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2f62c October 2019 PDF
2f62c October 2019 PDF
www.visionias.in
CURRENT AFFAIRS
OCTOBER 2019
• The data collected by Doing Business address three questions about government.
o When do governments change regulation with a view to develop their private sector?
o What are the characteristics of reformist governments?
o What are the effects of regulatory change on different aspects of economic or investment activity?
• India has made a substantial leap upward, raising its ease of doing business ranking from 130 in 2016 to 63
in Doing Business 2020.
India’s strategy to incorporate DB indicators
India adopted the Doing Business indicators as a core component of reform strategies. The DB 2020 documents
following reforms taken by the Indian government in accordance with the Doing Business indicators (along with
ranks in 2020).
• Starting a Business (Rank-136): India made starting a business easier by abolishing filing fees for the SPICe
(Simplified Proforma for Incorporating a Company Electronically) company incorporation form, electronic
memorandum of association and articles of association.
o India also replaced the value added tax with the GST (Goods and Services Tax) for which the registration
process is faster.
• Dealing with Construction Permits (Rank-27): India streamlined the process, reduced the time and cost of
obtaining construction permits by strengthening professional certification requirements. It also improved
building quality control by introducing decennial liability and insurance.
• Trading across Borders (Rank-68): India made trading across borders easier by enabling post-clearance
audits, integrating trade stakeholders in a single electronic platform, upgrading port infrastructures,
electronic sealing of containers and enhancing the electronic submission of documents with digital
signatures.
• Resolving Insolvency (Rank-52): India made resolving insolvency easier by promoting reorganization
proceedings in practice. India also made resolving insolvency more difficult by not allowing dissenting
creditors to receive as much under reorganization as they would receive in liquidation.
Other recent reforms
• Paying Taxes (Rank-115): India made paying taxes easier by replacing many indirect taxes with a single
indirect tax, the GST, for the entire country. India also made paying taxes less costly by reducing the
corporate income tax rate and the employees’ provident funds scheme rate paid by the employer.
Background
• The earlier guidelines and standards were issued by the Ministry of Power in December 2018 and will be
superseded by the new guidelines.
• Lack of charging infrastructure is one of the main reasons behind poor adoption of electric mobility in India.
7.6. GEOTAIL
Why in news?
Recently Chandrayaan-2 had detected charged particles in Moon’s soil during the orbiter’s passage through the
“geotail”.
More on news?
• CLASS, is an instrument on Chandrayaan-2, designed to detect signatures of elements in the Moon’s soil.
7.7. GEMINI
Why in news? GAGAN
Recently, the Government of India has launched the • It stands for GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation.
Gagan Enabled Mariner’s Instrument for Navigation • Developed by- Airports Authority of India (AAI) and
Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
and Information (GEMINI) device, a satellite-based
• It is a system to improve the accuracy of a global
advisory service for deep-sea fishermen.
navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver by
More on news providing reference signals.
• It is the first in the world, which has been certified
• In an effort to achieve Blue Revolution, to enhance for approach with vertical guidance operating in the
the country’s marine resources management and equatorial ionospheric region.
utilisation, the Meena Kumari Committee had • It consists of three geosynchronous satellites
recommended optimum utilization of the Exclusive (GSAT-8, GSAT-10 and GSAT-15), and covers the
Economic Zone (EEZ)— sea between 22 and 370 km entire Indian Ocean round the clock. It covers entire
from the coast. area from Australia to Africa.
• The committee’s recommendations on allowing
large trawlers in this zone invited protests from several Related Information
fishermen bodies, as it would negatively impact large • The government of India has also launched
number of small fishermen. PFZ forecasts, newly developed by INCOIS,
o However, there have been two issues in deep-sea which will provide advisories on Potential
fishing for fishermen- location of potential fishing Fishing Zones to fishermen 3 days in
zones and disaster forecasts. advance.
• So far, communication with fishermen has been limited to • Currently, satellite based potential fishing
mobile networks and very high frequency (VHF) radio zone advisories are made available by Indian
which does not range over 20 kilometres, while fish National Centre for Ocean Information
Services (INCOIS) on daily basis in local
shoals in the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and the Indian
language to the fishing community.
Ocean are as far away as 150 kilometres from the coast.
• The PFZ advisories help in increased fish
o At such distances, it becomes impossible to provide catch (2-5 times) and reducing searching time
timely warnings of sea storms and cyclones to (about 30-70%), which leads to savings
fishermen. This lacuna was severely felt during the towards cost of fuel.
7.9. POLIO
Why in news?
Recently, Global Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication officially declared that wild
poliovirus type 3 has been eradicated.
About TB
• TB is communicable infectious disease caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium Tuberculosis.
• TB is one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide and the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent
(ranking above HIV/AIDS).
• It typically affects the lungs (pulmonary TB) but can also affect other organs (extrapulmonary TB).
• Drug Resistant TB:
o Multidrug Resistance TB (MDR): It is TB that does not respond to at least isoniazid and rifampicin (2 of the most
powerful first line drugs).
o Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB): It is resistant to at least four of the core anti-TB drugs. It involves
multidrug-resistance (MDR-TB), in addition to resistance to any of the fluoroquinolones (such as levofloxacin or
moxifloxacin) and to at least one of the three injectable second-line drugs (amikacin, capreomycin or kanamycin).
o Totally drug-resistant tuberculosis (TDR-TB): TB which is resistant to all the first- and second-line TB drugs.
Global Efforts for TB
• SDG Target 3.3 includes ending the TB epidemic by 2030.
• Moscow Declaration to End TB: It is the outcome of first global ministerial conference on ending TB, in 2017.
8.6. URDU
Why in news?
Recently Punjab University had proposed to merge Department of Urdu language with school of foreign
languages, which led to the criticism that Urdu is an Indian language.
About Urdu
• Urdu is one of the official languages (under 8th schedule) under the Constitution of India.
• It is among the 15 Indian Languages written on the Indian Currency notes.
• It is one of the official languages in states like Kashmir, Telangana, UP, Bihar, New Delhi and West Bengal.
• Urdu is closely related to Hindi. They are very similar in phonology and grammar.
• According to experts, the Urdu language originated and evolved in India from 6th to 13th century A.D.
• All the historical references indicate that origin of Urdu had taken place in Punjab state of India.
• Main dialects of Urdu are: Dehlavi, Rekhta etc.
• Despite its Persian script, Urdu is an Indian language because there are several examples of Indian
languages which are written in scripts derived from outside the country (e.g. Punjabi shahmukhi language is
also written from right to left)
• After its origin in Punjab, Urdu got developed and flourished in Delhi along with part of Haryana state and
some states in South where it was developed in the form of ‘Dakhni (Deccani) language.