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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 22 June 2019

::NATIONAL::

Supreme court halts road construction through tiger reserve

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered an immediate halt to the construction of a road that passes through a corridor between the Rajaji and Corbett Tiger Reserves. “There appears to be numerous violations of the Forest Conservation Act,” it said.
The road, which traverses a “critical” corridor between the Rajaji Tiger Reserve and the Corbett Tiger Reserve, is being built without the statutory approval of the National Board for Wildlife, the Central Empowered Committee said in its report.
The CEC sought an immediate halt to the construction of roads, bridges and culverts in the Rajaji Tiger Reserve between Laldhang and Chillarkhal as it would “adversely impact the habitat and wildlife of the ecologically sensitive area”.
After going through the report, the court said, “It is apparent that the advice of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has not been taken and permission from the standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife has also not been taken”.
The NTCA also informed the CEC that the Uttarakhand government had not responded to its letters of April 20 and May 30 on the road construction. It also asked for strict action against the officers who had allowed the road to be built.

Over 6 Crore farmers benefit from PM KISAN scheme

Over six crore farmers across the country have been benefited under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme till now.
A sum of 1230 crore rupees has been credited directly to the bank accounts of farmers families. The ambit of the scheme has been expanded to cover all farmers in the country irrespective of the size of their land holdings.
With a long verification process delaying payments, the Centre has now announced that farmers will get benefits retrospectively from the time their names are uploaded in the database, rather than from the time their details are verified.
Giving this information in written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said, an additional two crore farmers will be covered under the scheme.
The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme, announced in the last interim budget of the previous government, provides an annual sum of Rs. 6000 to land-owning farmers in three instalments of Rs. 2,000 each. The new government has extended the scheme to larger farmers, raising the total number of beneficiaries to 14.5 crore families.

::ECONOMY::

GST council promotes use of Aadhar for registration

The GST Council has simplified rules for registration and Aadhaar will now be used by businesses for registration under GST.
In the earlier system, people had to give various documents and now, several advantages will occur to the business by using Aadhaar.
Addressing the media, Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey said, GST Council approved imposing a penalty of up to 10 per cent on entities not passing on benefits of GST rate cuts to consumers.
He said, the council has also extended the date for filing annual returns under the Goods and Services Tax regime by two months to 30th of August.
Mr Pandey said, it has also given in principle approval to electronic invoicing system and e-ticketing in multiplexes. He said, now it is mandatory for the multiplexes to issue electronic tickets.
He said, the GST Council has extended date for filing annual returns under GST by two months to 30th August. The council has also extended the tenure of National Anti-Profiteering Authority by two more years.

Study claims global slowdown likely to impact IT firms

Indian tech firms as a group are performing well in the first (April-June) quarter as they are successfully moving closer to the global digital transformation and IT modernisation market, says Dallas-based analyst firm, Everest Group.
Peter Bendor-Samuel, CEO Everest Group, said: “During Q1, Indian IT service providers may be able to achieve growth similar to what they posted in the Jan-March quarter.
However, from the next quarter onwards, growth might happen at a decelerated pace. This is because the factors, which was responsible for the previous 12 months’ growth, will start wearing out and global macro concerns will weigh on decision making.''
Indian players such as TCS, Infosys, HCL, Wipro and TechM, while being a bit late in recognising digital opportunities compared to global players such as Accenture, are now making aggressive investments in technology and skills, and would benefit from the combination of their existing client relationships and new rigour in digital capability investments, he said.
“Visa restrictions have already impacted India’s onshore talent base. Going forward, this shortage can prove to be a key secular impediment for the Indian IT,’’ Mr. Bendor-Samuel cautioned.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

India asks Pakistan to implement FATF action plan

India expects Pakistan to take all necessary steps to effectively implement the action plan of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) fully by September this year.
In response to a media query regarding FATF decision to continuously keep Pakistan in the Grey List, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, the FATF action plan by Pakistan should be in accordance with its political commitment.
He said Islamabad should take credible, verifiable, irreversible and sustainable measures to address global concerns related to terrorism and terrorist financing emanating from any territory under its control.
On Friday, the FATF said that Islamabad has failed to complete its action plan on terror financing and warned Islamabad to meet its commitment by October or face action, which could possibly lead to the country getting blacklisted.
The Paris-based global body is working to curb terrorism financing and money laundering and has asked Pakistan to reassess the operation of banned terrorist outfits in the country.

India and France expand cyber security cooperation

India and France have decided to deepen cooperation in the cyber security sector and jointly work towards curbing the use of the Internet for terrorist purposes and online radicalisation.
The third Indo-French cyber dialogue was held in Paris yesterday with the intergovernmental meeting co-chaired by Henri Verdier, French Ambassador for Digital Affairs, and Upender Singh Rawat, Joint Secretary in charge of e-Governance, Information Technology and Cyber Diplomacy at the Ministry of External Affairs.
During this dialogue, both parties shared their threat analysis and presented the latest developments in their respective cyber policies and steps taken for the protection of critical national infrastructure.
According to the joint statement issued after the dialogue, France and India have reaffirmed their commitment to open, reliable, secure, stable and peaceful cyberspace.
They also exchanged views on the fight against cybercrime and the use of the Internet for terrorist purposes.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Scientists develop new E-tattoo to monitor health

A novel electronic tattoo made from stretchy, lightweight material could make heart health monitoring easier and more accurate than existing electrocardiograph machines, a team of scientists said.
This is the latest development in the team’s electronic tattoo technology, a graphene-based wearable device that can be placed on the skin to measure a variety of body responses, from electrical to biomechanical signals.
The latest e-tattoo developed by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin in the U.S. is so light and stretchable that it can be placed over the heart for extended periods.
It also measures cardiac health in two ways, taking electrocardiograph and seismocardiograph readings simultaneously, according to the study published in the journal Advanced Science
ECG readings alone are not accurate enough for determining heart health, but they provide additional information when combined with SCG signal recordings. Like a form of quality control, the SCG indicates the accuracy of the ECG readings.
The device also includes 3D digital image correlation technology that is used to map chest vibrations in order to identify the best location on the chest to place the e-tattoo.

::SPORTS::

Pankaj Advani wins Asian snooker championship

India's ace cueist Pankaj Advani has clinched the 35th men's Asian Snooker Championship in Doha to complete a career grand slam in cue sports.
Advani defeated Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon 6-3 in the final on Friday to become the only one to win the Asian and World championships in all formats.
He conquered the ACBS Asian Snooker events - 6-red (short format) and 15-red (long format) - along with the IBSF World Championships in both formats too.