Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 19 September 2019

::NATIONAL::

Supreme court expresses concern over deaths during manual scavenging

Expressing serious concern over people dying during manual scavenging and sewage cleaning in India, the Supreme Court Wednesday said nowhere in the world people are sent to “gas chambers to die.”
Although over 70 years have passed since the Independence, caste discrimination still persists in the country, the apex court said while making scathing observations on the practice.
A Bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra questioned Attorney General K.K. Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, as to why proper protective gear like mask and oxygen cylinders were not being provided to people engaged in manual scavenging and cleaning of sewage or manholes.
The Bench termed as “inhuman” the situation where the people are not provided with any protective gear and they are dying during the process of cleaning of sewage and manholes across the country.
The apex court made these hard-hitting observations while it was hearing the Centre’s plea seeking review of its last year’s verdict which had virtually diluted the provisions of arrest under the SC/ST Act.
Mr.Venugopal told the Bench that no law of tort, which deals with civil wrong and its liabilities thereof, is developed in the country and the magistrates are not empowered to take cognisance on their own of such incidents.
A case can’t be filed against the person who is sweeping the street or cleaning the manholes but the supervisory officers or the authorities, on whose instruction the work is carried out, should be held liable for this, he said.

Supreme court gets four new judges

The Centre on September 18 cleared the appointments of Justices V. Ramasubramanian, Krishna Murari, S. RavindraBhat and Hrishikesh Roy as Supreme Court judges.
The Supreme Court Collegium led by Chief Justice of India RanjanGogoi had recommended Chief Justices of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, Rajasthan and Kerala High Courts, V. Ramasubramanian, Krishna Murari, S. RavindraBhat and Hrishikesh Roy, respectively, as apex court judges on August 28.
The Supreme Court vacancies had increased its judicial strength from 31 to 34 following the enactment of the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Bill of 2019 into law.
One of the four judges would replace the vacancy following the retirement of Justice A.M. Sapre recently.

::ECONOMY::

WPI remains unchanged in August

Wholesale price-based inflation was unchanged at 1.08 per cent in August, reinforcing the expectation of a rate cut by the RBI in the October policy review.
Experts said, although the RBI takes into account the Consumer Price Index-based inflation while deciding its monetary policy stance, the decline in core inflation has strengthened the case for a rate cut.
According to the data released yesterday by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, the increase in prices of certain food items was partially neutralized by static prices of manufactured goods during August 2019.
The Wholesale Price Index based inflation was 1.08 per cent in July and 4.62 per cent in August last year.
Inflation in food articles rose to 7.67 per cent during the month as against 6.15 per cent in July mainly on account of rise in prices of vegetables and protein-rich items.
Vegetable inflation went up at 13.07 per cent from 10.67 per cent in the previous month. However, fuel and power basket continued to witness deflation at 4 per cent in August as against 3.64 per cent in July.
The retail (CPI) inflation in August rose marginally to 3.21 per cent as against 3.15 per cent in the previous month mainly due to costlier food items, government data showed last week.

NBFC’s loan pricing to be brought under RBI scanner

After mandating banks to implement external benchmarking for retail loan pricing, the Reserve Bank is now looking at the loan pricing regime of non-banking finance companies to make the practice more transparent.
According to sources, the central bank is internally discussing the loan pricing mechanism of the non-banking sector. At present, there is no anchor rate for NBFCs, similar to banks, that is linked to the lending rate of a particular loan.
Banks were not allowed to lend below the base rate or the MCLR rate. Banks are allowed to add a spread, based on the risk assessment, to the anchor rate.However, there is no such mandate for NBFCs to have an anchor rate to which all the loan rates are linked.
The main objective behind linking loans to an external benchmark was for faster transmission of monetary policy rates, particularly in a declining interest regime.
At the end of September 2018, the number of NBFCs registered with the Reserve Bank of India declined to 10,190 from 11,402 at the end of March 2018. Only a handful of large NBFCs are supervised by the banking regulator.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Pakistan refuses to open airspace for Indian prime minister

Pakistan on Wednesday announced that it would not allow the use of its airspace for Prime Minister NarendraModi’s flight to Germany.
Given the situation in Occupied Kashmir and keeping in mind the Indian state’s callous attitude [towards Kashmiris], tyranny and violation of human rights, we have decided that Pakistan will not grant permission to the Indian Premier.
“We have conveyed our decision to the Indian High Commission,” Foreign ministerMr.Qureshi said in the video.
Asked for response, Raveesh Kumar, official spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry, said, “We regret the decision of the Government of Pakistan to deny overflight clearance for the VVIP special flight for a second time in two weeks, which is otherwise granted routinely by any normal country” said the spokesperson.
“Pakistan should reflect upon its decision to deviate from well-established international practice, as well as reconsider its old habit of misrepresenting the reasons for taking a unilateral action.”
Earlier, Pakistan had denied permission to President Ram NathKovind’s flight to Zurich.

Saudi joins coalition to make gulf waterways safer

Saudi Arabia today said that it has joined a United States-led coalition to secure the Mideast's waterways amid threats from Iran after an attack targeting its crucial oil industry.
The kingdom's decision to enter the International Maritime Security Construct came ahead of a planned visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Saudi officials separately planned to share information about the weapons used to attack a Saudi oil field and the world's largest crude oil processing plant on Saturday.
Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have claimed the attack, but the U.S. and Saudi Arabia say they suspect Iran carried out the assault.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

WHO observes world patient safety day

While no one should be harmed while being provided with healthcare, yet every single minute 5 patients die worldwide because of unsafe care and these deaths can be prevented by a simple commitment that ensures safe care, the World Health Organisation (WHO) observed, marking World Patient Safety Day on September 17.
According to the WHO, four out of every 10 patients are harmed during primary and ambulatory healthcare.
The most detrimental errors are related to diagnosis, prescription and the use of medicines. Medication errors alone cost an estimated $42 billion annually. Unsafe surgical care procedures cause complications in up to 25% of patients resulting in 1 million deaths during or immediately after surgery annually.
Advocating that greater patient involvement is the key to safer care, WHO noted that millions of patients are harmed each year due to unsafe healthcare worldwide resulting in 2.6 million deaths annually in low- and middle-income countries alone. The personal, social and economic impact of patient harm leads to losses of trillions of dollars worldwide.
Asserting that patient harm in healthcare was unacceptable, WHO is now calling for urgent action by countries and partners around the world. Patient safety and quality of care are essential for delivering effective health services and for achieving universal health coverage.
On the very first World Patient Safety Day WHO is prioritizing patient safety as a global health priority and urging patients, healthcare workers, policy makers and the healthcare industry to “Speak up for patient safety!”.

::SPORTS::

VineshPhogat is first wrestler to qualify for 2020 olympics

India's star wrestler VineshPhogat qualified for the 2020 Olympics after beating fancied American Sarah Hildebrandt in the World Championships in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan today.
She scored an impressive 8-2 win over the world championship silver medalist to secure her place at the Tokyo Games. Vinesh will wrestle in the bronze-medal bout against Maria Prevolaraki of Germany later today.
Earlier, she had stormed to a 5-0 win over Ukraine's YuliyaKhalvadzhy in the first round of repechage in the 53kg category to remain in contention for an Olympic quota and a bronze medal.