Current Affairs

25 January 2020 Current Affairs for UPSC IAS Exam

Read Daily Current Affairs of 25th January 2020 for UPSC Civil Services (IAS) Prelims and Mains Exam 2020.

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Current Affairs Notes of 25th January 2020 for UPSC

Read Current Affairs Notes of 25th January 2020 for UPSC Civil Services Prelims and Mains Examination 2020. Highlighting all National and International contemporary issues important from the exam point of view.

GS-2, Prelims

Topic: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Smart villages scheme: State to increase prize money

  • Maharashtra state is to increase the amount of prize money awarded to top villages at the taluka and district levels under the Smart villages government scheme.
  • They want to name the scheme after late NCP leader R.R. Patil. He is known for implementing schemes like Sant Gadagebaba Gram Swachhta Abhiyan and Mahatma Gandhi dispute-free villages scheme during his tenure.
  • The Smart villages scheme’s main aim is to transform rural Maharashtra through development initiatives.
  • The villages are awarded to perform well in a range of areas which include:
    • Cleanliness
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Education
    • Use of infotech
    • Use of renewable energy sources
  • Presently, a village that tops at taluka level is rewarded with Rs 10 lakh (to be increased to Rs 20 lakh) and for the village that tops at the district level, the prize is Rs 40 lakh (to be increased to Rs 50 lakh).

GS-2, Prelims

Topic: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Centre seeks to revamp child care scheme in urban areas

  • Urban areas are set to receive a renewal focus under the government’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS).
  • NITI Aayog has prepared a draft working paper, after being approved it will be circulated to various Ministries for consultations.
  • The renewal is required because ICDS models working in rural areas may not work in urban areas because of:
    • Higher population density
    • Transportation challenges
    • Migration
  • The ICDS provides for anganwadis or day-care centres which deliver a package of following 6 services:
    • Supplementary nutrition
    • Pre-school non-formal education
    • Nutrition and health education
    • Immunisation
    • Health check-up
    • Referral services to hospitals
  • Problems in urban areas include:
    • Malnutrition-due to poor levels of breastfeeding as mothers have to travel long distances for work
    • Obesity-due to relative prosperity and lifestyle patterns
    • Iron and Vitamin D deficiency

GS-3, Prelims

Topic: Major crops-cropping patterns in various parts of the country, – different types of irrigation and irrigation systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers.

Cane farmers flag Brazil’s WTO case against India

  • The Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movements (ICCFM) has written to PM Modi that the Brazilian government is directly threatening the livelihoods of five crore Indian sugarcane farmers.
  • The Brazilian government has challenged the minimum price for sugarcane set by the Indian government at WTO.
  • Several farmers organisations are demanding that India should push Brazil to withdraw its complaint when the Brazilian President visits India on Republic Day celebrations.
  • India is exceeding its domestic support commitmentsàThe farmer’s organisations have argued that the Indian government only announces the Fair Remunerative Prices (FRP) to be paid by sugar mills to farmers. The government does not pay the farmers or procure sugarcane from them as there are very few public sector mills in the country.
  • India’s sugarcane sector is also not geared towards global trade. Most Indian sugar is consumed domestically.
  • Although India overtook Brazil in 2018-19 to become the world’s largest sugar producer, its share in global exports market remains very low at 5% as compared to Brazil’s 35%.
  • The Brazilian Foreign Minister, when asked about the dispute, said that Brazil remains open “to find a satisfactory, non-litigious solution to the matter”.

GS-2, Prelims

Topic: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Tripura forum to oppose Bru settlement

  • A Bengali dominated group, Nagrik Suraksha Manch, in Tripura has opposed the decision of rehabilitating the Bru refugees from Mizoram, who are presently sheltered in the Kanchanpur subdivision of Tripura.
  • The Forum has warned that the settlement of 35,000 people in the state would lead to some groups demanding reservation in some Assembly constituencies.
  • The Manch has threatened to launch an agitation to resist permanent settlement rehabilitation of the evacuees. They demanded that the agreement that took place on January 16 be repealed and the refugees be sent home.
  • And on the same day i.e. January 16, an agreement was signed by the Mizoram and Tripura governments, Bru leaders and the Union Home Ministry to end the 23-year-old stalemate.
  • The Bru people had fled Mizoram in 1997 to escape ethnic tension and then settled in Kanchanpur subdivision.
  • The Union Home Ministry has sanctioned Rs 600 crore to implement a rehabilitation programme for the refugees.

GS-3, Prelims

Topic: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.

India growth slowdown temporary: IMF

  • The IMF chief at the WEF 2020 said that the slowdown in the Indian growth appears to be temporary and it will improve going ahead.
  • Also, the world appeared a better place in January 2020 as compared to how it was in October 2019 at the announcement of World Economic Outlook by the IMF. This has been because of the following reasons:
    • Receding trade tensions after the US-China first phase trade deal
    • Synchronized tax cuts
  • The Growth rate of 3.3% is still low for the world economy and some measures suggested by the IMF to overcome this sluggishness include:
    • More aggressive fiscal policies
    • Structural reforms
    • Dynamism

Siddharth Singh

Siddharth worked in Educational Field for the last 5 years. He appeared two times in the civil services mains and once in the personality test.

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