Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 04 MAY 2019
::NATIONAL::
SC upholds provision of maintaining medical recordsin PCPNDT act
- In a significant judgment, the Supreme Court on Friday upheld
provisions in the anti-pre-natal sex determination law which ‘criminalises’
non-maintenance of medical records by obstetricians and gynaecologists and
suspend their medical licence indefinitely.
- A Bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Vineet Saran held that the
particular provisions in the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic
Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act of 1994 were necessary to
prevent female foeticide in the country.
- There are only 586 convictions out of 4202 cases registered even
after 24 years of existence. It reflects the challenges being faced in
implementing this social legislation, the court observed. The main purpose
of the Act is to ban the use of sex selection and misuse of pre-natal
diagnostic technique for sex selective abortions and to regulate such
techniques.
- “It is a responsible job of the person who is undertaking such a
test i.e., the gynaecologist/medical geneticist/radiologist/ paediatrician/director
of the clinic/centre/laboratory to fill the requisite information. In case
he keeps it vague, he knows fully well that he is violating the provisions
of the Act,” the court observed.
Cyclone Fani hits odisha coast causing large scale destruction
- The extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani barrelled into the Odisha
coast on Friday morning, unleashing torrential rain and winds gusting up to
175 kmph, killing at least eight people, bringing rail and air transport to
a halt, and swamping towns and villages, officials said.
- While the system weakened to a ‘very severe cyclonic storm’, it is
expected to cause significant damage as it moves north-northeast through
coastal Odisha and West Bengal towards Bangladesh. The system lay centred
about 20 km west of Balasore and 200 km west-south west of Kolkata around
8.30 p.m. on Friday, with wind speeds of 110-120 km per hour, gusting at 135
km per hour.
- Cyclone Fani was a ‘re-curving cyclone’ and therefore a harder to
precisely predict than most cyclones. Recurving cyclones' are those that
sharply turn north-eastwards instead of a more typical parth of
north-westwards. In the Indian context, they are relatively rare and harder
to track.
::ECONOMY::
RBI penalises prepaid instrument for violating norms
- The Reserve Bank of India has slapped monetary penalty on five
pre-paid payment instrument issuers including Vodafone m-pesa and Phonepe,
for violating regulatory guidelines.
- A penalty of Rs. 3.05 crore has been imposed on Vodafone m-pesa
and Rs. 1 crore each on Mobile Payments, PhonePe and G.I. Technology Private
Ltd.Also, a penalty of Rs. 5 lakh has been imposed on Y-Cash Software
Solutions.
- In a separate statement, the central bank said it had imposed a
penalty of Rs. 29.67 lakh on Western Union Financial Services Inc., USA.,
and Rs. 10.12 lakh on MoneyGram Payment Systems Inc, USA, for non-compliance
of regulatory guidelines.
- The penalties on Western Union and MoneyGram had been imposed by
the central bank under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems
Act, 2007, for compounding of the contravention.
- RBI also imposed a penalty of Rs. 11.25 lakh on private sector
lender Yes Bank for violation of norms pertaining to issuance and operations
of PPIs.
- In a statement to the exchanges, the private sector lender said:
“RBI has identified certain violations of RBI circular on Issuance and
Operation of Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs) in connection with certain
product features of an open loop prepaid card (co-branded) previously issued
by the bank.”
ADB projects growth of 5.7 % in Asia- Pacific
- The Asia-Pacific region is expected to power ahead growing at 5.7%
this year but escalating trade tensions are a source of worry, according to
TakehikoNakao, President and Chairperson, Asian Development Bank.
- Addressing the opening session of the Board of Governors at ADB’s
52nd Annual Meeting here, Mr.Nakao said that consumer and investor behaviour
could be undermined by trade tensions between countries.
- The bank’s lending grew to a record $21.6 billion in 2018, 10%
higher compared to 2017. Mr.Nakao elaborated on the Strategy 2030 plan of
ADB which will focus on six key areas operational and action plans for the
private sector, addressing remaining poverty and inequality, accelerating
progress in gender equality, continuing to foster regional cooperation and
integration, expanding private sector operations and using concessional
resources effectively.
- Addressing the session, Fiji’s Prime Minister JosaiaVoreque
Bainimarama said: “The world has come to us. This conference marks the end
of an era of missed opportunities for the Pacific region.”
- This is the single largest gathering in Fiji with over 2,000
delegates and was the first time that the ADB held its annual meeting in the
Pacific region, he pointed out.
::INTERNATIONAL::
U.S lawmakers does not want to terminate GSP given to India
- The U.S. should not terminate the GSP programme with India after
the expiry of the 60-day notice period on Friday, a group of 25 influential
American lawmakers urged the U.S. Trade Representative, warning that
companies seeking to expand their exports to India could be hit.
- The Generalized System of Preference (GSP) is the largest and
oldest U.S. trade preference programme designed to promote economic
development by allowing duty-free entry for thousands of products from
designated beneficiary countries.
- On March 4, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S.
intended to terminate India’s designations as a beneficiary developing
country under the GSP programme. The 60-day notice period ended on May
3.They argued that terminating GSP for India would hurt American companies
seeking to expand their exports to India.
- “India’s termination from GSP follows its failure to provide the
United States with assurances that it will provide equitable and reasonable
access to its markets in numerous sectors,” Mr. Trump had said in a letter
to Congress, providing a notice of his intent to terminate the designation
of India as a beneficiary developing country under GSP programme.
- Expressing concern over such a move, the lawmakers said that no
party in the United States or India would benefit from terminating GSP
benefits.
UN working groups condemn Assange’s detention
- The 50-week jail sentence given to WikiLeaks founder Julian
Assange for breaching a British court’s bail conditions seven years ago is
“disproportionate,” the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said on
Friday.
- Mr.Assange will serve the nearly one-year jail sentence while
fighting a separate attempt to extradite him to the United States.
- The UN working group noted that the Swedish allegations the
initial offence that triggered his British arrest had been withdrawn and
that the original bail terms should therefore have been nullified.
- It noted too that he had been given near the maximum 12-month
sentence available in the U.K. for breaching bail conditions.
- The experts took further issue with Mr.Assange’s detention at the
Belmarsh high-security prison. “This treatment appears to contravene the
principles of necessity and proportionality envisaged by the human rights
standards,” the panel said.
::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::
AIDS drug successful in preventing transmission in Gays
- A European study of nearly 1,000 gay male couples who had sex
without condoms where one partner had HIV and was taking anti-retroviral
drugs to suppress it has found the treatment can prevent sexual transmission
of the virus.
- After eight years of follow-up of the so-called serodifferent
couples, the study found no cases at all of HIV transmission within
couples.The study proves, the researchers said, that using anti-retroviral
therapy to suppress the AIDS virus to undetectable levels also means it
cannot be passed on via sex, the researchers said.
- Doctors said this “powerful message” could help end the HIV
pandemic by preventing the virus’ transmission in high-risk populations. In
this study alone, the researchers estimate that the treatment prevented
around 472 HIV transmissions during the eight years.
- Its findings add to an earlier phase of the study which looked at
HIV transmission risk for serodifferent heterosexual couples in the same
circumstances. It also found zero risk.
- Global health experts say the fight against HIV is at a precarious
point, with the annual number of AIDS deaths falling and the number of
people getting anti-retroviral treatment rising, but the number of new
infections stubbornly high at around 1.8 million new cases a year worldwide.
