Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 16 December 2018

::NATIONAL::

Army chief confirms induction of women into the force

Chief of the Army Staff BipinRawat on Saturday said the Army would induct women jawans in the corps of military police, and further scope of recruiting women in Army posts would be explored thereafter.
There were several other fields where the Army was thinking of inducting women. Last year, the Army chief had announced that women would be recruited in ranks other than officers, citing various reasons. It was expected that the Army would induct 800 women military police.
Gen. Rawat, who was in the city as reviewing officer of the Combined Graduation Parade of 139 Indian Air Force flight cadets at the Air Force Academy, Dundigal, said the Army already had women Judge Advocate General (JAG) and they were into education also.
“We need language interpreters, cyberspecialists, apart from their role in information warfare domain, accounts and audit services,” he said.
Earlier, Gen. Rawat said the Indian Air Force was the best among the air forces of the world and would continue to touch the skies with glory. As many as 139 trainee officers, including 24 women, joined the elite cadre of the Air Force as commissioned officers.

::ECONOMY::

RBI to discuss governance issues

The board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which met here on Friday, agreed to examine the issue of governance further.
“The board deliberated on the governance framework of the Reserve Bank and it was decided that the matter required further examination,” the RBI said in a statement.
The statement also said the board reviewed various issues like current economic situation, global and domestic challenges, matters relating to liquidity and credit delivery to the economy, and issues relating to currency management and financial literacy.
The board ‘placed on record its appreciation of the valuable services rendered’ by Mr. Patel during his tenure as Governor and Deputy Governor of the bank.

Fintech companies seek clarification on E-KYC

Fintech companies have asked the government to issue a clarification that will allow regulated entities such as banks and non- banking financial companies (NBFCs) to use Aadhaar for eKYC in case of “voluntary submission” by customers.
This follows the Supreme Court striking down Section 57 of the AadhaarAct, that allowed private entities to use Aadhaar for verification purposes.
The decision impacted fintech players most of whom were dependent on Aadhaar-based eKYC for quick and cost-effective verification of customers. “In our last meeting on digital payments, it was pointed out that for up to 60% of authentication of their applicants, digital lending organisations use AadhaareKYC,” a senior IT Ministry official said.
The official added that post the Aadhaar verdict, such organisations are now required to move to paper-based or physical verification, which would be costly and raise sustainability concerns. According to an internal note of the Ministry, it is estimated that up to 50 crore citizens have only Aadhaar as proof of identity. Also, exclusion of e-KYC would increase the per customer cost of loan processing by almost six times while increasing the overall loan disbursement time.
Additionally, these entities have proposed that a working group or an advisory group be formed for further discussions. “They have also requested that Aadhaar be recognised as official valid document for entities under PMLA to perform eKYC only after consent of the customers while pointing out to a need for creating a broader construct for both regulated and unregulated entities,” the official added.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

India,Nepal& Bhutan to form task force to protect wildlife

The governments of India, Nepal and Bhutan are actively considering having a joint task force for allowing free movement of wildlife across political boundaries and checking smuggling of wildlife across the Kanchenjunga Landscape, a trans-boundary region spread across Nepal, India and Bhutan.
The development comes after forest officials and representatives of non-governmental organisation of the three countries visited parts of the landscape and later held a meeting at Siliguri in north Bengal earlier this month.
Participants from India and Bhutan, who attended the meeting, told The Hindu that setting up of a joint task force was a key requirement in the road map on achieving the objectives of free movement of wildlife and checking smuggling.
The landscape stretches along the southern side of Mount Kanchenjunga and covers an area of 25,080 sq km spread across parts of eastern Nepal (21%), Sikkim and West Bengal (56%) and western and southwestern parts of Bhutan (23%).
According to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development ( ICIMOD), a regional knowledge development and learning centre, 1,118 sq km of riverine grassland and tree cover were lost in the landscape between 2000 and 2010. Around 74% of the area was converted into rangeland and 26% to agricultural land. Other than seven million people, the Kanchenjunga Landscape is also home to 169 species of mammals and 713 species of birds.

India and France expand cooperation in energy sector

India and France are moving fast towards operationalising the nuclear power project at Jaitapur, External Affairs Minister SushmaSwaraj said on Saturday.
Addressing presspersons after holding discussions with her French counterpart, Ms. Swaraj said both sides were working in the field of energy and also intensifying international developmental and counter-terrorism cooperation.
The visiting Minister referred to the 10th anniversary of the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, and reiterated that India and France would expand collaboration to prevent terrorism in the world.
Mr. Le Drian’s visit, which coincided with the ongoing debate on the Rafale aircraft deal in India, also emphasised the softer side of bilateral ties with Ms. Swaraj highlighting that a large number of student exchanges with France would be possible by 2020.
“Both countries are working to start the Jaitapur nuclear energy project as soon as possible. We are glad that NPCIL and EDF have have made progress based on the Industrial Way Forward Agreement. Today we have adopted the Status of Progress for Implementation of Industrial Way Forward Agreement,” Ms. Swaraj announced after holding talks with visiting French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

World leaders meet to frame deal on Paris climate summit

Nations on Saturday inched towards a deal to implement the Paris climate goals, after all-night negotiations over a plan to limit global temperature rises exposed a range of conflicts.
Speaking to AFP at the COP24 summit in Poland, a senior negotiator said delegates from nearly 200 nations had reached a “landing zone” of agreement.
But sources close to the talks said differences remained stark on the issues of ambition, how the climate fight is funded and how best to measure and ensure the fairness of each nation’s efforts to reduce emissions.
Delegates at the UN summit, held this year in the Polish mining city of Katowice, must agree on a common rule book to put the pledges made at the landmark 2015 Paris talks into practice.
This means all countries, rich and poor alike, must agree to action that will cap global temperature rises to “well below” two degrees Celsius and stave off the worst effects of planetary warming, and to a safer cap of 1.5 degree Celsius, if possible.
The Paris Agreement calls for setting up a mechanism to guard against practices that could undermine such a market, but finding a solution has proved so problematic that the debate has been kicked down the road to next year.

::SPORTS::

Belgium & Netherlands to lock horns in hockey world cup finals

Belgium will meet Netherlands in the summit clash of the Men's Hockey World Cup at Bhubaneswar tomorrow.
The match will begin at 7 p.m. Belgium and the Netherlands marched into the final of the tournament after emerging victorious in their respective semi-final clashes today.
While Olympic silver medallist Belgium demolished England 6-0 in the first semi-final, the Netherlands beat two times World champion Australia 4-3 in the penalty shoot out.