Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 22 July 2018

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 22 July 2018

::NATIONAL::

GST rates for several product slashed

  • The Goods and Services Tax Council, at its 28th meeting on Saturday, reduced the rates on more than 50 products, including sanitary pads, small televisions, washing machines, and refrigerators. The council also simplified the return filing process for small businesses.
  • While GST on sanitary pads was cut from 12% to zero, rakhis were exempted from the tax, Finance Minister PiyushGoyal told presspersons here
  • Small televisions, washing machines, fridges and kitchen appliances such as mixers and juicers have their tax rates slashed from 28% to 18%.
  • The council also approved a simplified return filing mechanism wherein all taxpayers, excluding small taxpayers, will now file one monthly return with two main tables one for reporting outward supplies and one for availing input tax credit based on invoices uploaded by the supplier.

Database of students for sale in online portal

  • Personal details, including address, phone number, caste, date of birth and email IDs, of over 4 lakh students from corporate schools and engineering colleges, and aspirants to entrance exams conducted by the Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) a few months ago, are available for Rs. 17,000 on a website (http://studentsdatabase.in) that boasts a database “verified by experts.”
  • The availability of such data, a marketing resource for education-related enterprises, including coaching classes, was posted on Twitter on Friday by a French security researcher called Elliot Alderson.
  • To make a purchase, the portal says visitors have to contact the website’s organisers and send money to bank accounts in the names of Bengaluru-based Lakshmi Prasanth and Prathiba S., and Chennai-based PrashanthSubramani.
  • Authorities have filed a complaint to the CID regarding such mass leakage of student data which is a violation of privacy.

::ECONOMY::

RBI to issue new 100rupee note

  • The Reserve Bank of India will issue new ₹ 100 notes, which would be smaller in size than the present ones.
  • "The new denomination has Motif of Rani kiVav on the reverse, depicting the country’s cultural heritage," the central bank said on Thursday.
  • "The base colour of the note is Lavender. The note has other designs, geometric patterns aligning with the overall colour scheme, both at the obverse and reverse. Dimension of the banknote will be 66 mm × 142 mm,smaller than the older notes.
  • However the existing ₹ 100 notes will continue to be legal tender.

TRAI issues guidelines on demonstration license

  • Telecom regulator TRAI has stuck to its stance that short duration ‘demonstration’ licences be granted within a maximum period of 15 days as part of ease of doing business in the sector, rejecting the telecom department’s arguments that the recommended time-period may not be sufficient.
  • In its response to points raised by the telecom department on its earlier recommendations around the ease of doing telecom business, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) asserted on its suggestions that shorter timeframes be allocated for grant of “short duration, non-extendable demonstration licence.”
  • TRAI said it had recommended that the entire process of granting licences and approvals be made paperless and executed through online portal to save effort, time and cost involved in the entire process.
  • With implementation of the online portal, it can be ensured that the application is accepted only after all the relevant information is provided by the licence seeker.
  • Global companies import products and solutions for demo purposes and for customer trials. These companies are required to take demonstration licence from the government, and players feel that the process for grant of this licence is complicated running into 5-6 weeks.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Syria gets humanitarian aid from abroad

  • Humanitarian aid sent by France and Russia arrived in Syria on Saturday as the two countries’ leaders discussed a joint mission to distribute much-needed relief supplies in a ravaged former rebel enclave.
    The joint humanitarian aid operation — the first between Russia and a Western country — was agreed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and French leader Emmanuel Macron during talks in Saint Petersburg in May.
  • The aid, including medicine, medical equipment, clothes and tents, will be given to residents of Eastern Ghouta on the fringes of the capital Damascus, which was retaken by government forces in April after a five-year siege.
  • It will be distributed under the supervision of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA).

China expands African cooperation

  • Chinese President Xi Jinping was in Africa on Saturday on a four-nation visit seeking deeper military and economic ties while his rival in a bitter trade war, the Donald Trump administration, shows little interest in the world’s second most populous continent.
  • China is already Africa’s largest trading partner, and it opened its first military base on the continent last year in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, which this month launched a China-backed free trade zone it calls the largest in Africa.
  • Mr. Xi’s Africa visit is to highlights China’s sweeping “Belt and Road” initiative that envisages linking Beijing to Africa, Europe and other parts of Asia via a network of ports, railways, power-plants and economic zones.
  • Africa’s natural resources are a major draw for China’s economy. China’s voracious appetite for resources such as timber and ivory, however, has taken its toll on Africa’s environment.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

NASA to launch mission to probe sun

  • Wearing a nearly 5-inch coat of carbon-composite solar shields, NASA's Parker Solar Probe will explore the sun's atmosphere in a mission that is expected to launch in early August. This is NASA's first mission to the sun and its outermost atmosphere, called the corona.
  • The previous closest pass to the sun was by a probe called Helios 2, which in 1976 came within 43 million km.
  • The corona gives rise to the solar wind, a continuous flow of charged particles that permeates the solar system. Unpredictable solar winds cause disturbances in our planet’s magnetic field and can play havoc with communications technology on the earth.
  • NASA hopes the findings will enable scientists to forecast changes in the earth’s space environment.
  • The probe, named after American solar astrophysicist Eugene Newman Parker, will have to survive difficult heat and radiation conditions.

Britain’s butterfly survey: volunteers submit their sightings

  • The call has gone out for legions of volunteers to join the campaign, from July 20 to August 12, and submit their sightings of butterflies and day-flying moths.
  • The effort, called the world’s biggest butterfly survey, has the backing of British broadcaster and naturalist David Attenborough, who is also the president of Butterfly Conservation, the charity that organizes the effort. Mr. Attenborough told the BBC that watching butterflies in his garden takes his mind off “the woes of Brexit,” referring to Britain’s contentious exit from the European Union.
  • The survey began in 2010, and last year, a record 60,000 people turned in 62,500 counts of butterflies and day-flying moths from across the United Kingdom, according to Butterfly Conservation, which describes the effort as the largest butterfly count in the world.
  • A 2015 report noted “evidence of the serious, long-term and ongoing decline of U.K. butterflies,” with 70% of species declining in occurrence and 57% declining in abundance since 1976, Butterfly Conservation says. Four butterflies have become extinct in the past 150 years, scientists say.

::SPORTS::

India draws up against England in women’s hockey

  • India produced an impressive display before conceding a late goal to play out a 1-1 draw against world number two England in their opening Pool B match of the women’s hockey World Cup here on Saturday.
  • India matched higher-ranked England stick for stick in the opening two quarters even though the hosts had more scoring chances with five penalty corners coming their way.
  • Trailing by a goal, England attacked in numbers in the final quarter in search of the equaliser but the Indians defended their citadel well and maintained their control over the proceedings.

UEFA imposes ban on Roma president

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