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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 19 July 2019

::NATIONAL::

Pakistan to grant consular access to Kulbushan Jadhav

Pakistan has said, it will grant consular access to Indian national Kulbushan Jadhav as per the Pakistani laws, for which the modalities are being worked out.
The Pakistan Foreign Ministry, in a statement last night, said, pursuant to the decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Jadhav has been informed of his rights as per the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
Meanwhile, India has called upon Pakistan to release and repatriate its national Kulbhushan Jadhav following the ICJ judgment.
Making a statement in the Rajya Sabha yesterday, External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar asserted that Jadhav is innocent of the charges made against him and his forced confession without legal representation and due process will not change this reality.
In April 2017, Jadhav was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism following which India had moved the ICJ, seeking a stay on his death sentence and further remedies.

EC issues notices to parties over national party status

Election Commission has issued a show-cause notice to the Nationalist Congress Party, Trinamool Congress and Communist Party of India regarding the withdrawal of National Party status after the dismal performance in Lok Sabha elections.
Sources said, the Commission has asked them to explain why their national party status should not be revoked. They have been asked to respond to the notice issued yesterday by 5th of next month.
Similar notices were earlier issued to the parties after their dismal performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as well.
According to the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, a political party can be recognized as a national party if its candidates secure at least six per cent of votes polled in four or more states in Lok Sabha or assembly elections and, in addition, has at least four members in the Lok Sabha.
However, these parties got a reprieve when the EC amended its rules in 2016, where national and state party status of political parties are to be reviewed every 10 years instead of five.
As of now, TMC, BJP, BSP, CPI, CPI(M), Congress, NCP and National People's Party of Meghalaya have national party status.

::ECONOMY::

SEBI opposes centre’s move to transfer surplus to consolidated fund

The government’s proposal to transfer surplus money with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI) has met with a strong opposition from the regulatory body.
The capital markets regulator feels that the proposal would result in compromising its “autonomy and its ability to function effectively” towards the progress and development of the Indian securities market.
The government has proposed an amendment to the SEBI Act, which states that the SEBI would constitute a reserve fund and 25% of the annual surplus of the general fund would be put in the reserve fund. Further, the size of such reserve fund cannot exceed the total of annual expenditure of the preceding two financial years.
More importantly, the surplus of the general fund, after factoring in all the SEBI expenses and the transfer to the reserve fund, needs to be transferred to the CFI as per amendments proposed in the Finance Bill, 2019.
The general fund of the SEBI, which currently has a balance of over Rs. 3,000 crore, is used to meet the expenses of the regulatory body, including salaries and allowances. The fund gets money via charges that the SEBI levies on market participants in the form of registration or processing fees.

Ex-CEA says India might have to revise growth rates

India may have to revise downwards what is considered its “potential” rate of growth from 7-8% to bring expectations more in line with reality, former Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) Arvind Subramanian has argued in a paper.
This paper comes as a follow-up to the one Mr. Subramanian published last month, in which he had argued that India’s GDP growth in the 2011-17 period had been overestimated by 2.5 percentage points and that the actual growth rate was about 4.5%.
The original paper drew a lot of criticism over its methodology and assertions. The follow-up paper is an attempt to address those criticisms. The first question raised, Mr. Subramanian said, was how India can, right now, grow at the same rate as it did in the pre-1980 Hindu rate of growth period, when the economic condition was clearly much worse.
Further, he said, the 4.5% growth rate was all the more impressive because the size of the economy now is five times of what it was in the 1980s. “Most impressively, a 4.5% growth rate is a notable achievement in the current, post-Global Financial Crisis world,” he added.
He argued that this benchmark of 8% failed to take into account a number of factors that took effect in the years following the boom years, such as the twin balance sheet (TBS) problem, the export collapse, rising oil prices, loss of macroeconomic stability under UPA-II, drought in 2014-15, and finally, demonetisation.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

India urges UN member states to take action against Hafiz Saeed

India today said effective action against 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed and his terrorist organizations is an obligation on part of all UN Member states, including Pakistan.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar told media in New Delhi that this is not the first time Hafiz Saeed has been arrested or detained, and it remains to be seen whether Saeed will be tried and sentenced for his terrorist activities this time.
He said Pakistan’s sincerity to take action against terrorists and terror groups will be judged on the basis of their ability to demonstrate verifiable, credible and irreversible actions against terrorists and to disrupt and dismantle terror groups operating from their soil. He hoped that this time Hafiz Saeed will genuinely be brought to justice.
India has long maintained that the United Nations Security Council 1267 provisions pertaining to listing and proion of known terrorist entities and individuals must be effectively and sincerely enforced by all member states. He also carries a reward of 10 million dollars under US law.

India confirms close monitoring of peace efforts in Afghanistan

India is closely following the developments related to the peace and reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan as a close neighbour and an important stake holder in the country.
Talking to media in New Delhi today afternoon, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said US side briefs India on their talks with Afghanistan from time to time.
He said India will exchange views tomorrow with the Special Representative from Germany who is responsible for intra-Afghan dialogue.
Mr Kumar added that India believes that all initiatives and processes must include all sections of the Afghan society, including the legitimately elected government.
He said that any process should respect the constitutional legacy and political mandate and should not lead to any ungoverned spaces where terrorists and their proxies can relocate.
He said India has supported a national peace and reconciliation process which is Afghan led, Afghan owned and Afghan controlled.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

More than 7000 species added to IUCN red list

Mankind’s destruction of nature is driving species to the brink of extinction at an “unprecedented” rate, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) warned on Thursday, as it added more than 7,000 animals, fish and plants to its endangered “Red List”.
The group has now assessed more than 1,05,000 species worldwide, around 28,000 of which risk extinction.
While each group of organisms face specific threats, human behaviour, including overfishing and deforestation, was the biggest driver of plummeting populations.
“Nature is declining at rates unprecedented in human history,” said IUCN acting director general Grethel Aguilar. “We must wake up to the fact that conserving nature’s diversity is in our interest.”
Wedgefishes and giant guitarfishes, known collectively as Rhino Rays due to their elongated snouts, are now the most imperilled marine families on Earth.
The False Shark Ray is on the brink of extinction after overfishing in the waters off of Mauritania saw its population collapse by 80% in the last 45 years. Seven species of primate are closer to extinction on the new list, including the Roloway Monkey of Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana, with fewer than 2,000 individuals left in the wild.
More than 500 deep-sea bony fish and molluscs have been added to the list for the first time posing something of a conservation conundrum as the space they inhabit — 1,000 metres beneath the surface — is often beyond national boundaries.

::SPORTS::

ICC suspends Zimbabwe cricket for violation of constitution

The International Cricket Council, ICC has suspended Zimbabwe Cricket with immediate effect over violation of global body's constitution which doesn't allow any government intervention.
The current elected members of Zimbabwe Board were suspended by government agency Sports and Recreation Committee (SRC) which was a violation of relevant articles of ICC Constitution.
As a consequence of suspension, ICC funding to Zimbabwe Cricket will be frozen and representative teams from Zimbabwe will not be allowed to participate in any ICC events.
The ICC has directed that the elected Zimbabwe Cricket Board be reinstated to the office within three months and progress in this respect will be considered again at the October Board meeting.