IAS Edge IAS Edge CURRENT AFFAIRS, IAS EDGE This Document was prepared under the supervision of Mr. Pramod Singh, Academic Head, IAS Edge. Current Affairs, May 2019 Contents 1 GS1a: SOCIAL ISSUES ..........................................7 1.1 Stucco Sculpture and Ikshvaku dynasty7 1.2 Sri Vedanta Desikan7 1.3 International Religious Freedom 2019 report9 1.4 Basavanna9 1.5 Char Dham pilgrimage 10 1.6 Trans fatty acids (TFA) 10 1.7 National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) 12 1.8 Vayoshreshtha Samman 13 2 GS2a: POLITY AND GOVERNANCE ............................. 14 2.1 Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) of Puducherry 14 2.2 Electoral Bond Scheme 16 2.3 Zero pendency Court project 17 2.4 DissentIAS in the Election Commission Edge18 2.5 10th Schedule of the Constitution 18 2.6 Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) 19 2.7 Collegium System 20 2.8 NGOs and regulation of their foreign funding 21 2.9 Article 324 22 2.10 United Nations not a State under Article 12 23 2.11 National Register of Citizens (NRC) 23 2.12 Competition Commission of India (CCI) 24 3 GS2b: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS ............................ 25 3.1 Russia “Sovereign internet” bill 25 3.2 Masood Azhar is now a UN global terrorist 26 3.3 Arctic Council 26 3.4 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) 28 3.5 World Customs Organization 29 3.6 Commonwealth Tribunal 30 3.7 The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) 30 3.8 World Reconstruction Conference (WRC4) 32 3.9 UN Human Rights Council 33 4 GS3a: ECONOMICS ............................................ 34 4.1 Generalized System of Preference (GSP) 34 4.2 Prepaid payment instruments 35 4.3 Resolving India’s banking crisis 35 4.4 CPI inflation 38 4.5 Fund for rural agricultural start-ups 39 4.6 Economic Census 39 4.7 Project ‘SPARROW-CBIC’ 40 4.8 Services Trade Restrictiveness Index 40 4.9 RBI releases ‘Vision 2021’ for e-payment system 40 4.10 Masala bonds 41 4.11 Chief risk officer (CRO) for NBFCs 42 4.12 WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism 42 5 GS3b:IAS ENVIRONMENT .................... Edge..................... 45 5.1 State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) 45 5.2 Namami Gange 46 5.3 Seismic activity triggered by human actions 47 5.4 UK Parliament declares climate change emergency 47 5.5 Pacific decadal oscillation 48 5.6 Global Ecosystem Assessment 49 5.7 Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) 50 5.8 Basel Convention 50 5.9 Bengal tigers may not survive climate change 51 5.10 UNEP report on Sand and Sustainability 52 5.11 Herbivore Census in Gir forest 53 5.12 Facing the climate emergency 54 5.13 Ongole cattle 56 5.14 ‘Room for the River’ project 57 5.15 Effects of plastics on environment 57 6 GS3c: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ............................ 59 6.1 India’s Anti-Satellite (ASAT) missile 59 6.2 ICAT – A World Class Automotive Testing Centre 61 6.3 Waste to Wealth Technologies 61 6.4 RISAT 2BR1 62 6.5 The cost of antimicrobial resistance 63 6.6 Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPVFR) Act, 2001 65 6.7 CRISPR Technology 66 6.8 Aditya- L1 mission 67 6.9 Arsenic contamination 68 6.10 Genetic studies on the people of the Lakshadweep archipelago 68 6.11 Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) 69 6.12 MODIS (or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) 70 6.13 Monkeypox virus: Singapore reports first case of rare virus 70 6.14 CCMB scientists sequence Asiatic lion genome 71 6.15 YUva VIgyani KAryakram 71 6.16 ArtemisIAS Mission Edge72 6.17 Seven mega missions by ISRO 72 7 GS3d: INTERNAL SECURITY ................................... 74 7.1 ABHYAS – High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) 74 7.2 Unlawful activities (Prevention) Act 74 6 7.3 India joins global initiative to combat online extremism 75 8 MISCELLANEOUS ............................................. 76 8.1 Goldman Environmental Prize 76 8.2 Sanauli 76 8.3 Mawmluh cave and Therriaghat 77 8.4 Hangul 77 8.5 Sino- Indian Bilateral border trade: 77 8.6 ‘Operation Swift Retort’ 78 8.7 Last captive White tiger 78 8.8 King Rama X 78 8.9 Gujarat Shops and Establishments Act 78 8.10 INS Ranjit 79 8.11 Anti-dumping duty put on saccharine 79 8.12 Bisphenol-A (BPA) 79 8.13 Sea of Japan 79 8.14 INS Vela 80 8.15 Purple frog 80 8.16 Grizzled Giant Squirrel 80 8.17 ADMM-Plus Maritime exercise 80 8.18 Strait of Hormuz? 81 8.19 Thrissur Pooram 81 8.20 Lecanorchis taiwaniana 81 8.21 ‘Army scouts masters competition’ 82 8.22 Vande Bharat Express 82 8.23 Commission to look into the problems faced by farmers 82 8.24 Skimmer 82 8.25 The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star 82 8.26 Indo-MyanmarIAS coordinated patrol (IMCOR) Edge 83 9 Thought Provoking Exercise .................................... 84 . 6 For Complete Current Affairs, visit - http://iasedge.com/free-download/ Contact us: 9910922241 1. GS1a: SOCIAL ISSUES 1.1 Stucco Sculpture and Ikshvaku dynasty Indian archaeologists recently unearthed a rare life-sized stucco sculpture from a Buddhist site at Phanigiri in Suryapet, Telangana. Key facts: • It is the biggest stucco sculpture found so far in India. It is about 1.73 metres in height and 35 cm in width. • It represents a Bhodhisattva in Jathaka Chakra. • It was created nearly 1,700 years ago by craftsmen at Phanigiri at peak of Ikshavaku dynasty. Who is Bhodhisattva? A bodhisattva is a Buddhist deity who has attained the highest level of enlightenment, but who delays their entry into Paradise in order to help the earthbound. The bodhisattva, known in Sanskrit as Avalokitesvara,´ takes both male and female form and is associated with the qualities of mercy and compassion. The Ikshvaku dynasty: • As per Puranic literature, it was founded by king Ikshvaku. It is also known as Suryava¯ sa´ (the Solar dynasty). • Important Personalities belonging to this dynasty includes: Lord Rama, Twenty-two out of twenty-four Jain Tirthankara, and according to Buddhist texts, Prince Siddhartha also belonged to this dynasty. 1.2 Sri VedantaIAS Desikan Edge A postage stamp has been released to commemorate 750th birth anniversary of Sri Vedanta Desikan and his great philosopher’s life and highly valued work. About Sri Vedanta Desikan: • Sri Vedanta Desikan (1268–1369) was a Sri Vaishnava guru/philosopher and one of the most brilliant stalwarts of Sri Vaishnavism in the post-Ramanuja period. • He was a poet, devotee, philosopher and master-teacher (desikan). 8 Chapter 1. GS1a: SOCIAL ISSUES • HeIAS was the disciple of Kidambi Appullar, also Edge known as Aathreya Ramanujachariar, who himself was of a master-disciple lineage that began with Ramanuja. • He is considered to be avatar (incarnation) of the divine bell of Venkateswara of Tirumalai by the Vadakalai sect of Sri Vaishnavite. • Literary works: Sri Sthothra Nidhi, Sri Paduka Sahasram, Rahasya Granthams, Sri Desika Prabandham, Kavyams. • Honors: Sarvathanthra Swathanthrar, Kavitharkiga Simham, Vedanthachariar. 8 For Complete Current Affairs, visit - http://iasedge.com/free-download/ Contact us: 9910922241 1.3 International Religious Freedom 2019 report 9 1.3 International Religious Freedom 2019 report United States Commission has released its International Religious Freedom 2019 report. US Commission on International Religious Freedom is a bipartisan, independent federal government commission, created by International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. Significance of the report: • In its Annual Report, USCIRF unflinchingly describes threats to religious freedom around the world and recommends to the State Department countries for designation as “countries of particular concern” (CPCs) for engaging in or tolerating “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations.” • USCIRF also recommends to the State Department that non-state actors cited for similarly severe violations be designated as “entities of particular concern” (EPCs). This year, USCIRF has recommended 16 countries for CPC designation and five entities for EPC designation. • Also, USCIRF placed 12 countries on its Tier 2 list, meaning the violations meet one or two, but not all three, of the elements of the systematic, ongoing, egregious test for CPC status. Key facts: • The 16 countries USCIRF recommended for CPC designation include 10 that the State Department so designated in November 2018 – Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan – as well as six others that the State Department has not designated – Central African Republic (CAR), Nigeria, Russia, Syria, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. • The 12 countries on USCIRF’s Tier 2 list are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, and Turkey. The five entities recom- mended for EPC designation include the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Taliban in Afghanistan, al-Shabab in Somalia, and new to the list this year, the Houthis in Yemen and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Syria. India- specific Key findings: • India saw an “overall deterioration of religious freedom conditions in 2018”. • India continues to remain a Tier II country. It is in same list since 2009. Tier II countries are those in which violations engaged in or tolerated by government are serious and characterized by at least one of the elements of systematic, ongoing, and egregious (horrible)’. • India is facing declining religious freedom, apart from increased securitisation and politicisa- tion of religion. • It is increasingly becoming difficult to separate religion and politics. It is a tactic which is sometimes intended by those who seek to discriminate against certain religious communities. • Over the last decade Minorities conditions have deteriorated in country. The reason is attributed to extremist groups, anti-conversion laws, cow-protection groups, mob lynching, concerns that millions from Assam will be incorrectly left out of NRC (National Register of Citizen) and a denyingIAS international NGOs registration.