Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 13 MARCH 2019
::NATIONAL::
Election commission confirms no exclusion based on draft NRC
- The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday assured the
Supreme Court that names have not been deleted from the Assam electoral
roll on the basis of their exclusion from the draft National Register of
Citizens (NRC), which was published in July last year.
- The Bench quizzed the ECI secretary, who was present in court,
on electors in each constituency in Assam, addition and deletion. The
court wanted an affidavit by March 28.
- They claimed that one category included persons whose names
figured in the draft NRC but not in the voter list. In another category,
persons whose names were deleted from the voter list appeared in the
draft NRC published on July 30, 2018. The petition claimed these people
had voted in the last LokSabha election in 2014.
- The plea also submitted that there were people whose names
were not included in the complete draft NRC, but they subsequently filed
claims for inclusion. They had voted in the earlier LokSabha election
and were waiting for inclusion of their names.
- The court further directed the ECI to furnish details of the
names included in the electoral roll on January 1, 2017, 2018 and 2019
in Assam.
::ECONOMY::
Former RBI governor warns of threat to capitalism in post recession
period
- Former RBI governor RaghuramRajan on Tuesday warned that
capitalism is under “serious threat” of a “revolt” as the economic and
political system has stopped providing for the people, especially after
the 2008 global financial meltdown.
- “It’s not providing equal opportunity and in fact the people
who are falling off are in a much worse situation,” he said. He said
authoritarian regimes arise “when you socialise all the means of
production. A balance is needed, you can’t pick and choose - what you
need to do is improve opportunity,” he said.
- Mr.Rajan, tipped by some as a possible successor to take over
from Mark Carney as governor of the Bank of England, said it was
possible in the past to obtain a middle class job with “modest
education”. But the landscape has changed in the wake of the 2008 global
financial crisis and the resulting austerity.
- “Now, if you really want to succeed, you need a really good
education. Unfortunately, the very communities that are hit by the
forces of global trade and global information tend to be communities
which have deteriorating schools, rising crime, rising social illnesses
and are unable to prepare their members for the global economy,” he
said.
- However, the analysts said the next downturn is unlikely to be
as severe as the 2008 financial crisis. In discussing the state of the
global economy, Mr.Rajan also pointed to the challenges of putting
limits on the trade of goods.
IIP slows while retail inflation rises
- Industrial activity slowed in January 2019 growing by just
1.7% due in large part to a deceleration in the manufacturing,
electricity, and capital goods sectors, official data released on
Tuesday showed. In a separate release, government data showed that
retail inflation in February snapped a four-month declining trend by
rising to 2.57%.
- The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) saw growth slip below
the 2% for the second time in three months in January, with the previous
occurrence being the 0.32% growth seen in November 2018. Growth in the
IIP was at 2.6 in December.
- The construction sector witnessed the strongest growth of all
the major sectors, of 7.9%, but this was still significantly slower than
the 10% seen in December.
- “By March, government spending usually expands, but this time
the signs of that are not very prominent because they are trying to cut
down on capital expenditure to meet the revised fiscal deficit target,”
Mr.Srivastava added, saying an expansion in government spending would
have meant a recovery in IIP growth in coming months.
- Retail inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index
(CPI), rose for the first time in five months in February to 2.57% from
1.97% in January, mainly due to firming food prices, official data
showed.
- “With inflation remaining below RBI’s target, inflationary
expectations declining and growth profile weakening, RBI may front-load
its monetary easing in the beginning of FY20,” said Devendra Kumar Pant,
chief economist and senior director, India Ratings and Research.
- However, with capacity utilisation still being low at 74.8%
(2QFY18) and pending elections in April-May 2019, it is unlikely to spur
investment demand in the economy.
::INTERNATIONAL::
U.S ask India to withdraw supporting Venezuela
- Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale discussed the situation in
Venezuela and Venezuelan oil purchases with U.S. Secretary of State
Michael Pompeo during their meeting on Monday, Mr Pompeo told the press
at a briefing in the afternoon.
- Asked if there was a discussion on India’s oil purchases
Mr.Pompeo said, “Yeah, so we’re asking the same thing of India as we are
of every country: Do not be the economic lifeline for the Maduro
regime.”
- India and seven other countries were given a six month
exemption from U.S. sanctions on trade with Iran and allowed to purchase
a limited quantity of Iranian oil without facing sanctions. Mr Gokhale’s
discussions in Washington are expected to cover the renewal of the
sanction exemption.
- Regarding Venezuela, U.S. National Security Advisor John
Bolton had warned India and other countries on Twitter last month
against purchasing oil from Venezuela in response to Venezuelan Oil
Minister Manuel Quevedo making a trip to India to pitch for more oil
sales.
::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::
Human impact on biodiversity rich hotspots higher in India
- Human impacts on species occur across 84% of the earth’s
surface, finds a study published on March 13 in PLOS Biology , an
international journal dedicated to biological science. Southeast Asian
tropical forests including India’s biodiversity-rich Western Ghats,
Himalaya and the north-east also fall in this category; India ranks 16th
in such human impacts, with 35 species impacted on average.
- A team of scientists led by James Allan (University of
Queensland) found this when they mapped the distribution of eight human
activities including hunting and conversion of natural habitats for
agriculture in areas occupied by 5,457 threatened birds, mammals and
amphibians worldwide.
- Using sources, including the recently-updated Human Footprint
data, they found that a staggering 1,237 species are impacted by threats
in more than 90% of their habitat; 395 species are affected by threats
across their entire range. While the impact of roads is highest
(affecting 72% of terrestrial areas), crop lands affect the highest
number of threatened species: 3,834.
- With India having the world’s second largest road network, we
really need to plan for development that keeps wildlife conservation as
a primary goal in biodiversity-rich areas, agreed wildlife biologist
Sanjay Gubbi.
- Similarly, if wildlife-friendly cropping patterns lead to
conservation of wildlife, that would be a victory too, he said. For
instance, agricultural crops such as pulses have supported the
conservation of the critically endangered great Indian bustard.
::SPORTS::
ICC releases T20 rankings with Babar Azam in top spot
- Indian opener KL Rahul's two impressive knocks in the recently
concluded two-match T20 Cricket series against Australia helped him
climb to fifth in the latest ICC Rankings for T20 batsmen in Dubai on
Tuesday.
- In the bowlers' list, KuldeepYadav, who was rested for two T20
Internationals, dropped a place to fifth.
- Pakistan's Babar Azam remained in top position in batsmen list
while Afghanistan's Rashid Khan maintained the top position in bowlers'
list.
