Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 20 September 2017

::National::

President Ram Nath Kovind clears appointments for Allahabad, Calcutta courts

• In a move towards reducing the large number of vacancies in the higher judiciary, President Ram Nath Kovindcleared the appointment of 25 judges in two High Courts.

• Issuing separate notifications, the Law Ministry notified the appointment of 19 additional judges in the Allahabad High Court and six in the Calcutta High Court.

• Additional judges usually have a term of two years and are elevated to the rank of a permanent judge based on their performance.

• The Allahabad High Court, the largest in terms of Bench strength, has an approved strength of 160 judges. But until Tuesday’s appointment, it was functioning with 91 judges.

• The Calcutta High Court, India’s oldest, too has a shortage as the court, until now, has been functioning with 31 judges against an approved strength of 72.

• These are the first set of fresh appointments to the High Court after Justice Dipak Misra took over as Chief justice of India last month.

• Apart from the fresh appointments on Tuesday, the Supreme Court collegium also has to decide on 60 recommendations from 13 High Courts across the country.

• These include 36 recommendations for appointment as judges and 25 candidates to be elevated from additional judges to permanent judges.

• The collegium also has to take a call on appointing full-time Chief Justices for the High Courts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Calcutta, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Manipur. They are currently headed by Acting Chief Justices.

T.N. insists that the Supreme Court appoint an authority for Cauvery water sharing

• The Tamil Nadu government insisted that the Supreme Court itself should finally appoint an authority and frame a scheme for sharing and management of Cauvery river waters among Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry, and not leave the responsibility to the Centre.

• Arguing before a Special Bench of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, Justices Amitava Roy and A.M. Khanwilkar, Tamil Nadu, represented by senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, said it has for the past 25 years had a frictional relationship with Karnataka over Cauvery, and had often to make the journey to the Supreme Court for release of water.

• The day-long hearing saw the court chide the Centre for not implementing the final award of the Cauvery Tribunal in 2007.

• The court questioned the reluctance shown by the Centre to set up of the Cauvery Management Board and frame a scheme for implementation of the tribunal award despite it having been notified in 2013.

• Mr. Kumar said the Centre did set up the Cauvery River Water Authority and Supervisory Committee following the Supreme Court's direction. It had, in fact, been waiting for some clarifications on the tribunal award. Mr.

• Kumar submitted that the Centre had decided to wait till the Supreme Court took a final call on the tribunal award.

• But Chief Justice Misra responded that the Centre should not have let a vacuum prevail after the tribunal's award.

• Senior advocate FaliNariman, for Karnataka, submitted that the Board or Authority should be headed by a former Supreme Court judge. While Mr. Kumar submitted that the tribunal award was not clear about water release during times of distress, Mr. Nariman differed to say there was no clarity in the award in times of surplus.

• Mr. Naphade objected to any fiddling with the monthly release of water as this would impact the State’s essential seasonal crops. Karnataka interjected to submit that there should not be any restriction on how it uses its share.

Security beefed up to check entry of Rohingyas

• Security has been beefed up and patrolling by the Assam Rifles intensified along the Mizoram-Arakan (Myanmar) border in Lawngtlai district, in view of the possibility of Rohingya Muslim militants and refugees attempting to enter the State.

• A Home Department official said meetings were held by the Mizoram police, paramilitary forces and intelligence agencies of both the Central and the State governments to review the security situation along the Myanmar border

U.S. prepares to push India to join the “Hague Convention”

• Activists argue the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction is unfair to mothers fleeing abusive relationships

• Even as the U.S. prepares to push India to join the “Hague Convention” that deals with international child custody cases, during consular talks next week, the government held a series of hearings from activists demanding that it does not give in to what they called “First World pressure” on the issue.

• While the government announced in November 2016 that it would not sign the convention, officials have conceded that there has been a rethink, and an “inter-ministerial process” is under way to discuss the repercussions of the convention.

• Ahead of the India-U.S. Consular dialogue between officials from the Ministries of External Affairs, Women and Child Development and Home and their counterparts in Washington on September 27, a special committee heard from lawyers, women survivors and child rights activists over the weekend whether or not they should consider the Bill that would align Indian law with the international convention.

• The Hague Convention is circumventing the Indian system, and India can’t abdicate its responsibility to Indian parents, mostly mothers, and their young children.

• Passed in 1980, the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, which came into force in 1983, rules that in any child custody case, the court of the country where the child is a “habitual resident” will adjudicate who will get custody.

• There are at least 94 such cases pending with us today, while many more simply lapse once the child turns 16,” an official told presspersons in Delhi, adding that they “will make a presentation to Indian officials about why accession to the convention is a good thing”

• A total of ninety four countries, mostly developed nations in the Americas, Europe and Australia, are signatories to the Hague Convention so far.

• In rejecting the convention last year, Minister of Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi said the worst affected in the cases covered by the convention are women, who form 68% of the parents that take or “abduct” their children to their home countries, and must be protected.

• It is unfair that the mother, who is recognised in India as the primary caregiver, and is often fleeing an abusive marriage, is branded an abductor by the Hague Convention

• However U.S. officials said there are several provisions to protect women in the U.S., should India choose to accede to the Hague Abduction Convention, as it is called, and women had no reason to “run away to India with their children”.

• They added that the “ball is now in India’s court” to join the convention

::INTERNATIONAL::

Trump threatens to ‘destroy’ North Korea

• U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to “totally destroy” North Korea unless Pyongyang backs down from its nuclear challenge, mocking North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as a “rocket man” on a suicide mission.

• It was Mr. Trump’s most direct threat to attack North Korea for belligerent acts that have included launching ballistic missiles over Japan and conducting underground nuclear tests.

• His comments rattled the world leaders gathered before him in the green-marbled U.N. General Assembly hall, where minutes earlier U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had appealed for statesmanship.

• The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.

‘verified’ Rohingya refugees will be resettled

• In national address, she offers no solution to halt ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Rakhine

• Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi pledged to hold rights violators to account over the Rohingya crisis but refused to blame the country’s army, as the UN Secretary-General demanded an end to the military campaign and a better deal for the Muslim minority.

• In an address timed to pre-empt censure at the UN General Assembly in New York — delivered entirely in English and aimed squarely at an international audience — Ms. Suu Kyi called for patience and understanding of the crisis which has driven some 4,21,000 Rohingya out of Myanmar.

• Ms. Suu Kyi vowed to resettle some refugees but offered no solutions to halt what the UN calls army-led “ethnic cleansing” in Rakhine state, where soldiers are accused of burning Rohingya out of their homes.

• At the General Assembly, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres joined the international outcry.

• The authorities in Myanmar must end the military operations and allow unhindered humanitarian access Mr. Guterres told the UNGA’s opening. They must also address the grievances of the Rohingya, whose status has been left unresolved for far too long.

• Ms. Suu Kyi reached out to critics and said Myanmar stood ready to take back refugees in accordance with a “verification” process agreed with Bangladesh in the early 1990s. “Those who have been verified as refugees from this country will be accepted without any problems,” she added.

• Without blaming any single group, Ms. Suu Kyi promised to punish anyone found guilty of abuses “regardless of their religion, race or political position.”

Ivanka- Sushma talks

• U.S. President Donald Trump’s daughter and advisor Ivanka Trump met External Affairs Minister SushmaSwaraj. They discussed women’s entrepreneurship and workforce development in their countries.

• Ms. Trump, who would be leading the U.S. delegation to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in India in November, met Ms. Swaraj on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly session.

• They had a great discussion on women’s entrepreneurship, the upcoming #GES2017 and workforce development in the U.S. and India.

• India and the U.S. will co-host the GES in Hyderabad from November 28 to 30.

Sushma- Hasina talks

• External Affairs Minister SushmaSwarajpaid a courtesy call on Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina but the ongoing Rohingya crisis did not come up for discussion during their brief meeting.

• The meeting with the Prime Minister of Bangladesh was more in the nature of a courtesy meeting. It was a very short meeting. The issue of Rohingya did not come up during the meeting for discussion.

• Mr. Kumar said the discussion between Ms. Swaraj and Ms. Hasina was “purely bilateral.” “Warm encounter reflecting our historical and cultural ties. Courtesy call on Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina by EAM [External Affairs Minister]

• Bangladesh, facing a big influx of Rohingyas from Myanmar, has called on the international community to intervene and put pressure on Myanmar to address the exodus.

• Earlier, Ms. Swaraj met Bhutanese Prime Minister TsheringTobgay but the Doklam issue did not figure in the meeting. The Ministry spokesperson said since the Doklam issue was already settled, there was “no question of it coming up in discussions.”

India calls for a representative UN

• Backs Donald Trump’s efforts to reform the world body, says it should keep pace with change

• India has extended support to efforts of U.S. President Donald Trump to reform the UN, saying it should include the expansion of the number of permanent and non-permanent members of the world body to keep pace with the changed times.

• During a discussion on UN reform Mr. Trump insisted that he had always seen the “great potential” of the organisation, but warned that “bureaucracy” was stopping it from realising its potential.

• Once a harsh critic of the U.N., he called for reforms — a view India had been expressing for a long time.

• “We have said the world body should be reformed to keep pace with the changed times, including the expansion of its permanent or non-permanent members,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said at a press conference here. “We have consistently maintained the same line,” Mr. Kumar said.

• Mr. Kumar was referring to the high-level meeting on UN reforms chaired by Mr. Trump. External Affairs Minister SushmaSwaraj also attended the meeting. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told presspersons that Mr. Trump supported the reform agenda of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and was pleased to join nearly 130 countries to support a big, bold reform to eliminate inefficiency.

• In his address, Mr. Guterres said, “We are reforming our peace and security architecture — to ensure we are stronger in prevention, more agile in mediation, and more effective and cost-effective in peacekeeping operations.

• “We are reforming our development system to become much more field-focused, well-coordinated and accountable to better assist countries through the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development — our contribution to a fair globalisation.”

Bangladesh police evicted Rohingya from crowded refugee camps

• Bangladesh police evicted Rohingya refugees from overcrowded roadside camps and farmland as aid groups scrambled to find emergency shelter for tens of thousands living outdoors in squalid conditions.

• Around 4,21,000 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh since August 25, the UN says, overwhelming the ill-equipped refugee camps along the border.

• Aid groups have warned of an unfolding humanitarian crisis in the camps.

• Police on Tuesday cleared squatters and dismantled shanties around Kutupalong, one of the largest camps where the roads are choked with refugees and long queues of traffic snake from aid centres.

• Using megaphones, police warned refugees squatting on roadsides they could be arrested if they refused to move.

• The government is building a massive new camp nearby to shelter 4,00,000 people, but the UN says it will take time before it is equipped with tents, toilets and medical facilities.

• The work is ongoing and some newly-arriving families have moved in.

• As the influx of refugees continues, we are seeing massive humanitarian needs in Bangladesh across the board.

::ECONOMY::

Finance Minister to chair economy review meet

• Amid worries about the state of India’s slowing economy, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley chaired a high-level meeting to take stock of the headwinds stalling growth and consider mechanisms to revive economic activity.

• Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu, Railway and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal participated in the deliberations with top finance and commerce ministry officials that went on for over two hours, but everyone remained tight-lipped about the discussion and its outcome at its conclusion.

• India’s economic growth tumbled for the fifth successive quarter to 5.7% in April-June this year, from 7.9% in the same period last yea

Tata Sons consolidates holdings

• Even as it set in motion the process of converting itself into a private limited company despite protests from the Mistrys’ Cyrus Investments, Tata Sons Ltd. has gone on to consolidate its holdings in various group companies. The move, it appears, is intended to step up its direct control over its group outfit.

• Tata Global Beverages informed the BSE that it had sold 1,04,80,000 equity shares of face value of Rs. 10 each of Tata Chemicals, or 4.11% of the issued capital of TCL, to Tata Sons in a market transaction.

• Similarly, Tata Chemicals said it had sold more than 4.31 crore equity shares of Tata Global Beverages to Tata Sons at a price of Rs. 213.35 per share. Earlier this year, the holding company bought out Tata Motors’ stake in Tata Steel and vice versa.

Tops posts in listed firms to be split PSUs

• As a SEBI panel on corporate governance mulls the benefit of splitting the posts of chairman and managing director at listed firms, public sector units may be the first where such a move could be implemented.

• While a final decision would be taken by capital market regulator SEBI with regard to listed companies, public sector banks already have separate positions for the chairman and MD as per the decision taken by the government and the RBI.

• SEBI rules require that listed companies may voluntarily separate the two posts to avoid conflicts of interest, but the regulator has so far refrained from making it mandator

Daimler announced roll out Euro-V ready medium trucks

• Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) announced the roll-out of Euro-V emission norms compliant medium duty trucks (MDT) from its Oragadam facility.

• The trucks “are priced at the same level as that of BS-IV vehicles. But the new vehicles emit 40% less nitrogen oxides (NOx) than BS-IV vehicles,” said Erich Nesselhauf, MD and CEO, Daimler India.

• These medium-duty trucks are targeted for intra-city transportation use.

• Highlighting that more than 55,000 BharatBenz trucks had been rolled out from the Oragadam facility in the last five years, Mr. Nesselhauf said the plan was to secure second place in heavy duty truck soon, before targeting the number one slot.

• The company has exported more than 10,000 trucks since 2013 and it will serve 40 markets by the end 2017. Recently, it entered the Indonesian market, according to Mr. Nesselhauf.

Exporters are troubled by the ‘inordinate delay’ in getting Goods and Services Tax (GST) refunds

• Exporters are troubled by the ‘inordinate delay’ in getting Goods and Services Tax (GST) refunds. representative assocations told the Centre that since the working capital crunch (owing to the delay) is occurring in the middle of the festival season, it was causing difficulties in paying salary and Diwali bonuses to workers.

• In a meeting with Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia, who chairs the Committee on Exports to address GST-related problems, exporters sought the Centre’s immediate intervention to avert what they called a ‘mini social crisis’.

• Claiming that the delay in getting GST refunds was severely affecting their cash-flow, P.K. Shah, former chairman and currently board member, EEPC India, the apex body for engineering exporters, said in a statement,

• “All this is happening when we are in the middle of the festival season, and the workers employed in the trading and manufacturing units have to be paid their dues including Diwali bonuses.”

• EEPC India said the authorities ought to release at least 90% refunds immediately after the shipments and let verification and adjustment be done at a later stage.

• This will help small and medium exporters to tide over their blockage of funds, and allow them to pay salaries and bonuses of workers in the festival season. Our members have pointed out that they are in a desperate situation and hence the government must intervene to avoid a mini social crisis.

• The demands of the apex body for the country’s exporters, the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) include seeking an outright exemption from the GST regime.

• The FIEO also mooted that Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS), Service Exports from India Scheme (SEIS) and Duty Credit Scrips be permitted for payment of Integrated GST and Central GST.

• Besides, utilisation of the Scrips could be considered for payment of bank interest, it said. Exporters also sought exemption from IGST on imports under Advance Authorisation and Export Promotion Capital Goods schemes.

OALP, HELP will increase investment in coal-rich India’

• India has the third-largest reserves of coal in the world. Therefore, the expectation is that there is also a high potential for coal bed methane (CBM), said Prashant Modi, CEO of Great Eastern Energy Corporation.

• The problem so far has been a lack of investor interest, which should now recover due to the new Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) introduced by the government, he said in an interview.

• They have removed the cost recovery structure, which was a big headache. Revenue sharing is much cleaner and simpler. The other major issue that they cleared partially was of pricing and marketing freedom.

• Going forward, if it is market priced, people will invest. The legacy issues are over. The older fields are anyway depleting. November 15 is the first deadline for the expressions of interest, so let’s see. By end December, they will announce who will get what.

• The DSF (discovered small fields) bids happened, but I don’t think any of them have progressed up to now,” he added. “From the information I have, many of them are already in the market for sale.

• There is a lot of coal in India — it has the third largest reserves in the world. So there is scope for CBM. And if the policy is right, then people will take the risk. There is enough CBM resource according to the government. The issue was that investment was not coming in.

Centre open to solving the problems by exporters’ GST woes

• The government has indicated that it is open to solving the problems faced by exporters due to the delay in getting refunds of Goods and Services Tax (GST), according to exporters’ apex body FIEO.

• The government is open to an alternate mechanism for the release of input credits. They may release credits on the basis of GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B and not wait for GSTR-2 and GSTR-3 to be filed.

• According to FIEO, exporters were expecting that the Integrated GST refund or refund of Input Tax Credit (ITC) would be available to them in August 2017 for the exports made during July 2017.

• However, since filing of GST Returns GSTR-1, 2 and 3 for the month of July 2017 has been extended till October 10, October 31 and November 10, 2017 respectively exporters will not be able to get the refund by November 2017, it said in a statement.

• Such blockage of working capital will severely affect exporter’s liquidity and enhance the tax burden, it added.

• If the refunds are not released by November, then working capital worth about Rs. 65,000 crore would be stuck, according to FIEO.

::ENVIRONMENT::

NASA says August was second hottest on record

• Last month was the second warmest August in 137 years of modern record-keeping, according to an analysis of global temperatures by scientists at NASA.

• The measured value is “consistent with the trend in global average surface temperatures that has been observed during the past few decades.

• Last month was 0.85 degrees Celsius warmer than the mean August temperature from 1951-1980. It was surpassed by August 2016, which was still affected by the 2015-2016 El Nino and was 0.99 degrees Celsius warmer than normal, according to the agency.

• However, August this year was about 0.2 degrees warmer than the August following the last large El Nino event in 1997-1998.

• The modern global temperature record begins around 1880 because previous observations did not cover enough of the planet. Monthly analyses are sometimes updated when additional data becomes available, and the results are subject to change.

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