IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-01

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China objects to Rajnath Singh’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh

News

• China objected to the visit of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Arunachal Pradesh, saying the Chinese government never acknowledged the “so-called” northeast Indian state, which it claims to be a part of South Tibet.

Border dispute

• Defence Minister visited Tawang for the ‘Maitree Diwas’ celebrations to boost civil-military friendship in the region bordering China.
• Reacting to the visit, Spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry Geng Shuang said the Chinese government never acknowledged the so-called Arunachal Pradesh.
• China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of South Tibet and the two countries have so far held 21 rounds of talks to resolve the border dispute covering 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC).
• China routinely objects to Indian leaders’ visits to Arunachal Pradesh to buttress its stand.
• India says Arunachal Pradesh is its integral and inalienable part and Indian leaders visit the state from time to time, as they visit other parts of the country.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

CBI forms unit to check online child abuse cases

News

• The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has set up an Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (OCSAE) Prevention/Investigation Unit.

Online Child Sexual Abuse

• It will also probe such offences covered under various provisions of the IPC, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the Information Technology Act, apart from other relevant laws.
• The unit, which will function under the agency’s Special Crime Zone in Delhi, will collect and disseminate information on online child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Centre drops plan to bring in changes to Forest Act of 1927

News

• The Union Environment Ministry withdrew a draft amendment that proposed updates to the Indian Forest Act, 1927.
• Activist groups and some State governments had protested this proposed law after it was mooted in March.

Forest Act

• The Indian Forest Act, 2019, was envisaged as an amendment to the Indian Forest Act, 1927, and an attempt to address contemporary challenges to the country’s forests. 
• The draft law had been sent to key forest officers in the States for soliciting comments and objections.
• It drew flak from activists as well as tribal welfare organisations.

India pledges to contribute $13.5 mn for UN development activities for 2020

News

• India has pledged to contribute USD 13.5 million for various operational activities of development across the UN agencies for the year 2020.

Development Activities

• Counsellor at India’s Permanent Mission to the UN announced India’s pledges at the UN General Assembly Pledging Conference for Development Activities.
• The World Food Programme will get USD 1.92 million, USD 900,000 to the UN Children’s Fund, USD 500,000 to the UN Population Fund, USD 200,000 dollars to the UN Voluntary Fund for Technical Co-operation and USD 150,000 dollars to the UN Commission on Human Settlements Programme.
• India will also be contributing USD 100,000 each to the UN Voluntary contribution for Financial and Technical Assistance for the implementation of Universal Periodic Review, UN Environment Programme and UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
• Indian Prime minister had announced a 14 million dollar grant for community development projects in the CARICOM and another 150 million dollar Line of Credit for solar, renewable energy and climate-change related projects.
• Taking forward India’s close partnership with the Pacific Islands Developing States (PSIDS), the India-PSIDS Leaders’ Meeting was also held on the sidelines of the General Assembly and Modi had announced allocation of 12 million dollars grant (one million dollars to each PSIDS) towards implementation of high impact developmental projects in an area of their choice.
• In the last decade, India has extended Lines of Credit of about USD 26 billion to more than 60 developing countries.
• About 16 countries pledged a total of USD 516 million at the 2019 United Nations Pledging Conference for Development Activities, representing a considerable increase over 2018 which saw USD 425.69 million promised.

Delhi air pollution: SC summons chief secretaries of Punjab, Haryana, UP, Delhi

News

• The Supreme Court summoned chief secretaries of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi to know about steps taken by them to reduce air pollution in Delhi-NCR.

Reduce air pollution 

• A Bench of Justices said effective steps must be taken and 13 pollution hotspots in Delhi should be cleared of pollutants.
• The apex court questioned the Delhi government over granting exemptions, including to 2-and-3 wheelers, during its odd-even scheme and said that pollution level in Delhi is increasing in spite of the vehicle rotation scheme being in force.
• It expressed concern that despite reduction in stubble burning, pollution levels in Delhi are worse.
• The Delhi government told the top court that its odd-even scheme has helped in reducing pollution and the “real culprit” behind the region’s pollution is stubble burning.
• The Centre also told the bench that it is examining feasibility of putting up smog towers to reduce pollution in Delhi.

India saw 2nd-highest number of pneumonia deaths of children under age five: UN

News

• India had the second-highest number of deaths of children under the age of five in 2018 due to pneumonia, a curable and preventable disease that claimed the life of one child every 39 seconds globally, according to a new report by the UN.

Deaths of children

• The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that globally, pneumonia claimed the lives of more than 800,000 children under the age of five last year or one child every 39 seconds.
• Most deaths occurred among children under the age of two, and almost 153,000 within the first month of life.
• The report said just five countries were responsible for more than half of child pneumonia deaths: Nigeria (162,000), India (127,000), Pakistan (58,000), the Democratic Republic of Congo (40,000) and Ethiopia (32,000).
• In addition, the strong link between child pneumonia deaths and poverty is undeniable. Lack of access to drinking water, inadequate health care, and the burden of undernutrition and indoor air pollution are major drivers of vulnerability to the disease. Around half of all pneumonia-related deaths are associated with air pollution
• Sounding the alarm about this forgotten epidemic, the UNICEF and other health and children’s organisations launched an appeal for global action and will in January host world leaders at the Global Forum on Childhood Pneumonia in Spain.
• Pneumonia is caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi, and leaves children fighting for breath as their lungs fill with pus and fluid. More children under the age of five died from the disease in 2018 than from any other. About 437,000 children under five died due to diarrhoea and 272,000 due to malaria.
• While the disease can be prevented with vaccines, and easily treated with low-cost antibiotics if properly diagnosed, yet tens of millions of children are still going unvaccinated and one in three with symptoms do not receive essential medical care.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

India’s requests for Facebook user data increases by 37%, second only to U.S.

News

• The Indian government’s requests for user data from Facebook increased nearly 37% in the first half of 2019, and at 22,684 queries, was the second highest globally, according to the Transparency Report of the U.S.-based social networking site.

Requests for user data

• In comparison, Facebook received 16,580 requests in the January-June 2018 period and 20,805 requests during July-December that year. Of the 22,684 data requests, Facebook said it had produced some data in 54% of cases.
• Globally, it received 1,28,617 such requests from governments.
• Of these, Facebook produced some data for 73.6% of cases. The US government submitted the maximum number of 50,714 requests for details of 82,461 Facebook users/accounts during the first half of the current year.
• The US was followed by India, whose 22,684 requests were for 33,324 users/accounts, the UK (7,721 requests for 10,550 user/accounts), Germany (7,302 requests on 9,800 users/accounts) and France (5,782 requests for 6,961 users/accounts).
• The report showed that during January-June 2019, Facebook had nearly 70 internet disruptions that affected its products in about 17 countries. India topped the list with 40 disruptions.
• During the period reviewed, the social media giant also restricted access to 1,233 items of content, including 1,211 posts, two profiles, 19 pages and groups and one comment.
• The content restricted was alleged to have violated laws and primarily in the categories of hate speech, anti-religious content constituting incitement to violence, defamation, extremism, anti-government, and anti-state content.

Only Mumbai meets piped drinking water quality standards

News

• Mumbai is the only city whose tap water meets the piped drinking water quality standards set by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), according to a study of 21 capital cities released on Saturday.

Drinking water quality

• Delhi has the most unsafe tap water, with all samples failing on several parameters. The national capital is one of the 13 cities where all samples have failed to meet the BIS norms.
• Under its flagship Jal Jeevan Mission, the Centre aims to provide piped water to all households by 2024.
• The study, conducted by BIS for the Union Food and Consumer Affairs Ministry, tested 10 samples in each city to see if they met the Indian Standard 10500:2012 (Specification for Drinking Water).
• The Centre also plans to include capitals of the northeastern States and smart cities under the testing regime by January 15, 2020, while all district headquarters are expected to be tested by August 15, 2020.

DRDO successfully conducts Agni II missile’s night trial for first time

News

• India conducted successfully the first night trial of Agni-II, its versatile surface-to-surface medium range nuclear-capable missile from Dr. Abdul Kalam Island off Odisha.

Agni-II

• • The missile has a strike range of 2000 km, the sources said soon after it blasted off from a mobile launcher at the Launch Complex-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR), the sources said.
  • Agni-II, an intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM), has already been inducted into the armed forces.
  • This was the first time that the sophisticated missile was test-fired at night.
  • The entire trajectory of the trial was tracked by a battery of sophisticated radars, telemetry observation stations, electro-optic instruments and two naval ships located near the impact point in the down range area of Bay of Bengal, DRDO sources said.
  • The 20-metre long two-stage ballistic missile has a launch weight of 17 tonnes and can carry a payload of 1000 kg over a distance of 2,000 km, the sources said.
  • The two-stage missile equipped with advanced high accuracy navigation system, was guided by a novel state-of-the-art command and control system and propelled by solid rocket propellant system.
  • The 2000 plus km range surface to surface missile has already been inducted and is part of countries arsenal for strategic deterrence.
  • Agni-II was developed by Advanced Systems Laboratory along with other DRDO laboratories and integrated by the Bharat Dynamics Limited, Hyderabad.
  • Agni-II is part of the Agni series of missiles which includes 700-km range Agni-I, 3,000-km range Agni-III, Agni-IV and Agni-V.
  • The first test-firing of the prototype of Agni-II missile was carried out on April 11, 1999. On May 17, 2010, the trial of nuclear-capable Agni-II ballistic missile was conducted by the Special Strategic Command Force from the ITR before it was made operational by the Army.
  • The last trial was conducted on February 20, 2018 from the same base.

Exports decline by 1.11% in October

News

• The country’s exports dipped by 1.11% to $26.38 billion in October on account of contraction in sectors like petroleum and leather.

Exports decline

• In September also, exports had contracted by 6.57% to $26 billion.
• Imports too declined by 16.31% to $37.39 billion, narrowing trade deficit to $11 billion in October, according to official data released on Friday.
• Trade deficit in October last year stood at $18 billion.
• Oil imports, in October 2019, fell 31.74% to $9.63 billion as compared to the same month last year.
• Exports during April – October this fiscal dipped by 2.21% to $185.95 billion. Imports were down by 8.37% to $280.67 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $94.72 billion.

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