TNPSC Current Affairs August 03, 2019

www.tnpsc.academy – TNPSC Current Affairs August 03, 2019 (03/08/2019)

Topic: Public Awareness, General Administration, Latest Diary of Events

Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019

Parliament passes the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019.

Key features of the Bill:

The Bill amends the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

Who may commit terrorism: Under the Act, the central government may designate an organisation as a terrorist organisation if it: (i) commits or participates in acts of terrorism, (ii) prepares for terrorism, (iii) promotes terrorism, or (iv) is otherwise involved in terrorism.  The Bill additionally empowers the government to designate individuals as terrorists on the same grounds.

Why is it being opposed?

This is a potentially dangerous amendment which will empower officials of Union Ministry to brand any person ‘a terrorist‘, without following due process. The name of such a person will be included in the ‘Fourth Schedule’ proposed to be added in the parent Act. The only statutory remedy available to such a person is to make an application before the Central Government for de-notification, which will be considered by a Review Committee constituted by the Government itself.

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Topic: Profile of States, Latest Inventions, Places in News

Hyperloop

Richard Branson’s Virgin Hyperloop One has signed an agreement with the Maharashtra government to build a Hyperloop that will cut the travel time between Mumbai and Pune to 25 minutes from the 3 hours it now takes by road.

What is hyperloop transportation system?

It is a transportation system where a pod-like vehicle is propelled through a near-vacuum tube connecting cities at speeds matching that of an aircraft.

The hyperloop concept is a brainchild of Tesla founder Elon Musk. US-based Hyperloop Transport Technology (HTT) claimed it costs $40 million per kilometre to build a hyperloop system while building a high-speed train line would cost almost twice. The hyperloop system is being designed to transport passengers and freight.

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Topic: New Inventions on Science and Health, Latest Diary of Events

Two new vaccines introduced to conduct India’s first tuberculosis preventive trial

India’s first large scale trial for Two new TB vaccines, was launched by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The two drugs are IMMUVAC and VPM1002.

Key facts:

The TB vaccine trial will be carried out in 6 States involving more than 12000 healthy household contacts of newly diagnosed TB patients with 2000 participants from each state.

The six states are: Delhi, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana and Karnataka and will be implemented over the next 7-8 months.

IMMUVAC and VPM1002:

IMMUVAC is also known as Mycobacterium IndicusPranii or MIP and is manufactured by Cadillac pharmaceuticals, Ahmedabad.

VPM1002 is manufactured by Serum Institute of India, Pune.

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Topic: National Defence and security, Latest Diary of Events

e- cars in Indian Army

The Indian Army has launched an ecological initiative with employing e-Cars for use of its officials in New Delhi in partnership with Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL).

The initiative was officially launched on 01 Aug 2019 with flagging off the first lot of E-Cars for Indian Army.

EESL is Super Energy Service Company and leads the market related activities of the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency.

EESL is a joint venture of four national Public-Sector Undertakings.