This page contains "20th August 2018" current affairs analysis from different newspapers and magazines like The Hindu, Indian express, PIB and Yojna.
Quality and relevance are two key features considered while writing the content, all the topics are based on the pattern of previously asked questions in exams like UPSC CSE, IAS, State PCS, SSC, Banks PO and likewise competitive exams.
All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey 2016-17 : NABARD
All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey 2016-17, conducted by NABARD revealed that 52.5 per cent of the agricultural households have outstanding debt and their average outstanding debt is almost as high as the average annual income of all agricultural households.
Debt liability
According to survey 42.8 per cent of non-agricultural households in rural India are indebted that is around 10 percent less than the agricultural households.
Additionally the debt liability is higher in agricultural households while comparing with non-agricultural ones, agricultural households has an average income of around 1.07 lakh rupees that is barely 2,500 rupees more than the their average outstanding debt.
In terms of "Kisan Credit Card", the survey observes that only 10.5 per cent of agricultural households possess these cards and 66 per cent of the sanctioned credit limit is utilised by these households.
Reason for taking loans
According to All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey 2016-17, 25 per cent of all loans taken by agricultural households was due to capital expenditure for agricultural purposes. While 11 per cent of loan amount was due to housing and 12 per cent due to medical expenses.
19 per cent of loans were taken for meeting running expenses for agricultural purposes and 19 per cent were taken for sundry domestic needs.
60 per cent of indebted households comes from those households owning more than two hectares of land, this indicates that households with more land are more likely to have multiple loans.
Distribution of loans
The survey reveals that, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have the highest level of indebtedness among agricultural households.
Out of total loans 46 per cent were taken from commercial banks, 10 per cent from self-help groups and around 40 per cent from non-institutional sources such as relatives, friends, moneylenders and landlords.
India's next indigenous fighter - AMCA
The development work on The Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), India's next indigenous fighter is under way and the Jet is expected to make its first flight by 2032.
Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA)
Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) will have geometric stealth and two GE-414 engines, GE-414 engines will be replaced once ingenuously developed engines are ready.
Geometric stealth is one of the way to make a military platform stealthier, the second one is "material stealth". In Geometric stealth the shape of the aircraft is designed to deflect away maximum radar waves thereby minimising its radar cross section.
While in material stealth, radar-absorbing materials are used to absorb the radio waves thus reducing the radar footprint. AMCA will be based on geometric stealth in initial phase, which can be converted to material stealth at a later stage.
The land is given by IAF (Indian Air Force) to DRDO, to set up facilities for the project.
The AMCA project will have more developed technologies than the LCA project while capabilities and expertise will be developed during the development of the light combat aircraft (LCA).
AMCA is India's only fifth generation aircraft programme following the decision not to go ahead with the fifth generation project with Russia.
Preventing pollution in and around the Taj Mahal
Supreme court directed Uttar Pradesh government to prevent pollution in and around the Taj and its preservation based on its critical observation.
Taj Mahal preservation
Taj Mahal, the iconic Mughal monument is facing natural deterioration as well as deterioration due to pollutants from vehicles and industries.
The structure made from white marble is facing greenish-black patches on several parts, these patches are a result of the release of faeces and dirt by an insect identified as Geoldichironomus (Chironomus calligraphus).
Geoldichironomus, the insect is attributed to the rising pollution in the Yamuna river passing by the monument.
Fuller's earth treatment : Herbal earth
In order to treat these patches, the monument is getting continuous mud-treatment using fuller's earth from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
Fuller's earth treatment is a herbal earth that is applied on the patches to be washed out after 24 hours once dried, herbal earth absorbs all the impurities absorbed by the marble from the atmosphere.
However, activists has termed the treatment an eyewash while criticising the government and related agencies for not being serious about the preservation of the monument.
UP government's report
According to government's report recently submitted to SC, it recommends to create an "Agra city and the Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ)" consisting of five districts of Uttar Pradesh — Agra, Mathura, Firozabad, Hatras and Etah - and one in Rajasthan — Bharatpur.
TTZ, encompassing an area of 10,400 sq km should be declared a no-plastic zone, including the use of bottled water.
Additionally the report suggests to ban all untreated sewage discharge throughout the stretch of the Yamuna along with closure of polluting industries in the region.
Alternative non-polluting industries should be promoted with incentives and there should be a ban on construction on the Yamuna Flood Plains.
Way ahead
To overcome issues related to the high footfall, diversion of tourist and area segregation methods should be adopted to ensure the cleaning goes smoothly.
Various bodies maintaining the Taj should work in sync, roping in foreign agencies can be adopted while ASI working as the coordinating authority for the preservation activities.
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