Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 04 October 2018

SSC CGL Current Affairs

::NATIONAL::

RanjanGogoi was sworn in as the 46th Chief Justice of India on Wednesday, and, his first day after being sworn in promised a lot of change.
Chief Justice Gogoi announced that only “extremely urgent” matters would be allowed to be orally mentioned for out-of-turn hearing. Parameters for mentioning would change, he said.
The courtroom then witnessed a brief exchange between advocate AshwiniUpadhyay and Chief Justice Gogoi while the Bench was dealing with the few PIL pleas listed for the day. The Chief Justice was irked to find that Mr.Upadhyay, dressed in the robes of an advocate, was both the petitioner and the lawyer “assisting” his own counsel. The Chief Justice commented on the lack of decorum. The petition was quickly withdrawn.
Change was introduced on the administrative side when a new subject-wise roster declared that the Chief Justice and his number two judge, Justice Madan B. Lokur, would hear PIL pleas. Justice Lokur would hear those directed to his court by the Chief Justice.

The National Green Tribunal on Wednesday came down heavily on the National Highways Authority of India for not maintaining green cover along national highways.
Rapping the NHAI for not implementing the policy to maintain a mandatory green cover along the highways, a Bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said, “You are befooling everyone. You are not planting trees. All highways have marriage places along the road instead of trees. Why are you allowing construction along the highways?”
Dismissing the NHAI’s contention that its green highway policy is being implemented, the Bench said, “All you have on paper is fraud. All things stated in the affidavit are also false. Big buildings are overlooking the roads. You cannot construct anything within 50 metres.”
The green panel’s observations came following a plea moved by an NGO, Society for Protection of Culture, Heritage, Environment, Traditions and Promotion of National Awareness, that sought execution of an earlier order of the tribunal.

“Giving a boost to farmers’ income, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the increase in the Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for all rabi crops for 2018-19 to be marketed in 2019-20 season,” the government said in a release.
“The farmer friendly initiative will give additional return of Rs. 62,635 crore to the farmers by way of increasing MSP of notified crops to at least 50% return over cost of production and will aid in doubling farmers’ income.”
“With the new umbrella scheme ‘PradhanMantriAnnadataAaySanraksHanAbhiyan’ (PM-AASHA) announced by the government, there is a robust mechanism available to enable farmers realise the MSP in fuller measure,” the government said. “The umbrella scheme consists of three sub-schemes i.e. Price Support Scheme (PSS), Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS) and Private Procurement & Stockist Scheme (PPSS) on a pilot basis.”
The increase in MSP for rabi crops comes just ahead of the RBI monetary policy announcement.The apex bank, in its August policy statement, had indicated MSP increase among possible factors that could influence its outlook on inflation.

The UN’s top court ordered the U.S. on Wednesday to lift sanctions on humanitarian goods for Iran in a stunning setback for U.S. President Donald Trump.The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague handed Iran a major victory, saying the stinging economic sanctions put Iranian lives at risk.
Mr. Trump reimposed the sanctions in May after pulling out of Iran’s international nuclear deal to the dismay of his allies.But it was unclear whether the judgment will be anything more than symbolic, because both Washington and Tehran have ignored them in the past.
The ICJ judges ruled that the sanctions on some goods breached a 1955 “Treaty of Amity” between Iran and the U.S. that predates Iran’s Islamic Revolution.The court said sanctions on goods “required for humanitarian needs may have a serious detrimental impact on the health and lives of individuals on the territory of Iran.”
U.S. sanctions also had the “potential to endanger civil aviation safety in Iran and the lives of its users.”
Iran dragged the U.S. to the ICJ in July, and during four days of hearings in late August, its lawyers accused Washington of “strangling” its economy.The U.S. criticised the verdict, saying the case was “meritless” and the court had “no jurisdiction”.

The U.S. on Wednesday urged India to forgo its proposed deal to buy the S-400 missile defence system from Russia, warning that the deal could attract American sanctions. New Delhi and Kremlin are expected to announce the deal this week during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two-day visit to India starting Thursday.
The U.S. administration is required under a domestic law, Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act, or CAATSA, to impose sanctions on any country that has “significant transactions” with Iran, North Korea or Russia.
President Donald Trump has the power to waive these sanctions for specific countries and specific transactions, and U.S. officials have repeatedly said in the recent past that India should not expect an automatic waiver if it goes ahead with the purchase from Russia.

ArkadyDvorkovich was elected the new president of FIDE (World Chess Federation) at the General Assembly here on Wednesday. He takes over from fellow Russian KirsanIlyumzhinov who was ousted in July.
The other office-bearers include :Deputy President: BacharKouatly; General Secretary: SewaEnyonamFumey; Vice-Presidents: MahirMammedov& Julio Granda Zuniga; Treasurer: Zhu Chen.