Daily Current Affairs 19 December 2019

Current Affairs Of Today Are

1)  AI to counter deep-fake videos

• With the help of Artificial Intelligence, the Delhi police will counter deepfake videos circulating on social media.
• During the investigation, it was found that deepfake videos were posted through social media accounts operating out of Delhi and such videos have fuelled the violence. Fake or morphed videos shared via social media have contributed to the violence in Jamia Nagar.
• A team of cyber experts working in close coordination with the Delhi police has identified several Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp and Telegram accounts indulged in rumour-­mongering

2)  Jayakwadi dam water leak in transit

• The Jayakwadi dam water canal network in Marathwada is causing 35-­40% of water to leak in transit
• Almost 70% of the canal network needs major restoration
• Canals taking water from the Jayakwadi dam to rural regions of the Marathwada region need major repairs. The resultant water loss due to leakages has reached 40%, as the weak canals cannot carry the dam water to their fullest capacity
• Some years ago, the Irrigation Department told courts that it needed ₹7,000 crores for a major overhaul of this system. Unfortunately, none of the governments listened
• The structures like aqueducts are leaking while the canal network is not performing to its fullest capacity. Moreover, the present water losses of 35-­40% are increasing day by day. We are never sure that this dam will fill its entire capacity every year. The damage is also affecting irrigation potential in the region

3) The Sahitya Akademi 2019 award

• The Sahitya Akademi announced its annual literary awards for 2019 for works in 23 languages, including one for Shashi Tharoor’s non­fiction book about British rule in India. 
• The Akademi announced that it would honor seven books of poetry, four novels, six books of short stories, three essays and one each of nonfiction, autobiography, and biography. The award, including ₹1 lakh in cash, would be presented at a ceremony on February 25, 2020
• An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India’ by Mr. Tharoor, who is a Congress MP, was selected in the English category.
• The awards honor works of poetry by Dr. Phukan Ch. Basumatry (Bodo), Dr. Nand Kishore Acharya (Hindi), Nilba A. Khandekar (Konkani), Kumar Manish Arvind (Maithili), V. Madhusoodanan Nair (Malayalam), Anuradha Patil (Marathi) and Prof. Penna
• Madhusudan (Sanskrit). 
• Novels by Dr. Joysree Goswami Mahanta (Assamese), L. Birmangol Singh (Manipuri), Cho. Dharman (Tamil) and Bandi Narayana Swamy (Telugu) were also among the winners.
• Books of short stories by Abdul Ahad Hajini (Kashmiri), Tarun Kanti Mishra (Odia), Kirpal Kazak (Punjabi), Ramsawroop Kisan (Rajasthani), Kali Charan Hembram (Santali) and Ishwar Moorjani (Sindhi), an autobiography by Dr. Vijaya (Kannada) and a biography by Prof. Shafey Kidwai (Urdu) were also among the winners. 

4) Government cautious on framing Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 rules

A committee to frame rules for the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 is yet to be formalized and it will include the Secretaries of the Ministries of Home and Law and Justice.

The CAA

The CAA allows citizenship based on religion to undocumented non­Muslim communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.

There are apprehensions and fear that the Act, followed by a country­wide National Register of Citizens (NRC), will benefit non­Muslims excluded from the citizens’ register, while excluded Muslims will have to prove their citizenship.

Amid strong protests across the country after the CAA was passed last week by Parliament, the government has decided to act cautiously while framing the rules. The Intelligence Bureau is monitoring and compiling the details of all the protests related to the CAA. It apprised the government on Wednesday of eight major protests in Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and Delhi.

The rules are still under construction, and the government has decided not to rush things through. Any decision on how much time the applicants will get to file citizenship claims under the CAA is being worked out

5) Germany bans homosexuals ‘conversion therapy’ 

• The German government  signed off on a new law banning “conversion therapies” designed to force heterosexuality on homosexuals
• The legislation, set to be introduced next year, would see the practice made punishable with up to a year in prison and fines of up to €30,000 ($33,000). 
• Homosexuality is not an illness, so the word ‘therapy’ is misleading, said Health Minister Jens Spahn, the architect of the law. 
• Once it is approved, Germany would be only the second European country with such a ban after Malta passed similar legislation in 2016
• The bans to be as farreaching as possible, adding that the so­called therapies often caused “severe physical and psychological damage”.
• It could also potentially make parents and teachers liable if they are ruled to have neglected their duty of care.

6) Tripura gets its first SEZ

• The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has notified the setting up of the first-ever Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Tripura on December 16, 2019.
• The SEZ is being set-up at Paschim Jalefa, Sabroom, South Tripura District, which is 130 km away from Agartala. It will be a Sector-Specific Economic Zone for Agro-Based Food Processing.
• The estimated investment in the project will be around 1550 Crore. The developer of the SEZ will be Tripura Industrial Development Corporation (TIDC) Ltd. The SEZ is estimated to generate 12,000 skilled jobs. Rubber-based industries, textile and Apparel Industries, bamboo and Agri-food Processing Industries will be set-up in the SEZ.
• Setting up the SEZ in Sabroom will open up new avenues to attract private investment considering the proximity of the Chittagong Port and construction of the bridge across Feni River in South Tripura which is underway.
• After it is set up, 100 percent Income Tax exemption will be provided on export income for SEZ units under Section 10AA of the Income Tax Act for the first 5 years. Also, 50 percent exemption will be provided for the next 5 years and 50 percent of the plowed back export profit for another 5 years.

7) Phase-III of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana

The Union Minister of Rural Development, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare & Panchayati Raj, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar launched Phase III of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) on the sidelines of the National Workshop on PMGSY organized by the Ministry of Rural Development in New Delhi. The Phase-III of PMGSY aims at consolidation of 1,25,000 Kms Through Routes and Major Rural Links that connect habitations to Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs), Higher Secondary Schools and Hospitals with an estimated cost of Rs. 80,250 crores (Central Share of Rs. 53,800 crores) for the period 2019-20 to 2024-25. The funding pattern for the PMGSY-III will be 60:40 between Centre and the States for States other than NE & Himalayan States and 90:10 for NE and the Himalayan States as applicable for Central sponsored schemes.

NRIDA

The National Workshop organized by the NRIDA was attended by representatives from various States, Technical Institutions and Specialists who made presentations on various important topics and participated in panel discussions. Some of the important issues that were discussed during the Workshop include Maintenance of Rural Roads, Quality of Rural Roads, Contract Management, Planning of Rural Roads for increased traffic, Road Safety Issues, Use of new technologies especially plastic waste for construction of Rural Roads and Challenges in construction of roads and hilly areas and their solutions.

8) QCI Conclave in Uttarakhand

• Quality Council of India (QCI) along with the Ph.D. Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) is organizing its 11th Regional Quality Conclave (RQC) on 20th December 2019 at, Rudrapur, District Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand.
• The theme of the RudrapurRQC is “Advance Manufacturing with Quality, Innovation & Technology Interventions.”  The objective of the Conclave is to create awareness about the significance of quality culture in businesses, deliberate on how organizations could continuously improve and innovate and share technological advancement like Industry 4.0 and predictive maintenance.
• The Conclave will have sessions on Adding Value in Manufacturing and Supply Chain with Digital Transformation, Mapping Organization’s Route to Quality, Upskilling for Industry 4.0
• Leadership and Engagement Strategies for Sustaining Innovation and Quality Culture.
• Experts in the fields of creating Quality culture, Advance Manufacturing, Industry 4.0 and Leadership, and Engagement Strategies will participate in the RudrapurConclave to lead the discussions and lay down the roadmap for the future steps to be taken for the 4.0 engineering revolution in India.
• The Conclave expects to receive more than 150 participants from the top organizations from the Uttarakhand region. District Udham Singh Nagar and Rudrapur are major industrial and educational hubs of Uttarakhand. Many infrastructure industries, motor vehicle companies, and FMCG industries have their units in Rudrapur. Through this Conclave, the Quality Council of India hopes to reach out to industries in the hilly regions of the country.

9) Indian Coast Guard holds 18th National Maritime Search and Rescue Board meeting

• The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) organized the 18th National Maritime Search and Rescue Board (NMSARB) meeting here today to discuss policy issues, formulate guidelines & procedures and assess the efficacy of National Search and Rescue Plan.
• ICG in coordination with other stakeholders to improve the search and rescue effectiveness within the 4.6 million sq km vast Indian Search & Rescue Region. He brought out the importance of three Maritime Rescue Coordination centers at Mumbai, Chennai, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands established by ICG and voluntary ship reporting system INDSAR developed by the Coast Guard to divert the ship nearest to the site of incident for immediate Search & Rescue (SAR) assistance. The Prevention and Measured SAR mechanism adopted by ICG resulted in no loss of life at sea during the passage of many cyclones in the recent past. 
• Apart from deliberations on various maritime safety issues and identifying areas of improvement of Search and Rescue services, the NMSAR Board recognizes the SAR efforts of merchant mariners, Govt. Owned Vessels and Fishermen every year. For the year 2018-19, MV Asia Emerald III was awarded the SAR Award for Merchant Vessel for saving 06 lives from a distressed fishing boat. SAR Award for Fisherman was awarded to Shri Anand A Ambhire from Maharashtra for saving 11 lives from a sinking fishing boat. SAR Award for Government-Owned SAR Unit was awarded jointly to Indian Coast Guard Ships Sujoy and Vikram for saving 46 lives from ROSV Sagar Sampada off New Mangalore. 
• Indian Coast Guard is the nodal agency for Maritime Search and Rescue has rescued 9,672 lives by coordinating 3,180 search and rescue missions, which inter alia includes 2,479 air sorties and 3,540 ship deployments, since inception. ICG thus saves one precious life every second day. Further, ICG also escorted more than 6,000 fishing boats to safe locations during the passage of three severe cyclonic storms this year. In this year alone, ICG took 300 SAR missions involving the rescue of close to 1,000 lives at sea which includes 27 MEDEVAC operations and some of the rescue operations were conducted at the fringes of Indian Search and Rescue Region.

10) Joint River Commission ( JRC)

Bangladesh has not sent a delegation for the Joint River Commission ( JRC) meeting with India that was scheduled to be held. This has cast a shadow over the agreement to share the waters of the Feni river that was taken up during the October visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India.

About JRC

• A joint statement issued after Ms. Hasina’s October meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid down the agenda of the JRC, declaring that the technical­level committee of the JRC was to firm up the draft framework agreement of the interim sharing of the Feniriver’s waters with Tripura. 
• Bangladesh had agreed to let India withdraw 1.82 cusecs from the river to supply the border town of Sabroom in the northeastern State.