National Current Affairs – UPSC/KAS Exams- 1st January 2019
Central Information Commission (CIC)
Topic: Polity and Governance
IN NEWS: The government has appointed Sudhir Bhargava the new Chief Information Commissioner. Four new members have also been appointed to the Central Information Commission (CIC), taking its strength to seven. Four vacancies still remain.
More on the Topic:
- The CIC is the highest appeal body under the Right to Information Act. It has been functioning with just three members since the former chief and several members completed their tenure.
About Central Information Commission:
- The Central Information Commission (CIC) set up under the Right to Information Act is the authorised body, established in 2005,under the Government of India to act upon complaints from those individuals who have not been able to submit information requests to a Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer due to either the officer not have been appointed, or because the respective Central Assistant Public Information Officer or State Assistant Public Information Officer refused to receive the application for information under the RTI Act.
- The Commission includes 1 Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and not more than 10 Information Commissioners (IC) who are appointed by the President of India.
Selection Committee:
- CIC and members are appointed by the President of India on the recommendation of a committee consisting of—Prime Minister as Chairperson, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha; a Union Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the Prime Minister.
Source: The Hindu
RBI Financial Stablity Report
Topic: Indian Economy
IN NEWS: According to RBI’s Financial stability report The gross non-performing asset ratio (GNPA) of commercial banks improved to 10.8% in September from 11.5% in March and is set to improve further to 10.3%.
More on the Topic:
- After a prolonged period of stress, the banking sector appears to be on course to recovery as the load of impaired assets recedes; the first half-yearly decline in gross NPA ratio since September 2015 and improving provision coverage ratio, being positive signals.
- Stress test results suggest further improvement in NPA ratio, though its current level remains still high for comfort.
- GNPAs of state-run banks improved to 14.8% in September 2018 from 15.2% in March 2018, while private sector banks’ gross NPAs fell to 3.8% in September 2018 from 4% in March 2018.
- While asset quality improved, loan loss ratio of banks also increased. The capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of state-run banks also declined.
- The restrictions imposed on 11 public sector banks under the prompt corrective action (PCA) framework has helped in reducing contagion losses on the banking system in case these lenders fail.
- The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) will strengthen credit discipline. A time-bound resolution of impaired assets will go a long way in unclogging the credit pipeline thus improving the allocative efficiency in the economy.
- The shift in credit intermediation from banks to non-banks has given the corporate sector a diverse choice of finance instruments but added non banking finance companies need to be more prudent on risk-taking.
Way Forward:
- There is a need to rebalance excessive credit growth, speceially the one funded by short-term liabilities.
- The slowdown in GDP growth to 7.1% is slower than expected, but pointed out to an uptick in gross fixed capital formation along with the dip in crude oil prices as a positive for sustained growth going forward.
- Globally, the threat of trade war, which would have weakened growth prospects, has softened.
Source:The Hindu
New Horizon and Kuiper Belt
Topic: Science and Technology
In news: New Horizon spaceship is zooming toward the farthest, and quite possibly the oldest, cosmic body ever photographed by humankind, a tiny, distant world called Ultima Thule 6.4 billion kilometres away.
More on the Topic:
- The mysterious object is in a dark and frigid region of space known as the Kuiper Belt. It takes more six hours for a signal sent from Earth to reach the New Horizons, and another six hours for the response to arrive.
- Ultima Thule was discovered in 2014 with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope, and is believed to be 20-30 km in size.
- Hurtling through space at a speed of 51,500 km per hour, the spacecraft aims to make its closest approach within 3,500 km of the surface of Ultima Thule.
- Seven instruments on board will record high-resolution images and gather data about its size and composition.
- Ultima Thule is named for a mythical, far-northern island in medieval literature and cartography, according to NASA.
About Kuiper Belt:
- The Kuiper belt occasionally called the Edgeworth–Kuiper belt, is a circumstellar disc in the outer Solar System, extending from the orbit of Neptune (at 30 AU) to approximately 50 AU from the Sun.
- It is similar to the asteroid belt, but is far larger—20 times as wide and 20 to 200 times as massive.
- Like the asteroid belt, it consists mainly of small bodies or remnants from when the Solar System formed.
- While many asteroids are composed primarily of rock and metal, most Kuiper belt objects are composed largely of frozen volatiles (termed “ices”), such as methane, ammonia and water.
- The Kuiper belt is home to three officially recognized dwarf planets: Pluto, Haumea and Makemake. Some of the Solar System’s moons, such as Neptune’s Triton and Saturn’s Phoebe, may have originated in the region.
Source: PIB
ASI declared 6 monuments of national importance in 2018
Topic: Art and Culture
In news: The 125-year-old Old High Court Building in Nagpur, Maharashtra, and two Mughal-era monuments in Agra — Haveli of Agha Khan and Hathi Khana — are among the six monuments declared protected and of national importance by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in 2018.
More on the Topic:
- The ancient Neemrana Baori in Rajasthan’s Alwar district; the Group of Temples at Ranipur Jharail in Odisha’s Bolangir; and the Vishnu Temple in Kotali, Pithoragarh district, Uttarkhand, are the three other monuments that have been listed.
- In 2016 and 2017, no new monument was included in the list of sites of national importance. The last monument to be included in the list, in 2015, was the Vishnu Temple in Kerala’s Wayanad district.
- There were 3,686 centrally protected monuments/sites under the ASI in the country; the number has now increased to 3,693. Uttar Pradesh (745 monuments/sites), Karnataka (506) and Tamil Nadu (413) have the highest number of ASI-maintained sites.
- According to information available with the Ministry of Culture, about 321 of these centrally protected monuments/sites have been encroached upon.
What are Ancient Monuments?
- According to the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, an “Ancient Monument means any structure, erection or monument, or any tumulus or place of interment, or any cave, rock-sculpture, inscription or monolith which is of historical, archaeological or artistic interest and which has been in existence for not less than 100 years.”
Source: The Hindu
Centre extends AFSPA in Nagaland
Topic: Internal Security
In News: The entire State of Nagaland has been declared ‘disturbed area’ for six more months, till June-end, under the controversial AFSPA, which empowers security forces to conduct operations anywhere and arrest anyone without any prior notice.
More on the Topic:
- Armed Forces (Special Powers) Acts (AFSPA), are Acts of the Parliament of India that grant special powers to the Indian Armed Forces in which each act terms “disturbed areas”.According to The Disturbed Areas (Special Courts) Act, 1976 once declared ‘disturbed’, the area has to maintain status quo for a minimum of 3 months.
- AFSPA is confined to be enacted only when a state, or part of it, is declared a ‘disturbed area’. Continued unrest, like in the cases of militancy and insurgency, and especially when borders are threatened, are situations where AFSPA is resorted to.
- The Acts have received criticism from several sections for alleged concerns about human rights violations in the regions of its enforcement alleged to have happened.
- On July 8, 2016, in a landmark ruling, The Supreme Court of India ended the immunity of the armed forces from prosecution under AFSPA.
Source: PIB
RCEP Agreement
Topic: International Relations
In news: The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which is a proposed Free Trade Agreement between ten ASEAN member states and their six Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners namely India, Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and Republic of Korea, is expected to provide market access for India’s goods and services exports and encourage greater investments and technology into India.
More on the Topic:
- It would also facilitate India’s MSMEs to effectively integrate into the regional value and supply chains.
- On the other hand, India is not a member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) which is a grouping of twenty-one countries in the Asia Pacific region with an aim to deepen and strengthen economic and technological cooperation amongst APEC member countries.
About ASEAN:
- The Association of Southeast Asian Nationsis a regional intergovernmental organization comprising ten countries in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, military, educational, and sociocultural integration among its members and other countries in Asia.
- It also regularly engages other countries in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. ASEAN maintains a global network of alliances and dialogue partners and is considered by some as global powerhouse, the central union for cooperation in Asia-Pacific, and a prominent and influential organisation. It is involved in numerous international affairs, and hosts diplomatic missions throughout the world.
- It is a major partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, developing cooperation model with the organisation for the peace, stability, development and sustainability of Asia.
- It also serves as an international role model in seeking harmony and strength among diversity and differences, as well as a leading figure in global economy, trade, diplomacy and politics.
About APEC:
- Inspired from the success of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)’s series of post-ministerial conferences launched in the mid-1980s, the APEC was established in 1989 in response to the growing interdependence of Asia-Pacific economies and the advent of regional trade blocs in other parts of the world; and to establish new markets for agricultural products and raw materials beyond Europe.
- Headquartered in Singapore, the APEC is recognized as one of the oldest forums and highest-level multilateral blocs in the Asia-Pacific region, and exerts a significant global influence.
- India has requested membership in APEC, and received initial support from the United States, Japan, Australia and Papua New Guinea. Officials have decided not to allow India to join for various reasons, considering that India does not border the Pacific Ocean, which all current members do.
Source: The Hindu
SWAYAM Platform
Topic: Government Initiatives
In news:Till date, more than 39 Lakhs learners have been enrolled in more than 1600+ MOOCs courses that have been run through SWAYAM. 60,000 persons have completed the courses. Credit transfer facility up to 20% is enabled through the notification issued by UGC/AICTE- ‘Credit Framework for online learning courses through SWAYAM Regulation 2016’. It is the endeavor of MHRD to align the courses on the SWAYAM portal with the curriculum of Universities.
More on the Topic:
- The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD)has embarked on a major and new initiative called ‘Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds’ (SWAYAM), which provides one integrated platform and MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) portal for online courses, using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and covering all higher education subjects and skill sector courses.
- All the courses are interactive, prepared by the best teachers in the country and are available, free of cos More than 1,000 specially chosen faculty and teachers from across the Country have participated in preparing these courses.
- In order to ensure best quality content are produced and delivered, 9 National Coordinators have been appointed.
- The Faculty Development Programmes (FDP) is also being developed through SWAYAM. Fifteen lakh untrained teachers are getting trained under DElEd programme of NIOS delivered through SWAYAM.
- The Government has launched Annual Refresher Programme in Teaching (ARPIT), a major and unique initiative of online professional development of 15 lakh higher education faculty using the MOOCs platform of SWAYAM.
- The Online Courses delivered on SWAYAM, are going to reduce the digital divide. It shall, turn out to be a disruptive technology and change the present business model of higher education.
- Since the MOOCs on SWAYAM is integrated with conventional education, it shall bring-in tremendous learning opportunity in coming days and shall prove to be a game changer in the education sector.
Source: PIB
