9 PM Current Affairs Brief – February 12th, 2018

Govt. ignoring the plight of children: SC Context: The Supreme Court has criticised the government for being slow in implementing juvenile justice laws and ignoring the plight of the children Highlights of the Judgement: The Social Justice Bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta has described the government’s negligence of children This included:… Continue reading Govt. ignoring the plight of children: SC

Let the chips fall where they may Dealing with the unfolding political drama in the Maldives requires a great deal of craft, patience and diplomacy. Context: Instead of restoring democracy and civil liberties in Male, India must look after its strategic interests in the increasingly chaotic Indian Ocean Region. What is in news? Ever since… Continue reading Let the chips fall where they may

India, UAE to deepen strategic ties, counter terror Context: The External Affairs Ministry has recently announced that India and the UAE will hold a bilateral naval exercise. Details It has been declared that India and the UAE will hold naval exercise as maritime security becomes a crucial domain of cooperation focussing on Indian Ocean and… Continue reading India, UAE to deepen strategic ties, counter terror

A plan to save the Great Indian Bustard Context: The Forest Department is framing an action plan to save Great Indian Bustard in Karnataka where its numbers are fast decreasing. About Great Indian Bustard: The Great Indian Bustard or Indian bustard is a bustard found in India and the adjoining regions of Pakistan. A large… Continue reading A plan to save the Great Indian Bustard

Poachers kill rhino, escape with horn Context: Assam Governor Mukhi has directed authorities to take all measures to prevent poaching of rhinos. What has happened?  Recently, an adult rhino has been killed by poachers in the Western range of the Kaziranga  The incident took place at Polokata near the Sitamari area — a sandbar island… Continue reading Poachers kill rhino, escape with horn

Cyberspace shouldn’t help trigger terror: PM Context: Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the World Government Summit cautioned the world that technology should be harnessed as a tool for development, not destruction. Key highlights of Prime Ministers Narendra Modi’s speech: The Prime Minister highlighted the following points: India is aspiring to assume leadership position in Artificial… Continue reading Cyberspace shouldn’t help trigger terror: PM

Turf war Context: The National Stock Exchange, the Bombay Stock Exchange and the Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India decides to stop providing data feed and other support to overseas exchanges that list derivatives linked to Indian stocks and indices. Any existing agreement allowing data-sharing with foreign bourses, except that which is related to exchange-traded funds,… Continue reading Turf war

States of health Context: NITI Aayog’s first Health Index has provided a platform for wider public debate. About the Report: The report titled “Healthy States, Progressive India”, measured the health index through various indicators The reference year for most indicators is 2015 or 2016 and the base years to gauge improvement are between one and… Continue reading States of health

15 months on, RBI still processing returned notes Context: After demonetization, the Reserve Bank of India has said that Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes are still being processed for their arithmetical accuracy and genuineness. Number of demonetised notes: The estimated value of specified bank notes received as on June 30, 2017 is Rs. 15.28… Continue reading 15 months on, RBI still processing returned notes

Cryptocurrency: ‘trustless’ nature irks regulators Context: Last October, the Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) discussed the growing usage of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) to raise capital as an area of concern. The risk factors: ICOs typically involve the creation of digital tokens and using distributed ledger technology and their sale to… Continue reading Cryptocurrency: ‘trustless’ nature irks regulators

New rubber policy soon: Alphons Context: The Central government will soon come out with a new Rubber Policy which will ensure remunerative prices for natural rubber. Focus areas: All the issues, including minimum support price for natural rubber, possibility of introducing Minimum Import Price for the produce, and concerns over the introduction of BIS for… Continue reading New rubber policy soon: Alphons

‘Inflation to moderate to 5% for Jan.’ Context: Foreign brokerage Morgan Stanley has recently stated in its report that retail inflation is expected to moderate at 5% for January Highlights of the Report: The report has stated improvement in both inflation and trade deficit numbers for January Improvement in inflation numbers has been helped largely… Continue reading ‘Inflation to moderate to 5% for Jan.’

Hardly a gamechanger Context: The National Health Protection Scheme announced in this year’s Budget has generated a lot of debate. Why in news? The government has committed to “providing coverage up to Rs. 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation” for 10 crore poor families, with approximately 50 crore people… Continue reading Hardly a gamechanger

Why the fuss about fiscal deficit? Context: India’s fiscal deficit in the past ten years (based on actuals) has hovered between 3.5% and 6.4% of nominal GDP. Expenses overshoot In FY18, the Centre’s total income (as per the revised estimates) from taxes, non-tax revenues and capital items is estimated at Rs. 16.23 lakh crore. But… Continue reading Why the fuss about fiscal deficit?