Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 24 APRIL 2019
::NATIONAL::
Sexual harassment case against CJI to be heard by judges panel
- A three-member committee of Supreme Court judges led by Justice
S.A. Bobde, the number two judge in the apex court, was formed on Tuesday to
look into allegations of sexual harassment raised by a former employee
against Chief Justice of India RanjanGogoi.
- Earlier in the day, he constituted a Special Bench of Justices
Arun Mishra, RohintonNariman and Deepak Gupta to deal with, on the judicial
side, the suomotu petition titled ‘In a matter of great public importance
touching upon the independence of the judiciary.’
- The morning saw senior judges hold an intense closed-door
discussion till noon before beginning their usual court work. The discussion
was centred on how to tackle the "wildfire" of accusations directed at the
court, a highly placed source in the Supreme Court said.
- Meanwhile A Special Bench of the Supreme Court, led by Justice
Arun Mishra, on Tuesday issued notice to an advocate who filed a plea in the
court claiming he was offered up to Rs. 1.5 crore by a man who identified
himself as “Ajay” to frame a “false case of sexual harassment” against Chief
Justice of India RanjanGogoi.
RTE application declines this year heavily
- With the State governments amending the Right of Children to Free
and Compulsory Education (RTE) rules, which prioritises government over
private schools from the coming academic year, the Department of Public
Instruction has received only 17,310 applications so far.
- This is a 92.7% drop from the 2018-19 academic year, which saw
2.38 lakh applications for seats under the RTE reservation quota.At the same
time, the number of seats under RTE quota has also reduced drastically.
- Parents say they have not applied this year as private schools
have been kept out of the ambit of the quota. Most neighbourhoods have
government or aided schools in their vicinity. According to the recent
amendment, a child can be admitted to a private school under the quota only
if there are no government or aided schools in the locality.
- Another disadvantage, according to parents many from lower-socio
economic backgrounds is the lack of access to pre-primary education should
they enrol their children in government schools, which do not offer this
facility unlike their private counterparts.
::ECONOMY::
RBI’s second Forex swap ends with huge responses
- The second dollar-rupee buy/sell auction also saw healthy demand
with the Reserve Bank of India getting 255 bids worth $18.65 billion
compared with the notified amount of $5 billion.
- Dealers said high cut-off premium indicated banks mostly stayed
away but companies and NBFCs saw it as a good opportunity to lower hedging
costs compared with the secondary market.
- RBI said liquidity injected in the first leg was Rs. 34,874 crore.
The move would help shore up the country’s foreign exchange reserves which
are now close to $415 billion.
- “Companies that raise funds via the external commercial borrowing
route find this route cost effective due to lower hedging cost as compared
to the secondary market,” said a dealer.
- RBI had added this new toolkit for liquidity management to ease
liquidity to reduce its dependence on open market operations. On March 26,
RBI had bought $5 billion through a similar swap auction.
- “Based on a review of evolving liquidity conditions and assessment
of the durable liquidity needs going forward, RBI has decided to conduct
purchase of Government securities under open market operations for an
aggregate amount of Rs. 250 billion in May 2019 through two auctions of Rs.
125 billion each,” the RBI said in a statement.
- The first auction of Rs. 12,500 crore would be conducted on May 2.
According to dealers, liquidity deficit in the market is more than Rs. 1
lakh crore. While the market was not expecting an OMO announcement soon
after the swap auction, the move is likely to lift spirits in the bond
market.
::INTERNATIONAL::
India might send NIA officials to investigate Srilankan serial blasts
- The government may send a team of the National Investigation
Agency to Sri Lanka in the aftermath of bomb blasts that claimed more than
300 lives.
- An NIA official on Tuesday said a decision on the issue was yet to
be taken. Some government officials are also likely to visit Sri Lanka to
meet their counterparts.
- Given that earlier this month India had shared intelligence inputs
on possible terror strikes at different locations, including the Indian High
Commission building there, a government source said the agencies would be
extending all possible cooperation to the Sri Lankan authorities on
unearthing the conspiracy. Security arrangements at the High Commission are
also being reviewed.
- “We keep working in close coordination with the investigating
agencies in other countries on various issues, particularly terror-related
cases. In November 2014, after the Burdwan blast, a four-member team of the
NIA had visited Bangladesh to share information on the suspects,” said a
retired IPS official.
::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::
Scientists use EU satellite to spot marine litter
- In an experiment to detect marine litter using satellites, a team
of Greek University students deposited wall-sized PVC frames on the surface
of Aegean sea.
- The team gathered some 2,000 plastic bottles and lashed them to
the frames. Other targets were crafted with plastic bags, as these are even
harder to spot in the water and usually constitute the deadliest threat to
Aegean marine life such as dolphins, turtles and seals.
- “We knew that the European satellite system passes at regular
intervals with a spatial resolution of 10 metres,” said project supervisor
KonstantinosTopuzelis, an assistant professor at the University of the
Aegean.
- In theory, then, the satellites should be able to detect the
floating rafts of plastic the team pushed out to sea.
- The results of the experiment “Satellite Testing and Drone Mapping
for Marine Plastics on the Aegean Sea” — will be presented at a European
Space Agency symposium in Milan in May.
- “The advantage is that we are using existing tools,” which brings
down costs and makes it easier to scale up, said DimitrisPapageorgiou, among
the 60 students working on the project.
::SPORTS::
India’s BajrangPunia wins gold in Asian Wrestling Championships
- India clinched one gold, one silver and bronze at the Asian
Wrestling Championship in China's Xian on Tuesday.
- World number one BajrangPunia logged 10 points in a row in the
gold medal bout to reclaim his Asian Championship crown. He defeated
Kazakhstan'sSayatbekOkassov 12-7 in a nail-biting 65kg men's freestyle
final.
