Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 29 October 2018

::NATIONAL::

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a PIL petition to extend the Vishakha guidelines against sexual harassment in workplace to ashrams, madrasas and Catholic institutions.
The Vishakha guidelines introduced by the apex court in 1997 were evolved into a parliamentary law called the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act of 2013.
The petition filed by advocate ManeeshPathak said religious institutions also have women employed there other than those working on a voluntary basis. “If the Vishakha Guidelines are extended to these religious institutions, it would assist a lot in reducing sexually related crimes against women at religious places by gurus or leaders of that particular institution,” the petition said.

Nearly half the applications pending for Indian citizenship are from Pakistanis, according to a Home Ministry database. Out of the 1,084 applicants who applied for Indian citizenship before 2011, as many as 526 are from Pakistan.
There were 103 applications pending from Afghanistan, followed by 72 from Iran and 41 from Bangladesh. As many as 30 applicants are Malaysian, 24 British, seven Tibetans, 13 Sri Lankans and eight Chinese.
The decision is taken after examining verifications reports from the State governments and the Intelligence Bureau. Indian citizenship is acquired by birth, descent, registration and naturalisation.
In 2016, the Home Ministry delegated powers to 16 District Collectors in seven States to grant citizenship to non-Muslims from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh living in India, and issued a notification last week to make the entire process online.

Exporters in India are not happy with the current policy and exchange rate situation even though they should be cheering the depreciating rupee.
A combination of higher input costs, uncertainty over tariffs, and the fact that the government has said it would not be refunding them the Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) they have paid, has meant that exports contracted in September for the first time in six months.
A depreciating rupee should ideally be good for exporters, since it means that India’s exports are relatively cheaper than they were before. However, export bodies such as the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) have said that this benefit is not passing through to exporters.
According to FIEO, the depreciation has resulted in an increase in the cost of imported capital goods, inputs and various services used by exporters paid in foreign currency.

India played a “positive” role in restoration of democracy in Maldives by “exerting pressure” on the ruling regime, and the new government in the island nation would be “sensitive” towards New Delhi’s “concerns”, said former Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom on Sunday.
Nearly a month after he was released from jail, Mr.Gayoom said the government of President Abdulla Yameen inflicted “huge damage” on Maldives but democratic forces have prevailed over their “enemies”.
Joint opposition leader Ibrahim Mohamed Solih came out victorious in the September 23 presidential election, handing a shock defeat to Mr.Yameen.
Asked whether Mr.Yameen drew his strength from strong backing by China, Mr.Gayoom hoped that Beijing would respect the will of the Maldivian people.
Asked about India’s role after imposition of emergency by Mr.Yameen in February, Mr.Gayoom said, “India did play a positive role, and along with other international partners, did exert pressure towards restoration of democracy.”

The Prime Minister, ShriNarendraModi, today, addressed the ‘Make in India: India-Japan partnership in Africa and digital partnership’ seminar, in Tokyo.
The Prime Minister explained how the Union Government is focused on improving ease of doing business, and ease of living for the citizens. He expressed happiness at the large presence of Japanese companies in India.
Noting that Japan has been a partner in many important industrial projects in India, the Prime Minister explained the strength of India’s economic performance over the last four years. He said India is today the fastest growing major economy.
He mentioned other major transitions in the Indian economy, including the move from informal to formal economy, digital transactions and GST etc.
Terming the Indian community as ambassadors of India in Japan, Prime Minister urged them to invest in India and to maintain cultural ties with the motherland.
Highlighting the achievements of the Government in the last four years, Prime Minister said that India is continuously working with the spirit of Indian Solutions- Global Applications.He said that India’s model of financial inclusion, especially JAM(Jan DhanYojana, Mobile, Aadhar) trinity and digital transaction model, is now appreciated all over the world.

By studying the movement of virtual animals in computer simulation, a research team led by SrinivasaChakravarthy, Department of Biotechnology, at IIT Madras has unlocked the navigation behaviour in rats moving in two dimensions and bats (3D). They hope to use these clues in engineering autonomous vehicles and drones.
Previous studies have shown that certain regions (hippocampus and parahippocampus) in the rat brain contain special cells known as “spatial cells” that help to create a cognitive map for navigation.
The 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to three scientists who discovered cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain. The inner GPS in the brain or the neurons help in coordinating the position, distance and direction of travel.
Using mathematical models and computer simulations, the researchers looked at these various spatial cells when rats move along the maze. One of the cells known as ‘place cells’ gets activated when the rat is at a certain place in a room and another type of cells called ‘grid cells’ coordinate this system and help in positioning and pathfinding.

Roger Federer won his 99th career ATP Tour title here on Sunday, defeating qualifier Marius Copil 7-6(5), 6-4 in the Swiss Indoors final.
A ninth title at Federer’s hometown event in Basel, where he was once a ball boy, matched the nine he won at the Halle grass-court event in Germany.