Daily Current Affairs including static notes - 24 MAY

The Hindu -

CHINA WANTS PAKISTAN TO RELOCATE HAFIZ SAEED TO A WEST ASIAN COUNTRY ( IR)

Pakistan’s all-weather friend China has told the country that it should move Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief and Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed to a West Asian country to keep him out of the limelight.
Why
The idea of relocating Saeed to a west Asian country was pitched by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
China’s suggestion, comes amid mounting international pressure to act against the terrorist, and china find it’s more and more difficult to resist the international consensus. And by shifting Saeed out of Pakistan China believes it can get rid of the issue, that too without upsetting Pakistan.
Mr. Abbasi has consulted the government’s legal team, which is yet to come up with a solution. But the issue is expected to be referred to the next government, as Pakistan is going into general elections soon.
Who is Hafiz Saeed?
Hafiz Saeed, is the chief of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which is a frontal organisation for Lashkar-e-Toiba, which has been designated a terror group by the UN Security Council since 2002.
Despite ample evidence detailing Saeed’s role in acts of terror against India, Pakistan has done little to curtail his activities. He is said to wield immense clout over Pakistan’s deep state.
He is also believed to have masterminded the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.

HARYANA SIGNS 2 MOUS FOR REVIVAL OF SARASVATI (CULTURE)

Why in news?
Haryana Art and Cultural Ministry has roped in national agencies like the Indian Space Research Organisation, the National Institute of Hydrology and the Geological Survey of India to speed up work for the revival and rejuvenation of the Sarasvati River.
Saraswati River
The Sarasvati River is one of the main Rigvedic rivers mentioned in the scripture Rig Veda and later Vedic and post-Vedic texts.
The ‘Sapta Sindhu’ in Rig Veda refers to the rivers Saraswati, Satadru (Sutlej), Vipasa (Beas), Asikni (Chenab), Purushni (Ravi), Vitasta (Jhelum) and Sindhu (Indus). Among these, the Saraswati and the Sindhu were major rivers that flowed from the mountains right up to the sea.
For 2000 years, between 6000 and 4000 B.C., the Saraswati flowed as a great river.
KS Valdiya Committee in its report submitted to the Union Water Resources Ministry had concluded that Saraswati River so far considered mythical, existed.
The committee comprising of geologists, archaeologists and hydrologists say that they have found evidence of the course of the river Saraswati
Committee found that Saraswati River originated in the Himalayas. It was approximately 4,000 km in length and flowed through India and Pakistan before meeting Arabian Sea through Rann of Kutch.

PM INTERACTION THROUGH PRAGATI (GOVERNANCE)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday stressed on the importance of increasing digital transactions across the postal and rail networks, especially by using the BHIM App. He said this while reviewing the progress of nine infrastructure projects in the railway, road, petroleum, and power sectors through PRAGATI, an Information Technology-enabled platform to address the grievances of the common man.
What is the PRAGATI initiative?
Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI) is a multi-purpose and multi-modal platform aimed at addressing grievances of common man. It also aims at simultaneously monitoring and reviewing important Union government programmes and projects as well as projects flagged by State Governments.
It is designed in-house by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) team with the help of National Informatics Center (NIC).
It is an innovative project in e-governance and good governance and accountability with real-time presence and information exchange among the key stakeholders.
Some key features:-
  • Uniquely bundles three latest technologies including Digital data management, geo-spatial technology and video-conferencing.
  • Three-tier system that brings PMO, Union Government Secretaries, and Chief Secretaries of the States at one stage. Thus, offers a unique combination in the direction of cooperative federalism.
  • It is to see that programmes and projects launched by the central and state governments are monitored properly for timely implementation and desired outcome
  • It will attempt to find solutions for issues picked up from the available data base regarding public grievances, on-going programmes and pending projects. This new system of governance will definitely give a boost to government projects that have been publicized due to their delays. The need of the hour is speedy implementation and completion of government projects.

IBC: CABINET CLEARS ORDINANCE FOR CHANGES (GOVERNANCE | ECONOMY)

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved an ordinance for amendments in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). The ordinance provides a relief to homebuyers who have invested in housing projects of real estate companies that have gone bankrupt.
The amendment proposes to classify homebuyers as “financial creditors” at par with lenders to help them quickly get refunds from defaulting companies. Like financial creditors or lenders, they will have the right to initiate a resolution process and get their money back.
Meanwhile, the committee rejected the recommendation under the section 29A for disqualification for MSMEs. The MSMEs (Micro Small and Medium Enterprises) will now be exempted from all conditions under the Section 29 of the IBC. Under Section 29 of the IBC Act, a person or a company suffering disqualification can’t participate in the resolution process.
The biggest beneficiaries from this ordinance will be homebuyers. Since the present version of the IBC does not consider homebuyers as secured creditors, they have no right to initiate a resolution process if a real estate company goes bankrupt or can’t complete housing projects.
What is IBC?
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) was enacted in 2016 to facilitate a time-bound resolution for ailing and sick firms.
It could either be through closure or revival, while protecting the interests of creditors.
Under IBC, either the creditor (banks) or the loaner (defaulter) can initiate insolvency proceedings.
It is done by submitting a plea to the adjudicating authority, in this case, the National Companies Law Tribunal (NCLT), in case of companies and debt recovery tribunals (DRTs), in case of individuals.
The resolution process was expected to aid in reducing the rising bad loans in the banking system.

AMARINDER TALKS TOUGH ON MOLASSES LEAK IN THE BEAS (ENVRONMENT)

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday warned against any laxity in the probe into the leakage of molasses into the Beas River and directed the agencies concerned to pursue legal and penal action against the offenders.
What was the incident?
In a massive ecological disaster, last week molasses from a sugar factory was leaked into the Beas River, resulting in a massive dip in the oxygen levels of the river, killing thousands of fish.
The presence of molasses, a byproduct in sugar factories used for alcohol production, has affected over 30 km of the river.
Considering that the leak has caused massive damage to the aquatic life, the entire ecosystem of the Beas river, will take a few years to recover.
Molasses, or black treacle (British, for human consumption; known as molasses otherwise), is a viscous product resulting from refining sugarcane or sugar beets into sugar.

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