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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 12 October 2017

::National::

Sex with minor wife amounts to rape

The Supreme Court held that sexual intercourse by a man with his wife, who is below 18 years of age, is rape.
A girl child below the age of 18 cannot be treated as a commodity having no say over her body or someone who has no right to deny sexual intercourse to her husband, the Supreme Court held.
The court read down Exception 2 to Section 375 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which allowed the husband of a girl child — between 15 and 18 years of age — blanket liberty and freedom to have non-consensual sexual intercourse with her.
Her willingness or consent was of no concern. The husband in such cases was not punished for rape.
The exception had remained an anomaly because Section 375 itself mandated that sex with a girl below 18 years of age, with or without her consent, was statutory rape.
An unmarried girl child can prosecute her rapist, but a married girl child aged between 15 and 18 could not even do that, Justice Lokur said, pointing out the injustice.
The court, however, refrained from dealing with the issue of marital rape of a woman aged above 18.
With this judgment, considered by experts as trigger to declaring child marriage void ab initio, the court ended the decades-old disparity between Exception 2 to Section 375 IPC and other child protection laws.

Accelerating growth and employment top target for PMEAC

Accelerating growth and employment over the next six months would be the top priority of the recently reconstituted PMEAC, its chairman BibekDebroy said, acknowledging the slowdown in the economy.
“There is consensus among us about the various reasons that have contributed to the slowdown,” Mr. Debroy said after the first meeting of the Council on Wednesday.
“However, we will not be sharing what these reasons are, other than to the PM,” said Mr. Debroy, who is also a member of the NITI Aayog.
The five-member Council was unanimous that the government shouldn’t stray from the path of fiscal consolidation, thus ruling out a fiscal stimulus to reverse the downturn in the economy.
Mr. Debroy said the committee had reached a consensus on the fiscal consolidation policy being followed by the government.
The priority areas include economic growth, employment and job creation, informal sector and integration, fiscal framework, monetary policy, public expenditure, institutions of economic governance, agriculture and animal husbandry, patterns of consumption and production, and the social sector.
Stressing that there is no good data regarding jobs, employment and unemployment, Mr. Debroy said the only good way to obtain satisfactory jobs data is through household surveys and that the previous National Sample Survey was released in 2011, and the next one will release data only in 2018.

PM wants outcome-based approach to ensure comprehensive rural development

PM has urged government departments to follow an outcome-based approach to ensure comprehensive rural development, and appealed to citizens to use rural products as a “fashion statement” to ensure prosperity of rural artisans.
“It is not enough to say we want to ensure development. If we do it in a time-bound manner and ensure our schemes benefit the target group, there is no dilution or diversion and the approach is outcome-based, then by 2022, our rural development will be so fast that it will fulfil our dreams of the past 70 years,” Mr. Modi said.
Ahead of Deepavali, the Prime Minister appealed to the well-off to use earthen lamps made by rural artisans for the festival.
PM shared his views on rural development at an event to mark the centenary celebrations of NanajiDeshmukh, one of the founding members of the Jana Sangh and social reformer, and the 115th birth anniversary of the socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan.
Mr. Modi said he did not agree with the view that “the country lacks resources to ensure development to the last person in a queue”. He said lack of “good governance” was what was holding back the desired results.
He said the States that had an efficient and proactive machinery delivered welfare schemes better.
The Prime Minister, who formally launched 11 Rural Self-Employment Training Institutes (RSETI) and a mobile app to track development schemes, said democracy was not just about winning elections but ensuring participative development.

Central Pollution Control Board served notice to 225 firms

Nearly 225 companies that manufacture electronic goods — from smartphones to laptops —have been served notice by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPC) for not complying with electronic-waste procurement norms.
These norms, spelt out last October and in effect since May, require companies to ensure that a portion of e-waste, or electronic goods manufactured by them that were past their use-by-date, was collected and “scientifically recycled.”
Union Environment Ministry last October — via a concept called Extended Producer Responsibility — included dealers, retailers and refurbishers of electronic goods as among those responsible for ensuring that electronic or e-waste goods are collected and “scientifically” recycled.
As per the new rules, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) was given the overall responsibility of ensuring that firms complied with the power to levy fines for non compliance.
The new rules specified that producers would have to ensure collection of 30% of e-waste — the percentage on self-determined basis on their projected sales — by 2018 and 70% by 2023.
Failure to do so would result in fines. The list of companies, listed on the CPCB website, include some of India’s electronics majors.
With nearly 1.7 million tonnes of e-waste reportedly produced in India in 2014, the latest available, and increasing annually at between four and five per cent, a variety of experts have warned of its dangers to the environment and health.

::International::

U.S. has flown two supersonic heavy bombers over the Korean peninsula

The U.S. has flown two supersonic heavy bombers over the Korean peninsula in a show of force against Pyongyang, staging the first night-time joint aviation exercises with Japan and South Korea.
Two B-1B Lancers based in Guam flew a mission in the vicinity of the Sea of Japan, the U.S. Pacific Air Forces said in a statement.
South Korean defence authorities on Wednesday said the bombers staged a simulated air-to-ground missile firing drill with two South Korean fighters over the Sea of Japan (East Sea).
The four aircraft then flew across the peninsula and staged another round of a firing exercise over the Yellow Sea before the two B-IBs returned home, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
“Through the practice this time, South Korean and U.S. air forces showed off the allies’ resolve for strong retaliation against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats,” the statement added.
The B-1Bs also conducted exercises with Japan’s Air Force in what the U.S. statement called a “sequenced bilateral mission.”

::Science and Tech::

WHO released new guidelines for professionals to better identify people in need of help

With increasing evidence that childhood obesity is a “global epidemic” affecting even the poorer nations, the World HealthOrganization (WHO) has released new guidelines on how trained professionals can better identify youngsters in need of help.
India has the second highest number of obese children in the world after China, according to a study. Doctors say identification of obesity in children is the main issue as often parents think a chubby child is a healthy child.
The WHO guidelines titled “Assessing and managing children at primary healthcare facilities to prevent overweight and obesity in the context of the double burden of malnutrition” provides updates for the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI).
The guideline includes counselling, dieting and assessment of eating habits along with the usual weight and height measurements.The Indian Medical Association (IMA) is disseminating the WHO guideline to all its members.
IMA National President K.K. Aggarwal said that the prevalence of obesity in children reflects changing patterns towards unhealthy diets and physical inactivity.
A study published in Paediatric Obesity says India will have over 17 million children with excess weight by 2025.

Extremely lightweight material that can withstand high temperature and stress

Scientists have identified an extremely lightweight material that can withstand high temperature and stress, a step towards developing hypersonic aircraft able to travel at five to 10 times the speed of sound.
The research by researchers at NASA and Binghamton University in the U.S. could lead to a drastic decrease in flight times.
There are currently quite a few obstacles when it comes to building these superplanes, said Binghamton University Associate Professor Changhong Ke.
The first of the concerns is finding a material that can hold up to hypersonic travel.
Typically, carbon nanotubes have been used in planes for their strength — they are stronger than steel — and their ability to conduct heat, researchers said.
However, BNNTs are the wave of the future when it comes to air travel, they said in a study published in the journal Scientific Reports .

::Business and Economy::

GST council takes action to remove the cascading effects of petroleum products

The Centre said that the GST Council had at its meeting on October 6 taken decisions to reduce the cascading effect of excluding petrol, diesel, ATF, natural gas and crude oil from the purview of GST.
The decisions include cutting the rate on ancillary services such as transport of natural gas through a pipeline, and import of rigs.
“To reduce the cascading of taxes arising on account of non-inclusion of petrol, diesel, ATF, natural gas and crude oil in GST and to incentivize investments in the E&P sector and downstream sector.
Offshore works contract services and associated services relating to oil and gas exploration and production in offshore areas beyond 12 nautical miles would be taxed at 12%, according to the release.
The transportation of natural gas through pipelines would attract GST of 5% without input tax credits (ITC), or 12% with full ITC.
“The exclusion of these products from GST increases the cost of these products as input GST not being creditable against sale of these products adds to the cost of these products.
Further, excise duty/VAT payable on sale of these products is not available as credit to industries buying these products. Thus, it is a double hit.”

Net direct tax collections for the first half of the financial year crossed 3.5 crores

Net direct tax collections for the first half of the financial year, at Rs. 3.86 lakh crore, were 15.8% higher than the collections in the same period of the previous year, according to official data released.
“The provisional figures of Direct Tax collections up to September, 2017 show that net collections are at Rs. 3.86 lakh crore which is 15.8% higher than the net collections for the corresponding period of last year,” the official data showed.
“Net Direct Tax collections represent 39.4% of the total Budget Estimates of Direct Taxes for financial year 2017-18 (Rs. 9.8 lakh crore).
Gross collections, before adjusting for refunds, increased 10.3% to Rs. 4.66 lakh crore during April to September 2017.Refunds worth Rs. 79,660 crore have been issued during that period.
“An amount of Rs. 1.77 lakh crore has been received as Advance Tax up to September 30, 2017 reflecting a growth of 11.5% over the Advance Tax payments of the corresponding period of last year,” the release said.
“The growth in Corporate Income Tax Advance Tax is 8.1% and in Personal Income Tax Advance Tax is 30.1%,” according to the data.

IMF said policymakers must take advantage of the improving global outlook

The International Monetary Fund (IMF said policymakers must take advantage of the improving global outlook and avoid complacency by addressing rising medium-term vulnerabilities that are building under the surface.
“This is no time for complacency. Action is required now because vulnerabilities are building. This could put growth at risk in the future,” Tobias Adrian, IMF financial counsellor, told journalists on the release of its Global Financial Stability Report.
Noting that vulnerabilities are building under the surface, Mr. Adrian said if left unattended, they could derail global recovery.