Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 13 September 2018

SSC CGL Current Affairs

::NATIONAL::

A total of 25 States and Union Territories did not bother to respond even once, between November last year and August 2018, to repeated Supreme Court orders for information about the number of criminal cases pending against their MPs/MLAs and the setting up of special courts to exclusively try them.
On Wednesday, the apex court took note of this long silence from the States and Union Territories about their respective legal battles against criminality and corruption in politics.
Taking serious note of the lack of enthusiasm on the part of the States, the Supreme Court said it would monitor the compliance of its orders to form special courts to try MPs/MLAs and the functioning of these courts.
The Bench directed the Chief Secretaries of the States and the Registrar Generals of the High Courts to provide the precise number of cases presently pending and required to be transferred to the special courts.

Indians have registered a 50% increase in the prevalence of ischemic heart disease and stroke over the period from 1990 to 2016, with the number of diabetes cases climbing from 26 million to 65 million. In the same period, the number of people ailing from chronic obstructive lung disease went up from 28 million to 55 million, according to the ‘India State-level Disease Burden Initiative’ report released on Wednesday.
The report is a joint initiative of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, along with experts and stakeholders associated with over 100 Indian institutions.
The papers showed that the proportional contribution of cancers to disease burden in India has doubled since 1990, but the incidence of individual cancers varies widely between the States, the reasons for which need to be understood better to guide prevention and control of cancer.

The Centre has announced a Rs. 15,053 crore scheme to ensure that farmers growing oilseeds, pulses and copra actually get the minimum support prices (MSP) they are promised for their crops every year.
The umbrella policy — PradhanMantriAnnadataAaySanrakshanAbhiyan (PM-AASHA) — was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday.
The government announces minimum support prices for 23 crops every year. This year, these rates were set at 50% higher than the farmers’ production costs, including labour cost. The rates are meant to give remunerative prices to the farmers.
In 2017-18, the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India said it bought 31.9 lakh tonnes of pulses and oilseeds at the MSP, benefiting 20 lakh farmers. But the total production of pulses was estimated at 240 lakh tonnes, while oilseed production was 300 lakh tonnes.

The Centre has hiked ethanol prices, with a special incentive for ethanol directly produced from 100% sugarcane juice, in a dual bid to reduce both surplus sugar production and the fuel import bill. The ethanol produced from sugar is blended with petrol.
The decision was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs at its meeting on Wednesday.
The price of ethanol derived from 100% sugarcane juice is raised from Rs. 47.13 to Rs. 59.13. The rate for ethanol produced from B-heavy — or intermediary — molasses has been raised to Rs. 52.43. The rate of ethanol produced from C-heavy molasses (which has no sugar left), however, has been marginally reduced to Rs. 43.46.
loss in revenue from the sugar sacrificed,” said AbinashVerma, director general, ISMA.

The UN began work on Wednesday inside Myanmar’s violence-torn northern Rakhine State, the first time its agencies have been granted permission to operate there since more than 7,00,000 Rohingya Muslims fled the area last year.
The UN has been waiting for access to the epicentre of the military’s “clearance operations” against the Rohingya minority since June when its refugee and development agencies signed a deal with the government.
The task is complicated further as the UN’s rights arm is expected to heavily censure Myanmar again in the coming days when it publishes in full the findings of its investigation into atrocities against the Rohingya.

Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested on Wednesday that Russia and Japan sign a peace treaty this year, ending Second World War hostilities “without any preconditions” as a territorial dispute has led to decades of deadlock.
But Mr. Putin’s sudden proposal was received cooly in Japan, where a government spokesman said the two countries should first resolve the dispute before signing a peace deal.
The dispute between Russia and Japan centres on four islands in the strategically-located Kuril chain which the Soviet Union occupied at the end of war in 1945 but are claimed by Japan. It has kept the two countries from signing a peace accord that would formally end their wartime hostilities.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, speaking to reporters, described Mr. Putin’s proposal, made at an economic forum attended by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinpiang, as an impromptu idea and said the two leaders had not yet discussed it.

Hours after he was left out of the core group of players for the upcoming Asian Champions Trophy and the World Cup on Wednesday, former India captain Sardar Singh confirmed that he is all set to retire.
Sardar, who was awarded the Rajiv Gandhi KhelRatna last year and is one of the most decorated stars of Indian hockey, will announce his retirement from internationals later this week, at a press conference here.