Current Affairs 23rd December 2017 (23/12/2017)

National Current Affairs:

• The Union Cabinet has cleared the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017, to make the practice of “instant” triple talaq an offence. According to the draft bill sent out to states earlier this month, it was proposed that triple talaq be made a cognisable and non-bailable offence that would attract a jail term of three years
• The Vice-President of India, Shri. M. Venkaiah Naidu has said, the Vedas preach world peace, universal brotherhood and welfare of all. Inaugurating the World Conference on Vedas, “Vishwa Ved Sammelan”, he said the Vedas have great relevance to humanity. The Yajurveda mentions that the knowledge of Vedas is meant for the well-being of the entire humanity
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has dedicated to the nation the naval submarine INS Kalvari at a ceremony at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai. Commissioning the first of the six Scorpene-class submarines into the Indian Navy, Mr Modi said it is a historic achievement and a proud moment for 125 crore Indian citizens. He called it as an excellent example of Make-in-India. The Prime Minister said Indian Navy is playing an important role in combating terrorism, piracy, drug smuggling and illegal fishing. Calling the 21st century as “Asia’s century”, Mr Modi said its development would have to go through India. The Prime Minister coined the acronym SAGAR as “Security And Growth” for All in the Region.
• The Supreme Court has extended the deadline till March 31^st next year for mandatory linking of Aadhaar with various services and welfare schemes. In an interim order, a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra also modified its earlier order with regard to linking of Aadhaar with mobile services. The bench said, the deadline of February 6 next year for the purpose also stood extended till 31st March. The court said, for opening new bank accounts, an applicant will not be required to provide Aadhaar number to the bank. However, the applicant will have to show the proof to the bank that the person has applied for the Aadhaar number. The apex court said, the Constitution Bench would commence final hearing from 17th January on the petition challenging the Aadhaar scheme itself.
• The Supreme Court has dismissed the pleas of activist Teesta Setalvad, her husband and her two NGOs challenging the Gujarat High Court order rejecting their pleas for de-freezing of their personal bank accounts. Setalvad, her husband Javed Anand and their two NGOs-Sabrang Trust and Citizens for Justice and Peace had challenged the October 7, 2015 verdict of the High Court in the alleged misappropriation of funds received by their NGOs for Gujarat riot victims of 2002. One of the residents of Gulberg Society had filed a complaint against Setalvad and others alleging that money raised to make a museum at Gulberg Society for 2002 Gujarat riot victims had not been utilised for the purpose. After initiating a probe in the case, the crime branch of the Ahmedabad police froze six accounts belonging to Setalvad and others. They were accused of embezzling 1 crore 51 lakh rupees collected to convert Gulberg Society into a museum.
• The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has imposed a complete ban on plastic items like carry bags, plates and cutlery in towns located on the banks of the Ganga river like Haridwar and Rishikesh. A bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar also banned the sale, manufacture and storage of such items till Uttarkashi. The Green Tribunal also imposed 5,000 rupees .e on those violating the order and said the action will be taken again erring officials too.

International Current Affairs:

• The External Affairs Ministry has said India is willing to look at any suggestion on the One-Belt One-Road, OBOR project, if its sensitivities are taken into account. Reacting to a media query on Russian Foreign Minister’s call asking New Delhi to find a way out to join China’s OBOR connectivity initiative, MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, India’s position on OBOR is very clear. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had pitched for India joining the project, hoping that New Delhi will find a way out to benefit from the mega project without sacrificing its position over it.
• EU leaders approved the opening of the next stage of Brexit talks after reaching a deal on divorce terms with Britain. European Council President Donald Tusk said, this mean talks can move on to the long-term relationship between the UK and EU, including trade and security. The first issue to be discussed, as early as next week, will be the terms of a transition period after the UK leaves in March 2019. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has warned this process would be “significantly harder”.
• In Nepal, Counting of votes for 110 seats of House of Representative, 220 of auto assemblies is underway under proportional representation Around 85 percent votes have been counted so far. Left alliance is leading. AS per the latest reports CPN (UML) has got more than 30 lakh votes.       Nepali Congress is on the second place with more than 29 lakh popular votes. Left alliance partner CPN (Maoist Center) has got over 12 lakh votes.

Business & Economy Current Affairs:

• Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that strengthening the public sector banks is most important agenda for the next year. He was addressing FICCI’s Annual General Meeting in New Delhi. Mr Jaitley said there are important tasks in the next year and completing the unfinished task of strengthening the public sector banks is unquestionably one of the most important agendas on table.
• The Finance Ministry has raised customs duty on some electronic items including television, mobile phone, projector and water heater in order to boost domestic manufacturing. As per a government notification, customs duty on television set has been increased to 15 per cent from the existing 10 per cent. Similarly, the duty on monitors and projectors has been doubled to 20 per cent, said the notification issued by Department of Revenue of the ministry.
• The Unique Identification Authority of India, UIDAI, has asked bank to install fingerprint and iris scanner in 10 per cent of their branches to expedite Aadhaar enrollment  mainly for those seeking new bank accounts. The CEO of UIDAI Ajay Bhushan Pandey told this to news agency PTI after Supreme Court’s interim order. He said, this will enable people who do not have Aadhaar to get the Aadhaar enrollment facility in the bank itself, and link bank accounts by 31st of March next year. He said, so far more than 3,000 enrollment centres have already been set up in bank branches all over the country, and overall they have to set up enrollment facility in 14,000 bank branches
• In a relief to IT companies, government has set aside a 10,000 crore rupee service tax demand notices on IT companies. In a statement, the Finance Ministry said, as result, apprehensions about the negative effects on the software industry are without basis. The government’s move came a day after IT companies raised the issue of tax demand with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley during the pre-budget consultations. The tax department had slapped service tax demand notices on about 200 information technology and IT-enabled services companies. It had asked them to return export benefits claimed between 2012 and 2016 on softwares provided to clients outside India.
• The Government has set up a National Consumer Helpline (NCH) with a toll free number (1800-11-4000 and a short code 14404) for handling consumer    grievances. Six Zonal Consumer Helplines have also been set up at Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Guwahati, Jaipur, Kolkata and Patna.

Sports Current Affairs:

• In Cricket, skipper Rohit Sharma’s record breaking third double hundred guided India to a 141-run win against Sri Lanka in the second ODI at Mohali. Rohit smashed an unbeaten 208 off 153 balls to fire India to a mammoth 392 for four. The chase proved to be too much for Sri Lanka as the visitors ended way behind at 251 for 8. India’s score of 392 for 4 was the highest by any team at Mohali.
• West Bengal shooter Mehuli Ghosh won as many as eight gold medals including four in the team event at the ongoing 61st National Shooting Championship Competitions (61st NSCC), at New Delhi. Mehuli, who has recently secured a Youth Olympic Games quota, won the Junior Women,, Women’s Civilian and Junior Women, Civilian Championship golds by pushing back Gujarat, Elavenil Valarivan to Silver in all three events.