PERSONALCOPY NOT FOR SALE OR CIRCULATION VAJIRAM & RAVI The Recitals Explore Current Affairs Through Q&A (October 2020) VAJIRAM & RAVI (INSTITUTE FOR IAS EXAMINATION) (A unit of Vajiram & Ravi IAS Study Centre LLP) 9-B, Bada Bazar Marg, OLD RAJINDER NAGAR NEWDELHI-110060 Ph.: (011) 41007400, (011) 41007500 Visitusat: www.vajiramandravi.com No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, or stored in any retrieval system of any nature without the written permission of the copyright holder and the publisher, application for which shall be made to the publisher. © VAJIRAM & RAVI IAS STUDY CENTRE LLP VAJIRAM & RAVI (INSTITUTE FOR IAS EXAMINATION) (A unit of Vajiram & Ravi IAS Study Centre LLP) 9-B, Bada Bazar Marg, Old Rajinder Nagar, New Delhi 110060 Phone No: (011) 41007400, (011) 41007500 Visitusat: www.vajiramandravi.com Printed at: SURYA GROUP Ph.:7503040594 Email: [email protected] INDEX Message From The Desk Of Director 1 1. Feature Article 2-11 a. Corporatisation of Ordnance Factory Board b. Labour Laws 2. Mains Q&A 12-29 3. Prelims Q&A 30-74 4. Bridging Gaps 75-137 1. Narco And Polygraph Tests 2. Target Rating Point (TRP) 3. SVAMITVA Scheme 4. Tech For Tribals 5. Star Campaigner 6. Election Symbols 7. Committee on Candidate Election Expenditure 8. New Land Laws For Jammu And Kashmir 9. General Consent To CBI 10. DAY-NRLM in J&K 11. Cost Of A Plate Of Food Report 12. Leaves for Single Male Parent VAJIRAM AND RAVI The Recitals (October 2020) 13. Mental Health Day 14. National Authority for Recycling of Ships 15. Atal Tunnel 16. Multi-modal Logistic Park 17. Global Wealth Report 2020 18. Compensation Cess 19. Regulatory Sandbox at IFSC 20. Expansion Of Jute Packaging 21. CPI-IW 22. Heeng Cultivation 23. India-Japan Cooperation in 5G tech, AI and Critical Information Infrastructure 24. India-Norway Joint Commission Meeting 25. India-Mexico High level Group on Trade, Investment and Cooperation 26. India -Taiwan Trade Deal 27. India-UK Defence Logistics Pact 28. India-France to Launch Constellation of Maritime Surveillance Satellites 29. India Launches Flash Flood Guidance Services for South Asia 30. Quad Ministerial Meeting 31. India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue 32. India–Australia Circular Economy Hackathon (I-ACE) 33. G20 Banknote Depicting J&K As Separate Entity 34. Conflict Between Armenia and Azerbaijan 35. China-Bangladesh Friendship 36. Chinese Assistance to Sri Lanka 37. Thailand Anti-Government Protests 38. Sri Lanka Passed 20th Amendment 39. Israel-Sudan Peace Deal 40. France Encourages EU Allies to Take Measures Against Turkey 41. China Passes Export Law 42. India Assumes Chairmanship Of Governing Body Of ILO 43. ‘Beaten or Broken? Informality and COVID-19’ Report 44. SLINEX-20 45. Sprut Light Tanks for Use in High Altitude Areas 46. Pakistan on ‘Enhanced Follow-up List’ 47. Assam-Mizoram Border Dispute 48. Bodoland Statehood Movement 49. 2020 Nobel: Physics 50. 2020 Nobel: Chemistry 51. 2020 Nobel: Physiology or Medicine 52. THSTI Recognized as a Global Bioassay Laboratory by CEPI 53. Hydrogen Fuel Cell (HFC) 54. Expansion of STEM Career Opportunities 55. MoUs on Supercomputing Infrastructure VAJIRAM AND RAVI The Recitals (October 2020) 56. High Flow Rate Fluoride & Iron Removal Technology 57. Successful Flight Test of SMART 58. BrahMos Successfully Flight Tested 59. New Shephard Rocket System 60. COVIRAP 61. IndiGen Programme 62. Plasma Therapy Debate 63. Soil-Transmitted Helminthiases (STH) 64. CuRED 65. Regional Raw Drug Repository 66. SERB – POWER (Promoting Opportunities for Women in Exploratory Research) 67. India’s First Seaplane Service 68. Bioremediation Mechanism Technology 69. Ghar Tak Fibre Scheme 70. Mobile Application For Geo Tagging 71. Grand ICT Challenge 72. Production Linked Incentive Schemes 73. Draft Coastal Shipping Bill 2020 74. Aditi Urja Sanch 75. Integrated Theatre Command 76. INS Kavaratti 77. Raising Day of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) 78. Stand-Off Anti Tank Missile 79. Mass of Hydrogen In Distant Galaxies Measured 80. Vijayalakshmi Ramanan 81. Zombie Fires In Arctic Region 82. Xoo Infection 83. Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) 84. Earthshot Prize 85. ENFUSER (ENvironmental information FUsion SERvice) 86. Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation System (KLIS) 87. New Ramsar Sites 88. Translocation Of Corals In Mumbai 89. Seagrasses 90. World Habitat Day 2020 91. Nitrous Oxide Emissions 92. Yuddh Pradushan Ke Virudh 93. Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region (NCR) 94. International Barcode of Life (iBOL) 95. Tree Transplantation Policy 96. Decarbonization and Energy Transition Agenda 97. Ecosystem Services 98. Massive Habitat Decline For Himalayan Brown Bear 99. International Snow Leopard Day VAJIRAM AND RAVI The Recitals (October 2020) 100. New Plant Species Discovered In Western Ghats 101. Skinks 102. Dairy Production In Indus Valley Civilisation 103. Kochi-Muziris Biennale 104. Life In A Miniature Project 105. Nobel Prize in Literature 106. International Day of Older Persons 107. Gyan Circle Ventures VAJIRAM AND RAVI The Recitals (October 2020) Dear Students The preparation of current affairs magazine is an evolutionary process as its nature and content keeps changing according to the demands of Civil Service Exam. As you are aware about the importance of current affairs for the prelims as well as mains exam, our aim is to follow an integrated approach covering all stages of examination from prelims to interview. Keeping these things in mind, we, at Vajiram and Ravi Institute, are always in the process of evolving our self so as to help aspirants counter the challenges put forward by UPSC. In fulfillment of our objective and commitment towards the students, we have introduced some changes in our current affairs magazine. The CA Magazines, now with the name of “The Recitals”, will have four sections. These are: 1. Feature Article: As you are aware of the fact that civil service mains exam has become quite exhaustive and analytical, especially since 2013 after the change in syllabus, we have decided to focus on 2-3 topics every month that will provide an insight into the issue so as to help students understand the core of the issue. This will help in Essay writing as well as Mains Exam. 2. Mains Q&A: New students quite often struggle to find out that in what way the given topic is useful for them and in what form questions can be framed from the article. To help those students, we at Vajiram and Ravi have designed an innovative way to teach current affairs. Now, we will cover the current issues through questions and answers so as to make it more targeted towards exam. This will not just provide the information and analysis on current issues but will also help in learning the art of answer writing. Further the related information on the topics on which questions have been framed but that is outside the purview of answer will be given in the Box as ‘Extra Mile’. 3. Prelims Q&A: This section will contain prelims based MCQs that will test your diligence while reading the current issues. These MCQs will be of UPSC standard and will contain detailed explanation. Students are advised to attempt these MCQs honestly and read the Explanation carefully. The idea is to also provide students with a question bank of around 600 current affairs MCQs (50 Qs × 12 months = 600 Qs) just before their prelims examination, which will act as revision on issues spanning over the entire year. 4. Bridging Gaps: This section will contain miscellaneous topics which has not been covered through Q&A. That is why it is called Bridging Gaps, meaning the left-over topics. So, the new magazine is a complete overhaul of what we have been doing for so long. We hope that the new beginning will be to the liking of students. Thanks Best Wishes VAJIRAM AND RAVI The Recitals (October 2020) Page 1 Corporatisation of Ordnance Factory Board The corporatisation of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) was announced by the Finance Minister as part of Defence Reforms package. The corporatization will result in the conversion of the OFB into (single or multiple units) fully (100%) government-owned entities under the Companies Act, 2013 like other public sector undertakings. However, government’s move to corporatise the OFB has been strongly opposed by the federations of the workers from 41 ordnance factories and allied units across the country. Steps Taken For Corporatisation • In September 2020, the government constituted an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) for Corporatization under the chairmanship of the Defence Minister. • The aim of this EGoM is to oversee and guide the entire process, including transition support and redeployment plan of employees while safeguarding their wages and retirement benefits. • Terms of Reference of the EGoM also include a decision on the conversion of OFB into a single Defence Public Sector Undertaking (DPSU) or as multiple DPSUs. About OFB • Dating back to 1775, the OFB is a very old organisation comprising of 41 ordnance factories, 13 ordnance research and development (R&D) centres, and nine ordnance institutes of learning spread all over the country at 24 different locations. • Presently functioning under the Department of Defence Production of the Ministry of Defence, it is the key supplier of a wide variety of products to the armed forces, which include armaments, ammunition, equipment, clothing, and also troop comfort items. • OFB is headquartered at Kolkata. Why Government Wants To Corporatise OFB? A. Various Committee Reports • Various committees and their reports have observed that the OFB have regularly performed below its potential. It has also been found to be draining the Defence Budget with overpricing of material produced. • The first-time corporatisation was suggested was in 2000 by Nair Committee, this was followed by Kelkar Committee recommendation in 2005 and Raman Puri Committee in 2015.