Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 18 July 2019

::NATIONAL::

CJI wants judiciary to revisit conventional wisdom

Chief Justice of India RanjanGogoi on Wednesday said great institutions like the judiciary should be on their guard against the “wicked and the vile,” who work in their dark recesses to weaken them in a deceptive manner.
The Chief Justice was speaking at the inauguration of the state-of-the-art Additional Building Complex of the Supreme Court. On the occasion, the Court also launched the translation of 100 of its English judgments in seven other languages.
In his address, the CJI said it is time for stakeholders to introspect their respective roles in order to successfully engage in the process of nation-building.
“The threat from such people has always been the greatest to institutions like the judiciary, which do not pander to any particular interest or bow to powerful coteries that breed in the nooks and dark corners,” the CJI said.
The Chief Justice also said there is a dire need for introspection among the stakeholders as to where and how they would like to see this institution in the decades ahead.
In this context, the CJI said the court and all its constituents should revamp existing methodologies and revisit conventional wisdom and traditions.

Centre clears bill amending medical education sector in India

In a move to bring sweeping changes to the medical education sector, the Centre plans to introduce the National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill in this session of Parliament and repeal the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956.
The Union Cabinet approved a revised version of the Bill on Wednesday, almost two years after the original version was introduced in Parliament in December 2017.
The 2017 Bill, which had provoked widespread protests over a proposal for bridge courses to allow AYUSH practitioners to prescribe allopathic medicines, was referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee and amended to remove that contentious initiative. However, it lapsed with the dissolution of the 16th LokSabha.
The current Bill proposes to convert the final year MBBS examination into a licentiate exam, which will be a requirement for doctors to practise medicine. The Bill also proposes to unify all entrance procedures to enforce common standards.
Under the Bill, the NMC will have four autonomous Boards — Undergraduate Medical Education Board, Post-Graduate Medical Education Board, Medical Assessment and Rating Board, and Ethics and Medical Registration Board.
The Commission would also be responsible for regulating fees and all other charges for 50% of the seats in private medical colleges and deemed universities.

::ECONOMY::

Cabinet clears amendment to bankruptcy code

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved amendments to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, placing a greater emphasis on more time-bound resolution and laying down voting rules of the financial creditors.
Among the amendments approved is the one that mandates a deadline for the completion of the resolution process within 330 days, including all litigation and judicial processes.
“Votes of all financial creditors covered under Section 21(6A) shall be cast in accordance with the decision approved by the highest voting share [more than 50%] of financial creditors on present and voting basis,” the release added.
Another amendment allows for creditors who voted against the majority to receive a minimum liquidation value. This decision would have retrospective effect in cases where the resolution plan has not yet been finalised or has been appealed against.
The Amendment Bill also states that the resolution plan will be binding on all the stakeholders, including governments, to whom a debt is owed.

BimalJalan committee to recommend for transfer of RBI reserves

The BimalJalan Committee on treatment of Reserve Bank of India’s reserves is likely to recommend a transfer of a specified quantum of RBI reserves to the government over two or three tranches over the next few years, an official in the Finance Ministry said. The committee will submit its report in 10-15 days, the official said, following the final meeting of the committee on Wednesday.
The government and the RBI have been at loggerheads over the issue of how much of the central bank’s reserves can be transferred to the Centre.
The government view has been that the RBI’s reserves constitute 27% of its total assets, a much higher proportion than the global norm of 14%.
The committee was to keep in mind the statutory mandate under the RBI Act that the profits of the RBI be transferred to the government after it made provisions ‘which are usually provided by the bankers’.
The treatment of the RBI’s reserves is a matter of great importance at a time when the central government has committed to a fiscal deficit target of 3.3% in financial year 2019-20, and a further tightening to 3% the next year.
With tax revenues falling short of expectations, any off-Budget receipts from the RBI will be welcomed by the Centre.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Saudi intercepts drones by Yemeni rebels

The Saudi military says it has intercepted a drone launched at the kingdom's southern border by Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen. Col. Turki al-Maliki, a military spokesman, was quoted in the state-run Saudi Press Agency today as saying the drone was launched by the Houthi rebels from Yemen's Governorate of Sanaa toward the Saudi city of Jizan.
A Saudi-led coalition allied with Yemen's Government has been at war with the Houthis since 2015. The fighting has killed tens of thousands of Yemenis, with Saudi-led air strikes blamed for many civilian deaths.
Late yesterday, al-Maliki had announced the interception of three other Houthi drones launched at Saudi cities near Yemen's border. Bomb-laden drones launched by the Houthis have killed a civilian and wounded others in Saudi Arabia in recent weeks.

ICJ asks Pakistan to review kulbushanjadhav verdict

In a major verdict that accepted India’s plea that former Indian naval officer KulbhushanJadhav’s trial under espionage and terror charges in Pakistan violated international law, the International Court of Justice ruled that Pakistan should “review and reconsider” his conviction and death sentence.
The court, based at The Hague in the Netherlands, also ruled that Pakistan should give the Indian government consular access to Mr.Jadhav, something Pakistan has failed to do in the three years since his arrest, and to stay the execution of his sentence, pending the review process.
The verdict was welcomed by Prime Minister NarendraModi, the government and by leaders across the political spectrum. External Affairs S. Jaishankar said that he had spoken to Mr.Jadhav’s family after the verdict was delivered, and “applauded their courage.”
The Pakistan government claimed a victory of sorts, pointing out that the court had not accepted India’s submissions asking for cancellation of the Pakistani verdict, and to direct Mr.Jadhav’s release. “Commander Jadhav shall remain in Pakistan. He shall be treated in accordance with the laws of Pakistan,” tweeted Foreign Minister Shah MehmoodQureshi.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

IMD plans to review quantity of normal monsoon rain

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is likely to revise downward by 2% the quantity of ‘normal’ monsoonal rain, two independent sources confirmed.
Currently, 89 cm of monsoon rain from June to September is considered ‘normal’, more technically, the long period average (LPA), and this is derived from the average rainfall that the country got from 1960-2010.
The IMD routinely updates ‘normal’ rain every 10-12 years but the changes can take nearly 5 years to reflect in the agency’s official forecasts.
This time the change could be reflected by 2021 after taking into account the monsoon rainfall from 1970-2020, a senior meteorologist connected to IMD's forecast process told.
This year the monsoon has been 16% short over India so far, largely due to a shortfall in June. It has improved in July and the IMD has forecast a pick-up in the coming days due to a ‘monsoon pulse’ in Southern India. Kerala, the Konkan coast, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh will see heavy rainfall.

::SPORTS::

Hima Das wins gold in Tabor Athletics meet

Star Indian sprinter Hima Das clinched her fourth gold in a fortnight as she won the 200m race with a creditable timing in the Tabor Athletics Meet in Czech Republic yesterday.
Hima won the race in 23.25 seconds, which had a mediocre field with most of the competitors representing clubs of Czech Republic.
In men's 400m, Muhammad Anas won in 45.40 seconds, while compatriots Tom Noah Nirmal came second with a season-best effort of 46.59 seconds. KS Jeevan was third with a timing of 46.60 seconds and MP Jabir finished fourth in 47.16 seconds.