Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 08 December 2019

::NATIONAL::

President urges need to make justice accessible to all

President Ram NathKovind has stressed the need for making justice accessible to all. Addressing the inaugural function of the new building of Rajasthan High Court in Jodhpur today, Mr.Kovind urged judicial community to work for providing justice on time. He emphasized the need to provide legal service free of cost to needy and deprived people of the society.
Expressing concern over the expensive legal services, President said that application of technology may play an important role in dispensation of justice to common people.
Mr.Kovind said that orders of the courts should be available in local languages so that every person can understand them. He appreciated the efforts of Supreme Court for providing its orders in nine languages.
Speaking at the function, Chief Justice of India S.A Bobde said that the criminal justice system must reconsider the time it takes to dispose of a matter. He said, justice must never ever take the form of revenge because justice loses its character when it becomes revenge.
The CJI said, there is a need in the judiciary to invoke self-correcting measures but whether or not they should be publicised is a matter of debate. He said, there is a need to consider compulsory pre-litigation mediation across all districts in all courts.

PM asks scientists to develop low cost technologies for reviving growth

Prime Minister NarendraModi has urged scientists to develop low cost technologies to cater to the country's specific requirements and help in fast-tracking India's growth. Mr Modi was interacting with scientists from Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Pune yesterday.
IISER scientists made presentations to the Prime Minister on varied topics ranging from New Materials and devices for Clean Energy application to Agricultural Biotechnology to Natural Resource mapping.
The presentations also showcased cutting edge technologies in the field of Molecular Biology, Antimicrobial resistance, Climate studies and Mathematical Finance research. Prime Minister appreciated the scientists for their informative presentations.
Earlier, Mr Modi visited the IISER, Pune campus and interacted with the students and researchers. Prime Minister also visited the state of the art super computer PARAM BRAHMA, deployed by C-DAC in IISER, which has a peak computing power of 797 Teraflops.

::ECONOMY::

Govt. considering rationalisation of income tax to boost growth

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman has said that the government is working on more steps including rationalisation of income tax rates to revive the economy.
Addressing a function in New Delhi, the Minister said, the intent of the government is to further simplify taxation systems, including removal of exemption.
Ms Sitharaman said, the government has taken several measures during August and September to boost the economy. The Finance Minister assured the people that there will be no harassment of tax payers.
She said public sector banks have disbursed nearly five lakh crore rupees in the last two months to boost consumption in the hinterland. On the goods and services tax, Ms Sitharaman said, the rate structure will have to be decided by the GST council.

Centre sees agricultural crisis as one of India’s biggest problems

Agriculture crisis is one of the biggest problems the country is facing at present, and while prices of fertilisers, diesel and electricity are rising, those of food grains are falling sharply, Union minister for road transport and highways NitinGadkari said. This, he said, was the reason why farmers were committing suicide.
Gadkari said the government was focussed on diversification of agriculture into energy and power, and industry must also invest in rural and agricultural sectors to create employment and diversify wealth generation.
He said pollution of the air and water, and India’s crude oil import bill, and agricultural crisis were the country’s three major problems today.
Gadkari said industry as well as the government must think of solutions which would be import-substitute, cost effective, indigenous and pollution free.
The minister said India must indigenously develop alternative fuels to counter crude oil imports.Gadkari has been strongly advocating the use of methanol, ethanol, bio-diesel and bio-CNG to combat the pollution crisis India is faced with.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Bangladesh considers setting up virtual courts

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said that the government is considering to set up virtual courts in the country.
Speaking at the National Judicial Conference-2019 in Dhaka, she said that it will reduce the risk and hassle to bring and take back notorious criminals from jail.
Speaking about the need for timely delivery of justice, Sheikh Hasina said that nobody should be made to wait for years for justice while bearing the pain of losing their kith and kin.
Justifying the mobile courts run by executive magistrates, she said that these courts have become popular as they provide quick justice to people. It has also helped in reducing pressure on the judiciary.
Sheikh Hasina also called upon the judiciary to provide their judgement in Bangla simultaneously with the English text so that it is easily understood by the people.
Prime Minister Hasina stressed upon the importance of better coordination among parliament, judiciary and executive. She said that only the President is empowered to promulgate rules and regulations for distributing government's job and constitution does not allow raising questions on the activities of the President.

India working towards long term development interests at Madrid summit

Environment Minister PrakashJavadekar has said that India in the last four years has been leading from the front in climate action. He said, country's ambitious renewable energy programme of 450 Giga Watt has attracted entire world's attention since it is the globe's largest programme in the sector.
In his departure statement prior to leaving for Madrid, Spain today, where he is leading an Indian delegation to participate in the Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Mr Javadekar said that India is one of the few countries which has increased tree cover in and outside its forest.
He said, India is participating in COP25 with a constructive and positive outlook and will work towards protecting its long-term development interests.
Highlighting Prime ministerNarendraModi's contribution in the sector of climate action, he said, it was Mr.Modi who had first proposed the International Solar Alliance and Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.
Mr Javadeker stressed that India has been ambitious in its actions and has emphasized that developed countries should take lead in undertaking ambitious actions and fulfil their climate finance commitments of mobilizing 100 billion dollar per annum by 2020.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

India-China joint training exercise begins at Meghalaya

The 8th India-China joint training exercise ‘HAND-IN-HAND 2019’ with the theme counter-terrorism under United Nations mandate commenced today at Joint Training Node (JTN), Umroi in Meghalaya.
The People’s Liberations Army (PLA) contingent from the Tibet Military Command comprising of 130 personnel and the Indian Contingent of similar strength is participating in the 14-day long training exercise.
The exercise is planned at the company level with respective Battalion Headquarters controlling the training. The Chinese contingent is led by Col Hu Chunguang, 1st Infantry Battalion, Tibet Military Command while the Indian contingent is led by Col KJ Singh of the Kumaon Regiment.
Major General Deepak Mehra, KC, VSM, General Officer Commanding Red Horns Division during the inaugural session said, the joint- military exercise is historic as it marks the 70th year since the establishment of diplomatic ties between India and China and there are 70 other celebratory activities organised between India and China during this year.
He said, these activities will demonstrate the historic connection between the two civilizations as well as the growing bilateral relationship over the years.
The activities will further, deepen people to people interaction between two countries at various levels, armed forces, legislators, businesses, academics cultural as well as youth organisation.
The focus on the initial four days of the exercise will be on Orientation to Training Area, Lectures on Counter Insurgency or Counter Terrorism environment, firing of weapons, improvised Explosive Devices drills and various other aspects.

::SPORTS::

Indian women’s hockey team wins tournament

The Indian Junior Women’s Hockey Team won the 3-Nations Tournament in Australia today as they finished top of the points table despite suffering their first loss of the competition.
India had seven points from four matches, ahead of hosts Australia on goal difference, with New Zealand finishing third with only three points from their four matches.
The Indian team lost 1-2 to hosts Australia in their fourth and final match of the competition today. In this match, GagandeepKaur scored the solitary goal for India in the 53rd minute to cancel out Abigail Wilson's 15th minute strike.