Daily Current Affairs 6 December 2019

Current Affairs of Today are

1) India’s forex reserves cross $450 billion for the first time

• The country’s foreign exchange reserves crossed the $450­billion mark for the first time ever on the back of strong inflows which enabled the central bank to buy dollars from the market, thus checking any sharp appreciation of the rupee 
• India’s foreign exchange reserves were at $451.7 billion on December 3, 2019, an increase of $38.8 billion over end­-March 2019
• At $451.7 billion, the country’s import cover is now over 11 months.
• The rise in foreign exchange reserves will give the central bank the firepower to act against any sharp depreciation of the rupee

Foreign investment

• Net foreign direct investment rose to $20.9 billion in the first half of 2019­-20 from $17 billion a year ago while net foreign portfolio investment was $8.8 billion in April­-November 2019 as against net outflows of $14.9 billion in the same period last year.
• India’s foreign exchange reserves fell to $274.8 billion in September of 2013, prompting the Centre and RBI to unleash measures to attract inflows. It has been a steady rise for the reserves since then, with $175 billion added in the last six years. 

2) New rules and regulation to make social media more accountable

• The government on Thursday said that it was working on rules to mandate social media companies to identify and remove child sexual abuse material, rape images and content promoting terrorism without affecting privacy
• The amendments inter alia propose that intermediaries should proactively identify and remove the child sexual abuse material, rape/ gang­rape imagery and contents promoting terrorism without compromising accuracy or privacy using technology­based tools and mechanisms. The rules are presently being finalized
• The Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, has adequate provisions for the removal of objectionable online content
• Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000, empowers the government to block any information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in any computer resource in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognisable offense relating to above.

3) Head on Generation (HOG) - A Giant Leap forward through an environment-friendly and energy-efficient technology

Indian cities are struggling with air and noise pollution. Respiratory diseases are increasing at alarming rates in cities. Premium passenger trains fitted with Air-Conditioned coaches and running traditionally on the End-on-Generation (EOG) system are also contributing towards air and noise pollution. These trains are using 2 diesel power cars for feeding power to air-conditioning and lighting load in the passenger coaches which produce an unbearable noise of around 100dB. Further, these power cars guzzle on an average of 3000 liters of diesel per trip per train contributing to the pollution in the cities.

Indian Railways have come up with an energy-efficient and environment-friendly innovative solution to address the issues of air & noise pollution and energy efficiency in the running of passenger trains. An improvised converter has been developed, which is fitted in Electric locomotives which can replace these diesel generators. It uses power from overhead catenary to feed auxiliaries in the coaches hauled by Electric locomotives. It saves up to 1 Million liters of diesel per train per annum.

This requires locomotives as well as coaches to be modified for making them suitable for HOG. Locomotives have been manufactured by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW), over the years, which are HOG compliant. To harness the benefits of this high-end technology, the pace of HOG conversion works of LHB coaches has been increased from April 2018 onwards. During April 2018 to 5th November 2019, 436 trains (cumulatively over 500 trains) have been converted into HOG compliant trains. It is planned to convert balance End-On-Generation (EOG) LHB rakes into the HOG system on an accelerated pace to harness the benefits of energy-efficient and environment-friendly technology. The major advantages of the HOG system include:

• Reduction in noise- from 100dB noise to noiseless,
• Significant reduction of CO2 (over 2500Ton) & NOX(over 10Ton) emissions till now, 
• Reduced Diesel Consumption leading to huge savings in operational costs to the tune of over Rs.1100 crores per annum,
• Economical- EOG Power Rs 22/unit, HOG Power Rs 6/unit.

4) RBI keeps interest rate unchanged

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) surprised the market by keeping the policy interest rate unchanged at 5.15% at the fifth bi-monthly monetary policy review meeting, despite slowing economic growth, citing inflation concerns. 
• The market was expecting the central bank to cut interest rates for the sixth straight time. All six members of the monetary policy committee voted for keeping the rate unchanged. The accommodative stance of the monetary policy was retained. 
• This forward guidance in itself indicates that there is space for further monetary policy action. However, there is a need to optimize the impact of rate reductions. The key consideration has to be the timing of further actions, even as we monitor the impact of actions taken so far
• The RBI paused to wait for further clarity on the inflation front and the steps that the government might take in the Budget to prop up growth.
• RBI raised inflation forecast to 5.1­4.7% for the second half of 2019­20 and 4.0­3.8% for the first half of 2020-­21. In the October policy, CPI inflation was projected at 3.5­3.7% for H2 of 2019­20 and 3.6% for Q1 of 2020­-21.

5) Asian Development Bank (ADB)has prepared an Action Plan for infrastructure Creation to Increase the Use of Coastal Shipping in India

• The Minister of State for Shipping (I/C) and Chemical & Fertilizers Shri Mansukh Mandaviya informed that an Action Plan for Coastal Shipping has been prepared by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in September 2019. This action plan includes recommendations concerning infrastructure creation required to increase the use of coastal shipping in India.
• The Minister informed that the Master Planning of 12 Major Ports has been carried out and 95 capacity expansion and port modernization projects have been identified. Major ports capacity has been re-rated concerning global benchmarks as per berthing policy 2016 and effective capacity has increased by 293 MTPA after re-rating. Global benchmarks have been adopted to improve the efficiency and productivity of major ports and 116 initiatives have been identified to unlock 100 MTPA of capacity at major ports.
• The Minister said that the Ministry of Shipping has approved 67 projects (cost: Rs. 5702 Crore) under Sagarmala Programme for financial assistance of Rs. 1,491 Crore for improving port infrastructure and port connectivity.
• An analysis of nation-wide end-to-end logistics flows of all key commodities (~85% of all commodities) at ports was carried out based on which the National Perspective Plan (NPP) for the SagarmalaProgramme was prepared in April 2016. As a part of the NPP, a roadmap is developed for increasing Indian port capacity to 3300+ MTPA by 2025.

6) Odisha govt. scheme to merge with ‘PM-Kisan’ yojana

• The Odisha government has decided to merge its flagship scheme to provide assistance to farmers with the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM­Kisan) yojana, apparently due to financial constraint
• Though Agriculture and Farmer Empowerment Minister Arun Kumar Sahoo did not reveal the details about the merger of the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme with the Centre’s program, sources said the State government has taken a decision to change the guidelines for providing aid to farmers.

7) Green Express Ways

The Government of India approved Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-I in October 2017 with an aggregate length of about 34,800 km (including 10,000 km residual NHDP stretches) at an estimated outlay of Rs. 5,35,000.00 crores which also included about 800 km length of expressways. Development of road stretches is taken up post finalization of alignment (greenfield/ or brownfield), cost estimates, land acquisition requirement etc. based on outcome of Detailed Project Report (DPR)/ Feasibility Study with due consideration to traffic density, up-gradation requirements, Right of Way (ROW) determination, project viability, inter-se-priority and availability of funds. Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-I is targeted for completion in 2021-22.

8) Launch of 'Going Online as Leaders' Programme

• GOAL (Going Online as Leaders) is a digitally-enabled mentorship initiative of Facebook for empowering tribal youth to become leaders for tomorrow in the respective fields. GOAL Project is stated to aim at identifying and mobilizing renowned people from industry (policymakers and influencers), known for their leadership skills or roles, to digitally empower and personally mentor tribal youth from tribal communities across multiple locations of India. The initiative has been designed to identify and attach 1 Mentor who is expert in their respective fields, to four tribal youth, who will be trained and mentored.
• Facebook had started a pilot project on its own in March 2019 in 5 states of India i.e. Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra, wherein they have identified 100 Tribal Mentees and 25 Mentors. Further, Facebook envisages identifying 5000 tribals from various fields to be mentored by 1250 mentors in 5 years in a phased manner.
• GOAL (Going Online as Leaders) is a Facebook initiative. Ministry of Tribal Affairs was not associated with the pilot project implemented by Facebook, specific details regarding State-wise beneficiaries are not available.