Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 21 March 2017

:: National ::

Uttarakhand High court declares Ganga and Yamuna river as living persons

In a first in the country, the Uttarakhand High Court, declared that the rivers Ganga and Yamuna were “living persons.”On March 15, New Zealand river Whanganui became the first in the world to be granted a legal human status.
“…to protect the recognition and the faith of society, rivers Ganga and Yamuna are required to be declared as legal persons [or] living persons,” stated the court order.
“The Ganga and [the] Yamuna, all their tributaries, streams… are declared as juristic [or] legal persons [or] living entities having the status of a legal person with all corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a living person in order to preserve and conserve river Ganga and Yamuna,” it added.
The two rivers, which are sacred for the Hindus, sustain millions of people in the country.
However, they have been in a state of neglect and even though several government initiatives, including the Centre’s NamamiGange programme, are aimed at restoring their health, not much has been achieved yet.
The court ordered that the Director of the NamamiGange programme, the Uttarakhand Chief Secretary, and the Advocate-General of Uttarakhand would serve as “parents” for the rivers.
And they would be the human faces to “protect, conserve and preserve” the rivers and their tributaries.

Govt says illegal mining to be controlled through satellite imagery

Satellite imagery is being used to check illegal mining, which is a major problem, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar informed the Rajya Sabha.
He said that river mapping through satellites and licensing of up to 5 hectares of sand mining at the district level is being undertaken.
To keep track of trucks transporting sand, they are being issued bar-coded receipts, he said.

India and Pakistan began discussions on the Indus Water Commission

India and Pakistan began discussions on the Indus Water Commission after 22 months amid optimism that the meeting may lead to resumption of the composite dialogue between the neighbours.
Prior to the meeting, Pakistan’s Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif expressed the hope that both countries would respect the sanctity of the Indus Water Treaty.
Because of the Pakistani position, Kishenganga and Ratle were not discussed in the latest round of talks. But the designs of the PakalDul, Lower Kalnai and Miyar hydroelectric plants were taken up.
The talks were suspended in May 2015 after the Pakistani Commissioner objected to the designs of the Kishenganga and the Ratle hydropower projects of India.
Last year, the secretaries of power of both countries agreed to third-party resolution through the World Bank. But the World Bank announced late last year that Pakistan and India should hold bilateral talks.
Following the World Bank’s reluctance to pass an order, both sides would meet in Washington in April on the Rutle project.

Gallantry award ‘Kirti Chakra’ went to Major Rohit Suri

The second highest peacetime gallantry award ‘Kirti Chakra’ went to a young officer, Major Rohit Suri, who was part of the surgical strikes last year.
Seniormost Lieutenant General Eastern Army Commander Praveen Bakshi, who was side stepped in the appointment of the Army Chief, was awarded the Param VishishtSeva Medal, the highest Distinguished Service Medal.
Another member of the surgical strikes team Nb Sub Vijay Kumar was conferred the Shaurya Chakra for the “vital role during the close recce carried out prior to the assault which gathered crucial information about the hideout and facilitated the mission planning.”
In all, President conferred 13 Shaurya Chakras on military personnel, who were also involved in operations against terrorists in the Pathankot Air Force station and the government institute near Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir.
Six of the 13 Shaurya Chakras were conferred posthumously.
Mr. Mukherjee also conferred Distinguished Service Medals on senior military officers which included 15 Param VishishtSeva Medals, three YudhSeva Medals (YSM) and 23 AtiVishishtSeva Medal (AVSM).

AICTE wants internship mandatory for technical education

Technical education institutions in India will soon have internships as a mandatory requirement for the award of degrees.
The All-India Council for Technical Education — the regulator for maintaining norms and standards in technical education — has set the ball rolling to make internships a mandatory part of technical education in the country.
In other words, while the onus would first be on the technical educational institutions to put in place systemic arrangements to facilitate internships.
It would soon transform into a regime where the onus would also be on the students to intern somewhere to become eligible for the degree.
The purview of the AICTE is vast: it covers programmes of technical education, including training and research, in engineering, technology, architecture, town planning, management, pharmacy, applied arts and crafts, hotel management and catering technology, etc.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development – under which the AICTE is an autonomous institution – has also been in the loop regarding this change.
Internships, it is felt, would make the students more industry-ready, providing a set of hands-on skills and experience of the work environment in the industry to complement their academic and theoretical insights into their discipline.

:: International ::

Official date for triggering Brexit is Mar 29

The British government is set to officially kick-start the process of exiting the European Union next week. A spokesperson for Downing Street confirmed that the process would commence on March 29.
Britain would be the first country in the EU to trigger Article 50 — a section of the Lisbon Treaty that sets out how a member state could commence the process.
A country will cease to be a member of the EU two years after the triggering of Article 50 unless it reaches an agreement with the European Council to extend that period.
Triggering of Article 50 will take place after a crucial meeting of European heads of government in Rome, for the 60th anniversary of the Rome Treaties at which leaders are expected to adopt a declaration on their vision for the future of the union.
Britain has set out the parameters of what it hopes to negotiate in a white paper earlier this year, making it clear that it plans to end freedom of movement from the EU and would be willing to end its membership of the single market, and the European customs union to achieve this end.
The announcement of the timing for triggering Article 50 is likely to offer markets and businesses, preparing for Britain’s exit, a degree of certainty.

UN releases World Happiness report 2017

A chilly climate isn’t keeping Norway from basking in the glow of being named the world’s happiest country.
It surged from fourth place in last year’s UN assessment all the way to the top spot, according to the World Happiness Report 2017. Other top countries on the list included Nordic neighbours Denmark and Iceland, as well as nearby Switzerland.
“All of the top four countries rank highly on all the main factors found to support happiness: caring, freedom, generosity, honesty, health, income and good governance,” the summary explained.
Rounding out the top 10 were Finland, in fifth place, the Netherlands (6), Canada (7), New Zealand (8), and Australia and Sweden tied for 9th.
The entire top 10 were affluent, developed nations, although money is not the only ingredient for happiness, the report said.
In fact, among the wealthier countries the differences in happiness levels had a lot to do with “differences in mental health, physical health and personal relationships: the biggest single source of misery is mental illness”, the report said.
Another major country, China, has made major economic strides in recent years. But its people are not happier than 25 years ago, the report found. China ranked 79th in the study of 155 countries.
The World Happiness Report 2017 was released by the United Nations on the International Day of Happiness. It is the fifth such report since the first was published in 2012.

:: Business and Economy ::

Four bills on GST cleared by cabinet

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a Cabinet meeting which cleared the four bills to be introduced in Parliament for implementing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.
“With the Cabinet approval of these four bills, the GST regime in India is in the final stages of culmination and the GST law will most likely be implemented from July 1, 2017,” according to a statement released by the Finance Ministry.
The passage of the four GST-related Bills – the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Bill 2017, the Integrated GST (IGST) Bill 2017, the Union Territory GST Bill 2017 and the GST (Compensation to the States) Bill 2017 – will pave the way for the biggest reform in the area of indirect taxes in the history of independent India.
The Centre was likely to introduce the bills together in Parliament this week and secure an early passage to meet the proposed July 1 rollout target date for the new indirect tax regime.
Separately, States are expected to ratify the State GST Bills approved by the GST Council after getting them passed in the respective Assemblies.

Paytm will offer insurance cover for money stored in its wallets

Paytmsaid it will offer insurance cover for money stored in its wallets by users.
Money lost due to fraudulent transactions as a result of theft, burglary, loss of device or unauthorised access of user’s Paytm wallet will now be refunded. This cover is being provided to users at no additional cost.
Paytm wallet users will be insured up to a limit of Rs. 20,000 or their wallet balance whichever is lower, the statement said.The company has partnered with Reliance General Insurance for the scheme.
In case of phone loss or theft, the customer needs to report the same to Paytm via e-mail or by calling its customer care within 12 hours. Paytm claims to have about 20 crore wallet users in the country.
“Paytm’s QR code-based payment solution is already powering more than 5 million merchants today and is heavily used by consumers to pay for spends at kirana stores and tolls,” it said.

Bharatiya Manila Bank to merge with SBI

The three-year-old BharatiyaMahila Bank will be merged with the State Bank of India (SBI) to expedite the outreach of banking services to women, the Finance ministry said.
“The objectives of affordable credit to women as well as propagation of women-centric products need to be quickly achieved through a wider network and lower cost of funds,” an official statement said on the benefit of the merger for the SBI.