Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 15 JANUARY 2020

::NATIONAL::

A dedicated mechanism to deal with online sexual crimes on children and changes in the definition of ‘child pornography’ under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act are some of the recommendations that a panel of MPs looking into the impact of child pornography is likely to have suggested.
The panel may want the POSCO Act to consider as an offence the act of “advocating or counselling sexual activity” to a minor, and may want an international cyber crime reporting portal to facilitate the reporting of sexual crimes against children from all over the world. The panel, headed by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, is learnt to have submitted its report to RS chairman.
The committee has talked about ways to safeguard children against “cyber grooming”, and protection of individuals who report child sexual abuse material. Cyber grooming is the practice where someone builds an emotional bond with children through social media or chat rooms to gain their trust to sexually exploit them.

All drone operators in India will have to register their unmanned aerial vehicles from Tuesday. A government order issued on Monday wants registrations on digital sky platform by January-end to regulate drone numbers.
Any unregistered drone operated beyond January 31 will invite penal action, said the order issued by the aviation ministry. It said the presence of unregistered drones had come to the notice of the government and operating them violates the norms prescribed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
The DGCA had announced the rules to regulate drones in 2018 and had categorised drones into five categories based on weight, starting from 250 grams to 150 kilograms and above. The government had also categorised airspace where drones could operate.
A senior government official said that allowing drones beyond line of sight had its own complications in a congested country like India. “It is easier to allow drones beyond line of sight in countries like the US with large open areas, but in a congested country like ours there are a lot of complications in allowing such operations,” said the official, who did not want to be identified.

Fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India, CCI has ordered a probe against Flipkart and Amazon for alleged malpractices, including deep discounting and tie-ups with preferred sellers.
The order follows a complaint filed by Delhi VyaparMahasangh, whose members comprise many traders dealing in smartphones and related accessories.
In its order, the Commission said, it needs to be investigated whether the alleged exclusive arrangements, deep discounting and preferential listing by the opposite parties are being used as an exclusionary tactic to foreclose competition.

The hallmarking of gold jewellery and artefacts will now be mandatory. Briefingmedia in New Delhi today, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said that the government will issue a notification tomorrow regarding mandatoryhallmarking.
He said, after the issuance the notification, the jewellers will get one year time till 15th of January 2021 to implement the order. He said, now the Hallmarked Gold Jewellery will be available in three grades of 14Carat, 18 Carat and 22 Carat.
Mr Paswan said, there are 892 Assaying and Hallmarking Centres are operationalin 234 Districts of the country. He said, the focus will be to open more such centres in the country in the next one year.
Under it, all the Jewellers willhave to register with Bureau of Indian Standards and over 28 thousand jewellershave already registered with it. He said, there is also a provision of penalaction in case of violation of the order. Anybody found violating theprovision, will have to pay a minimum fine of Rs 1 lakh or 5 times the price ofthe article.

The United States on Monday removed the currency manipulator label it imposed on China last summer, in a sign of easing tensions between the economic powers after nearly two years of conflict.
Although Treasury refrained from slapping the label on China in its report last May, Trump in August angrily accused Beijing of weakening its currency "to steal our business and factories," re-stating a long-standing grievance.
The label calls for the US Treasury committed to work with the IMF to "eliminate the unfair competitive advantage" created by China's alleged actions and to consult with Beijing about the matter.

Malaysia is concerned about India's new curbs on imports of palm oil after a diplomatic row, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Tuesday, but indicated he would continue to speak out against "wrong things" even if it costs his country financially.
India, the world's biggest buyer of edible oils, last week changed rules that traders say effectively ban imports of refined palm oil from Malaysia, the world's second-biggest producer and exporter of palm oil after Indonesia.
India was Malaysia's biggest buyer of palm oil in 2019, with 4.4 million tonnes of purchases. In 2020, purchases could fall below 1 million tonnes if relations don't improve, Indian traders say.
To make up for the potential loss, Malaysian officials say they are trying to sell more to Pakistan, the Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeria and Jordan.

GSAT-30, a communication satellite of India, is scheduled for launch onboard Ariane-5 launch vehicle (VA 251) from French Guiana on January 17, 2020, at 0235 hrs IST. Weighing 3357 kg, GSAT-30 is to serve as replacement to INSAT-4A spacecraft services with enhanced coverage.
GSAT-30 will be extensively used for supporting VSAT networks, Television unlinking and Teleport services, Digital Services News Gathering (DSNG), DTH-Television services, cellular backhaul connectivity and many such applications.
The communication payload of GSAT-30 is specifically designed and optimised to maximise the number of transponders on the spacecraft bus.
The satellite provides Indian mainland and islands coverage in Ku-band. It also provides extended coverage in C-band which helps Television broadcasters to beam their programs over India, Gulf countries, a large number of Asian countries and Australia. The mission life is more than 15 years.

In Cricket, Australia won the 1st ODI against India by 10 wickets with 74 balls remaining at Mumbai today. Australia cruised in their 256 run chase thanks to centuries from their openers David Warner and skipper Aaron Finch. Warner scored 128 and Finch 110, helping Australia score 258 without loss in 37.4 overs.
Earlier, put into bat, India were all out for 255 in 49.1 overs. ShikharDhawan top scored for India with 74. K.L. Rahul contributed 47 runs. For Australia, Mitchell Starc claimed 3 Indian wickets. P.J.Cummins and K.W.Richardson shared two wickets each. David Warner was declared Man of the Match.