Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 28 September 2018

::NATIONAL::

Supreme court strikes off section 497 from IPC

• A five-judge Constitution Bench, led by Chief Justice of India DipakMisra, in four separate but concurring opinions on Thursday held that adultery is not a crime and struck it off the Indian Penal Code.

• Chief Justice Misra, in an opinion for himself and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, observed that Section 497 (adultery) of the Code “commands” married couples to remain loyal to each other.

• Loss of moral commitment in a marriage creates a dent in the relationship, but it is left to each individual to deal with the problem — some may forgive while others may seek divorce. Punishing each other or the wife’s lover is unlikely to re-kindle commitment, the judgment said.

• Section 497 treats a married woman as the commodity of her husband, the Bench held. Adultery is not a crime if the cuckolded husband connives or consents to his wife’s extra-marital affair. Section 497 treats a married woman as her husband’s “chattel”. The provision is a reflection of the social dominance of men prevalent 150 years ago, the judgment said.

• Justice Misra observed that Section 497 (adultery) is unlike any other offences relating to matrimonial relationship. The Chief Justice cited several of these other offences like Section 498-A (dowry harassment), the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, Sections 306 (abetment of suicide) or 304B (dowry death) or 494 (bigamy) of the Indian Penal Code.

Centre appoints Lokpal search committee

• After a long delay, the Centre on Thursday constituted an eight-member search committee, to be headed by former Supreme Court judge, Justice RanjanaPrakash Desai, to recommend the chairperson and members of the anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal.

• The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, which envisages establishment of anti-graft body Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in States to look into cases of corruption against certain categories of public servants, was passed in 2013.

• Former State Bank of India chiefArundhati Bhattacharya, PrasarBharati chairperson A. Surya Prakash and former Indian Space Research Organisation head A.S. Kiran Kumar are the members of the search committee, according to an order by the Personnel Ministry.

• The step comes after the Supreme Court’s order to appoint Lokpal at the earliest. The search committee was appointed by the selection committee, which comprises Prime Minister NarendraModi, Chief Justice of India DipakMisra, LokSabha Speaker SumitraMahajan, leader of the largest Opposition party, which in this case was Congress’s MallikarjunKharge, and eminent jurist MukulRohatgi.

• Former judge of the Allahabad High Court, Justice Sakha Ram Singh Yadav; former Gujarat Police head, Shabbirhusein S Khandwawala; retired IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre, Lalit K Panwar; and Ranjit Kumar are the other members of the panel.

• Mr.Kharge, however, is not a full-fledged member of the panel and he boycotted the selection committee meeting five times this year. He was not present at Thursday’s meeting too.

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

::ECONOMY::

RBI eases SLR norms to increase liquidity

• Rates on short-term paper eased on Thursday after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decided to free up funds for the commercial banks to tide over the present liquidity crunch.\

• According to dealers, rates for three-month commercial paper fell to 8.7%, down by 30 bps as compared with Wednesday after the RBI eased liquidity coverage ratio norms for banks. Following the fund crunch triggered by the crisis at infrastructure financier IL&FS at the beginning of the month, rates on short-term papers rose by more than 100 bps (basis points) with mutual funds becoming reluctant to lend to the non-banking finance companies.

• Earlier in the day, RBI decided to allow banks to dip into their statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) reserves by another two percentage points to meet liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) norms.

• The central bank said that banks could ‘carve out’ up to 15% of holdings under SLR to meet their LCR requirements compared with 13% earlier.The RBI said it “stands ready to meet the durable liquidity requirements of the system through various available instruments,’ going forward.

• State Bank of India’s chief economic adviser SoumyaKantiGhosh wrote in a report that the move would inject about Rs. 2 lakh crore of assured liquidity at the repo rate. This would ensure the weighted average call money rate to be about the policy repo rate which is 6.5%.

Increasing customs duty will not reduce CAD : expert

• Increasing customs duties is not the solution to tackle the increasing current account deficit (CAD), said Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Former Deputy Chairman of the erstwhile Planning Commission.

• His comments come a day after the Centre released a list of 19 categories of items on which it would be hiking import duties, including white goods such as air-conditioners, refrigerators and washing machines as well as non-essential items such as gems, travel bags and aviation turbine fuel (ATF).

• “It is unfortunate that we have done it two or three times. This has now become fashionable around the world, including [the] U.S. They are wrong in what they are doing,” Dr.Ahluwalia said while delivering a special address at 108th annual general meeting of The Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

• He said currently, India was in a situation where CAD was not at an alarming level but it had moved from comfort level to a worrying level.

• “Lot of people say we will end the current year with CAD of just about 3% of GDP or tiny bit less. Normal assumption is we are aiming at CAD of 2% of GDP. If it goes above 3%, it is certainly alarming,” he said.

Uzbekistan to invite for afghan rail project

• India will be invited to help with a key rail link in Afghanistan, during the visit of Uzbekistan’s President ShavkatMirziyoyev early next week, a presidential aide told.

• The rail link of approximately 650 km, connecting the Afghan cities of Mazaar-e-Sharif and Herat, which may later be extended to Kabul, is a major project agreed to by President Ashraf Ghani and President Mirziyoyev last year, and many of the preliminary surveys for the project have already been completed.

• The project, for which Uzbekistan has already committed $500 million, could become another major regional connectivity project for India, after its construction of the Zaranj-Delaram Highway in Afghanistan and the ShahidBeheshti port in Chabahar, Iran.

• India is also committed to building another rail route, from Chabahar to Zahedan on the Iran-Afghan border, and President Mirziyoyev is keen to join the transit trade agreement signed by India, Afghanistan and Iran.

• Making a pitch for talks between India and Pakistan, Mr.Nematov said Uzbekistan’s role in regional security is likely to grow as it will take over the Secretary Generalship of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in January 2019. “I think that SCO is a good platform for India and Pakistan to talk at and to maybe work with other countries on how to bring peace,” he told.

• Uzbekistan has held talks with Iran, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and China, which is already running a rail route into Uzbekistan under the Belt and Road Initiative, for the same project in the past few months.

Maldive’s opposition seeks foreign assistance for smooth transition of power

• The Maldivian Opposition appealed to the international community on Thursday to help ensure a peaceful transition of power amid fears that strongman Abdulla Yameen may cling onto power despite his shock election defeat.

• The joint Opposition, which includes four political parties that successfully put forward the little-known Ibrahim Mohamed Solih at Sunday’s vote, called for external help to re-establish democracy in the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago.

• Mr.Yameen decisively lost Sunday’s election, despite all his main rivals being in prison or in exile, sparse media coverage of the Opposition, and monitors and the Opposition predicting vote-rigging. Formal results will be announced by the election commission on Sunday and Mr.Yameen who on Monday conceded defeat must hand over power to Mr.Solih on November 17 at the end of his five-year term.

• Meanwhile, Prime Minister NarendraModi has been invited to Mr.Solih’s swearing-in ceremony to be held in November, according to a Maldives news report on Thursday.

• The President-elect had extended the invitation during a congratulatory call by Mr.Modi following his victory, a spokesperson for Mr.Solih, Mariya Ahmed Didi, was quoted as saying in The Edition.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Railways go in for ‘smart ‘ coaches

• The Indian Railways are set to launch their ‘Make in India’ smart coaches with new features like black box and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered CCTVs, matching international standards.

• Named ‘Smart Trains’, the coaches have been equipped with sensors that can detect defects on bearings, wheels, and the railway track, giving constant inputs to those in the control room to avoid accidents, carry out maintenance, and to improve efficiency of operations.

• The maiden smart coach was unveiled at the Modern Coach Factory in Rae Bareli on Tuesday as part of launching 100 such trains in a pilot project to improve the safety and security of commuters, and to boost efficiency.

• The modern infotainment system has been installed to locate the train in real time. AI-powered CCTVs will help those in the control room to keep a tab on untoward incidents and on the behaviour of on-board staff. Commuters will also be able to communicate with Railways officials.

• Six cameras installed in the coach will provide live recording. The footage can be accessed from the control room, which will be advantageous for law enforcers.An emergency talk-back system will enable communication between passengers and the guard during a crisis. A Wi-Fi hotspot information system is another innovative feature.

• Smart coaches are also laden with water-level indicator technology to know whether the water in the coach is sufficient and when it needs to be filled. An SMS will be sent to the next watering station when the water level falls below half the coach capacity.

::SPORTS::

Indian men wins title in chess Olympiad

• Indian men continued their unbeaten run with a 3.5-0.5 victory over Canada but the women were held 2-2 in the third round of Chess Olympiad on Wednesday.

• The results (third round) Open: Canada (4) lost to India (6) 0.5-3.5 (Eric Hansen lost to ViswanathanAnand; RazvanPreotu lost to P. Hari Krishna; EvgenyBareev drew with Vidit Gujarati; AmanHambleton lost to K. Sasikiran)

Click Here for Old Current Affairs Archive

This is a Part of Online Coaching Programme for UPSC Exam

Buy Printed Study Material for UPSC PRELIMS EXAM

Join Test Series for IAS (Pre.) Exam