Current Affairs

Malaysia joins the International Criminal Court

Malaysia has ratified the Rome Statute making it the 124th State party to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Even though Malaysia had helped to negotiate the Rome Statute, it has been long been reluctant to ratify it. Ratification after 20 years is seen as a welcome move.

Why Malaysia has acceded to the Rome Statute after 20 years?

The downing of flight MH17 and the Rohingya crisis have focused Malaysia’s attention on the ICC.
After the election of Mahathir Mohamad for his second stint as Prime Minister in May 2018, there has been a significant shift in the relationship between the Malaysian government and monarchy. The earlier reluctance to ratify the Rome Statute has largely stemmed from a concern that the King, as the head of the armed forces could be held responsible for crimes committed by those under his command Mahathir’s relationship with the Sultans and the King is notoriously tense. During his first period as prime minister (1981-2003), Mahathir “stripped the sultans of their power to veto state and federal legislation”, removed their legal immunities, and established a special court to prosecute royal cases.
The election of Mahathir and appointment of a new Attorney General, Tommy Thomas, has seen the main legal obstacles to ratification removed.
The ratification has also stemmed from ambition to see Malaysia playing a more active role in ASEAN and the United Nations.

International Criminal Court established by Rome Statute is a permanent international court with jurisdiction over those most responsible for committing the most serious human rights crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.

Catgeory: International

China hikes defence budget by 7.5%

China has increased its defence budget by 7.5 per to $177.61 billion up from last year’s $165 billion. The 2019 Defence Budget of China stood at 1.19 trillion yuan (about $177.61 billion) which is three times the Indian Defence Budget.

China’s Defence Budget

China’s Defence Budget growth rate stood at 7.6 per cent in 2016, 7 per cent in 2017 and 8.1 per cent in 2018.
China’s defence spending at $177.61 billion makes it the highest spender on defence after the United States.
China is equipping its People’s Liberation Army with state-of-the-art hardware, spending heavily on stealth warplanes, aircraft carriers and other weaponry.
The Chinese government has stated that the increased spending will “strengthen military training under combat conditions, and firmly protect China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests.”
China has also resorted to major reforms of its military, which included giving priority to expanding its navy and air force to enhance its influence abroad.

Increases Budget a Cause of Worry? China is demonstrating a more posture towards Taipei and China is facing competing claims in the South China Sea from Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan together with a territorial dispute with historic rival Japan in the East China Sea. Hence increased Defence Budget of China may be a precursor to a more aggressive stance against its neighbours. China has termed the increase in the defence budget as reasonable and appropriate aimed at meeting the country’s demand in safeguarding national security and military reform with Chinese characteristics. China also argues that China’s defence budget at 1.3 per cent of the GDP is much less than major developing countries which spend two per cent GDP on their defence. China also states that whether a country is a military threat to others or not is not determined by its increase in defence expenditure, but by the foreign and national defence policies it adopts.

Catgeory: International

US Plans To End India’s Preferential Trade Status

President Trump notified the Congress his intent to terminate trade benefits for both India and Turkey under the Generalized System of Preference (GSP) eligibility criteria.

India and GSP

About 2,000 products, including auto components and textiles, can enter the US duty-free if the beneficiary developing country meet the eligibility criteria.
India was the largest beneficiary of the GSP programme in 2017 with $5.7 billion in imports to the US given duty-free status.

Why the US is planning to withdraw GSP for India?

President Trump has accused India of failing to ensure the US of “equitable and reasonable” access to its markets. The US is pressing India to reduce US trade deficits and has repeatedly called out India for high tariffs.
Withdrawal of GSP is part of the President Trumps plan to redress what it considers to be unfair trading relationships.

India has sought talks with the US to avoid the withdrawal of the trade benefits under the GSP. India has offered a trade package to the US which promises of about Rs 35,000 crore annually in oil and gas imports from the US and another Rs 1,00,000 lakh crore in defence orders in the coming years.

Catgeory: Economy & Banking

India nominates Ramesh Chand to head Food and Agriculture Organisation

India has nominated member of Niti Ayog, Ramesh Chandra to head Food and Agricultural Organisation. Ramesh Chand’s candidature is challenged by Qu Dongyu of China, Medi Moungui of Cameroon, Catherine Geslain-Laneelle of France and Davit Kirvalidze of Georgia. To get elected to the post of Director-General of FAO, the candidate needs to secure a simple majority of the 194 members. The only Indian to head the FAO is Binay Ranjan Sen, who was the Director-General from 1956 to 1967.

Food and Agriculture Organisation The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations which leads international efforts to defeat hunger. FAO aims to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active healthy lives. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) was established as the specialised agency in 1945 at the first session of the United Nations and the temporary headquarters of the FAO was located at Washington in the US and the headquarters was moved to Rome, Italy in the year 1951. Priority areas of FAO in the fight against hunger are:

Help eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition.
Make agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable.
Reduce rural poverty.
Enable inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems.
Increase the resilience of livelihoods to threats and crises.

FAO report notes that almost 800 million people are always hungry and 2 billion suffer from deficiencies in micronutrients in their diet that leads to health problems. The report also notes that the world would have to feed a global population that is expected to reach about 10 billion by 2050. FAO integrates the two key areas of gender and governance in tackling the challenges through priority areas.

Catgeory: Appointments

P V Ramesh appointed as the director-general of the National Archives of India

The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of P V Ramesh appointed as the director-general of the National Archives of India. Currently, he is serving as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Rural Electrification Corporation.

National Archives of India The genesis of National Archives of India can be traced to the traced to the report of Sandeman, the Civil Auditor who had stressed the need of relieving the offices of congestion by the destruction of the papers of routine nature and transfer of all valuable records to a ‘Grand Central Archive’. In 1889 Professor G.W. Forrest of Elphinstone College, Bombay entrusted the job of examining the records of the Foreign Department of the Government of India made a strong plea for transferring all records of the administration of East India Company to a Central Repository This led to the establishment of Imperial Records Department (IRD) on 11 March 1891 in the Imperial Secretariat Building at Calcutta (Kolkata). In 1911 the IRD was shifted to Delhi. After the Independence, the government of India rechristened IRD as the National Archives of India with Director of Archives as its head and in the year 1990 the office of the Director of Archives was redesignated as Director General of Archives. At present National Archives of India is an attached office under the Ministry of Culture and has a Regional Office at Bhopal and three Records Centres at Jaipur, Puducherry and Bhubaneswar.

Catgeory: Appointments

Justice SA Bobde nominated as NALSA Executive Chairman

President Ram Nath Kovind has nominated Justice SA Bobde of the Supreme Court as Executive Chairman of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA). The post is currently held by Justice AK Sikri who is due to retire on 6th March.

National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) is a statutory body constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 to provide free Legal Services to the weaker sections of the society. NALSA fulfils the provisions under the Article 39A of the constitution which provides for free legal aid to the poor and weaker sections of the society, to promote justice on the basis of equal opportunity. The Chief Justice of India is the Patron-in-Chief and the Senior most Judge of the Supreme Court of India is the Executive Chairman of the Authority.

Objectives of NALSA

To legally empower the marginalized and excluded groups of the society by providing effective legal representation, legal literacy and awareness and bridging the gap between the legally available benefits and the entitled beneficiaries.
To strengthen the system of Lok Adalats and other Alternate Dispute Resolution mechanisms in order to provide for the informal, quick, inexpensive and effective resolution of disputes and minimize the load of adjudication on the overburdened judiciary.

NALSA identifies specific categories of the marginalized and excluded groups from the diverse populace of the country and formulates various schemes for the implementation of preventive and strategic legal service programmes to be undertaken and implemented by the Legal Services Authorities at the various levels. NALSA works in close coordination with the various State Legal Services Authorities, District Legal Services Authorities and other agencies for a regular exchange of relevant information, monitoring and updating on the implementation and progress of the various schemes fostering a strategic and coordinated approach to ensure smooth and streamlined functioning of the various agencies and stakeholders.

Catgeory: Appointments

World Bank and Government of India inks loan agreement for NRETP

The World Bank will provide a $250-million loan for the National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP). National Rural Economic Transformation Project is a new sub-component under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) of the Ministry of Rural Development.

National Rural Economic Transformation Project

NRETP supports enterprise development programmes for rural poor women and youth by creating a platform to access finance including start-up financing options to build their individual and/or collectively owned and managed enterprises.
The project also involves developing financial products using digital financial services to help small producer collectives scale-up and engage with the market.
It also supports youth skills development, in coordination with the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana.
The key focus of the project is to promote women-owned and women-led farm and non-farm enterprises across value chains, enabling them to build businesses that help them access finance, markets and networks; and generate employment.

The $250-million loan from the World Bank has a 5-year grace period and a final maturity of 20 years.

Catgeory: Government Schemes

National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey 2018-19

The National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey 2018-19 was conducted by an Independent Verification Agency under the World Bank support project to the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen).

Findings of the Survey

93.1 per cent of households in rural India have access to toilets during the survey period and 96.5 per cent of those who had access to toilets uses them.
The Survey re-confirmed the open defecation free (ODF) status of 90.7 per cent villages which were declared so by various districts and states and remaining villages also had sanitation coverage of about 93 per cent.
95.4 per cent of the villages surveyed were found to have minimal litter and minimal stagnant water.

Swacch Bharat Mission Gramin As per the data from the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation which is the implementing ministry of Swacch Bharat Mission Gramin, about 500 million people have stopped defecating in the open. As a result, the number of people defecating in open is down from 550 million at the beginning of the programme to less than 50 million today. Under the Swacch Bharat Mission Gramin, 9 crore toilets have been built across rural India under the Mission. Under the Mission over 5.5 lakh villages and 615 districts have been declared ODF, along with 30 ODF States and Union Territories.

Catgeory: Government Schemes

PM Launches ‘One Nation One Card’

PM Narendra Modi launched the indigenously-developed National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) to enable people to pay multiple kinds of transport charges, including metro services and toll tax, across the country. Dubbed as ‘One Nation One Card’, the inter-operable transport card would allow the holders to pay for their bus travel, toll taxes, parking charges, retail shopping and even withdraw money.

Source: Economic Times

Catgeory: National

Bhagwan Lal Sahni Appointed Chairman Of the National Commission For Backward Classes

Bhagwan Lal Sahni has been appointed as the chairman of the newly constituted National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC). Kaushalendra Singh Patel, Sudha Yadav and Achary Talloju have been appointed as members of the commission. Their names were approved by President Ram Nath Kovind. The NCBC was given constitutional status by Parliament in 2018, after repealing the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993.

Source: Business Standard

Catgeory: Appointments

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