Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 16 JANUARY 2020

::NATIONAL::

With changing rainfall pattern, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) will change the reference dates for onset and withdrawal of southwest monsoon from this year, the Ministry of Earth Sciences said on Wednesday.
June 1 is the onset date for monsoon over Kerala and it is likely to remain the same but the IMD will change the reference dates for some states and cities, Rajeevan said, adding the dates for withdrawal of monsoon will also be changed.
The new dates are expected to be announced in April when the IMD releases its First Long Range Forecast for Monsoon 2020, IMD Director General M Mohapatra said.
Rajeevan added the IMD is working with the UK's Met department to come up with impact-based forecast that will suggest measures to be taken during extreme weather events.

Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Zubin Irani has said that all the rights and privileges of a child are safeguarded during the process of adoption and transfer of responsibilities to adoptive parents are done in a completely legal manner.
She was speaking at the National Consultation on Adoption organized by Central Adoption Resource Authority, CARA, a statutory body of Ministry of Women and Child Development.
Officials and stakeholders from all States and Union Territories participated in the consultations. Major issues deliberated upon were simplification of the adoption process, bringing more children in need of care and protection into the adoption pool and rehabilitation of older and children with special needs among others.

India is planning a new law to safeguard foreign investment by speeding up dispute resolution, aiming to attract more capital from overseas to boost stuttering domestic growth, two officials with direct knowledge of the matter told.
The draft proposal is aimed at diffusing investor mistrust around the sanctity of agreements, which has worsened recently after some state governments decided to review approved projects, or threatened to cancel contracts.
While investors can still rely on the existing legal system to settle disputes, it often takes several years for cases to be decided or settled.
Investors previously had an option to take India to international arbitration courts under bilateral investment treaties (BITs) the government had agreed with dozens of nations. But, after suffering setbacks in overseas arbitration matters, India has allowed most of its treaties to lapse, giving investors little to fall back on in case of major disputes.
India is entangled in more than 20 such overseas arbitration cases - the most against any country - brought by companies including Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom and Nissan Motor Co for disputes over retrospective tax claims and breach of contracts.

India-China bilateral trade has continued to make steady growth in 2019. As per Chinese official data released to media yesterday, China-India bilateral trade stood at 639.52 billion yuans in 2019 which is 1.6 per cent increase year on year.
However, in US dollar terms, it has dipped by 3 billion US dollars as compared to 2018 as overall global trade was moderated in 2019. Bilateral trade is projected to be about 92.68 billion dollars in 2019 while it was 95.7 billion US dollars in 2018, a record high till now.
Trade deficit has become a major concern in India-China bilateral relations. It is India’s biggest single trade deficit running with any country. India’s trade deficit is two-pronged, the sheer size of the deficit and its continuous widening year after year to reach 58.04 billion US dollars in 2018.
During second informal summit in Chennai last year, the two leaders have agreed to set up new mechanism led by Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman and Chinese Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua to discuss trade, investment and services, first meeting of which is expected to take place this year.
India has been pitching for more market access to Indian IT companies, pharmaceuticals and agriculture products, including major commodities like sugar, rice, milk and milk products. India, being a large producer of these commodities can emerge as a most stable and cost effective source for China.

PM NarendraModi on Wednesday suggested that 2020 should be the ‘year of implementation of those decisions’ arrived between India & Russia in 2019.
This was decided when Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met Modi here on Wednesday. The Prime Minister noted that several important decisions and outcomes were reached between the two countries in 2019.
He suggested that the year 2020, which is also the 20th anniversary year of the establishment of strategic partnership between India the Russian Federation, should be the ‘year of implementation of those decisions’.
The Prime Minister referred to the wide-ranging conversation he had with President Putin over telephone on 13 January 2020, and noted the progress in the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries in the previous year.
Lavrov conveyed that President Putin looked forward to the visit of the Prime Minister to Russia in May 2020 to participate in the 75th Anniversary Celebration of the Victory Day, and in July 2020 for the BRICS and SCO Summits.
The Prime Minister welcomed multiple occasions this year to meet President Putin, and said that he also looked forward to hosting President Putin in India for the Annual Bilateral Summit later this year.

The International Meteorological Organisation released its “State of Climate Report” for the year 2019. According to the report, the climate change has claimed 1,659 lives in India in the year 2019. 2019 is the seventh warmest year since 1901.
The temperatures were not high as compared to 2016 (the warmest year so far) mainly due to weak El Nino in the Pacific.
The extreme weather events that occurred in the country in the year 2019 were all linked to climate change. It includes cyclones, floods, heat waves,cold waves, landslides, etc. Of all the states, Bihar reported highest deaths (650) due to extreme weather events.
Of these 300 died in floods and 350 died due to heat waves. Following Bihar, other states such as Maharashtra, UP, Kerala, Rajasthan and Karnataka showed high numbers of deaths due to extreme weather events.
There were 8 cyclonic storms that were formed in the Indian seas. Of these, around 5 were formed in Arabian sea. This was unusual as compared to the usual one per year.
The report also stated that heavy rains claimed 850 lives. Heat waves that was stronger in North Eastern and western parts claimed 350 lives.

India skipper and batting mainstay ViratKohli named captain of the International Cricket Council's ODI and Test teams of the year.
Apart from Kohli, there were four other Indians who were picked in the ICC's Test and ODI teams of the year.
While the Test team featured double-centurion MayankAgarwal, opener Rohit Sharma, speedster Mohammed Shami and left-arm spinner KuldeepYadav found a place in the ODI side.