EVENING NEWS DIGEST: 12 JUNE 2018

ARVIND SAXENA APPOINTED ACTING UPSC CHIEF

 Union Public Service Commission member Arvind Saxena has been appointed as the acting chairman of the commission from 20 June.  Saxena, a 1978-batch Indian Postal Service officer, will take over the charge from incumbent Vinay Mittal who completes his term at the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on 19 June.  A latest government order said Saxena will "perform the duties of the post of chairman, UPSC" with effect from 20 June till further orders or till completion of his tenure on 7 August, 2020.  Saxena joined the UPSC in May, 2015 after he completed his stint in the Aviation Research Centre (ARC).  The officer has also worked in the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) after he joined it in 1988 and "specialised in the study of strategic developments in neighbouring countries".

GAURAV BIDHURI BAGS BRONZE MEDAL IN UMAKHANOV MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT IN RUSSIA

's Gaurav Bidhuri has settled for a bronze medal in 56kg in the Boxing Umakhanov Memorial Tournament in Kaspiysk, Russia.  World Championships bronze-medalist Bidhuri lost to Kazakhstan's Siroshiddin Abdullayev in a split 2-3 decision, rounding off a fine campaign in his comeback tournament after being out due to a back injury  Two Indian boxers advanced to the finals but Gaurav Bidhuri (56kg) settled for a bronze medal.  Among the Indian women, only Saweety Boora (75kg) has made the final.

SHUTTLERS SIMRAN SINGHI, RITIKA THAKER WIN MAURITIUS SENIOR INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT

 Indian shuttlers Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker beat Aminath Nabeeha Abdul Razzaq and Fathimath Nabeeha Abdul Razzaq of Maldives in straight games to win the women's doubles title at the Mauritius Senior International Tournament.  The Indians were seeded second in the tournament and were at their dominating best as they brushed aside the top seeds 21-17, 21-12.  This was the second title at the international level for the Indian pair.

EVENING NEWS DIGEST: 12 JUNE 2018

TRUMP-KIM JONG SUMMIT BEGINS IN SINGAPORE

 President Trump warmly greeted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and vowed to forge a new partnership, reversing decades of U.S.  In a historic meeting at Singapore’s secluded and opulent Capella resort, Kim called the nuclear disarmament summit with Trump a “big prelude to peace” and vowed, “I’m willing to do this.”  But it is not confirmed whether it contains a specific pledge by North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

DOT LAUNCHES 5,000 WIFI CHOUPALS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CSC

 Union Minister Piyush Goyal proposed to open extended banking counters across all 2.9 lakh common service centres (CSCs) that are operated by village level entrepreneurs to provide government services in rural areas.  The Department of Telecom (DoT), on the occasion, launched 5,000 WiFi choupals in partnership with CSC which will provide 60,000 WiFi hotspots in rural areas.  The DoT is looking to maintain BharatNet network; and the higher education department is looking to deliver its education content in gram panchayats through CSCs.  Under the agreement signed between IRCTC and CSC e-Governance, all 2.9 lakh common service centres (CSC) will be able to book both reserved and unreserved train tickets.  With this development, all 2.9 lakh CSCs will be connected with technology for railway ticket booking.  Around 40,000 CSCs are providing this service, and IRCTC should accelerate and make sure that in the next 8-9 month every CSCs should have this facility.  Common Services Centers (CSC) scheme is one of the mission mode projects under the Digital India Programme. Common Service Centres (CSC) are physical facilities for delivering Government of India e-Services to rural and remote locations where availability of computers and Internet was negligible or mostly absent.

RBI SEEKS ON PAYMENTS DATA STORAGE EVERY FORTNIGHT

 Amid concern around data security, the Reserve Bank of India have asked payment services firms to provide an update on action taken by them to store transaction data in the country in every fortnight.  All payment system providers including payments bank, payment gateways are required to ensure that full end-to-end transaction details relating to payment systems operated by them are stored in a system only in India within a period of six months from the date the order was issued.

EVENING NEWS DIGEST: 12 JUNE 2018

 The RBI has said that ensuring the safety and security of payment systems data by adoption of the best global standards and their continuous monitoring and surveillance is essential to reduce the risks from data breaches while maintaining a healthy pace of growth in digital payments.  The banking regulator had further said that at present "only certain" payment system operators and their outsourcing partners store the payment system data either partly or completely in the country.

CENTRE PROPOSES TO RENAME 'BLOOD BANKS' AS 'BLOOD CENTRES'

 The Centre has proposed to rename 'blood banks' as 'blood centres' across the country and streamline the existing rules for blood donation.  The decision to rename blood banks as blood centers has been taken keeping in view global nomenclatures.  'Blood centres' will be authorised premises in an organisation or institution, as the case may be, for carrying out all or any of the operations, including collection, processing, storage and distribution of blood drawn from donors or received from another licensed blood center and for preparation, storage and distribution of blood components, as per the proposed rules approved by the Drugs Technical Advisory Board.  Internationally, there is no usage of the term blood banks, they are called blood centres.  The Health Ministry has further proposed streamlining the existing rules for blood donation, while elaborating them under 103 criterion as per which the minimum age for a blood donor remains 18 and the maximum 65 years.  The official said according to the proposed rules, women cannot donate blood for 12 months after delivery, six months after abortion, during breast-feeding and menstruation.  The draft rules also prohibit donation of blood by jail inmates or any other confinement and by a person with a history of residence or travel in a geographical area which is endemic for diseases that can be transmitted by blood transfusion and for which screening is not mandated or there are no guidelines in India.  The rules recommend deferring blood donation for six and 12 months after recovery following a minor and major surgery respectively.  Also, one cannot donate blood for three months after recovering from malaria, six months after recovering from Dengue and Chikungunya, and four months after recuperating from being infected by the Zika virus, as per the proposed rules.

SCIENTISTS SEEK TO FIND MASS OF ‘GHOST PARTICLE’

 Researchers in Germany have started collecting data with a 60 million euro ($71 million) machine designed to help determine the mass of the universe’s lightest particle.  Device may pinpoint mass of neutrinos.  Physicists, engineers and technicians at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology hope the 200- metric tonne device will narrow down or even pinpoint the actual mass of neutrinos.  Those are sometimes called “ghost particles” because they’re so difficult to detect.

EVENING NEWS DIGEST: 12 JUNE 2018

 Scientists with the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino experiment, or KATRIN, said they’ll be taking measurements “well into the next decade” and hope to produce “high-impact results.”  It will help scientists better understand the history of the universe.  Some 200 people from 20 institutions in seven countries are part of the project.

QATAR TAKES UAE TO ICJ OVER HUMAN RIGHT VIOLATIONS

 The government of Qatar is taking the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) over what it described as human rights violations.  The came a year after the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting "terrorism".  According to Qatar, UAE officials also participated in a full-scale online media campaign against Qatar and Qataris, directly inciting hatred against the Gulf nation.  Abu Dhabi's attacks on fundamental freedoms were described in a December 2017 report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) as part of a "widespread defamation and hatred campaign against Qatar".  The Qatari government said the UAE had enacted a series of measures that discriminate against Qataris, including expelling them from the UAE, prohibiting them from entering or passing through the UAE, ordering UAE nationals to leave Qatar, and closing UAE airspace and seaports to Qatar.  Qatar said it believed the actions were in violation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) - including discrimination on the basis of nationality - of which the UAE and Qatar are both signatories.  Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt are not signatories of the CERD. Background:  The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) is a United Nations convention. The Convention commits its members to the elimination of racial discrimination and the promotion of understanding among all races. Controversially, the Convention also requires its parties to outlaw hate speech and criminalize membership in racist organizations.  The convention was adopted and opened for signature by the United Nations General Assembly on 21 December 1965,and entered into force on 4 January 1969. As of January 2018, it has 88 signatories and 179 parties.

MOILY HONORED WITH 'SPECIAL AWARD' BY CHENNAI-BASED NGO

 Six parliamentarians have received 'Sansad Ratna' awards while former Karnataka Chief Minister and senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily has bagged a special award for heading the parliamentary standing committee on finance.  Five MPs from and one from Odisha -- belonging to different parties -- won the best parliamentary performance award from Prime Point Foundation -- a Chennai-based NGO.

EVENING NEWS DIGEST: 12 JUNE 2018

 The 'Sansad Ratna Awards 2018' was instituted nine years ago by the NGO.  These awards were instituted at the instance or suggestion of the late president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam as civil society recognition for members of Parliament (MPs) outstanding performance in Parliament.  Background- Sansad Ratna Award ("Gem of Parliament") is a private award established in 2010 by the Prime Point Foundation and e-magazine PreSense to honour "top performing" Members of the Indian Lok Sabha.  The private-award is not conferred by the Government of India nor are its "recipients" recognized as such by the Government of India.