IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-01

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More than 2,27,000 Indians waiting for family-sponsored Green Card

News

• More than 2,27,000 Indians are waiting in line for family-sponsored Green Card or legal permanent residency, according to the latest official data.

Family-sponsored Green Card

• Currently, there are about four million people waiting in line for family-sponsored Green Cards against a Congressional cap of 226,000 per annum.
• The largest number of 1.5 million wait list is from America’s southern neighbour Mexico, followed by a distant India with 227,000 and China with nearly 180,000.
• Majority of those in the family-sponsored Green Card waiting list are siblings of US citizens. Under current law, US citizens can sponsor their family members and blood relatives for Green Cards or permanent legal residency.
• In addition to four million family-sponsored Green Card applicants, another 827,000, a sizeable number of whom are from India, are waiting in line for permanent legal residency. The waiting line for employment-based green card applicant is painstakingly running into more than a decade for Indian IT professional.
• According to DHS, a majority of Indians waiting in line for family-based Green Cards are siblings of US citizens. They number over 181,000. This is followed by 42,000 married children of US citizens and over 2,500 spouses and minor children of permanent residents.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

At 17.5 million, Indian diaspora largest in the world : UN report

News

• India continues to be the largest country of origin of international migrants with a 5 million-strong diaspora across the world, and it received the highest remittance of $78.6 billion from Indians living abroad, the U.N. migration agency said.

Strong diaspora

• The International Organisation for Migration said in its ‘Global Migration Report 2020’ that the number of international migrants in 2019 is now estimated at 270 million and the top destination remains the U.S., at nearly 51 million.
• The overall figure represents just a tiny fraction of the world’s population, although it is a 0.1% increase on the level indicated in its last report, published two years ago.
• This figure remains a very small percentage of the world’s population (at 3.5%), meaning that the vast majority of people globally (96.5%) are estimated to be residing in the country in which they were born.
• More than half of all international migrants (141 million) live in Europe and North America. An estimated 52% are male, and nearly two-thirds of all migrants are looking for work; that’s around 164 million people.
• India continued to be the largest country of origin of international migrants. It had the largest number of migrants living abroad (17.5 million), followed by Mexico (11.8 million) and China (10.7 million). The top destination country remained the United States (50.7 million international migrants).
• The report also noted that international remittances increased to $689 billion in 2018. The top three remittance recipients were India ($78.6 billion), China ($67.4 billion) and Mexico ($35.7 billion).
• The United States remained the top remittance-sending country ($68 billion) followed by the United Arab Emirates ($44.4 billion) and Saudi Arabia ($36.1 billion).
• Although most migrants travelled to the U.S., the report confirmed other important migration corridors from poorer countries to richer nations such as those to France, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
• Focusing on the Middle East, data showed that Gulf countries have some of the largest numbers of temporary labour migrants in the world, including the United Arab Emirates, where they make up almost 90% of the population.

Rajya Sabha passes chit fund Bill, discusses ban on e-cigarette

News

• Parliament  passed the Chit Funds (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which increases the limit of chit funds to ₹3 lakh for those run by up to four individuals and ₹18 lakh for those operated by more than four partners.

E-cigarette Bill introduced

• A piece of legislation to ban e-cigarettes was introduced by Health Minister in the Rajya Sabha.
• The Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes (Production, Manufacture, Import, Export, Transport, Sale, Distribution, Storage, and Advertisement) Bill, 2019, was passed by the Lok Sabha.

United Nations Development Programme launches Accelerator Lab in India to work on tackling pollution

News

• Seeking to address some of the most pressing issues facing India, including air pollution, through innovation, the United Nations Development Programme launched the country chapter of its Accelerator Lab

Accelerator Lab

• The laboratory that will be housed in the UNDP India office has partnered with the Indian government’s Atal Innovation Mission to achieve its objectives.
• Other issues that the laboratory will seek to address include sustainable water management and client-resilient livelihoods, the vision is to make faster progress in meeting the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the U.N. by 2030.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Chinese astronomers discover black hole 70 times bigger than Sun

News

• An unpredicted ‘monster’ black hole, 70 times as massive as the Sun, has been discovered in the Milky Way galaxy, which challenges the existing models of how stars evolve, scientists said.

Black hole

• Milky Way is estimated to contain 100 million stellar black holes cosmic bodies formed by the collapse of massive stars, and so dense even light can’t escape.
• Until now, scientists had estimated the mass of an individual stellar black hole in our galaxy at no more than 20 times that of the Sun.
• The discovery of the huge black hole by an international team has toppled that assumption.
• The study, described the stellar black hole named LB-1, located 15 thousand light-years from the Earth.

Reliance Industries becomes first Indian firm to cross market capitalisation of ₹10 lakh crore

News

• Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL) became the first Indian firm to cross the market capitalisation of ₹10 lakh crore as its shares touched its new 52-week high of ₹1,584 on before closing at ₹1579.95, valuing at over ₹10,01,555.42 crore, India’s most valued.

First Indian firm

• This makes RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani the 12th richest man in the world and Asia’s richest with personal wealth of $60.7 billion, narrowing the gap with Larry Ellison, founder and largest shareholder of Oracle, with personal wealth of $61.6 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
• Ambani controls almost 42% of Reliance Industries, owner of the world’s largest oil refining complex, Reliance Retail and Reliance Jio.
• He has added $16.4 billion to his wealth or 37% surge in his wealth year-to-date to become Asia’s most richest overtaking Jack Ma of Alibaba Group with personal wealth of $45 billion placed 19th Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
• RIL has widened the gap with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s second most valued firm as TCS market capitalisation stood at ₹7,81,772 crore with 1.5% increase in its share price to ₹2,083.4.
• RIL has entered into an agreement with Saudi Aramco to sell 20% stake in oil-to-chemicals business at valuation of $75 billion. The company is in talks with strategic and financial investors to sell stakes in retail, telecom and media businesses.

Centre extends ban on ULFA for five years

News

• The Centre has extended the ban on the Assam-based insurgent outfit ULFA for five years for continuing subversive activities, including killings, kidnapping and extortion.

Ban extended

• In a notification, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the ULFA has been indulging in various illegal and violent activities intended to disrupt the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India in furtherance of its objective of liberating Assam.
• Now therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-Section (1) of Section 3 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (37 of 1967), the Central government hereby declares the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) along with all its factions, wings and front organisations as an unlawful association.

Defence Ministry approves procurement of military platforms, weapons worth ₹22,800 crore

News

• The Defence Acquisition Council chaired by Defence Minister approved capital procurement amounting to over ₹22,800 crore.

Capital procurement

• • This includes 10 additional P-8I long range patrol aircraft from the U.S. for the Navy and procurement of additional indigenous Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF) among others.
  • As a follow up of the successful indigenous Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) programme, the DAC revalidated the Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for the procurement of additional AWACS aircraft.
  • The mission system and sub-systems for these aircraft would be indigenously designed, developed and integrated onto the main platform by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
  • The IAF currently operates three Israeli Phalcon AWACS and three smaller indigenous Netra AEW&C systems mounted on Embraer aircraft. A shortage of these force multipliers was felt during the aerial engagement with the Pakistan Air Force, a day after the Balakot air strike in February.
  • These platforms would provide on-board Command & Control and ‘Early Warning’ which would assist the IAF in achieving effective air space dominance in the least possible time, the statement added. The new systems are likely to be mounted on Airbus aircraft.
  • The DAC accorded approval for indigenous design, development and manufacturing of ‘Thermal Imaging Night Sights’ for Assault Rifles and these will be manufactured by the “Indian private industry and used by troops deployed on the frontline.”
  • The DAC also approved procurement of twin engine heavy helicopters for the Indian Coast Guard. These aircraft would enable the Coast Guard to undertake missions to prevent maritime terrorism, infiltration of terrorists by sea routes as well as search and rescue operations.

Google says it warned 500 users in India of government-backed phishing attacks

News

• Google sent out over 12,000 warning to users globally, including about 500 in India, during the three month period from July to September this year, alerting them on “government-backed” phishing attempts against them.

Phishing attempts

• The news comes close on the heels of Facebook-owned WhatsApp disclosing that an Israeli spyware Pegasus, was used to spy on journalists and human rights activists globally, including 121 people in India.
• Google said its Threat Analysis Group (TAG) works to counter targeted and government-backed hacking against Google and its users. The TAG tracks more than 270 targeted or government-backed groups from more than 50 countries.
• Stating that the company had a long-standing policy to send users warnings if it detects that they are the subject of state-sponsored phishing attempts, Google stated that from July to September 2019, it sent more than 12,000 warnings to users in 149 countries that they were targeted by government-backed attackers.
• As per data shared on the blogpost, about 500 warnings were issued to users in India.
• The company added that over 90% of these users were targeted via “credential phishing emails” where attempts are made to obtain the target’s password or other account credentials to hijack their account.

Army test-fires newly acquired Israeli anti-tank missile in Madhya Pradesh

News

• The Army successfully tested two newly acquired Spike long-range (LR) anti-tank guided missiles at the Infantry School at Mhow, Madhya Pradesh.

Successfully tested

• The Army has recently procured a small batch of 12 launchers and 250 missiles from Israel using its new financial powers to make emergency procurement sanctioned by the Defence Ministry a few months back.
• The delivery of Spike missiles has been completed, and they have been deployed in the western sector against Pakistan.
• Rafael said the missile had an inbuilt seeker, which allows the use of any of the modes: Day (CCD) and Night (IIR).
• At Mhow, the firing was done in the sun on CCD, and on IIR without heating of the target, using only the ambient temperature difference.

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