9 PM Current Affairs Brief – August 12, 2019

FM Sitharaman meets realtors, homebuyers; govt to tackle liquidity issues, stalled projects

1. Finance minister has interacted with the industry representatives to understand measures required to remove friction points in the economy.
2. The measures are aimed at ensuring easy availability of funds to productive sectors and stimulate overall growth.
3. The real estate sector has also flagged their concerns regarding the ongoing liquidity crunch,demand slowdown and problem of stalled projects.
4. The industry sector have demanded that banks and NBFCs should be encouraged to fund projects.They have also asked the Government to create Rs 10,000 crore stress fund to complete such projects and provide relief to these homebuyers.
5. Further,the industry have also suggested measures such as (a)reduction of interest rates on home loans to 7% and (b)withdrawal of the recent National Housing Board(NHB) circular prohibiting subvention scheme where the interest is paid by the developer for certain fixed time.

J&K on top of Jaishankar’s China agenda

1. India’s External Affairs Minister has arrived in China ahead of the second informal summit between Indian Prime Minister and Chinese President in India in October,2019.
2. Ahead of the visit,China had objected to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill 2019.It said that the creation of the Union Territory of Ladakh has undermined its sovereignty.
3. On the revocation of Article 370,China has proposed that India and Pakistan should resolve disputes through dialogue and consultation and safeguard regional peace and stability.
4. China has also stressed that the Kashmir issue should be properly and peacefully resolved based on the UN charter relevant to the UN Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreement.
5. The Indian foreign minister will also co-chair the second meeting of the India-China High Level Mechanism(HLM) on cultural and people to people exchanges.
6. The HLM was established during the first informal summit in Wuhan in April 2018.
7. HLM aims to reflect the desire on both sides to build greater synergies in the people-to-people ties between the two countries through enhanced exchanges in areas such as tourism, art, films, media, culture and sports.

India cancels Samjhauta Express service after Pakistan suspends operations

1. India has suspended the Samjhauta Express train service.This decision was taken after Pakistan had also suspended the Samjhauta train service.
2. Pakistan has also decided to downgrade it diplomatic ties with India and has suspended bilateral trade. 
3. These developments comes in the backdrop of the government’s decision to revoke the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir.
4. The Parliament has also passed a Bill to bifurcate the state into two Union Territories with Jammu and Kashmir a legislature and Ladakh without a legislature.
5. The Samjhauta Express commonly called the Friendship Express is a bi-weekly train that runs on Monday and Thursday between Delhi and Attari in India and Lahore in Pakistan.The train was started in 1976 following the Shimla Agreement.

Wage code looks to check graft in inspection system

1. Parliament has passed the Code on Wages Bill, 2019.The Bill has subsumed existing laws related to workers remuneration.
2. The bill will replace the (a)Payment of Wages Act,1936, (b)Minimum Wages Act,1948 (c)Payment of Bonus Act,1965 and the (d)Equal Remuneration Act,1976.
3. The bill makes it difficult for companies to bribe labour inspectors of their region for favourable decisions or ignoring violations.
4. Under the bill,labour inspectors will be computer-chosen and randomly assigned to factories in an attempt to check graft.Currently,labour inspectors are tied to specific regions,a practice that bred corruption.
5. The bill has also introduced changes in the inspection regime to be conducted by inspectors-cum-facilitators.
6. It includes (a)web-based randomized computerized inspection scheme (b)jurisdiction-free inspections (c)calling of information electronically for inspection (e)composition of fines among others.
7. Under the bill,the labour inspector can search, seize or take copies of such a register, record of wages or notices or portions thereof in respect of an offence under the Wage Code.

DRDO focus on stealth weapons, drones

1. Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is working on Directed energy weapons(DEWs) as part of ongoing efforts to modernize defence technology.
2. Direct energy weapons(DEW) is a ranged weapon that damages its target with highly focused energy, including laser, microwaves and particle beams. 
3. DEW can quietly disable enemy drones or missiles temporarily or permanently without leaving physical debris.
4. In contrast,the ASAT or anti-satellite missile that the DRDO tested had killed an orbiting Indian target satellite and left hundreds of small pieces as debris for a few months.
5. The potential applications of this technology include weapons that target personnel, missiles, vehicles and optical device.Only the US, China, Russia, UK and India are known to be developing directed-energy weapons.
6. After decades of R&D,directed-energy weapons are still at experimental stage and it remains to be seen if or when they will be deployed as practical,high-performance military weapons.

‘Uber for tractors’: Government to launch app to aid farmers

1. The agriculture ministry has developed a farm equipment rental app for Indian farmers called Uber for tractors.
2. The app will allow the farmers to hire tractors, rotavator and other farm related machinery on rent for with flexible tenure.
3. The farmers who wish to hire equipment can register using their names, addresses and mobile numbers and then punch in their requirements.
4. The app will connect farmers to 38,000 custom hiring centres(CHCs) across the country which rent out 2.5 lakh pieces of farm equipment every year.
5. The app will then show farmers the CHCs which have the equipment available near his location.The farmer can then call the CHC or just use the app to book the equipment at a specific time and location and it will turn up just like an Uber.
6. The app will also create an invaluable database for policy-makers who can track the use and cost of equipment. 
7. The system would also help to track the usage of new technology that the government wants to promote such as the Happy Seeder that aims to prevent stubble burning that causes air pollution or solar dryers that can help farmers process and preserve their produce.

In reducing fertility, a little education may be worse than none, shows data

1. According to conventional wisdom,the higher the educational level of a woman,the lower the total number of children she will have.
2. However,the official data on the total fertility rate(TFR) or the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime shows the connection may be more complex. 
3. The data shows that the culture of a state might be a greater determinant of fertility with illiterate rural women in Tamil Nadu having a lower fertility rate than urban graduates in Uttar Pradesh.
4. Further,the data also provides a consistent pattern across states of illiterate women and those with no formal education having lower fertility rates than those with below primary level education.
5. For instance,Bihar which is a high fertility state,the TFR of women who have not completed primary schooling is 4.4 compared to 3.7 for illiterate women.
6. Similarly,in Odisha with an overall low fertility rate of just 1.9,the TFR of illiterate women was 2 compared to a TFR of 3.6-3.5 among those with primary level schooling or below.
7. At the all-India level,the TFR for women with below primary education was 3.1 compared to 2.9 for illiterate women and 2.4 for those without formal education.

Sex ratio at birth: Kerala on top, Northeast states show decline

1. According to the fourth National Family Health Surveys(NFHS),sex ratio at birth(SRB) has improved from 914 in 2005-06 to 919 in 2015-16.SRB is defined as the number of female births per 1,000 male births.
2. The survey has said that the highest improvement in SRB was in Punjab at 126 points but its SRB remained at 860 which was one of the lowest SRB in the states.
3. Further,after Punjab,the highest improvement in SRB was in Kerala at 1,047 from 925 in 2005-06.Its SRB was the highest among all states.
4. Despite the North-Eastern societies traditionally being matriarchal,the sharpest decline was in Sikkim where the SRB dropped 175 points to reach 809,the lowest among all states in 2015-16.