Daily Briefing & Quiz / Jan 24, 2019

Wani to be conferred with Ashok Chakra

Lance Naik Nazir Ahmad Wani, who laid down his life during an anti-terror operation at Shopian in Kashmir last November, will be conferred with the Ashoka Chakra, India’s highest peacetime gallantry award, officials said. Wani, 38, hailed from Ashmuji in Kulgmam. He died on November 25 during a fierce gunfight. He was a militant, but later came into the mainstream. He joined the Indian Army in 2004. Wani was part of a number of anti-terror operations in South Kashmir, officials said. Ashok Chakra is the highest peacetime military decoration for valour, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the battlefield. Wani was also awarded the Sena Medal for his indomitable spirit in fighting terrorists.

EWS quota in govt recruitment from Feb 1

Beginning next month, all Central government posts will be filled after factoring in the recently approved 10 per cent reservation for economically weaker sections (EWS), according to an official order. The personnel ministry in the order said that detailed instructions regarding the procedure for the implementation of the EWS quota will be issued separately. “It is hereby notified that 10 per cent reservation would be provided for economically weaker sections in Central government posts and services and would be effective in respect of all direct recruitment vacancies to be notified on or after February 1, 2019,” it said. The Constitution (Amendment) Bill on providing 10 per cent reservation in jobs and education to the general category poor was passed by Parliament on January 9.

Justice Sikri recuses himself from CBI case

Supreme Court judge Justice A.K. Sikri recused himself from hearing a plea challenging the Centre’s decision to appoint M. Nageswara Rao as interim CBI director. A bench headed by Justice Sikri listed the matter for hearing on January 25 before a different bench. As soon as the matter came up for hearing, Justice Sikri told senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for petitioner NGO Common Cause, that he would not like to hear the matter and was recusing himself. Justice Sikri was part of the high-powered panel that had removed CBI director Alok Verma. Earlier this week, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi recused himself from hearing the plea. The CJI said he would be part of the selection committee meeting to choose the new CBI director.

Railways to recruit over 4 lakh employees

Union Minister Piyush Goyal announced that Indian Railways will employ over four lakh people by 2021, indicating that the recruitment under the 10 per cent quota for economically weaker sections would begin soon. He said that at present the Railways have a sanctioned strength of 15.06 lakh employees, of which 12.23 lakh personnel were on the rolls while the remaining 2.82 lakh posts are vacant. “Last year, we undertook the recruitment process for over 1.51 lakh posts, leaving 1.31 lakh posts vacant. And in the coming two years, about 99,000 posts would lie vacant as 53,000 and 46,000 railway employees would retire in 2019 and 2020 respectively,” he said. The first phase of fresh recruitment of 1.31 lakh posts would be initiated in February-March, he said.

Govt to form panel on affordable medicines

The Centre will constitute a standing committee on affordable medicines and health products that would act as a recommending body to the drug pricing regulator with respect to prices of drugs and health products. The committee will have member (health) of NITI Aayog as its chairman, said an order by the Department of Pharmaceuticals. “The committee shall be a recommending body to National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) regarding prices of drugs and health products,” it added. The NPPA is mandated to fix and revise the prices of controlled bulk drugs and formulations and to enforce prices and availability of the medicines. It also monitors the prices of decontrolled drugs in order to keep them at reasonable levels.

Goyal gets additional charge of fin min

Piyush Goyal is likely to present the interim Budget on February 1 as he was given the additional charge of finance ministry as Arun Jaitley is in the US for medical treatment. Jaitley had a surgery on January 22 and has been advised at least two weeks’ rest. Ahead of the interim Budget, Railways Minister Goyal has been given additional charge of finance and corporate affairs ministries. The Budget comes ahead of the general election and the government is expected to make some key announcements, including relief package for farmers, poor and sops for the middle class. This for the second time that Goyal has been given the additional charge of the finance ministry. Last May, Goyal took over after Jaitley underwent kidney transplant surgery.

UN puts India ahead in the GDP race

India will continue to remain the world’s fastest-growing large economy in 2019 as well as 2020, much ahead of China, a UN report said on January 23. According to the UN’s World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2019, India’s GDP growth is expected to accelerate to 7.6 per cent in 2019-20 from an estimated 7.4 per cent in the current fiscal ending March 2019. The growth rate may come down to 7.4 per cent a year later. “Growth continues to be underpinned by robust private consumption, a more expansionary fiscal stance and benefits from previous reforms. Yet, a more robust and sustained recovery of private investment remains crucial to lift medium-term growth,” the report said.

Cabinet nod for SAARC currency swap

The Union Cabinet on January 23 approved amendments to the framework on currency swap arrangement for SAARC countries by incorporating a standby facility of $400 million. The facility would enable India to provide a prompt response to the current request from SAARC members for availing the swap amount exceeding the present limit prescribed under the swap framework. The RBI will negotiate the operational details bilaterally with the central banks of the SAARC countries availing the standby swap. “The Cabinet has given ex-post facto approval for amendment to the framework to incorporate a standby swap amounting to $400 million operated within the overall size of the facility of $2 billion,” a statement said.

Pravasi honour for Gopinath, 29 others

Indian-American IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath, Norwegian MP Himanshu Gulati and South African diplomat Anil Sooklal were among 30 NRIs, people of Indian origin and their organisations honoured with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award on January 23. President Ram Nath Kovind, who gave the valedictory address on the third and final day of the 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, presented the awards at a grand event in Varanasi. The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award is the highest honour conferred as part of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas conventions on a non-resident Indian (NRI), person of Indian origin (PIO) or organisation or institution established and run by NRIs or PIOs.

Govt grants more power to NE councils

The NDA government decided to grant more power and funds to 10 autonomous councils in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura. The Union Cabinet on January 23 approved a “landmark” constitutional amendment to increase the powers of the autonomous councils in the Sixth Schedule areas of the Northeast. The Finance Commission will be mandated to recommend devolution of financial resources to them, an official statement said. The amendment also provides for the transfer of additional 30 subjects, including departments of public works, forests, public health engineering, health and family welfare, urban development and food and civil supplies to Karbi Anglong Autonomous Territorial Council and Dima Hasao Autonomous Territorial Council in Assam.

All mandis to be on e-NAM by 2022

The Centre is planning to link all 7,500 agricultural produce market committees (APMCs) along with weekly and bi-weekly temporary markets with e-NAM - the centralised online commodities trading platform - by FY22, said Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh. Currently, only 585 APMCs are linked with e-NAM, he said, but was quick to add that more than 400 more will be linked to this portal by 2020, taking the total to 1,000 APMCs that are online. That apart, there are around 14,500 temporary mandis dealing in agri and non-agri goods, which the farm ministry wants to interlink with the National Agriculture e-Market (e-NAM), he said. “Already 585 mandis are linked to e-NAM and we are planning to link 22,000 mandis by FY22,” he said.

Oppn leader claims Venezuela presidency

Opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself Venezuela’s interim president on January 23, winning the backing of Washington and many Latin American nations and prompting socialist Nicolas Maduro, who has led the oil-rich nation since 2013, to break relations with the US. US President Donald Trump formally recognised Guaido shortly after his announcement and praised his plan to hold elections. That was swiftly followed by similar statements from Canada and a slew of right-leaning Latin American governments, including Brazil and Colombia. At a rally in Caracas that drew lakhs of Venezuelans, Guaido accused Maduro of usurping power. He promised to create a transitional government to help the country escape its hyperinflationary economic collapse.

Boeing’s flying car aces first test flight

Boeing said on January 23 that its flying car prototype hovered briefly in the air during an inaugural test flight, a small but significant step as the world’s largest planemaker bids to revolutionise urban transportation and parcel delivery services. Boeing is competing with arch-rival Airbus and numerous other firms to introduce small self-flying vehicles capable of vertical takeoff and landing. The investments, fuelled by leaps in autonomous technology as much as frustration with road congestion, could change the face of the aerospace industry within the next decade. Boeing’s 30-ft-long aircraft - part helicopter, part drone and part fixed-wing plane - lifted a few feet off the ground and made a soft landing after less than a minute of being airborne on January 22 at an airport in Manassas, Virginia.

‘Massive collision seeded life on Earth’

Earth most likely received the bulk of its carbon, nitrogen and other elements essential for life from a planetary collision that created the moon over 4.4 billion years ago, according to a study led by Indian-origin scientists. “From the study of primitive meteorites, scientists have long known that Earth and other rocky planets in the inner solar system are volatile-depleted. But the timing and mechanism of volatile delivery has been hotly debated,” said Rajdeep Dasgupta from Rice University in the US. “Ours is the first scenario that can explain the timing and delivery in a way that is consistent with all of the geochemical evidence,” said Dasgupta, co-author of the study published in the journal Science Advances.

China clones gene-edited monkeys

Scientists in China have cloned five monkeys after editing genes to induce several human diseases like Alzheimer’s that they claim will help in medical research, an advance that is likely to raise fresh ethical concerns about gene editing. It is the first time multiple clones had been made from a gene-edited monkey for biomedical research, said Xinhua news agency. The announcement follows the recent confirmation that the world’s first gene-edited human babies have been born in China, following an “unauthorised experiment” that has caused widespread disquiet in the scientific community. Chinese scientists have cloned five monkeys from a gene-edited macaque with circadian rhythm disorders that are linked to sleep problems, depression and Alzheimer’s disease, the report said. The announcement was made in article published in National Science Review, a top Chinese journal in English.

Newsmakers

The CBI has registered an FIR against former ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar in connection with alleged irregularities in providing a Rs 3,250 crore loan to Videocon Group in 2012. 

Malaysia's royal families picked Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah as the country's new king after the last monarch, Sultan Muhammad V, abdicated in a historic first.

Carlos Ghosn, who is under arrest in Japan for financial irregularities, resigned from his post as CEO and chairman of Renault, ending his leadership roles in the auto industry.