Current Affairs Current Affairs July 2018

 Pakistan has got its first-ever woman Chief Justice of a high court. Justice Tahira Safdar was named as the Chief Justice of the Balochistan High Court by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar. Justice Safdar had made history in 1982 when she became the first woman civil judge in Balochistan. She is currently a member of the three-judge special court conducting the trial of former President Pervez Musharraf for committing treason by proclaiming a state of emergency in November 2007. 
Source- The Hindu

 The Union Government has reduced the minimum annual deposit requirement for accounts under Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana from Rs 1000 to Rs 250. The minimum initial deposit to open the account has also been reduced to Rs 250.  The move is aimed at enabling more people to take advantage of the girl child savings scheme. The government has amended the Sukanya Samriddhi Account Rules, 2016 for the purpose.
Source- The Indian Express

 Considering the increasing incidents of mob lynching, the Union Government constituted a High-Level Committee chaired by the Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba to deliberate in the matter and make recommendations. The Secretary, Department of Justice; Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs; Secretary, Legislative Department; and Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment are the members of the committee. The committee will submit its recommendations to the Government by August 2018. 
Source- The Quint

 The first meeting of the India-Bangladesh Joint Committee on Border Haats concluded in Agartala, Tripura. During the two day meeting, both sides noted the positive impact of Border Haats on the livelihoods of the people living in areas adjoining the Haats. Extensive discussions were held on issues related to review of operations of the four functional Border Haats and suggestions for improvement, timeline for setting up the six additional Border Haats that had earlier been agreed to by both sides and the roadmap for further expansion of Border Haats. 
Source- DD News

 The first meeting of the India-Bangladesh Joint Committee on Border Haats was held in Agartala, Tripura. The Joint Committee also visited Border Haat at Kamlasagar in Sipahijala District, Tripura and Tarapur in Brahmanbaria, Bangladesh. Both sides noted positive impact of Border Haats on livelihoods of people living in areas adjoining Haats. They also held extensive discussions on issues related to review of operations of four functional Border Haats viz. Kalaichar (Meghalaya), Balat (Meghalaya), Kamlasagar (Tripura) and Srinagar (Tripura). They also made suggestions for improvement, timeline for setting up six additional Border Haats that have been agreed to earlier by both sides and roadmap for further expansion of Border Haats. They also agreed that next meeting will be held in Bangladesh on mutually agreed dates.
  • Background
Border Haats (or rural market) aims at promoting the well-being of the people dwelling in remote areas across the borders of two countries. It seeks to establish traditional system of marketing local produce thorough local markets in local currency or according to barter basis. Though trade carried in this informal market is not significant in terms of percentage of bilateral trade, but these local measures help to improve economic well-being of marginalised sections of society. Border haats along India-Banlgadesh border are established under Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed for Border Trade and Border Haats between both countries in October 2010. India and Bangladesh had signed MoU on Border Haats in April 2017 for establishment of Joint Committee to review border haats operations, suggest modifications in operational modalities and propose new locations of Border Haats.

 Bihar state assembly has passed Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2018 with 16 amendments to dilute some of stringent provisions in Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016. The prohibition law was enforced in the state April 2016, banning manufacture, sale or consumption of liquor.
  • Major changes
No mandatory jail term for first-time offence in case of consumption of liquor. If found drunk or drinking for first time, person will have to pay fine of Rs. 50,000 or serve 3 month jail term. But for subsequent offence person can get jail term of one-five years and fine of Rs 1 lakh. Habitual drinker will be no longer externed from his district for two-six months. The Bill scraps provision allowing arrest of all adult members of family in case one of them is found to be drinking or storing liquor in the house. Henceforth, no house or vehicle will be confiscated from where liquor is seized. But shops, land, hotels, buildings, restaurants can be seized in case they are found to be storing liquor. The Bill also watered down penal provision for first-time offenders who store, manufacture or sell liquor from 10-year jail term and Rs 10 lakh fine to 5 year jail term and Rs 1 lakh fine. It also scraps fine on entire community in case liquor is found to be frequently manufactured and sold in particular area. Henceforth only offenders will be booked. The Bill does not give relaxation in case of bootleggers.

 Los Angeles Times and Pulitzer Prize-winning restaurant critic Jonathan Gold passed away at 57. He became the first restaurant critic to win a Pulitzer for criticism in 2007. Gold died of pancreatic cancer after being diagnosed with the disease. 
Source- The Hindu

 Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan unveiled a state-of-the-art Air Quality and Weather Forecast System– ‘SAFAR’ (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting) at Chandni Chowk in New Delhi. The Environment Ministry’s mission model project ‘SAFAR’ is being implemented in four cities of India – Delhi, Pune, Mumbai and Ahmedabad as an operational service. First of its kind in the country, the system was developed indigenously by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune and operationalised by India Meteorological Department (IMD). The giant true colour LED display will give out real-time air quality index on 24x7 basis with colour coding along with 72-hour advance weather forecast. 
Source- Press Information Bureau (PIB)

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi left on a three-nation visit to Rwanda, Uganda and South Africa. In the first leg of his five-day visit, Mr Modi will reach Rwanda. India will extend two lines of credit of 100 million US Dollars each for agriculture and industrial sectors to Rwanda during his two-day visit to that country. On second leg he will leave for Uganda where he will call on the President. He will have delegation-level talks and will address Indian community. Two lines of credit worth 164 million US Dollars will be extended to Uganda during the visit. In the last leg of his visit, Prime Minister Modi will reach South Africa to attend the 10th BRICS summit at Johannesburg. 
Source- AIR World Service

 The 28th meeting of GST Council was held in New Delhi. It reduced tax rates on more than 50 items and exempted sanitary napkins, rakhis, stone, marble, wooden deities and Saal leaves from GST. Finance Minister Piyush Goyal chaired the 28th GST Council meeting in New Delhi. 
Highlights On the changes  that have been made in the meeting: 
  • GST on footwear priced below 1,000 rupees will attract 5% rate.  GST on imported urea and ethanol sold to oil companies for blending with petrol and diesel has been reduced to 5%. 
  • GST rate on handbags, jewellery box, wooden box for paintings, artware of glass, stone endeavour, ornamental framed mirrors and handmade lamps were reduced to 12%.
  • Lithium-ion batteries, vacuum cleaners, food grinders, mixers, storage water heaters, hair dryers, hand dryers, paint, varnishes, water cooler, milk cooler, ice cream coolers, perfumes, toilet sprays and toilet preparation have been brought to 18 from 28% slab. 
  • GST council has cleared 46 amendments which will be passed in Parliament. The exemption limit for traders in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim has been increased from 10 lakh to 20 lakh rupees. 


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