The State Agriculture Departments have been asked to provide support for strengthening the seed hubs. There is a need to strengthen the Lab to Land connect for the maximum benefit of farmers.
• The department has decided to distribute seed mini-kits for Rabi crops, pulses, and oilseed with the active involvement of State Agriculture Departments. As far as Kisan Credit Card is concerned, major changes in terms of waiver of the registration fee, the minimum time for issuance of KCC, widening the range of loans, etc have been made for covering a large number of farmers

6) Commerce & Industry Minister to Visit UAE for a meeting of High-Level Task Force on Investment

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways, Piyush Goyal will visit UAE from 21st to 22nd September 2019 for the meeting of the 7th India-UAE High-Level Task Force on Investment (HLTFI). The meeting will see wide-ranging discussions on priority sectors of engagement for channeling investments between the two countries.

About HLTFI

The HLTFI was established in May 2012 to address issues associated with existing investments between India and UAE. It is an institutional arrangement to discuss ways for increasing investments and deliberating on opportunities for cooperation and investment in both countries. The Task Force has made significant strides in reinforcing and deepening economic cooperation between India and UAE.

The meeting will be co-chaired by Union Minister of Commerce and Industry & Railways, Piyush Goyal and Sheikh Hamad bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Managing Director of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Crown Prince Court of Abu Dhabi.

The meeting proposes to deliberate in eight identified sectors where the Indian Commerce and Industry Minister will proactively seek FDI investment from UAE into India. The sectors are petroleum and natural gas, food processing, civil aviation, railways, renewable energy, infrastructure, shipping, and construction.

7) Corporate tax rates slashed to 22% for domestic companies and 15% for new domestic manufacturing companies and other fiscal reliefs

In its boldest gambit yet to stir up the economy, the government on Friday issued an ordinance to reduce the corporate tax rate for domestic firms and new manufacturing units by 10 to 12

percentage points, effectively bringing India’s tax rates on a par with its competing Asian peers.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the effective tax rate for domestic corporates, inclusive of surcharges, would fall from 34.94% to 25.17% if they stopped availing themselves of any other

tax sops. 

8) Piyush Goyal launched a Common digital platform for electronic Certificates of Origin (CoO) issuance

Piyush Goyal launched a Common digital platform for electronic Certificates of Origin (CoO) issuance. This platform will act as a single access point for exporters, Free Trade Agreements(FTA)/ Preferential Trade Agreements (PTA) and others.

9) Israel has supplied Guided Bomb Spice-2000 to the Indian Air Force (IAF)

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has received the first consignment of the upgraded version of the Guided Bomb Spice-2000 with Mark 84 warheads and bombs from Israel at the Gwalior airbase, Madhya Pradesh. The bombs are being given to India under a contract worth about Rs 300 crore signed between India and Israel in June 2019.

10) The Google Research India AI lab will be set up in Bengaluru

Google announced the setting up of Google Research India, a new AI research team in Bengaluru, which will focus on advancing computer science and applying AI research to solve big problems in healthcare, agriculture, and education.

11) Digital Communication Commission of the Department of Telecom has approved Rs 8,500 crore to set up mobile towers and laying of optical fiber.

The Digital Communication Commission, the highest decision-making body in the Department of Telecom has approved multiple projects worth over Rs 8,500 crore. The projects aim to set up mobile towers and laying of optical fiber, to provide improved connectivity. The commission also approved a special scheme to cover up to 12,000 uncovered villages in aspirational districts. The approved infra projects include laying of BharatNet fiber in Tamil Nadu and Telangana, at an estimated cost of Rs 1,815 crore and Rs 2,065 crore. The projects also include setting up of 1,917 mobile towers for uncovered villages in the North East.

12) Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers receive Rs.5,000 under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana in 3 installments

Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) has achieved a significant milestone by crossing 1 crore beneficiaries. So far, Centre has disbursed a total amount of Rs.4,000 crores to the beneficiaries under the scheme. The scheme was effectively implemented from 1st January 2017. Under the Scheme, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers (PW&LM) will receive a cash benefit of Rs.5,000 in three installments. It is expected to fulfill various conditionality namely early registration of pregnancy, ante-natal check-up, and registration of the birth of the child and completion of the first cycle of vaccination for the first living child of the family. Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) also provides a cash incentive for the eligible beneficiaries.

13) Ola drivers will get health insurance under the scheme of  Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana

Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) has partnered with Ola, a mobility platform, to extend the welfare to its drivers. The partnership will provide comprehensive health insurance for secondary and tertiary care to tens of thousands of drivers working with the cab aggregator and their families. The first phase will see Ola and AB-PMJAY conducting a pilot project in NCR, which will subsequently be rolled out at scale to other cities. Eligible drivers, as well as Ola employees, will be able to avail of the benefits of the program and obtain an Ayushman Bharat card at a minimal cost of Rs 30.

14) Uttarakhand government has decided to carry out bio-fencing to reduce human-animal conflict

To reduce human-animal conflict, the Uttarakhand government has decided to carry out bio-fencing by growing various species of plants in those areas viz. lemongrass, agave, rambans, and chilly. The move is to prevent wild animals from entering residential areas and to protect agricultural crops and livestock in areas adjoining to forests. This biotic method is environment-friendly and harvesting of such plants can also be economical for farmers. Leopards, bears, elephants and wild boars are a major threat to human life and livestock.

15) Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal has launched Waste Management Accelerator for Aspiring Women Entrepreneurs (WAWE) summit at Jaipur

Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' has launched Waste Management Accelerator for Aspiring Women Entrepreneurs (WAWE) summit. It will be jointly organized by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the Institute of Waste Management (IIWM) at Jaipur. This initiative stating that it will empower women and encourage entrepreneurship among youngsters. WAWE Summit 2019 is a great initiative for women who have skills in their hands and it will further empower and motivate them.