Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 31 MAY 2020

::NATIONAL::

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has refused to disclose details on the creation and operation of the PM CARES Fund, telling an RTI applicant that the fund is “not a public authority” within the ambit of the RTI Act, 2005.
Sri HarshaKandukuri, a law student, filed an RTI request on April 1, asking the PMO to provide the Fund’s trust deed and all government orders, notifications and circulars relating to its creation and operation.
“PM CARES Fund is not a Public Authority under the ambit of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act, 2005. However, relevant information in respect of PM CARES Fund may be seen on the Website pmcares.gov.in,” the reply said.
Another RTI request on the issue, filed by activist Vikrant Togad, had also been refused in April citing a Supreme Court (SC) observation that “indiscriminate and impractical demands under RTI Act for disclosure of all and sundry information would be counterproductive”.

Eight States have so far not lifted any foodgrains allocated by the Centre under the AtmaNirbhar Bharat package, which aims to ensure free supply of foodgrains to all migrants who are not covered under the Food Security Act for the next two months.
As part of the scheme, which targets around 8 crore migrant workers who do not have ration cards, the beneficiaries are supposed to get free supply of 5 kg of either rice or wheat and 1 kg of chana or pulses.
Till Thursday, out of the 8 lakh metric tonne (LMT) allocated under the scheme only 2.06 LMT had been lifted by the State governments, as per the statistics available with the Ministry of Food and Public Distribution.
Eight States and Union Territories have so far not lifted any foodgrains under the scheme: Delhi, Chandigarh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.
The Centre has laid the onus of identification of the migrant workers and deciding the mechanism for allocating the foodgrains on the States. Speaking to reporters over a videoconference on Friday, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said, “We are not raising any ifs and buts, it is up to the States to come up with a policy and distribute the grains. By July 15, they should submit a list of beneficiaries whom these grains have been distributed to”.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) will very soon put a draft e-commerce policy in the public domain to seek views and comments, a top government official said on Saturday.
DPIIT Secretary GuruprasadMohapatra said e-commerce is a fast emerging sector and it is difficult to predict where it will go in the next couple of years.
The country does not have an e-commerce policy and the department is currently working on this, he added. Several foreign e-commerce firms have raised concerns over some points in the draft pertaining to data.
“So, the e-commerce policy firstly should lay down a very clear policy on what is data; what kind of data the e-commerce companies can use; how the citizens’ right of privacy can be protected; how the e-commerce data is being leveraged for other purposes, other commercial benefits accrue to the e-commerce data holder; how citizens like you and me can have access to those benefits, he said.

India pitched for wider sharing of information exchanged under tax treaties among BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – for countering corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing, at the meeting of tax heads held on Friday.
India batted for adopting a “whole of government approach” in dealing with crossborder financial crimes, as they have ramifications in respect of various statutes, not only taxation, said finance secretary Ajay BhushanPandey, who represented India via video conferencing.
India also asked for sharing of Covid-19 related tax measures taken by respective tax administrations to enhance the country’s understanding of fiscal and economic impact of the pandemic.

India and Sri Lanka have reaffirmed commitment to further strengthen bilateral relations exploring new avenues of cooperation. During his meeting with new Indian High Commissioner GopalBaglay in Colombo today, Sri Lankan President GotabayaRajapaksa stressed the need to expedite the implementation of already agreed joint projects for the benefit of both countries.

Areas such as tertiary education, tourism, information and communication technology, agriculture and agri-based products were mentioned for enhancing bilateral cooperation.

It was agreed to accelerate India’s participation in Sri Lanka’s post COVID economic recovery building on the areas identified as mutual priorities in the telephonic conversation between Sri Lankan President and PM Modi last Saturday.

US President Donald Trump has said that he will postpone a meeting of Group of 7 nations until fall and called for an expansion of the group's membership.
Mr Trump told reporters that that he has not yet set a new date, but it can take place in September around the time of the annual meeting of the United Nations.
The leaders of the world’s major economies were slated to meet in June in the US. Mr Trump said he considers the G7 an outdated group that doesn't properly represent what's taking place in the world.
Meanwhile,German Chancellor Angela Merkel will not attend an in-person summit of G7 leaders that U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested he will host despite concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, the Politico website quoted her spokesman as saying on Friday.

SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft successfully took off last night from Kennedy Space Center for the International Space Station (ISS), with two NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley.
The spacecraft is the first to take the American astronauts to orbit from American soil in nearly a decade. The mission marks the first launch of a rocket owned by SpaceX, the commercial space company founded by Elon Musk. US President Donald Trump was present at the Kennedy Space Center to view the rocket launch.
On Wednesday, the planned launch was called off due to bad weather. NASA has assigned Hurley and Behnken--two of its most experienced astronauts. Behnken is the joint operations commander for the Demo-2 mission, responsible for activities such as rendezvous, docking and undocking, as well as activities while the spacecraft is docked to the space station.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has nominated Rohit Sharma for the Rajiv Gandhi KhelRatna while Ishant Sharma, ShikharDhawan and Deepti Sharma have been recommended for the Arjuna Award.
If Rohit gets the KhelRatna, he will become the fourth cricketer, after Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and ViratKohli, to win the coveted award.