Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams – 19 June 2022

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams – 19 June 2022

::NATIONAL::

Maintain full reservoir level of Siruvani dam, Tamil Nadu CM Stalin tells Kerala counterpart Vijayan

• Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin urged his Kerala counterpart PinarayiVijayan to maintain storage in Siruvani dam up to the full reservoir level to meet the water requirements of Coimbatore city and its suburbs.
• The Kerala irrigation department is maintaining the maximum water level of Siruvani dam at 877.00 m instead of the full reservoir level (FRL) at 878.50 m, as stipulated in the inter-state agreement, Stalin said in his letter to Vijayan.
• Lowering of the water level by 1.5 m results in shortage of 122.05 million cubic feet (mcft) of water, which is 19 per cent of the total storage. This creates difficulties in catering to the needs of Coimbatore city in summer months.
• For the past six years, the state has received water only in the range of 0.484 tmc to 1.128 tmc, as against 1.30 tmc stipulated in the agreement.
• Tamil Nadu has been continuously requesting Kerala to take steps to ensure FRL storage and despite him writing to Vijayan in February, no steps have been taken so far to restore the storage to FRL, Stalin noted.
• The Siruvani dam, built across the Siruvani river, a tributary of Bhavaniriver, is in Palakkad district of Kerala.
• On February 1, 2022, Stalin had urged Vijayan to ensure FRL storage of 878.50 m in Siruvani dam and increase water supply from the reservoir to Tamil Nadu, to meet the level of 101.40 million litres per day (MLD).

::INTERNATIONAL::

Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif empowers IB to ‘vet’ govt officers: Report

• Days after the Pakistani government tasked the country’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) with conducting verification and screening of the government officers, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has now appointed the Intelligence Bureau (IB) with the same job of screening of government officers before their induction, appointments, and postings as well as promotions.
• Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday appointed the IB as a “Special Vetting Agency (SVA)” for officers category for initial appointments and postings. The notification issued by the Establishment Division read, “The Prime Minister is pleased to notify IB as SVA for officerscategory for initial appointment, induction, certain postings abroad and specific promotions,” reported The News International.
• Fears have already been voiced about the curtailment of the executive’s and in effect, the legislature’s role.
• There are also apprehensions that more and more military personnel, serving and retired, being already vetted, may be preferred to the civilians. The action of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government has been subjected to speculation.
• In a similar move, earlier, ISI, the Pakistan military’s powerful intelligence wing, was officially named the Special Vetting Agency (SVA). This curtails the powers of the executive that ought to have the prerogative, and the last word, in all appointments, including that of the Army Chief.
• In doing so, the government has given legal cover to a practice that had already been in place but had not been formalized as part of the protocol.
• According to the Establishment Division notification: “In exercise of powers conferred by sub-section 1 of section 25 of the Civil Servants Act 1973 read with notification No. SRO 120 (1)/1998 dated Feb. 27, 1998, the Prime Minister is pleased to notify Directorate General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) as [the] Special Vetting Agency (SVA) for verification and screening of all Public Office Holders (Officers Category) for induction, important postings/appointments, and promotions.”

::ECONOMY::

DoT’s committee on licencing reforms to submit report by month-end

• The telecom department is moving ahead in full stream towards ushering the next round of reforms in the sector and a committee, set up to make suggestions on licencing reforms, is expected to submit its report to the Department by the month-end, a senior official said.
• Even as hectic preparations are on in the Department of Telecom (DoT) for the upcoming spectrum auctions, work on the second set of reforms is going on in parallel. Some of these reforms may be announced by the July-August timeframe.
• The reforms span multiple areas including licencing, wireless WPC, satellite telephony, and other areas.
• A DoT committee headed by Member Technology is deliberating on the licencing terms and conditions reforms, and is expected to submit its report by the month end, following which Department of Telecom will assess which measures involve reference to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and those which can be taken forward by the Department directly, the official said.
• The second area is WPC (Wireless Planning and Coordination) reforms, which is again a procedural reform, aimed at making things simpler, cutting down the number of processes, removing some unnecessary fees, eliminating some approvals which are required.
• “That also is in the final stages,” the official said, adding that ‘saralsanchar’ portal will be revamped next month to incorporate and reflect the new features and changes.

::Science and tech::

5G services started in India by March 2023

• India will get 5G services – 10 times faster than 4G – by March 2023, union minister AshwiniVaishnaw has said, a day after the cabinet cleared the auction for the 5G spectrum. With a validity of 20 years, a total of 72 GHz (gigahertz) of spectrum is set to be put to auction by July end.
• “Telecom is the primary source of digital consumption, and is very important to bring trusted solution in telecom. India has its own stack of 4G like radio, equipment and handset and similar goals are being eyed for the 5G technology,” the minister of railways, communications and electronics and information technology told news agency ANI. Vaishnaw is in Paris currently for the VivaTech 2022 event, an event for the startups.
• “5G is ready in the lab. By the end of March 2023, 5G will also be ready to deploy in the field,” he added.
• The government, in a statement, said that a proposal of the Department of Telecommunications to conduct spectrum auction through which spectrum will be assigned to the successful bidders for providing 5G services to public and enterprises was cleared by the union cabinet.
• “The spectrum auction will be benefitted by the Telecom Sector Reforms announced in September, 2021. The reforms include zero Spectrum Usage Charges (SUC) on the spectrum acquired in the upcoming auction, providing a significant relief to the service providers in terms of the operating cost of telecom networks. Further, the requirement of submitting a financial bank guarantee equivalent to one annual instalment has also been done away with,” it further underlined.

::Sports::

IND vs SA 5th T20I Highlights: Match abandoned due to rain, series tied 2-2

• The fifth and final match of the series at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru got washed out after only 3.3 overs being bowled. The rain forced the umpires to declare at 9.40 pm IST that no further play could take place and as a result, the series remained tied at 2-2 and South Africa managed to keep their streak of not losing a single T20I series in India alive.
• Bhuvneshwar Kumar was named the Player of the Series of the five-match tie between India and South Africa. Bhuvneshwra picked up six wickets in the four games at an economy rate of just above six and an average of 14.17. He has also been named the vice-captain of the Indian team that will be touring Ireland later this month for two T20Is.

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