20 July 2024, The Indian EXPRESS
Global tech outage hits many sectors, aviation bears brunt in India
Page no- 1
GS3-Awareness in the fields of IT, Computers
- MANUAL CHECK-INS at airports leading to serpentine queues, handwritten boarding passes, delayed and cancelled flights, and the dead blue screen on Windows computers — a disruption in a major cybersecurity software tied to the Windows operating system and cloud service brought the world to a virtual halt on Friday.
- Thousands of businesses across multiple geographies, spanning sectors such as aviation, banking and broadcasting, faced a severe service outage due to a faulty code update on their PCs, knocking down the usual flow of their work for several hours.
SC to look at immunity to Governors under Art 361
Page no- 1
GS2-Appointment to various Constitutional Posts, Powers, Functions and Responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies
- THE SUPREME Court on Friday agreed to examine the question of immunity to Governors from any kind of criminal prosecution, granted under Article 361 of the Constitution.
- The Bench, headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, was hearing a plea filed by a contractual woman employee of West Bengal Raj Bhavan, who has alleged sexual harassment by Governor C V Ananda Bose.
Interest subvention scheme: Govt looks to raise limit of crop loans from Rupees 3 lakh to 5 lakh
Page no- 6
GS3-Issues related to Direct and Indirect Farm Subsidies
- The Centre plans to increase the upper limit of the short-term crop loans under the Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS) from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, The Indian Express has learnt.
- A proposal for the move, which will allow farmers to borrow more at a concessional rate, is “under consideration” in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, sources said.
Jaishankar discusses bilateral ties with his Ukrainian counterpart
Page no- 6
GS2-Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests
- External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held a phone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba on Friday, less than two weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Moscow.
- Jaishankar said the focus of the conversation was to further develop the bilateral relationship. “A good conversation with FM @DmytroKuleba of Ukraine this afternoon. Spoke about further developing our bilateral relationship,” he wrote on X.
60 mcg/litre uranium in drinking water safe: Study
Page no- 10
GS3-Science and Technology- Developments and their Applications and Effects in Everyday Life
- A new study by scientists from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has concluded that concentration of uranium, a radioactive substance, up to 60 micrograms per litre (millionth of a gram per litre or µg/l) in drinking water was entirely safe, suggesting that the recently formulated “more stringent” national standard of 30 µg/l could be counterproductive.
- For years, the acceptable level of uranium concentration in drinking water in India was 60 µg/l — set by the country’s nuclear safety watchdog, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB). In 2021, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the custodian of standards and quality in India, however, announced a new limit of 30 µg/l, in line with recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Assam’s 700-yr old Moidams to be considered for World Heritage List
Page no- 10
GS1-Indian Culture - Salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times
- The 700-year-old mound-burial system of the Ahom dynasty — the Moidams from Assam — will be considered for nomination on the World Heritage List next week during the 46th session of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) in New Delhi on Sunday.
- If the nomination comes through, it will become the first cultural site on the prestigious list from the northeastern region.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 46th session of WHC, which is being held in India for the first time.
- The event, to be held at Bharat Mandapam from July 21 to 31, brings together culture ministers, representatives and stakeholders from around the world to discuss the preservation of shared cultural, natural and mixed heritage.
The budget’s dilemma
Page no- 14
GS3-Government Budgeting.
- The political backdrop against which the upcoming Union budget will be presented is remarkably different from that of the previous 10 budgets.
- How the ruling dispensation has read the fractured election verdict, and what it perceives its chances are in the upcoming state elections could well have a bearing on the contours of the budget proposals.
- After all, it will feel the need to wrestle back control over the narrative.
Why NEET debate is untidy
Page no- 14
GS2-Issues Relating to Development and Management of Social Sector/Services relating to Education
- The NEET 2024 exam crisis seems to be the subject of several debates, in Parliament, the Supreme Court, and in the media due to the alleged use of unfair means in the examination process.
- But the rhetoric does not consider the dangers of the alternative — an exclusionary, high-stakes medical entrance examination. The discourse and subsequent criticism are also highly politicised.
- There is a need to clarify the misconceptions that are damaging the reputation of professional agencies like the National Testing Agency (NTA).
Trump’s coming victory
Page no- 15
GS2-Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and Agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests
- The attempted murder of Donald J Trump by a young gunman in Pennsylvania last weekend reminds us that assassinations of presidents and presidential candidates are as American as pecan pie.
- In my lifetime alone, there have been the fatal shootings of President John F Kennedy (1963) and his brother Senator Robert F Kennedy (1968) and the vicious attack on presidential hopeful George W Wallace (1972).
- President Gerald Ford survived two separate assassination attempts (1975). President Reagan required emergency surgery after being seriously wounded by shots from a .22-calibre pistol (1981).
- And now Trump, the current odds-on favourite to win control of the White House, has miraculously survived death by a whisker — with the help of God, he says.
WazirX security breach: How did hackers steal $230 mn of firm’s holdings?
Page no- 17
GS3-Basics of Cyber Security
- WazirX, one of the country’s major cryptocurrency firms, suffered one of the biggest cyberattacks on an Indian exchange after hackers allegedly stole more than $230 million of users’ holdings, which was nearly half of the platform’s reserves.
- The incident highlights the security challenges that cryptocurrency exchanges face, and how they have become a target for hackers worldwide.
- WazirX called the security breach a “force majeure event” which was “beyond its control”.
- “We have already blocked a few deposits and reached out to concerned wallets for recovery.
- We are in touch with the best resources to help us in this endeavour,” the company said in a statement.
Not thinking of giving licence to business houses at present: Das
Page no- 17
GS3-Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development
- Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday spoke on host of issues related to relationship between central bank and the government, giving banking license to business houses, interest rates, action on regulated entities due to non compliance of norms and rise in rural consumption.
- In an interaction with Shyamal Majumdar, Editor, Financial Express, the Governor said the RBI is currently not contemplating giving banking license to corporate houses.
Anti-quota protests in Bangladesh
Page no- 19
GS2-India and its Neighborhood- Relations
- Police in Bangladesh clashed with student protesters attempting to impose a “complete shutdown” of the country on Thursday, following days of violent confrontations during demonstrations over a system of allocating government jobs, with media reports saying 22 more people died across the country.
- Dhaka-based leading Prothom Alo newspaper, which has a strong network of reporters across the country, said that by late Thursday night, they received reports of 19 deaths in Dhaka and elsewhere in the raging violence.
- The country’s leading English-language Daily Star also reported 19 deaths.
Window outage: How a faulty software update hit businesses globally
Page no- 19
GS3-Awareness in the fields of IT, Computers
- A major disruption in Microsoft Corp’s cloud services caused service disruptions to a number of businesses around the world, including in India.
- Microsoft said that a preliminary cause for the disruption was a configuration change “in a portion of [its] Azure backend workloads”, which resulted in connectivity failures that affected Microsoft 365 services dependent on these connections.
- Azure is Microsoft’s cloud computing platform.
