Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 19 June 2019

::NATIONAL::

Prime Minister NarendraModi will hold a meeting with the Presidents of all political parties having representation in Parliament on the issue of One Nation One Election in New Delhi today.
During the meeting, celebrations of 75 years of India's Independence in 2022 and Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary celebrations this year will also be discussed.
Increasing the productivity in parliament and the development of aspirational districts are other items on the agenda.
The Prime Minister has pitched for One Nation One Election on various occasions. During his Mann Ki Baat programme in All India Radio in August last year, Mr Modi had described the debate on the issue as a healthy sign for democracy.
He had said that it is an appropriate tribute to former Prime Minister AtalBihari Vajpayee who changed the country's political culture.

The North Eastern Council (NEC) and the National Productivity Council (NPC) have agreed on a tie-up venture in the area of capacity building and evaluation of projects, a press release informed.
Director General, NPC Dr.Amita Prasad, visited the NEC Secretariat, Shillong today and discussed on the possibility of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to train officials in the area of project implementation and management including third-party evaluation of projects, energy auditing, and digitization for smart governance with Secretary NEC Ram Muivah, and other officials.
With this initiative, the benefits to the North Eastern Region would be immense in terms of improved capacity in project implementation and management which will help in timely completion of projects added the press communiqué.
Dr Prasad requested the States of the North East to approach the NPC with proposals for capacity building programmes and have similar MoUs with the NPC to train the State officials.

E-commerce companies on Monday voiced their concerns about the Reserve Bank of India’s data localisation norms with Commerce Minister PiyushGoyal.
They also highlighted the data-related provisions of the draft e-commerce policy during the meeting. Mr.Goyal asked them to submit their concerns in writing within 10 days and assured them that his Ministry would take them on board.
“The meeting was held by [Mr.] PiyushGoyal in order to understand their concerns and take their suggestions towards building a robust data protection framework that will achieve the dual purpose of privacy and innovation and strengthen India’s position as a global tech leader with focus on trust and innovation,” the Commerce Ministry said in a statement.
Some of the companies also raised concerns about the draft e-commerce policy released by the government, especially provisions related to treatment of data.
The other issue was the government’s demand for data from companies, where the companies argued that the data should be shared only for law and order and investigation situations.

Capital markets regulator SEBI today permitted stock exchanges with commodity derivative segment to introduce futures on indices. SEBI in a circular said, the stock exchanges, willing to start trading in futures on commodity indices, are required to take prior approval for launching such contracts.
The regulator has directed the stock exchanges to submit proposal with contract specifications and risk management framework for approval before launching any futures contract on an index.
The circular comes after SEBI floated a consultation paper in January, where it had proposed rules for product design for future on the indices as part of larger efforts to deepen the participation of institutions in the derivatives segment. The SEBI directives are in line with recommendations of Commodity Derivatives Advisory Committee.

The United Nations human rights office called for an "independent inquiry" into the death of former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi. Morsi died after collapsing during a trial hearing in a Cairo court yesterday.
The spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said that "any sudden death in custody must be followed by a prompt, impartial, thorough and transparent investigation carried out by an independent body to clarify the cause of death."
British MP Crispin Blunt also said "there must be proper accountability " for the death. He led a review last year of the detention of the deposed Egyptian president. Meanwhile, thousands joined in prayer for the former Egyptian president in Istanbul today.
The prayers, called by Turkey's religious authority Diyanet, took place in the city's Fatih mosque. President RecepTayyipErdogan, a close ally of Morsi, is also due to attend the prayers.

The United States will start removing “millions” of illegal migrants next week, President Donald Trump said on Monday, adding that Guatemala is preparing to sign a safe third country deal.
He added that “Guatemala is getting ready to sign a Safe-Third Agreement,” an apparent reference to a pact in which migrants entering Guatemalan territory would have to apply for refugee status there, not in the United States.
The U.S. is facing a surge in migrant arrivals from Guatemala and other impoverished Central American countries which are plagued by gang violence.
Under a deal between the U.S. and Mexico this month to avert threatened tariffs, Mexico agreed to deploy 6,000 National Guardsmen to reinforce its southern border, and to expand its policy of taking back migrants as the United States processes their asylum claims.

Indian Coast Guard is co-hosting an international workshop in New Delhi to deepen knowledge on issues related to piracy and armed robbery.
The two-day workshop is being organised in cooperation with the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP). Presently, 20 countries are members of the ReCAAP.
The workshop was inaugurated by Additional Director General, Indian Coast Guard V SR Murthy along with Mr Masafumi Kuroki, Executive Director of ReCAAP.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Murthy recognized the efforts of ReCAAP towards developing the cooperative framework to address the menace of piracy and armed robbery and facilitating information exchange between various stakeholders.

The Indian football team remained static at 101st place in the FIFA rankings issued today. India had finished third in the King's Cup in Thailand, which the organizers had said was a FIFA-sanctioned tournament.
India's ranking points remained the same -- 1219 -- as that of the previous list, issued on 4th April this year.
The Indian team is at 18th spot among the Asian countries led by Iran (20th), Japan (28), Korea (37), Australia (43) and Qatar (55) form the top five in Asia.