Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 31 MARCH 2019
::NATIONAL::
EC seeks help of community radios for spreading voter awareness
- Community radio stations across the country have assured the
Election Commission to contribute their best for voter education and
awareness.
- The Commission organised a workshop in New Delhi yesterday for
training and capacity building of the community radios for voter
education and awareness.
- Senior Deputy Election Commissioner, UmeshSinha in a statement said
the community radio is one of the best medium to reach the last voter of
the country.
- He said, Community Radio can play an important role in strengthening
democracy by developing content in their local dialects and deepening
the process of voter awareness.
- Deputy Election Commissioner Chandra Bhushan Kumar said that effort
of the poll body is to ensure fair and fearless elections and Community
Radios can play an important role in this endevour.
- Community Radio is one of the best medium to reach to the last voter
of the country. It can play an important role in strengthening democarcy
by developing content in their local dialects and deepening the process
of voter education and awareness upto the grass root level.
- Election Commission ensures fair and fearless elections and
Community Radios can play an important role in assisting the Commission.
::ECONOMY::
Vijaya and Dena bank to merge with Bank Of Baroda from April1
- In a first three-way amalgamation, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank will
merge with Bank of Baroda from tomorrow to create the third-largest
lender of the country.
- The Reserve Bank of India had said in a statement on Saturday that
customers including depositors of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank will be
treated as customers of Bank of Baroda with effect from 1st April this
year.
- To make merger a smooth affair, the government last week decided to
infuse 5,042 crore rupees in Bank of Baroda to enhance its capital base
to meet additional expense.
- According to the Scheme of Amalgamation, shareholders of Vijaya Bank
will get 402 equity shares of Bank of Baroda for every 1,000 shares
held. In the case of Dena Bank, its shareholders will get 110 shares of
Bank of Baroda for every 1,000 shares.
GSP withdrawal by U.S may affect India’s plastic exports
- The move by the United States (U.S.) to terminate India’s
designation as beneficiary developing country under the Generalized
System of Preferences (GSP) programme because it no longer complied with
the statutory eligibility criteria, is likely to affect plastic exports
from India said a trade body.
- In 2018, India and the U.S. reported a bilateral trade (only
merchandise goods) worth $84.9 billion, up 20% from the previous year.
- The trade was in favour of India, which reported a surplus of $17.9
billion during 2018, down 15.1% from $21.1 billion a year earlier.
- Peeved by the fact that India and some other countries were enjoying
a trade surplus with U.S. without giving an ‘equal access’ to American
goods in their respective countries, the Office of the United States
Trade Representative on March 4 issued a press release stating that
United States would terminate India’s designation as beneficiary
developing country under the GSP programme because it no longer complied
with the statutory eligibility criteria.
- Under the GSP programme, certain products could enter the U.S.
duty-free if beneficiary developing countries met the eligibility
criteria established by the Congress. According to the United States
Trade Representative (USTR), the total U.S. imports under GSP in 2017
was $21.2 billion, of which India was the biggest beneficiary with $5.6
billion.
::INTERNATIONAL::
Amid sanctions, Iran wants improved ties with India
- Amid U.S. sanctions, Iran is exploring ways to increase its
bilateral trade with India, including expanding banking channels.
- “The volume of trade between Iran and India stands between $10
billion and $13 billion, which has tremendous potential for improvement.
“The Iranian Parliament recently ratified an agreement to avoid double
taxation between Iran and India,” he said.
- Talking about U.S. sanctions, Mr.Fouladgar said, “We are paying the
price for our freedom in the form of restrictions and sanctions. This is
in spite of the fact that we have fulfilled all our commitments towards
the nuclear deal. However, the U.S. continues not to fulfil its
commitment.
- “The IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] had inspected our
facilities 14 times and agreed that Iran had fulfilled all its
commitments towards the nuclear deal but the U.S. is now putting
pressure on Iran in the name of human rights violations.”
- Early this year, India had taken over operations of the strategic
Chabahar in Iran opening a new strategic route connecting Iran, India,
and Afghanistan, bypassing Pakistan.
- “The Chabahar Port will be helpful for India to access central and
west Asia. With Chabahar Port, India and Iran can start luxury ships for
tourism, which will take 72 hours. It’s a very inexpensive route
compared to [doing it by air]. Chabahar is connected to Tehran through
rail. There is a plan to introduce a special tourist train throughout
Iran,” Mr.Fouladgar added.
Australia set to tighten social media laws
- Australia pledged on Saturday to introduce new laws that could see
social media executives jailed and tech giants fined billions for
failing to remove extremist material from their platforms.
- The tough new legislation will be brought to Parliament next week as
Canberra pushes for social media companies to prevent their platforms
from being “weaponised” by terrorists in the wake of the Christchurch
mosque attacks.
- Mr. Morrison, who met with a number of tech firms on Tuesday said
Australia would encourage other G20 nations to hold social media firms
to account.
- Attorney-General Christian Porter said the new laws would make it a
criminal offence for platforms not to “expeditiously” take down
“abhorrent violent material” like terror attacks, murder or rape.
Executives could face up to three years in prison for failing to do so,
he added, while social media platforms would face fines of up to 10% of
their annual turnover.
::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::
Climate change might affect India’s wind power generation
- Increased warming in the Indian Ocean and the resultant weakening of
the Indian summer monsoon may come in the way of India’s goal of leading
the world's wind power generation.
- Analysing the available wind and atmospheric data from 1980-2016,
researchers from Harvard University, U.S., and National Climate Center
in Beijing, China, found the potential electricity production of
windmills across India had decreased by about 13%. And this trend might
continue.
- In the paper published last December in Science Advances, the
researchers showed a decline in electricity production in the States of
Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Karnataka. No significant decline
was seen in Tamil Nadu, which is located on the east coast and, thus,
had different wind conditions during summer.
- Summer winds in India are driven by the temperature contrast between
the Indian subcontinent and the Indian Ocean, and the warming in the
Indian Ocean reduced this contrast. Also, warming of the Equatorial
Indian Ocean resulted in a decline in the wind speed.
- The Indian government has set a target of 60 GW of cumulative wind
power capacity by 2022. The researchers say that this goal can be
beneficial only if planners in India take these historical
reconstructions into account while setting up wind power installations
in the future.
::SPORTS::
India loses to south Korea in Azlan shah cup finals
- India has lost to South Korea in the final of Sultan Azlan Shah
Hockey tournament at Ipoh in Malaysia today. South Korea lifted the
title, defeating India in a shoot out 4-2.
- Till the stipulated time both the teams had a score of 1 goal each.
Even India was leading with one goal till half time. Simaranjit Singh
hit a goal for India. Jang Jong Hyun scored the goal for South Korea.
- Hosts Malaysia defeated Canada 4-2 and secured the 3rd place. Asian
games Gold medalist Japan stood at 5th place, defeating Poland 6-1.
