FDA URGES VIRTUAL PATIENT VISITS
Focus: GS-III Science and Technology, To be used as example in Science and Technology Mains Paper Why in news? The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on March 18 2020, recommended switching to virtual patient visits instead of in-person monitoring for clinical studies, as signs emerge that the rapid spread of the coronavirus outbreak is disrupting […]
THE IMPORTANCE OF ‘CONTACT TRACING’ – CONTROLLING COVID-19 SPREAD -‘ONCE-IN-100-YEAR’ VIRULENCE
Focus: GS-III Disaster Management, Science and Technology, Prelims Why in news? Reported spreading of infection by Coronavirus infected people, to a large number of other people that they came into contact with, makes the issue of tracing contacts very crucial. Beginning from the second phase of the epidemic — local transmission — which Indian Council […]
RBI TO REGULATE PAYMENT AGGREGATORS
Focus: GS-III Indian Economy, Economic Development Why in news? The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 17th March 2020, said it will regulate in entirety the activities of payment aggregators (PAs) and provide baseline technology-related recommendations to payment gateways (PGs) in view of the important functions of these intermediaries in the online payments space as […]
COVID-19 WILL IMPACT GDP GROWTH BY 90 BPS: SBI REPORT
Focus: GS-III Indian Economy Why in news? The spread of COVID-19, the deadly pandemic, which has impacted several sectors especially transport, tourism and hotel industries, could impact the economic growth of the country by 90 basis points. Highlights On the demand side, inoperability analysis for three sectors, namely transport, tourism and hotels, shows significant impact […]
FPI SALES AT A RECORD HIGH AS VIRUS SPOOKS MARKETS
Focus: GS-III Indian Economy, Economic Development Why in news? Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), who have been the prime drivers of every bull run that the Indian capital market has seen till date, have been record sellers during the March 2020 month. Till 17th of March, FPIs equity sold and debt cumulatively is the highest ever […]
SC UPHOLDS RIGHT OF WOMEN NAVAL OFFICERS
Focus: GS-II Social Justice Why in news? The Supreme Court on 17th March 2020, upheld the right of serving Short Service Commission (SSC) women officers of the Navy to be granted permanent commission (PC) on a par with their male counterparts. Observations in the Judgement All the “excuses” given against the Permanent Commission for women- […]
UIDAI CAN ISSUE NOTICE ON COMPLAINT
Focus: GS-II Governance, Prelims Why in news? The government informed the Lok Sabha on 17th March 2020, that the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) may issue a show-cause notice on receiving a complaint from “any person” or law enforcement agencies to ascertain if Aadhaar was procured through fraudulent means. What happens in case of an Allegation? […]
ABORTIONS TILL 24 WEEKS FOR SPECIAL CATEGORIES
Focus: GS-II Social Justice, Governance, Prelims Why in news? The Lok Sabha on 17th March 2020, passed a Bill to extend the upper limit for permitting abortions from 20 weeks to 24 under special circumstances. The “special categories of women” include rape survivors, victims of incest, the differently abled and minors, Health Minister said moving […]
RBI’S FOCUS ON LIQUIDITY IS CORRECT
Focus: GS-III Indian Economy Why in news? The central bank has an armoury of weapons and it will not hesitate to deploy them to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the economy. The two steps that RBI Governor has outlined now: forex swap and a second long-term repo operation (LTRO) of ₹1 lakh crore – […]
RANJAN GOGOI NOMINATED TO RAJYA SABHA
Focus: GS-II Governance, Prelims Why in news? President Ram Nath Kovind on 16th March 2020, nominated former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi to the Rajya Sabha. Announcement In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-clause (a) of clause (1) of article 80 of the Constitution of India, read with clause (3) of that […]