Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 07 July 2018

::NATIONAL::

The term ‘Chief Justice of India’ denotes an individual judge and not a collective of the first three or five senior-most judges of the Supreme Court called the ‘Collegium,’ the Supreme Court declared.
It is the exclusive authority of this individual judge to allocate cases to fellow judges in his role as the master of the roster, a Bench of Justices A.K. Sikri and Ashok Bhushan clarified in their separate but concurring opinions.
The ruling is based on a petition by former Law Minister Shanti Bhushan to have the Collegium collectively allocate cases.

The Ministry of Home Affairs is now working on extending the e-visa scheme to more countries in a planned manner in consultations with all stakeholders.
The extension of e-visa scheme is aimed at encouraging tourism, business travel and health tourism in the country.
Along with this the twin process of immigration and visa for Indian citizens and foreigners will be strengthened and streamlined on a mission mode, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said.
The Minister emphasised the significance of the security aspect while facilitating easier immigration. At the same time, there is need to track the movement of foreigners present in the country.

The ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China may force the latter to reconsider the ban imposed on import of oil meal from India, industry body SEA said on Friday.
“The trade dispute has created a lot of uncertainty and forcing China to look out to other origins for their requirements of soybean and oil meals.

The adequacy of foreign exchange reserves, measured by import cover, declined to 10.8 months in December 2017, from 11.3 months at the end of March 2017, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a biannual report on exchange management.
Total foreign exchange reserves were at $409 billion in December 2017 as compared with $370 billion as on March 2017. The reserves for the week ended June 29 stood at $406.1 billion, according to latest data released by the RBI.
Import cover is an indicator for the currency’s stability. Typically, 10 months of import cover is seen as stable for the currency. The ratio of short-term debt to foreign exchange reserves, which was 23.8% at end-March 2017, remained at the same level at end-December 2017.

The Supreme Court on Friday referred to a larger bench the question of whether religious activities can be allowed on government land or property in a secular State.
While hearing the petition, the Bench said the issue was related to an important question whether such religious functions can be allowed on public properties in view of the fact that India is a secular nation.
While hearing the petition, the Bench said the issue was related to an important question whether such religious functions can be allowed on public properties in view of the fact that India is a secular nation.

The U.S. and China on Friday launched tit-for-tat tariffs on each other’s imports, the opening shots in what Beijing called “the largest trade war in economic history.”
The U.S. pulled the trigger on 25% duties on $34 billion in Chinese machinery, electronics and hi-tech equipment, including autos, computer hard drives and LEDs.
Economists have warned that the escalating trade frictions could throttle global growth. The tariffs could just be the opening skirmishes in the trade war, as U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to hit $450 billion in Chinese goods, the vast majority of import.

An anti-corruption court in Islamabad on Friday sentenced former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to 10 years in prison. His daughter Maryam Nawaz was sentenced to seven years and son-in-law Captain Safdar (retd.) to one year in jail.
Accountability court judge Mohammed Bashir rejected an application from the Sharifs to postpone the announcement of the verdict as the former Prime Minister is currently in London, where his wife Kulsoom Nawaz is undergoing treatment for cancer. Mr. Sharif has vowed to return to the country once his wife’s health improves.
He was ousted from his third term as Prime Minister by the Supreme Court last year following the Panama Papers revelations that he had stashed assets abroad through offshore companies. The court banned him from politics for life.

Rakesh Kumar, Shyam Sunder Swami and Tarif have won the compound men’s team gold medal for the country in the World ranking para archery championship in the Czech Republic. India beat Romania 224-208 in the final to take the title.
The Indian archery team selection for the Para Asian Games in Jakarta will be held at Rohtak on July 18 and 19.