Daily Current Affairs : 24/1/2019

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

1. Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT)
2. Oral Mentions
3. North East Autonomous council
4. Kalamsat
5. Roshni app
6. Manas and Kaziranga National Park
7. WHO 2019 Threat List
8. INF treaty
9. Exercise Sea Vigil
10. Caesium -137
11. UN’s World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2019

1 . Goods and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal

Context : The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the creation of a National Bench of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT), which would serve as the forum of second appeals to do with the applicability of GST, and will also be the first common forum of dispute resolution between the Centre and the States.

About Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT)

• Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal is the forum of second appeal in GST laws and the first common forum of dispute resolution between Centre and States.
• The appeals against the orders in first appeals issued by the Appellate Authorities under the Central and State GST Acts lie before the GST Appellate Tribunal, which is common under the Central as well as State GST Acts.
• Being a common forum, GST Appellate Tribunal will ensure that there is uniformity in redressal of disputes arising under GST, and therefore, in implementation of GST across the country.
• Chapter XVIII of the CGST Act provides for the Appeal and Review Mechanism for dispute resolution under the GST Regime. Section 109 of this Chapter under CGST Act empowers the Central Government to constitute, on the recommendation of Council, by notification, with effect from such date as may be specified therein, an Appellate Tribunal known as the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal for hearing appeals against the orders passed by the Appellate Authority or the Revisional Authority.
• The National Bench of the Appellate Tribunal shall be situated at New Delhi. GSTAT shall be presided over by its President and shall consist of one Technical Member (Centre) and one Technical Member (State).

2 . Oral Mentions

Context : The Supreme Court is drafting new guidelines that would help ensure that urgent cases automatically come up before a Bench for hearing within four days of their being filed, obviating the need for lawyers to appear before the Chief Justice of India to orally mention their cases for urgent listing.

About Oral Mentions

• CJI is the master of the roster. Cases filed in the Supreme Court generally take up to seven days before being listed for hearing.
• Lawyers or litigants seeking urgent hearing or relief, mention their petitions before the CJI for urgent listing.
• Oral mentioning is a convention by which lawyers circumvent the long-winded filing procedures and make a direct appeal to the CJI, who is the court’s administrative head for early hearing

3 . North East Autonomous council

Context : The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a constitutional amendment to increase the financial and executive powers of the 10 autonomous councils in the Sixth Schedule areas of the northeast.

About North East Autonomous Council

• The 6th schedule to the constitution of india provides for the administration of tribal areas through District Councils and regional councils in the states of Assam, Tripura, Mizoram and Meghalaya
• President at any time by order may direct the formation or termination of any area under tribal area.
• Each autonomous district has a district council of 30 members and also contains separate regional councils.
• Governor can appoint a commission to examine and report any matter relating to administration of autonomous district of regions.
• Autonomous councils under 6th schedule are as follows:-

Meghalaya

• Khasi hills autonomous district council(ADC)
• Jaintia hills ADC
• Garo Hills ADC

Mizoram

• Chakma ADC
• Lai ADC
• Mara ADC

Tripura

• Tripura Tribal Areas ADC

Assam

• Dima Hasao ADC
• Karbi Anglong ADC
• Bodoland territorial ADC.

Proposed Amendments

• As per the proposed amendment, at least one third of the seats would be reserved for women in the village and municipal councils in the Sixth Schedule areas of Assam, Mizoram and Tripura.
• The amendment also provides for transfer of additional 30 subjects, including the departments of Public Works, Forests, Public Health Engineering, Health and Family Welfare, Urban Development and Food and Civil Supply to Karbi Anglong Autonomous Territorial Council and Dima Hasao Autonomous Territorial Council in Assam.
• The proposed amendments provide for elected village municipal councils, ensuring democracy at the grass-roots level. The State Election Commissions would hold elections to the autonomous councils, village and municipal councils in the areas of Assam, Mizoram and Tripura.
• The Finance Commission would be mandated to recommend devolution of financial resources to the councils. Till now, the autonomous councils have depended on grants from Central Ministries and the State governments for specific projects.
  

Significance

• These amendments will significantly improve the financial resources and powers of the autonomous districts councils in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura, fulfilling long-standing aspirations of the tribal population in these northeastern States

4 . Kalamsat

Context : Indian Space Research Organisation’s first mission of 2019 will put into space a 130-kg military imaging satellite, Microsat-R.

About Kalamsat

5 . Roshni app

Context : In a bid to assist visually impaired people to easily determine denomination of currency notes, the Indian Institute of Technology at Ropar in Punjab has developed an Android App “Roshni”, using image processing and analytics.

How it works

• This App utilises an adaptable deep learning framework, which further uses the patterns and features embedded on the notes to differentiate and determine the currency denomination
• The user has to bring the currency note in front of phone camera and the App would provide audio notification intimating the currency note denomination to the user

6 . Kaziranga and Manas National Park

Context : 2 rhinos raised at Kaziranga find a new home at Manas

About the News

• Since 2002, when CWRC started, more than 50 calves stranded in the wild at Kaziranga National Park for various reasons, in most cases due to floods, have been rescued.
• Out of these, 16 were translocated to Manas. A few gave birth to calves, thus augmenting the number of rhinos at the Manas National Park by around 20
• The augmentation of Rhinos were part of the initiative “Bring Back Manas’, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

About Kaziranga National Park

• Kaziranga National Park is a national park in the Golaghat and Nagaon districts of the state of Assam
• The sanctuary, which hosts two-thirds of the world’s great one-horned rhinoceroses, is a World Heritage Site.
• In 2006 Kaziranga was also declared as a Tiger Reserve
• The park area is circumscribed by the Brahmaputra River, which forms the northern and eastern boundaries, and the Mora Diphlu, which forms the southern boundary. Other notable rivers within the park are the Diphlu and Mora Dhansiri
• Kaziranga has flat expanses of fertile, alluvial soil, formed by erosion and silt deposition by the River Brahmaputra

About Manas National Park

• Manas National Park  is a national park, UNESCO Natural World Heritage site, a  Tiger reserve under Project Tiger, an elephant reserve and a biosphere reserve in Assam
• The park is known for its rare and endangered endemic wildlife such as the Assam roofed turtle, hispid hare, golden langur and pygmy hog. Manas is famous for its population of the wild water buffalo
• The Manas river is a major tributary of Brahmaputra River, which passes through the heart of the national park.
• In 1992, UNESCO declared it as a world heritage site in danger due to heavy poaching and terrorist activities. In 2011, it was removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger and was commended for its efforts in preservation
• Manas is the only landscape in the world where pristine Terai Grasslands are seen merging with the Bhabar grasslands interspersed with diverse habitats ascending to Semi-Evergreen forests and then to Bhutan Himalayas.
• The last population of the Pygmy Hog survive in the wilds of Manas and nowhere else in the world.
  

7 . 2019 WHO Threat List

Context : The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released a list of “Ten threats to global health in 2019”, which would “demand attention from WHO and health partners”. 

WHO Threat List

1. Air pollution and climate change.
2. Non-communicable diseases.
3. Global influenza pandemic.
4. Fragile and vulnerable settings: More than 22% of the world population lives in places where protracted crisis (through a combination of challenges such as drought, famine, conflict and population displacement) and weak health services leave people without access to basic care.
5. Antimicrobial resistance.
6. Ebola and other high-threat pathogens.
7. Weak primary health care.
8. Vaccine hesitancy: Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective ways of avoiding disease, however, the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines, threatens to reverse progress made in tackling vaccine-preventable diseases.
9. Dengue
10. HIV

8 . Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty

Context : In early December, Dan Coats, the U.S. director of National Intelligence, noted that Russia had “initially flight tested the 9M729 – a ground based missile – to distances well over 500 kilometers (km) from a fixed launcher. Moscow on Wednesday insisted that the range of a missile system that has prompted Washington to say it will withdraw from a key Cold War arms treaty is allowed under the agreement. The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty bans missiles with a range above 500 km.

About INF Treaty

• The Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles, commonly referred to as the INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) Treaty, requires destruction of the Parties’ ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of between 500 and 5,500 kilometers, their launchers and associated support structures and support equipment within three years after the Treaty enters into force.
  
• The treaty marked the first time the superpowers had agreed to reduce their nuclear arsenals, eliminate an entire category of nuclear weapons, and utilize extensive on-site inspections for verification.
• As a result of the INF Treaty, the United States and the Soviet Union destroyed a total of 2,692 short-, medium-, and intermediate-range missiles by the treaty’s implementation deadline of June 1, 1991

9 . Exercise Sea Vigil

Context : Ten years after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, India conducted its largest coastal defence drill, Exercise Sea Vigil, to test its preparedness along the entire 7,516.6 km-long-coastline and exclusive economic zone of the country.

About Exercise Sea Vigil

• Exercise Sea Vigil aims to comprehensively and holistically validate the efficacy of the measures taken since 26/11.
• It aims to simultaneously activate the coastal security mechanism across all 13 coastal States and Union Territories

10 . Caesium-137

Context : A small container of radioactive Caesium-137, which went missing on January 16 from a truck ferrying machinery and tools from an ONGC exploration site near Machilipatnam to Rajahmundry 120 km away, was retrieved from a scrap shop at Kalindindi village in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh

What is Caesium 137

• Caesium-137 (atomic mass 137) is a heavier, radioactive isotope of Caesium (Cs) whose most stable form is Cs-133.
• Silvery white, soft, and malleable, Cs-137 is one of the very few metals that exist in liquid form at room temperature.
• Cs-137 is most commonly produced as a byproduct in fission reactions of uranium and plutonium in nuclear plants or nuclear explosions. It is, thus, part of the spent fuel.
• One of the biggest contaminations of Cs-137 happened during the Chernobyl accident of 1986, when about 27 kg of the metal entered the atmosphere. Cs-137 has a half-life of about 30 years.
• It decays through the emission of beta particles (a high-energy electron or positron, or positive electron) and gamma rays (a form of electromagnetic radiation like X-rays). Any danger from Cs-137 emanates from these natural emissions of beta particles and gamma rays. Exposure to very small amounts of Cs-137 is not harmful.
• Very high exposure an extremely rare occurrence, according to the US Environment Protection Agency can result in an increased risk of cancer.

11 . UN’s World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2019

Context : India will continue to remain the world’s fastest-growing large economy in 2019 as well as in 2020, much ahead of China

About WESP

• The report is a joint product of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN/DESA), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the five United Nations regional commissions (Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)).

Details of the Report

• Global growth is expected to remain at 3.0 per cent in 2019 and 2020
• 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.
• In the case of China, the growth is estimated to decelerate to 6.3 per cent in 2019 from 6.6 per cent in 2018. It may further go down to 6.2 per cent in 2020.