Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE
Topics Covered
- Powers of Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry
- Yeti
- MoU between IT dept and GSTN
- Facts for Prelims – Core Sectors, May day, Geological Display Boards
1 . Powers of Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry
Context : The Madras High Court on Tuesday ruled that the Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) of Puducherry could not interfere with the day-to-day administration of the Union Territory when an elected government was in place. The court said incessant interference from the L-G would amount to running a “parallel government.”
Details of the Judgement
- HC through its order conveyed that the administrator cannot interfere in the day-to-day affairs of the government. The decision taken by the council of ministers and the chief minister is binding on the secretaries and other officials,
- The administrator has no exclusive authority to run the administration in derogation of the constitutional principles and the parliamentary laws governing the issue
- Restrictions imposed on the Government of Delhi are not applicable to the Government of Puducherry as the apex court has clearly held that there is a distinction between the National Capital Territory of Delhi and Puducherry. Though Puducherry was not a state, the Legislative Assembly would have the same powers as that of a state
- The judge made it clear that government secretaries were bound to take instructions from the ministers concerned and the Council of Ministers, headed by the Chief Minister, besides reporting to them on official matters. “The secretaries are not empowered to issue orders on their own or upon the instructions of the Administrator
- Court disapproved of the alleged practice of government officials being part of social media groups through which the L-G was issuing instructions to them for redress of public grievances and reminded them that as per rules, they were bound to use only authorised medium of communication when it came to issues related to administration.
2 . Yeti
Context : The Indian Army has claimed that one of its mountaineering teams had sighted footprints of a Yeti , a mythical creature that is believed to reside in the Himalayas.
About Yeti
- Yeti or snowman is a mythical creature that is part of many legends and folklore in the Himalayan areas of India, Nepal and Tibet.
- The term Yeti comes from the Nepali dictionary and means ‘abominable snowman’. It is also called Meh-Teh in the Tibetan folklore.
- According to urban legends, Yeti is a two-legged white, shaggy ape-like animal and is described to be 10-20 feet tall. The footsteps found by the Army had measured 32×15 inches, clearly suggesting that they did not belong to a human.
- But sightings of unusually large footprints have been reported by mountaineers and adventurers in the past as well, and these have variously been explained as footprints of other animals such as the Asiatic black bear or Tibetan brown bears.
3 . MoU between IT dept and GSTN
Context : The Income Tax Department and the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) are all set to sign an MoU that will allow the two to match their data regarding company financials so as to pin down any anomalies.
About the MoU
- As per the MoU GSTN can ask for and be provided data relating to an assessee’s status of filing income tax returns, turnover, gross total income, financial ratios, and any other data with the I-T Department to be decided at a later date.
- The order also provides for the automatic exchange of such data, and not just based on requests, the modalities of which will be decided.
- “While furnishing the information, the specified Income Tax authority shall form an opinion that sharing of such information is necessary for the purposes of enabling the specified authority in GSTN to perform its functions under the Goods and Services Tax,
- The MoU will also include the rules pertaining to the modalities of the exchange, the confidentiality of the data, and the “weeding out after usage”.
- Facilitation of exchange of data between authorities under income-tax and GST is indicative of the government’s intention not to spare taxpayers from escaping tax payable under any of the laws
4 . Facts for Prelims
Index of Eight Core Industries
- It contains index, production and growth of Eight Core Industries.
- Eight Core Industries are Electricity , steel, refinery products, crude oil, coal, cement, natural gas and fertilizers.
- The Index of Eight Core Industries is a monthly production index, which is also considered as a lead indicator of the monthly industrial performance.
May Day
- International Labour Day — also known as May Day or International Workers’ Day — celebrates the struggle, dedication and commitment of the working class
- In 1889, the International Socialist Conference declared that in commemoration of the Haymarket affair, 1 May would be an international holiday for the labor force, now known in many places as International Workers’ Day.
- Haymarket Riot, also called Haymarket Affair or Haymarket Massacre is the violent confrontation between police and labour protesters in Chicago on May 4, 1886, that became a symbol of the international struggle for workers’ rights.
- As for May Day in India, the country witnessed the first celebration of Labour Day in 1923 in what was then Madras. Led by Singaravelar, leader of the Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan, two meetings were held, one at Triplicane Beach and one near the Madras High Court. It was at these meetings that a resolution was passed urging the British government to declare May 1 as Labour Day and also a government holiday. It was the first occasion in India on which the red flag was used.
Other aspects of May Day
- There is another aspect to the popular phrase May Day. It has ancient roots in several countries. The better known is the Festival of Flora in the old Rome which was billed as May celebration. Flora was the goddess of flowers, and the festival was marked by song, dance and theatrical performance.
- Another May Day celebration was in praise of Dionysus and Aphrodite, the Greek gods of grape harvest and love respectively.
- There is also ‘Mayday’, which is a distress call made by ships and aircraft.
Geological Display Boards
- In Meghalaya, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) installed two geological display boards at two important geological sites in the State with geo-scientific information which will help in creating awareness among visiting tourists, students and the general public.
- The boards are unvieled at Mawmluh cave and Therriaghat, Sobhar in East Khasi Hill District.
- Mawmluh cave made headlines earlier as high resolution stable isotopic studies of the stalagmites from the cave have shown that there was a major climatic event about 4200 years ago.
- The stalagmite in the Mawmluh cave has been tagged a Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) which is the first formally ratified marker of a geological time period in India. Meanwhile, Therriaghat marks the Cretaceous (K)-Palaeogene (Pg) mass extinction event.
- The Um-Sohryngkew (Wahrew) river section at Therriaghat is known for having the most complete records of the Cretaceous-Palaeogene (K-Pg) boundary transition in India