Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 30 January 2019

::NATIONAL::

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked why Right to Information bodies, especially the apex forum of Central Information Commission (CIC), were almost completely manned by bureaucrats.
Justice A.K. Sikri, who led a Bench comprising Justice S. Abdul Nazeer, pointed out that the Right to Information Act of 2005 mandates that people with a range of experience and from various fields should serve as information commissioners.
Justice Sikri pointed out that out of 280 applications received for the post of information commissioners at the CIC recently, 14 were shortlisted, and they were almost all bureaucrats.
Justice Sikri said may be even the search committee shortlisting the eligible candidates was made up of bureaucrats. “The psyche is that they feel the only class eligible for such posts is this one (bureaucrats),” the judge commented orally.
Ms.Bhardwaj alleged that the Centre and the State governments “have attempted to stifle the functioning of the Right to Information Act by failing to do their statutory duty of ensuring appointment of commissioners in the Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions in a timely manner”.
Due to non-appointment of information commissioners, several information commissions take many months, and in some cases even years, to decide appeals and complaints due to accumulation of pending appeals/complaints, thus defeating the entire object of the RTI Act,” the petition said.

The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday said that it will inject Rs 37,500 crore into the system through purchase of government securities in February to increase liquidity.
The RBI said it has been monitoring the evolving liquidity conditions and durable liquidity requirements of the system.
In a release issued on Tuesday from Mumbai RBI stated that it has decided to conduct purchase of government securities under Open Market Operations (OMOs) for an aggregate amount of Rs 375 billion in the month of February 2019 through three auctions of Rs 125 billion each during the 2nd, 3rd and 4th week.
The release stated that there will be no auction during the first week due to the scheduled MPC meeting.
The apex bank said that it would inform about the auction dates in the due course.

The fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry is expected to clock double digit growth in the current year, though the growth is likely to be lower than that of the previous year, which saw the sector benefit from the overall health of the economy and lower inflation.
According to the latest study by market research firm Nielsen, the FMCG industry is expected to grow between 11% and 12% in 2019, which is a tad lower than the 13.8% growth in 2018. Incidentally, the FMCG industry growth in the fourth quarter of 2018 was quite buoyant at 15.9%
While GDP is expected to be buoyant at 7.5% in 2019, Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) estimates for the year suggest that it will gradually increase. However, it will be within 5%, it added.
Indian rural consumption story is projected to be continuing in 2019. Various farm level initiatives by the government including agri credit and direct subsidy transfer, along with orientation on minimum support prices for crops, are expected to boost farm income further.
Consumption growth in 2018 was led by favourable macros like growth in GDP, lower inflation and manufacturers passing on the benefits of margin expansion from the GST regime.

The Trump administration on Monday imposed sanctions on the state-owned oil company of Venezuela, a potentially critical economic move aimed at increasing pressure on President Nicolas Maduro to cede power to the opposition.
National security adviser John Bolton and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced the measures against the company.
They are also aimed at boosting Mr.Maduro’s rival, opposition leader Juan Guaido, whom the administration recognized last week as Venezuela’s legitimate leader.
The sanctions will include a freeze on any assets the firm may have in U.S. jurisdictions and bar Americans from doing business with it
The sanctions will not likely affect consumer prices at the gas pump but will hit oil refiners, particularly those on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Venezuelan oil exports to the U.S. have declined steadily over the years, falling particularly sharply over the past decade as its production plummeted amid its long economic and political crisis.

Syria and Iran signed 11 agreements and memoranda of understanding late Monday, including a "long-term strategic economic cooperation" deal aimed at strengthening cooperation between Damascus and one of its key allies in the civil war that has torn the country apart.
The agreements covered a range of fields including economy, culture, education, infrastructure, investment and housing, the official Sana news agency reported.
Syrian Prime Minister ImadKhamis said it was "a message to the world on the reality of Syrian-Iranian cooperation", citing "legal and administrative facilities" to benefit Iranian companies wishing to invest in Syria and contribute "effectively to reconstruction".
The agreements included two memos of understanding between the railway authorities of the two countries as well as between their respective investment promotion authorities.
In relation to infrastructure, there was also rehabilitation of the ports of Tartus and Latakia as well as construction of a 540 megawatt energy plant, according to Khamis. In addition there were "dozens of projects in the oil sector and agriculture", he added.
The civil war has taken an enormous toll on the Syrian economy and infrastructure, with the cost of war-related destruction estimated by the UN at about $400 billion. Iran will stand "alongside Syria during the next phase that will be marked by reconstruction", Jahangiri promised.

Researchers found that people who drink heavily may be changing their DNA in a way that makes them crave alcohol even more,” said Dipak K. Sarkar, professor at Rutgers University in the U.S.
This may help explain why alcoholism is such a powerful addiction, and may one day contribute to new ways to treat alcoholism or help prevent at-risk people from becoming addicted,” said Mr.Sarkar.
For the study, researchers focused on two genes implicated in the control of drinking behaviour: PER2, which influences the body’s biological clock, and POMC, which regulates our stress-response system.
The findings may help in identifying biomarkers that could predict an individual’s risk for binge or heavy drinking.
In addition, the binge and heavy drinkers also showed reductions in gene expression, or the rate at which these genes create proteins. These changes increased with greater alcohol intake.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) today announced fixtures for the ICC T20 World Cup 2020 to be held in Australia. This edition marks the first occasion when the men and women tournaments will be held as standalone events in the same year and in the same country.
The women's T20 World Cup will take place from February 21 to March 8 next year, culminating with the final on International Women’s Day