{"id":54699,"date":"2019-12-26T21:00:48","date_gmt":"2019-12-26T15:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?p=54699"},"modified":"2020-02-27T12:23:37","modified_gmt":"2020-02-27T06:53:37","slug":"auto-draft-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/auto-draft-25\/","title":{"rendered":"9 PM Current Affairs Brief \u2013 December 26th, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/other-states\/massive-locust-invasion-threatens-gujarat-farmers\/article30397949.ece\"><strong>Massive locust\ninvasion threatens Gujarat farmers<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>The migratory insect locust has spread to the Northern parts of\nGujarat, causing significant damage to agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nLocust:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Locusts are certain species of\nshort-horned grasshoppers that have a swarming phase.They belong to the family\nAcrididae.<\/li><li>Swarming refers to a collective\nbehaviour in which locusts aggregate together just like flocks of birds.<\/li><li>Locusts differ from grasshoppers\nin that they have the ability to change their behaviour and habits and can\nmigrate over large distances.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Distribution:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The invasion area of desert locust\ncovers about 30 million sq km which includes whole or parts of nearly 64\ncountries. <\/li><li>This includes countries like North\nWest and East African countries, Arabian Peninsula, the Southern Republic of\nUSSR, Iran, Afghanistan, and the Indian subcontinent.<\/li><li>In India,four species of locust\nnamely Desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria), Migratory locust (Locusta\nmigratoria), Bombay Locust ( Nomadacris succincta) and Tree locust (Anacridium\nsp.) are found.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Threat:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Locust swarms devastate crops and\ncause major agricultural damage and attendant human misery.<\/li><li>If infestations are not detected\nand controlled, devastating plagues can develop that often take several years\nto bring under control with severe consequences on food security and\nlivelihoods.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Control\nmeasures taken by India:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>India has a Locust Control and\nResearch scheme that is being implemented through the Locust Warning\nOrganisation(LWO) which was established in 1939.<\/li><li>It was amalgamated in 1946 with\nthe Directorate of Plant Protection Quarantine and Storage (PPQS) of the\nMinistry of Agriculture.<\/li><li>The main objective of Locust\nWarning Organisation(LWO) is protection of standing crops and other green\nvegetation from the ravages of Desert locust which is one of the most dangerous\npests occurring in desert areas throughout the world.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/who-was-pandit-madan-mohan-malaviya-freedom-fighter-and-educationist-6184723\/\"><strong>Who was Pandit\nMadan Mohan Malaviya, freedom fighter and educationist<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>Indian Prime minister has said that India will always be grateful to\nPandit Madan Mohan Malaviya for his numerous contributions during India\u2019s\nindependence movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nPandit Madan Mohan Malaviya:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya(1861 \u2013\n1946) was an Indian educationist and a Freedom Fighter.He was also addressed as\nMahamana.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Role in\nIndian Freedom movement:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>As a member of the Imperial\nLegislative Council, he participated in the important debates most notable\nbeing the prohibition of recruitment of Indian indentured labour to the British\ncolonies.<\/li><li>He was a moderate leader and\nopposed the separate electorates for Muslims under the Lucknow Pact of 1916.<\/li><li>He had also attended the Second\nRound Table Conference in the year 1931.<\/li><li>He popularized the term \u2018Satyamev\nJayate\u2019.However,the phrase originally belongs to the Mundaka Upanishad.The term\nnow is the national motto of India.<\/li><li>In protest against the Communal\nAward which sought to provide separate electorates for minorities, Malaviya\nalong with Madhav Shrihari Aney left the Congress and started the Congress\nNationalist Party.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Contributions\nand Organizations:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>He started composing poetry at the\nage of fifteen with the pen name &#8216;Makarand&#8217;.<\/li><li>He founded &#8220;Prayaga Hindu Samaj&#8221;,\nand wrote several articles on the Contemporary issues and problems of the\ncountry.<\/li><li>In 1887,he established\n&#8220;Bharat Dharma Mahamandal&#8221; to propagate Sanatan Dharma and Hindu\nculture.<\/li><li>He also founded the Banaras Hindu\nUniversity(BHU) at Varanasi in 1916 which was created under the B.H.U. Act,\n1915.<\/li><li>He also founded the Hindu\nMahasabha in 1906 to oppose not the just claims of the Muslim community but the\n&#8220;divide and rule&#8221; policy of the British Government.<\/li><li>He also started the &#8216;Abhyudaya&#8217; as\na Hindi weekly in 1907 and made it a daily in 1915.He also started the\n&#8216;Maryada&#8217; a Hindi monthly in 1910 and &#8216;Leader&#8217; an English daily in 1909.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Awards:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Madan Mohan Malviya was\nposthumously conferred with Bharat Ratna, India&#8217;s highest civilian award in\n2014.<\/li><li>The train named Mahamana Express\nwas named after Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya in 2016.It runs between Delhi and\nVaranasi.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.livemint.com\/politics\/policy\/gst-council-to-set-up-grievance-redressal-mechanism-for-taxpayers-11577275840743.html\"><strong>GST Council to\nset up grievance redressal mechanism for taxpayers<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>The GST Council has decided to set up a grievance redressal mechanism\nfor taxpayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nGrievance Redressal Committee(GRC): <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The Grievance Redressal\nCommittee(GRC) at zonal and state levels will be set up as a redressal\nmechanism for taxpayers.<\/li><li>It will consist of both central\ntax and state tax officers, representatives of trade and industry and other\ngoods and services tax(GST) stakeholders.<\/li><li>The committee will be constituted\nfor a period of 2 years and the term of each member will be likewise.<\/li><li>The functions of the committee\ninclude examining and resolving all the grievances and issues being faced by\nthe taxpayers, including procedural difficulties and IT-related issues\npertaining to GST, both specific and general nature.<\/li><li>The committee will meet once every\nquarter or more frequently as decided by the co-chairs.<\/li><li>If any member of the panel would\nbe absent for three consecutive meetings,the member will be replaced with a\nfresh nomination by the principal chief commissioner of State tax.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Additional\ninformation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nGST Council:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Goods &amp; Services Tax(GST)\nCouncil is a constitutional body for making recommendations to the Union and\nState Government on issues related to Goods and Service Tax.<\/li><li>As per Article 279A (1) of the\nconstitution, the GST Council was constituted by the President.<\/li><li>The council consists of the\nfollowing members: (a) The Union Finance Minister is the Chairperson (b) The\nUnion Minister of State in-charge of Revenue of finance and (c) The Minister\nIn-charge of finance or taxation or any other Minister nominated by each State\nGovernment.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/business\/govt-forms-expert-panel-for-time-bound-resolution-of-disputes-in-oil-gas-sector-6184974\/\"><strong>Govt forms\nexpert panel for time-bound resolution of disputes in oil &amp; gas sector<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>Government has constituted a Committee of External Eminent\nPersons\/Experts for time-bound resolution of disputes in Oil and gas sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Facts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About\nthe committee:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The committee will consist of\nthree members.It will help the oil and gas sector get rid of disputes without\nhaving to resort to tardy judicial process.<\/li><li>The committee will have a tenure\nof three years and the resolution will be attempted to be arrived at within\nthree months.<\/li><li>The panel will arbitrate on a\ndispute between partners in a contract or with the government over commercial\nor production issues for oil and gas.<\/li><li>It shall exercise all powers and\ndischarge all the functions necessary for carrying out conciliation and\nmediation proceedings as per the provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation\nAct,1996.<\/li><li>Once a resolution has been\nreferred to the panel, the parties cannot resort to arbitration or court case\nto resolve it.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Significance\nof this committee:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The country\u2019s oil and gas sector\nhas been plagued by disputes from cost recovery to production targets and\ncompanies as well as the government have resorted to lengthy and costly\narbitration followed by judicial review, a process that takes years to resolve\ndifferences.<\/li><li>Hence,this decision may lift\noverall business sentiment, especially in the oil and gas sector which in\nreturn will help the sector get rid of disputes choking investment in it. <\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Massive locust invasion threatens Gujarat farmers News:The migratory insect locust has spread to the Northern parts of Gujarat, causing significant damage to agriculture. Facts: About Locust: Locusts are certain species of short-horned grasshoppers that have a swarming phase.They belong to the family Acrididae. Swarming refers to a collective behaviour in which locusts aggregate together just&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/auto-draft-25\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">9 PM Current Affairs Brief \u2013 December 26th, 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],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54699","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":1704946449},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54699","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=54699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54699\/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=54699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}