Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 22 August 2018

::NATIONAL::

NCRB to track sexual violence complaints

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) would be the designated nodal agency for monitoring the complaints received on a government portal that records child pornography and sexual violence videos.
The NCRB would coordinate with service providers such as Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp and ask them to block malicious videos and contents.
“Since we are only a crime record agency a government notification has been issued under the Information Technology Act, 2000 to enable us take action against such videos.
“Whenever such incidents are reported, we will write to service providers and ask them to block the content, we will coordinate with them.” a senior NCRB official said.

ILO report warns India of high wage inequality

Real average daily wages in India almost doubled in the first two decades after economic reforms, but low pay and wage inequality remains a serious challenge to inclusive growth, the International Labour Organization warned in its India Wage Report .
The ILO has called for stronger implementation of minimum wage laws and strengthening of the frameworks for collective bargaining by workers. This is essential to combat persistent low pay in some sectors and to bridge the wage gaps between rural and urban, male and female, and regular and casual workers.
In 2011-12, the average wage in India was about Rs. 247 rupees a day, almost double the 1993-94 figure of Rs. 128. However, average labour productivity (as measured by GDP per worker) increased more rapidly than real average wages. Thus, India’s labour share or the proportion of national income which goes into labour compensation, as opposed to capital or landowners has declined.
The gender wage gap decreased from 48% in 1993-94 to 34% in 2011-12, but still remains high by international standards. And of all worker groups, the average wages of casual rural female workers was the lowest, at just Rs. 104 a day.
The ILO also highlighted the lack of timely data as a hindrance, pointing out that its analysis and the decisions of Indian policy makers was dependent on 2011-12 data from the Employment and Unemployment Survey (EUS) of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), as that was the last year in which the survey was done.

::ECONOMY::

Great recovery by creditors under IBC regime

Under the IBC about 40 corporate debtors,the process has yielded resolutions.In this 40, the creditors have got over Rs. 50,000 crore or so. The average realisation has been above 50%. The operational creditors have also got 50%.
experience suggests that very few, say 20 out of 1,000 cases, have gone to court. Number of cases going through lengthy court process is very less.
We have seen from our experience that issues that have gone to NCLT, NCLAT and Supreme Court have been sorted out by the Supreme Court forever. Last week, we saw Supreme Court order in the case of Jaypee Infra, which was about Section 29 (A) and home buyers says Mr.MS Sahoohairperson of IBBI.
It very categorically states that the process, including the timeline and that plan received outside the system will not be considered. As we learnt from experience, we are trying to avoid those problems either by making laws, or Supreme court sorts it out.
Today, we have 12 benches and new benches are being set up in Jaipur and Cuttack. Recruitment process has started to recruit more judges. Efforts are on to take new premises in New Delhi and Mumbai,says the economist.

SBI mutual fund reclassification hurts small caps

The capital markets regulator’s decision last year to reclassify mutual fund schemes to help bring uniformity in investment strategy and asset allocation seems to have made the small cap universe a big casualty, with a bulk of the mutual fund flows going into large and mid caps.
An analysis by domestic brokerage PrabhudasLilladher has found that between January and June, when mutual fund houses churned their portfolios to comply with the new regulatory guidelines, mid cap and large cap stocks witnessed net buying of Rs. 14,500 crore and Rs. 21,900 crore, respectively.
Our analysis indicates that small caps bore the brunt almost entirely due to the SEBI circular on mutual fund reclassifications while for mid caps, the subsequent changes to Nifty Midcap index apart from the SEBI circular caused a vast rotation between stocks,” the brokerage said.
Money flows continued into mid caps, while small caps were abandoned and within mid caps, the index exclusions were sold into while the new incoming ones/ones in status quo were bought into substantially,” it added.
While SEBI issued the MF reclassification circular on October 6, 2017, the NSE issued a circular on index replacement on February 21, to become effective from April 2.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

UAE offers 700cr for kerala flood relief

The UAE government has promised Rs. 700 crore assistance for Kerala’s post-flood reconstruction effort even as the State on Tuesday sought a Rs. 2,600 crore special package from the Centre to cope with the deluge that has left 228 dead and displaced over 14 lakh people.
Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan chaired a meeting of the Cabinet, which decided to seek the special package under the Centrally sponsored schemes.
On the offer of aid, Mr.Vijayan told reporters that Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan had communicated the decision to Prime Minister NarendraModi.
The offer reflects the concern that Gulf nations have for Kerala and Malayalis, the Chief Minister said while thanking UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the Crown Prince.
Meanwhile, the Centre has released Rs. 600 crore announced during the visits of Mr.Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Though rains have eased over the last two days, vast swathes of land remain under water in Ernakulam, Thrissur, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Kollam districts, with 32 persons still reported missing.

ASSK defends her govt.s action in Myanmar

Myanmar leader Aung San SuuKyi on Tuesday defended her government’s actions in Rakhine State, where about 7,00,000 Rohingya Muslims fled from a brutal counterinsurgency campaign to neighbouring Bangladesh.
Ms.SuuKyi said terrorism, not social discrimination or inequality, triggered the crisis. She made the comments in a lecture in Singapore in which she reviewed her two years in power.
Ms.SuuKyi said it was difficult to say when the Rohingya who fled will be able to return to Rakhine State because her nation needs the cooperation of Bangladesh.
She said Myanmar has mapped out general sites for the resettlement of returning Rohingya, but the timing of the repatriation also depends on Bangladesh.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Mexican physicists find the first galaxies in our universe

A Mexican astrophysicist has identified some of the first galaxies in our universe together with a team of researchers.
The National Autonomous University of Mexico on Saturday said that the newly-identified galaxies are: Segue-1, Bootes I, Tucana II and Ursa Mayor I. All were formed more than 13 billion years ago, reports Xinhua news agency.
The Mexican scientist Carlos Frenk Mora is one of the world’s best known astronomers for his theories on dark matter and its role in the formation of galaxies.
His discovery backs a current evolutionary model of the universe, called the Lambda Cold Dark Matter Theory, which maintains that the elementary particles that make up dark matter drive cosmic evolution.
The most weak galaxies near the Milky Way were considered unworthy subject for study by scientists a decade ago, but new researches have revealed treasures for us to learn about the primitive universe, said Mora.

Arctic permafrosts carbon leak increases

Arctic permafrost's expected gradual thawing due to climate change and the associated influx of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere may actually happen within a few decades, much earlier than previously thought, warns a new study.
As Earth's climate continues to warm and permafrost thaws, soil microbes in the permafrost can turn that carbon into the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane, which then enter into the atmosphere and contribute to climate warming.
This release of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere may actually be sped up due to abrupt thawing, said the study published in the journal Nature Communications.
Using a combination of computer models and field measurements, researchers found that abrupt thawing more than doubles previous estimates of permafrost-derived greenhouse warming.
They found that the abrupt thaw process increases the release of ancient carbon stored in the soil 125 to 190 per cent compared to gradual thawing alone.

::SPORTS::

Surabhchaudhary wins gold

SaurabhChaudhary, all of 16, on Tuesday became only the fifth Indian shooter to claim a gold in the Asian Games history, beating a field of multiple World and Olympic champions in the 10m air pistol finals here.
Competing in his first senior event, Chaudhary showed calmness well beyond his age to snatch the lead from 2010 World Champion Tomoyuki Matsuda on the penultimate attempt of the 24-shot pistol final.