9 PM Current Affairs Brief – March 14th, 2018

Legal experts divided over SC ruling on foreign law firms Context SC’s recent ruling of not allowing the foreign firms to practice in India Arguments against the ruling Liberalization of legal sector: There is a question that pertains to liberalization of the legal sector in accordance with WTO initiated global trade negotiations No intent to… Continue reading Legal experts divided over SC ruling on foreign law firms

SC shuts the door on foreign law firms What happened? Keeping India’s legal market exclusively for Indians, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that foreign law firms or foreign lawyers cannot practise law in the country either on the litigation or non-litigation side. What this means? This means overseas lawyers or firms cannot open offices… Continue reading SC shuts the door on foreign law firms

The French connections Context Growing partnership and cooperation between India and France Long relationship Both India and France share a similar world view Cooperation in the space sector has continued since the 1960s when France helped India set up the Sriharikota launch site, followed by liquid engine development and hosting of payloads France was the… Continue reading The French connections

TB elimination goal advanced by five years       What happened? India’s TB elimination goal advanced by five years ahead of the global target by the Prime Minister Background He was speaking at the inauguration of the Delhi End TB Summit Launched “TB Free India Campaign” The Prime Minister also launched the TB Free India… Continue reading TB elimination goal advanced by five years      

First, the basic sciences Context Investment by India in scientific enterprise Are Indians investing enough in science, and how should this investment be divided? As per data provided by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, India invests about 0.8% of its GDP on research and development, and supports 156 researchers per million of population China: The… Continue reading First, the basic sciences

An urgent prescription Context Declining public sector capacity for manufacture of essential drugs and vaccines Why public sector is needed for manufacture of essential drugs and vaccines? Affordable cost: Public sector capacity for manufacture of essential drugs and vaccines is very much needed to ensure that our population is not denied access to drugs that… Continue reading An urgent prescription

ICMR wins the 2017 Kochon Prize for TB research Context The 2017 Kochon Prize was awarded to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in New Delhi for building a tradition of excellence in TB research and development Kochon Prize The $65,000 Prize is awarded annually by Stop TB Partnership to individuals and/or organizations that have… Continue reading ICMR wins the 2017 Kochon Prize for TB research 

What was the 20:80 gold import scheme? Context The Centre on Monday announced its intention to probe the circumstances behind the extension of the 20:80 gold import scheme, previously restricted to banks and PSUs, to private parties in the final days of the previous government’s term in 2014 What prompted the scheme? In response to… Continue reading What was the 20:80 gold import scheme?  

‘Laws on location services shouldn’t hit innovation’ Context Geospatial Information Regulation Bill or GIRB New features rolled out by Google Multilingual voice navigation: Google rolled out new features to aid easier navigation using Google Maps, including voice navigation in six languages – Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam Plus Codes: It also unveiled ‘Plus… Continue reading ‘Laws on location services shouldn’t hit innovation’

CAG flags Railways’ parlous finances Context High Operating Costs of Indian Railways Wrong value reported in 2016-17 The reported operating ratio of 96.5% in 2016-17 Correct Value 99.54% if the actual expenditure on pension payments was taken into account, according to the CAG report tabled in Parliament. What does this mean? An operating ratio of… Continue reading CAG flags Railways’ parlous finances

Post-scam, RBI stops issue of LoUs What happened? In the wake of an escalating controversy over the Nirav Modi-centred scam at the Punjab National Bank (PNB), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to discontinue the practice of providing guarantees by issuing letters of undertaking (LoUs) and letters of comfort (LoCs) for trade credits… Continue reading Post-scam, RBI stops issue of LoUs