Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 19 MARCH 2019

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 19 MARCH 2019

::NATIONAL::

Supreme court clarifies on imposition of death penalty

•  If a court finds it difficult to make a choice between death penalty and life imprisonment, it should opt for the lesser punishment, the Supreme Court said in a recent judgment.
•  “Life imprisonment is the rule to which the death penalty is the exception. The death sentence must be imposed only when life imprisonment appears to be an altogether inappropriate punishment, having regard to the relevant facts and circumstances of the crime,” a Bench of Justices N.V. Ramana, Mohan M. Shantanagoudar and Indira Banerjee observed in its March 12 verdict.
•  The judgment was based on an appeal filed by a man sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a five-year-old in Madhya Pradesh.
•  Writing the judgment for the Bench, Justice Shantanagoudar agreed the man has indeed committed a horrifying crime. It was both heinous and premeditated. He had gained the trust of the victim’s family on a false pretext. His intention was to gain custody of the child. By this, he had not only abused the faith reposed in him but also “exploited the innocence and helplessness of a child as young as five years of age.”
•  At the same time, Justice Shantanagoudar said there is a probability that the man would reform, considering he never had a prior criminal record. The court also kept in mind his “overall conduct.”
•  “With regard to the totality of the facts and circumstances of the case, we are of the opinion that the crime in question may not fall under the category of cases where the death sentence is necessarily to be imposed,” the court held.
•  The court ordered the convict to serve his life sentence with a minimum of 25 years’ imprisonment without remission.

NGT pulls up centrefor furnishing inadequate data

•  The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has pulled up the Union Environment Ministry for not furnishing proper data on monitoring mechanism for compliance of conditions of environment clearance granted by the Ministry.
•  A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel directed a senior official of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change to appear before the tribunal on April 29.
•  “The data furnished is wholly inadequate to evaluate the effectiveness of functioning of mechanism. Adequate mechanism is the mandate of “precautionary principle” and “sustainable development” to be enforced by this tribunal. It appears that either the data is being withheld or the response of the officer is otherwise inadequate,” the Bench observed.
•  The observations came following submissions by the Ministry that “a mechanism existed to periodically monitor the compliance of environmental clearance conditions which was being strengthened”. The tribunal had in January directed the MoEF to furnish data on the same following which it submitted that a total of 6,779 projects were monitored between 2013-2014 and 2018-19.
•  “The data merely mentions figures of the projects monitored, without mentioning the extent of defaults found and further action taken, in absence of which the effectiveness of monitoring mechanism cannot be assessed,” the Bench observed.

::ECONOMY::

Anti profiteering measures could be invoked without complaints : NAA

•  Consumer complaints are not the only trigger for the National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA) to act, said its chairman B.N. Sharma.
•  Mock purchases can be made by NAA offices to check a trader’s invoice for profiteering.
•  “This invoice could later be cancelled and the cancelled invoice be taken cognisance of for checking out matters if need be,” he said, participating in a special session on ‘Anti Profiteering in GST’, organised by the Merchants Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI).
•  The NAA was set up under Section 171 of the Central GST Act, 2017 to check whether trade and industry were passing on rate reductions under the Goods and Services (GST) Tax.
•  Besides interested parties, the NAA chairman, as a civilian, could also take note of any instance, he said.
•  Citing instances of some tax payers increasing prices of products whose rates have been reduced, he said, “Industry has to first pass on the benefits and then increase prices, say two months later, in a justifiable manner.” MCCI president Vishal Jhajharia said as per the LokSabha proceedings of January 4, 2019, NAA had issued orders against nine businesses which were found not to have passed on rate cut benefits to the tune of Rs. 559.8 crore.

PrasarBharthi chairman moots new age broadcasting platforms to create revolution

•  PrasarBharati chairman A Surya Prakash has said that with the arrival of new age platforms in broadcasting, there is a paradigm shift in defining broadcasting.
•  Delivering inaugural address at 1st India international broadcasting conclave 2019 in Hyderabad on Monday, Mr Surya Prakash said in the age of convergence the content can come from any platforms. He said there is information revolution now and the new age revolution brought out a paradigm shift in broadcasting.
•  The annual growth rate of television viewers is 13.4 per cent which is higher than GDP. He also said India is 2nd largest internet user growing at the rate of 30 per cent. Mr Surya Prakash stressed the need to explore broadcasting policy as the new age platforms are gaining popularity in the country.
•  Information and Broadcasting Secretary AmitKhare said, besides technological challenges, Doordarshan has to face competition from private channels which are 875 in the country.
•  He said PrasarBharati also faces a challenge to improve access and optimum utilization of spectrum. He said last year the growth of AIR and DD has been satisfying.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

India -Guinea to expand bilateral trade

•  The President was happy to note that India is among the top trading partners of Guinea. He said that India-Guinea bilateral trade in 2017-18 reached almost US$ 900 million, representing an increase of nearly 40 per cent from the previous year.
•  He said that both sides must continue to work to see how we can further enhance bilateral trade in the coming years.MrKovind said this while welcoming Prime Minister of Guinea DrIbrahimaKassoryFofana at RashtrapatiBhavan today.
•  The President said, both the countries must continue to work to further enhance bilateral trade in coming years.
•  MrKovind said recent high level visits have imparted a new momentum to India-Guinea bilateral ties. He expressed confidence that DrIbrahima's visit will mark yet another high point.

Maldives reaffirm ‘India first policy’

•  Requests for a cricket stadium, renewable energy projects and a thousand additional slots for Maldivian students in Indian courses were the highlights of the discussions during External Affairs Minister SushmaSwaraj’s visit to the Maldives on Monday, as the island nation reaffirmed its “India first” policy.
•  Prime Minister NarendraModi attended the swearing-in of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in November and announced $1.4 billion in grants and lines of credit to the Maldives. Mr. Solih visited Delhi in December. Ms. Swaraj’s visit is seen as an occasion to discuss follow-up measures on announcements made during those visits, officials said.
•  While India has agreed to consider a request to build a cricket stadium, it has accepted an offer of reclaimed land for the new Indian Embassy in the suburban island of Hulhumale, which has been developed by Chinese companies.
•  The Solih government is in the process of auditing and reviewing many of the contracts given by the Yameen government to China, which had been one of the causes of friction between the Maldives and India over the past few years.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Japanese space agency to make crater on asteroid

•  Japan’s space agency said on Monday that its Hayabusa2 spacecraft will drop an explosive on an asteroid to make a crater and then collect underground samples for possible clues to the origin of the solar system.
•  The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said that Hayabusa2 will drop an impactor of the size of a baseball weighing 2 kg on the asteroid, named Ryugu, on April 5 to collect samples from deeper underground that have not been exposed to the sun or space rays.
•  The mission will require the spacecraft to move quickly to the other side of the asteroid so it won’t get hit by flying shards from the blast, JAXA project engineer Takanao Saeki said.
•  While moving away, Hayabusa2 will leave a camera to capture the outcome. Scientists will then analyse details of the crater to determine the history of the asteroid.

::SPORTS::

Kohli and Bumrah maintain top spots in ODI rankings

•  Indian skipper ViratKohli and pacer JaspritBumrah have retained top positions in the latest ICC ODI rankings.
•  Kohli remained at the number one spot in the list of batsmen after he scored 310 runs in the recently-concluded home series against Australia which India lost, 2-3. Rohit Sharma remained number two. KedarJadhav's all-round effort helped him move up 11 places to a career-best 24th.
•  In the Bowlers' list, Bumrah is at the top, followed by New Zealand fast bowler Trent Boult at the second spot.
•  The all-rounders' table continues to be headed by Afghanistan's Rashid Khan. No Indian figures in the top-five.In the team rankings, India is second, behind leaders England.

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