TNPSC Current Affairs July 03, 2020

www.tnpsc.academy – TNPSC Current Affairs July 03, 2020 (03/07/2020)

Topic: Public Awareness and General Administration

Activities of APCOS – Andhra Pradesh

Y.S Jaganmohan Reddy (Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh) has formally launched the activities of state-owned placement agency-Andhra Pradesh Corporation for Outsourced Services (APCOS) through video conferencing on 3rd July 2020 for ensuring corruption-free job placements.

The Chief Minister at the launch stated that with the establishment of APCOS, for hiring outsourcing employees the corrupt practices will be eliminated. As per the policy of the Andhra Pradesh Government of providing 50 reservation for minorities, women, SCs, STs, and BCs, the same will also be applicable under APCOS.

Topic: India and Its Neighborhood Countries, Latest Diary of Events

PM’s Ladakh Visit

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi reached Ladakh for reviewing the security situations amid continues claims of China for sovereignty over India’s territory at the Galwan Valley.

Prime Minister’s visit is a strong and powerful message to China and has served as a morale booster for the Indian Armed Forces. Prime Minister addressed the Armed Force Personnel at Nimo in Leh district of Ladakh.

Key features of Modi Speech:

Prime Minister warned India’s adversaries to not see India’s Commitment to peace and friendship as a weakness. This is the Age of Development, Era of Expansionism is over. In History as well Expansionist forces have either lost or forced to return or turn back.

Topic: General Administration, Latest Diary of Events

Privatisation of Railways

Recently, the Ministry of Railways has taken the first step towards privatisation of railways by inviting Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to private players for operation of passenger train services.

Privatisation Project:

Under this at least 151 modern trains will be introduced and 109 pairs of routes will be planned out for private train operations. Train sets have to be brought by private operators and maintained by them.

Fares in private trains will be competitive and prices on other modes of transport like airlines, buses have to be kept in mind while fixing the fares.

Private participation in passenger train operations will only be 5% of the total operations of Railways. 95% of trains will still be run by Indian Railways.

The project will bring private sector investment of about Rs. 30,000 crore.

Reason Behind Privatisation:

To develop India’s railway infrastructure to provide travel services to all its passengers.

According to the 2019-20 data, the Railways ferried 8.4 billion (840 crore) passengers in 2019-20, about five crore passengers could not be accommodated, meaning their wait-listed tickets were dropped.

During the busy seasons/summer season nearly 13.3% passengers were not able to get confirmed reservations. Induction of modern technology and reduction in transit time and the demand-supply deficit in train tickets.

Topic: Latest Diary of Events

Dharma Chakra Day – July 04

The Ministry of Culture, Government of India in partnership with International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) will celebrate the upcoming Asadha Poornima on 4th July, 2020 as Dharma Chakra Day.

Key facts:

The auspicious day of Asadha Poornima falls on the first full moon day of the month of Asadha as per Indian sun calendar.

It is also known as Esala Poya in Sri Lanka and Asanha Bucha in Thailand. It is the second most sacred day for Buddhists after the Buddha Poornima or Vesak.

The day marks Buddha’s first teaching after attaining Enlightenment to the first five ascetic disciples (pañcavargika) on the full-moon day of Asadha at ‘Deer Park’, Ṛiṣipatana in the current day Sarnath, near Varanasi, India.

Topic: International Events

Constitutional Amendments in Russia

The Russian citizens have supported a set of constitutional amendments including continuation of presidency by Vladimir Putin in a recently held referendum in the country.

The referendum also included clauses related to the

reorganisation of the government,

introducing a higher minimum pension and wages,

a ban on gay marriage,

restricting top officials from holding dual citizenship,

enshrining “faith in God” as a core value and

emphasising the primacy of the Constitution over international treaties and rulings.

A referendum is a direct and universal vote in which an entire electorate is invited to vote on a particular proposal and can have nationwide or local forms. It supports direct democracy.

The referendum was originally planned for April 2020 but was delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Topic: Current Socio-Economic Issues

Drug Discovery Hackathon 2020

Recently, the government has launched Drug Discovery Hackathon 2020 (DDH2020), a first of its kind national initiative for supporting the drug discovery process.

The objective is to identify drug candidates against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) by in-silico drug discovery.