Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 29 July 2017

::National::

10-year-old rape victim has been left with no choice but to continue with her pregnancy

• A 10-year-old rape victim has been left with no choice but to continue with her pregnancy after a medical panel informed the Supreme Court that an abortion will endanger both the girl and her 32-week-old foetus.

• Bench led by Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar had directed doctors from P.G.I., Chandigarh, to medically examine the girl and file a report in court on whether the “health of the girl child concerned and also that of the foetus, would be adversely affected, if the pregnancy is continued for the full term”.

• In a short hearing, the court perused the report filed by the doctors in a sealed cover and denied permission for an abortion.

• But the Bench went on to urge the government, to consider setting up permanent medical boards across the States so that women, especially child rape victims, could receive expedient access to medical care.

• The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971 bars abortion if the foetus has crossed the 20-week mark.

• An exception to the law is made if a registered medical practitioner certifies to a court that the continued pregnancy is life-threatening for either the mother or the baby.

• Presently, women are forced to undertake the cumbersome process of approaching different courts, from district courts to high courts and finally the Supreme Court, for permission to medically terminate their pregnancies which are over 20 weeks.

• The frequent number of such cases which have come to the Supreme Court range from child rape victims to destitute women to women with substantial foetus abnormalities.

• An amended Bill of the 1971 law which extends the bar from 20 to 24 weeks has been in the cold storage for the past three years.

• This draft Bill allows women, whose pregnancies are within 24 weeks, reproductive rights in consultation with their medical practitioners. The draft Bill also allows abortion beyond 24 weeks in case the foetus suffers from substantial abnormalities.

• As of now, women who have crossed the 20-week limit need a judicial order to even get medically examined on their plea for abortion.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from office

• Pakistan’s Supreme Court disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from office over undeclared assets and ordered registration of corruption cases against him and his children, plunging the country into a political turmoil.

• In an unprecedented judgment by five judges, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, the court also set a timeline for quick disposal of the corruption cases against the Sharifs under the supervision of a Supreme Court judge.

• Attorney-General AshtarAusaf said the disqualification is for life, ending any hope for the three-time Prime Minister to return to active politics.

• Mr. Sharif quickly resigned but in a statement his spokesman said there were “serious reservations” about the judicial process. Mr. Sharif’s party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, said it would file a review in the Supreme Court.

• Earlier, a Supreme Court-appointed joint investigation team had concluded that Mr. Sharif’s family had assets beyond known sources of income.

• The court also sent the cases of Mr. Nawaz Sharif and his children to the National Accountability Bureau and directed their disposal within six months.

India wants BRICS to become international leaders against terrorism

• National Security Adviser Ajit Doval has called upon the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) grouping to exercise international leadership in countering terrorism, in tune with the growing role of the emerging economies in setting the global agenda.

• During his opening remarks at the seventh BRICS meeting of National Security Advisers, Mr. Doval, without referring to any country, urged the BRICS countries “to show leadership in countering terrorism.”

• He also advocated that the five emerging economies should work towards setting the agenda “on strategic issues of regional and global importance.”

• Mr. Xi, in his address to the BRICS NSAs, praised them for building a mutual trust and cooperation among the member nations.

• Though the meeting was meant to iron out the security agenda of the BRICS summit, slated for September, Mr. Doval’s call on Mr. Xi acquired a bilateral context in view of the Doklam face-off.

::International::

US senate passed a stiff financial sanctions against Russia

• The U.S. Senate is sending a package of stiff financial sanctions against Russia to President Donald Trump to sign after the Bill received overwhelming support in Congress.

• Moscow has already responded, ordering a reduction in the number of U.S. diplomats in Russia and closing the U.S. embassy’s recreation retreat.

• Mr. Trump’s likelihood of supporting the measure is a remarkable concession that the President has yet to sell his party on his hopes for forging a warmer relationship with Moscow. Mr. Trump’s vow to extend a hand of cooperation to Russian President Vladimir Putin has been met with resistance as sceptical lawmakers look to limit the executive power’s leeway to go easy on Moscow over its alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

• The Senate passed the Bill, 98-2, two days after the House pushed the measure through by an overwhelming margin, 419-3. Both are veto proof numbers as the White House has wavered on whether the President would sign the measure into law.

• Never in doubt, however, was a cornerstone of the legislation that bars Mr. Trump from easing or waiving the additional penalties on Russia unless Congress agrees.

• The provisions were included to assuage concerns among U.S. lawmakers that the President’s push for better relations with Moscow might lead him to relax the penalties without first securing concessions from the Kremlin.

Sri Lanka will proceed with the billion-dollar sale of a deep sea port to China

• Sri Lanka will proceed with the billion-dollar sale of a deep sea port to China despite protests in an effort to slash its foreign debt, Prime Minister said.

• The Hambantota port straddles the world’s busiest east-west shipping route and several countries, including neighbouring India, had raised concerns China could use it for its own military needs.

• The port, built in 2010 with a massive loan from China and named after former President MahindaRajapaksa, has failed to generate enough business to even pay staff salaries.

• Port workers had called for a strike on Friday to protest the deal, but cancelled it after the government used tough laws to outlaw industrial action.

• Mr. Wickremesinghe said the government would sign off Saturday on the $1.12 billion deal with China Merchants Port Holdings to jointly manage the facility. Cash from the firm’s majority stake will be used to repay part of the island nation’s huge foreign debt.

• An Opposition faction loyal to Mr. Rajapaksa scuttled a parliamentary debate on the sale, calling it a move to privatise the country’s assets.

::Business and Economy::

Inputs from academia sought by commerce ministry

• Commerce Minister sought inputs from the academia on three topics — Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) review, the proposed revamp of manufacturing and industrial policies and India’s proposal at the WTO on services sector liberalisation.

• Minister said she would like to receive inputs from the students and faculty as soon as possible on the FTP 2015-20 so that a comprehensively reviewed FTP can be released by September.

• In the backdrop of the Centre working on a new manufacturing and industrial policy to increase the contribution of the manufacturing sector in the country’s GDP to 25% by 2020 from the current level of about 16%

• Minister said as the (global) Industrial Revolution 4.0 is happening, the country needs more research on this emerging area showing how Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics and Internet of Things (IoT) will impact India’s manufacturing and services.

• It is learnt that India’s new manufacturing and industrial policies will bring manufacturing and services closer to ensure an increase in the contribution of services to manufacturing.

• Since India is already a part of many ‘global value chains’, the two new policies will aim to make India a global manufacturing hub in items including textile, pharmaceuticals and electronics.

CAG report says Indradhanush scheme was not implemented in a manner envisaged

• The Centre’s ‘Indradhanush’ scheme to recapitalise public sector banks (PSBs) based on their performance was not implemented in a manner envisaged, according to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG)

• According to the CAG report tabled in Parliament, as per the scheme, a portion of the recapitalisation was to be based on the bank’ performance. However, this was not followed during disbursal of funds.

• The CAG report said gross NPAs with PSBs had risen sharply in recent years, from Rs. 2.27 lakh crore as of March 31, 2014 to about Rs. 5.4 lakh crore at the end of March 2016.

• The parameters used to determine whether banks required capital changed from year to year and in some years the rationale for capitalising banks was not even recorded.

• The audit report said the scheme’s target of raising Rs. 1.1 lakh crore from the markets by 2018-19 was not likely to be met.

• Audit also noticed that in some cases the rationale for distribution of GOI capital among different PSBs (Public Sector Banks) was not on record.

• The report added that said some banks that did not qualify for additional capital as per the decided norms, were infused with capital, and in some cases, banks were infused with more capital than required.

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