Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 01 July 2018


Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 01 July 2018


::NATIONAL::

India backs FATF’s grey-listing of Pak.

  • India on Saturday welcomed the step by an international organisation that placed Pakistan on a special list of countries that are kept under watch in a move to counter international terror financing.
  • Being on the grey list will require Pakistan to meet additional guarantees while borrowing finance from international donors such as the International Monetary Fund.
  • Pakistan has given a high-level political commitment to address the global concerns regarding its implementation of the FATF standards for countering terror financing and anti-money laundering, especially in respect of UN-designated and internationally proscribed terror entities and individuals.

CBDT extends Pan-Aadharlinking deadline

  • The CBDT on Saturday extended the deadline for the PAN-Aadhaar linking to March 31 next year.
  • The fresh CBDT order has come against the backdrop of the Supreme Court earlier this year directing extension of the March 31, 2018 deadline for linking Aadhaar card with various other services.
  • The government has now made quoting of Aadhaar mandatory for filing income tax returns (ITRs) as well as obtaining a new PAN.
  • Section 139 AA (2) of the Income Tax Act says that every person having PAN as on July 1, 2017, and eligible to obtain Aadhaar, must intimate his Aadhaar number to the tax authorities.

Mumbai's Art Deco and Victorian gets UNESCO World Heritage tag

  • Mumbai’s Victoria Gothic and Art Deco ensemble was given the greenlight by ICOMOS (International Council for Monuments & Sites), an advisory body to UNESCO.
  • The buildings around the Fort, Churchgate and Marine Drive area are included in the Heritage Site tag, with notable structures such as the Bombay High Court, Elphinstone College, National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) and ChhatrapatiShivajiMaharajVastuSangrahalaya (CSMVS) being considered among the collection of Victorian, Neo-Classical and Indo-Saracenic architecture.
  • The Victorian buildings are amongst the finest and most cohesive group of 19th century Victorian Gothic in the world, and the Art Deco of the 20th century is the second largest and homogenous collections in the world.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

U.S immigration policy brigs in further changes

  • The White House intends to detain migrant families together but might hold children longer than previously allowed, according to new court documents filed by the U.S. Justice Department.
  • In Los Angeles, a decades-old federal court settlement known as the Flores Agreement mandates that immigration officials release detained minors if they are held for more than 20 days.
  • In a separate case, a U.S. district judge in San Diego on Tuesday ordered that divided families be reunited within 30 days — and two weeks in cases involving children under five.

Maldives opposition brings in new strategy for presidential elections

  • Following ex-President Mohamed Nasheed’s decision on Friday to pull out of the presidential race, the joint opposition, in a late-night meeting, decided to field a common candidate to challenge incumbent President Abdulla Yameen in the September 23 election.
  • The candidate will be from Mr.Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), with a running mate from the Jumhooree Party, political sources said. They will be backed by the rest of the opposition parties — Adalath Party and a faction of the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) led by former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
  • Though the four opposition parties draw upon different political ideologies, a shared objective of toppling the Yameen administration unites them in the joint coalition.

Afghan forces to go for offensive operations

  • Afghan security forces resumed offensive operations on Saturday after President Ashraf Ghani declared an end to the government’s unilateral ceasefire with the Taliban.
  • The three days of no fighting were unprecedented in the nearly 17-year conflict and triggered jubilant scenes across the war-weary country.
  • The Taliban vowed on Tuesday to continue their bloody fight against the government and their foreign backers, brushing aside rising civilian casualties and this prompted the government to resume operations.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

PSLV gets its first Australian order for launch

  • The Indian PSLV launcher has broken into a rising Australian space market and bagged its first small but promising order from Fleet Space Technologies, for their first 10-kg nanosatellite Centauri I would fly to space on a PSLV later this year.
  • The prospect for the PSLV is in the fact that Adelaide-based Fleet plans to put up a constellation of an unstated number of tiny satellites — all of which will need a suitable, timely launch vehicle to take them to space.
  • The PSLV's three versions can lift satellites of 1,000-1,750 kg to distances of around 600 km in pole-to-pole orbits.

::ECONOMY::

India to auction 40 GW renewables till 2028

  • India will auction 40 GW of renewable energy projects comprising 30 GW solar and 10 GW wind every year for the next 10 years till 2028, indicating huge potential for domestic manufacturers and developers, a senior official said on Saturday.
  • The government’s power projection indicates that India will have to bid out 140 GW of wind energy to meet demand by 2030.

::SPORTS::

India qualifies for hockey champions trophy final