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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 14 February 2020

::NATIONAL::

SC directs political parties to publish criminal details of candidates

The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered political parties to publish the entire criminal history of their candidates for the Assembly and LokSabha elections along with the reasons that goaded them to field suspected criminals over decent people.
The information should be published in a local and a national newspaper as well as the parties’ social media handles. It should mandatorily be published either within 48 hours of the selection of candidates or less than two weeks before the first date for filing of nominations, whichever is earlier.
The published information on the criminal antecedents of a candidate should be detailed and include the nature of the offences, charges framed against him, the court concerned and the case number.
A political party should explain to the public through its published material how the “qualifications or achievements or merit” of a candidate, charged with a crime, impressed it enough to cast aside the smear of his criminal background.
A party would have to give reasons to the voter that it was not the candidate’s “mere winnability at the polls” which guided its decision to give him the ticket.
The four-page judgment was based on a contempt petition filed by advocate AshwiniUpadhyay about the general disregard shown by political parties to a 2018 Constitution Bench judgment (Public Interest Foundation v. Union of India) to publish the criminal details of candidates in their respective websites and print as well as electronic media for public awareness.

Archaeological department set to restore Konark sun temple

A plan to restore and preserve the nearly 800-year-old Konark Sun temple in Odisha would be drawn up soon, after a two-day conference of experts at the end of the month, Union Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel said.
The 13th century temple, a UNESCO .....................................................

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::ECONOMY::

Fifteenth FC to setup panel to address fiscal policy issues

The Fifteenth Finance Commission will soon set up a panel to address issues related to fiscal policy for both the Centre and the States, and present a road map for the same, Commission’s Chairman N.K. Singh said.
The panel will be headed by Mr. Singh and have representation from the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the Reserve Bank of India, the Ministry of Finance, the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) panel and some of the States.
Mr. Singh added the Commission had also constituted a group on defence and internal security, whose mandate will be ‘to examine whether a separate mechanism for funding of defence and internal security ought to be set up, and if so, how such a mechanism could be operationalised.’
On the fiscal committee, the Chairman said, “I proposed to constitute a broad-based committee which will address some of the issues on fiscal policy, particularly in relation to the debt and the deficit of the States as well as the Central government,there is a need to have a fiscal road map that covers the Centre and the State government.”
He said the principal terms of reference (ToR) of the fiscal committee will enhance the ability of the Finance Commission to address its ToR relating to giving a consolidated fiscal debt road map for the general government.
On Thursday, the Advisory Council to the 15th Finance Commission held its sixth meeting, at which many suggestions were given concerning the GST, he said, adding that generally, it was felt the room for improvement in GST was significant.

SEBI develops new system to track client security movement

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has developed an in-house system to track the movement of client securities that are collected as collateral by brokers.
There had been instances of brokerages .....................................

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::INTRENATIONAL::

PM to hold talks with Portugese president today

Prime Minister NarendraModi will hold delegation-level talks with President of Portugal Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in New Delhi today. The visiting dignitary will meet President Ram NathKovind at RashtrapatiBhavan who will host a banquet in his honour.
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu will also call on the Portuguese President. The visiting dignitary will be accorded a ceremonial welcome at RashtrapatiBhavan this morning. He will also visit Mahatma Gandhi's samadhiRajghat.
Mr de Sousa arrived in New Delhi yesterday on a four-day visit to India. Minister for Shipping MansukhMandaviya received him at the airport. The President of Portugal is accompanied by Minister of State and Foreign Affairs Professor Augusto Santos Silva, Secretary of State for Internationalization Professor EuricoBrilhante Dias and Secretary of State for National Defense Jorge SeguroSanches. This is President Marcelo’s first visit to India. The last visit by a President of Portugal to India was in 2007.
During his visit, Portuguese President will also travel to Maharashtra and Goa. India’s relations with Portugal are marked by warmth and friendship and have assumed dynamism in recent years. Recent high-level political exchanges include the visit of Prime Minister Antonio Costa to India in December last year and Prime Minister NarendraModi to Portugal in June 2017.
The two countries have active and growing cooperation in the field of economy and business, science, culture and education.They share considerable convergences on international issues.
The visit will provide an opportunity for the two sides to review progress in various sectors of bilateral relations and pursue new avenues of cooperation and exchange view on international issues of common interest.

Vietnam holds bilateral level talks with India

Vice President Venakaih Naidu held bilateral delegation-level talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Dang Thai Ngoc Thinh in New Delhi today. The Vietnamese Vice President arrived in New Delhi last night on a three-day state visit to India. The direct flight between India and Vietnam will be announced this evening.
During the visit, Ms. Dang Thai Ngoc .............................................

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::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

MSME launche “apiery on wheels” to boost National Honey Mission

On February 13, 2020, the Ministry of MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) launched “Apiary on Wheels”. It is a unique concept framed by KVIC (Khadi and Village Industries Commission). The main aim of “Apiary on Wheels” is to make migration easy.
Apiary on wheels is an ...................................

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::SPORTS::

Indian hockey captain named IHF player of the year

The Indian men's hockey team captain Manpreet Singh was today named Player of the Year for 2019 by the International Hockey Federation.
Manpreet, a midfielder, became the first Indian to win the accolade since the awards were introduced in 1999.He beat competition from Belgium's Arthur van Dorren and Lucas Villa of Argentina, who came second and third.