Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 10 June 2020

::NATIONAL::

Centre to take stock of water utilisation in Krishna and Godavari rivers

• The Union government is going to take stock of water utilisation from the Krishna and Godavari rivers following Telangana and Andhra Pradesh filing complaints against each other.
• At a video-conference on Tuesday, U.P. Singh, Secretary, Department of Water Resources, Union Ministry of JalSakthi, asked the Chairpersons of the Krishna and Godavari River Management Boards to procure the details of the irrigation projects in Maharashtra and Karnataka, too, and submit them to the Centre in a month. 
• The main objective of the exercise appears to be to assess whether surplus water will be available for the new projects in the light of the disputes.Mr. Singh also sought information about the projects that Andhra Pradesh and Telangana had on the two rivers.
• The two States share stretches of the Krishna and the Godavari and own their tributaries. They have embarked on several new projects without getting clearance from the river boards, the Central Water Commission and the apex council comprising the Union Water Resources Minister and the Chief Ministers, as mandated by the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.
• While the Godavari discharges over 3,000 tmcft into the sea, the Krishna has almost dried up, with Maharashtra and Karnataka taking up large projects. Telangana has also taken up several projects on the Krishna and the Godavari.

TRIFED advises states to ensure effective implementation of MSP

• There has been an encouragingly positive response from the States as the government continues its efforts to help the poor and marginalized people find their feet in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• In the context of tribal people, TRIFED under the aegis of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs had advised the State Governments to plan effective implementation of Minimum Support Price, MSP for Minor Forest Produce, MFP.
• The Ministry of Tribal Affairs said the advice has been met with a tremendous positive response. 17 states have initiated procurement and MFP worth approximately 50 Crore rupees have been procured by states under the scheme.
• Moreover due to these efforts, private agencies in 7 States have procured MFP at prices above the MSP to the tune of over 400 Crore rupees. 

::ECONOMY::

Finance ministry to review functioning of PSB’s with respect to MSME loan disbursal

• Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman has reviewed functioning of Public Sector Banks with regard to loan sanctions for MSMEs and other companies under Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme.
• In a meeting held today, with the head of the banks, she lauded their efforts for achieving sanctions of over 20 thousand crore rupees under the Atmanirbhar Package within a short span of time.    
• The Finance Minister advised bank officials to maintain proactive outreach at branch level and make loan forms and formalities simple.Ms.Sitharaman exhorted all public sector banks to continue focused approach to hand out loans to every eligible MSME.
• The Finance Minister reiterated that loans under the Credit Guarantee Scheme are meant for meeting credit needs of all kinds of companies and are not only restricted to micro, small or medium enterprise.

Government brings out new methodology for rationalisation of coal linkages

• The government on Tuesday said that fuel linkages from coal companies have been rationalised to reduce the distance in transportation of coal from the mines to users. The move is aimed at reducing the load on the transportation infrastructure and easing the evacuation constraints.
• The past rationalisation exercises were implemented only for the power sector and have resulted into rationalisation of coal movement of 63.12 million tonnes (MT) of coal with annual potential savings of around Rs 3,769 crore.
• The scheme envisages transfer of coal quantity in terms of gross Calorific Value (GCV) equivalence and is applicable for non-coking coal only.The arrangement shall be allowed only within the same sector.
• "Participation in the scheme shall be voluntary and arrangement between the parties rationalising/swapping coal through rail and/or sea mode shall be bilateral," the ministry said.
• A committee shall oversee the implementation of the scheme and address key issues in the implementation.The willing participants / consumers shall register on the electronic platform for rationalisation and submit the requisite information.The savings accrued in the process shall be transferred to Indian Railways/discoms.

::INTERNATIONAL::

PM holds telephonic conversation with Phillippine president

• Prime Minister NarendraModi today had a telephonic conversation with the President of Philippines Rodrigo Duterte.
• During the talk, the steps being taken by the two governments to address the challenges arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic were discussed at length.Both the leaders appreciated the efforts made to ensure the welfare of their citizens in each other's territory during the ongoing health crisis.
• The Philippines President also appreciated the steps taken by India to maintain supply of essential pharmaceutical products to their country in this difficult times.
• Prime Minister NarendraModi assured India's commitment to support the Philippines in their fight against the pandemic and stressed that India's well-established capacity for manufacturing affordable pharmaceutical products would continue to be deployed for the benefit of entire humanity.
• Mr.Modi and Mr.Duterte expressed their satisfaction at the progress made in recent years in strengthening the bilateral relationship including defence cooperation.
• Prime Minister emphasized that India sees the Philippines as a vital partner in the Indo-Pacific region.He also conveyed his best wishes to Mr.Duterte and the people of the Philippines for the forthcoming National Day of the Philippines.

North Koreas cuts off communications with South

• North Korea said it was cutting off all communication channels with South Korea on Tuesday, a move experts say could signal Pyongyang has grown frustrated that Seoul has failed to revive lucrative inter-Korean economic projects and persuade the U.S. to ease sanctions.
• The North’s Korean Central News Agency said all communication lines would be cut off at noon in the “the first step of the determination to completely shut down all contact means with South Korea and get rid of unnecessary things.”
• In its announcement, North Korea said Tuesday’s move was a response to South Korea’s failure to stop activists from floating anti-Pyongyang leaflets across their border.
• “The South Korean authorities connived at the hostile acts against (North Korea) by the riff-raff, while trying to dodge heavy responsibility with nasty excuses,” KCNA said.
• South Korea’s liberal government said that cross-border hotlines must be maintained as they are the basic means of communication between the two Koreas.
• For years, South Korean activists, including North Korean defectors living in the South, have floated huge balloons into North Korea carrying leaflets criticising leader Kim Jong-un over his nuclear ambitions and human rights record.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Government plans to set up new coal exchange platform soon

• India is to set up Coal Exchange trading platform soon. According to the proposal to set up the India Coal Exchange platform, the entire coal mined inthe country is to be traded on a common platform called “Coal Exchange”.
• It is important to set up the trading platform as it will pave way for multiple buyers and sellers in coal sector.It is to be noted that the coal ministry will start auctions for commercial coal mining on June 11, 2020.
• The Union Finance Minister NirmalaSitaraman had announced that the monopoly of the Government in the coal sector will be removed completely.
• This is being done to increase production of coal in India and reduce its dependence of imported coal. India holding third largest coal reserves in the world is still importing coal.
• Though India opens the coal sector to market access through the platform, Coal India will remain the dominant player in the coal sector. This is mainly because of its fixed target and allocated coal production of 1 billion tonnes by 2024.

::SPORTS::

NIS may drop tennis from its curriculum from next year

• It is considered one of the best tennis coaching courses in the country, but the National Institute of Sports (NIS), run by Sports Authority of India (SAI), has a proposal to drop it from the curriculum from the next academic year.
• Lack of response is cited as a reason, but the stringent eligibility criteria may have proved a stumbling block for aspirants.SAI had been reducing the number of students over the years and the current batch has only three.
• There have been two demands to sustain the course. One was to revise the syllabus, even though it has been generally agreed that the fundamentals remain the same. Second, to relax the criteria so that players at the State or zonal level get to study the course.