Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 16 APRIL 2019

::NATIONAL::

SC issues notice to centre on entry of women to mosques

• The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Centre and asked it to respond on a petition seeking permission for Muslim women to enter mosques to offer prayers.
• A bench, headed by Justice SA Bobde, told the counsel appearing for the petitioners that it will hear the matter because of the apex court's judgment in the Sabarimala temple case.
• In the petition, a couple has sought the apex court's direction to declare as illegal and unconstitutional the practice of prohibiting the entry of Muslim women into mosques to offer prayers.
• During the hearing, the bench also sought to know from the petitioners' counsel as to whether Muslim women were allowed to enter a mosque in foreign countries. The counsel informed the bench that Muslim women were allowed to enter a mosque at the holy Mecca and also in Canada.
• In September last year, a five-judge constitution bench headed by then Chief Justice DipakMisra, had allowed entry of women of all ages into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala. It had said, the ban amounted to gender discrimination.

IMD forecasts normal monsoon this year

• A temperature rise greater than 1 degree Celsius for three months at a trot is considered a “strong” El Nino (and threatening to the monsoon). A 0.5 degree Celsius-1 degree Celsius rise is called “weak El Nino conditions.” Currently, the El Nino is 0.9 degree Celsius.
• The IMD’s models in March, expect the El Nino to peak around May and then recede for the rest of the monsoon months. “Globally too, other models that track El Nino expect it to recede after June or July. So that reflects in our forecast (of a normal as opposed to below normal monsoon rains),” said Mr.Rajeevan. In any given year, the odds of ‘below normal’ rains are 17%.
• This year the IMD’s assessment says the odds are 32% which Mr.Rajeevan admitted was “significant.” However the odds of ‘near normal’ rains this year were 39%, the IMD’s forecast notes. “It’s a matter of how you expect the El Nino to pan out,we combine our own experience with the model’s insights to make the forecast,” said K.J. Ramesh, Director-General, IMD.
• The IMD issues its first monsoon forecast in April and then updates it in June with details on how the monsoon will perform in various geographical regions.
• The April forecast can be unreliable. Last year, the IMD forecast ‘normal rains’ (97% of LPA) and India saw below normal (91% of LPA) rains. This was attributed by the IMD, to an unexpected weakening of the monsoon rains in North Eastern India.
•  Another factor, called a positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) (which refers to a warming in the western Arabian ocean) could neutralise the potential negative impact from the El Nino.

::ECONOMY::

Ministerial panel gives 12months to PSE’s for monetising non-core assets

• State-run companies will have 12 months to monetise non-core assets identified by a ministerial panel headed by the finance minister, failing which the finance ministry may restrict budgetary allocations to the CPSEs.
• The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) on Monday issued guidelines for monetisation of non-core assets of CPSEs and immovable enemy properties, following a Cabinet decision in February.
• According to the guidelines, an inter-ministerial group (IMG) chaired by the secretary of DIPAM will identify the non-core assets of the CPSEs on its own, and also on the basis of recommendations of the NitiAayog. The final call will, however, be taken by the finance minister-headed panel.
• Once the Alternative Mechanism, comprising the finance minister, road transport minister and the minister of the administrative ministry concerned approves the assets for monetisation, it should be completed within 12 months from the date of approval.
• This will be the target to be achieved by the CPSEs as part of the memorandum of understanding with the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE).
• “The Department of Expenditure and Department of Economic Affairs may consider any proposal from the CPSE/administrative ministry for budgetary support only after looking at the achievement of asset monetisation target by the CPSE. Performance of contract management will be considered before sanctioning any government budgetary support,” the guidelines said.

Indian trading exchanges amongst world’s top derivative trading centres

• Indian exchanges do not offer trading in exotic derivative instruments like their counterparts in the developed markets in the U.S. and Europe, but that has not stopped the bourses from becoming one of the largest derivative trading centres globally.
• According to the latest report by the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) and the International Options Market Association (IOMA), the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the BSE accounted for 96% of the currency derivatives trading in the Asia-Pacific region in 2018.
• Further, the NSE was the global leader in terms of volume of trading of index options and eighth in single stock options in the calendar year 2018. The year also saw India’s largest bourse being ranked second in the volume of single stock futures contracts.
• According to the WFE-IOMA 2018 Derivatives Report, the NSE saw a total of 221.5 crore index options contracts being traded in 2018 with Bank Nifty options and Nifty options contracts featuring among the top traded contracts globally.
• The volume of stock futures contracts was pegged at over 25 crore giving the NSE the second spot in the global ranking. More importantly, the annual growth rate in volume on the Indian exchange is also among the highest in the world.
• In 2018, NSE’s volume of index options rose 63%, which was the highest among the top 10 bourses in the category. The volume of NSE’s single stock options also registered a rise of 46%, which was second only to Brazil’s 75% surge.
• In the currency derivatives segment, the NSE and the BSE together account for 96% of such derivatives volume in the Asia-Pacific region. The two Indian exchanges occupy the top two ranks with nearly 211 crore contracts traded in 2018.
• In commodities as well, an India exchange is featured among the top 10 globally. In 2018, the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) was ranked eighth globally with a little over 23 crore contracts traded while registering a 16% rise during the year. In India, MCX is the biggest commodity bourse with a market share of more than 90%.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

• World Health Organization (WHO) has raised alarm over a 300 percent increase in the case of measles globally in the first quarter of 2019 compared with last year. The UN body said provisional data has indicated aa clear trend, with all regions of the world seeing outbreaks.
• The WHO has said yesterday that the early trends for 2019 likely underestimated the severity of the outbreaks since only about one in 10 actual measles cases was reported. So far this year, 170 countries have reported 112,163 measles cases to WHO.
• At this time in 2018, 163 countries had reported 28,124 cases. It also added that Africa has witnessed the most dramatic rise - up 700% which has weaker vaccination coverage than other regions. Measles, an airborne infection causing fever, cough and rashes that can be deadly in rare cases - had been officially eliminated in many countries with advanced healthcare systems.

China expresses concern over India’s BRI participation

• China on Monday signalled that it was ready to wait for India’s participation in President Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road Initiative, but also pointed to possible downside to New Delhi’s delay in participating in the giant connectivity project.
• In response to a question on the likelihood of India’s non-participation in the upcoming Belt and Road Forum (BRF) that will take place later this month, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang stressed that Beijing was ready to exercise patience. He highlighted that “if the relevant side would like to wait and see, we do not oppose that”.
• The spokesperson’s remarks align with China’s perception about India’s participation in BRI following last April’s Wuhan informal summit between President Xi and Prime Minister NarendraModi. In August, Zhang Jun, China’s Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that India was China’s “natural partner” in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
• But during the media briefing on Monday, Mr. Lu emphasised that India could be negatively impacted if it arrived as latecomer in the BRI family.
• In an obvious reference to New Delhi, the spokesperson said that “some countries will lose some opportunities as more international organisations are participating at the (BRF) event”.
• Citing sovereignty concerns, India has not joined the BRI, following the establishment the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that passes through Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Nirbhay sub-sonic cruise missile test fired

• Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) today successfully test fired indigenously designed & developed Long Range Sub-Sonic Cruise Missile “Nirbhay” from the Integrated Test Range (ITR), ChandipurOdisha.
• It is the sixth development flight trial with objective to prove the repeatability of boost phase, cruise phase using way point navigation at very low altitudes.
• The missile took off vertically turning horizontally into desired direction, booster separated, wing deployed, engine started, cruised all the intended waypoints. The missile demonstrated its sea-skimming capability to cruise at very low altitudes.
• The entire flight was fully tracked by a chain of Electro Optical Tracking Systems, Radars and Ground Telemetry Systems deployed all along the sea coast.All the mission objectives were met.

::SPORTS::

Indian squad for 2019 world cup announced

• India announced their 15-man squad for the ICC World Cup to be played in England from 30th of next month. ViratKohli will lead the team.
• The squad was announced by the BCCI Acting Honorary Secretary Amitabh Choudhary in Mumbai, with Chairman of Selectors M.S.K. Prasad sharing the dais.
• While there were no major surprises in the 15, the inclusion of Dinesh Karthik was the notable factor.
• Karthik returned to India's World Cup squad after 12 years, while Rishabh Pant was excluded.

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