9 PM Current Affairs Brief – April 4th, 2018

How the data sets stack up What has happened? In recent years, there has been a lot of discussion on increasing inequality within several countries of the world, including India, particularly after the publication of Thomas Piketty’s book on inequality What we discuss here The trends in inequality That the poverty ratio is equally important… Continue reading How the data sets stack up

Poor success rate in cases of atrocities Context As many as 47,338 cases of crimes against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were registered across the country in 2016, the LokSabha was informed NCRB Data Scheduled castes: As per the information provided by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), a total of 40,774 cases were registered… Continue reading Poor success rate in cases of atrocities

Anti-talaq Bill draconian: AIMPLB women’s wing Context Protests against Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017 Present status of the bill: Passed in LokSabha, Pending inn RajyaSabha Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill 2017 The Bill makes all declaration of talaq, including in written or electronic form, to be void (i.e. not enforceable… Continue reading Anti-talaq Bill draconian: AIMPLB women’s wing

Minors can’t opt out of Aadhaar once they are 18’ What has happened? Minors, whose Aadhaar card has already been generated, cannot opt out of the Aadhaar scheme after becoming majors, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) told the Supreme Court on Tuesday. Only locking facility available Residents have the option of permanently locking… Continue reading Minors can’t opt out of Aadhaar once they are 18’

SC to hear Cauvery case on April 9 What has happened? The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear, on April 9, the Centre’s plea to extend the deadline for framing a scheme to implement its February 16 judgment in the Cauvery water dispute SC judgement The February 16 judgment in the Cauvery appeals had… Continue reading SC to hear Cauvery case on April 9

Court questions Centre’s flip-flop What has happened? The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned the government for shifting its stand in the court by first agreeing there is abuse of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and now filing a review petition against the March 20 judgment Centre’s flip flop… Continue reading Court questions Centre’s flip-flop

Ministry withdraws order on ‘fake news’ What has happened? The Information and Broadcasting Ministry withdrew its order, issued on Monday, under which accreditation of any journalist found guilty of disseminating “fake news” could be cancelled On direction of the PM The PM has directed that the press release on the fake news be withdrawn and… Continue reading Ministry withdraws order on ‘fake news’

No affront to Dalit rights, says SC What has happened? The Supreme Court said its March 20 judgment, banning immediate arrest of a person accused of insulting or injuring a Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe member, is meant to protect innocents from arbitrary arrest and not an affront to Dalit rights SC’s comments Protecting the innocent Called… Continue reading No affront to Dalit rights, says SC

The pawns in international disputes What has happened? Among the many hazards that diplomats face today, the most ancient one is expulsion, also known as declaration of a diplomat as persona non grata. It is the most effective bloodless punishment as the person concerned is removed lock, stock, and barrel from the scene, never to… Continue reading The pawns in international disputes

Study sounds the alarm for Arctic ice What has happened? Even if humanity stops global warming in its tracks at two degress Celsius, long seen as the guardrail for a climate-safe world, Arctic sea ice will still disappear in some years, scientists have warned Odds better if held at 1.5 degrees though In a 2… Continue reading Study sounds the alarm for Arctic ice

NASA spots farthest star Context NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has discovered the farthest individual star ever seen — an enormous blue stellar body nicknamed Icarus located over halfway across the universe 9 billion years The star, located in a very distant spiral galaxy, is so far away that its light has taken nine billion years… Continue reading NASA spots farthest star

Launch lessons Context The loss of communication between the ground station and the Indian Space Research Organisation’s latest satellite after its launch on March 29 is deeply disappointing. ISRO’s mission aimed to place the communication satellite, GSAT-6A, in space Launch operation A launch operation can be simplified into the initial three stages, during which the… Continue reading Launch lessons

RBI didn’t audit PNB properly: CVC Context Apportioning blame to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) over the PNB loan fraud, Central Vigilance Commissioner K.V. Chowdary on Tuesday there had been “no apparent audit” by the central bank during the period of the scam Prelims relevant info Central Vigilance Commission Statutory body CVC was established… Continue reading RBI didn’t audit PNB properly: CVC

Back on track Context Successful roll out of e-way bill system What is e-way bill? It is an electronic documentation detailing the movement of goods and has to be carried by transporters for any consignment exceeding Rs 50000 in value It can be generated from the GSTN set up for the e-way bill system by… Continue reading Back on track

Biometric failure is not related to age, says UIDAI Context UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey repliesto a Supreme Court questionnaire from the petitioners challenging the Aadhaar scheme Petitioners’ argument The petitioners have argued that Aadhaar is prone to biometric authentication failure and results in financial exclusion of senior citizens and those employed in manual labour… Continue reading Biometric failure is not related to age, says UIDAI