October 2019
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MONTHLY FACTLY EXCLUSIVE CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR PRELIMS OCTOBER 2019 TABLE OF CONTENTS # Topic Page No. Chapter 1: Polity 1 Postal Ballot For Absentee Voters 1 2 Supreme Court Recalls Verdict Diluting SC/ST Anti – Atrocities Law 2 3 Village Secretariat System Launched By Andhra Pradesh 3 4 Naga Peace Accord 3 5 Parichay: Legal Aid Clinic 5 6 Government Forms A Task Force To Prepare A National Action Plan On Human Rights 6 7 Draft Arms (Amendment) Bill 7 Chapter 2: Economy 1 Bhim 2.0 Launched With Additional Features 8 2 World Bank’s Ease Of Doing Business 2020 Report 9 3 World Economic Outlook Report 10 4 Global Competitiveness Index 11 5 India Innovation Index 13 6 Global Wealth Report 14 7 Corporate Tax Rate Cut By The Government 15 8 Asia-Pacific Trade And Investment Report 16 9 Enterprise Development Centres 17 10 Cabinet Approves New Strategic Disinvestment Process 18 11 Government E-Marketplace 19 12 Explained: Why State Budgets Matter 19 Chapter 3: International Relations 1 18th Summit Of Non-Aligned Movement Summit (Nam) Held In Baku, Azerbaijan. 21 2 2nd India – China Informal Summit Held In Mamallapuram, Tamilnadu 23 3 Prime Minister Of India Visit To The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia 24 4 Exercise Vajra Prahar 25 5 Inter - Parliamentary Union (IPU) 26 6 Indus Water Treaty 27 7 India Joins WEF’s G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance On Responsible Use Of Smart City 27 Technologies 8 Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Visit To India 28 Chapter 4: Policy 1 School Education Quality Index (SEQI) 30 2 Food Safety Mitra Scheme 31 3 Digital Bharat Digital Sanskriti 32 4 Intensified Mission Indradhanush 2.0 32 5 QS Indian University Rankings 33 6 Feed Our Future 34 7 Prakash Portal 34 8 Performance Smart Board 35 9 Youth Co: Lab 36 10 Audio Odigos 37 11 National Testing Agency 38 12 Technical Assistance Programme (TAP) 39 13 Pradhan Mantri Innovative Learning Programme (PMILP)- ‘Dhruv’ 39 14 Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MGNF) Programme 40 15 Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan (Suman) Scheme 40 16 Yuva Sahakar-Cooperative Enterprise Support And Innovation Scheme 41 17 Saras Aajeevika Mela: 42 18 Jal Jeevan Mission: 43 19 Van Dhan Internship Programme 45 20 Goal Program 44 ForumIAS Guidance Center 2nd Floor, IAPL House, 19, Pusa Road, Karol Bagh, New Delhi – 110005 | [email protected]|011- 49878625 Chapter 5: Environment 1 Advanced Air Quality Early Warning System 46 2 Scientists Excavate ‘Ancient River’ In Uttar Pradesh 47 3 Failure Of Monsoon Forecast In India 48 4 E-Waste Clinic In Madhya Pradesh 50 5 Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) 52 6 Hindu Kush Mountains: 53 7 Gangetic River Dolphin 53 8 Coalition For Disaster Resilient Infrastructure 55 9 Climate \Vulnerability Map Of India 56 10 Colombo Declaration 57 11 Sentinel-3 World Fire Atlas 58 12 Odisha Integrated Irrigation Project For Climate Resilient Agriculture 59 13 Snow Leopard 60 14 Lotus-HR 62 15 C40 World Mayors Summit 62 16 Cyclone KYARR 63 17 Youth Climate Conclave 64 18 Wildlife Week India 65 19 World Habitat Day 66 Chapter 6: Science and Technology 1 Cosmic Web 67 2 Geotail 67 3 Mosaic Mission 68 4 Microbial Fuel Cells 69 5 Edge Computing 70 6 Google Achieves Quantum Supremacy 71 7 Indigen Genome Project 72 8 Techsagar 73 9 Saturn Overtakes Jupiter As The Planet With The Most Moons 74 10 Gemini 75 11 Guidelines For Evaluation Of Nanopharmaceuticals In India. 76 12 World Intellectual Property Indicators 2019 77 78 13 DPIIT Launches Website And Mobile App For IPR Chapter 7: Security And Defence 1 Brahmos Supersonic Cruise Missile, With Major Indigenous Systems, 81 Successfully Test-Fired 82 2 Rafale Fighter Jet Defence Acquisition Council Approves 3 Indegenous Projects 82 3 83 4 Open General Export Licences (OGELS) Automated Facial Recognition System (AFRS) 84 5 84 6 INS BAAZ Chapter 8: Social 1 International Day For Older Persons 87 2 Global Hunger Index 2019 87 3 World Food Day 89 4 India Halved Its Poverty Rate Since 1990s: World Bank 89 5 Global Tuberculosis (TB) Report, 2019 90 6 Stations’ Cleanliness Survey Report 92 7 National Health Profile 2019 92 8 National Milk Sample Safety Quality Survey 94 9 Crime In India Report 2017 95 10 National Nutrition Survey: 96 11 All India Survey On Higher Education (AISHE) 98 ForumIAS Guidance Center 2nd Floor, IAPL House, 19, Pusa Road, Karol Bagh, New Delhi – 110005 | [email protected]|011- 49878625 Chapter 9: Miscellaneous 1 Chenani-Nashri Tunnel 100 2 World Standards Day: 100 3 Paryatan Parv 2019 101 4 Nobel Prizes 2019 101 Chapter 10: Art and Culture Various topics of Art and Culture 105 Chapter 11: Pointly 1 Emperor Penguins 107 2 Mount Paektu 107 3 SEED Awards 107 4 Uluru 107 5 Sarayu River 107 6 Asia Environmental Enforcement Award 107 7 Ganga Aamantran Abhiyan 107 8 Liver transplant registry 107 9 Tulagi Island 107 10 Operation Dhanush 107 11 Consumer app 107 12 World Cotton Day 107 13 Prahari Scheme 108 14 Million Farmers’ School Programme 108 15 Kanya Sumangala Yojana 108 16 Officers Automated Structured Information System (OASIS) 108 108 17 Project Beehive ForumIAS Guidance Center 2nd Floor, IAPL House, 19, Pusa Road, Karol Bagh, New Delhi – 110005 | [email protected]|011- 49878625 Page 1 of 108 Polity 1. POSTAL BALLOT FOR ABSENTEE VOTERS News: Election Commission of India has started working on detailed guidelines to facilitate the process of postal ballot paper for absentee voters. Facts: About the guidelines: ● EC has defined absentee voter as a person belonging to such class of persons as may be notified under clause(c) of section 60 of the Representation of the People Act,1951. ● Such absentee voters include (a) Persons employed in essential services such as railways, state transport among others (b) Persons with Disabilities (PwD) and (c) Senior citizens. ● Person with Disability means a person identified as person with disability in the database for the electoral roll. ● Senior citizen means an elector belonging to the class of absentee voters and is above 80 years of age. How can these people vote? ● People under these new categories can choose to vote through postal ballot by filling up Form 12D and submitting it to the nodal officer within five days of notification of an election. ● These votes will be registered at a special centre specified by the Election Commission (EC). Additional information: About Election Commission: ● The Constitution of India, under Part XV, article 324 to 329 provides for the institutions and process of elections in our country. The Election Commission of India is an autonomous constitutional authority responsible for administering election processes in India. ● Article 324 of the Constitution provides that the power of superintendence, direction and control of elections to parliament, state legislatures, the office of president of India and the office of vice-president of India shall be vested in the election commission. About Representation of the People (RP) Act,1951: ● The Representation of the People Act,1951 is an act of Parliament of India. This Act contains provisions relating to the following electoral matters: o Qualifications and disqualifications for membership of Parliament and State Legislatures o Notification of general elections o Administrative machinery for the conduct of elections o Registration of political parties o Conduct of elections o Free supply of certain material to candidates of recognised political parties o Disputes regarding elections o Corrupt practices and electoral offences ForumIAS Guidance Center 2nd Floor, IAPL House, 19, Pusa Road, Karol Bagh, New Delhi – 110005 | [email protected]|011- 49878625 Page 2 of 108 2. SUPREME COURT RECALLS VERDICT DILUTING SC/ST ANTI – ATROCITIES LAW News: The Supreme Court has recalled its directions in a 2018 verdict that had effectively diluted provisions of arrest under the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act,1989. Facts: What was the 2018 verdict? ● The Supreme Court had diluted the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act,1989 in Subhash Kashinath Mahajan vs The State of Maharashtra to grant anticipatory bail to accused persons. ● The apex court gave the judgement on the pretext that innocents cannot be terrorised by the provisions of the SC/ST Act and their fundamental rights need to be protected. ● The apex court had directed that the police conduct a preliminary enquiry into whether a complaint under the law is frivolous or motivated before registering a case. ● The court had also said that public servants could be arrested only with the written permission of their appointing authority while in the case of private employees,the Senior Superintendent of Police concerned should allow it. ● The judgment had triggered widespread protests and compelled the government to amend the Act to negate the effect of the ruling. It had also filed a review petition against the verdict. What was the recent judgement? ● The apex court reasoned that human failing and not caste is the reason behind the lodging of false criminal complaints. ● The Court also condemned its own earlier judgment saying it was against basic human dignity to treat all SC/ST community members as a liar or crook. Additional information: About Schedule caste and scheduled tribe Prevention of Atrocities Act 1989: • The provisions of the above act can be divided into three categories: o The act provides provisions for a criminal law including- creation of new type of offence, punishment for neglect of duties, enhanced minimum punishment etc o The act included compensation for the victims o The act created special authorities for implementation of the Act like courts, public prosecutor etc ● ‘Review’ of a Supreme Court judgment is done by the same Bench.