9 PM Current Affairs Brief – April 6th, 2018

‘Skill India’ urgently needs reforms Context Salvaging the Indian demographic dividend  Background Sharada Prasad Committee: In 2016, the Government of India formed the Sharada Prasad Committee to rationalise the Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) and improve ‘Skill India’. Main point stressed in the suggestions by the Committee Focus on youth and need for vocational education not… Continue reading ‘Skill India’ urgently needs reforms

Was the SC right on the anti-atrocities law? Context The recent Supreme Court ruling on the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Author is in agreement with the SC’s view It directs the police to verify all the facts of a case before registering a complaint under the Act so as to… Continue reading Was the SC right on the anti-atrocities law?

SC raps govt for passsing ordinance What has happened? The Supreme Court on Thursday rapped the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Kerala government for promulgating an ordinance to “blatantly nullify” last year’s apex court order freezing illegal medical admissions made in the State. SC observed It stayed the operation of the ordinance and made it clear that no… Continue reading SC raps govt for passsing ordinance

Expanding the SC/ST Act What has happened? The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2015, was highlighted in the Supreme Court by the government as a significant step taken to affirm the trust of the SC/STs in the law. The amendments, which came into effect in January 2016, expand the… Continue reading Expanding the SC/ST Act

Over 100 tiny plastic fibres present in every meal: study Context A study conducted by scientists from Heriot-Watt University What they did? They put petri dishes containing sticky dust traps on the table next to dinner plates in three homes What did they find? Up to 14 bits of plastic were found in the petri… Continue reading Over 100 tiny plastic fibres present in every meal: study

Milky Way core may have thousands of black holes What has happened? Astrophysicists have detected a dozen black holes around Sagittarius A (the black hole at the center of the milky way), at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. They say that there could be as many as 10,000 black holes there Significance The… Continue reading Milky Way core may have thousands of black holes

Govt. forms committee to regulate news portals What has happened? The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has instituted a committee to regulate online portals, including news websites, entertainment sites and media aggregators Who shall be the members of the committee? The 10-member committee will include Secretaries of the departments of Home, Legal Affairs, Electronics and… Continue reading Govt. forms committee to regulate news portals

Consent is crucial Context Data protection Backdrop Data science and data protection are in news due to two recent incidents Data breach at Facebook, which saw allegations of the U.K.-based Cambridge Analytica (CA) illegally accessing over 87 million users’ information for personalisation of digital campaigns Allegations are being made that the official mobile apps of… Continue reading Consent is crucial

Can DNA be taken for Aadhaar, asks judge Context An executive authority may even expand the meaning of biometrics What has happened? Justice D.Y. Chandrachud pointed out how the Aadhaar Act could allow the State, in future, to seek DNA, hair and even semen samples from citizens as “biometric information.” Where the law is unclear?… Continue reading Can DNA be taken for Aadhaar, asks judge

RBI fiat on payment system operators’ data What has happened? The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said all payment system operators’ data must be stored only within the country. To ensure data access for supervision Deadline: The central bank gave the operators six months to comply with the directive. Access to data: The move… Continue reading RBI fiat on payment system operators’ data

RBI bars banks from dealing with virtual currencies What has happened? The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked banks to stop providing service to any entity dealing with virtual currencies, with immediate effect. Three-month deadline Regulated entities that are already providing such services should exit the relationship within three months. After advising all stakeholders… Continue reading RBI bars banks from dealing with virtual currencies

‘Tax on alcohol, tobacco to benefit poor’ What has happened? Levying taxes on unhealthy products can produce major health gains for the poorest in society, especially if tax revenues are used to fund pro-poor programmes, noted a study published in the Lancet on Thursday. These unhealthy products include soft drinks, alcohol and tobacco. Poor households most affected… Continue reading ‘Tax on alcohol, tobacco to benefit poor’

Wilful default of loans hits honest taxpayers, says Kovind Context President calls for more women to join India’s work force  What has happened? President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday said wilful and criminal default on bank loans had hurt innocent citizens and honest taxpayers had to bear the brunt of such frauds. Background Inaugurating the… Continue reading Wilful default of loans hits honest taxpayers, says Kovind

Surprise softening What has happened? The Reserve Bank of India’s policymakers have acted predictably in opting to keep interest rates unchanged and in retaining the ‘neutral’ stance. Price stability, after all, remains the Monetary Policy Committee’s primary remit, and trend line retail inflation continues to run above its medium-term target of a durable headline inflation… Continue reading Surprise softening