Current Affairs | National | International | SSC | UPSC 20th September 2024

 

National news 

1. India demands modification of the Indus Water Treaty. 

• India has sent a formal notice to Pakistan to review and modification of the Indus Water Treaty. 
• Under Article XII (3) of the Treaty, from time to time the treaty provisions could be modified between both governments. 
• In September 1960, the Indus Waters Treaty was signed in Karachi by Jawaharlal Nehru and Ayub Khan. 
• Under the provisions of the treaty, the Eastern rivers—the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi will be available for unrestricted use by India, while the Western rivers the Indus, the Jhelum and the Chenab will be available for unrestricted use by Pakistan. 
• India is demanding fundamental and unforeseen changes in circumstances that require a reassessment of obligations under various articles of the Indus Water Treaty. 
• India wants to foster the development of clean energy to meet its emission reduction targets, environmental issues, and change in population demographics. 

2. New animation, VFX centre to create 5 lakh jobs, says I&B Minister 

• Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said the National Centre of Excellence (NCOE) for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics, and Extended Reality (AVGC-XR) to be set up by the Centre will have the potential to create about five lakh jobs. 
• "Films like RRR, Baahubali, The Lion King and Avatar have demonstrated the immense potential of animation and immersive technology! India's Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) sector is poised for explosive growth, with vast opportunities for employment and innovation," the Minister said in a post on X. 
• "What does AVGC and immersive tech cover? Immersive technologies create lifelike, interactive experiences. This includes Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR) and 3D modelling & animation. Whether you're a 3D animator, VR/AR creator, game developer or comic artist, this is your play-ground!" he said. 
• Mr. Vaishnaw said the centre would be the gateway for aspirants to master immersive tech. 

3. Union Minister Amit Shah launched ‘White Revolution 2.0’. 

• ‘White Revolution 2.0’ has been launched by the Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah. 
• It has been launched with an action plan for the formation and strengthening of 2 lakh new Multipurpose Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies, and dairy and fishery cooperatives. 
• ‘White Revolution 2.0’ will focus on empowering women and further strengthening the fight against malnutrition. 
• Under White Revolution 2.0, the government has set a target to increase milk procurement by dairy cooperative societies by 50 per cent over the next five years. 
• This program is focused on four key areas – empowering women farmers, enhancing local milk production, strengthening dairy infrastructure and boosting dairy exports. 
• The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) will fund the initiative from its resources. 
• Amit Shah also launched RuPay Kisan Credit Cards for dairy farmers and the installation of micro-ATMs at dairy cooperative societies. 

International news 

4. India and the EU have decided to work together in the area of sustainable water management. 

• India and the EU have decided to work together with focus on river basin management. 
• The EU Ambassador to India praised the EU's growing partnership with India in water management during the inauguration of the India-EU Water Forum on September 18. 
• During the 6th EU-India Water Forum, India and the EU decided to strengthen their cooperation in sustainable water management. 
• 6th EU-India Water Forum took place on the sidelines of the 8th India Water Week. 
• In order to solve issues with East Africa's water bodies, such as Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika, the forum examined trilateral cooperation between East Africa, India, and the European Union. 
• The India-EU Water Partnership (IEWP) was established in 2016. 
• The goal of the IEWP is to improve the frameworks for policy, science, and technology in water management. 
• The EU and India are working together on river management in the Tapi and Ramganga River Basins under the IEWP. 
• Presently, IEWP is in Phase III. The collaboration will broaden its efforts to include other key basins, such as the Brahmaputra, under Phase III. 

5. China will be 'high' on Quad Summit agenda: U.S. 

• China will be "high on the agenda" at the summit-level meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), comprising the U.S., India, Australia and Japan, according to White House spokesperson John Kirby. 
• U.S. President Joe Biden will host Quad leaders in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, on Saturday. Mr. Biden will meet individually with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese of Australia and Fumio Kishida of Japan. They will also meet together to discuss "expanding cooperation across a range of critically important issues" according to the White House. 
• "In fact, it would be irresponsible if they did not talk about the challenges that still exist in the region, caused by aggressive PRC military action, for instance, unfair trade practices, tensions over the Tai- wan Strait. I have no doubt that all those issues will come up," he said. 
• Also on the agenda are health security, natural disaster response, maritime security, infrastructure, critical and emerging technologies, climate, clean energy and cyber security, according to Mr. Kirby.
• Asked by a journalist at Wednesday's White House briefing if Mr. Biden would discuss human rights with Mr. Modi, Mr. Kirby said he did not want to get ahead of the conversations but that if appropriate, Mr. Biden would do so. 
• "There's not a conversation that he has with foreign leaders where he does not talk about the importance of respecting human and civil rights, and that includes with Prime Minister Modi," Mr. Kirby said, adding that Mr. Biden had raised the issue previously with Mr. Modi. 
• "And I'm sure that as appropriate, he'll be [doing so] going forward," he said. 
• Also expected are announcements that demonstrate that the Quad "thrives over the long term", Mr. Kirby said on Thursday. 
• The group has seen commitments from Democratic and Republican Presidents. 
• It was revived in 2017, during the Donald Trump presidency, while Mr. Biden hosted the first leader-level meeting of the Quad in September 2021. 
• The summit will be the last such meeting for two of the four leaders, with Mr. Biden and Mr. Kishida announcing that they will not seek re-election. 

6. India should increase court system capacity, reduce pending trials: FATF 

• India should aim to reduce the number of pending trials in money laundering cases by making major changes to increase the capacity of the court system, and potentially the capability of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), as per the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) mutual assessment report of India. 
• Major changes to address delays relating to the prosecution of terror financing cases have also been suggested. 
• "Although the convic- tion rate stands at almost 97%, there are a number of factors that may explain the low number of prosecutions over the evaluation period. One important reason relates to a constitutional challenge through 121 petitions to PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) provisions since 2018, which put on hold a number of trials and was only disposed of by the Supreme Court (Vijay Madanlal Chowdhary vs. Union of India) in July 2022," it said. 
• During the check period, 4,163 investigations were initiated and 132 dropped later, prosecution complaints filed in 864 cases, while 28 convictions were secured by the ED. The agency faced only one acquittal. 
• Report says India faces terror financing threats, including those related to IS and al Qaeda 
• The FATF observed that the challenges were made to several powers of the ED under the PMLA that would have impacted their investigations and prosecutions over the period. 
• "The issues under challenge were ultimately decided in favour of ED and the provisions of PMLA were upheld. Although there are still legal challenges relating to the PMLA which are awaiting decision in the Supreme Court, this has not impacted PMLA prosecutions since the 2022 decision," said the report. 
• Saturation of system It said the limited number of specialised prosecutors in ED and special court judges had also contributed to a saturation of the judicial system "i.e., inability to prosecute." 
• However, the FATF said the country had achieved a high level of technical compliance across the FATF recommendations. 
• The FATF report observed that India faces serious terrorism and terror financing threats, including related to Islamic State or al Qaeda. 

State news 

7. President Murmu attends Safai Mitra Sammelan in Ujjain 

• President Droupadi Murmu attended the Safai Mitra Sammelan in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. 
• The Safai Mitra Sammelan was organised as part of the fortnightly Swachhata Hi Seva—2024 campaign launched by the government of India. 
• This year’s campaign focuses on facilitating and honouring sanitation workers -Safai Mitra’s contribution to the Swacch Bharat Mission. 
• The theme of this year’s Swachhata Hi Seva – 2024 campaign is ‘Swabhav Swachhata – Sanskaar Swachhata’. 
• The Swachhata Hi Seva—2024 campaign will run from 17 September to 2 October 2024. 

Economy News 

8. India becomes 6th largest market in MSCI ACWI 

• India has become the sixth largest market in the MSCI All Country World Investable Market Index (ACWI IMI), surpassing China and narrowly behind France. 
• For the first time, India is the largest emerging market (EM) in the gauge that tracks the performance of global capital markets.
• At the end of August, India’s weight in the MSCI ACWI IMI stood at 2.35 percent, 11 basis points (bps) more than China’s, which is 2.24 percent. France has just 3 bps more weight than India. 
• The MSCI ACWI IMI index encompasses stocks in the large—and mid-cap space. It is a spinoff of the more widely followed MSCI ACWI Index, which has only large—and mid-cap representation. 

9. Airtel Payments Bank names Amar Kumar as Chief Compliance Officer 

• Airtel Payments Bank has appointed Amar Kumar Kakarlapudi as its new Chief Compliance Officer. 
• Amar will be responsible for enhancing the Bank’s compliance framework and ensuring that regulatory and statutory requirements are met seamlessly. 
• As Chief Compliance Officer, Amar will be a vital partner for the Bank in achieving core and non-core compliance standards and a crucial interface between the bank and regulatory agencies, all while developing a solid compliance and regulatory framework. 

Recent Appointment in Banking & Insurance Sector 

• MD & CEO of Galaxy Health Insurance – G Srinivasan 
• MD & CEO of IFFCO Tokio General Insurance -Subrata Mondal 
• MD & CEO of Central Depository Services (India) Limited – Nehal Vora 
• MD & CEO of Federal Bank – Krishnan Venkat Subramanian 
• MD of State Bank of India – Rama Mohan Rao Amara (replace C S Setty)
• MD of NABCONS (NABARD Consultancy Services) – Y Haragopal

10. Interest rates reduced by the Federal Reserve to 4.75%-5%, with further cuts indicated in 2024. 

• On 18 September, the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point, marking the start of an aggressive set of policy changes aimed at strengthening the U.S. labor market. 
• The Federal Reserve lowered its key lending rate target by 0.5 percentage points to 4.75%-5%. 
• Projections released following their two-day meeting showed a narrow majority, 10 of 19 officials, favoured lowering rates by at least an additional half-point over their two remaining 2024 meetings. 
• The Federal Open Market Committee voted to lower the federal funds rate to a range of 4.75% to 5%. 
• The rate had previously remained at a 20-year high for more than a year. 
• The Committee remains confident that inflation is moving steadily toward 2%. 
• At the same time, the Committee believes that risks to achieving the employment and inflation goals are roughly balanced. 
• Officials have updated quarterly economic forecasts, raising their average estimate for unemployment at the end of 2024 to 4.4% from June's 4% forecast. 

Sports news 

11. India’s Dhanush Loganathan wins Bronze in Men’s 55kg at IWF Junior World Championships 2024 

• In Weightlifting, India’s Dhanush Loganathan won the bronze medal in the men’s 55kg event at the IWF Junior World Weightlifting Championships 2024 in Leon, Spain. 
• The 17-year-old Indian weightlifter lifted a total of 231kg (107 snatch+124kg clean and jerk) for bronze. 
• Medals at the junior World Weightlifting Championships 2024 are awarded separately in snatch, clean and jerk and total categories. 
• Dhanush also clinched a bronze medal in the snatch and finished 13th in the clean and jerk. Vietnam’s K Duong won the gold medal for lifting 253kg (115kg+140kg) and Japan’s Kotaro Tomari, clinched the silver medal for a total of 247kg (108kg+139kg). 
• The Indian weightlifting contingent at the Junior World Championships for the under-21 weightlifters includes three men and six women. Payal (women’s 45kg) and Panchami Sonowal (women’s 49kg) also competed today but could not win medals. 

12. Punjab clinched the 14th Hockey India Junior Men’s National Championship 2024. 

• Punjab defeated Uttar Pradesh in the finals of the 14th Hockey India Junior Men’s National Championship 2024 at the Olympian Surjit Singh Hockey Stadium. 
• The final winner of the match is decided in the shootout, with Punjab winning 4-3 to lift the trophy. 
• Sukhwinder Singh (5'), Jarman Singh (33'), and Jobanpreet Singh (39') scored goals for Punjab. 
• Ajeet Yadav (31'), Suraj Pal (48'), and Akash Pal (54') scored one goal each for Uttar Pradesh. 
• Haryana defeated Karnataka 5-0 to secure third place on the podium. 

13. The equal prize money for men and women in World Cups announced by the ICC. 

• On 17 September, equal prize money for men and women in the World Cup was announced by the International Cricket Council, starting with the Women's T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates next month. 
• The ICC said in a statement that the winning team of the Women's T20 World Cup will be awarded $2.34 million, which is 134% more than the $1 million paid to Australian women if they win the title in South Africa in 2023. 
• India, who won the Men's T20 World Cup earlier this year, received a cash prize of $2.45 million. 
• The ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 will be the first ICC event where women will receive the same prize money as their male counterparts, marking a significant milestone in the history of the sport. 
• The move is in line with the ICC's strategy to priorities the women's game and accelerate its growth towards 2032.

Events news

14. Union Minister Dr. Virendra Kumar inaugurated the 19th Divya Kala Mela on 19th September 2024. 

• Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Dr. Virendra Kumar inaugurated it in Visakhapatnam. 
• Divya Kala Mela is an embodiment of the ‘Vocal for Local’ movement. 
• The Divya Kala Mela is being organized by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) through National Divyangjan Finance and Development Corporation (NDFDC).
• From September 19 to September 29, 2024, Divyang entrepreneurs and craftsmen from all across the nation will have their products and handiwork on display at the Mela. 
• There will be over 100 Divyang entrepreneurs, artists, and artisans exhibiting their goods and abilities from roughly 20 states and UTs. 
• One special effort to support Divyangjans' economic development is the Divya Kala Mela. 
• The series began in 2022, and the edition in Visakhapatnam is the 19th. 

15. Nadi Utsav 2024 inaugurated at IGNCA in New Delhi. 

• On 19 September, the three-day Nadi Utsav inaugurated at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts – IGNCA in New Delhi to celebrate the significance of India’s rivers. 
• Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) is hosting the fifth edition of Nadi Utsav from September 19-21, 2024. 
• The festival is being celebrated under the theme 'Rivers in Reverse: Making of a Lifeline', focusing on the elements of culture in and around the river. 
• Since its launch in 2018, the Nadi Utsav has sought to increase public awareness of the value of rivers, seeing them not just as natural resources but as an integral part of India's cultural heritage. 
• The event will also include a documentary film festival titled My River Story, which will screen 11 films focusing on river themes. 

Agreements News

16. The Indian Coast Guard (ICG), The Habitats Trust and HCL Foundation signed a MoU for marine conservation in New Delhi. 

• The main objective of this initiative is to implement critical conservation efforts. 
• These include the removal of ghost nets, mapping and classifying areas affected by ghost gear, and improving understanding to prioritize cleanup efforts. 
• As part of this MoU, surveys will be carried out in ecologically sensitive regions to protect and monitor marine biodiversity. 
• In order to promote stewardship of marine ecosystems, the ICG, Habitats Trust, and HCL Foundation will collaborate to involve coastal communities in conservation efforts. 
• Ghost gear refers to derelict fishing gear. It refers to any lost, abandoned, or thrown fishing gear found in maritime environments. 

Policy news 

17. Haryana BJP manifesto offers women ₹2,100 monthly aid 

• A day after the Congress released its manifesto for the Haryana Assembly election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came out with its 'Sankalp Patra' offering monthly assistance of 2,100 for women, which is 100 more than what its rival has promised. The BJP, seeking its third consecutive term in the State, has promised two lakh government jobs, 10 industrial towns, a guarantee of government jobs for Engineers, and full scholarship for Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Class students at government medical and engineering colleges. 
• Releasing the 72-page document, titled "Non-Stop Haryana Ka Sankalp Patra", on Thursday, BJP president J.P. Nadda said a BJP government would continue to procure 24 crops at the minimum support price, as already announced by the Chief Minister, and provide cooking gas cylinders to BPL families for ₹500 each. 
• The party promised to create job opportunities for five lakh youth and pay monthly stipend under the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme. On returning to power, the BJP government would give incentives to industrialists, and provide jobs to 50,000 local youth in each of the 10 industrial towns promised in the manifesto, Mr. Nadda said. 
• The promises include separate welfare Boards for Backward Class communities, a metro network connecting Gurugram and Faridabad, making Haryana a global education centre, and a safari park in the Aravallis to promote tourism. Besides, the manifesto promises five lakh houses in urban and rural areas, and free dialysis and diagnostic facilities at government hospitals. Attacking the Congress, 
• Mr. Nadda said the party had made the election manifesto a "diluted document" and "ended its relevance", but the BJP has started the "culture of report cards" and was committed to fulfilling the promises. He said Haryana was known for corruption in jobs and land scams 10 years ago, but during the BJP's rule over the past decade, the per capita income of the State doubled, exports grew three times ,and 5,800 villages got round-the-clock power supply from only 538 in 2014. 
• The BJP's national secretary and manifesto committee president, Om Prakash Dhankar, said the document had something for "every section of society". 
• Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the BJP had "exposed its own failures" with the release of its manifesto. He said the party was giving new slogans in 2024 to "mislead" the electorate.