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Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 23 December 2015

:: NATIONAL ::

Rajya Sabha clears Juvenile Justice Bill

The Rajya Sabha cleared the Juvenile Justice (Amendment) Bill, 2015, lowering the age of a legally defined juvenile from 18 to 16 in the case of heinous crimes.
With the Rajya Sabha passing the new Juvenile Justice (Care andProtection of Children)Bill, 2015, a look at juvenile justice laws enacted by Parliament in the past 55 years shows that lawmakers have always leaned in favour of reformation and social re-integration of child offenders rather than populatingIndian jails with them
It may not be able to do anything about the juvenile convict in the Nirbhaya case but can deter many other boys from doing so.
No juvenile would be sent to jail directly. If juveniles are sentenced to jail, they will be sent to a borstal until they are 21 years old, after which there will be a review
The Bill is founded on the recognition of the rights of the victims,which, it says, is equally important as the rights of juveniles.
Starting with the Children Act of 1960, Parliament had always entirely focussed on the using justice and corrective machinery to reform and rehabilitate juvenile offenders rather than reducing it to a crime and punishment mechanism. The 1960 Act provides for the care, protection,maintenance, welfare,training, education and re-habilitation of neglected or delinquent children.

Plane crash kills 10 BSF personnel

A chartered aircraft of the Border Security Force crashed near the Delhi airport on Tuesday morning, minutes after the take-of, killing all 10 BSF personnel on board
Those dead included pilots, technicians and engineers, who were being flown to Ranchi for the repair and servicing of a Mi-17 V5 chopper stationed there.
The ill-fated aircraft was a part the BSF’s fleet of fixed wing aircraft that also includes Embraer and Avro airplanes, which are stationed at BSF’s Air Wing hangar at IGI Airport.
The accident is being probed by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau of the Civil Aviation Ministry.
The Border Security Force (BSF) has also ordered a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the incident.

PWDVA Act needs effective implementation

Effective implementation of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (PWDVA, 2005) has been a matter of concern for women’s organisations in India as they claim to observe glaring gaps in the implementation of PWDVA.
Some of the highlighted problems included lack of awareness about PWDVA among the general public, an insufficient number of protection officers and service providers, absence of coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the Act, a meagre budget allocation, failure on the part of the judiciary and police and paucity of basic services and infrastructure.
These loopholes were prominently reflected in the State-wise implementation of the Act.
Each State has a different budget allocated to PWDVA. While on one hand Karnataka has been allocated Rs. 800 lakh in 2015-16, on the other hand Delhi had been allocated Rs. 45 lakh for the implementation of this Act in 201314. According to the Economic Survey of Ministry of Finance 2014, the enactment of PWDVA remains weak as 19 States have no planned schemes
Cases pertaining to domestic violence are often registered under general FIR, and not specifically under the Act. Also, a large number of unrecorded cases are also there. And most importantly there is an inadequacy in terms of Protection Oicers and Service Providers appointed

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:: INTERNATIONAL ::

India- Russia relations

A slew of defence acquisitions worth an estimated $10 billion and nuclear and space cooperation agreements to be signed during the annual summit with President Putin.
The larger goal will be to tilt the impression that the relation has been strained in a year when India grew closer to the United States and Russia made overtures to Pakistan for the first time.
PM Modi will discuss several big ticket defence deals which would allow Russia to reclaim its position as the top military supplier to India, a spot that the U.S. has held for a few years
The big announcement during Mr. Modi’s visit would be the purchase of five S-400 Triumf air defence systems by India, expected to cost about USD 5-6 billion. India is also likely to announce the purchase of four additional improved Talwar class stealth frigates from Russia
Tata is also in an advanced stage of talks with Sukhoi to set up a Joint Venture to manufacture spares for Sukhoi fighters in India
India and Russia will sign a major deal to fast track two more nuclear energy reactors for the fifth and sixth phases of Kudankulam energy complex in Tamil Nadu while India could ofer new sites in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh as well.

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:: BUSINESS ::

National security clearance policy

As part of its ease of-doing business policy, the Union government has lifted restrictions and given security clearance for 1,671 projects, almost double the number (815) in 2014.
The U.S. has received the green signal for the highest number of 18 projects, followed by Hong Kong (11), France (nine), China (eight), Germany (six), the U.K (four) and Japan (three). Bangladesh has been given clearance for two projects.
National security clearance policy has 15 parameters on which inputs from security agencies are sought. Once it has got an application from an investor, the Ministry decides on the status of security clearance within four to six weeks, against 16 weeks earlier.
The objective of national security clearance policy is to evaluate potential threats, visible or embedded in proposals received by the Ministry and to provide a national risk assessment from the point of view of threats relating to economic security, protection of critical infrastructure, nation’s unity and territorial integrity. The aim is to ensure an objective balance between the requirements of national security and the imperatives of rapid economic growth

WTO talks – India’s interests

The ‘Nairobi Package,’ contains Ministerial Decisions on public stockholding for food security purposes, a SpecialSafeguard Mechanism (SSM)for developing countries, a commitment to abolish ex-port subsidies for farm ex-ports particularly from the developed countries. SSM is a tool that will allow develop-ing countries to temporarily hike duties to counter import surges and price falls of farm items.
As the future of the ongoingDoha Round negotiations of the WTO appeared in doubt,India sought and succeeded in obtaining a re-affirmative Ministerial Decision on Pub-lic Stockholding for Food Security Purposes honouring both the Bali Ministerial andGeneral Council Decisions,
To ensure that the issue ofSSM remains on the agenda of future discussion in the WTO,India negotiated a MinisterialDecision, which recognises that developing countries will have the right to have re-course to an SSM as envisaged in the mandate
All countries agreed to the elimination of agricultural ex-port subsidies subject to the preservation of Special and Differential Treatment(S&DT) for developing countries such as a longer phase-out period for transportation and marketing export subsidies for exporting agricultural products.
Developed countries have committed to removing ex-port subsidies immediately,except for a few agricultural products, and developing countries will do so by 2018.
On the issue of the future of the 14-year-old Doha Round negotiations, India took the stand that the DevelopmentAgenda of the Round (to boost the trade prospects of developing and poor nations)must continue after the Nairobi Conference and no new issues must be introduced in-to the WTO agenda until theDevelopment Agenda has been completed.
Though India's position had the support of many countries from the develop-ing and the poor world, a few developed countries, including the U.S., opposed the continuation of the Doha Round.

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:: SPORTS ::

ITF World champions- Sania & Hingis

Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis was on Tuesday named as women’s doubles World champions by the InternationalTennis Federation (ITF) in recognition of their stupendous success in season 2015. Hingis is an ITF World champion 15 years after last being named World champion in singles in 2000.
They won their last 22 matches from the start of the US Open through wins in Asia at Guangzhou, Wuhan, Beijing and theWTA Finals, ending the year with a 55-7 record.