Daily UPSC Current Affairs | 19th May 2020

Dear Aspirants
IASbhai Daily Current Affairs for UPSC PRELIMS & MAINS 2020 is an initiative to dilute major articles from leading Newspapers in India which are most relevant to UPSC preparation –‘THE HINDU, LIVEMINT , INDIAN EXPRESS’ and help millions of readers who find difficulty in answer writing and making notes everyday. Hence we choose articles on daily basis and analyse them with respect to UPSC PRELIMS 2020.

If you can tune into your purpose and really align with it, setting goals so that your vision is an expression of that purpose, then life flows much more easily.– Jack Canfield

HIGHLIGHT INFO:

ORANGE COLOUR: Important for Prelims.

RED COLOUR: Important for Mains.

BLACK COLOUR: Must Read !

BLUE COLOUR : Important Links/Survey.

PINK COLOUR: Reports/Themes/Summits.

Page Contents:

International Museum Day

HEADLINES:

Ministry of Culture’s Development of Museums and Cultural Spaces hosts a webinar on ‘Revitalising Museums and Cultural Spaces’ on the International Museum Day today

WHY IN NEWS:

Development of Museums and Cultural Spaces, Ministry of Culture, Government of India hosted a webinar on “Revitalising Museums and Cultural Spaces” today to celebrate the International Museum Day and kick start conversations around creating sustainable cultural organizations in post pandemic India.

MINISTRY? :- Ministry of Culture

SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 1:Culture

LEARNING:

For PRELIMS go through the theme and objective !

ISSUE:

The Covid-19 pandemic will have significant economic and social repercussions for the cultural and creative industries.

AIM AND FEATURES :

Organised for leading Indian and global cultural institutions, creative businesses, startups, policy makers and media, experts in the webinar discussed the way forward for the culture and creative industry.
The objective of the webinar is to identify the possible policy actions that will help alleviate the short and long term effects of the crisis on museums, cultural spaces and their broader ecosystems.
The nascent topic Museo-preneurs also discussed to look at how museums can embrace the entrepreneurial spirit and work on sustainable business models.
One of the most important points of discussion was reimagining cultural spaces and was to introduce innovative ideas to maximise the social and economic value of cultural heritage and to build capacity in order to engage with local audiences and tourists.

INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM DAY 2020:

THEME :“MUSEUMS FOR EQUALITY: DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION”

With the theme “Museums for Equality: Diversity and Inclusion”, International Museum Day 2020 aims at becoming a rallying point to both celebrate the diversity of perspectives that make up the communities and personnel of museums, and champion tools for identifying and overcoming bias in what they display and the stories they tell.
The dedicated website for International Museum Day provides you with all the information, tools and material needed to get involved in the 2020 edition.

IASbhai WINDUP:

During webinar the discussion touched the topic of Impact, innovations and post-crisis planning in the context of Museums and cultural spaces in the post pandemic ecosystem.

SUGGESTED READING : https://bit.ly/366Vqrn

SOURCES:THE HINDU & PIB/DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS for UPSC CSE Prelims & Mains

Shekatkar Committee

HEADLINES:

Government implements Shekatkar Committee recommendations related to creating border infrastructure

WHY IN NEWS:

Government has accepted and implemented three important recommendations of Committee of Experts (CoE) under the Chairmanship of Lt General D B Shekatkar (Retd) relating to border Infrastructure.

MINISTRY? :- Ministry of Defence

SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3:Defence

ISSUE:

These were related to speeding up road construction, leading to socio economic development in the border areas.

On the matter related to creating border infrastructure, the Government has implemented recommendation of CoE to outsource road construction work beyond optimal capacity of Border Roads Organisation (BRO).
It has been made mandatory to adopt Engineering Procurement Contract (EPC) mode for execution of all works costing more than Rs 100 crore.
The other recommendation relating to introduction of modern construction plants, equipment and machinery has been implemented by delegating enhanced procurement powers from Rs 7.5 crore to Rs 100 crore to BRO, for domestic and foreign procurements.
Border Roads has recently inducted Hot-Mix Plant 20/30 TPH for speedier laying of roads, remote operated hydraulic Rock Drills DC-400 R for hard rock cutting, a range of F-90 series of self-propelled snow-cutters/blowers for speedier snow clearance.

IASbhai WINDUP:

New Technology like blasting technology for precision blasting, use of Geo-Textiles for soil stabilisation, cementitious base for pavements, plastic coated aggregates for surfacing, is also being used to enhance the pace of construction.
The land acquisition and all statutory clearances like forest and environmental clearance are also made part of approval of Detailed Project Report (DPR).

SOURCES:THE HINDU & PIB/DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS for UPSC CSE Prelims & Mains

Super Cyclone

HEADLINES:

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has informed that the Super Cyclone is expected to make a landfall on West Bengal coast.

WHY IN NEWS:

20^th May as an extremely severe cyclonic storm with wind speeds ranging up to 195 kmph.

SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 1:Cyclone

ISSUE:

Sources : This May 17, 2020, satellite image released by NASA shows Cyclone Amphan over the Bay of Bengal in India. Amphan has intensified into a super cyclone and expected to make a landfall near Sundarbans, south of Kolkata, on Tuesday evening, May 19, 2020. A red alert has been initiated to sea bound fishermen and disaster management teams started evacuating villagers from the sea front. (NASA Worldview, Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) via AP)

It would be causing heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in the coastal districts of the State.
In West Bengal, districts of East Medinipur, South & North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, and Kolkata are likely to be worst affected.
The storm is also likely to impact coastal districts of North Odisha including Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Bhadrak and Balasore.
IMD has warned of storm surge of about 4-5 meters height above the astronomical tide, which would inundate low lying coastal areas of South & North 24 Parganas, and 3-4 meters height in East Medinipur, districts of West Bengal at the time of landfall.
Cyclone Amphan is a tropical cyclone formed over the Bay of Bengal that has intensified and.
It has been named by Thailand.
likely to turn into a “super cyclonic storm (maximum wind speed is 224 kmph)”

IASbhai WINDUP:

By the time it makes landfall in West Bengal, Amphan is expected to tone down into a category 4 Extremely Severe Cyclonic (ESC) storm with a wind speed of 165-175 kmph and gusting to 195 kmph.

SOURCES:THE HINDU & PIB/DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS for UPSC CSE Prelims & Mains

DISCOVER MORE : Important Daily Current Affairs for UPSC PRELIMS 2020

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for Daily Current Affairs , Editorial Analysis & Answer writing video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.