Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 16 June 2022

SSC CGL Current Affairs

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 16 June 2022

::NATIONAL::

Congress writes to Venkaiah Naidu, wants action against 'brazen' Delhi Police

The Congress wrote to RajyaSabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu to register the 'strongest possible protest against the atrocious manner in which Delhi Police misbehaved' with its MPs this week, as they clashed with cops during protests against the Enforcement Directorate's summons to Rahul Gandhi in connection with the National Herald case. "Actions of Delhi Police just outside office of Indian National Congress at 24, Akbar Road, were totally unprovoked and a brazen violation of all norms," the party said.
The Congress highlighted five MPs who, it claimed, had been 'manhandled and required medical treatment' as a result of the alleged assault by Delhi Police. These names are P Chidambaram, KC Venugopal, ShaktisinhGohil, PramodTiwari and Jebi Mather. "A number of MPs were detained at different police stations and kept in custody for over ten hours without explanation," the party further said, calling it 'a clear case of violation of privileges of MPs'.
The flurry of formal protests by the Congress comes amid its allegations that police barged into its Akbar Road HQ in Delhi on Wednesday as senior leaders were holding a press conference.
The opposition party claimed police 'brutally and without provocation, manhandling and attacking members of the Indian National Congress who were present'. Similar allegations were also made by MP AdhirRanjanChowdhury and party leader Ajay Maken, who tweeted a video of the clash.
Delhi Police has denied all such claims. Special CP (Law and Order) SagarPreetHooda has said barricades had been thrown during clashes near the Congress' office and, in efforts to restore order there 'might have been a scrimmage'. He denied police had entered the offices.

::INTERNATIONAL::

North Korea faces another infectious disease outbreak amid Covid-19 battle

North Korea reported an outbreak of an unidentified intestinal epidemic in a farming region on Thursday, putting further strain on the isolated country as it battles chronic food shortages and a wave of Covid-19 infections.
"(Kim) stressed the need to contain the epidemic at the earliest date possible by taking a well-knit measure to quarantine the suspected cases to thoroughly curb its spread, confirming cases through epidemiological examination and scientific tests," KCNA said.
An official at South Korea's Unification Ministry handling inter-Korean affairs said the government is monitoring the outbreak, suspected to be cholera or typhoid.
The reported outbreak comes as the North tackles its first outbreak of Covid-19 infections. It declared a state of emergency last month, amid concerns over a lack of vaccines and medical supplies.
"Intestinal diseases such as typhoid and shigellosis are not particularly new in North Korea but what's troubling is that it comes at a time when the country is already struggling from Covid-19," said professor Shin Young-jeon at Hanyang University's College of Medicine in Seoul.
South Korea is willing to cooperate with the North to tackle the disease outbreak, but Pyongyang remains unresponsive to any offers for dialogue, including Seoul's earlier proposal to provide Covid vaccines, said another official at the unification ministry.

Ex US lawmaker underlines dire need to expand H-1B visa programme amid inflation

Underlining the dire need to expand the H-1B visa programme, a former Congresswoman on Wednesday told a US Senate committee that the operation and implementation of the work visa for foreign workers has not kept pace with the country's needs.
The H-1B visa allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Tens of thousands of workers from countries like India and China get hired by American technology companies every year.
“In 2005, 85,000 visas were available. Today, nearly 20 years later, 85,000 visas are available. There are many promising options for expanding skilled immigration,” Mia Love, a former Republican lawmaker and top political commentator said during her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on strengthening the workforce.
Love, who is also the national outreach director of Utah University, stressed that worker shortage is fuelling record-high inflation in the United States. The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised interest rates by 75 basis points, the biggest increase since 1994, in a bid to contain rampant inflation.
Citing a research finding, she told the committee that expansion of high-skilled immigration will boost economic growth, expand American businesses, and provide more opportunities for the most disadvantaged Americans.
“According to the research by the Centre of Growth and Opportunity, H-1B visa has been a valuable component of the US immigration system since 1990, but its operation has not kept pace with the country's needs,” she said in response to a question.

::ECONOMY::

Covid may have forced return of 51.6% urban men to villages: PLF survey

The coronavirus pandemic may have forced 51.6 per cent of men in urban India to migrate to their rural homes in what could be the country’s worst reverse migration, according to a report released by the National Statistical Office.
The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) conducted during July 2020-June 2021 collected information on migration and temporary visitors to households. The statistics office brought out the report titled “Migration in India, 2020-21” on the basis of information collected in the PLFS survey.
In India, since it is the male partner who migrates in search of work to urban places while the female stays back home, there is a huge gap between men in rural areas who have migrated from urban India (51.6 per cent) and women who have similarly moved from urban to rural areas (11 per cent) during the pandemic year.
Besides, the annual PLFS survey showed that the unemployment rate, according to usual status (reference period of last 365 days preceding the survey), eased to 4.2 per cent from 4.8 per cent in 2019-20. However, the drop in unemployment rate was accompanied by a rise in low-quality jobs, depicting that a lot of migrants may have opted for rural job guarantee schemes in which the government pumped in significant amounts of money during the pandemic year.
The survey pegged the rural migration rate at 26.5 per cent and urban migration rate at 34.9 per cent with the overall migration rate at 28.9 per cent. While it estimated the number of rural migrants at 21 crore, it pegged urban migrants at 11 crore, both totalling 32 crore. However, the survey clarified: “Estimated number of migrants given in the above table are design-based estimates and may be used as control totals for combining and arriving at rates and ratios. These figures are not intended for providing estimates of the number of migrants.”

::Sports::

Sameer, Ashwini-Sikki lose in Indonesia Open

Indian shuttler Sameer Verma ended his campaign at the Indonesia Open Super 1000 tournament with a straight-game loss to world number five Lee ZiiJia of Malaysia in the second round here.
The 27-year-old, a former world no. 11, went down 10-21 13-21 to sixth seeded Lee in a 43-minute men's singles match.
This was Sameer's fifth loss to Lee in seven meetings.
AshwiniPonnappa and N Sikki Reddy also bowed out of the tournament after losing 16-21 13-21 to top seeds Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan of China in women's doubles competition.
HS Prannoy will face Hong Kong's Ng Ka Long Angus later in the day, while MR Arjun and DhruvKapila will take on China's Liu Yu Chen and OuXuan Yi.