Prolawctor Daily Current Affairs Insights | 15 December 2020

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Prolawctor Daily Current Affairs Update
Prolawctor Daily Current Affairs Insights

Contents of Article

PROLAWCTOR DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS INSIGHTS

LEGAL NEWS

The Delhi High Court has asked Centre to respond to the PIL

  • The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the Center to respond to public interest litigation.
  • This litigation seeking the setting of minimum standards for maintaining minimum standards in various categories of mental health establishments under the Mental Healthcare Act.
  • Chief Justice D. N. bench of Justices Patel and Prateek Jalan asked the Center to provide information on the publication of the rules by February 5, 2021.

Delhi High Court slams CBSE for treating students like enemies

  • Dehli HC strongly criticized the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for its “anti-student attitude” and said “it was treating students as enemies” by dragging them to the Supreme Court in certain matters.
  • Board challenging a single judge order, which said the CBSE’s reassessment scheme for students whose board exams got canceled due to COVID-19 would apply to improvement candidates also.

Badminton Federation warns players, coaches, technical staff against participating in unauthorized events

  • The Badminton Association of India (BAI) on Monday once again alerted its players, coaches, and technical staff.
  • Asked them to stay away from unauthorized competition after holding such an event in Goa next month.
  • The Goa-based Youth and Sports Development Association of India are organizing the Thread National Federal Cub in Madgaon, Goa next month, BAI said in a statement.

The Supreme Court issued a notice on a petition declaring the 1975 emergency unconstitutional

  • The apex court on Monday asked the Center to respond to a petition filed by a 94-year-old woman.
  • Seeking a declaration of a state of emergency in 1975 was completely unconstitutional.
  • Agreeing to hear the petition, A bench headed by Justice S. K.Kaul said the apex court would also look into whether it was “appropriate or desirable” to examine the validity of the emergency declaration after 45 years.

Covid-19: Delhi High Court asks Delhi government to increase testing in the area

  • The Delhi High Court on Monday said that the AAP government is expected to increase the number of Covid-19 tests
  •   In districts of the national capital where the rate of infection is high.
  • A bench of justices Hima Kohli and Subramaniam Prasad verbally instructed the Delhi government to find out which districts in the city were experiencing a high incidence of infections and said, “We expect you to increase testing in those areas.”

NATIONAL NEWS

All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordinator Committee Expels its Convener for Having Different Demands from the Delhi Framers

  • Mr. V.M. Singh who is national convener, in (AIKSSC) gets evicted as he is willing to settle if the Government guarantees MSP rates from both public and private buyers, for all the Farmers. 
  • Mr. Singh in his power as a leader of an organization in Uttar Pradesh, says that the removal of 3 laws will only bring the farmers in their original position, while bringing MSP law will serve wealth benefit to the farmers.

Delhi – Jaipur Highways Faced the Wrath of Rajasthan Farmers as they Blocked It

  • Supporting the Punjab Farmers against the Farmers Bill, the Rajasthan Farmers also started to proceed toward the Delhi, when stopped by the police. They camped at Shahjahanpur and continued blocking the Highway of Delhi- Jaipur.
  • They also participated in Today’s a day long Hunger Strike.

Supreme Court to Investigate the working of Centre in handling Pollution in NCR

  • SC have asked the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to file the affidavit of mentioning in detail the steps taken so far, in order to tackle the pollution problem in Delhi NCR.
  •  The Counsel has asked the SC for 2 days’ time for filing the detailed affidavit.

Atal Tunnel to get More Visitors as UGC Encourages Student to Visit

  • UGC stating the Ata Tunnel as “technology marvel”, asks the Universities and engineering colleges to share the infrastructure and technological details as well.
  • They encourages the students to visit the Tunnel taking full precautions as guided against Covid 19 given by the centre.

India is Ready to Meet any Circumstances along with LAC

  • Genral Bipin Rawat, the Chief of Defence Staff General, said that the India ready for any eventuality along the LAC.
  • He warned Pakistan and China and said that India is befitting.

Goa Zilla Panchayat poll results

  • The BJP has so far won 27 seats, while the Congress is at second place with four seats.
  • The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) has bagged 2 seats and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has won one seat so far. The counting is underway.
  • Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant expressed happiness over the BJP’s poll performance in the rural belt of the tourist state.

Blocking roads not our aim, farmers apologise to general public

  • Sankyukta Kisan Morcha, the farmers’ outfit spearheading the ongoing agitation against the Centre’s three new farm bills issued an apology to the general public on Monday.
  • As many as 40 farmers’ unions have been demanding the repeal of Centre’s new farm laws for almost three weeks.
  • Keeping in view the discomfort caused to the general public due to route closures, farmer unions have decided to print a pamphlet.
  • The pamphlet is an effort by farmers to apologise to the general public while keeping their demands front and centre.

Model of Indian Navy’s destroyer INS Mumbai placed at Worli chowk

  • The Indian Navy has placed a model of INS destroyer ship at JK Kapur Chowk in Worli, Mumbai, dedicating it to the city on Sunday.
  • Highlighting the maritime connection with the city of Mumbai and the “rich maritime traditions of Maharashtra”, a model of Indian Navy’s warship INS Mumbai was dedicated to the city of Mumbai.
  • The model was placed by Maharashtra cabinet minister Aditya Thackeray. Rear Admiral V Srinivas, Flag Officer Commanding Maharashtra Naval Area (FOMA), was also present during the event.

Kamal Nath hints at resignation says want to rest now

  • Kamal Nath, senior Congressman and former Madhya Pradesh CM hinted at calling it quits on Sunday. While addressing a public rally in Chhindwara, he said, “I am ready to take some rest. I have no ambitions or any greed for any post. I have achieved a lot already. I am ready to stay at home.”
  • Nath, who is not only the Leader of Opposition in the MP Vidhan Sabha but also the state Congress president, has been under pressure from the party high command to make way for a younger face in Madhya Pradesh. 

CBI summons BSF officials in cattle smuggling 

  • Our Border Security Force (BSF) officials have been summoned by the CBI in connection with the cattle-smuggling case at the India Bangladesh border in West Bengal.
  • CBI has been investigating the cattle smuggling case where BSF has been involved along with state officials and even politicians.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Voting today on next President by U.S. electoral college

  • Electors will meet in each of the U.S.’s States and the District of Columbia to cast their votes on Monday and are expected to vote in favour of the Presidential candidate who won the popular vote in their respective States.
  • Joe Biden is expected to secure 306 electoral votes against Donald Trump’s 232.

Oil tanker hit by ‘external source’ in Saudi Arabia says shipping firm Hafnia

  • Shipping company Hafnia said on Monday that one of its oil tankers, the BW Rhine, had been hit by an unidentified “external source” that caused fire and explosion while the ship was discharging at Jeddah port in Saudi Arabia.
  • The ship’s crew put out the fire and no-one was injured, the company said, adding that parts of the ship’s hull had been damaged.

U.S. government agencies hacked; Russia a possible culprit

  • Hackers broke into the networks of federal agencies including the Treasury and Commerce departments in attacks revealed just days after U.S. officials warned that cyber actors linked to the Russian government were exploiting vulnerabilities to target sensitive data.
  • The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity arm are investigating what experts and former officials said appeared to be a large-scale penetration of U.S. government agencies.

Ships collide on Yangtze river: 3 dead, 5 missing

  • Rescuers in China were on December 14 searching for five sailors missing after a collision between two ships at the mouth of the Yangtze River that left at least three dead.
  • State broadcaster CCTV showed dramatic footage of crew pulling 11 of the 16 sailors who had been on board the container vessel Xinqisheng 69 from the water, three of whom showed no signs of life.

Mount Everest is now officially declared a little higher

  • The world’s highest mountain is now officially a little higher. After years of debate, China and Nepal finally agreed on a precise elevation for Mount Everest.
  • The new agreed height of 8,848.86 meters (29,031.69 feet) was announced at a virtual ceremony.
  • This is 86 centimeters higher than the measurement previously recognised by Nepal. It is more than four meters above China’s official figure.

BUSINESS NEWS

Exhausted Wall Street Bulls? Morgan Stanley says now is the time to cut jobs, to schedule 2021 trades

  • In his most recent podcast, Morgan Stanley’s Chief Investment Officer and Chief US Equity Strategist Mike Wilson said he would advise against committing new money.
  • Since the end of March, the NASDAQ index has zoomed by 80%. Dow Jones gained 62 percent while in the same timeframe S&P 500 is up 64 percent. There are financial markets at all-time highs.
  • Although the market strategist admits that the fear of missing out is strong at this point.

Globally, Google is steady; users cannot access Search, Gmail, and YouTube

  • Users across the world are reporting issues with Google services, including Search, Gmail and YouTube.
  • When accessing Google Drive and Google Meet, some users also face problems. This indicates that Google services are impacted by a larger, large-scale outage.

Torrent Gas to invest Rs 5,000 cr in the gas project for Chennai City

  • On Monday, Torrent Gas Ltd pledged Rs 5,000 crore investment to build Chennai’s CNG retail infrastructure for automobiles and piped gas to households and industries.
  • The company will build pipelines and other facilities in the 3,569 square area of Chennai and Tiruvallur districts.

Power Minister says state inefficiency dismantles an investment barrier; check how much loss they suffer

  • Power Minister R K Singh said the key reason for losses in distribution firms is inefficiency in billing and collection. Singh added that if this inefficiency is taken care of, profit would be made by each discom.
  • Discom losses in FY17 stood at Rs 33,894 crore, Rs 29,452 crore in. In the fiscal year, FY18 jumped to Rs 49,623 crore.
  • In the power sector, the government injected liquidity of Rs 90,000 crore through the Power Finance Corporation and the Rural Electrification Corporation. For power distribution firms, low power consumption during the lockdown led to problems.

NBFCs expect COVID-19 woes to experience higher credit losses, says the report

  • Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) foresee higher loan losses as well as higher rates of supply coverage. This is largely due to the influence of
  • “increase in Expected Credit Loss (ECL) allowance by 33 per cent “increase in Expected Credit Loss (ECL) allowance.
  • There was an overall increase in gross loans of NBFCs by 7.63 percent and HFCs by 2.44 percent, as per the study entitled ‘Anticipated credit loss analysis for non-banking financial companies’ released on Monday.
  • ‘There was a 56 per cent increase in ECL allowance on stage 1 and stage 2 compared to a 25 per cent increase in ECL allowance on stage 3 properties.

SPORTS NEWS

Shane Warne picks his Australia XI for the pink ball Test against India

  • Warne picked Matthew Wade and Marcus Harris as openers with Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith and Travis Head at number three, four and five respectively.
  • Warne included Cameron Green and picked Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazelwood and Nathan Lyon as the bowling unit.

Melbourne Renegades get all out for 60, suffer biggest defeat in history of BBL

  • Aaron Finch-led Melbourne Renegades got all out for just 60 runs in 10.4 overs against Sydney Sixers in a Big Bash League match on Sunday.
  • Melbourne Renegades’ 145-run loss is the biggest defeat for a team in the entire history of Big Bash League.

Moises Henriques added to Australia’s squad for first Test against India

  • All-rounder Moises Henriques has been added to Australia’s squad for the first Test against India as injury woes continue in Australian camp.
  • Henriques comes in for Will Pucovski, who was ruled out of the first Test after he was hit on the helmet by a bouncer during the first tour match last week.

Fastest pacer to 50 ODI wickets hit fastest ODI 50 for India

  • Ajit Agarkar, who is the quickest fast bowler to reach 50 ODI wickets, slammed the fastest ODI fifty for India off 21 deliveries against Zimbabwe on December 14, 2000.
  • Agarkar scored 67*(25) and took three wickets to help India win the match.

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, MEDICINE AND DEFENCE

Reforms to help India’s space sector globally competitive: PM Modi 

  • Reforms in India’s space sector would help the country become a competitive space market globally and help replicate the success of the IT industry, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi
  • “Private investment in the (space) sector will lead to the creation of hi-tech jobs, which will provide a host of opportunities to the talent pool in IITs/NITs and other technical institutions,” Modi said in an interaction with startups, industries and academia from the space sector.  


Focus has been laid on bats by scientists for clues to prevent next pandemic

  • A National Mission on Biodiversity and Human Well-Being will likely be launched next year in India, the core plan of which is to set up 25 virus surveillance sites across the country.
  • Probing the secrets of bat immune systems may help scientists understand more about when bats would shed virus providing hints for possible future medical treatment strategies.

CDS Bipin Rawat states high level of preparation on land, sea and air are underway amid standoff with China

  • India is in a standoff situation in Ladakh and there is some development activity which has been ongoing in Tibet Autonomous Region of China. 
  • India authorised the defence forces to enhance their stocking of weapons and ammunition for a 15-day intense war as the country is in the middle of conflict with China over border row in eastern Ladakh.

YouTube, email and Docs suffered a rare Google service outage

  • The outage started shortly before noon UK time, lasting more than half an hour before services were restored.  Google’s search engine, however, remained unaffected.
  • Google stated that the problem hit its authentication system, which was used for logging in and lasted for about 45 minutes.  Users were still able to access the websites’ landing pages in “incognito mode”.

Heavy lift space successfully launched by Russia after long hiatus

  • Russia successfully test launched its heavy lift Angara A5 space rocket after a six-year hiatus in a project President Vladimir Putin describes as having huge significance for national security.
  • The defence ministry and space agency Roscosmos said that the launch from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the country’s northwest, had been successful despite manufacturing delays and technical issues by which Angara was dogged.

Global Partnership extended by Tech Mahindra and SAP

  • IT services firm Tech Mahindra announced the expansion of its partnership with SAP SE to deliver Intelligent Enterprise for customers globally.  It has become a global strategic service partner with SAP.
  • This will leverage their respective strengths to provide on-premise and cloud-based end-to-end solutions built on SAP Business Technology Platform. 

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