Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 23 JULY 2019

::NATIONAL::

Information & Broadcasting Minister PrakashJavadekar has said that NarendraModi Government is fully committed to transparency and accountability in the flow of information relating various government departments.
He said, as a result of its commitment to strengthen genuine and free flow of information, the government has encouraged suomotu dissemination of maximum information by Government Departments in order to reduce number of RTIs.
In a tweet, Mr Javadekar said, there is a deliberate and mischievous attempt by a section to malign the government.
The Minister said, there is no merit in their criticism as the amendment to RTI Act in no way compromises the autonomy of Information Commission.

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister PrakashJavadekarhas said the Press Council of India has recommended amendment to the Representation of the People Act, 1951 in order to make the incidence of paid news a punishable electoral malpractice.
Giving this information in a written reply in the RajyaSabha today, the Minister said the Election Commission has also recommended for including paid news in the category of corrupt practices or electoral offences.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Viral Acharya said that disinvestment in public sector enterprises (PSEs) would alleviate crowding-out effects of the government’s borrowing in the country.
He said serious rationalisation could be undertaken including cutting back on subsidies and programmes that are not delivering long-term growth, and instead, focussing on providing education, health and infrastructure. Mr.Acharya had decided to quit the RBI six months before his tenure ends.
“The much-needed land, labour and agricultural reforms could be undertaken, all of which can help crowd-in private sector growth,” he added.

The committee set up to look into the legality of cryptocurrencies and blockchain has submitted its report to the Finance Ministry and recommended that private cryptocurrencies be banned in India.
All these cryptocurrencies have been created by non-sovereigns.” The report says cryptocurrencies do not have any intrinsic value of their own and lack any of the attributes of a currency. They neither act as a store of value nor are they a medium of exchange in themselves.
The Committee, however, leaves the door open for the central bank issued crypto currencies, adding that it endorsed the RBI’s stance of banning any sort of interface of crypto currencies with the banking system in India.
“The Committee recommends that the RBI examine the utility of using DLT based systems for enabling faster and more secure payment infrastructure,” the report said.

China reacted furiously on Monday to anti-government protesters vandalising the walls of its representative’s office in Hong Kong and defacing the national emblem, branding their actions “absolutely intolerable”.
Thousands of masked pro-democracy demonstrators briefly occupied the road outside the office in the semi-autonomous city on Sunday night and targeted the building with eggs, projectiles, laser lights and graffiti in a stark rebuke to Beijing’s rule.
Hong Kong has been shaken by massive, sometimes violent, protests initially organised to oppose a now-suspended bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China. They have now morphed into a wider movement for democratic reforms.
So far, Beijing has refused to budge. Officials and state media have accused the protesters of playing into the hands of foreign powers who seek to harm China, and backed the Hong Kong government. Beyond agreeing to suspend the extradition bill, there have been few other concessions.
Radical protests have “insulted the country and the nation”, Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily said in a front-page article. “These acts of violence seriously undermined Hong Kong's social order and trampled on the rule of law.”

Israeli forces demolished a cluster of Palestinian homes near a military barrier on the outskirts of Jerusalem on Monday, in the face of protests and international criticism.
Israel said the 10 apartment buildings, most of them still under construction, had been built illegally and posed a security risk to Israeli armed forces operating along the barrier that runs through the occupied West Bank.
U.N. officials, who had called on Israel to halt the demolition plans, said 17 Palestinians faced displacement.
Israel's Supreme Court ruled in June that the structures violated a construction ban. Palestinians and rights groups say Israeli building permits are nearly impossible to obtain. The deadline for residents to remove the affected buildings, or parts of them, was Friday.
The Palestine Liberation Organization issued a statement accusing the Israeli court of trying to set a precedent for further demolitions along the barrier.

The powerful booster GSLV-Mark-Three carrying Chandrayaan-2 on-board zoomed into space at 14.43 hours by puffing out thick smoke and leaving trailblazers amidst thundering sound from the second launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
After piercing through the cloudy sky, it placed the high-stake lunar probe into the designated highly elliptical orbit around the earth in just 16 minutes and 33 seconds. ISRO Chairman Dr Sivan congratulated the Team ISRO for the remarkable achievement saying it is the beginning of a historic journey by the nation to the moon.
From the earth-bound orbit, Chandrayaan-2 will be navigated by the ISRO scientists to near the South Pole of the moon.
It will be made possible by carrying out fifteen earth-bound manoeuvres that involve burning the engine onboard Chandrayaan-2. It will be the first-ever soft-landing of a probe by India, that is expected to be on September 7.
India would become the fourth ever nation to have a soft-landing on the moon, once Chandrayaan-2 reaches the unexplored area.