Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 29 October 2018

::NATIONAL::

Supreme court to hear PIL on extension of vishakha guidelines

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a PIL petition to extend the Vishakha guidelines against sexual harassment in workplace to ashrams, madrasas and Catholic institutions.
The Vishakha guidelines introduced by the apex court in 1997 were evolved into a parliamentary law called the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act of 2013.
The petition filed by advocate Maneesh Pathak said religious institutions also have women employed there other than those working on a voluntary basis. “If the Vishakha Guidelines are extended to these religious institutions, it would assist a lot in reducing sexually related crimes against women at religious places by gurus or leaders of that particular institution,” the petition said.
It said the government should do a background verification of religious leaders, especially “new upcoming babas” or “heads of those madrasas” and churches. It also sought directions to the Centre to provide adequate measures for women safety at religious places by conducting periodic checks by State women panels.
The petition mentioned recent instances such as cases of priests being accused of sexual abuse in Kerala and of self-styled gurus like Daati Maharaj, Baba Ram Rahim and Asaram Bapu.

More than 500 Pakistani applicants await Indian citizenship

Nearly half the applications pending for Indian citizenship are from Pakistanis, according to a Home Ministry database. Out of the 1,084 applicants who applied for Indian citizenship before 2011, as many as 526 are from Pakistan.
There were 103 applications pending from Afghanistan, followed by 72 from Iran and 41 from Bangladesh. As many as 30 applicants are Malaysian, 24 British, seven Tibetans, 13 Sri Lankans and eight Chinese.
The decision is taken after examining verifications reports from the State governments and the Intelligence Bureau. Indian citizenship is acquired by birth, descent, registration and naturalisation.
In 2016, the Home Ministry delegated powers to 16 District Collectors in seven States to grant citizenship to non-Muslims from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh living in India, and issued a notification last week to make the entire process online.
Under the Citizenship Act, 1955, one of the grounds to acquire citizenship by naturalisation is that the applicant must have resided in India during the past 12 months and for 11 out of 14 years in India.
Since 2011, nearly 30,000 Pakistanis have been granted long-term visas, a precursor for citizenship, and currently 1,500 such applications are pending. Recently, the Home Ministry shot off a letter to all States asking them to furnish the pending reports of all applicants by October 31.

::ECONOMY::

Exporters still not attained advantage of depreciating rupee

Exporters in India are not happy with the current policy and exchange rate situation even though they should be cheering the depreciating rupee.
A combination of higher input costs, uncertainty over tariffs, and the fact that the government has said it would not be refunding them the Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) they have paid, has meant that exports contracted in September for the first time in six months.
A depreciating rupee should ideally be good for exporters, since it means that India’s exports are relatively cheaper than they were before. However, export bodies such as the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) have said that this benefit is not passing through to exporters.
According to FIEO, the depreciation has resulted in an increase in the cost of imported capital goods, inputs and various services used by exporters paid in foreign currency.
Apart from this, the exporters say that depreciating currencies in some of their biggest export destinations such as West Asia, Africa, and certain parts of Asia, has meant that buyers in these areas have also begun asking for discounts.
The government has also maintained a stubborn stance on IGST refunds., say exporters. The Centre argues that since the exporters have been receiving duty drawback on input taxes paid, they are not eligible for IGST refunds. Exporters say this view lack skews the playing field in favour of exporters operating in a single State.

Government eyes for quicker recovery of NPA’s

Enthused by the impact of new insolvency and bankruptcy law, the government expects bad loan recoveries to exceed the Rs. 1.80 lakh crore-target for the current financial year, an official said.
Some big accounts are in the process of getting resolved while some more are lined up for resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), a senior Finance Ministry official said.
“Going by the success rate, we hope that the recovery would exceed our target of Rs. 1.80 lakh crore through the IBC and other means,” the official said, citing the ongoing resolution of Essar Steel and Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd
Banks hope to write back more than Rs. 1 lakh crore from the resolution of 12 NPA cases alone, recommended for insolvency proceedings by the RBI in its first list. Banks recovered Rs. 36,551 crore in the first quarter of 2018-19. In 2017-18, banks recovered Rs. 74,562 crore.
Satisfied with the progress of cases under the IBC, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said “now people have become broadly aware that the rules of the game in India have changed. The banks won’t chase you any more, you will have to chase them.”

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Former Maldivian president hails India’s support to restore democracy

India played a “positive” role in restoration of democracy in Maldives by “exerting pressure” on the ruling regime, and the new government in the island nation would be “sensitive” towards New Delhi’s “concerns”, said former Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom on Sunday.
Nearly a month after he was released from jail, Mr. Gayoom said the government of President Abdulla Yameen inflicted “huge damage” on Maldives but democratic forces have prevailed over their “enemies”.
Joint opposition leader Ibrahim Mohamed Solih came out victorious in the September 23 presidential election, handing a shock defeat to Mr. Yameen.
Asked whether Mr. Yameen drew his strength from strong backing by China, Mr. Gayoom hoped that Beijing would respect the will of the Maldivian people.
Asked about India’s role after imposition of emergency by Mr. Yameen in February, Mr. Gayoom said, “India did play a positive role, and along with other international partners, did exert pressure towards restoration of democracy.”
“I do not see the events of the last few years having a lasting impact (on bilateral ties)... I do not think these bumps and turbulence would impact decades of (our) India-first policy,” he said. Describing India as the “closest and most trusted ally”, he said it was in the interests of all countries that there is stability in the Indian Ocean region.

PM addresses Indian community in Japan

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today, addressed the ‘Make in India: India-Japan partnership in Africa and digital partnership’ seminar, in Tokyo.
The Prime Minister explained how the Union Government is focused on improving ease of doing business, and ease of living for the citizens. He expressed happiness at the large presence of Japanese companies in India.
Noting that Japan has been a partner in many important industrial projects in India, the Prime Minister explained the strength of India’s economic performance over the last four years. He said India is today the fastest growing major economy.
He mentioned other major transitions in the Indian economy, including the move from informal to formal economy, digital transactions and GST etc.
Terming the Indian community as ambassadors of India in Japan, Prime Minister urged them to invest in India and to maintain cultural ties with the motherland.
Highlighting the achievements of the Government in the last four years, Prime Minister said that India is continuously working with the spirit of Indian Solutions- Global Applications.He said that India’s model of financial inclusion, especially JAM(Jan DhanYojana, Mobile, Aadhar) trinity and digital transaction model, is now appreciated all over the world.
Prime Minister highlighted India’s hugely successful space program and robust digital infrastructure being built in India. He said that ‘Make in India’ program is making India a Global Hub for Electronics and Automobile Manufacturing.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Scientists use computational methods to decode brain’s GPS

By studying the movement of virtual animals in computer simulation, a research team led by Srinivasa Chakravarthy, Department of Biotechnology, at IIT Madras has unlocked the navigation behaviour in rats moving in two dimensions and bats (3D). They hope to use these clues in engineering autonomous vehicles and drones.
Previous studies have shown that certain regions (hippocampus and parahippocampus) in the rat brain contain special cells known as “spatial cells” that help to create a cognitive map for navigation.
The 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to three scientists who discovered cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain. The inner GPS in the brain or the neurons help in coordinating the position, distance and direction of travel.
Using mathematical models and computer simulations, the researchers looked at these various spatial cells when rats move along the maze. One of the cells known as ‘place cells’ gets activated when the rat is at a certain place in a room and another type of cells called ‘grid cells’ coordinate this system and help in positioning and pathfinding.
As bats are the only flying mammals, Michael Yartsev, one of the authors of the paper, and his group at the University of California Berkeley, further examined bats and the spatial cells in their brain while flying in a 3D space. Using wireless technologies, his group was able to monitor bats’ brain activity when they fly around and was able to show the functioning of the place cells in real animals.
The researchers hope that an understanding of the spatial navigation system in the brain can also help in engineering automobiles, drones, and underwater vehicles.

::SPORTS::

Federer wins his 99th ATP tour title

Roger Federer won his 99th career ATP Tour title here on Sunday, defeating qualifier Marius Copil 7-6(5), 6-4 in the Swiss Indoors final.
A ninth title at Federer’s hometown event in Basel, where he was once a ball boy, matched the nine he won at the Halle grass-court event in Germany.
The triumph was the 37-year-old Federer’s first in more than four months since winning on grass at Stuttgart in June. It was also his 151st singles final on the ATP tour.