Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 1 August 2018

::NATIONAL::

Centre withdraws from FRDI(Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance) bill

The government has decided to withdraw the FRDI Bill, and in this regard, the Finance Minister has written to the Parliamentary Committee.
While the government has not expressed an official reason why the Bill has been withdrawn, sources in the Finance Ministry say it wanted to avoid further controversy surrounding contentious provisions included in the Bill, such as the ‘bail-in’ clause.
The FRDI Bill was tabled in the LokSabha during the monsoon session last year and was then sent to the Joint Parliamentary Committee for legislative scrutiny. The bail-in clause would have allowed banks to access depositors’ money to re-finance ailing banks, if the situation required it.
The government, however, has repeatedly tried to assure depositors that their money in public sector banks was safe and that it would not allow such banks to fail.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee has also reportedly given its approval for the withdrawal of the Bill, following which the government will inform Parliament.

NITI aayog ambitious about digital payment markets in future

The digital payments market In India is expected to grow to US $ 1 trillion by 2023 led by growth in mobile payments, presenting huge business opportunities for players in the digital space. Mobile payments are slated to rise from $ 10 billion in 2017-18 to $ 190 billion by 2023.
The analysis of growth trends is based on both MeitY and RBI data. While MeitY data provides volume data in public domain, RBI provides both volume and value data in public domain. A note on Data Sources is also covered in the booklet which gives a comparative picture of the data sets captured by MeitY and RBI.
Mr.Watal,Principal Advisor, NITI aayog shared the initiative taken by NITI Aayog in collaboration with Ministry of Human Resource Development under the Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) Scheme. NITI Aayog has initiated a short-term course on Digital Payments.
In conclusion Mr.Watal remarked that the proposed changes in the regulatory framework, entry of global giants and the advancement of technology will drive the future growth of Digital Payments in the Country.

::ECONOMY::

Centre imposes safeguard duty on import of solar cells

The Centre on Monday issued a notification putting into effect a safeguard duty of 25% on import of solar cells from China and Malaysia between July 30, 2018, and July 29, 2019.
The decision by the government follows a long deliberation by the Directorate General of Trade Remedies, which recommended the safeguard duty structure after considering an application by Indian solar cell manufacturers.
While the move is aimed at helping the domestic solar cell manufacturing sector, it could affect existing projects dependent on cheap imports, said analysts.
The solar bid tariffs largely remained below Rs. 3 per unit in calendar year 2018 varying between Rs. 2.44 per unit and Rs. 2.75 per unit, with expectation of favourable price movement in PV modules following the policy changes in China.
The imposition of safeguard duty is likely to increase the bid tariffs to Rs. 2.9-3.1 per unit for the upcoming bids.

Government celebrates 1st GST Day

Government of India celebrated the 1st GST Day here today,addressing the distinguished gathering via video link,ShriArunJaitley recalled the pre-GST taxation system in India was one of the most complicated tax systems in the world.
ShriJaitley said that GST had an unequivocal support of the Prime Minister of India, hence the Union Government could work closely with the States in a coordinated and collaborative fashion to make GST a success.
Talking about the capacity to rationalise present GST slabs, ShriJaitley said that the GST Council is constantly working in that direction and the desired rationalisation will come with the setting in of the stability of GST system, increasing tax collections through curbing tax evasion and increasing the tax net.
He said that GST has really changed the way business is carried out in India and the benefits of GST far outweigh the costs of this reform. In crux, it was said that Industry grievances are being addressed in real time, hurdles and roadblocks have been removed at a fast pace.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Korean peninsula discusses ways to reduce tensions

North and South Korea discussed reducing tension but didn’t announce any detailed agreements after military talks on Tuesday, while the United States detected renewed activity at a North Korean missile factory, casting more suspicion over the North’s intentions.
The meeting, the second since June and held in the border village of Panmunjom, was designed to follow on from a summit in April.
Generals from the two Koreas exchanged views on a possible cut in firearms and personnel to “demilitarise” the heavily fortified demilitarised zone (DMZ), as well as joint excavation within the area of the remains of soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War.
They also discussed ways to turn the skirmish-prone West Sea by ceasing firing exercises and withdrawing artillery along the shore, according to South Korea’s Defence Ministry.

Facebook removes accounts which likely influenced U.S elections

Facebook said on Tuesday that it had shut down more than 30 fake pages and accounts involved in what appeared to be a “coordinated” attempt to sway public opinion on political issues ahead of November’s midterm elections.
It said the “bad actor” accounts on the world’s biggest social network and its photo-sharing site Instagram could not be tied to Russian actors.
But it did say that “some of the activity is consistent” with that of the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency (IRA) — the Russian troll farm that managed many false Facebook accounts used to influence the 2016 vote.
The New York Times reported that the company was working with the FBI on the investigation. Some of the most-followed pages that were shut down included “Resisters” and “Aztlan Warriors”.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Health Ministry signs MoU with Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology

National Health Agency (NHA) under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the apex body for the implementation of Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM), and Common Service Centres (CSC) scheme under the Digital India Programme, have signed an MoU to provide information and eligibility validation services to beneficiaries, especially in remote areas.
As the benefits under AB-NHPM are based on entitlement and not on enrolment, over 3 lakh CSCs spread across the rural India can become the key point of information for potential beneficiaries and help in validating their entitlement.
With this MoU, the dream of Digital India is taking a big leap. In Ayushman Bharat shall benefit 55 Cr people across the country. The 3 lakh CSCs in 2.5 lakh Panchayats shall be a great help in the implementation of the scheme.
AB-NHPM targets approximately 10.74 crore poor, deprived families and has identified occupational category of urban workers’ families as per the latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data, for both rural and urban India.

CLIMATE CHANGE & ANTHROPOGENIC FACTORS CAUSING PENGUIN POPULATION TO DECLINE

The planet’s largest colony of king penguins has declined by nearly 90% in three decades, researchers have warned. The last time scientists set foot on France’s remote Ile aux Cochonsroughly half way between the tip of Africa and Antarctica, the island was blanketed by two million of the flightless birds, which stand about a metre tall.
But recent satellite images show the population has collapsed, with barely 2,00,000 remaining, according to a study published in Antarctic Science . While adults will set to sea for days at a time foraging for food, the species does not migrate.
In 1997, a particularly strong El Nino weather event warmed the southern Indian Ocean, temporarily pushing the fish and squid on which king penguins depend south, beyond their foraging range.
Other factors may be contributing to the decline of the Ile aux Cochon colony, includes overcrowding.

::SPORTS::

India beats Italy to enter hockey quarterfinals

India stormed into the quarterfinals of the 14th edition of the women’s World Cup with a 3-0 win over Italy at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre on Tuesday.
India had fought its way into the knockout round after drawing the opening game 1-1 against England and also knocking out the might United States with another 1-1 stalemate.

Newzealand cricket board turns down Pakistan offer

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has turned down the offer presented by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to visit Pakistan for two T20 Internationals.
Confirming the report, NZC chairman Greg Barclay said that keeping in mind factors like government advisory and independent security consultant, a decision was taken to turn down the invitation.
We came to the decision that given the current circumstances, it just wasn’t right for us to accept the invitation to play in Pakistan,” stuff.co.nz quoted Barclay.