Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 24 NOVEMBER 2018

::NATIONAL::

Delhi high court seeks response from centre on starvation deaths

The Delhi High Court has sought response from the Centre and the Delhi government on a plea seeking directions to them to address issues related to starvation deaths, especially of children, in the capital.
A Bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V.K. Rao sought the stand of Ministry of Home Affairs and the Delhi government on the issue raised in the petition which claims malnutrition and deaths due to starvation were more prevalent among slum dwellers as many of them do not have ration cards to access subsidised foodgrain.
The Bench also directed that the Delhi government’s departments of Health and Family Welfare, Social Welfare as well as Women and Child Development be also made parties to the case.
The order came on the petition claiming that often the poor families living in slums do not have ration cards due to lack of address proof. It contended that it should not be a ground for denial of subsidised food to them.
“Making food security conditional (to be given only to a ration card holder) is a violation of the fundamental right to life under the Constitution,” the petition said.
The plea was initially moved in the Supreme Court, which on September 7 asked the petitioner to first approach the Delhi High Court.

Centre to ease travel restrictions in North East

The Tourism Ministry has approached the Union Home Ministry to ease travel restrictions in some States in the Northeast to promote tourism. States such as Sikkim, which do not have such restrictions, have been witnessing a steady flow of foreign and domestic travellers.
Ms. Verma was here to attend the three-day-long 7th International Tourism Mart which got under way in Agartala on Thursday with over a hundred domestic and international delegates and tour operators participating.
The Tripura government is the co-sponsor of the seventh edition of the tourism mart, an annual event held in one of the State capitals of the region to highlight and promote the tourism potential of the Northeast in domestic and international markets, officials said.
Ms. Verma said the Tourism Ministry is spending more than 10% of the funds earmarked for the region on tourism infrastructure and comprehensive promotion schemes.
She cited the case of Sikkim as a case in point. Free from regulations such as the Restricted Area Permit, the Himalayan State notched up 13 lakh domestic and international tourists last year alone, said Ms. Verma.

::ECONOMY::

Centre to stick on with capital infusion of PSB’s

The Finance Ministry would not curtail its capital infusion plan for this financial year even as state-owned banks would be needing lesser funds following the Reserve Bank’s decision to defer the deadline to meet Basel III norms by a year, according to sources.
Under the new dispensation, the capital infusion by the government in public sector banks (PSBs) for meeting the capital buffer norms would come down to around Rs. 15,000-20,000 crore, sources said.
After assessing the requirement of each bank, the ministry is expected to finalise capital infusion of about Rs. 54,000 crore by this month-end or by the first half of the next month.
However, there will not be any reduction in the capital funding plan as announced in October last year despite a lower requirement due to the RBI extending the deadline for meeting the CCB of 2.5%, under Basel-III norms, until March 2020, sources said.
The infusion would help improve banks’ financial health, sources said, adding that some banks would get necessary regulatory capital while others would get it for fuelling growth.
The CCB is currently at 1.875% and the remaining 0.625% was to be met by March 2019. Generally, there is a leverage of 10 times on the capital, sources said, adding that the lending capacity would increase by Rs. 3.5 lakh crore.

New Green norms to boost housing sector development

The recent notification issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate change allowing local bodies to stipulate environmental conditions while granting building permission will improve the launch pipeline and at the same time, help save time and cost for developers.
As per the notification, municipalities, development authorities and district panchayats can stipulate environmental conditions while granting building permission for building or construction projects measuring more than 50,000 sq. mt. and less than 1,50,000 sq. mt. of built-up area.
This will lessen the multiplicity of approvals needed to attain clearance. “The resultant reduction in time consumed in procuring approvals will reduce the gestation period by a minimum of 12 months, making housing cheaper for homebuyers,” CREDAI President, Jaxay Shah said.
From a long-term perspective, the easing of norms is a big push for the affordable housing sector and will enable the Government to achieve its target of ‘Housing for All’ under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.
In terms of Ease of Doing Business, this will boost India’s ranking further on the parameter of dealing with construction permits as well as help drive the government’s reforms agenda, Nair added. CREDAI agreed that the move would provide a highly conducive environment to the stakeholders of the Indian real estate sector, enhancing ease of doing business.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

India-China all set for border talks on the sidelines of G20 summit

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval arrived in Chengdu on Friday for boundary talks with China’s Foreign Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi, to build on the Wuhan informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping that took place in April.
The 21st round of talks between the two Special Representatives (SRs), which will mainly take place on Saturday, are unlikely to yield any major breakthrough on the resolution of the boundary question, especially as India goes into election mode till the middle of next year.
The two senior officials are also expected to prepare for a meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting that begins on November 30 in Buenos Aires.
The talks, which are taking place amid a terror attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi on Friday, are likely to sharpen the focus on the “regional situation”, which includes Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Already, during talks on November 13 between visiting Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra, and his Chinese counterpart, Shao Yuanming, the two sides agreed to add another layer of exchanges between the military personnel.

India disappointed over denial of consular access by Pakistan

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) summoned the Deputy High Commissioner of Pakistan on Friday after an Indian consular team was prevented from meeting pilgrims visiting Nankana Sahib, where a Sikh festival is now being celebrated.
The Indian side conveyed disappointment that the consular team could not meet the pilgrims for performing official duties, despite prior permission from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) of Pakistan.
It was conveyed that the opposition to the presence of the Indian officials came more from the fundamentalists, and that Pakistani officials did not play a direct role in the incidents.
Earlier, the MEA issued a note of protest saying that the consular team was harassed and prevented from contacting visiting Indian pilgrims in both Gurdwaras Nankana Sahib and Sacha Sauda.
Pakistan has issued around 3,700 visas to Sikh pilgrims from India for the festivities that will cover Nankana Sahib and Sacha Sauda. A large number of Sikh pilgrims from other parts of the world have also received visas.
India also raised the issue of alleged radicalisation of Sikhs in Pakistan with Deputy High Commissioner Shah.India reminded the envoy that India allowed Pakistani diplomats to meet with the pilgrims from across the border visiting Kalyar Sharif.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

World study reports faster rate of ocean heating

The world’s oceans have absorbed more heat than previously thought over the last quarter of a century, scientists said on Thursday, leaving the earth more sensitive still to the effects of climate change.
According to their most recent assessment this month, scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) say the world’s oceans have absorbed 90% of the temperature rise caused by man-made carbon emissions.
It found that for each of the last 25 years, oceans may have absorbed heat energy equivalent to as much as 150 times the amount of electricity mankind produces annually.That is between 10-70% higher than previous studies showed.
Whereas those studies relied on tallying the excess heat produced by known man-made greenhouse gas emissions, a team of U.S.-based scientists focussed on two gases found naturally in the atmosphere: oxygen and carbon dioxide.
By measuring atmospheric oxygen and CO2 for each year, scientists were able to estimate how much heat oceans had absorbed on a global scale.The authors calculated that oceans had warmed somewhere in the range of 10-70%.

::SPORTS::

Indian Women team loses out in T20 semis

India’s dreams of winning a maiden global title lay in tatters after a questionable omission and an inexplicable batting collapse saw it crash to an eight-wicket defeat against England in the semifinals of the ICC Women’s World T20.
Reigning ODI World World Champion England will now meet Australia in the summit clash after the Southern Stars beat defending champions West Indies by 72 runs.
India decided to leave out Mithali Raj, a move that will certainly be questioned, after India lost its last eight wickets for 24 runs to end up scoring a below-par 112 in 19.3 overs.