Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 18 January 2022

SSC CGL Current Affairs

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 18 January 2022

::NATIONAL::

SC dismissal of Devas plea to help India in global arbitration

The Supreme Court’s dismissal of the appeal filed by Devas Multimedia against the decision of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), which had upheld the National Company Law Tribunal’s decision to wind up the company, has significant political and economic ramifications -- and it is likely India will use it while fighting against an international arbitration award won by Devas, whose enforcement the company has been pushing for in some geographies.
Recently, a Canadian court ordered the attachments of assets owned in that country by Air India as part of this. The judgment, delivered by a bench comprising justices Hemant Gupta and V Ramasubramanian dismissed Devas’s and its minority shareholder Devas Employees Mauritius Private Ltd’s appeal, upholding the order passed by NCLAT, which stated that Devas was incorporated with a fraudulent motive to collude and connive with some officials of Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
The judgment is the latest chapter in a controversial deal during the previous UPA regime, when, in 2005, Devas entered into an agreement with Antrix, the private sector arm of ISRO to provide high-speed data services using S-band satellite spectrum from Antrix.
This resulted in commercial arbitration before an ICC Tribunal in the Netherlands and investment arbitration under the India-Mauritius and India-Germany bilateral investment treaty. Each of these proceedings has led to adverse awards against the Union of India.
Judgment in favour of the Union of India bolsters its case against Devas internationally, especially against the arbitration award for Devas that is under consideration with the judiciary of the Netherlands. This may also help the Modi government in limiting the enforcement proceedings globally on grounds of fraud. The apex court’s order also embarrasses the previous regime ahead of state elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur and Punjab.

J&K govt cancels building, land allotted to Srinagar’s Kashmir Press Club

The Jammu and Kashmir government on Monday cancelled the allotment of building and land which housed Srinagar’s Kashmir Press Club, two days after it was taken over by a small group of journalists flanked by the police.
The government said that it wanted to avoid a law and order situation after “rival groups levelled various allegations against each other”. The premises have been handed over back to the estates department.
The government had faced criticism after the forcible takeover of the KPC premises by a group of journalists led by M Salim Pandit and accompanied by armed policemen on Saturday. The Editors Guild of India termed the forcible takeover by the group a ‘coup’ while former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti went on to tag it as a “state-sponsored coup”.
“…The rival groups have been levelling various allegations against each other also with regard to the use of the premises belonging to the estates department that was being used for the legitimate use of the members of the journalistic fraternity. In view of this aspect of the dispute and in view of the reports in social media and other sources indicating a potential law and order situation, including a threat of breach of peace and the safety of bona fide journalists, the intervention has become necessary,” the government said in a statement issued through the information department.
The takeover by the ‘disgruntled’ group, alleged to be supported by the local administration, had come a day after the administration suspended the KPC’s re-registration certificate - which had been issued by the authorities after seven months on December 29.
Nine journalists’ bodies of Kashmir, including the elected Kashmir Press Club body, had termed the takeover as “illegal and arbitrary”.
The government statement said the KPC as a registered body has ceased to exist and its managing body, too, has come to a legal closure on July 14, 2021, the date on which its tenure came to an end.

::INTERNATIONAL::

US airlines warn of 'calamity' if 5G deployed near airports

The chief executives of America's largest airlines warned of a "catastrophic disruption" to travel and shipping operations if telecommunication firms roll out their 5G technology as planned Wednesday without limiting the technology near US airports.
Verizon and AT&T have already twice delayed the launch of their new C-Band 5G service, due to warnings from airlines and aircraft manufacturers concerned that the new system might interfere with the devices planes use to measure altitude.
"We are writing with urgency to request that 5G be implemented everywhere in the country except within the approximate two miles of airport runways as defined by the FAA on January 19, 2022," the CEOs said in a Monday letter obtained by AFP.
The executives, writing to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and other US government officials, highlighted the risk of "economic calamity" should Verizon and AT&T proceed with deploying the new technology before the necessary upgrades and changes have been made to aviation equipment.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Sunday it had approved some transponders to be safely operated within areas where 5G will be deployed, clearing "as many as 48 of the 88 airports most directly affected by 5G C-Band interference."
But the airlines are worried that remaining limitations at those airports, as well as a large amount of equipment still uncertified, could trigger a crisis including the grounding of thousands of flights.
In addition to the transport secretary, their letter was addressed to the head of the FAA, the head of the Federal Communications Commission and the White House's National Economic Council.
US airlines also have protested against the potential costs incurred.
The letter was signed by CEOs of major airlines including American, United, Delta and Southwest, as well as the leaders of shipping giants FedEx and UPS.
"Immediate intervention is needed to avoid significant operational disruption to air passengers, shippers, supply chain and delivery of needed medical supplies," they wrote.
"In addition to the chaos caused domestically," the letter continues, the lack of certified planes "could potentially strand tens of thousands of Americans overseas."

::ECONOMY::

SC upholds NCLAT’s order onwinding up of Devas Multimedia

The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the decks for winding up of Devas Multimedia at the instance of ISRO’s commercial arm Antrix, as it affirmed the findings of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) that Devas was set up for a “fraudulent and unlawful purpose” of “unjust enrichment”.
Signing off on the first case of winding up of a firm on the ground of fraud under India’s 2013 Companies Act, the top court also called three international arbitral awards in favour of Devas “infected with the poison of fraud”, raising questions about the arbitration proceedings initiated by the company.
Devas and its shareholders currently hold arbitral awards to the tune of ₹15,000 crore against Antrix, and through it the Union of India over the 2011 cancellation of a deal between the two firms. India has not paid any money yet to Devas and has challenged the arbitral awards. It will likely cite the apex court’s order in some of the challenges.
Devas and Antrix signed a contract in 2005 under which Antrix had to build and launch two ISRO satellites and lease S-band satellite spectrum on them to Devas, which in turn would use it to provide its internet services. However, after reports of procedural and regulatory irregularities in the deal emerged, Antrix cancelled the contract in 2011 by invoking the force majeure (extraordinary circumstances) clause, prompting Devas to approach arbitral tribunals for damages.
Bench of justices Hemant Gupta and V Ramasubramanian rejected these contentions, emphasising that the arbitral awards are products of a fraud.
“If the seeds of the commercial relationship between Antrix and Devas were a product of fraud perpetrated by Devas, every part of the plant that grew out of those seeds, such as the agreement, the disputes, arbitral awards etc are infected with the poison of fraud,” said the bench in its 134-page judgment.

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

Jitendra Singh launches AI-powered start-up for water purification by IIT alumnus

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today launched Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven Start-Up by IIT alumni for water purification through innovative technology. The facility aims to provide clean drinking water at a price much lesser than the market price.
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven Start-Up initiative should be motivating for other Start-Ups as well.
A MoU was also signed between Technology Development Board (TDB), a statutory body of Department of Science & Technology, Government of India and M/s Swajal Water Private Limited, a tech Start Up company founded by ex-IITians based in Gurugram. The company is focused on innovative technologies to make reliable clean drinking water accessible to communities at affordable price, for their project on IoT enabled point of use Solar Water Purification Unit for slums, villages and High Utility Areas.
Dr Jitendra Singh welcomed the financial support extended to Swajal by TDB and said that his Ministry is committed to reach out to potential small and viable Start-ups having skill and talent pool, but lacking resources. The Minister asked the CEO & Co Founder of Swajal, Dr VibhaTripathi to scale up this technology to help achieve India’s ambitious target of providing clean drinking water to all by 2024, as envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Minister said, apart from the Centre’s initiatives like National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) and Jal Jeevan Mission, Private Sector should come forward in a big way with state of the art tech solutions to cover nearly 14 Crore households where clean drinking water is yet to reach.
Referring to Prime Minister’s 75th Independence Day speech, where he said that in just two years of the Jal Jeevan Mission, more than four and a half crore families have started getting water from taps, Dr Jitendra Singh said that Ministry of Science and Technology is positively contributing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vision and Mission of “Har Ghar Nal Se Jal”.
It may be recalled that Dr Jitendra Singh launched state-of-the-art Heli-borne survey technology for groundwater management, developed by CSIR-NGRI Hyderabad with Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekawat from Jodhpur in October, last year. To start with, the States of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana are being taken up for this latest heli-borne survey.
The Gurugram based company’s patented system, ‘Clairvoyant’ uses artificial intelligence to optimise purification systems and predict future breakdowns.Thus,allowing it to remotely manage, update, and repair each system in real time. They have also developed clean drinking water solutions in the form of Water ATMS, which combines Internet of Things technology with solar energy to provide clean drinking water. Theserural Water ATM by Swajalproposed to use solar energy to pump water from rivers, wells, ponds or groundwater depending upon the location. The water will then be treated with appropriate technology to make it healthy & pure for drinking. With this innovation, the cost of purified water be brought down to as low as 25 paise per litre.
Dr. Srivari Chandrashekhar, Secretary DST & Chairperson TDB, pointed out that this project is a combination of new emerging technologies --- IOT, Artificial Intelligence combined with renewable solar energy to cater to the need of pure drinking water in villages and remote areas.

::SPORTS::

Goalkeeper Savita Punia appointed captain of Indian women's hockey team

Goalkeeper Savita Punia will captain an 18-member Indian squad at the Women’s Hockey Asia Cup 2022 in Muscat, Oman from January 21-28.
Indian women are the defending champions at the continental event.
The Indian women’s hockey team, named by Hockey India on Wednesday, features 16 players who were part of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where the Indian eves finished fourth.
Regular skipper Rani Rampal will miss out as she is undergoing rehabilitation for a hamstring injury in Bengaluru. Defender Deep Grace Ekka will be the vice-captain.
Gurjit Kaur and Vandana Katariya, who were India’s top goalscorers at Tokyo 2020, are also in the squad.
China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand are the seven other teams competing at the Women’s Hockey Asia Cup 2022.