NEO IAS Daily Newsletter

TPS 19 Daily Current Affairs

16th March, 2019 |
Prelims Countdown: 81 Days
Join our ECONOMY Prelims Telegram Channel: https://t.me/NEOIASECONOMYPRELIMS
Join our Prelims Telegram Channel for Regular Updates: https://t.me/NEOIASPRELIMS
Subscribe our YouTube channel for daily current affairs videos: www.youtube.com/neoias

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Government Interventions
VVPATs
Smart India Hackathon 2019
Festival of Innovation and Entrepreneurship 2019
Economy
Wholesale Price Index
Federation of Indian Export Organisations
Current Affair Capsules
AFINDEX-19
Ivermectin
Map aided programme For any furthequeries, kindly contact us
Christchurch on: 9446331522, 9188152205
Previous Year Questions Revision Series (Pqrs)- Note: We attempt to cover new issues
(2012) every day and drop the issues which are
already covered. Therefore aspirants
are advised to regularly follow NEO
GOVERNMENT INTERVENTIONS IAS daily current affairs material and
video for a guaranteed success in
VVPATS Prelims 2019. NEO IAS daily current
Why in news? affairs stands out from other daily
SC issues notice to Election Commission on plea to verify at least 50% VVPATs. current affairs by its exclusive UPSC
About the news prelims focus on aspects that lie in and
 The Supreme Court directed the Election Commission to respond to a beyond current affairs.
petition filed by opposition parties demanding the random verification
of at least 50% electronic voting machines (EVMs) using Voter Verified
Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in every Assembly segment or constituency.
 Current Election Commission guideline restricts the VVPAT process to be
conducted “only for VVPAT paper slips of one randomly selected polling
station, of an Assembly constituency in case of election to a State
Legislative Assembly, and each Assembly segment in case of election to
the House of the People.”

NEO IAS  0484-4030104, 9446331522

www.neoias.com|https://www.youtube.com/neoias Page 1 of 5
About EVM
 Electronic Voting Machine (also known as EVM) is voting using
electronic means.
 An EVM is designed with two units: the control unit and the balloting unit.
 These units are joined together by a cable.
 The control unit of the EVM is kept with the presiding officer or the polling
officer.
 The balloting unit is kept within the voting compartment for electors to
cast their votes.
 This is done to ensure that the polling officer verifies your identity.
 With the EVM, instead of issuing a ballot paper, the polling officer will
press the Ballot Button which enables the voter to cast their vote.
 A list of candidate’s names and/or symbols will be available on the
machine with a blue button next to it.
 The voter can press the button next to the candidate’s name they wish
to vote for.
About VVPATs
 The Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) is an independent
verification printer machine that is attached to electronic voting
machines.
 It allows voters to verify if their vote has gone to the intended candidate.
How do VVPAT machines work?
 When the voter presses the button against the name of the candidate
of her/his choice on the EVM unit, the VVPAT unit generates a paper slip,
also called ‘ballot slip’.
 This paper slip contains the name, serial number, and symbol of the
chosen candidate.
 It allows the voter to verify his/her choice. After being visible to the voter
from a glass case in the VVPAT for seven seconds, the ballot slip will be
cut and dropped into the drop box in the VVPAT machine and a beep
will be heard.
 Thus, the ballot slip neither goes into the hands of the voter nor others
get to see it.
 The Ballot Slip can only be accessed by the polling officers in the rarest
of the rare cases.

SMART INDIA HACKATHON 2019

Why in news?
The University of Hyderabad (UoH) team from the School of Computer
Sciences named Galileo Figaro are winners in the Software-Web App
Development at Smart India Hackathon 2019 (SIH-2019).

About Smart India Hackathon, 2019

 It harnesses creativity and expertise of students, builds funnel for ‘Startup
India’ campaign, crowd sources solutions for improving governance
and quality of life, and provides opportunity to citizens including
students to provide innovative solutions to India’s problems.
 It was launched on Aug 29, 2018 in New Delhi.

NEO IAS  0484-4030104, 9446331522

www.neoias.com|https://www.youtube.com/neoias Page 2 of 5
 With 96 industries and 18 Central Government Ministries and
Departments, SIH2019 is much bigger than its previous 2 editions.
 It includes 2 sub-editions
1. Software edition, which is a 36-hr software product development
competition
2. Hardware edition, involving building of hardware solutions
More about SIH
 It is a unique initiative to identify new and disruptive digital technology
innovations for solving the challenges faced by our country.
 It is organized by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) under
the aegis of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
 Inter Institutional Inclusive Innovation Center (i4C) and Persistent Systems
is also part of organizing Smart India Hackathon.
 Through this initiative, govt. departments will directly engage with
thousands of technical students and challenge them to build digital
solutions to improve their efficiency, plug revenue leakages and
corruption.
 Some of these problems are solution to predict drought in a protected
area (from the ministry of environment, forests and climate change).
The ministry of health and family welfare is looking for a solution in the
telemedicine system that can work on low bandwidth.
FESTIVAL OF INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP 2019
Why in news?
President of India inaugurated the Festival of Innovation and
Entrepreneurship.
About the news
 FINE 2019 festival is a celebration of creativity, innovation and
entrepreneurship.
 Till 2018, it had been hosted at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
 This year it was decided to organise it outside Rashtrapati Bhavan.
 National Innovation Foundation is organising this Festival that provides
innovators from across the country an opportunity to share their
experiences and exchange ideas.
About National Innovation Foundation
 National Innovation Foundation-India (NIF) is India's national initiative to
strengthen the grassroots technological innovations and outstanding
traditional knowledge.
 It was established in the year 2000, with the assistance of Department
of Science and Technology, Government of India.
 Ever since, it has made a big contribution to strengthen the grassroots
technological innovations and outstanding traditional knowledge in the
country.
 It has recognised over 800 grassroots innovators through awards.
ECONOMY
WHOLESALE PRICE INDEX
Why in news?
Wholesale Price Index Based Inflation Rises to 2.93 Per cent in February.
About the news
 This is due to hardening of prices of primary articles, fuel and power.

NEO IAS  0484-4030104, 9446331522

www.neoias.com|https://www.youtube.com/neoias Page 3 of 5
About the Index
 The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) is an index that measures and tracks
the changes in the price of goods in the stages before the retail level.
 WPI shows the average price change of goods included in the index
and is often expressed as a ratio or percentage, and the change is one
indicator of a country's level of inflation.
 Office of Economic Advisor (OEA), Department of Industrial Policy and
Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry calculates the WPI.
 The base year for WPI is 2011-12.
 The index basket of the present 2011-12 series has a total of 697 items
including 117 items for Primary Articles, 16 items for Fuel & Power and
564 items for Manufactured Products.
Uses of WPI
 To provide estimates of inflation at the wholesale transaction level for
the economy as a whole.
 WPI is used as deflator for many sectors of the economy including for
estimating GDP by Central Statistical Organisation (CSO).
 WPI is also used for indexation by users in business contracts.
 Global investors also track WPI as one of the key macro indicators for
their investment decisions.
FEDERATION OF INDIAN EXPORT ORGANISATIONS
Why in news?
India's trade deficit narrows as exports rise 2.44% in February.
About the news
 India's merchandise exports rose to $26.67 billion in February from $26.03
per cent in the year-ago month mainly on account of higher shipments
in sectors such as pharmaceutical, engineering and electronics.
 FIEO commented that exporters have managed to do well despite
increasing protectionism, tough global conditions and constraints on
the domestic front.
About FIEO
 The Federation of Indian Export Organisations represents the Indian
entrepreneur’s spirit of enterprise in the global market.
 Known popularly as "FIEO", this apex body of Indian export promotion
organizations was set up jointly by the Ministry of Commerce,
Government of India and private trade and industry in the year 1965.
 FIEO is a partner of the Government of India in promoting India's exports.
CURRENT AFFAIR CAPSULES
AFINDEX-19
 Africa-India Joint Field Training Exercise (AFINDEX-19) between Indian
Army and 16 African nations will be conducted at Pune.
 The aim of the exercise is to train the participating contingents in
Humanitarian Mine Assistance (HMA) and Peace Keeping Operations
(PKO) under the United Nations Charter.
IVERMECTIN
 A mosquito-killing drug, Ivermectin reduced malaria cases by a fifth
among children and could be an important new tool in the global fight
against the disease.
 The drug, ivermectin, is already widely used to treat parasitic infections.

NEO IAS  0484-4030104, 9446331522

www.neoias.com|https://www.youtube.com/neoias Page 4 of 5
MAP AIDED PROGRAMME
CHRISTCHURCH
 Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand
 third-most populous -- Auckland and Wellington.
 the South Island's east coast
 north of Banks Peninsula
 most destructive earth quake --February 2011-- 185 people

PREVIOUS YEAR QUESTIONS REVISION SERIES (PQRS)-

(2012)
1. Which of the following measures would result in an increase in the
money supply in the economy?
1. Purchase of government securities from the public by the Central Bank
2. Deposit of currency in commercial banks by the public
3. Borrowing by the government from the Central Bank
4. Sale of government securities to the public by the Central Bank
Select the correct answer
(a) 1 only (b) 2 and 4 only
(c) 1 and 3 (d) 2, 3 and 4

NEO IAS  0484-4030104, 9446331522

www.neoias.com|https://www.youtube.com/neoias Page 5 of 5