Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 14 JUNE 2019
::NATIONAL::
PM to chair NITI Aayog governing council meeting
- Prime Minister NarendraModi will chair the fifth Governing Council
Meeting of NITI Aayog on 15th of this month at RashtrapatiBhawan.
- An official release said, the meeting will be attended by Defence
Minister, Home Minister, Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister, Agriculture
Minister, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister as ex-officio
members.
- The agenda before the Meeting include rain-water harvesting,
drought situation and relief measures, aspirational districts programme,
transforming agriculture, and security-related issues with a specific focus
on Left Wing Extremism districts.
- The Governing Council reviews the action taken on the agenda items
of the previous meeting and deliberates upon the future developmental
priorities. So far, four meetings of the Governing Council have been held
under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister with the Chief Ministers and Lt.
Governors of the states and union territories and other members of NITI
Aayog.
HRD ministry moots creation of Sanskrit villages
- Human Resources Development Minister Ramesh PokhriyalNishank has
stressed on creation of at least two Sanskrit speaking villages near the
Sanskrit Institutions in the country.
- Chairing meeting with heads of Central Language Institutions under
his Ministry in New Delhi yesterday, he said the focus of his ministry is to
promote all Indian languages for which all vacancies need to be filled. The
Minister directed the officials of the Ministry to meet the heads of these
institutions on a regular basis.
- The Minister urged to discover innovative ways to promote these
languages. He added there is a strong need to do research in Indian
languages. The Minister added that the literature in each Indian language
must be translated into other languages so that all can avail the best of
literature.
::ECONOMY::
SEBI directs credit agencies to disclose probability of default
- Credit rating agencies will now have to disclose the probability
of default for the instruments they rate and also clearly state the
sensitive factors that could impact the credit worthiness of the entity.
- Further, rating agencies will have to adopt a standardised
terminology to disclose liquidity indicators like liquid investments, access
to credit and cash flows among other factors while rating an instrument.
- This assumes significance as the current calendar year has seen a
record number of downgrades amidst a fall in the corresponding number of
upgrades when compared to the previous calendar year.
- Further, such uniform and standardised PD benchmarks will have to
be disclosed on the website of each CRA on a consolidated basis for all
financial instruments rated by a CRA by December 31.
Government reduces ESI contribution by employees &employers
- The government has reduced the rate of the contribution made by
employees and employers under the Employees' State Insurance (ESI) Act from
6.5 per cent to 4 per cent.
- In a release, the Ministry of Labour and Employment said, the
government has taken a historic decision to reduce the rate of contribution
under the ESI act. The new rate will be effective from the 1st of next
month. It will benefit 3.6 crore employees and 12.85 lakh, employers.
- It said, similarly, reduction in the share of contribution of
employers will reduce the financial liability of the establishments leading
to improved viability of these establishments. It will also lead to enhanced
Ease of Doing Business, the statement added.
- The ESI Act provides for medical, cash, maternity, disability and
dependent benefits to the Insured Persons under the Act. Benefits provided
under the ESI Act are funded by the contributions made by the employers and
the employees.
::INTERNATIONAL::
U.S open to talks with India on GSP
- U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo hinted that it was possible
to reinstate the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), a program for
preferential access to certain goods markets in the U.S., for India.
- The administration official is expected to discuss the issue as
well as 5G network technology and data localization while in New Delhi later
this month on a visit.
- In addition to the GSP, data localisation regulations and proposed
policies have been a source of friction between the two countries.
- In a speech that went to some lengths to stress that Washington
understood India’s post-Independence economic history and current
geopolitical realities, Mr Pompeo touched on a common theme — a India-U.S.
partnership based on values.
- “We get it. We realise it’s different to deal with the likes of
China and Pakistan from across the ocean than it is when they are on your
borders. That's why in this room and not so many months ago, I elaborated on
President Trump's vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Mr.Pompeo said.
::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::
ISRO to launch India’s own space station soon
- India is planning to launch its own space station. Addressing a
press conference in New Delhi today, ISRO chief K Sivan said, the ambitious
project which will enable the agency to send more humans to space when
executed.
- He said, India will not join the International Space Station. Mr
Sivan said, the mission will also be an extension of the Gaganyaan project
implying that there will be several phases to the human space mission
project.
- Currently, there is only one fully functioning space station in
Earth's lower orbit, the International Space Station and astronauts conduct
different experiments in it.
- Union Minister of State for Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra
Singh today said, Chandrayaan-2 will be launched on 15th of July. He said,
it will land in September and will carry a rover. It will be an extension of
Chandrayaan-1.
- Chandrayaan-2 will contain three components, Orbiter, Lander and
Rover and the total composite module will weight 3.8 tonnes. Dr Singh lauded
the commitment and hard work of scientific community and highlighted the
benefits of usage of space technology in improving the lives of common
people.