Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 21 November 2018

::NATIONAL::

Centre admits that high rate of acquittals in SC/ST prevention of atrocities act due to tardy prosecution

The high rate of acquittals seen under the Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989 is not because the cases are false or malafide.
It is because of the failure of the police and the prosecution to render justice to a section of society which has suffered social stigma, poverty and humiliation for centuries, the Centre told the Supreme Court.
The 2018 Act nullified a March 20 judgment of the Supreme Court, which allowed anticipatory bail to those booked for committing atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes members. The original 1989 Act barred anticipatory bail.
The apex court verdict saw a huge backlash across the country. Several persons died in protests and crores worth of property was destroyed. The government reacted by filing a review petition in the Supreme Court and subsequently amended the 1989 Act back into its original form.
In its affidavit responding to these petitions, the government has spelled out that there has been no decrease in the atrocities committed on members of SC/ST communities despite the laws meant to protect their civil rights.
Of the cases filed in 2014, 85.3% cases are pending. Of those where the trial was completed, 28.8% ended in convictions while in 71.2%, the accused were acquitted.
The next year saw 87.3% pendency, 25.8% convictions, 74.2% acquittals while in 2016, with 89.3% pendency, there was 24.9% convictions and 75.1% acquittals.

Sabarimala temple board seeks more time to implement SC verdict

The Travancore Devaswom Board on Monday moved the Supreme Court saying that about 1,000 women have registered their names to visit the temple, but it cannot ensure their security against the “acts of hooliganism and assault” of protesters and certain political parties in and around the Sabarimala premises.
The board, which manages the temple, sought more time to implement the September 28 judgment of the apex court allowing women aged between 10 and 50 to enter and worship in the hill shrine.
It said even the ‘unprecedented’ efforts of the Kerala police to provide security to young women pilgrims, who have tried to enter the temple, were overwhelmed by the protesters. The women had to be escorted back to safety away from the threats of the protesters who are camping on the route to the temple.
The board, which said it was in constant dialogue with the police authorities, informed the apex court that “the security of women being its primary responsibility and consideration, it is not in a position to provide that much additional facilities for them.”

::ECONOMY::

Agricultural ministry confirms demonetisation badly affected farmers

Millions of farmers in India were unable to buy seeds and fertilisers for their winter crops because of demonetisation, according to a report submitted by the Union Agriculture Ministry to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance.
This official acknowledgement of the impact of demonetisation comes on a day when Prime Minister NarendraModi, speaking at a rally in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh, said that he used the “bitter medicine” of demonetisation to bring back money into the banking system and to give “proper treatment to deep-rooted corruption system” in the country.
According to sources, All India Trinamool Congress’ Dinesh Trivedi asked if the government was aware of a report by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), which stated that 1.5 million jobs were lost during January-April 2017 post-demonetisation.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Environment minister addresses BASIC ministerial meeting

Following is the text of the Union Environment Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan’s welcome address today, at the ministerial meet of BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) Countries, being hosted by MoEFCC in New Delhi.
This Agreement is particularly significant as it represents the faith that countries, especially the developing countries, have placed in the multilateral processesknowing well that their actions towards addressing climate change will have a strong developmental impact.
Although BASIC group of countries are the leading emerging economies, still they have significant percentage of the world’s poorest people. For us, enabling the growth of the poor out of poverty trap, is an important part of our response to tackling climate change and we know that the opportunities for the two efforts to complement each other are significant.
The climate actions of developing countries are ambitious despite the fact our contribution to the issue of climate change is minimal. The historical responsibility lies squarely with the developed countries. Therefore, it is the developed countries who must fulfil their climate obligations expeditiously.
They must take the lead in the fight against climate change by their actions as well as the provision of enhanced financial and other support to developing countries for enabling them to enhance their climate ambition.
India looks forward to constructive engagement and meaningful outcomes from the Facilitative Talanoa Dialogue at COP 24 that will pave a way for a better starting point in 2020 for the implementation of the Paris Agreement, said the minister.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

NASA chooses ancient martian river delta for landing rover

NASA has picked an ancient river delta as the landing site for its Mars 2020 rover, to hunt for evidence of past life on the earth’s neighbouring planet, officials said on Monday.
Even though the Red Planet is now cold and dry, the landing site, Jezero Crater, was filled with a 500-meter deep lake that opened to a network of rivers some 3.5 to 3.9 billion years ago.
Experts believe the 45-km wide basin could have collected and preserved ancient organic molecules and other signs of microbial life.
At least five different kinds of rocks, including “clays and carbonates that have high potential to preserve signatures of past life,” are believed to lie in the crater, just north of the Martian equator, NASA said in a statement.
Mars 2020 will use the same sky crane landing that successfully delivered NASA’s unmanned Curiosity rover to a location called Gale Crater on Mars back in 2012.
Gale Crater, with its many layers of sediment, was chosen to tell the story of how Mars transitioned from a warm, wet planet to the frigid and dusty one it is today.

::SPORTS::

Four Indians storm into world boxing championship semi finals

LovlinaBorgohain’s grit propelled her to stun accomplished 34-year-old Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Kaye Scott of Australia with a 5-0 win and be among the four Indians who booked berths in the semifinals to ensure medals for the host in the World women’s boxing championships at the Indira Gandhi Stadium Complex here on Tuesday.
Two other debutants — Sonia Chahal (57kg) and SimranjitKaur (64kg) — and the charismatic M.C. Mary Kom (48kg) also recorded wins in their respective quarterfinal matches to repeat India’s performance of four medals in the 2008 edition in Ningbo City, China.
Five-time champion Mary displayed her class again to subdue Chinese Yu Wu’s fast game. Without getting perturbed by Yu’s early onslaught, Mary frustrated the youngster with her tactical flair.