Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 25 October 2018

::NATIONAL::

Election commission orders spot verification of complaints regarding voter’s list

The Election Commission of India has taken a serious note of the complaints by political parties about the ‘indiscriminate’ deletion of names from the voters’ list and directed the electoral registration officers to reach out to the grassroots level to check the veracity of the complaints.
The EROs and assistant EROs have been directed to examine all the complaints received in respect of deletion of votes and ensure that corrections are made on the spot. “We have directed the election officials to send teams to verify the complaints related to voters’ list and rectify if anything has gone wrong,” Chief Election Commissioner O.P. Rawat said.
The officials were specifically asked to get to the root of the problem and carry out rectifications so that there was no scope for any complaints.

Supreme court to decide on case pertaining to removal of CBI director

The Supreme Court has to examine whether the government and the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) can unilaterally remove the CBI Director on the assumption that the move will restore public faith in the country’s premier investigative agency.
The CVC and the government both agree they have the power to divest AlokVerma of his office to save the credibility of the institution.
They quote from the Central Vigilance Commission Act and the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act to show they can exercise “superintendence and control” over the agency. They say their decision was taken in an “extraordinary and unprecedented” situation.
For this, the government and the CVC bank on Section 4(1) of the DSPE Act, which allows the commission to supervise investigation of offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The DSPE Act gives the Centre the power of superintendence over the CBI “in all other matters.”
Section 4(1) is again echoed in Section 8 of the Central Vigilance Commission Act. These provisions allow the commission to exercise superintendence over the CBI and give directions in relation to the investigation of corruption cases.

::ECONOMY::

Banks switching over to NACH from ECS mandates

At the heart of the muddle is a switch from Electronic Clearing System (ECS) to National Automated Clearing House (NACH) system, mandated for all banks by the National Payments Corporation of India.
In the transition, “what is happening is that 40-50% of the old mandate [ECS] are getting returned unpaid,” SBI Hyderabad Circle Chief General Manager J. Swaminathan said, attributing it to technical glitches.
Without sharing the number of affected SBI loan customers, he said it was an industry-level issue, involving thousands of records for each bank. The “proportion [of the problem] may be smaller for smaller banks. As SBI has a large amount of clearing which goes through us, so we have a fair share of our numbers,” he added.
But customers bear the brunt. From delay, to penal charges for late payment, penalty for the return as well as some ending paying twice — once at the counter and then the EMI also going through, albeit late.
Meanwhile, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has allowed use of ECS as well as NACH formats on two days of a week as a remedial measure. With this, State Bank of India is hopeful of resolving the issue by this month, the CGM said, assuring that all the penal charges, except those levied for insufficient funds in the account, would be returned.

Supreme court to ban sale of BS 4 vehicles within 2 years

The Supreme Court on Wednesday banned the sale and registration of motor vehicles conforming to the emission standard Bharat Stage-IV in the entire country from April 1, 2020.
It said pollution hasreached an “alarming and critical” level all over India. “It brooks no delay,” a three-judge Bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur, S. Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta observed in a 20-page judgment.
The country will have to shift to the cleaner Bharat- VI fuel from April 1, 2020. Bharat Stage (BS) emission norms are standards instituted by the government to regulate output of air pollutants from motor vehicles.
The BS-IV norms have been enforced across the country since April 2017. In 2016, the Centre had announced that the country would skip the BS-V norms altogether and adopt BS-VI norms by 2020.
The apex court said there cannot be any compromise on the health of citizens and this has to take precedence over the “greed” of a few automobile manufacturers who want to stretch the timeline.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

India –Israel sign missile deal

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has signed a $777 mn deal with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) to supply additional Barak-8 Long Range Surface to Air Missile (LRSAM) systems for seven warships of the Indian Navy.
“IAI’s partnership with India dates many years back and has culminated in joint system development and production,” IAI Chief Executive Officer Nimrod Sheffer said in Israel on Wednesday.
The total orders for LRSAM systems have crossed over $6 billion, he added.
The LRSAM can intercept aerial targets up to a range of 80 km. It is being co-developed by the DRDO in India and IAI, and will be manufactured by Bharat Dynamics Limited.

India Bangladesh discuss methods to improve inland water transportation

India and Bangladesh discussed various issues pertaining to the protocol arrangements and improvement of inland water transportation between the two countries in the 19th Standing Committee meeting under ‘Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade’ (PIWTT)held at New Delhi today.
The two sides agreed to consider inclusion of Rupnarayanriver (National Waterway-86) from Geonkhali to Kolaghatin West Bengal in the protocol route. They also agreed to declare Kolaghatin West Bengal and Chilmari in Bangladesh as new Ports of Call.
The new arrangement will facilitate movement of flyash, cement, construction materials etc from India to Bangladesh through IWT on Rupnarayan river. Further, both sides agreed to declare Badarpur on river Barak (NW 16) as an Extended Port of Call of Karimganjin Assam and Ghorasal ofAshuganj in Bangladesh on reciprocal basis.
It was also decided that a Project Management Consultant for supervision and monitoring of dredging of Ashuganj-ZakiganjandSirajganj-Daikhowa stretches of Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route in Bangladesh will be engaged with 80 % financial contribution from India and rest by Bangladesh. A Joint Monitoring Committee has also been constituted for overall monitoring of the dredging works.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Researches develop cell sized robots to detect diseases

MIT scientists have developed a method to mass produce robots no bigger than a cell that could be used to monitor conditions inside an oil or gas pipeline, or to search out disease while floating through the bloodstream.
The key to making such tiny devices, which the team calls “syncells” (short for synthetic cells), in large quantities lies in controlling the natural fracturing process of atomically-thin, brittle materials.
The process, called “autoperforation”, directs the fracture lines so that they produce miniscule pockets of a predictable size and shape. Embedded inside these pockets are electronic circuits and materials that can collect data, according to a study published in the journal Nature Materials .
The system, developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S., uses a two-dimensional form of carbon called graphene, which forms the outer structure of the tiny syncells.These tiny objects “behave like a living biological cell”, said Michael Strano, a professor at MIT.

::SPORTS::

AFI to monitor athletes outside national camps

For the last few years, athletes training in secret locations who pop up in selection meets and book National team berths for major championships have often put the Athletics Federation of India in a dilemma. And they often disappoint in major Games.
The National body has now decided to keep a close watch on athletes who are training outside national camps to see what they are up to.
Anju Bobby George, the country’s lone senior World Championships medallist, has played a big part with her suggestions to the AFI on how to tackle non-campers who come up with head-spinning performances in crucial meets.