TNPSC Current Affairs December 19, 2019

www.tnpsc.academy – TNPSC Current Affairs Dec 19, 2019 (19/12/2019)

Topic: International Events, Persons in News

How a US President can be impeached?

Donald Trump has become the third President to be impeached by the US House. He was accused of enlisting foreign government to investigate political rival before 2020 election.

Background:

So far only two American presidents have been impeached. In 1998, President Bill Clinton was impeached on charges of sexual relationship with his intern. However, the senate acquitted him. Before him, in 1868, President Andrew Johnson was impeached. He was acquitted by one vote in the Senate.

In 1974, President Nixon resigned over water gate corruption charges. The judiciary committee approved the articles of impeachment before the house could even pass them.

What is Impeachment?

Impeachment is a provision that allows Congress to remove the President of the United States.

Under the US Constitution:

The House of Representatives (Lower House) has the “the sole power of impeachment” while the Senate (Upper House) has “the sole power to try all impeachments”. The Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court has the duty of presiding over impeachment trials in the Senate.

Grounds for impeachment:

The President can be removed from office for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors”.

Essentially, it means an abuse of power by a high-level public official. This does not necessarily have to be a violation of an ordinary criminal statute. Historically, in the US, it has encompassed corruption and other abuses, including trying to obstruct judicial proceedings.

The process: It begins with an investigation by a House committee. If they find that there is enough evidence of wrongdoing, it will refer the matter to the full House.

Topic: Profile of States, General Administration, Latest Diary of Events

Silver Line project

The Ministry of Railways has granted in-principle approval for the ‘Silver Line’ project, a proposal of the Kerala government.

About the Project:

It involves laying of semi high-speed trains between the two corners of the state of Kerala. It is 532- km long. The corridor will be built away from the existing line between Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur.

It aims to connect major districts and towns with semi high-speed trains that will run on their own tracks.

Topic: Science and Technology, International Organizations

Biosimilar medicine

WHO prequalifies first biosimilar medicine– trastuzumab– to increase worldwide access to life-saving breast cancer treatment.

Trastuzumab – a monoclonal antibody – was included in the WHO Essential Medicines List in 2015 as an essential treatment for about 20% of breast cancers.

Background:

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women. 2.1 million women contracted breast cancer in 2018. 630 000 of them died from the disease, many because of late diagnosis and lack of access to affordable treatment.

What are Biosimilars?

It is a biologic medical product that is almost an identical copy of an original product that is manufactured by a different company. They are officially approved versions of original “innovator” products and can be manufactured when the original product’s patent expires. Reference to the innovator product is an integral component of the approval.

Characteristics:

Biological medicines contain active substances from a biological source, such as living cells or organisms. Most biological medicines in current clinical use contain active substances made of proteins.

Topic: Indian Army and Defense and Anti terrorism Activities

Exercise ‘Apharan’

It is a large scale Anti Hijacking Exercise conducted recently by the Indian Navy in collaboration with Indian Coast Guard. The latest edition was held in Kerala on December 18.

This is the first time an anti-hijacking exercise is being conducted at a large scale in India and in the port of Cochin.

Topic: Environment and Ecology, Latest Diary of Events

Houbara bustard

Pakistan has issued special permits to the Emir of Qatar and nine other members of the royal family to hunt the houbara bustard, an internationally protected bird species.

Key facts:

The houbara bustard, which lives in arid climates, comes in two distinct species as recognised by the IUCN, one residing in North Africa (Chlamydotis undulata) and the other in Asia (Chlamydotis macqueenii).

The population of the Asian houbara bustards extends from northeast Asia, across central Asia, the Middle East, and the Arabian Peninsula to reach the Sinai desert.

Roughly 33,000 Asian houbara bustards and over 22,000 of the North African houbara bustards remain today.

After breeding in the spring, the Asian bustards migrate south to spend the winter in Pakistan, the Arabian Peninsula and nearby Southwest Asia.

Topic: India’s Foreign Relations, Latest Diary of Events

India-US 2+2 Dialogue held at Washington

India and United States held security dialogue in Washington. This was their second 2+2 dialogue.

Key facts: The countries signed industrial security agreement allowing defense technology transfer. The US secretary Mike Pompeo and defence secretary Mark Esper hosted the meeting for Indian external affairs minister Shri Jai Shankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

Topic: Latest Reports and Events

India is world’s third largest producer of scientific articles: US Report

According to a latest report by US National Science Foundation (NSF), India has emerged as the world’s third largest publisher of science and engineering articles. As per the statistics compiled in report, China has topped the list followed by US.

Key facts:

China tops the list as it accounts for 20.67% of all global publications in scientific articles. In China, about 5,28,263 scientific articles were published in 2018.

United States: follows China at second spot with about 4,22,808 global publications in science and engineering articles in 2018.

India: emerged as world’s third largest publisher of science and engineering articles after China (5,28,263) and US (4,22,808) in 2018, with about 1,35,788 science and engineering articles were published in country.