{"id":51231,"date":"2019-08-13T21:00:34","date_gmt":"2019-08-13T15:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?p=51231"},"modified":"2019-08-13T18:30:16","modified_gmt":"2019-08-13T13:00:16","slug":"9-pm-current-affairs-brief-august-13-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/9-pm-current-affairs-brief-august-13-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"9 PM Current Affairs Brief \u2013 August 13, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

FinMin\nplans 16-point \u2018KRA\u2019 to push PSBs<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Finance\n Ministry has planned to closely monitor Public sector banks (PSBs)\n achievements on 16 key performance indicators (KPIs) at the branch,\n region, State and national level.<\/li>
  2. This\n step was taken in the backdrop of PSBs market share declining while that\n of private banks is rising. PSBs accounted for 63% of the outstanding\n credit of scheduled commercial banks against 67% as of June-end 2017.<\/li>
  3. The\n fall comes in the backdrop of these banks facing asset quality issues\n since 2015.Further,Non-Banking Financial Companies(NBFCs) are also\n borrowing from banks and are able to attract customers in spite of higher\n interest rates.<\/li>
  4. The\n 16 KPIs includes indicators such as Credit for infrastructure, Farm\n sector, Blue economy, Housing, MSMEs, Stand-Up India scheme, Education,\n Exports, Green economy, Cleanliness activities, Financial inclusion and\n women\u2019s empowerment among others.<\/li>
  5. The\n banks will then be benchmarked against the 18 PSBs\u2019 average. If found\n lagging, specific action will be taken after consultation at various\n levels to improve their performance.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Jharkhand govt.\nlaunches direct money transfer scheme for small farmers<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Vice\n President of India has launched the Jharkhand government\u2019s \u2018Mukhya Mantri\n Krishi Ashirwad Yojana\u2019.<\/li>
    2. The\n programme aims to transfer money directly into the bank accounts of\n farmers in the state. <\/li>
    3. Under\n the scheme,Rs 5,000 per acre upto a maximum of five acres would be\n transferred directly to the bank accounts of small and marginal farmers in\n two instalments every year. <\/li>
    4. This\n would be in addition to the Rs 6,000 that the Centre gives to farmers in\n three installments every year under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana.<\/li>
    5. Further,Jharkhand\n would become the fourth state to launch such a farmer assistance scheme\n after Telangana, Karnataka and Odisha.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      New\nrules can deny green cards for immigrants using public benefits<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      1. United\n States President has announced new immigration rules.The rules will apply\n to immigrants who enter the country legally and then apply for Green Card.<\/li>
      2. Green\n Card is an identification card which gives one the status of a permanent\n resident along with legal rights to work in the USA.<\/li>
      3. The\n rules change a 1999 law which defines a criteria the U.S. Citizenship and\n Immigration Services officials have been using to decide which immigrants\n qualify for green cards.<\/li>
      4. Currently,the\n rules require those seeking green cards to prove they will not be a burden\n to the United States or what\u2019s called a public charge.<\/li>
      5. The\n criteria will now be expanded to include restrictions on using public\n assistance including food stamps, Medicaid and subsidized housing. Other\n factors are also considered for the first time including credit\n scores,debt and English proficiency among other things.<\/li>
      6. The\n rules will be applied from October,2019.They don\u2019t apply to U.S. citizens\n even if the U.S. citizen is related to an immigrant who is subject to\n them.<\/li>
      7. These\n rules are part of US President efforts to curb both legal and illegal\n immigration and is derived from the Immigration Act of 1882 that allows\n the US government to deny a visa to anyone likely to become a public\n charge.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        Mapping\nworld\u2019s soil worms<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        1. According\n to the global analysis of nematodes published in Nature,there are about 57\n billion nematodes for every human being on Earth.<\/li>
        2. The\n researchers have said that Sub-Arctic regions have the highest abundance\n of nematodes followed by temperate regions and tropical regions.<\/li>
        3. Nematodes\n prefers colder region as soil organic matter content is the key driver for\n nematode abundance.<\/li>
        4. Further,the\n low temperature and high moisture in the sub-Arctic regions reduces the\n decomposition rate of organic matter.This leads to accumulation of organic\n matter and the nematodes happily thrive on them. <\/li>
        5. Nematodes<\/strong> are\n worm shaped nearly microscopic animals,many of which are virtually\n invisible to the unaided eye when they are in the soil or within plant\n material.<\/li>
        6. These\n are roundworms and their size can vary from a tiny 0.2 millimetre to a few\n metres.They are responsible for around 2.2% of the total carbon emission\n from soils.<\/li>
        7. The\n nematodes play a crucial role in the environment as they are responsible\n for production of ammonia of the soil and also a bioindicator of soil\n ecosystem\u2019s health.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

          World\nElephant Day<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          1. World\n Elephant Day is observed every year on August 12.The goal of Elephant Day\n is to create awareness of the urgent plight of African and Asian\n elephants.<\/li>
          2. This\n day also aims to share knowledge and positive solutions for the better\n care and management of captive and wild elephants.<\/li>
          3. The\n African elephants are listed as Vulnerable and Asian elephants as\n Endangered on the IUCN Red List of threatened species.<\/li>
          4. The\n various threats faced by elephants are (a)Poaching (b) Human elephant\n conflict (c)Mistreatment in captivity and (d)Habitat loss<\/li>
          5. The\n solutions for the threats are (b) work towards better protection for wild\n animals (b)improve enforcement policies to prevent illegal poaching\n (c)Conserve the habitats of elephants and (d)provide better treatment for\n captive elephants.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

            Telling\nNumbers: Northeast crowds list of states with most dense tree, forest cover<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            1. According\n to the data by the Ministry of Environment,Forest and Climate Change,a\n quarter of India\u2019s geographical area which is 24.49% is under forest and\n tree cover.<\/li>
            2. The\n lowest forest and tree cover in the country is in Haryana at 6.79 % of its\n geographical area.Punjab follows with 6.87 %.Further,Rajasthan\u2019s forest\n and tree cover is over 7.26 % of its geographical area.<\/li>
            3. The\n highest forest and tree cover in terms of % is at Lakshadweep at 97\n %.Among the six states with the highest forest and tree cover,four are in\n the Northeast which are Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Meghalaya.<\/li>
            4. The\n highest forest and tree cover in terms of geographical area is in Madhya\n Pradesh with 85,487 sq km.Further,Goa and Kerala are two other states with\n more than 50 % of their geographical area under forest and tree cover.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

              Taliban\nsays latest talks end on U.S.\u2019s Afghanistan withdrawal<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              1. The\n talks between the Taliban and the United States has ended without any\n peace deal for Afghanistan.Both sides have said that they would talk to\n their leaders about the next move.<\/li>
              2. The\n two sides have been discussing an agreement under which US forces would\n withdraw from Afghanistan and the Taliban would guarantee that the country\n would not be used to launch terrorist attacks.<\/li>
              3. Further,the\n US is also pushing for a Taliban agreement on two other, more far-reaching\n elements namely (a)power-sharing talks with Afghanistan\u2019s US-backed\n government and (b)ceasefire agreement.<\/li>
              4. However,the\n Taliban has refused to engage with Afghan government as it considers the\n Afghan government illegitimate.<\/li>
              5. The\n Taliban now control roughly half of Afghanistan and are at their strongest\n since 2001 when the U.S.-led invasion had toppled their government after\n it gave protection to al-Qaeda.<\/li>
              6. The\n U.S and NATO formally concluded their combat mission in 2014 but the US\n and allied troops continue to train and build the Afghan military.\n However,US President has often expressed his wish to end the war in\n Afghanistan and bring back US troops.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                Why\nlower fiscal deficit isn\u2019t always good news<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                1. According\n to the data,there is growing concern about the slowdown in India\u2019s\n economic growth.Recently,RBI had also cut repo rates by 35 basis points,\n which was the sharpest cut in nine years.<\/li>
                2. In\n macroeconomy,there are two components.One is the structural or the\n permanent component which is largely determined in the long term by\n factors such as institutions, productivity,human capital among others.<\/li>
                3. The\n second is a cyclical or temporary component which refers to short-term\n fluctuations.<\/li>
                4. In\n India,both the components seem to be in a slowdown phase and the\n projection is that it will slow down further.If the slowdown was there,the\n government should have gone for a countercyclical measure at least to\n address the short-term fluctuation.<\/li>
                5. Further,there\n are two major policy instruments which is the fiscal policy and the other\n is monetary (interest rate) policy. <\/li>
                6. In a\n cyclical downturn,it is the fiscal policy that should have been ahead,\n followed by the monetary policy.But the government did the opposite to\n such an extent that monetary policy appears to be fighting a lonely\n battle.<\/li>
                7. However,the\n government can take several steps to address the economic\n slowdown,Firstly,it should increase household savings.Given the declining\n deposit rates,the banking system is actually recovering its losses at the\n cost of household savings.<\/li>
                8. Secondly,the\n government needs to correct a structural policy misstep introduced by the\n Finance Bill of 2018.The Bill did away with targeting revenue deficit and\n compromised on the public capital expenditure.<\/li>
                9. Lastly,the\n government needs to quickly recapitalise public sector banks (PSBs).There\n could be resistance for this but unlike private banks,public sector banks\n have large social obligations.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                  Sanctions\nfor prosecution of over 80 officials awaited<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                  1. The\n Central Vigilance Commission(CVC) is awaiting sanction from different\n wings of the government organisations to prosecute 83 government\n employees.<\/li>
                  2. The CVC<\/strong> was\n set up by the Government in 1964 on the recommendation of the Santhanam\n Committee.In 2003,the Parliament enacted CVC Act conferring statutory\n status on the CVC.<\/li>
                  3. The\n CVC is not controlled by any Ministry or Department.It is an independent\n body which is only responsible to the Parliament.CVC receives complaints\n on corruption or misuse of office and recommend appropriate action.<\/li>
                  4. However,CVC\n is not an investigating agency.The CVC either gets the investigation done\n by the CBI or through chief vigilance officer(CVO) in government offices.<\/li>
                  5. CVC\n is also empowered to inquire into offences alleged to have been committed\n under the Prevention of Corruption Act,1988 by certain categories of\n public servants.<\/li>
                  6. Its\n annual report gives the details of the work done by the commission and\n points to systemic failures which lead to corruption in government\n departments.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                    Govt\nlooks to reverse economic slowdown with a stimulus package<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                    1. The\n government is planning a set of measures to reverse an economic slowdown\n that is going through losses, layoffs and an investment freeze.<\/li>
                    2. The\n measures include (a)steps to boost infrastructure investments (b)goods and\n services tax(GST) relief to specific sectors (c)ways to further cut red\n tape on cross-border trade and (d)steps to improve ease of doing business.<\/li>
                    3. The\n government is also working on a new World Trade Organization (WTO)\n compliant duty reimbursement scheme.<\/li>
                    4. Further,fiscal\n responsibility and budget management(FRBM) Act constrained the government\n from providing a fiscal push in the Union budget.<\/li>
                    5. But\n the government is considering the use of escape clause in the FRBM Act for\n deviation in the fiscal deficit up to 50 basis points.<\/li>
                    6. This\n may give the government leeway to spend an additional \u20b91.15 trillion in\n the current fiscal.The package will have concrete steps to implement the\n government\u2019s ambitious plans for \u20b9100 trillion infrastructure investment\n over the next five years.<\/li>
                    7. The\n panel led by N.K. Singh to review the FRBM Act had suggested an escape\n clause allowing deviations up to 0.5 percentage points of Gross Domestic\n Product based on triggers including far-reaching structural reforms in the\n economy with unanticipated fiscal implications,acts of war and farm\n distress.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                      Decision\non Kashmir doesn\u2019t affect LAC, Delhi tells Beijing<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                      1. India\u2019s\n external affairs minister is on a visit to China.During the visit,India\n and China has agreed on a host of initiatives to improve their relations.<\/li>
                      2. Ahead\n of the visit,China had objected to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation\n Bill 2019.It said that the creation of the Union Territory of Ladakh has\n undermined its sovereignty.<\/li>
                      3. However,India\n has reassured China that its decision to exercise greater administrative\n control over Ladakh would have no implications for India\u2019s external\n boundaries or the Line of Actual Control with China.<\/li>
                      4. India\n has also said that legislative measures were aimed at better governance\n and socio-economic development.<\/li>
                      5. During\n the meeting,China has also raised the rising tensions between India and\n Pakistan as a result of these changes.But India has reiterated that it was\n an internal matter that had no bearing on Pakistan.<\/li>
                      6. The\n two countries also discussed India\u2019s trade deficit with China.\n Besides,four bilateral pacts were signed on (a)culture (b)traditional\n medicine (c)sports and (d)museum management.<\/li>
                      7. The\n foreign minister also co-chaired the second meeting of the High Level\n Mechanism(HLM) on Cultural and People-to-People Exchanges. The HLM was\n established during the first informal summit in Wuhan in April 2018.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                        Army\nmay trim 27,000 from non-core units<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                        1. Recently,the\n army has planned to reduce its manpower by about 27,000 soldiers as well\n as restructure them for better efficiency and effectiveness.<\/li>
                        2. This\n proposed reduction is part of the larger reforms to transform the Army\n into a lean, mean, rapidly-deployable and operationally versatile\n force <\/li>
                        3. The\n army has planned to reduce the manpower by around 1.5 lakh personnel over\n the next six-seven years to save around Rs 6,000-7,000 crore annually in\n revenue expenditure.<\/li>
                        4. Earlier,the\n army has initiated four studies to undertake overall transformation of the\n force.<\/li>
                        5. These\n include (a)restructuring of Army Headquarters (b)creation of Integrated\n Battle Groups(IBG) (c)the cadre review of officers and (d)review of the\n terms and conditions of Junior Commissioned Officers and Other\n Ranks. <\/li>
                        6. Further,the\n Integrated Battle Groups(IBGs) which the Army plans to create as part of\n overall force transformation is close to implementation.<\/li>
                        7. Integrated\n Battle Groups(IBGs) are brigade-sized, agile, self-sufficient combat\n formations which can swiftly launch strikes against adversary in case of\n hostilities.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                          Two\nways to look at GDP<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                          1. Researchers and academicians have raised doubts about the new methodology employed by the Central Statistics Office(CSO) to estimate India\u2019s gross domestic product(GDP).<\/li>
                          2. In 2015,CSO had introduced a new series of National Account Statistics. The new series made several changes to estimate India\u2019s gross domestic product(GDP).In particular,it revised the base year from 2004-05 to 2011-12.\u00a0<\/li>
                          3. However,the debate intensified when CSO released two back-series data which means recalibrating the GDP data for past years based on the new methodology.But the released data contradicted each other.<\/li>
                          4. The first back-series presented by the National Statistical Commission (NSC) in July 2018 found that the average economic growth between 2005-06 and 2011-12 was 8.6% instead of the 8.3%.<\/li>
                          5. The second back-series calculated by CSO and published in November 2018 found this average to be just 7%.<\/li>
                          6. Further,former chief economic advisor(CEA) had said that India\u2019s GDP growth in the period 2011-12 to 2016-17 is likely to have been overestimated.He said that the growth during that period was actually 4.5% rather than the 7%.<\/li>
                          7. However,several experts have countered former CEA.They have said that India\u2019s nominal GDP growth rate has not changed under the old and new series data.Further,there was no consolidated Consumer Price inflation(CPI) before 2011.<\/li>
                          8. They have also said that GDP methodology is on par with its global standing while highlighting that former CEC had used 17 high-frequency indicators but ignored the representation of the services sector (60% in GDP) and the agriculture sector (18%) in the analysis.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                            Headgear\nmade mandatory for children above four years<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                            1. The\n government has made it mandatory for children above four years to wear\n protective headgear of prescribed standards while travelling on a\n motorcycle.<\/li>
                            2. The\n safety measures for the children travelling on motorcycles have been\n included in the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 2019.<\/li>
                            3. The\n amendment Act has made protective headgear compulsory for every persons\n above the age of four driving\/ riding or being carried in a motorbike.\n Only Sikhs wearing turban have been exempted.<\/li>
                            4. Motor\n Vehicle (Amendment) Act, 2019 amends the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.<\/li>
                            5. It\n seeks to improve road safety through multifold increase in penalties for\n traffic violations. It also aims to streamline the licensing and road\n permit process.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                              PM-JAY\nto include cancer treatment soon, say health officials<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                              1. The\n National Health Authority is planning to include all types of cancer and\n its treatments under Ayushman Bharat \u2013 Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana\n (PM-JAY).<\/li>
                              2. According\n to the WHO, the rate of mortality due to cancer in India is high. It is\n the second-most common disease in India and is responsible for maximum\n mortality (0.3 million deaths per year).<\/li>
                              3. The\n estimated number of people living with cancer is around 2.25 million.\n Further, over 11 lakh new cancer patients are registered each year<\/li>
                              4. Lung\n cancer is the most common type of cancer in India, followed by breast\n cancer and oral cancers.<\/li>
                              5. Ayushman\n Bharat Yojana- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) is the Central\n Government\u2019s health insurance scheme. It aims to give medical cover to\n over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families of approximately 50 crore\n beneficiaries.<\/li>
                              6. It\n provides a coverage of up to \u20b95 lakh per family per year for secondary and\n tertiary care hospitalisation. The benefit cover includes pre and post\n hospitalisation expenses.<\/li>
                              7. National\n Health Authority is the implementing body of PM-JAY health insurance\n scheme.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                                FinMin plans 16-point \u2018KRA\u2019 to push PSBs Finance Ministry has planned to closely monitor Public sector banks (PSBs) achievements on 16 key performance indicators (KPIs) at the branch, region, State and national level. This step was taken in the backdrop of PSBs market share declining while that of private banks is rising. PSBs accounted for… Continue reading 9 PM Current Affairs Brief \u2013 August 13, 2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":48116,"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-51231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-9-pm-brief","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/9-PM-Brief.png?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704929169},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51231","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=51231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}