Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 09 June 2020

::NATIONAL::

Centre asks states to prepare district level plans to tackle COVID

• The Union Health Ministry, on Monday, directed States to make district-wise prospective plans for the coming months to tackle COVID-19.
• Health Secretary Preeti Sudan, along with senior Health Ministry officials, held a review with District Collectors, municipal commissioners, chief medical officers, superintendents of district hospitals and principals of medical colleges from 45 municipalities and municipal corporations across 38 districts in 10 States that are witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases.
• The Health Minister has directed State officials to initiate measures in containment zones for case management and buffer zones surveillance activities, and the promotion of COVID-appropriate behaviour.
• He added that States had been also advised that adequate planning for health infrastructure should be taken up; adequate number of surveillance teams must be provided and a system should be put in place for bed availability management.
• The Health Ministry has said areas that need constant attention included active house-to-house survey for timely detection, augmentation of the survey teams, efficient ambulance management, efficient triaging of patients at the hospitals and bed management and clinical management of the hospitalised cases.

NHRC seeks report on deaths by police action

• The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked for action taken reports from the authorities of seven States, where 15 people died following police action in the first month or so of the lockdown, according to the proceedings in the cases.
• The NHRC acted on a May 16 complaint by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), which stated that the 15 men — five in Andhra Pradesh, three in Uttar Pradesh, two each in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, and one each in Tamil Nadu, Punjab and West Bengal — died after police action or in custody from March 25 to April 30.
• The CHRI complaint cited media reports that said 12 of the 15 deaths occurred after police action such as beatings, allegedly as “punishment” for violating the lockdown imposed to control the spread of COVID-19, and three in police custody. Nine of the 12 died of their injuries and the remaining by suicide, the complaint said.

::ECONOMY::

RBI proposes set of norms for sale of loans via banks

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed a comprehensive set of norms for sale of loans by banks which could be either standard or sub-standard. The move is aimed at building a robust secondary market for bank loans that could ensure proper price discovery and can be used as an indicator for impending stress, the central bank said.
• At present, the guidelines for sale of loan exposures, both standard as well as stressed exposures, are spread across various circulars of the RBI.
• These guidelines will be applicable to commercial banks, all financial institutions, non-banking finance companies and small finance banks.The directions will be applicable to all loan sales, including sale of loans to special purpose entities for the purpose of securitisation, the RBI said.
• Only transactions that result in multiple tranches of securities being issued reflecting different credit risks will be treated as securitisation transactions, and accordingly covered under these revised norms.
• “One of the key changes relates to differential treatment for Residential Mortgage Backed Securities (RMBS) compared to other securitisations in respect of prescriptions regarding minimum holding period (MHP), minimum retention requirements (MRR) and reset of credit enhancements,” the draft norms said.

World Bank projects Indian economy to contract by 3.2% this fiscal

• The Indian economy is expected to contract by 3.2% in this fiscal year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions, the World Bank said in its Global Economic Prospects (GEP) June 2020 report released on Monday. Growth is forecast at 3.1% next year.
• The world economy, as a whole, is set to witness its deepest recession since World War II, with a forecasted contraction of 5.2% this year — some 60 million could be pushed into extreme poverty, World Bank Group President David Malpass had warned last week.
• Emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) are expected to contract by 2.5% this year, and economic activity in advanced economies is forecast to shrink by 7%, as domestic supply and demand, finance and trade have been disrupted due to the pandemic. Countries most reliant on global trade, tourism, external financing and commodity exports are likely to be hit the hardest.
• India’s growth is estimated to have slowed to 4.2% in FY 2019-20 (year ended March 31, 2020). Output is expected to contract by 3.2% (so growth is -3.2%) in FY2020-21, as the impact of the pandemic (the restrictions on activity) will largely fall in this year, despite the fiscal and monetary stimulus.
• The growth forecast for this fiscal year is 9 percentage points lower than the GEP forecasts from January 2020, when the forecast for this fiscal was a (positive) 5.8% — the world was not yet in the grip of the pandemic.

::INTERNATIONAL::

India-Denmark to expand cooperation in power sector

• India and Denmark have signed anMoU for developing cooperation in the power sector.
• The MoU signed between the Ministry of Power and the Ministry for Energy, Utilities and Climate, Government of Denmark, is to develop a strong, deep and long-term co-operation between two countries in the power sector on the basis of equality, reciprocity and mutual benefit.
• It provides for collaboration in areas like offshore wind, long term energy planning, forecasting, flexibility in the grid, consolidation of grid codes to integrate and operate efficiently variable generation options, flexibility in the power purchase agreements and variability in renewable energy production.  
• Indian electricity market will benefit from this cooperation with Denmark. Under the MoU, a Joint Working Group will also be established.  It will be co-chaired by Joint Secretary level officials.

NewZealand becomes first country to be declared COVID free

• New Zealand lifted all social and economic restrictions except border controls after declaring on Monday it was free of COVID-19, one of the first countries in the world to return to pre-pandemic normality.
• Public and private events, the retail and hospitality industries and all public transport were allowed to resume without the distancing rules still in place across much of the world.
• New Zealand’s five million people are emerging from the pandemic while big economies such as Brazil, Britain, India and the United States continue to grapple with spread of the virus.
• New Zealand has reported 1,154 infections and 22 deaths from COVID-19 since the virus arrived in late February. Ms.Ardern had vowed to eliminate, not merely contain, the virus, which meant stopping transmission for two weeks after the last known case was cleared. For now, everyone entering the country will continue to be tested and quarantined.
• Ms.Ardern did not commit to a timeline for a quarantine-free ‘travel bubble’ with Australia to facilitate tourism that the industries in both countries have been pushing for. “We will need to move cautiously here. No one wants to jeopardise the gains New Zealand has made,” she said.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Researchers decode role of micro RNA in tongue cancer 

• Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras have identified a specific microRNA (miRNAs) called ‘miR-155’ that is over-expressed in tongue cancer. The research team has shown that knocking out miR-155 causes death of cancer cells, arrests the cell cycle and regresses tumour size in animal models and reduces cell viability and colony formation in bench top assays.
• The finding could help develop molecular strategies to manipulate miR-155 expression to develop therapeutics for tongue cancer.ThemiRNAs affect cancer growth through inhibiting or enhancing the functions of certain proteins.
• The research team of DevarajanKarunagaran, head of the Biotechnology department and his research scholar ShabirZargar, collaborated with researchers from the Adyar Cancer Institute and the SreeBalaji Dental College and Hospital in the city and the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.
• Many of the Oncomirs affect cancer by suppressing the performance of tumour-suppressing agents. Some of them can prevent the growth and spread of cancer cells and yet others prevent tumour growth itself, he said.
• miRNA manipulation is being combined with conventional cancer treatment methods such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy.

::SPORTS::

GomathiMarimuthu face ban for years due to failure of doping test

• GomathiMarimuthu, the 2019 Asian athletics championship 800m gold medallist, has been stripped of her medal and banned for four years by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) after her ‘B’ sample also returned positive for anabolic steroid nandrolone.
• All of Gomathi's competition results between March 18 and May 17, 2019, stand annulled.The Tamil Nadu athlete's medals, titles, ranking points and prize and appearance money are to be forfeited as well.
• Gomathi, who was provisionally suspended in May last year when her 'A' sample returned positive, has also been ordered to pay the AIU, within 28 days, £1,000 towards legal and other expenses.