Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 2 DECEMBER 2018

::NATIONAL::

Supreme court declines to review NJAC verdict

A five-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India RanjanGogoi has dismissed a review petition against an October 2015 judgment of the Constitution Bench declaring the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC), which briefly made redundant the Collegium system of judicial appointments, unconstitutional.
National Lawyers’ Campaign for Judicial Reforms and Transparency, represented by advocates Mathews Nedumpara and Rohini Amin, asked the apex court to consider reexamination of the October 16, 2015 judgment.
The Review Bench said the petition deserves to dismissed on the ground of delay of 470 days itself, but careful consideration of it shows no reason to entertain it.
The review petition argued that the 2015 verdict was unconstitutional and void inasmuch as the Constitution (99th Amendment) Act, 2014 and the National Judicial Appointment Commission Act, 2014 was not justiciable.
The petition challenging the NJAC filed under Article 32 involved no violation of anyone’s fundamental rights and the petitioner, Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association had no locus standi.
The review said the Supreme Court broke a natural principle of justice that it could not be a judge in its own cause.

Centre issues guidelines for setting up crèches in workplaces

The Centre has prepared guidelines for setting up of crèches at workplaces, which prescribe trained personnel to man the facility as well as infrastructure requirements and safety norms.
In March this year, Parliament passed the Maternity Benefit Amendment Act, 2017, enhancing paid maternity leave from a period of 12 weeks to 26 weeks. The law is applicable to all institutions with 10 or more employees. It also makes it mandatory for every organisation with 50 or more employees to have a crèche.
The guidelines made public last month recommend that a crèche be either at the workplace or within 500 metres of it. Alternatively, it could also be in the beneficiaries’ neighbourhood.
A crèche must have a minimum space of 10 to 12 square feet per child to ensure that she or he can play, rest and learn. There should be no unsafe places such as open drains, pits, garbage bins near the centre.
The government has also recommended that no outsiders such as plumbers, drivers, electricians be allowed inside the crèche when children are present.
A crèche monitoring committee with representations from among crèche workers, parents and administration should be formed. There should also be a grievance redressal committee for inquiring into instances of sexual abuse. The guidelines are not mandatory but are a yardstick for NGOs and organisations for setting up of creches.

::ECONOMY::

NCLT wants committee of creditors to work out standard operating procedures

The Chennai Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has called for procedures for regulating the affairs of the committee of creditors (CoC) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 (IBC).
NCLT directed the head offices of the members of committee of creditors in the case to work out a “standard operating procedure” for its members to follow for determining the suitability and viability of resolution plans, in consultation with the Banking Division of the Union Ministry of Finance.
Earlier, the Chennai Bench of the NCLT had allowed the promoters of Ashok Magnetics to bid for the company in a resolution process under the IBC. However, the CoC rejected the bid, on various grounds, against which the promoter moved the NCLT.
NCLT was unhappy over the stand taken by a member of the CoC. The member had stated that the resolution plan was ineligible under IBC, despite the NCLT ruling that allowed the bid. This amounted to non-compliance with the order of the authority and utter disregard for court orders and the law, it said.
The NCLT appointed resolution professional V. Nagarajan as company liquidator. It also said that all the powers of the board directors, key managerial personnel and the partners of the company shall cease to have effect and shall be vested with the liquidator.

Lack of innovation makes Indian industries less competitive in global markets : Study

Due to lack of a robust innovation ecosystem, Indian policymakers and industry need to look at collaborative standard development process for technology development to face global competition, non-profit consumer body CUTS has said in its report.
Patents that exist for present communication technologies — technically called standard essential patents (SEPs) — are prone to abuse by their owners, and lack of patent among Indian firms has pushed large number of domestic mobile manufacturers into assembling.
Studies have concluded that Indian mobile manufacturers invest little in research and development (R&D) and have almost negligible returns from patent royalties due to a general lack of patent ownership, it added.
The telecom ministry has allocated ₹500 crore to encourage 5G ecosystem development in the country.
CUTS said the government’s 5G initiative was a welcome step and the funds allocated therein should be utilised to further encourage and incentivise local firms to develop their internal capacities and compete in voluntary standard setting activities.
“Alongside this, the present market players as well as the government should think about how to collectively invest in R&D, so that Indian firms become globally competitive,” the report said.

::INTERNATIONAL::

U.S China reach ceasefire on trade war

The United States and China reached a 90-day ceasefire in a trade dispute that has rattled financial markets and threatened world economic growth. The breakthrough came after a dinner meeting Saturday between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires.
Mr. Trump agreed to hold off on plans to raise tariffs Jan. 1 on $200 billion in Chinese goods. The Chinese agreed to buy a “not yet agreed upon, but very substantial amount of agricultural, energy, industrial” and other products from the United States to reduce America’s huge trade deficit with China, the White House said.
The truce buys time for the two countries to work out their differences in a dispute over Beijing’s aggressive drive to supplant U.S. technological dominance.
The Trump-Xi meeting was the marquee event of Trump’s whirlwind two-day trip to Argentina for the G-20 summit after the president canceled a sit-down with Russian President Vladimir Putin over mounting tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
Under the agreement reached in Buenos Aires, the two countries have 90 days to resolve their differences over Beijing’s tech policies. If they can’t, the U.S. tariff increases will go into effect on the $200 billion in Chinese imports.
U.S. officials insist that the American economy is more resilient to the tumult than China’s, but they remain anxious of the economic effects of a prolonged showdown as Mr. Trump has made economic growth the benchmark by which he wants his administration judged.

U.N coordinator says no point of Rohingyas fleeing back to Myanmar

There is no “real possibility” of Rohingya refugees returning to Myanmar from Bangladesh despite serial attempts to repatriate them, said SumbulRizvi, a senior United Nations coordinator in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh.
“The UNHCR, UNDP and Myanmar are talking to create a conducive atmosphere [to send refugees back] but at this point the return is not a real possibility,” Ms.Rizvi said.
Following attacks by both the military and Rakhine ethnic groups, about nine lakh Rohingya refugees reached Bangladesh in phases. Indicating that “80% of these 9,00,000 are women and children”, Ms.Rizvi said the attacks were made with a “clear genocidal intent”.
A resolution, titled Kolkata Declaration, on the status of refugees and migrants, was also adopted in Kolkata in the presence of refugee and migrant studies experts analysing the September resolution of the UN General Assembly that set in motion a complex global negotiation process on refugees, migrants and a wide variety of stateless people.
In another interaction between the conference participants and a group of migrant workers from Bihar in west Kolkata’s port area, Khidderpore, the tough lives of such workers were highlighted.

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::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Digital sky platform launched to regulate drones

Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems (RPAS), popularly referred to as drones, are a technology platform with wide-ranging applications. In August 2018, India had announced the release of its Civil Aviation Regulations (CAR) to enable safe flying of RPAS in India.
The CAR detailed the obligations of operators, remote pilots/ users and manufacturers/ OEM for safe operations of RPAS and co-operative use of airspace. It also announced Digital Sky Platform, a first of its kind that implements 'no permission, no take-off’ (NPNT) – a novel system of software-based self-enforcement to minimize deviations from the CAR.
The regulations were to come in effect from December 1, allowing the industry time to ready themselves for the launch. Nano drones in India can start flying legally from today. For micro and above categories, operators and pilots are required to register on the Digital Sky Portal.
The platform has begun accepting registrations of users. Payments for Unmanned Aerial Operator’s Permit (UAOP) and Unique Identification Numbers (UIN) will be accepted through the Bharat Kosh (bharatkosh.gov.in) portal.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation, ShriJayantSinha said that, “Today, we have taken the first step towards our vision of seeing millions of drones fly in India. Drones are a frontier technology which has the potential to leapfrog India’s economic growth. This technology can greatly benefit our farmers, infrastructure entities like railways, roads, ports, mines and factories, sectors like insurance, photography, entertainment, etc.”

::SPORTS::

AngadVir wins Asian shooting championship

As the newly crowned Asian Champion in skeet with a world record 60 out of 60 in the final, AngadVirBajwa was under pressure to nail the elusive National championship gold in Jaipur.
The 23-year-old from Chandigarh would have been eyeing gold after winning the silver in the last two National championships.
In the event, AngadVir beat Olympian and World Cup silver medallist Mairaj Ahmad Khan in the tie-shoot to clinch the gold after the two were tied on 55 in the final.