CURRENT AFFAIRS NOVEMBER 2020 - Amazon S3

1 1 Vision IAS VISION IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS NOVEMBER 2020 Copyright by Vision IAS All rights are reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of Vision IAS. 2 Vision IAS Table of Contents 1. POLITY AND CONSTITUTION _____ 4 Simultaneous Elections _____ 4 Right to Recall _____ 5 Regulating Over-the-top (OTT) platforms _ 6 Legalising Betting in India _____ 8 3 Capitals for Andhra Pradesh _____ 9 Forest Rights Act _____ 10 2.

2 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS _____ 13 Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and India _____ 13 17th ASEAN-India Summit _____ 14 BRICS _____ 17 G20 _____ 19 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) 21 Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) _____ 23 India and Nuclear Disarmament _____ 25 India s Civil Nuclear Co-operations _____ 27 India s Development Efforts in Afghanistan _____ 29 India- Nepal Ties _____ 31 3. ECONOMY _____ 33 Changes in Bank Licensing framework ___ 33 Banking License to large corporate houses 33 Banking License for NBFCs _____ 34 GST Tussle _____ 35 Inflation Targeting _____ 37 Liquidity Trap _____ 40 MSP and Procurement _____ 40 Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme 42 Solar Manufacturing in India _____ 44 Hybrid Renewable Energy _____ 46 Model Tenancy Act, 2019 _____ 47 4.

3 SECURITY _____ 50 India's Annual Resolution On Counter-Terrorism _____ 50 Bio-Terrorism _____ 51 5. ENVIRONMENT _____ 54 Environmental impact of Agricultural Subsidies _____ 54 Hydrogen Based Energy _____ 55 Glacial Lakes Outburst Floods (GLOFs) ___ 57 La Ni a _____ 59 6. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY _____ 61 Manned Space Mission _____ 61 Venus Orbiter Mission: Shukrayaan _____ 62 Geospatial Technology _____ 64 Draft Data Centre Policy 2020 and India as a Global Data Centre Hub _____ 66 Raman _____ 67 7. SOCIAL ISSUES _____ 69 Paternity leave _____ 69 Manual Scavenging _____ 70 Malnutrition in India _____ 72 SDG Investor Map for India _____ 75 Integration of Traditional Medicine and Traditional Medicine _____ 77 8.

4 CULTURE _____ 80 All India Trade Union Congress _____ 80 9. ETHICS _____ 81 Nudging _____ 81 10. SCHEMES IN NEWS _____ 83 Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) Scheme __ 83 11. NEWS IN SHORTS _____ 84 Election Commission of India (ECI) Removed Congress Leader Kamal Nath from the Party s list of Star Campaigners. _____ 84 Pakistan Grants Provisional Provincial Status to Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) _____ 84 Framework Arrangement on Cyber and Cyber-Enabled Critical Technologies Cooperation _____ 84 Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines Issued 85 Brahmos Supersonic Cruise Missile _____ 85 Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air Missile (QRSAM) System _____ 85 Scorpene Class Submarine Vagir _____ 85 Military Exercises _____ 85 TX2 Tiger Conservation Awards (TTCA) given 86 3 Vision IAS Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC)

5 Launched Vulture Action Plan 2020-25 _____ 86 State of Food and Agriculture 2020 Report Released by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) _____ 86 World Wide Fund (WWF) Water Risk Filter 87 Luhri Stage-1 Hydro Power Project _____ 87 Four more Biodiversity Heritage Sites (BHS)for Karnataka _____ 87 India Climate Change Knowledge Portal __ 88 Country s First Convergence Project _____ 88 Earth Observation Satellite (EOS-01) _____ 88 Starlink _____ 88 Discovery of Pulsars _____ 89 Fast radio bursts (FRBs) Detected in the Milky Way for the First Time _____ 89 One Health Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) _____ 89 Great Barrington Declaration _____ 89 First Ever Vaccine Listed Under WHO Emergency Use Listing (EUL) _____ 90 Kala-azar or Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) ___ 90 Global Center for Traditional Medicine ___ 90 Interstate Migrant Policy Index (IMPEX) released by India Migration Now (IMN) _____ 90 United Nations (UN) Launched the Sanitation and Hygiene Fund (SHF) _____ 91 Academic Freedom Index _____ 91 Athena SWAN Charter _____ 91 National Portal for Transgender Persons __ 91 Scotland Became the First Country to Make Sanitary Products Free _____ 92 12.

6 APPENDIX _____ 93 Mitigation and Management of COVID-19- Practices from Indian States and Union Territories _____ 93 4 Vision IAS 1. POLITY AND CONSTITUTION SIMULTANEOUS ELECTIONS Why in News? Recently, Prime Minister raised the pitch for Simultaneous Elections to the lok sabha and State Assemblies. About Simultaneous Elections (SE) It means structuring the Indian election cycle in a manner that elections to lok sabha and State Assemblies are synchronized together under which voters in a particular constituency vote for both on the same day. SE were the norm until 1967.

7 But following dissolution of some Legislative Assemblies in 1968 and 1969 and that of lok sabha in 1970, elections to State Assemblies and Parliament have been held separately. Later, SE idea was proposed by Election Commission in 1983. It was also referred by Law Commission and NITI Aayog. SE does not mean that voting across the country for lok sabha and State Assemblies happen on a single day. It can be conducted in a phase-wise manner and voters in a particular constituency vote for both State Assembly and lok sabha the same day. Arguments in favor of Simultaneous Elections Policy paralysis: Frequent elections lead to imposition of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) over prolonged periods of time which often leads to policy paralysis and governance deficit in the form of suspended development programs, welfare schemes, capital projects etc.

8 Huge expenditures: By various stakeholders like political parties, individual candidates, etc. The urge to spend more (than the set limit) to win elections is blamed as one of the key drivers for corruption and black-money in the country. Engagement of security forces: Deployment of security forces is normally throughout the elections and frequent elections takes away a portion of such armed police force which could otherwise be better deployed for other internal security purposes. Disrupting public life: Frequent elections lead to disruption of normal public life and impact the functioning of essential services. If SE are held, this period of disruption would be limited to a certain pre-determined period of time. Impact on social fabric: Frequent elections perpetuate caste, religion and communal issues across the country as elections are polarizing events which have accentuated casteism, communalism and corruption.

9 Focus on populist measures: Frequent elections will impact the focus of governance and policy making as it forces the political class to typically think in terms of immediate electoral gains rather than focus on long-term programmes and policies. Impact on voter turnout: According to law commission report simultaneous polls will boost voter turnout. Arguments against Simultaneous Elections Operational feasibility such as how to synchronize cycle for the first time, what will be the procedure in case ruling party/coalition loses majority before 5 years, feasibility for the Election Commission to conduct elections at such a massive scale etc. Constitutional issues: Holding SE will require certain requirements such as Curtailment and extension of terms of the House of the People/ State Legislative Assemblies, Amendment to the relevant provisions of the Constitution, Amendment to the Representation of People Act, 1951, ratification by the States to these Constitutional amendments.

10 National and state issues are different, and holding simultaneous elections may affect the judgment of voters and and he/she may vote for the same political party, which in most cases may be larger national parties. Constitutional provisions related to simultaneous Elections Article 83 stipulates that lok sabha shall have a normal term of 5 years from the date appointed for its first meeting and no longer. Article 85 states that President of India has the power to dissolve the lok sabha on the advice of the Union Cabinet. Article 172 lays down the term for the Legislative Assemblies as five years. Article 174 is states that Governor has the power to dissolve the state assembly on the advice of the state Cabinet. 5 Vision IAS Reduce government's accountability to the people as frequent elections bring the politicians back to the voters and enhance accountability of politicians to the public.