{"id":54621,"date":"2020-02-18T21:00:23","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T15:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?p=54621"},"modified":"2020-02-27T09:47:27","modified_gmt":"2020-02-27T04:17:27","slug":"9-pm-current-affairs-brief-february-18th-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/9-pm-current-affairs-brief-february-18th-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"9 PM Current Affairs Brief \u2013 February 18th, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/andhra-pradesh\/ap-ranks-low-in-e-governance-delivery\/article30837436.ece\"><strong>National\ne-Governance Service Delivery Assessment (NeSDA) 2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>The Union Government has released the first National e-Governance\nService Delivery Index Assessment (NeSDA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nthe index:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The index has been prepared by the\nDepartment of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances(DARPG) with NASSCOM\nas the designated knowledge partner.<\/li><li>It aimed at improving the overall\ne-Government development by evaluating the efficiency of service delivery\nmechanism from a citizen\u2019s perspective.<\/li><li>The index was based on seven key\nparameters namely accessibility, content availability, ease of use, information\nsecurity and privacy, end-service delivery, integrated service delivery and\nstatus &amp; request tracking.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key\ntakeaways from the Index:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>States\nRanking:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Kerala has topped the index.It was\nfollowed by Goa at the second spot and Haryana at the third spot.<\/li><li>Bihar has not been considered at\nall for the rankings as it failed to give adequate data for the\nassessment.Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are at the bottom of\nthe list.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ministries\nRanking:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The Ministry of Health &amp;\nFamily welfare was ranked at the top spot while the second position has been\nsecured by the ministry of human resource development(MHRD).<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/other-states\/government-unveils-plan-for-research-on-indigenous-cows\/article30845071.ece\"><strong>SUTRA PIC\nProgramme<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>The Government of India has unveiled a programme named SUTRA PIC to\nresearch \u2018indigenous\u2019 cows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nthe programme:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>SUTRA PIC stands for Scientific\nUtilisation Through Research Augmentation-Prime Products from Indigenous Cows.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Themes\nof the programme:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Uniqueness of Indigenous Cows,<\/li><li>Prime-products from Indigenous\nCows for Medicine &amp; Health,<\/li><li>Prime-products from Indigenous\nCows for Agricultural Applications,<\/li><li>Prime-products from Indigenous\nCows for Food &amp; Nutrition and<\/li><li>Prime-products from indigenous\ncows-based utility items.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Objectives\nof the programme:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Scientific research on the\ncomplete characterisation of milk and milk products derived from Indian\nindigenous cows.<\/li><li>Scientific research on nutritional\nand therapeutic properties of curd and ghee prepared from indigenous breeds of\ncows by traditional methods.<\/li><li>Development of standards for\ntraditionally processed dairy products of Indian-origin cows among others,<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Implementation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The department of the Science for\nEquity,Empowerment and Development (SEED) under the Ministry of Science and\nTechnology is in charge of the programme.<\/li><li>It has the Department of\nBiotechnology, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the Ministry\nfor AYUSH (Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Homoeopathy) among others and the Indian\nCouncil of Medical Research as partners.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/newsonair.com\/Main-News-Details.aspx?id=381466\"><strong>3rd High Level\nGlobal Conference on Road Safety <\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways will represent India at\nthe 3rd High Level Global Conference on Road Safety for Achieving Global Goals\n2030 in Stockholm,Sweden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nthe conference:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It is organised by the World\nHealth Organization(WHO) in association with the World Bank and minister-led\ndelegations from more than 80 countries.<\/li><li>The objective of the conference is\nto bring road safety on the global agenda and renew the commitment of the world\ncommunity towards road safety.<\/li><li><strong>Theme:<\/strong>Achieving Global Goals 2030<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Additional\ninformation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nBrasilia Declaration:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The Brasilia declaration was\nsigned at the Second Global High-Level conference on Road Safety held in Brazil\nin 2015.<\/li><li>The declaration lays down\nrecommendations on strengthening existing legislations, adopting sustainable\ntransport and strengthening post-crash response. <\/li><li>The declaration also calls upon\ncountries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 3.6 which calls to halve\nthe number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents by 2020.<\/li><li>The United Nations has also\ndeclared 2010-2020 as the decade of action for Road Safety.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/news\/defence\/sc-rules-in-favour-of-permanent-commission-to-women-officers\/articleshow\/74169078.cms\"><strong>Women Army\nofficers eligible for permanent commission, rules SC<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>The Supreme Court has upheld the Delhi High Court Judgement in 2010 and\nruled that the Short Service Commission(SSC) women officers are eligible for\nthe permanent commission and command posts in the Army irrespective of their\nyears of service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Background:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The induction of women officers in\nthe Army started in 1992.They were commissioned for a period of five years in\ncertain chosen streams under the Women Special Entry Scheme(WSES).<\/li><li>In 2006,WSES was replaced by the\nShort Service Commission(SSC) scheme.Under the scheme, women were commissioned\ninto the Army for a period of 10 years extendable up to 14 years.<\/li><li>However,women were restricted to\nroles in specified streams and could not opt for Permanent commission.On the\nother hand, male SSC officers could opt for permanent commission at the end of\n10 years of service.<\/li><li>Thus,women officers were kept out\nof any command appointment and could not qualify for government pension which\nstarts only after 20 years of service as an officer.<\/li><li>However,in 2019,the Government\nendorsed the permanent commission for SSC women officers in 10 streams.But said\nthat this would be applied prospectively and the women officers would not be\noffered any command appointments and would serve only in staff posts.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nthe Judgement:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The court has said that all\nserving women officers will be eligible for the Permanent Commission(PC).<\/li><li>The women officers will also be\neligible for command posts in non-combat areas since an absolute bar on women\nseeking criteria or command appointments would not go with the guarantee of\nequality under Article 14.<\/li><li>However,the exclusion of women\nfrom combat operations was not examined by the court as it was not contested in\nthe appeal.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Significance\nof the judgement:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The women officers will be\neligible to occupy all the command appointments at par with male officers which\nwould open avenues for further promotions to higher ranks for them.<\/li><li>A woman can rise to the rank of\nColonel and above based on merit like their male counterparts. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/news\/economy\/india-becomes-5th-largest-economy-overtakes-uk-france-report\/articleshow\/74181024.cms\"><strong>India becomes\n5th largest economy, overtakes UK, France:Report<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>According to a US-based think tank World Population Review,India has\nemerged as the world\u2019s fifth largest economy by overtaking the UK and France in\n2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key\ntakeaways from the report:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>India\u2019s economy is the fifth\nlargest in the world with a GDP of $2.94 trillion.<\/li><li>In purchasing power parity(PPP)\nterms, India\u2019s GDP (PPP) is $10.51 trillion exceeding that of Japan and\nGermany.<\/li><li>India&#8217;s economic liberalisation\nbegan in the early 1990s and included industrial deregulation, reduced control\non foreign trade and investment, and privatisation of state-owned enterprises.<\/li><li>Currently, India\u2019s service sector\nis the fast-growing sector in the world accounting for 60% of the economy and\n28% of employment.<\/li><li>However,India\u2019s real GDP growth is\nexpected to weaken for the third straight year from 7.5 per cent to 5 per cent.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Additional\ninformation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nPurchasing Power Parity:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The rate at which the currency of\none country would have to be converted into that of another country to buy the\nsame amount of goods and services in each country.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/what-recep-tayyip-erdogan-remarks-on-kashmir-mean-battle-of-canakkale-gallipoli-6273205\/\"><strong>Battle of\n\u00c7anakkale\/Gallipoli<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>Turkey President has compared Kashmir to \u00c7anakkale \u2014 the World War I\nbattle that built several national identities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nthe Battle:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The Battle of \u00c7anakkale also known\nas the Gallipoli campaign or the Dardanelles campaign is considered to be one\nof the bloodiest of World War I. <\/li><li>This battle took place on the\nGallipoli peninsula (Gelibolu in modern Turkey) from 17 February 1915 to 9\nJanuary 1916.<\/li><li>The allied powers namely Britain,\nFrance and Russia sought to weaken the Ottoman Empire by taking control of the\nDardanelles straits that provided a supply route to Russia.<\/li><li>The Allies&#8217; attack on Ottoman\nforts at the entrance of the Dardanelles failed and was followed by an\namphibious landing on the Gallipoli peninsula in April 1915 to capture the\nOttoman capital of Constantinople (Istanbul).<\/li><li>However,in the end, the land campaign\nwas abandoned and the invasion force was withdrawn.It was a costly defeat for\nthe Allies and the campaign was considered a great Ottoman victory.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Significance\nof the Battle:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The battle resulted in a demotion\nfor Winston Churchill, then Britain\u2019s First Lord of the Admiralty and the\nemergence on the Turkish side of the young military hero, Mustafa Kemal\nAtaturk. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"454\" height=\"351\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Picture1-19.png?resize=454%2C351&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-54627\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/other-states\/encroachment-of-mp-national-park-land-continues-unchecked\/article30837151.ece\"><strong>Madhav National\nPark<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>The encroachment of Madhav National Park land in Madhu\u2019s Pradesh\ncontinues unchecked even though the land was allotted to make way for a tiger\ncorridor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nthe Madhav National Park:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Madhav National park is situated\nnear Shivpuri town in Madhya Pradesh. It is a part of the upper Vindhyan hills.\n<\/li><li>The Park was the hunting ground of\nMughal emperors and Maharaja of Gwalior.It got the status of a National Park in\n1958.<\/li><li>The Park is a combination of dry\ndeciduous &amp; dry thorn forests that make home for different varieties of\nantelopes like Nilgai, Chinkara and Deer.<\/li><li>The park is home to Particularly\nVulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG)s like Saharia.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Additional\ninformation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Other\nNational Parks of Madhya Pradesh:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Bandhavgarh National Park &amp;\nTiger Reserve<\/li><li>Kanha National Park &amp; Tiger\nReserve<\/li><li>Satpura National Park &amp; Tiger\nReserve<\/li><li>Sanjay National Park &amp; Tiger\nReserve<\/li><li>Van Vihar National Park<\/li><li>Ghughua National Park<\/li><li>Panna National Park &amp; Tiger\nReserve<\/li><li>Pench National Park &amp; Tiger\nReserve.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.livemint.com\/news\/india\/moody-s-cuts-india-2020-gdp-forecast-to-5-4-recovery-seen-delayed-11581917209669.html\"><strong>Moody\u2019s slashes\nIndia\u2019s 2020 growth projection<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>Moody\u2019s Investor Service has released its Global Macro Outlook Report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key\ntakeaways from the report:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Revised India\u2019s growth forecasts\nto 5.4% for 2020 and 5.8% for 2021, down from previous projections of 6.6% and\n6.7% respectively.<\/li><li>India\u2019s key to stronger economic\nmomentum would be revival of domestic demand and resumption of credit growth.<\/li><li>It has also reduced the global GDP\ngrowth forecast and expects G-20 economies to collectively grow by 2.4% in 2020\nand 2.8% in 2021.<\/li><li>However,it says that the\ncoronavirus outbreak in China is expected to cause disruption in the first\nquarter.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Additional\ninformation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nMoody:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Moody\u2019s is an essential component\nof the global capital markets.<\/li><li>It provides credit ratings,\nresearch, tools and analysis that contribute to transparent and integrated\nfinancial markets.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newindianexpress.com\/states\/kerala\/2020\/feb\/17\/tiger-rehabilitation-centre-safari-park-to-come-up-soon-2104349.html\"><strong>Wayanad\nWildlife Sanctuary (WWS)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>Kerala will soon get a Tiger rehabilitation centre, safari park in the\nWayanad wildlife sanctuary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nWayanad Wildlife Sanctuary:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary was\nestablished in 1973.It is the second largest wildlife park in Kerala.It was\nnotified as an Elephant Reserve under Project elephant in 1991-92.<\/li><li>It is part of Nilgiri Biosphere\nReserve along with Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, Bandipur National Park,\nNagarhole National Park, Mukurthi National Park and Silent Valley.<\/li><li><strong>Vegetation:<\/strong>Itcomprises tropical semi-evergreen forests, moist mixed deciduous\nforests, dry mixed deciduous forests, bamboo forests, and marshy grasslands.<\/li><li>The sanctuary is contiguous to the\nprotected area network of Nagarhole and Bandipur of Karnataka in the Northeast\nand Muthumalai of Tamil Nadu in the Southeast.<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment (NeSDA) 2019 News:The Union Government has released the first National e-Governance Service Delivery Index Assessment (NeSDA). Facts: About the index: The index has been prepared by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances(DARPG) with NASSCOM as the designated knowledge partner. It aimed at improving the overall e-Government development by&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/9-pm-current-affairs-brief-february-18th-2020\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">9 PM Current Affairs Brief \u2013 February 18th, 2020<\/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],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-9-pm-brief","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":1704940961},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54621","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=54621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54621\/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=54621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}