Daily news will speed up the preparation for the Civil Services Examination and it also plays a crucial role to grasp the current affairs topic comprehensively. Here we have covered most of the topics related to various categories including National, International, Sports, Science and Technology, and so on.
1. Central Pollution Control Board celebrates its 46th Foundation Day
– A webinar was organised to commemorate 46th year of the establishment of Central Pollution Control Board on 23 September, 2020.
– According to the Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Sh. Babul Supriyo, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has been doing remarkable work in terms of collecting and collating the data related to pollution. To improve air quality, it is acting as a key policy input for the government and the concerned agencies. CPCB also provides real-time data.
– On 23 September, 1974, the CBCB was established under The Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 as a technical arm of Central Government for environmental research, monitoring, regulation and enforcement in the country.
Daily Gist of ‘The Hindu’, ‘PIB’, ‘Indian Express’ and Other Newspapers: 23 September, 2020
2. Track Child Portal
– A web portal “TrackChild” has been developed by the Ministry of Women and Child Development to track the missing and found children.
– The TrackChild Portal is implemented with the help of several stakeholders like Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Railways, State Governments/UT Administrations, Child Welfare Committees, Juvenile Justice Boards, National Legal Services Authority, etc.
– Regular training programmes will be organised by the National Informatics Centre on Trackchild portal as per the requirement of the States/UTs.
3. Measures to Modernise Jute Mills
– Every year, Government fix MSP for raw jute. This is done to protect the interest of the jute farmers.
– In the year 2012-13, the MSP of raw jute was Rs. 2200 per quintal which has now increased to Rs. 4225 in the year 2020-21.
– Incentive Scheme for Acquisition of Plant & Machinery (ISAPM)is implemented by the Government to modernise the jute mills.
– Under the scheme, several efforts are being made to increase the productivity of the jute mills by providing capital subsidy to replace the old machines with new and technologically advanced machines.
– To modernise jute mills and JDP units, capital subsidy amounting to Rs. 49.71 crores have been released during 2014-15 to 2018-19.
Daily Gist of ‘The Hindu’, ‘PIB’, ‘Indian Express’ and Other Newspapers: 22 September, 2020
4. Technology License Agreement
– A Technology License Agreement (TLA) ceremony on “Brucella abortus S19Δ per vaccine” developed by ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) was held on 22nd September, 2020 through a virtual platform.
– The Agreement was between Dr. R.K. Singh, Director, ICAR-IVRI, Izatnagar, Mr Rajiv Gandhi, CEO and MD, Hester Biosciences Limited, Ahmedabad, Ms Anju Bhalla, MD, DBT- Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) and Dr Sudha Mysore, CEO, Agrinnovate India Limited.
– During the ceremony, Dr T. Mohapatra DG ICAR emphasized the importance of the Brucella vaccine in India and its perspective abroad. He also highlighted its economic, social and developmental impact.
– The technology was developed by the scientists of ICAR-IVRI Dr Pallab Chaudhari and his team.
– The vaccine has great demand in India and will be of immense help in the national control programme on brucellosis. The vaccine has DIVA capability meaning that it can differentiate between naturally infected and vaccinated animals.
– Brucellosis is one of the most important zoonotic diseases worldwide and also endemic in India causing huge economic losses to the dairy industry due to infertility, abortion, the birth of weak offsprings and reduced productivity.
Daily Gist of ‘The Hindu’, ‘PIB’, ‘Indian Express’ and Other Newspapers: 21 September, 2020
5. Kritagya
– A hackathon named “KRITAGYA” has been planned by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) under the National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP).
– This has been done to promote potential technology solutions for enhancing farm mechanization with special emphasis on women-friendly equipments.
– Students, faculties and innovators/entrepreneurs from any university / technical institution across the country can apply and participate in the event in the form of a group.
– Dr.Trilochan Mohapatra, Director General, ICAR told that in one group maximum 4 participants can compete, with not more than one faculty and / or more than one innovator or entrepreneur.
– The students who are participating can collaborate with local start-ups, students from technology institutes. Through this, students can win Rs. 5 lakhs, Rs 3 lakhs and Rs. 1 lakh as first, second and third prize. The registration for the event has already been started from 15th September 2020.
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6. Multi-stakeholder Body for Net Neutrality
– The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended the creation of a multi-stakeholder body (MSB) to ensure that Internet access providers adhere to the provisions of net neutrality.
– The MSB should be set up as a non-profit entity.
– It will provide advice and support to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in the monitoring and enforcement of net neutrality principles.
– It will help to investigate complaints regarding the violation of net neutrality.
– To help DoT in the maintenance of a repository of reasonable traffic management practices.
– Stakeholders include telecom service providers, Internet service providers, content providers, researchers, academic and technical community, civil society organisations, and the government.
Daily Gist of ‘The Hindu’, ‘PIB’, ‘Indian Express’ and Other Newspapers: 18 September, 2020
7. Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA)
– The Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) raised concerns about the early burning of crop residue in Punjab and Haryana.
– According to a SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research) under the Central government estimate which uses the INSAT-3, 3D and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) satellite, the fire counts have increased from zero to 42 in a few days.
– In 2019, about 9.8 million tonnes of the total estimated crop residue of 20 million tonnes were burnt in Punjab.
– And in Haryana, of the total 7 million tonnes, 1.24 million tonnes of stubble was burnt.
8. Government Securities
– In this financial year, from 7 April to 22 September, 27 States and 2 Union Territories have cumulatively raised ₹3.26 lakh crore via State government securities or State development loans (SDLs).
– This is a 45% increase from the borrowings in the corresponding period of 2019-20.
– The top 5 borrowing States are Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan that are accounting for 54% of total borrowings by States so far.
– A government security (G-Sec) is a tradeable instrument issued by the central government or state governments.
Daily Gist of ‘The Hindu’, ‘PIB’, ‘Indian Express’ and Other Newspapers: 17 September, 2020
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