Current Affairs UPSC- 16 Jan 2020

Please find the important news and practise questions for the newspaper dated 15 Jan 2020.

Lets start with the idea of how to read 'The Hindu' for UPSC prep.

Q: Is reading a newspaper compulsory to clear UPSC CSE exam?
A: Looking at the syllabus, it becomes clear that current affairs play a major role in the selection. 
In Prelims: Current events of national and international importance
In Mains: Current affairs will add special flavour to your answers in GS2 and GS3 in particular and all the remaining papers in general
In personality test- UPSC checks "Candidates are expected to have taken an intelligent interest not only in their special subjects of academic study but also in the events which are happening around them both within and outside their own State or Country as well as in modern currents of thought and in new discoveries which should rouse the curiosity of well educated youth"

Hence one cannot afford to ignore the current affairs part.

Q: Can we rely on monthly compilations of current affairs?
A: Monthly compilations offer an excellent source for revision. However one needs to read newspaper regularly and then revise the same with the help of these compilations.

Q: Do we need to make notes while reading the newspaper?
A: The answer is ... it really depends. One of the aims of this blog post is to discuss how to finish reading the newspaper quickly and make a note of important points without wasting time and efforts unnecessarily. 

The Hindu - 15 Jan 2020 (Since Pongal is a holiday, no Hindu paper

will be available for 16th Jan)

Lets Start with page wise news (which may be relevant for UPSC CSE)- Delhi Edition.

Page 1: 

SC rejects curative pleas of 2 Nirbhaya death row convicts

Focus on- curative petition, review petition and mercy petition (differences between them can be important for prelims)

Try to remember (to use in GS2 mains- in answer related to capital punishment) 

A party can take only two limited grounds in a curative petition — one, he was not heard by the court before the adverse judgment was passed, and two, the judge was biased.

Curative is a rare remedy devised by a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in its judgment in the Rupa Ashok Hurra case in 2002.

Kerala govt. challenges CAA in SC

Focus on- Articles mentioned- Art 131 and Art 256 (refer to the following articles)

Page 5:

ASER flags poor learning outcomes in rural schools

Focus on- Data (need not remember exact data) The idea is important that learning outcomes especially with respect to listening comprehension and mathematics is very poor among the children, especially in government schools.

A quick understanding of ASER- 

ASER stands for  Annual Status of Education Report and is published by an NGO- Pratham.

The word aser means impact in Hindustani.

Page 8:

Respond to Odisha’s plea on Polavaram

Focus on- Polavaram project is planned on which river?

What are the states covered by this river and tributaries.

Page 9:

CRZ rules eased for ‘Blue Flag’ beaches

Focus on- CRZ rules, Blue Flag certification. For such topics better to do a quick review of the rules.

Coastal Regulation Zone rules are released by the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change. Recently the ministry notified CRZ rules 2019 replacing earlier rules of 2011. 

Blue Flag certification is accorded by the Denmark-based Foundation for Environment Education FEE, with 33 stringent criteria under four major heads for the beaches, that is, (i) Environmental Education and Information (ii) Bathing Water Quality (iii) Environment Management and Conservation and (iv) Safety and Services.

Chandrabagha beach in Odisha is the first beach in Asia to get this certification in 2018. (Check this- odisha-beach-is-asias-first-to-get-blue-flag-tag)

Policy on rare diseases another piece of paper

Focus on- Try to get info on the policy (important for prelims and mains both)

This article should prompt one to do quick research on this policy.

You may refer to the following mind map for the same.

Summary of the policy- for quick review

Keeping in view lack of availability of epidemiological data on rare diseases, constraints on resources and competing health priorities, the focus of the Government will be on the following : 

1. The Government will have a National Registry for Rare Diseases at ICMR with the objective of creating a database of various rare diseases. Steps have already been taken in this direction by ICMR. Over a period of time, the registry is expected to yield enough information to be able to arrive at a definition of rare diseases best suited to the Country. 
2. The Government shall take steps to create awareness amongst all levels of health care personnel as well as general public towards the rare diseases. This will encourage people to seek pre-marital genetic counselling, identification of high-risk couples & families and also result in prevention of births as well as early detection of cases of rare diseases. 
3. Public Health and hospitals being a State subject, the Central Government shall encourage and support the State Governments in implementation of a targeted preventive strategy . 
4. State Governments will be supported for undertaking screening & diagnosis amongst high-risk pregnant women as well as amongst suspected cases of rare diseases reporting to Government facilities as a result of the awareness building activities. 
1. prenatal diagnosis: Amniocentecis and/or CVS testing would be offerred to those pregnant women in whom there is a history of a child born with a rare disease and that rare disease diagnosis has been confirmed diagnosis. The samples would be sent to testing and confirmation at Centers of Excellence for Rare Diseases. 
2. For newborns / Children: Neonatal screening amongst newborns with a family history of a rare disease (with confirmed diagnosis).
   
5. The Government shall provide financial assistance upto Rs. 15.0 lakh (under the Umbrella Scheme of Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi) to (upto 40%) the entitled population, as per PMJAY norms, for their treatment in Government tertiary hospital, for rare diseases amenable to one-time treatment (identified under Category I). 
6. The State Governments may undertake treatment of disorders managed with special dietary formulae or food for special medical purposes (FSMP) and Disorders that are amenable to other forms of therapy (hormone/ specific drugs)- diseases covered under Category II. 
7. The Government shall notify selected Centres of Excellence at premier Government hospitals for comprehensive management of rare diseases.
   
8. The Government shall create a digital platform for bringing together notified Centres of Excellence where patients of rare diseases can receive treatment or come for treatment, on the one hand, and prospective voluntary individual or corporate donors willing to support treatment of such patients. Funds received through this mechanism will be utilized for treatment of patients suffering from rare diseases.
   

Disclaimer

Although the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure that the information in this blog was correct at the publishing time, the author and publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.

1. The Government shall facilitate the creation of an enabling environment that promotes research & development of diagnostic and therapeutic modalities within the Country.