DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

By admin: Dec. 17, 2021

Supreme Court approves Bullock Cart Race in Maharashtra

Tags: National News

Supreme Court has allowed the resumption of the traditional rural bull racing sport popular as ‘bailgada’, ‘sharyat’, ‘chakkadi’ and ‘shankar path’.

A 2-judge Supreme Court (SC) Bench of Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice C.T.Ravikumar gave the nod to resume bullock cart races in Maharashtra that were prohibited since 2017, in response to an application filed by the Maharashtra government.

SC said the amended rules notified by the Maharashtra State under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960 would apply to the conduct of the races until a final decision of SC’s constitutional bench on the 2018 Jallikattu case arrives.

Foundation Literacy and Numeracy Index

Tags: National News

The report on the State of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy in India which highlights the importance of early education years in the overall development of a child was released by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM). 

• Foundation Literacy and Numeracy refers to basic reading, writing, and mathematics skills of children aged below ten years in India.

Key Highlights of the report:

• The report was prepared by “Institute of Competitiveness” and released by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM).
• The index includes five pillars: 

(a) Educational Infrastructure,

(b) Access to Education

(c) Basic Health

(d) Learning Outcomes

(e) Governance. 

States and UT (Union Territory) were grouped into four categories, i.e. Large States, Small States, Union Territories and North Eastern States.

•  Among the Large State Category , West Bengal (58.95) topped the ranking followed by Tamil Nadu (55.49) and Maharashtra (53.11) and Bihar was at the bottom.
•  Among the Small States category, the top ranked state was Kerala (67.95) followed by Himachal Pradesh (57.36) and Punjab (56.17).
•  Among the Union Territories category, the top ranked UT was Lakshadweep (52.69) followed by Delhi (50.74) and Puducherry (50.08).
• Mizoram (51.64) is the top North-Estern State.
• The poor performing states in the overall index were Jharkhand (45.28), Odisha (45.58), Madhya Pradesh (38.69), Uttar Pradesh (38.49), Bihar (36.81).

About EAC-PM

The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) is a non-constitutional, non-statutory , independent body constituted to give economic advice to the Government of India, specifically the Prime Minister.

• The council serves to highlight key economic issues facing the country to the government of India from a neutral viewpoint.
• It advises the Prime Minister on economic issues like inflation, microfinance, and industrial output.
• It was first constituted in 2017.

The main functions of PMEAC are as follows:

• Analyzing any issue, economic or otherwise, referred to it by the Prime Minister and advising him thereon;
• Addressing issues of macro-economic importance and presenting views there on to the Prime Minister. This could be either suo-moto or on a reference from the Prime Minister or anyone else:
• Submitting periodic reports to the Prime Minister on macroeconomic developments and issues with implications for economic policy;
• Attending to any other task as may be desired by the Prime Minister from time to time.
• The current Chairman of the EAC-PM is Bibek Debroy. 

National Conference on Women winning against Tuberculosis (TB)

Tags: National News

•  It was organised by the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development in New Delhi.
• Vice President Venkaiah Naidu was the chief guest.
• Speaking on the occasion Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, called for making people ‘key partners’ in the campaign for ‘TB Mukt Bharat’ by 2025.
• Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani stated that in India, women account for nearly 36% of the total TB cases. TB among women often goes unreported as women do not come forward to seek medical care due to societal stigma & lack of awareness.
• The Government of India has set a target to eliminate TB from India by 2025.
• India has the largest TB population in the world and around one fourth of the TB population is found in India. 
• Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Super Typhoon Rai lashes Philippines

Tags: International News

• Super Typhoon Rai, known locally as Odette, continued to wreak havoc across the Philippines, as the storm moved west across the archipelago, bringing with it heavy rain and widespread flooding.
• Rai, the 15th typhoon to hit the Philippines this year, weakened slightly from a Category 5 to a Category 3 storm (as per Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale) after making landfall Thursday on Siargao Island, a popular tourist and surfing destination on the central east coast. 

488 journalists jailed, 46 killed across the world in 2021 - Reporters without Borders

Tags: International News

Reporters without Borders (RSF)’s the international non-profit organization for safeguarding the right to freedom of information, has released their latest annual roundup of violence and abuse suffered by journalists across the world.

Report Highlights-

• There are currently 488 media professionals imprisoned around the world, the highest number since Reporters Without Borders began counting more than 25 years ago.
• The number killed this year — 46 — was the lowest since it began issuing annual tallies, due to the relative stabilisation of conflicts in West Asia especially in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.
• China once again has the highest number of imprisoned journalists at 127. Out of this number, more than half about 71 are Uighur journalists.
• The most dangerous countries were Mexico and Afghanistan, with seven and six journalist deaths respectively, followed by Yemen and India with four deaths each.

RBI fines ICICI bank and PNB

Tags: Economics/Business

• Reserve Bank of India has imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakhs on the ICICI bank for not following the RBI direction on the “levy of charges on customer for the non maintenance of minimum balance in Saving accounts “
• RBI has fined Punjab National Bank Rs 1.80 crore for not following RBI directions on holding shares of a company as collateral .

PSU Banks go on 2-days strike

Tags: Economics/Business

Bank unions under the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) have declared a nationwide strike on December 16 and 17 against the proposed privatisation of two public sector banks (PSBs).

Key Highlights:

• The Public sector bank unions went on strike to protest against privatisation of banks and demand that the government withdraw the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021.The Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 will enable the privatisation of the two public sector banks in India . The bill has not been introduced in the Parliament.NITI Aayog has shortlisted Indian Overseas Bank and Central Bank of India for the proposed privatisation of the public sector banks.The strike has been called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine unions, including the All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC), All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW).

Public Sector Banks in Indi

Public sector banks are the banks where majority stakes (51% or more) are held by the Government of India.

Currently, India has 12 Public sector banks

List of Public sector banks:

• Punjab National Bank
• Bank of Baroda
• Indian Bank
• State Bank of India
• Canara Bank
• Union Bank of India
• UCO Bank
• Indian Overseas Bank
• Central Bank of India
• Punjab and Sind Bank
• Bank of Maharashtra
• Bank of India

Installed Nuclear Power capacity in India

Tags: Science and Technology

• Government of India has informed the Parliament about the status of the Nuclear Power Plant in India 
• The present nuclear power capacity of 6780 MW is planned to be increased to 22480 MW by 2031.
• At present the share of nuclear power in the total electricity generation in the country is about 3.1% in the year 2020-21.
• Government has given approval to the setting up of six nuclear power reactors of 1650 MW each in technical cooperation with France which would make it the largest nuclear power generating site with a total capacity of 9900 MW at Jaitapur in Maharashtra.

Racism in South Africa cricket

Tags: Sports News

• Social Justice and Nation-Building (SJN) Commission has held  Cricket South Africa (CSA) administration, former captain and current director Smith, current head coach Mark Boucher and former batter AB de Villiers of racism and being unfairly discriminating against black cricket  players.

• The South Africa and Nation Building commission was set up by the Cricket South Africa to investigate the issue of racism in South African cricket.

• The head of the Commision was Mr. Dumisa Ntsebeza 

Gita Gopinath calls on PM Modi

Tags: Person in news

Gita Gopinath, an Indian-American economist, was recently promoted by the IMF and will replace Geoffrey Okamoto as the organisation's First Deputy Managing Director in 2022.

• Gita Gopinath, who is the chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) visited India and met the Prime Minister on 15 December 2021.
• She will take over the post of the First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF from 1 January 2022.