EVERYDAY CURRENT AFFAIRS – JULY 5, 2019

TAMIL NADU
Tamil Nadu – is planning a new desalination plant in North Chennai
to cater exclusively to thermal units of Tangedco
 Chennai already has two desalination plants at Minjur and Nemili, each with a
capacity of 100 million litres per day (MLD).
 Another plant with 150 MLD capacity will come up at Nemili.
 The one planned in North Chennai is the fourth desalination plant in Chennai.
 There are two thermal units with 600MW capacity each in North Chennai.
 The new desal plant will be set up at a cost of ₹200 crore and will have a
capacity of 10 MLD.

STATES
Uttarakhand – to levy ‘green tax’ to tourists
 It would be levied to all the tourists, including the pilgrims going on Char Dham
Yatra, adventure sports lovers or those planning gala wedding events with the
Himalayas as the backdrop
 The tax would be decided by the urban local body of the place
 The revenue generated thus would be utilised for the area‟s development and
sustenance of eco-friendly practices.
 The move comes after the Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution
Control Board (UEPPCB) raised the matter of increasing pollution due to entry of
tourists in the Himalayan state
Delhi Police - signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with
Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to set up Rooftop Solar
Energy Systems in more than 200 of its buildings across the city.
 Under this green initiative project, Rooftop Solar Systems of total capacity of
about 3-4 MW will be installed on top of the buildings

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 SECI is government‟s nodal agency for implementation of the National Solar
Mission (NSM)
 Incorporated as a company under Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
(MNRE), it is the only Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSU) dedicated to
solar energy sector.
Manohar Lal Khattar, Chief Minister of Haryana - has announced an
annual financial health assistance of Rs.5 lakh to loktantra
senanis for treatment at private or government hospitals.
 Loktantra Senanis are people who were jailed during 1975-1977 Emergency
under preventive detention laws.
 They are already provided a monthly pension of Rs 10,000 by the state
government and also free travel in the Haryana Roadways buses
 Indian Emergency that started from 25th June 1975 continued for a 21 month
period up to 21st March 1977
 President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, upon advice by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi,
declared a state of national emergency under Article 352 of Indian Constitution
NATIONAL
The Economic Survey 2019, prepared by CEA Krishnamurthy
Subramanian - was tabled in Parliament by the Union Finance
Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 4

 It serves as the official economic report of the country and is presented a day
before the Union Budget.
 The Survey outlines the blueprint to achieve PM Narendra Modi‟s vision of $5
trillion Economy
 The key aim is to make India the third largest economy in the world and for that
India will need to achieve an annual GDP growth rate of 8%.

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 Theme of Economic Survey 2019 - To enable shifting gears to accelerate and
sustain a real GDP growth rate of 8% and thereby achieve the vision of 5 trillion
economy.

 It calls for transforming from „Beti Bachao Beti Padhao‟ to „BADLAV‟, from
„Swachh Bharat‟ to „Sundar Bharat‟, from ‘Give it up” for the LPG subsidy to
‘Think about the Subsidy‟, from „Tax evasion‟ to „Tax compliance‟ among other
changes.

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 The Survey has projected the real GDP growth at 7% for the year 2019-20,
slightly higher than the 6.8% in 2018-19, considering the expected pickup in the
growth of investment and consumption
 The general fiscal deficit seen at 5.8% in FY19 against 6.4% in FY18
 In his first Survey, Dr. Subramanian highlighted the fact that private investment
was a key driver for demand, capacity, labour productivity, new technology
adoption, and for job creation.
 Economic Survey 2019 highlights that enabling behaviour change is simplest
way to change gender equations, business culture, sanitation culture, health
culture and so on.
 Indian MSMEs need to be freed from shackles that convert them into dwarfs.
 MSMEs need to be seen as a source of innovation, growth and job creation.
 Here, “Dwarfs” refer to the firms having less than 100 workers despite being over
10 years old.
 Currently, the contribution of small firms to employment is only 14% and
productivity is 8%.
 On the other hand, the large firms account for around 75% employment and 90%
of productivity
 The estimated growth rate for agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors is 2.9%.
The projected output of food grains production for 2018-19- 283.4 million tons.
 Imports slated to grow at 15.4% while exports projected to grow at 12.5% for the
year 2018-19.

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 The Survey aims to use Behavioural Economics advances to address issues
such as gender equality, a healthy and a beautiful India, savings, tax compliance
and credit quality.

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 India became the seventh largest economy by sustaining growth rates higher
than China

 The Economic Survey calls for the establishment of a national floor minimum
wage and states that the states should fix their minimum wages above the floor
wage.
 India has 1,915 minimum wages for various scheduled job categories across
states
 It proposes a „National level dashboard‟ under the Ministry of Labour &
Employment for regular notifications on minimum wages

 The minimum ages should be fixed on the basis of:

 Skill category-unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled and highly skilled
 Geographical region or both
 The Economic Survey suggests that there should be an easy toll-free number for
grievance redressal on non-payment of minimum wages.
 Key Achievements in last 5 years- Establishment of macro stability, invested in
infrastucture through UDAAN Scheme.
 The Economic Survey suggests that delays in disposal resolution are one of the
biggest hurdles to achieving a higher GDP growth rate and around 87.5% cases
are pending at the district and subordinate court level.
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 The situation, however, can be resolved by employing more judges in these
courts.
 The Economic Survey suggests filling out 2279 vacancies in lower courts and 93
in High Courts along with 25% productivity increase in lower courts, 4% increase
in High Court and 18% productivity increase in the Supreme Court can help in
faster disposal of backlog cases.
 The idea of government in India was based on a theory called the Matsyanyaya,
literally meaning the “law of fish” or the “law of the jungle.”
 Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal need special attention.

 Government must intervene in creating data for the good of the people,
especially for poor and social sectors.
 The survey intended setting up a central welfare database of citizens — by
merging different data maintained by separate Ministries and departments —
which can be used for enhancing ease of living for citizens, particularly the poor.

 The Economic Survey has recommended that digital technology and the JAM
troika — Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile — be expanded to other welfare
schemes, citing their favourable impact on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme.
 India requires 2.5 times increase in per capita energy consumption to increase
its real per capita GDP by USD 5000 at 2010 prices to enter the upper-middle
income group.

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 India presently stands at 4th in wind power, 5th in solar power and 5th in
renewable power installed capacity.
 Market share of electric cars is only 0.06 percent in India while it is 2 percent in
China and 39 percent in Norway.
 India needs faster access to fast battery charging facilities to increase the market
share of electric vehicles
 India‟s ranking improved by 23rd to 77th position in 2018 among 190 countries
assessed by the World Bank Doing Business (DB) Report 2019

 Citing improved life expectancy, the Economic Survey has made a case for
increasing the retirement age
 The Economic Survey has suggested that a higher retirement age would be
crucial for the viability of the pension system apart from increasing female labour
force participation in older age groups.
 Although lower than other economies, in 2016, healthy life expectancy at the age
of 60 in India (the number of years a 60-year-old is expected to live in good
health) was estimated at 12.9 years — 12.5 for males and 13.3 for females —
compared to 20 years or more in Singapore, Japan, France, Canada and
Australia
 Economic Survey calls for optimising education infrastructure, if necessary by
merging schools

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 This will need to be balanced by a increase in health infrastructure with an
expanded focus on geriatric care
 Diarrhoea and malaria cases have dropped significantly among children below
five years, in sync with increase in household toilet coverage in rural areas
between 2014 and 2019

 By March this year, toilet coverage in rural India was over 95% from less than
33.5% in 2014

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Odisha’s coastal town of Puri - welcomed six lakh devotees to the
annual rath yatra (car festival) of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra
and Goddess Subhadra on July 4

 Puri Jagannath Rath Yatra is one of the grandest festivals and believed to be the
oldest chariot festival of the world.
 This festival is this much old that it is mentioned in Brahama Purana, Padma
Purana and Skanda Purana
 Three decorated chariots of Lord Jagannath, along with his brother Lord
Balabhadra and their sister Goddess Subhadra are pulled through the streets of
Puri
 On the day of the procession, the holy ritual of Chhera Pahara is performed by
the royal successor of Orissa.
 During Chhera Pahara, the deities are brought from the temple by the King and
are placed on the chariot
 Getting a chance to pull the chariots is considered to be a good omen and is
considered to bring a lot of luck and prosperity to people‟s lives.
Supreme Court - to make its judgments available in regional
languages on its official website by the end of this month
 To begin with, judgments will be translated into six vernacular languages -
Assamese, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Odia and Telugu
 The aim of making them available in regional languages is to enable litigants to
check out the status of their cases without having to depend on lawyers.
 Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi has also cleared the indigenously developed
software by the electronic software wing of the SC
 Unlike orders written in English that are posted on the website on the day they
are passed, the translated versions would be uploaded a week later
 The President of India Shri Ramnath Kovind, in October 2017, had mooted this
idea while speaking at the Valedictory Function of the Diamond Jubilee
Celebrations of High Court of Kerala
The Lok Sabha cleared the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment)
Bill, 2019 by a voice vote on July 4
 The Bill replaces an Ordinance promulgated on March 2 and provides for a stiff
₹1 crore penalty and a jail term to private entities for storing Aadhaar data.
 It also makes the use of Aadhaar voluntary for opening a bank account, securing
a mobile phone connection, or receiving treatment in hospital.

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The Government – had informed in the Parliament that there is 1
doctor for every 1,457 people as per the country’s current
population estimate of 1.35 billion
 It is lower than the World Health Organisation norm of 1:1000
 A little over 11.57 lakh allopathic doctors are registered with the state medical
councils and the Medical council of India
 Besides there are 7.88 lakh Ayurveda, Unani and Homeopathy doctors in the
country
South Central Railway (SCR) - has commissioned the longest
electrified tunnel measuring 6.6 kms in Indian Railways between
Cherlopalli and Rapuru Railway stations in Nellore district, Andhra
Pradesh

 The tunnel construction was completed in a record time of 43 months

 It will be helpful for decongesting traffic on Vijayawada-Gudur main line
 It is constructed on a New Australian Tunnelling Method, at a cost of Rs 460
crore with a horseshoe design
 SCR is one of the 18 Indian railways zone
 Its jurisdiction zone is spread over states of Maharashtra, Telangana, and some
portions of Madhya Pradesh.
 It has 3 divisions under its administration, which include Nanded, Secunderabad,
Hyderabad
Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare - has signed a
Statement of Intent (SoI) with IBM India Private Limited (Indian
subsidiary of IBM) for a pilot study to use Artificial Intelligence (AI)
and weather technology solutions in agriculture

 It will be undertaken in selected pilot districts of Bhopal, Rajkot and Nanded in

Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra respectively during the Kharif crop
season 2019.
 As part of collaboration, IBM‟s Watson Decision Platform for Agriculture will be
utilised to provide weather forecast and soil moisture information for better crop
production and management
 Watson Decision Platform for Agriculture improves the crop productivity by
combining predictive analytics, AI, weather data, and Internet of Things (IoT)
sensors

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 SUPREME COURT VERDICT
Supreme Court - has directed Meghalaya state government to
deposit Rs.100 crore fine imposed on it by National Green Tribunal
(NGT) for failing to curb illegal coal mining with Central Pollution
Control Board (CPCB)
 A SC bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice K M Joseph has directed
state administration to hand over illegally extracted coal to Coal India Limited
(CIL) which will auction it and deposit the funds with state government
 The report of committee headed by former High Court Judge B P Katakey (or
Katakey Committee) had earlier proved the allegations of environmental
degradation by illegal and unregulated coal mining in the state
 On 13 December 2018, total of 15 miners were presumed dead in an illegal coal
mine in East Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya when water from nearby Lytein
river gushed into it
ECONOMY
Cab major, Ola - has got a license to operate in London, as it
prepares to take on US-based Uber in the market
 The company has been steadily expanding across the UK since last year with
services in cities like Liverpool, Cardiff and Birmingham.
 Ola is the only platform in the UK that offers both private hire vehicles and black
cabs with over 10,000 drivers registered on the platform in the country.
 Ola is currently pushing for international expansion since last year after being in
markets like Australia and New Zealand
APPOINTMENTS
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director, Christine
Lagarde - has been confirmed as the first woman head of European
Central bank (ECB)
 She will now step down 2 years before end of her second five-year term as IMF
Chief.
 She would be succeeding Mario Draghi, whose term ends on 31 October 2019
 Lagarde was the 1st woman to head International Monetary Fund (IMF) when
she took the job in 2011
 ECB is the central bank of 19 European Union (EU) countries which have
adopted Euro
 It was established on 1 June 1998 with Headquarters in Ostend district,
Frankfurt, Germany
 After U.S. Federal Reserve, ECB is most influential central bank in world.

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 AWARDS
US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) - has selected
MasterCard CEO and President Ajay Banga and Wipro Chairman
Azim Premji for its 2019 Global Excellence Awards

 Jared Kushner, senior adviser to US President will be presenting the awards at

USISPF‟s 2nd Annual Leadership Summit scheduled to be held on 11 July in
Washington, US
 The prestigious awards are being conferred to the illustrious luminaries for
strengthening economic ties between US and India
SPORTS
Sprinter Hima Das - won the women's 200m gold in the Poznan
Athletics Grand Prix in Poland

 This was Hima's first competitive 200m race of the year following her back
issues
 Hima is the world junior champion and national record holder in 400m
 Another Indian, V K Vismaya finished third in the race
 National record holder shot putter Tajinder Pal Singh Toor also bagged a bronze
medal in the meet, while Muhammed Anas, the 400m national record holder,
was third in the men's 200m race
 K S Jeevan also won the men's 400m bronze in the event

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