Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 5 August 2018

::NATIONAL::

Union Minister for Minority Affairs has said that the Central Government is very serious to provide quality education to the boys and girls belonging to Minority Communities.
The National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation (NMDFC) working under the aegis of the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Govt. of India has extended its helping hand for the Delhi United Christian Senior Secondary School by refurbishing their Computer Centre and also providing water coolers with in-built RO system for ensuring safe drinking water, on 4th August, 2018.
He assured the students of the school that the Government is committed to “SabkaSaathSabkaVikas” philosophy. Therefore they should avail the benefits of a variety of educational support schemes being run by the Ministry of Minority Affairs & other Govt. schemes.
CMD, NMDFC on this occasion informed that endeavour of NMDFC under its CSR programme is to extend a helping hand to children of disadvantaged groups to acquire knowledge of Computers, to fulfil the vision of the Government of Digital India. He also appreciated the management of the school in extending education to disadvantaged category students.

Jammu and Kashmir’s major regional parties — the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the National Conference (NC) — hit the streets on Saturday protesting moves to scrap Article 35A, which defines State subject laws.
PDP district president Mohammad KhurshidAlam led the protest in Srinagar. “PDP president Mehboba Mufti’s firm stand as Chief Minister on this Article is well known and in consonance with honour and dignity of the people,” said Mr.Alam.
Leading another protest, senior NC leader Ali Muhammad Sagar said, “An assault on Article 35A was a direct assault on the State’s special status and won’t be tolerated at any cost. All political, social and religious organisations of the State are united in their resolve to fight against these ploys and J&K National Conference will fight this battle from the front lines.”
Protests were also staged by the Jammu Kashmir Democratic Youth Federation, the Tourism Trade Fraternity, Rahul Gandhi’s Fans Association and the All Tribal Coordination Committee.

Emphasising that corporate governance standards being followed by public sector banks are much better than ever before, Finance Minister PiyushGoyal said the government has stopped the “phone-call thing” coming in from Delhi to the banks.
Against the backdrop of high amounts of stressed assets in the banking system, the ruling BJP had alleged that earlier, banks used to get calls from the higher ups in the national capital to provide loans to various entities.
Mr.Goyal told the LokSabha that the corporate governance standards being followed by public sector banks now are much better than ever before.
“Not a single phone call will go to give a loan, to address a loan, to restructure a loan or to settle a loan,” the Finance Minister said.

Foreign exchange reserves declined by $951 million to $404.2 billion in the week to July 27, on account of a fall in the foreign currency assets, the RBI said.
In the previous week, the reserves rose by a marginal $67.7 million to $405.1 billion. The forex kitty is an indicator of the health of the economy as it is the direct cover for imports.
The longer the import cover, the better the external health of the economy. At $404 billion, the nation can take care of around ten months of imports.
Forex reserves had touched a record high of $426.028 billion in the week to April 13, 2018. The reserves had crossed the $400-billion mark for the first time in the week to September 8, 2017, but have since been fluctuating.
In the week under review, foreign currency assets, a major component of the overall reserves, dipped by $1.012 billion to $379.037 billion, as per the latest RBI data.

Venezuela’s controversial Constituent Assembly (CA) marked its first anniversary on Saturday as the embodiment of President Nicolas Maduro’s entrenchment in power despite an economic crisis that has crippled the country’s public services and destroyed its currency.
Opposition politicians accused Mr.Maduro of staging a “coup” as the assembly, dominated by the President’s Chavista allies, supplanted the Opposition-controlled Parliament, leaving it impotent.
In early 2016, the Supreme Court prevented four Opposition lawmakers from taking their National Assembly seats, subsequently eliminating the super-majority.
Originally created to rewrite the Constitution and expected to function for two years, the Constituent Assembly’s president and close Maduro ally Diosdado Cabello announced earlier this week it could extend its term for up to four years.
The International Monetary Fund projected last week that inflation would hit a staggering one million percent this year.

Iranian protesters have attacked a religious school in Karaj province near Tehran, the conservative Fars news agency reported on Saturday, as sporadic protests simmered ahead of the reimposition of U.S. sanctions.
Iranian authorities have barely mentioned days of protests in the major cities of Isfahan, Shiraz, Mashhad and Tehran, driven by concerns over the economy as well as wider anger at the political system.
The government of President Hassan Rouhani also faces opposition from conservatives and religious leaders, who have long opposed his outreach to the West and are keen to leverage anger over corruption to unseat him.
But all Iranians are concerned about the struggling economy, especially since the U.S. walked out of the nuclear deal in May and announced it would reimpose full sanctions in two stages.
So far, social media reports suggest the current protests are far from the scale of the unrest seen in December and January, when at least 25 people were killed in demonstrations.

A Bill to establish a National Sports University in Manipur to promote sports education was passed by the LokSabha on Friday, as several members sought the inclusion of sports as part of a comprehensive education curriculum.
During the debate on the Bill, which was introduced on Wednesday, N.K. Premchandran (RSP) asked what was the need for bringing an Ordinance. He said a university has to be autonomous in character but the provisions of the Bill defy this.
Replying to the debate, Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said the university would be set up in Manipur at a cost of ₹524 crore to promote sports coaching and research.
The Bill seeks to set up a specialised university in Manipur, which would be the first of its kind, to promote sports education in the areas of sports sciences, sports technology, sports management and sports coaching.
Replying to concerns raised by members during the debate, Mr.Rathore said all medal winners in the country were funded from the National Sports Development Fund in which all citizens can contribute money.
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