Current Affairs - 2019-20

Notes:
India has recently signed a loan agreement of $36 million with the World Bank (WB) for Himachal Pradesh Public Financial Management Capacity Building Programme. The purpose of the project is to improve the efficiency of public expenditure management and tax administration in Himachal Pradesh. The programme size is $45 million, of which $36 million will be financed by the Bank, and the remaining amount will be funded out of State Budget. The programme duration is 5 years.

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As of 2021, India is the second-highest producer of sugarcane in the world after Brazil. Among Indian states, the largest producer of sugarcane is Uttar Pradesh.

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Judicial corporal punishment, such as whipping or caning, has disappeared from most European countries. However, it remains lawful in parts of Africa, Asia, the Anglophone Caribbean, and indigenous communities in South America.
Corporal punishment of children is legally banned in most countries in Europe and Central Asia. The latest countries to prohibit it are France (July 2019) and Kosovo (June 2019).
Corporal punishment is explicitly prohibited by several international conventions on human rights, including the European Convention on Human Rights and the United Nations’ “Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners”.

Notes:
Recently, the central government announced a National Mission on advanced ultra supercritical technologies for cleaner coal utilisation at a total cost of US $ 238 million. Under the mission, the government plans to set-up two Centres of Excellence on Clean Coal Technologies at US $5 million each. What is Advanced Ultra-Supercritical (AUSC) Technology? The pulverised coal power plants are divided into four categories based on operating temperature, pressure and efficiency of steam cycle. First is subcritical pulverised coal power plant that operates with critical temperature and critical pressure of water below 540 degree and 170-220 bars and has operating efficiency below 38%. Second is supercritical pulverised coal plant that operates with critical temperature and critical pressure above 615 degree and 250 bars and reaches efficiency upto 42%. Third is ultra-supercritical pulverised coal plant that operates with critical temperature and critical pressure of water above 620 degree and 330 bars and reaches efficiency in the range of 42% to 46 %. Fourth is advanced ultra-supercritical pulverised coal technology that operates with critical temperature and critical pressure of water in range of 700-760 degrees and 350 bars and targets operating efficiency greater than 50%.

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The Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has launched of Pradhan Mantri Yuva Yojana (PMYY) to scale up an ecosystem of entrepreneurship for youngsters. PMYY is MSDE’s flagship scheme on entrepreneurship education and training. The scheme spans over five years (2016-17 to 2020-21) with a project cost of 499.94 crore rupees. It will provide entrepreneurship education and training to over 7 lakh students in 5 years through 3,050 institutes. It will provide easy access to information and mentor network, incubator, credit and accelerator and advocacy to create a pathway for the youth. The institutes under the PMYY include 2,200 institutes of higher learning (colleges, universities, and premier institutes), 500 ITIs, 300 schools and 50 entrepreneurship development centres through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

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The Economic Survey 2017-18 notes that India could face a “Late Converger Stall” when it comes to economic growth. The survey identified four major factors impeding India’s growth to developed economy viz. climate change-induced agricultural stress; hyper-globalization which reduces India’s exporting opportunities; difficulties of transferring resources from low productivity to higher productivity sectors; & upgrading human capital as per the demands of a technology-intensive workplace.

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Recently, India and Russia have signed an agreement to set up integrated irradiation centres in India to reduce agricultural losses. The irradiation centres are recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In the first phase, seven centres are proposed to be set up in Maharashtra.

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Recently, world’s largest solar power plant has been inaugurated at Kamuthi, Tamil Nadu. With a capacity to produce 648 MW of electricity, the plant comprises 2.5 million individual solar modules.

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‘Snowflake Coral’ is an invasive species recently documented of the west coast of Thiruvananthapuram and Kanyakumari.It is said to pose a serious threat to the marine ecology of the region. It is a serious threat as an invasive species because of its capacity to dominate space and crowd out other marine organisms.

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Andrius Gudzius is a Lithuanian discus thrower who won the Gold Medal at 2017 World Championships and is also the current reigning champion. He has a potential best of 69.59m