Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 22 August 2017

::National::

RERA will start issuing show cause notice, to unregistered promoters

• The Real Estate Regulatory Authority will start issuing show cause notice, to real estate project promoters and agents who have failed to register with the authority.
• Local bodies such as the Chennai Corporation will start sharing information on planning permission applications and building approval data with the Authority shortly.
• In an effort to improve services by RERA, a group of experienced persons who retired from service recently have been roped in by the Authority.
• Just 16 projects and 18 agents have been approved by RERA so far. According to officials, many real estate agents and developers whose projects cover more than 500 sq.m or eight dwelling units in the Chennai Metropolitan Area have not registered with the Authority.
• The applications received by RERA will be approved or rejected in 30 days. Any application not processed within the stipulated date will deemed to be approved.
• The deadline for submitting application to RERA was July 31. Another 58 applications for registering projects are likely to be approved shortly.
• The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 is aimed at regulating transactions between buyers and promoters of residential as well as commercial projects.

Triple talaq verdict to be delivered by constitutional bench

• A five-judge Supreme Court Bench, headed by Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar, will pronounce its judgment on the legality of the Islamic personal law practice of triple talaq .
• The court will decide if the law, which allows a Muslim man to divorce his wife by saying talaq (divorce) thrice, violates the fundamental and human rights of Muslim women.
• It rued the missed opportunity to address gender inequality in both the Shah Bano and Danial Latifi cases. In the Shah Bano case, it had merely goaded the government to frame the Uniform Civil Code.
• The Supreme Court’s judgment on the constitutionality of triple talaq may also decide the age-old debate whether personal laws can be brought under the ambit of Article 13 of the Constitution.
• While the All India Muslim Personal Law Board ( AIMPLB) has argued that the Supreme Court does not have jurisdiction to strike down provisions of personal law.
• Organisations calling for reform and Muslim women from various walks of life across the country have urged the court to declare triple talaq and polygamy as “un-Islamic”.
• This is the first time that aggrieved persons themselves have approached the apex court in person to settle the law on whether religious law is immune from constitutional standards enshrined under fundamental rights.
• Article 13 includes in its ambit any “ordinance, order, by-law, rule, regulation, notification and even customs and usages” passed or made by the Legislature or any other “competent authority”.
• It mandates that any law in force in the country before or after the commencement of Constitution should not violate the fundamental rights of citizens enshrined in Part III.
• In Ahmedabad Women Action Group versus Union of India , the Supreme Court was asked to consider that unilateral divorce by talaq and polygamy violated Articles 14 and 15.
• The court rejected the claim, saying it was for the legislature to determine. Whether this Constitution Bench will resolve the age-old dispute or leave it to the legislature to decide is to be seen.

Railway board takes a casuality for Utkal express derailment

• The Railway Ministry’s decision to send Railway Board Member (Engineering) Aditya Mittal on leave after finding lapses in the maintenance procedures that led to the derailment of the Puri-Haridwar Utkal Express has come as a surprise to the Board.
• Some top officials find the action a “bit too harsh”. It was one of the rare instances when action has been taken against a Railway Board Member, who is a Secretary-level officer, for a train accident.
• Mr. Mittal is a 1978-batch Indian Railway Services of Engineers officer, who will retire this month. “I respect the view of the government,” he said.
• A former Railway Board Chairman said the move might prove to be counter-productive and affect decision-making.
• Railway Ministry sent three top officials on leave, suspended four local-level officials and transferred another official after prima facie finding lapses in the maintenance work near the Khatauli railway station.
• The divisional engineer and senior divisional engineer of the railway section were suspended, while the central track engineer of Northern Railway was transferred.
• Railway Ministry officials said it was in 1997 that the government had taken action against senior-level officials for a rail accident.

China urged India to abide by the Line of Actual Control position of 1959

• China urged India to abide by the Line of Actual Control (LAC) position of 1959, following last week’s scuffle between troops of the two countries along the Pangong lake in Ladakh.
• To a question, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying accused Indian troops of undertaking “violent actions” and injuring Chinese personnel.
• The Ministry urged India to abide by the “1959 LAC” — an apparent reference to the alignment espoused by former Chinese Premier Zhou en Lai in a letter to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
• Zhou en Lai then wrote to Nehru that in the eastern sector, the line “coincides in the main with the so-called McMahon Line, and in the western and middle sectors, it coincides in the main with the traditional customary line which has consistently been pointed out by China”.
• Ms. Hua said the incident at Pangong lake had “violated the consensus” on border issues. She said China had expressed “grave dissatisfaction” and lodged its serious concern with India.

::International::

U.S. to announce their new strategy for Afghanistan

• President Donald Trump will announce his new strategy for Afghanistan — which his administration now calls a South Asia strategy — on Monday night during an address to the nation, the White House has announced.
• Mr. Trump will “provide an update on the path forward for America’s engagement in Afghanistan and South Asia,” a statement from the White House said.
• Defence Secretary James Mattis said the President has taken the “strategic decisions,” and the Pentagon would follow it up once it is announced.
• “The process was rigorous... I’m very comfortable that the strategic process was sufficiently rigorous and did not go in with a pre-set condition in terms of what questions could be asked or what decisions would be made,” he said.
• The President had, during his election campaign, spoken against American involvements in long-drawn foreign battles, but Afghanistan poses a security threat to homeland.
• National security is another of his critical political planks, and his new Afghan strategy will have to balance his desire to disengage from conflicts with the need to secure America against another terrorist strike.

::Business and Economy::

Infosys issue takes a beating on Sharemarket

• Shares of Infosys continued their slide, shedding 5.37% or Rs. 49.60 to close at Rs. 873.50 on the BSE. This is the lowest close in three years for the technology major. It had closed at Rs. 870.09 on August 8, 2014.
• Infosys was also the worst performer in the Sensex pack as the benchmark index lost 0.84% to close at 31,258.85.
• The shares have lost close to 15% in the last two trading sessions since CEO Vishal Sikka resigned citing what he termed as ‘baseless, malicious and increasingly personal attacks’ by co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy, that had constrained his ability to bring about change.
• Even a buyback announcement at Rs. 1,150 per share did not stem the slide. On Saturday, the board of the company approved a buyback plan amounting to Rs. 13,000 crore.
• IIFL said in a report that while it continued to believe in the company’s long-term potential, it had downgraded its rating to ‘Add’ as a stable management, peace with shareholders and consistent earnings delivery amid this development are the key for Infosys to trade at a premium again.
• IDBI Capital has also cut its FY18 and FY19 revenue forecast for the company by 1.1% and 3.6%, respectively, downgrading the stock to ‘hold’ from a ‘buy’.

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