{"id":49824,"date":"2019-07-15T21:00:54","date_gmt":"2019-07-15T15:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?p=49824"},"modified":"2019-07-15T17:11:44","modified_gmt":"2019-07-15T11:41:44","slug":"9-pm-current-affairs-brief-july-15-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/9-pm-current-affairs-brief-july-15-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"9 PM Current Affairs Brief \u2013 July 15, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

India\nis home to 1,256 species of orchid, says first comprehensive survey<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. The Botanical Survey of\n India has published Orchids of\n India: A Pictorial Guide- <\/em>the first comprehensive census of orchids of\n India.<\/li>
  2. According to the\n publication, the total number of orchid species endemic to India is 388.<\/li>
  3. 757 (60%) of all orchids\n found in India are epiphytic, 447 are terrestrial and 43 are\n mycoheterotrophic.<\/li>
  4. The Himalayas, North-East\n parts of India and Western Ghats are the hot-spots of orchids.<\/li>
  5. The highest number of\n orchid species is recorded from Arunachal Pradesh followed by Sikkim and\n West Bengal. The Western Ghats have high endemism of orchids. <\/li>
  6. Among the bio geographic\n zones of India, the Himalayan zone is the richest in terms of orchid\n species followed by Northeast, Western Ghats, Deccan plateau and Andaman\n & Nicobar Islands<\/li>
  7. Orchids have unique shape\n and ornamentation and have complex floral structure that facilitates\n biotic cross-pollination<\/li>
  8. Orchids are broadly\n categorised into three life forms: a) epiphytic (plants growing on another\n plants including those growing on rock boulders and often termed\n lithophyte), b) terrestrial (plants growing on land and climbers) and c)\n mycoheterotrophic (plants which derive nutrients from mycorrhizal fungi\n that are attached to the roots of a vascular plant).<\/li>
  9. The entire orchid family\n is listed under appendix II of CITES (Convention on International Trade in\n Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and hence any trade of wild\n orchid is banned globally.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Law\nCommission to be formed soon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. The Ministry of Law and\n Justice has initiated the process of setting up of the 22nd<\/sup> Law\n Commission. <\/li>
    2. The three-year term of the\n 21st<\/sup> Law Commission under Justice B.S. Chauhan had ended on\n August 31, 2018.<\/li>
    3. Law Commission of India is\n non-statutory body. It is established through an order of the Government\n of India. The government of India constitutes the Law Commission for a\n fixed tenure (every three years). <\/li>
    4. It is usually headed by a\n former Supreme Court judge or a former Chief Justice of a High Court.<\/li>
    5. The main function of the\n Law commission is to reform laws. The Commission acts as an advisory body\n to the Ministry of Law and Justice. <\/li>
    6. The First Law commission\n pre-independence was set up in 1834 under the Charter Act, 1833. The\n chairman of the commission was Lord Macaulay.<\/li>
    7. The first Law Commission\n of India post-independence was established in 1995. The then\n Attorney-General of India, Mr M.C.Setalvad was the Chairman of the\n Commission. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      The\nmilestones of Chandrayaan-2, India\u2019s second lunar probe<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      1. Chandrayaan 2, India\u2019s second lunar mission, was\nscheduled to be launched on 15 July from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at\nSriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. However, the launch got delayed due to technical\nissues.<\/li>
      2. Chandrayaan 2 is ISRO\u2019s first attempt to make a\nsoft landing on the Moon. If successful, India will join the US, the former\nSoviet Union, and China\u2014the only three other nations to have soft landed on\nmoon.<\/li>
      3. Chandrayaan-2 will comprise of an Orbiter,\nLander named \u2018Vikram\u2019 and Rover named \u2018Pragyan\u2019<\/li>
      4. The orbiter will circle the moon and provide\ninformation about its surface, while the lander will make a soft landing on the\nsurface and send out the rover. The rover will be used mostly for in situ\nexperiments.<\/li>
      5. The entire lifecycle of the Lander and Rover\nwill be one lunar day, which is equivalent to 14 earth days while the Orbiter\nwill continue for one year.<\/li>
      6. The soft landing on lunar South Pole was planned\nfor September 6th<\/sup>. The date had been chosen because the landing site\nwill remain well illuminated by sunlight over the next one month while the\nLander and Rover would work and collect data. Also, there is no lunar eclipse\nduring this period.<\/li>
      7. Chandrayaan-2 will carry out extensive\nthree-dimensional mapping of the topography of the lunar South Pole region. It will\nalso determine its elemental composition and seismic activity. If successful, India\nwill be the first country to soft land on lunar South Pole. So far, all the landing\non the moon have taken place in the equatorial region<\/li>
      8. The mission would also try to assess the\nabundance and distribution of water on the lunar surface.<\/li>
      9. Chandrayaan-2 will launch aboard a\nGeosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III, (GSLV -MK III) rocket- the\nmost powerful rocket ISRO has built. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        Speed\nrestrictions and sound alerts mooted for protection of dolphins<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        1. The Ministry of Shipping has\n planned to safeguard the population of the Ganges River Dolphin in Vikramshila\n Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary (VGDS) by restricting the speeds of vessels and\n blowing sirens and horns.<\/li>
        2. The other measures suggested\n are a) fitting vessels with propeller guards and dolphin deflectors to\n minimise dolphin accidents and b) using non-toxic paints for painting\n vessels.<\/li>
        3. The measures are an\n attempt to minimise the impact of National Waterway-1 connecting Haldia to\n Varanasi which passes through the Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary.<\/li>
        4. Vikramshila Gangetic\n Dolphin Sanctuary is located in Bhagalpur District of Bihar. It is the\n only dolphin sanctuary in India.<\/li>
        5. The Gangetic river dolphin\n inhabits the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems\n of Nepal, India, and Bangladesh.<\/li>
        6. It is among the four\n “obligate” freshwater dolphins. The other obligate freshwater\n dolphins are a) Baiji (likely extinct) found in Yangtze river in China, b)\n the Bhulan in Indus river of Pakistan and c) the Boto in Amazon river in\n Latin America.<\/li>
        7. In India, Dolphins are\n protected species as per the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The\n government has also declared Gangetic Dolphin as the national aquatic\n animal. <\/li>
        8. Gangetic dolphin is listed\n as Endangered in the IUCN Red List.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

          Draft\nModel Tenancy Act: what govt proposes for house owners, tenants<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          1. The Ministry of Housing and\n Urban Affairs (MHUA) has released draft of \u2018The Model Tenancy Act, 2019\u2019\n in public domain.<\/li>
          2. Since land and urban\n development are state subjects, the central Model Act is not binding on\n the states unless they draft their legislation based on it.<\/li>
          3. The Model Tenancy Act aims\n to regulate rental housing by a market-oriented approach. It seeks to promote\n the creation of a rental housing stock for various income segments\n including migrants, formal and informal sector workers, students, and\n working professionals.<\/li>
          4. The Model Act states that\n all state rent control Acts should be repealed as the existing rent\n control laws are archaic.<\/li>
          5. The draft law proposes to\n set up Rent authority in every state for the registration of all tenancy\n agreements. It has also proposed to set up a separate Rent court and Rent\n Tribunal for resolving tenancy-related disputes.<\/li>
          6. The law states that both\n landlord and tenant will have to submit a copy of rent agreement to the\n district Rent Authority.<\/li>
          7. The draft law has also\n proposed hefty penalty for tenants who fail to vacate the rented property\n after their tenancy has been terminated by order, notice or as per\n agreement.<\/li>
          8. The law also states that\n the landowner has to give a notice in writing three months before revising\n rent.<\/li>
          9. It also states that the\n security deposit to be paid by the tenant should not exceed two months\u2019\n rent for residential property, and should be a minimum of one month\u2019s rent\n for non-residential property.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

            Poverty\nindex: how Jharkhand reduced its poor the fastest<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            1. Recently, the global\n Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) report for 2019 has been released.<\/li>
            2. According to the report, across\n India, the number of people living in multidimensional poverty has decreased\n from 690.55 million in 2005-06 to 369.55 million in 2015-16. <\/li>
            3. Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar\n Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh together accounted for 196 million MPI poor\n people<\/li>
            4. Jharkhand reduced the\n incidence of multidimensional poverty from 74.9% to 46.5% between 2005-06\n and 2015-16- the fastest in India.<\/li>
            5. However, the MPI report\n has noted that India\u2019s progress in health outcomes is poor. India has the\n second highest stunting rate among the middle-income countries in Asia,\n the first being Pakistan.<\/li>
            6. Further, according to the\n report, the under-five mortality rate in India still stands at 43 per\n 1,000 live births.<\/li>
            7. Further, malaria and\n tuberculosis (TB) show India in poor light, with India scoring the worst\n among all Asian nations in the middle-income group. As many as 18.8\n persons per 1,000 people live in areas vulnerable to malaria in India.\n Further, In India, TB affects 211 people per 10,000 people exposed to the\n disease.<\/li>
            8. The Global MPI Report is\n prepared by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford\n Poverty and Human Development Initiative.<\/li>
            9. The criterion for someone\n to be declared as deprived as per MPI are as follows:(a)Education (year of\n schooling, child enrolment) (b)Health (child mortality, nutrition) and\n (c)Standard of living (electricity, drinking water, sanitation, flooring, cooking\n fuel, assets)<\/li>
            10. A person is multidimensional\n poor if she\/he is deprived in one third or more (means 33% or more) of the\n weighted indicators (out of the ten indicators).<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

              Sexual\noffence cases not being probed in stipulated time: Report<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              1. According to the\n Investigation Tracking System for Sexual Offences (ITSSO) analysis, investigation\n into nearly half the sexual offences cases are not being completed within\n the stipulated 60-day period in seven states. Crime data from Haryana,\n Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh. Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and\n Uttarakhand were analysed. <\/li>
              2. A major reason for delay\n in verdicts is that the fast-track courts designated to handle rape cases\n are also handling other criminal cases.<\/li>
              3. The Criminal Law\n (Amendment) Act, 2018 prescribes a 60-day time-limit for completion of\n investigation in sexual offences cases.<\/li>
              4. In February 2019, the Home\n Ministry launched Investigation Tracking System for Sexual Offences\n (ITSSO). It is an analytical tool to monitor and track time-bound\n investigation. It is part of the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and\n System (CCTNS).<\/li>
              5. CCTNS is a programme of\n Ministry of Home Affairs. It seeks to a) deliver various web based police\n related services to citizens, b) facilitate a pan-India search of crime\n and criminal records of individuals through a national database, c)\n generate crime and criminal reports at the state and central level to\n inform policy interventions d) computerise police processes and e) establish\n a basic platform for an Inter-operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS).<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                Kartarpur\nGurudwara: Pakistan agrees to allow year-long visa-free access<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                1. Indian\n and Pakistani officials had met at Wagah border to hold discussions on the\n Kartarpur corridor.<\/li>
                2. Pakistan\n has agreed to allow visa-free travel for Indian passport holders and Overseas\n Citizens of India (OCI) through the Kartarpur corridor.<\/li>
                3. Pakistan\n has also agreed to let 5,000 pilgrims visit the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara\n every day for all seven days a week. The pilgrims will be allowed to\n travel as individuals or in groups and also on foot.<\/li>
                4. Pakistan\n has also assured that no anti-India activity would be allowed using the\n corridor. India had conveyed its concerns over the presence of\n pro-Khalistani elements in a 10-member committee Pakistan had set up for\n the Kartarpur project.<\/li>
                5. Pakistan\n has also agreed in principle to build a bridge on its side to make the\n corridor immune to flooding and ensure an all-weather corridor to the\n gurdwara through the year.This had emerged as a key difference during the\n technical-level talks earlier.<\/li>
                6. The Kartarpur\n Corridor <\/strong>is a 4km long proposed corridor comprising border gates, road\n and a bridge to link Dera Baba Nanak gurdwara in Gurdaspur district in\n India to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Pakistan. It is aimed at\n allowing the easy movement of Sikh pilgrims to the Kartarpur gurdwara.<\/li>
                7. The\n gurdwara in Kartarpur stands on the bank of River Ravi, about 120 km\n northeast of Lahore. It is revered as Guru Nanak\u2019s final resting place.<\/li>
                8. India\n wants the corridor to be ready in time for pilgrims to visit Kartarpur to\n celebrate Guru Nanak\u2019s 550th birth anniversary in November, 2019.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                  Govt\nreadies plan for second wave of asset monetisation<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                  1. Government\n will soon recommend a second list of Public Sector Units (PSU) assets that\n could be monetised to raise resources for fresh investment by these\n undertakings.<\/li>
                  2. The\n Union Budget 2019 has set a high target of Rs 1.05 lakh crore from\n disinvestment for the current fiscal year compared with Rs 90,000 crore in\n the Interim Budget. <\/li>
                  3. Apart\n from residual stake sales, buybacks and strategic sales, land monetisation\n will be a key component of the Centre\u2019s attempt to raise resources.<\/li>
                  4. Government\n has said that asset recycle and monetisation should not be confused with\n disinvestment. In disinvestment, the government offloads or sells part of\n its ownership whereas in asset monetisation, the ownership remains with\n the government but the underlying assets are leased on a long-term basis\n to private players.<\/li>
                  5. Recently,\n the Cabinet had cleared the bid by Adani Enterprises for the lease of\n three airports namely Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru operated by the\n Airports Authority of India on a public-private partnership basis. Adani\n enterprises would carry out the operations, management and development of\n the airports for 50 years.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                    India\nelbowed out of Afghanistan peace talks<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                    1. Pakistan\n has for the first time joined the US, Russia and China\u2019s trilateral\n consultations on the Afghanistan peace process.<\/li>
                    2. The\n four countries have jointly urged the Taliban to immediately agree to a\n ceasefire and begin direct negotiations with the Afghanistan government to\n end the 18-year violence in the war-torn country.<\/li>
                    3. However,\n India has neither been included in the peace negotiations nor have India’s\n concerns being taken into consideration. India had opposed the US proposal\n to postpone the Afghanistan’s presidential elections until the peace\n process with Taliban is finalised.<\/li>
                    4. Further,\n experts have asked India to be more proactive as India’s investment in\n Afghanistan has been largely with the Afghanistan Government.<\/li>
                    5. Meanwhile,\n Afghanistan’s elected government has been under concerted pressure as (a)\n Taliban has refused to engage with them (b) Taliban has recently increased\n its attacks (c) Neither US, Russia, China or Pakistan have given the\n government any place at the talks and (d) Pakistan\u2019s airspace ban has cut\n off Afghanistan from India imposing economic costs and making a political\n point of the indispensability of Pakistan.<\/li>
                    6. The\n US negotiator with Taliban has said that it has achieved progress on four\n fronts (a)assurances from the Taliban that Afghanistan will not become a\n staging ground for militant groups (b)withdrawal of US troops\n (c)all-Afghan dialogue to reach agreement on peaceful future and\n (d)permanent ceasefire. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                      Govt\neyes direct transfer of fertilizer subsidy<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                      1. The\n government has been preparing to move on a proposal for direct cash\n transfer (DBT) of fertilizer subsidy amount to farmers\u2019 bank accounts.<\/li>
                      2. This\n proposal is aimed at disincentivizing farmers from excessive use of\n chemical fertilizers.<\/li>
                      3. The\n funds transferred will be used only for buying soil nutrients while two\n options are being explored to decide the cash subsidy (a) fixing the\n amount per acre\/hectare or (b) lump sum amount for all identified\n beneficiaries on the lines of PM-Kisan scheme.<\/li>
                      4. Currently,\n farmers are allowed to buy as much fertilizer as they want at a subsidised\n rate and it is based on a no denying policy. The government directly pays\n the subsidy amount to manufacturers or marketing firms. This has led to\n excess use of chemical fertilizers.<\/li>
                      5. Hence,\n direct payments to farmers are seen as better to ensure delivery of\n subsidies to the end-user. This will lead to (a)farmers using fertilizer\n judiciously (b)will help in the health of farmland and (c)Government\n expenditure on subsidy will also reduce due to less usage.<\/li>
                      6. Further,\n some other options are also being considered for subsidy transfer. The\n first option is government can open virtual accounts and these can be\n operated once the beneficiary enters a security code in the system for\n buying fertilizer.<\/li>
                      7. The\n second option is that an e-wallet will be created in the bank account of\n every beneficiary and the amount transferred for fertilizer subsidy will\n be kept in this and can be used only for buying fertilizer.<\/li>
                      8. However,\n there are few problems which needed to be dealt with such as (a) Some\n states have not yet joined the PM-Kisan scheme and (b) It might also be\n difficult to have uniform norms for both irrigated and non-irrigated land.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                        Govt to look at applicability of 20% tax on ongoing share buyback issue<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                        1. The Finance Ministry has said that it will look\ninto the applicability of 20% tax proposed in the 2019-20 Budget on the current\nshare buybacks by listed companies.<\/li>
                        2. This tax was proposed in the budget to\ndiscourage the practice of avoiding Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT) through\nbuybacks by listed companies.<\/li>
                        3. Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT) is paid by\ncompanies who distribute their profits to their shareholders in the form of\ndividends.<\/li>
                        4. Buyback of shares refers to the corporate action\nwhere a company repurchases its own shares from the existing shareholders.<\/li>
                        5. During the buyback of shares, the price of\nshares is usually higher than the market price. Typically, companies that have\nexcess cash with no specific investment or other deployment requirements\nconsider buybacks.<\/li>
                        6. Further, buying back shares is also a route to\nmake a business look more attractive to investors. By reducing the number of\noutstanding shares, a company\u2019s earnings per share ratio is automatically\nincreased.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                          Panel\ncalls for upgrading e-learning platform to virtual university<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                          1. A\n panel of experts has recommended upgrading Union human resource\n development (HRD) ministry\u2019s free e-learning Swayam<\/strong> platform to a\n virtual university to meet growing demand for quality education.<\/li>
                          2. The\n proposal is part of the ministry\u2019s five-year vision plan called Education\n Quality Upgradation and Inclusion Programme(EQUIP).<\/li>
                          3. The\n panel has also proposed reconstituting Swayam into a separate autonomous\n board driven organisation under the HRD Ministry.<\/li>
                          4. Further,\n the panel\u2019s recommendations have come as the HRD ministry is preparing the\n next phase of Swayam. A degree-granting mechanism could be one of its\n ingredients.<\/li>
                          5. SWAYAM<\/strong>\n (Study Webs of Active\u2013Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) is a programme\n initiated by the Government of India and designed to achieve the three\n cardinal principles of Education Policy namely access, equity and\n quality. <\/li>
                          6. The\n objective of this effort is to take the best teaching learning resources\n to all including the most disadvantaged. SWAYAM seeks to bridge the\n digital divide for students who have remained untouched by the digital\n revolution and have not been able to join the mainstream of the knowledge\n economy. <\/li>
                          7. This\n is done through an indigenous developed IT platform that facilitates\n hosting of all the courses taught in classrooms to be accessed by anyone, anywhere\n at any time.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                            DPIIT\nto soon float draft national retail policy to seek stakeholders’ views<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                            1. The\n Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) will soon\n introduce draft national retail policy. The policy is aimed at promoting\n growth of 65 million small traders.<\/li>
                            2. The\n main elements of the policy includes (a)promoting ease of doing business\n (b)licensing (c)access to funds (d)direct selling and (e)hyper-market\n related matters.<\/li>
                            3. This\n policy is expected to cover different segments and could offer a level\n playing field to all players in the ecosystem while helping the smaller\n retailers modernise to meet the growing demand.<\/li>
                            4. This\n policy is being brought as e-commerce firms and traditional retail traders\n have been at loggerheads with the latter accusing online retailers of\n distorting the level-playing field by offering deep discounts on back of\n foreign funding.<\/li>
                            5. However,\n e-commerce firms have said that currently online retail occupies less than\n 5% of the total retail pie in India.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                              India is home to 1,256 species of orchid, says first comprehensive survey The Botanical Survey of India has published Orchids of India: A Pictorial Guide- the first comprehensive census of orchids of India. According to the publication, the total number of orchid species endemic to India is 388. 757 (60%) of all orchids found in… Continue reading 9 PM Current Affairs Brief \u2013 July 15, 2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-brief","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704943408},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49824\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}