Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 08 MAY 2019
::NATIONAL::
SC dismissed opposition plea on more VVPAT verification
- The Supreme Court dismissed a plea by 21 Opposition parties, led
by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, to review its
judgment rejecting 50% random physical verification of Electronic Voting
Machines (EVMs) using Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT).
- On April 8, a Bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had directed
the Election Commission of India (ECI) to increase physical counting of
VVPAT slips to five random EVMs in each Assembly segment/constituency.
Before this April verdict, ECI Guideline 16.6 required physical counting of
only one EVM in every Assembly segment/constituency.
- The Opposition had found the Supreme Court’s April 8 verdict a far
shot from what it wanted VVPAT verification in 50% or 125 polling booths in
each constituency. The physical scrutiny of slips in five EVMs has increased
the VVPAT verification percentage from .44% to less than 2%.
- The ECI had said a 50% random physical verification of VVPATs
would delay the LokSabha poll results by six days.
Public release of Supreme court in-house committee sought
- Former Central Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu has
called for the public release of the report of the Supreme Court’s in-house
inquiry committee, which cleared the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi of
sexual harassment allegations raised by a former woman employee of the
court.
- The three-member committee gave a clean chit to Justice Gogoi,
saying it “found no substance” in the allegations. The court later cited the
verdict in a 2003 case of Indira Jaising vs Supreme Court of India to hold
that the report “is not liable to be made public.”
- Apart from issues of principles of natural justice, Mr.Acharyulu
said the committee’s verdict raised several concerns about information
rights as well. “Especially when the committee is convinced that there was
no substance in allegation, it has a duty to give reasons for their decision
and to convince the people in general about the correctness of their
conclusion,” said Mr. Acharyulu’s statement.
- “As per Indira Jaising order, the enquiry into Mysore incident was
informal and only to gather some information from colleague judges, but in
this case, it is a statutorily mandated inquiry and it is not opinion
collection or information gathering,” said the statement.
::ECONOMY::
U.S secretary wants to remove India’s restrictive trade barriers
- While the U.S. is India’s largest export destination, India is
only the 13th largest for the U.S. due to “overly restrictive market access
barriers,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Tuesday.
- “India is already the world’s third largest economy, and by 2030,
it will become the world’s largest consumer market because of the rapid
growth of the middle class,” Mr. Ross said, while speaking at the Trade
Winds conference organised in the national capital.
- Mr. Ross went on to say that while American technology and
expertise can play an important role to meet India’s developmental needs,
U.S. companies faced significant market access barriers in India.
- “These include both tariff and non-tariff barriers, as well as
multiple practices and regulations that disadvantage foreign companies,” he
said. “India’s average applied tariff rate of 13.8%, and that remains the
highest of any major world economy. The very highest.
- Mr. Ross, reportedly said that the U.S. would not be able to sell
oil to India at lower rates because oil is owned by private players and the
U.S. government would not be able to force them to offer concessionary
rates.
::INTERNATIONAL::
Digital transformation has boosted B2B tech startups
- Business-to-business (B2B) technology start-ups have more than
trebled in the last five years driven by the spurt in the need for digital
transformation of enterprises, financial institutions, hospitals, government
and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), among others.
- While the number of such ventures has increased from 900 to over
3,200, the investment in such start-ups touched $3.7 billion in 2018, a rise
of 364% from $797 million in 2014, as per a study jointly done by NetApp and
Zinnov.
- According to the study, 70% of the B2B start-ups are in the area
of enterprise technology, financial technology and health technology. Some
of the other segments that have a significant presence are alternative
lending, expense management, medical internet of things and artificial
intelligence-enabled predictive platforms.
- Interestingly, Bengaluru is the top city for B2B technology
start-ups followed by Delhi NCR and Mumbai, with the three cities accounting
for about 60% of all B2B technology start-ups.
- Further, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai are poised to be the growing
start-up hubs on account of flexible economic policies, State government
support and access to various industries.
- “While global accelerators hold a majority with 66% of the share,
34% of the pie comprises Indian companies. Varied in their philosophy, the
accelerators have an aim to offer support in the form of market access,
mentorship, investor-connect and access to product platforms,” added the
study.
India-Bangladesh to co -produce movie on Mujibur Rahman
- India and Bangladesh will co-produce a film on the life and works
of Banga Bandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and a documentary on Bangladesh
Liberation War.
- A Delegation from Bangladesh led by Adviser to Prime Minister of
Bangladesh, Dr.Gowher Rizvi today met Secretary and other officials of
Information & Broadcasting Ministry and focussed on various aspects of
making of feature film. The co-production was earlier announced by the Prime
Ministers of both the countries.
- The movie will be directed by acclaimed filmmaker Shyam Benegal
who, along with writer of the movie Atul Tiwari, was also present during the
meeting. The Bangladesh Delegation assured full cooperation in ensuring
smooth logistics for shooting the movie in Bangladesh.
- Co-production of documentary on Bangladesh Liberation War was also
discussed in the meeting. It was mutually agreed that the director of the
documentary would be from Bangladesh who would be assisted by a co-director
from India.
India re-elected as observer in Arctic council
- India has been re-elected as an observer to the Arctic Council,
tweeted Madhavan Rajeevan, secretary to the Union Ministry of Earth
Sciences. The eight-member grouping of nations that have territories in the
Arctic.
- Observers are not allowed to take part in the active meetings.
Besides India, China, South Korea, Singapore, Italy and Japan also have
Observer status at the Council.
- Among the important decisions, they “reaffirmed their commitment
to maintain peace, stability and constructive cooperation in the Arctic”.
They also committed to the well-being of the Arctic’s inhabitants and the
region’s sustainable development and the protection of its environment. Most
importantly, the joint statement recognised the rights of Arctic indigenous
peoples and to consult and cooperate with them.
- The summit this time also had the US Secretary of State refraining
from using the word “climate change”. According to a media report, “Official
US statements and documents prepared for the meeting did not refer to
climate change and their scientific focus was limited to reductions in US
carbon emissions that predate the administration and research”.
::SPORTS::
Mumbai Indians enter IPL finals
- Mumbai Indians entered IPL final for the fifth time by defeating
Chennai Super Kings by six wickets in the first Qualifier at Chennai last
night.
- Riding on Surya kumar Yadav's unbeaten 71 off 54 balls, Mumbai
reached a 132-run target with 9 balls to spare. For Chennai, skipper MS
Dhoni scored 37 while Ambati Rayudu made 42 runs.
- However, Chennai will get another chance to make it to their
eighth summit clash as they will now play the second Qualifier against the
winner of the 'Eliminator' between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad,
scheduled in Visakhapatnam at 7:30 pm today.
