Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 30 NOVEMBER 2018

::NATIONAL::

GoM to consider amendment of sexual harassement at workplace law

The Group of Ministers (GoM) constituted to examine sexual harassment at the workplace may consider amending the law against sexual harassment at workplaces, according to government sources.
The GoM headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to meet soon, said a senior Home ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The spokesperson of the Women and Child Development (WCD) Ministry said that with campaigning for Assembly elections in five states drawing to an end, members of the GoM would now be able to meet.
The Vishaka Guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in 1997 lays the onus on the employer to prevent or deter acts of sexual harassment, apart from “providing resolution, settlement or prosecution of acts of sexual harassment.”
The Act lays down the duties of an employer: ensuring a safe working place, displaying penal consequences of sexual harassment, creating awareness, as well as facilitating an internal probe. The employer is liable to pay a fine of ₹50,000 if he fails to comply with the inquiry report submitted by an internal complaints committee or doesn’t report the number of cases in the annual report.

Delhi high court claims criminal law ill equipped to deal with riot cases

Noting that the general criminal law is provenly ill-equipped to deal with communal riots cases, the Delhi High Court suggested several reforms, including possibility of entrusting investigative and prosecution process in such cases to authorities other than normal agencies of the State.
The High Court’s observation came while upholding the conviction of 70 persons in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases in Capital’s Trilokpuri area.
It said there had been no meaningful thought spared till date to usher in reforms in the judicial process to effectively deal with the cases of communal riots which were engineered, more often than not, by those who had clout or influence of various kind.
To inject a sense of neutrality in the investigative and prosecution process, Justice Gauba said the possibility of entrusting such tasks to authorities other than normal agencies of the State needs to be explored.
Once a Commission of Inquiry is instituted, under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952, further investigative process by gathering all evidence for such cases can be taken over by such Commissions of Inquiry, it said.

The High Court suggested amendments to the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 and the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 to entrust the responsibility of investigation in communal riots through SITs specially constituted under their respective control.

::ECONOMY::

RBI to ease liquidity for NBFC’s

In a move to make more liquidity available to non-banking finance firms, the Reserve Bank of India has relaxed the securitisation norms by relaxing the minimum holding period requirement.
The move follows a demand from the government for a special window for NBFCs, to provide them liquidity support.
RBI has decided to relax the Minimum Holding Period (MHP) requirement for originating NBFCs, as they are now allowed to securitise loans with maturity of more than five years after holding them for six months on their books, as compared to one year earlier.
The relaxation on the minimum holding period will be allowed when the NBFC retains 20% of the book value of these loans, the RBI said. “The above dispensation shall be applicable to securitisation / assignment transactions carried out during a period of six months from the date of issuance of this circular,” RBI said in a notification.
The NBFC sector is facing liquidity shortage after Infrastructure Leasing & Finance Services, a core investment company, started defaulting on loans which resulted in the government dismantling the existing board of IL&FS and installing a new one.
The cost of funds has gone up for the non-banking finance firms putting pressure on profitability.

Engineering sector to face the hit due to protectionism in the West

Engineering exports may slip by about $5 billion from the $90 billion target set for this fiscal due to increased protectionism in the U.S. and Europe, officials at the erstwhile Engineering Export Promotion Council (now EEPC India), the apex body of engineering exporters, said.
Enquiries revealed that with the imposition of additional dumping duty by the U.S. on India, certain categories of engineering goods would face an import tariff of about 30% against an average of 6% earlier. Steel exports, accounting for about 15% of India’s engineering exports, may be affected it was learnt.
The GSP issue helps foundry industries in Mexico, Canada, Vietnam and Cambodia but they lack the capability to match India’s capacity, exporters said.
An EEPC official explained that although India argued its case well in Europe and faced lower ADD (anti-dumping duty) than China, there were efforts to protect domestic industry among European countries too.
Engineering exports account for about 25% of India’s total merchandise exports with the SME sector contributing about 35% of the shipments. The U.S. remained the top destination followed by UAE and the U.K. Capital goods, consumer durables, non-ferrous metals and its products and primary iron and steel, including ferro alloys, comprised the Indian export basket.
However, India’s growing economy and stable government were attracting overseas investments in the engineering sector from countries like Korea and Germany.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

India confirms non-participation in SAARC

Ahead of the stone laying ceremony of Kartarpur corridor by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday threatened to pull out of the SAARC Summit, saying there would be no dialogue with Pakistan until it stops sponsoring terrorist activities.
On Tuesday, Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesman Mohammad Faisal said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be invited to the summit. In 2016, India had pulled out of the 19th SAARC summit that was to be held in Islamabad after the deadly terrorist attack on an Indian Army camp in J&K’s Uri.
The summit had to be called off after Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan also declined to attend. Maldives and Sri Lanka are the other two members of the regional grouping. No SAARC meeting has happened ever since.
India had earlier sought Pakistan’s co-operation in opening the Kartarpur corridor, which will facilitate visa-free travel of Indian Sikh pilgrims to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur.
Ms. Swaraj, who is campaigning for the BJP in Telangana, had declined to attend the stone laying event in Pakistan due to “prior commitments”. Instead, she nominated Union Ministers Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri to represent India.

Germany urges France to give up its UNSC permanent seat

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz on Wednesday proposed that France give up its permanent seat on the UN Security Council and turn it into an EU seat to allow the bloc to speak with one voice on the global stage.
To lessen the pain of losing the powerful seat, France could become “the permanent EU ambassador to the United Nations”, added Mr. Scholz, who is also Germany’s vice-chancellor.
France has been one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council since the body was first established in 1945 in the wake of World War II to prevent another large-scale conflict.
The permanent members, which also include Britain, China, Russia and the United States, are the most influential countries in the 193-member United Nations because they hold the right to veto UN resolutions.
There have been repeated calls in the past to reform the UN Security Council, with large emerging nations in particular clamouring for a place at the table.In 2010, then-U.S. President Barack Obama voiced support for India’s efforts to become a permanent Security Council member.
Brazil and Japan have expressed similar ambitions, while African nations have called for two permanent seats to better represent a continent they say has been historically overlooked.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

UN report says fragile climate might put food security at risk

Feeding a hungry planet is growing increasingly difficult as climate change and depletion of land and other resources undermine food systems, the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization said on Wednesday as it renewed appeals for better policies and technologies to reach “zero hunger.”
Population growth requires supplies of more nutritious food at affordable prices, but increasing farm output is hard given the “fragility of the natural resource base” since humans have outstripped Earth’s carrying capacity in terms of land, water and climate change, the report said.
About 820 million people are malnourished. The FAO and International Food Policy Research Institute released the report at the outset of a global conference aimed at speeding up efforts to achieve zero hunger around the world.
The FAO estimates that global demand for food will jump by half from 2013 to 2050. Farmers can expand land use to help make up some of the difference, but that option is constrained in places like Asia and the Pacific and urbanisation is eating up still more land that once may have been used for agriculture.
Increasing farm output beyond sustainable levels can cause permanent damage to ecosystems, the report said, noting that it often causes soil erosion, pollution with plastic mulching, pesticides and fertilizers, and a loss of biodiversity.

::SPORTS::

Youth Olympic games begin in Argentina

The opening ceremony of the Youth Olympic Games 2018 was held at the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires, on Saturday. The glitzy event was held on the streets, for the first time. The Games will bring 4,000 athletes from 206 teams, aged 15-18.
The Youth Olympics have often been seen as a testing ground for the Olympic Games, which Bach drew upon in his speech at the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) General Assembly here today.
Speaking to delegates during his keynote speech, the International Olympic Committee President expressed his dream of a city centre Opening Ceremony in the future, before switching to French to suggest Paris 2024 consider the idea.