Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams

28 April 2016

:: NATIONAL ::

Delhi govt. moves SC to define its powers

• The Delhi government has moved the Supreme Court seeking a judicial declaration on the boundaries of the constitutional relationship between it and the Centre in administering the National Capital.

• In a suit filed in the apex court, the Arvind Kejriwal government said the Centre was encroaching into the Delhi government’s administrative domain and the Supreme Court should now clearly define the powers of the Lieutenant-Governor.

• It has also highlighted issues like the Delhi Police being run by the Centre, unlike in other States.

• Delhi’s Anti-Corruption Branch has been restrained from registering FIRs against the employees of the Central government for corruption.

• Commissions of Enquiry set up under the Commissions of Enquiry Act, 1952, have also not been allowed to function on the ground that they have not been notified by the L-G, it said.

• It was only recently that the Supreme Court had allowed the Kejriwal government to withdraw a similar petition on the ground that the High Court was already seized of an identical issue.

• However, this time, the Delhi government has argued that it is the apex court which has the exclusive jurisdiction to decide disputes relating to the constitutional relationship between the NCT of Delhi and the Union of India.

In line with U.S. And U.K. Govt to make sex offenders registry

• The NDA government is planning to set up a sex offenders registry in the country, on the lines of those maintained in western countries including the U.S. and the U.K.

• Details of sexual offenders even below 18 years of age would be included in the database, which will be put up on the website of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), government informed the Rajya Sabha.

• The government plans to publicise their photographs, addresses, PAN card details, Aadhaar card number, fingerprints and DNA samples through this registry.

• The proposal to set up a registry was first mooted by the UPA government after the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape case in Delhi.

• It would be a handy tool for the law enforcement agencies as well.

• It will instil fear in the minds of repeat sexual offenders and the public would be benefited from it.

• This will be an online database of charge-sheeted sexual offenders in the entire country, which people can access through a Citizen Portal in the upcoming Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) project.

• The United States has a similar website called the National Sex Offender Public Website.

• Replying to the supplementaries, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said “the Central government has issued these draft guidelines to check sexual harassment. They are still at a very primary stage.

• The draft guidelines, which have been readied have been sent to Ministries, including the Women and Child Development for suggestions. After this, public comments will be solicited.”

• This will include, inter-alia name and aliases, registration of primary or given name, nicknames, pseudonyms, telephone numbers, addresses including temporary lodging information, travel and immigration documents.

Detailed survey of Patel community to be taken by Gujrat Govt

• The OBC Commission in Gujarat is set to undertake a detailed survey of the Patel community to determine whether the community is eligible to be recognised as “backward” community and whether the quota benefits can be extended to it.

• The Commission headed by a former High Court judge Sugnyaben Bhatt is understood to have compiled a questionnaire to survey ore than a million households of the Patel community.

• Community has been on a highly charged and violent agitation demanding quotas in the universities and the government jobs in the State.

• The commission launched the exercise following a Ms. Bhatt's meeting with Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, who has been at the receiving end of the agitation from her own community.

:: International ::

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump close to getting nominations

• Donald Trump gets overwhelming victories that exceeded expectations in Republican primaries in five states in the northeast.

• Mr. Trump now has 953 delegates, and needs nearly 250 of the 502 up for grabs before the Republican convention in July to win nomination.

• On the Democratic side, frontrunner Hillary Clinton won four of the five, roughly on expected lines, and ceding only Rhode Island to challenger Bernie Sanders.

• Ms. Clinton held out an olive branch to Mr. Sanders, and even complemented him and his supporters for challenging her on issues such as unaccounted money in politics.

• White smoke from the Democratic tent may be a while away, but it is in the Republican camp that bloodbath could be expected.

• The wounded warriors of the ‘neverTrump’ hashtag have not given up yet, and declared that their campaign to deny him the nomination would continue.

• Several cash-rich campaign groups have announced that they would intensify their anti-Trump campaign ahead of the Indiana primaries, which has now become the last barrier that stands between Mr. Trump and the nomination.

• Mr. Cruz has reached a pact with John Kasich, the distant third candidate in the race, who has agreed to stay away from campaigning in Indiana in order to allow Mr. Cruz a head to head contest with Mr. Trump.

• Winning the nomination is no longer in question for Ms. Clinton, but winning over Mr. Sanders and his supporters is.

SalahAbdeslam, a key suspect in the Paris attacks appears before French judges

• SalahAbdeslam, a key suspect in the Paris attacks last November, has appeared before French judges on charges of murder and being part of a terrorist organisation.

• His lawyer Frank Berton said today that he would rather not answer questions because he is tired by the transfer, and the judge said he did not want to interrogate him.

• Abdeslam is suspected of being the logistics mastermind behind the shootings and suicide bombings in November.

• He is alleged to have rented and paid for several apartments used by the attackers. He left three suspects at the Stade de France, where they blew themselves up.

• After the Paris attacks, Abdeslam is said to have called two friends who drove from Brussels to Paris to pick him up and take him back to Belgium, where he went into hiding.

• After a four-month manhunt by police, Abdeslam was shot in the leg and arrested during a raid in the Molenbeek area of Brussels.

:: Science and Technology ::

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has spotted a small, dark dwarf planet

• NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has spotted a small, dark moon orbiting the second brightest icy dwarf planet after Pluto in the Kuiper Belt.

• Nicknamed “ MK 2 ”, the 100-mile wide moon was seen approximately 13,000 miles from the dwarf planet called “ Makemake ” which is 870-mile wide.

• The dwarf planet, discovered in 2005, is named after a creation deity of the RapaNui people of Easter Island.

• The Kuiper Belt is a vast reservoir of leftover frozen material from the construction of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago

• The team used the same Hubble technique to observe the moon as they did for finding the small satellites of Pluto in 2005, 2011 and 2012.

• A moon’s discovery can provide valuable information on the dwarf-planet system.

• By measuring the moon’s orbit, astronomers can calculate a mass for the system and gain insight into its evolution. The discovery was announced in the journal Minor Planet Electronic Circular.

:: Business and Economy ::

Special 301 report puts India on the priority watch again

• The US Trade Representative’s annual Special 301 report, that identifies trade barriers to U.S. companies and products due to a foreign government’s intellectual property regime, has placed India on the Priority Watch List, the same as last year.

• The report identified many measures taken by the government as encouraging in terms of providing a better IP protection regime.

• Report also raised multiple concerns, particularly related to the potential erosion in IP standards due to its push for promoting domestic manufacturing.]

• “From movies and music to green technology and pharmaceuticals, U.S. creators and innovators have a significant competitive advantage in the area of intellectual property,” said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman.

• The government of India does not engage with the process as it considers it an infringement on the country’s sovereignty.

• “India has taken positive steps to address or avoid further erosions of the IPR regime. India’s courts retain their reputation for providing fair and deliberate treatment of both foreign and domestic litigants,” according to the report.

• The report said India’s domestic policy goals of increasing investment and stimulating innovation must be “through, not at the expense of, IPR protection and enforcement.”

• Welcoming the efforts undertaken by the government to promote IPR within India, the report said initiatives such as “Make in India” and “Start-up India” have linked the realization of development goals to IPR creation and protection.

• The report pegged losses from piracy of music and movies in India at approximately $4 billion per year and the commercial value of unlicensed software at $3 billion

• The USTR report said the U.S continues to monitor India’s application of its compulsory licensing law.

Labour and Finance Ministry tussle over EPF rate

• Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya justified his decision to declare an 8.8 per cent return on EPF savings saying it cannot be compared with PPF or other small savings schemes.

• Mr. Dattatreya met Mr. P.K. Mishra to discuss issues related to the ministry, including the finance ministry’s latest decision to lower the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) rate for 2015-16 to 8.70 per cent.

• The EPF rate is a function of the return on its investments.

• “The EPFO is sticking to its stand of 8.8 per cent interest rate. But nothing is final till a notification is issued. Internal discussions are going on and a decision will be taken at the highest level,” said a senior EPFO official.

• RSS-affiliated BharatiyaMazdoor Sangh (BMS) delegates also met the labour minister.

• Last week, the finance ministry approved a lower EPF rate of 8.70 per cent from 8.80 per cent announced by the Labour Ministry.

• It had argued that a lower interest rate would allow EPFO to keep surplus of over Rs. 1,000 crore. However, an interest rate of 8.80 per cent would lower the reserves to Rs. 673 crore, it had said.

• The ministry also said that an adequate surplus is needed following its latest decision to credit interest on inoperative accounts, which have not received deposits for three consecutive years, from the current financial year.

• However, the EPFO had categorically contested the finance ministry’s justifications.

• The move to cut interest rates on EPF deposits evoked strong reactions from central trade unions.

• Recently, the government’s moves to tweak EPF norms triggered protests from the working class, leading to a rollback of the decision.

• First, the government’s Budget proposal to tax EPF withdrawals was scrapped followed by a complete rollback on another decision to bar workers from withdrawing employer’s contribution to EPF.

• In both the cases, the PMO had to intervene.

International Tobacco Growers Association urged Govt to promote balanced regulations

• The International Tobacco Growers Association (ITGA) has urged the government to promote balanced regulations to protect the interest and livelihood of small farmers and rural workers.

• “We believe that the regulation of tobacco products must take into account the impact on tobacco production and the livelihoods of farmers and labourers,” according to a statement issued by ITGA President Francois van derMerwe.

• The Forum, a congregation of growers’ organisations from India, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, adopted a declaration on protection of livelihood and transparency in regulations.

• It suggested that India, as the host country for the forthcoming Conference of Parties of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) to be held in November 2016, could use the opportunity to leave its footprint on global policy by promoting balanced regulations.

• Fresh regulations by the government on pictorial warnings covering 80 per cent of the cigarette packets led to an industry-wide closure.

• As much as 80 per cent pictorial warnings on cigarette packets had led to an industry-wide closure of manufacturing units earlier this month.

• According to the ITGA declaration, growers felt that quite often NGOs and other anti-tobacco activists adopted a stance based on “misleading” data to influence government organisations.

• It appealed to the government to conduct its own independent studies.According to ITGA, tobacco was an important crop in many Asian countries and India was the world’s second largest tobacco producer.

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