Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 24 October 2020

::NATIONAL::

SC asks centre to treat crimes against women with utmost sensitivity

The sole and trustworthy evidence of a woman, who is a victim of a sexual offence, is enough to find her assailant guilty, the Supreme Court has held.
“A woman, who is the victim of sexual assault, is not an accomplice to the crime but is a victim of another person’s lust and, therefore, her evidence need not be tested with the same amount of suspicion as that of an accomplice,” a three-judge Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan observed.
The court was confirming the punishment awarded to a man found guilty under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old child in Tamil Nadu. The Madras High Court had upheld the trial verdict of guilt. The verdict was based on the evidence of the victim though her mother had turned hostile.
Justice M.R. Shah drew attention to the long train of judicial precedents from the apex court which have all held that “evidence of the victim of sexual assault is enough for conviction” in a sexual offence case unless there are serious contradictions. Cases of violence against women should be treated with “utmost sensitivity”. Minor contradictions in her testimony should not derail an otherwise water-tight case.
“To hold an accused guilty for commission of an offence of rape, the solitary evidence of the prosecutrix is sufficient, provided the same inspires confidence and appears to be absolutely trustworthy, unblemished and should be of sterling quality,” the judgment said .

CPCB issues guidelines for safe disposal of carcasses

About 30% of India’s dead cattle and 40% of goats weren’t flayed and nearly nine million bovine hides were “lost annually due to non-recovery,” according to a note by the Central Pollution Control Board proposing guidelines on proper disposal of deceased livestock.
The draft guidelines require carcasses of livestock to be disposed of in incinerators and municipal authorities must ensure that such facilities are set up and made available. However, the Board has not specified any deadline for the implementation of the guidelines.
Carcasses, especially those that result from the animal slaughter, are an ‘environmental hazard’ and are partly to blame for ‘bird-hit’ hazards at airports, according to an introductory note in the draft. There were nearly 25 million head of cattle including buffalo that died of natural causes. “However there wasn’t any organised system of disposal and it had become a major environmental hazard,” the note said.
Flaying of cattle could yield more commercial opportunities, for instance, ‘meat-meal, bone-meat and technical fat’. The process, however, would require setting up more ‘carcass utilisation plants’ where the parts of the animal could be used to make tallow, nutritional supplements and fertilizer.

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::ECONOMY::

Centre borrows funds worth 6000crores for GST compensation

Kicking off its borrowing plan to meet the GST compensation shortfalls faced by States, the Centre on Friday borrowed and transferred ₹6,000 crore to 16 States as well as the Union Territories of Delhi and J&K.
The government indicated that it planned to release ₹6,000 crore every week to the States till the approved borrowings to meet the shortfall are met.At this rate, it could take about 13 weeks or about three months to complete the envisaged borrowing.
As of now, 21 States had selected the Centre’s option to borrow ₹1.1 lakh crore out of the total ₹2.35 lakh crore GST compensation shortfall estimated for 2020-21.
With seven States including Kerala, West Bengal and Punjab yet to convey their acceptance to the Centre’s proposed solution to meet the GST shortfalls, the Finance Ministry has so far granted permission to raise about ₹78,500 crore to meet the shortfall pertaining to 21 States.
The interest on these borrowings, as well as the principal, is to be repaid from future GST cess collections, with the GST Council extending the applicability of the cess levied on sin or luxury goods over and above the highest GST rate of 28%, beyond the original deadline of June 2022.
Earlier this month, the Centre had released ₹20,000 crore to States from GST compensation cess collections garnered so far this year.

India assumes chairmanship of governing body of ILO

After 35 years, India has assumed the Chairmanship of the Governing Body of International Labour Organization, ILO.It marks a new chapter in the 100 years of productive relationship between India and ILO.
Labour and Employment Secretary, Apurva Chandra, has been elected as the Chairperson of the Governing Body of the ILO for the period October 2020- June 2021.
The Governing Body is the apex executive body of the ILO which decides policies, programmes, agenda, budget and elects the Director-General. At present ILO has 187 members.
Mr Chandra will be presiding over the upcoming meeting of the Governing Body to be held next month.
At Geneva, he would have the opportunity to interact with the senior officials and social partners of the member states.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Pakistan to remain in FATF grey list

Pakistan will remain on the grey list of global anti-terror financing watchdog, Financial Action Task Force, FATF as it has not been able to fulfil six out of the 27 mandates to check terror funding. The decision was announced by the President of FATF Marcus Pleyer.
The FATF strongly urged Pakistan to swiftly complete its full action plan by February 2021. It said, Pakistan needs to do more to check terror funding, adding that the 6 items which Pakistan is yet to address are serious deficiencies.
The implementation plan to curb money laundering and terror financing was supposed to be put in place by the end of 2019. However, the dead line was extended in the wake of COVID pandemic.
The FATF is an inter-governmental body set up in 1989 to combat money laundering, terror financing and other related threats to the international financial system. It currently has 39 members.
These include two regional organizations- the European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council.

Libyan war fighters sign permanent ceasefire agreement

Libya’s warring factions signed a permanent ceasefire agreement on Friday, but any lasting end to years of chaos and bloodshed will require wider agreement among myriad armed groups and the outside powers that support them.
Acting United Nations envoy Stephanie Williams said the ceasefire would start immediately and all foreign fighters must leave Libya within three months. Forces would withdraw from front lines and a new joint police force would secure those areas.
Friday’s agreement was reached after the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) in June beat back KhalifaHaftar’s eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) from its 14-month assault on the capital.
Since then, frontlines have stabilised near the central coastal city of Sirte and the LNA ended its eight-month blockade of Libyan oil output that was strangling state finances on both sides.
However, Turkey, the main backer of the GNA, voiced scepticism that the ceasefire would hold.
There was caution inside Libya too. “If there is no force or mechanism to apply this on the ground, this deal will only be ink on paper,” said Ahmed Ali, 47, in Benghazi.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

MoEs Develops Flash Flood Guidance services for South Asian countries

Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Dr. M. Rajeevan dedicated Flash Flood Guidance services, first of its kind for South Asian countries namely India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
In his inaugural address, Dr.Rajeevan, brought out the need for enhancing the observational network for rainfall and soil moisture to improvise the performance of the system.
An automated mode of dissemination is to be established with the stakeholders along with the use of social media, so that the information reaches the concerned disaster authorities in a timely manner.
Dr. M. Mohapatra, Director General of IMD and Permanent Representative of India with WMO assured the member nations that the Guidance for flash floods in the form of Threats 6 hours in advance and Risks 24 hours in advance will be provided by Regional Centre to National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, National and State Disaster Management Authorities and all other stake holders for taking necessary mitigation measures.

: :SPORTS::

Bottas sets the pace for Mercedes

Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll collided in an eventful second practice for the first Portuguese Grand Prix in 24 years on Friday while ValtteriBottas set the pace for Formula One champion Mercedes.
The afternoon saw two red flag interruptions, first when AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly pulled over with his car in flames and then when Red Bull’s Verstappen and Racing Point’s Stroll smashed into each other.

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