Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 03 MARCH 2020

::NATIONAL::

RajyaSabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu today appealed to leaders of all parties and members to ensure better attendance in the meetings of Parliamentary's Committees.
He made the observation on an opening day today of the second part of Budget Session. He said, the first part of the Budget Session has largely been purposeful with 96 percent productivity along with quality discussions on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address and the Union Budget for 2020-21. Mr Naidu hoped that this part of the session would prove to be even more meaningful.
Mr Naidu told the members that this session offers several opportunities to raise important issues of larger public concern and discuss some major legislative proposals of the government.
Making comparison on the attendance, he said, the attendance of the RajyaSabha members at 52.57 percent continues to be higher than that of LokSabha which is 46.37 percent.
On Department Related Standing Committees meetings, he reminded that out of 24 Committees, eight were with the RajyaSabha and the remaining 16 with the LokSabha. He said, the highest attendance of 65.51 percent has been recorded in the meetings of the Committee on Health and Family Welfare.

The Election Commission has informed the Government that it is not in favour of state funding of elections, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur told the LokSabha in a written reply on Monday.
The commission is of the view that it would not be able to prohibit or check candidates’ expenditure over and above the state’s provision, he said.
Mr. Thakur was responding to a question from Congress MP AnumulaRevanth Reddy on whether the government was mulling the introduction of state funding of polls as recommended by the Indrajit Gupta Committee in 1998.
The committee had recommended some limitations, saying that state funds should only be given to recognised national and State parties and that funding should be given in kind, including free facilities provided to these parties and their candidates. The panel admitted that only partial funding may be possible.

Comprehensive steps taken to curb fraud in public sector banks (PSBs) have resulted in a sharp decline in the amount involved, from ₹50,329 crore in 2013-14 to just ₹3,781 crore in the first three quarters of 2019-20, according to the Finance Ministry.
An online searchable database of frauds reported by banks, in the form of Central Fraud Registry, has been set up to enable timely identification, control and mitigation of fraud risk and for carrying out due diligence during the credit sanction process, the Ministry said in response to a question in the LokSabha.
The Fugitive Economic Offenders Act is being invoked to attach and confiscate the assets of violators and strip them of the entitlement to defend any civil claim.
The government has also asked these banks to strictly ensure rotational transfer of officials to mitigate the possibility of their involvement in any fraud. The bank heads have been empowered to issue requests for opening look-out circulars against suspects.
The government has also asked these banks to strictly ensure rotational transfer of officials to mitigate the possibility of their involvement in any fraud. The bank heads have been empowered to issue requests for opening look-out circulars against suspects.

Global agency OECD on Monday lowered its India’s GDP growth forecast to 5.1% from the earlier projection of 6.2% for 2020 on concerns of impact of the deadly COVID-19 on the domestic as well as the global economy.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said the adverse impact on confidence, financial markets, travel sector and disruption to supply chains contributes to the downward revisions in all G20 economies in 2020, particularly ones strongly interconnected to China.
According to the latest OECD Interim Economic Outlook Forecasts, India’s real GDP growth is expected at 5.1% during the fiscal year starting April 1, 2020 and improve to 5.6% in the following year.
The National Statistical Office (NSO) estimates India’s GDP growth at 5% during 2019-20. OECD has projected the growth at 4.9% for the financial year ending March 2020.
The report said the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak had already brought considerable human suffering and major economic disruption.

Sri Lankan President GotabayaRajapksa has dissolved the parliament and called for general elections on 25th of next month. A gazette notification issued last night said nominations for elections will be received from 12th to 19th of this month.
The gazette was issued under powers vested with President to dissolve the parliament after four and a half years of its first sitting. The newly elected parliament will meet on 14th of May.
The parliament term was ending in August but general elections was called as the current government led by Prime minister MahindaRajpaksa is a minority government and expects to gain a majority in coming elections.
The previous government led by RanilWickremsinghe has resigned in November following defeat at the Presidential elections where Gotabaya was elected as President defeating SajithPremadasa.
Meanwhile, Mr.Premadasa launched a new political alliance yesterday comprising of five political parties including some members of United National party (UNP) led by RanilWickremsinghe. There is no consensus for symbol of the alliance as UNP camp is divided between loyalists of Wickremsinghe and Premadasa.

India has today assured Bangladesh that the updation of the National Register of Citizens will have no implications for its people.
Foreign Secretary Harsh VardhanShringla today said the updation of the National Register of Citizens is a process that is entirely internal to India. He was speaking at a seminar in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took up the issue of NRC with Prime Minister NarendraModi during their bilateral meeting in New York in September.
Bangladesh was apparently upset following the rollout of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam even though India conveyed to it that the issue was an internal matter of the country.

With new additions to the wildlife list put out by the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS), scientists say that the total number of migratory fauna from India comes to 457 species. Birds comprise 83% (380 species) of this figure.
GopinathanMaheshwaran, who heads the avian section of the ZSI, said that birds make up the bulk of migratory species. Before COP 13, the number of migratory bird species stood at 378 and now it has reached 380.
According to Mr.Maheshwaran, the bird family Muscicapidae has the highest number of migratory species. “The next highest group of migratory birds is raptors or birds of prey, such as eagles, owls, vultures and kites which are from the family Accipitridae,” he added.
The estimate of 44 migratory mammal species in India has risen to 46 after COP 13, said Lalit Sharma, who heads the wildlife section of the ZSI. The Asian elephant was added to Appendix I and the urial to Appendix II.
Fish make up another important group of migratory species. Before COP 13, the ZSI had compiled 22 species, including 12 sharks and 10 ray fish. The oceanic white-tip shark and smooth hammerhead shark were then added, said K.K. Bineesh, a ZSI scientist.