Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 15 December 2016

:: National ::

The Rajya Sabha passed the Disabilities Bill with the list of ‘disabilities' expanded from seven to 21 and the quantum of reservation in-creased for people suffering from disabilities from three per cent to four per cent in government jobs.
In higher education institutions, the quota has been increased from three per cent to five percent.
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014, also gives effect to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and related matters.
It provides for imprisonment ranging from six months to two years,along with a fine ranging from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 5 lakh, for discriminating against differently abled persons.
If the Bill becomes a law, it will benefit millions. It recognises that persons with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities like autism and Down's Syndrome also have a right to education and employment.
In the Bill, disability has been defined based on an evolving and dynamic concept and the types of disabilities have been increased.
The disabilities in the expanded list include mental illness, autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and chronic neurological conditions.
The Bill strengthens the office of chief commissioner and state commissioners for persons with disabilities. They will act as regulatory bodies.

The Supreme Court gave the Centre a four-month deadline to formulate and adopt a comprehensive national plan to combat the rising menace of drug and alcohol abuse among children.
Bench of Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud ordered the Centre to complete within six months a national survey and generate a national data-base on substance abuse.
The judgment, authored by Justice Chandrachud, said the harmful effects of drugs, alcohol and tobacco abuse among children should bemade a specific content in the school curriculum under the aegis of the New Education Policy.
The verdict quotes from the Census 2011 that 24 crore children, constituting 24 per cent of the population of the country, are adolescent.
judgment came on a petition filed by NGO Bach-pan BachaoAndolanthat the funda-mental rights of children, especially those suffering from and involved in substance use and abuse, were violated due to non-compliance with the government's action planfor reduction in drug demand and supply.
The judgment quotes the sample study of the National Commission on Protection of Child Rights in August 2013 to show that the mean age of onset was lowest for tobacco at 12.3 years.
It is followed by onset of inhalants at 12.4, cannabis at 13.4 years, alcohol at 13.6, proceeding then to use of harder sub-stances like opium, heroin at 14.3-14.9 years and then finally substances through injecting route at 15.1 years.

Indian-American PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi has joined Donald Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum, a team that aims to assist him in implementing his economic agenda, the presidential transition team said.
Ms. Nooyi (61) is the only Indian-origin executive in the 19-member ‘Strategic and Policy Forum', which was first announced early this week.
Three new members were also announced in addition to the current 16. The other corporate bigwigs to join the forum are Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, and SpaceXand Tesla chairman Elon Musk.
The forum, composed of some of America's most highly respected and successful business leaders, will meet with the President frequently to share their specific experience and knowledge as he implements his economic agenda.
According to the presidential transition team, members of the forum will be charged with providing theirindividual views to Mr. Trump on how government policy impacts economic growth, job creation and productivity.
During the general election, Ms. Nooyi was a known supporter of Mr. Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. After Mr. Trump's victory, she had said that there was “serious concern” among many, including her daughters, about their safety in the U.S.

Wholesale inflation slowed in November helped by subdued food prices. Inflation measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) was 3.15 per cent, the slowest pace of price gains since June.
WPI inflation, which came in at 3.4 per cent in October, has now slowed for the third consecutive month. The slowdown in wholesale price gains coincides with a cooling of in retail inflation.
Also the rabi crop will be critical in driving future prices as the present cash crunch has slowed down the rabi sowing especially for wheat.
Inflation in the primary articles category of the WPI slowed to 1.25 per cent in November from 3.3 per cent in October. Within this, food articles inflation slowed to 1.4 per cent in November from 4.3 per cent in the previous month.
Non-food articles witnessed a contraction of 0.14 per cent in November from a growth of 1.13 per cent in October. Fuel and power segment, however, witnessed an acceleration in inflation in November to 7.1 per cent from 6.2 per cent in October.

The Union Cabinet approved the draft Major Port Authorities Bill, 2016 to replace the exist-ing Major Port Trusts Act, 1963 in a bid to empower 12 major ports to perform with greater efficiency on account of full autonomy in decision-making.
Under the proposed Bill, all PPP operators will be free to fix tariffs based on market conditions.
The Bill proposes to reduce the size of the board of the Port Authority from 17-19 to 11 members. The Ministry said a compact board with professional independent members will strengthen decision-making and strategicplanning.
The Board will include representatives of respective state governments, Railways Ministry, Defence Ministry and Department of Revenue along with a member representing employees of the Major Ports Authority.
The Board of the Port Authority has been allowed to fix the scale of rates for other port services and assets including land, the Ministry said.
The number of sections in the new Bill stand reduced to 65 from 134 in the Major Trusts Act of 1963.
An independent review Board has been proposed to carry out the “residual function of the erstwhile TAMP for major ports, to look into disputes between ports and PPP concessionaires, to re-view stressed PPP projects and suggest measures” to re-vive such projects.