Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 15 October 2018


Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 15 October 2018


::NATIONAL::

Reports say Verma panel had recommended setting up of employment tribunal

  •  The Centre recently announced its plan to set up a panel of judges to look into the legal and institutional framework to curb sexual harassment at workplaces following the #MeToo campaign on social media.
  •  However, as early as 2013, the Justice J.S. Verma Committee, in its landmark report on gender laws, had recommended setting up of an employment tribunal instead of an internal complaints committee (ICC) in sweeping changes to the Sexual Harassment at the Workplace Bill.
  •  The panel was formed in the aftermath of the December 16 Nirbhaya gangrape in 2012 and the ensuing nationwide protests, and submitted its report on January 23, 2013.
  •  At that time of the submission of the report, the Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Bill had already been passed by the Lok Sabha and was awaiting the Rajya Sabha's nod. The Bill was passed unchanged by the Upper House a month later.
  •  The Verma panel said an employer could be held liable if he or she facilitated sexual harassment, permitted an environment where sexual misconduct becomes widespread and systemic, where the employer fails to disclose the company’s policy on sexual harassment and ways in which workers can file a complaint as well as fails to forward a complaint to the tribunal. The company would also be liable to pay compensation to the complainant
  •  The panel also made several suggestions to encourage women to come forward and file complaints. For instance, it opposed penalising women for false complaints and called it an “abusive provision intended to nullify the objective of the law”.

Ministry says BBNL key for bharat net project

  •  The new corporate office of Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL) in East Kidwai Nagar, New Delhi was inaugurated by Minister of State for Communications (Independent Charge) and Minister of State for Railways, Shri Manoj Sinha today.
  •  Addressing the members of the press and media immediately after the inauguration, the Minister said – “BBNL has played a key role in leading the successful implementation of the BharatNet project fordigitally connecting all 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the country.
  •  The objective of this flagship project of our Government is to facilitate the delivery of e-governance, e-health, e-education, e-banking and other services to citizens in every part of our country, on a non-discriminatory basis. We have completed approximately 50% of the project, and the remainder is targeted for completion by March 2019.”
  •  Smt. Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary (Telecom), who was present on the occasion, added “The consolidation of BBNL operations in this new office has come at the right time – when the focus of the organization is expanding from implementation, toalso cover critical areas such as utilization and maintenance of the BharatNet infrastructure.”
  •  Further, provision has been made for Last Mile Connectivity in all 2,50,000 GPs through viability gap funding. Every GP shall have on an average five WiFi Access Points (APs), including 3 APs (on average) for public institutions such as educational centres, health centres, post offices, police stations, etc. A tender for provisioning of WiFi services has been floated by BBNL, after consultation with TSPs and ISPs, for wider participation.

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::ECONOMY::

NCLAT stays proceedings against IL & FS

  •  The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Monday stayed all proceedings against IL&FS and other group companies till its further order.
  •  The appellate tribunal order came over an urgent petition moved by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs after the Mumbai Bench of NCLT had turned down its plea for 90 days moratorium over the loans taken by the IL&FS and its subsidiaries.
  •  A two-member NCLAT Bench headed by Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya has asked the top five lenders of IL&FS to submit their replies over the government’s plea for 90 days moratorium.
  •  “Until further orders there should be stay of any proceedings by any parties against IL&FS and its 348 subsidiaries in any court of law or tribunal,” said NCLAT.The appellate tribunal has directed to list the matter on November 13 for next hearing.
  •  The government had requested the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to restrain other creditors of IL&FS from filing suits, in the case of non-repayment of loans.
  •  IL&FS’ lawyer argued the company would face 70 to 80 legal suits across the country if the moratorium was not granted.

WPI inflation rises further in september

  •  Inflation-based wholesale prices rose to a two-month high of 5.13 per cent in September, mainly due to hardening of food prices and rise in cost of petrol and diesel.
  •  The Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation stood at 4.53 per cent in August and 3.14 per cent in September last year.
  •  According to the government data released on Monday, food articles witnessed hardening of prices with deflation at 0.21 per cent September as against 4.04 per cent in August.
  •  Among food articles, potato inflation spiked to 80.13 per cent in September, while onion and fruits witnessed deflation of 25.23 per cent and 7.35 per cent, respectively. Deflation in pulses stood at 18.14 per cent.
  •  Data released last week showed retail inflation rose to 3.77 per cent in September from 3.69 per cent in the previous month. The RBI mainly takes into account retail inflation data while formulating monetary policy.
  •  In its fourth monetary policy review for the fiscal last week, the Reserve Bank maintained status quo on the benchmark interest rate but warned that volatile and rising oil prices, and tightening of global financial conditions pose substantial risks to the growth and inflation.

::INTERNATIONAL::

India & China discuss connectivity projects in west asia

  •  India and China are discussing connectivity projects that pass through Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the envoy of Beijing said here on Monday.
  •  Inaugurating the first ever joint India-China training programme for Afghan diplomats, Ambassador Luo Zhaohui said that, both sides should cooperate over connectivity projects with Iran, Pakistan and extend it to smaller countries of South Asia.
  •  “Both of us oppose terrorism and support stability and development in Afghanistan. We are talking about connectivity projects like International North-South transport corridor... India-Iran-Afghanistan transit and trade corridor, and we are also talking about connectivity of China-Pakistan-Afghanistan. All these provide us with further scope for cooperation,” said Mr Luo in his opening remarks suggesting that India and China should work on regional platforms like SAARC.
  •  External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj sent a statement for the event where she indicated that an ambitious capacity-building programme is being envisioned for Afghanistan. In this regard, India started a scholarship scheme for the next-of-kin of the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces who died fighting for their country.
  •  “This (the training programme) marks the beginning of what we visualise as a long term trilateral partnership for the benefit of Afghanistan,” said the Indian minister regarding the training programme for Afghan diplomats.

Pak-Afghan border crossing closed after tensions in border

  •  A key border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan remained closed on Monday as the troops of the two countries exchanged fire after tensions over Pakistani officials fencing the border.
  •  The Friendship Gate near Chaman in Balochistan province in south-west was closed on Sunday after troops of the two sides exchanged fire about 60 km north of the border town of Chaman, with the clash lasting several hours, according to Dawn.
  •  Pakistani officials said Afghan troops opened fire on Pakistani personnel who were erecting a fence along the border in the Tandah Dara Sarochahan area. There were no reports of casualties in the clash.
  •  The exchange of fire ended in the evening, the officials said. The firing stopped late in the evening but the situation is still tense, they said, adding that Pakistani officials deployed more troops to the area.
  •  Pakistan has been erecting a fence along its western border to stop “illegal influx of terrorists and smugglers from Afghanistan who often use infrequent routes to enter Pakistan.”
  •  Pakistan has already informed the Afghan government of its decision to build a border fence. However, Afghan officials in the Spin Buldak area raised objections to Islamabad’s decision.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope entered safe mode

  •  Barely a week after NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope entered safe mode, the Chandra mission has also suffered a glitch possibly due to the failure of the gyroscope, the US space agency said.
  •  The Chandra X-Ray Observatory, observing the universe in high-energy light since 1999, has entered a protective ‘safe mode’, which interrupts scientific observations and puts the spacecraft into a stable configuration.
  •  During the safe mode, the observatory is put into a safe configuration, critical hardware is swapped to back-up units, the spacecraft points so that the solar panels get maximum sunlight, and the mirrors point away from the Sun.
  •  Chandra, launched in 1999, is well beyond the original design lifetime of 5 years. In 2001, NASA extended its lifetime to 10 years. It is now well into its extended mission and is expected to continue carrying out forefront science for many years to come.
  •  On October 5, Hubble entered safe mode after one of the three gyroscopes (gyros) being used to point and steady the telescope failed. Gyroscopes help spacecraft maintain proper orientation.

India wins series against west indies

  •  For India, it was their 10th series win at home since their last defeat against England way back in 2012.
  •  It was a symbolic performance from fast bowler Umesh Yadav, who returned with a maiden 10-wicket haul in his 40th Test, to emphasise the fact that India has emerged a formidable force in this department in contemporary cricket.
  •  It was a stunning effort on a pitch which offered little help. And, one which could make even the West Indies having produced some legendary pace bowlers in the past envious

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