Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 6 September 2017

::National::

Plea challenging appointment of CVC

• The Centre told the Supreme Court that K.V. Chowdary was appointed Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), the chief of the country’s top anti-corruption body, with the “unanimous consensus” of a high-profile committee led by the Prime Minister in June 2015.

• Arguing before a Bench of Justices Arun Mishra and M.M. Shantanagoudar, Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal submitted that the track records of both Mr. Chowdary and T.M. Bhasin, one of the two vigilance commissioners at the Central Vigilance Commission, were vetted before their appointments.

• Mr. Venugopal was responding to allegations raised in a PIL petition filed by NGO, Centre for Integrity, Governance and Training in Vigilance Administration, represented by advocates Prashant Bhushan and Pranav

• Sachdeva, in 2015 challenging the appointments as “arbitrary, illegal and in violation of the principle of institutional integrity.”

• While Mr. Chowdary was appointed the CVC on June 6, 2015, Mr. Bhasin took charge as the VC on June 11.

• Mr. Venugopal further questioned the powers of the judiciary to review the appointments made unanimously by the PM committee, which also includes the Leader of the Oppositionand the Home Minister.

• The Bench responded that it did not, at this point, want to go into the “realm of merits of the candidates”, but simply wanted to see whether the eligibility criteria were fulfilled at the time of appointments. Mr. Venugopal assured the court that enquiries were made about the officers before their appointments.

Home ministry gives financial powers to Joint Secretaries

• In a first, the Home Ministry has given financial powers to joint secretaries. They can now spend up to Rs. 50 crore for executing works and purchasing land.

• Joint secretaries have also been allowed to make procurement through open or limited tender of up to Rs. 20 crore and procurement through negotiated or single tender or proprietary contract of up to Rs. 5 crore, an official said.

• Such financial powers have been given to bring greater flexibility in operations, reduce delays and facilitate quick decision on matters involving financial expenditure, a Home Ministry official said. The decision has been taken by Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, who assumed charge on August 31.

• The joint secretaries can give expenditure sanction to infrastructure, civil, and electrical works under approved schemes and projects up to Rs. 50 crore.

• They can also approve purchase of land through State governments, municipal bodies and urban authorities up to Rs. 50 crore.

• The joint secretaries can also give authorisation, expenditure sanction up to Rs. 20 crore for purchase of operational vehicles of central armed police forces, Delhi Police and other security-related organisations.

• These powers were earlier exercised at the level of Union home secretary, special secretary and additional secretary. There are around 20 joint secretaries in the Ministry.

• They have also been empowered to sign agreements for technical collaboration and consultancy services up to Rs. 2 crore, and sanction expenditure of up to Rs. 50 lakh for running of office and contingency expenditure of up to Rs. 20 lakh.

Minister justifies Union government’s plan to send them back to Myanmar

• A day after the Supreme Court asked the Modi government to explain why it wants to deport Rohingya, Union Minister of State for Home KirenRijiju said “Rohingya are illegal immigrants and need to be deported as per law”.

• The Minister said he did not want to comment on the legal aspect of the case, but was responding to “harsh and unnecessary criticism from human rights organisations”.

• Mr. Rijijusaid the international organisations whether the Rohingya are registered under the United Nations Human Rights Commission or not. They are illegal immigrants in India and as per law they stand to be deported.

• The migration of Rohingya, a minority Muslim community settled in the Rakhine State of Myanmar, who are now fleeing the country after being caught in violent ethnic clashes, have become a political issue in the northeastern States that share a border with Myanmar for nearly 1,600 km.

• The second NEDA conclave, attended by five Chief Ministers from the northeastern region, discussed the issue of undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants and plans to seal the border.

• The human rights organisation Amnesty International said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should use his visit to urge the Myanmarese authorities to protect civilians and allow humanitarian aid to the affected areas.

• As a historic friend of Myanmar, India can play an important role in defusing tensions and saving civilian lives. Prime Minister Modi must urge the Myanmar authorities to address the long-standing and systematic discrimination against Rohingya and other Muslims in Rakhine State, which has left people trapped in a cycle of violence and deprivation

• The issue was also heard by the Supreme Court after two undocumented Rohingya immigrants petitioned it, challenging the Centre’s deportation plan.

NHRC takes suomotu cognisance over 80 children death

• The tragedy happened at a government hospital in Banswara district within 2 months

• Taking suomotu cognisance of media reports, the National Human Rights Commission issued a notice to the Rajasthan government over the death of over 80 children within a span of two months at a government hospital in Banswara district.

• While issuing notice to the Rajasthan Chief Secretary, the NHRC asked for a report in four weeks as well as information on the steps taken to improve the conditions in the hospital.

• The NHRC asked the Chief Secretary to provide information about the steps taken for sensitising healthcare institutions to be more attentive.

• “The negligence on part of the hospital authorities amounts to violation of right to life of poor victims” the statement from NHRC read.

SC questions the logic in keeping different age limits for the marriage of girls

• The legislature may have taken a conscious decision to retain the minimum age range for marriage between 15 and 18 for girls considering the socio-economic conditions of the country, the government argued in the Supreme Court.

• A Bench of Justices M.B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta questioned the government about the logic behind keeping different minimum ages for marriage under different laws.

• The Bench said the age of consent varies from the Indian Penal Code to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act to the Hindu Marriage Act ..What is the logic in keeping different age limits for the marriage of girls
  The court termed child marriages in the country “not marriages but mirages”.

• The court had earlier said it was unfortunate that parents drove their minor children into marriage. It is a hard reality and is unfortunate that most of the child marriages happening in the country are arranged by parents of the girl child. However, to this, there are odd exceptions when a minor boy and girl fall in love and marry on their own.

• It is hearing a petition filed by an NGO, Independent Thought, challenging Exception 2 to Section 375 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code, which permits “sexual intercourse with a girl child aged between 15 and 18 only on the ground that she is married”.

SC to hear curative petition against sec 377

• High interest after privacy verdict

• The Supreme Court is likely to hear on September 8 curative petitions against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, a colonial-era provision criminalising consensual sexual acts of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) adults in private.

• On February 2, 2016, a Bench led by the then Chief Justice of India, T.S. Thakur, indicated that the petitions needed to be referred to a five-judge Constitution Bench for a possible back-to-roots, in-depth hearing.

• The three-judge Bench of CJI Thakur and Justices Anil R. Dave and J.S. Khehar gave credence to arguments that the threat imposed by Section 377 amounted to denial of the rights to privacy and dignity, and resulted in gross miscarriage of justice.

• The fight against Section 377 got a major boost when a nine-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, while upholding the right to privacy as a fundamental right intrinsic to life and liberty, ripped apart a 2014 judgment dismissing the case against Section 377.

• The nine-judge Bench on August 28 observed that the chilling effect of Section 377 “poses a grave danger to the unhindered fulfilment of one’s sexual orientation, as an element of privacy and dignity”.

• In separate judgments, the Constitution Bench led by then Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar concluded that the 2014 verdict by a two-judge Bench of the apex court pandered to a “majoritarian” view to turn down the LGBT community their inherent fundamental rights of life, personal liberty, equality and gender discrimination.

• The 2014 judgment’s view that “a minuscule fraction of the country’s population constitutes lesbians, gays, bisexuals or transgenders” was not a sustainable basis to deny the right to privacy, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud observed in his judgment.

• The curative petitions was the last stand for the over a decade-old legal fight for LGBT rights. The Review Bench of the Supreme Court, in January 2014, had agreed with its original appeal judgment on December 11, 2013, setting aside the historic verdict of the Delhi High Court. The High Court had declared Section 377 unconstitutional.

Blue Whale game

• A 17-year-old-girl who had a blue whale carved on her arm was rescued by the police after she tried to kill herself by jumping into the Kaylana lake on the outskirts of Jodhpur.

• The girl apparently wanted to complete the final task of the Blue Whale Challenge online game by ending her life.

• The girl told the policemen that her mother would die and her family would be in trouble if she did not complete the game’s final challenge. The girl repeatedly asked the policemen to let her jump [into water], and requested them not to inform her family members.

• The girl, reportedly the daughter of a Border Security Force soldier and a resident of Mandore area in Jodhpur city, had left her home on the pretext of going to the market. When she did not return, her parents called her on her mobile phone. When the call was answered by a stranger, they panicked. They rushed to the police station with a missing person’s complaint and a hunt was launched for the girl.

• Shortly after, the girl was spotted riding her motorcycle around the Kaylana lake, located 8 km to the west of Jodhpur on Jaisalmer Road. Mr. Sihag said the police team repeatedly called out to her and asked her to come back but she rushed to the cliff and jumped into the lake.

• A group of divers in the vicinity rescued the girl from the lake. The police handed her over to her family. She told the police that she had downloaded the Blue Whale game in her mobile phone a few days ago. She had been finishing the tasks assigned to her until she reached the final stage.

• This was the latest in a series of instances reported from the country of deaths or suicide attempts linked to the Blue Whale game.

::INDIA AND WORLD::

India-China

• Talks underscored the need to avoid recurrence of Doklam-type crisis

• Looking beyond the Doklam crisis, India and China decided to open a new “forward looking” round of engagement, anchored by fresh mechanisms to ensure calm at the borders.

• With the recently resolved standoff in the Sikkim sector as the touchstone, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping, during their one-on-one meeting, agreed to establish new ways to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.

• From foreign secretary S. Jaishankar’s brief interaction with the media after the meeting, it appeared that the focus of the bilateral was on border Confidence Building Measures (CBMs), rather than fresh ideas to resolve the festering boundary dispute between the two countries.

• Analysts say that it remains to be seen whether the “constructive start” at Xiamen, will yield “solid anchorage” capable of withstanding the regional headwinds that India and China are likely to encounter in the future, as they deepen their ties in the Indian Ocean and the Asia-Pacific.

• The meeting between the two leaders took place after joint statement from the BRICS summit, which for the first time pointed to a convergence between India and China on international terrorism.

• Mr. Jaishankar said the two leaders agreed that efforts should be made to ensure that “defence and security (personnel) must maintain strong contact and cooperation” at the borders. In a veiled reference to the Doklam face-off, he stressed that regular contacts at the frontiers were necessary to “ensure that [the] sort of situation which happened recently should not recur.”

• One of the important points which were made at the meeting was that peace and tranquility in the border areas was a prerequisite for the further development of the bilateral relationship and there should be more effort to really enhance and strengthen the mutual level of trust between the two sides.

• The Foreign Secretary pointed out that organisations such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the BRICS could supplement interaction between the two countries at the “intergovernmental” level, to build a robust relationship in the future.

• In China, there is a growing perception among a section of the intelligentsia that the closure of the Doklam crisis has opened a fresh round of calibrated bonding between the two countries.

• China had become “more attentive to India’s concerns in the fight against terrorism,” referring to the BRICS joint statement, where, for the first time, China, at the highest level, did not object to the listing of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba as international terror groups.

India-Egypt

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Egyptian President Abdel Fattahel-Sisi and held talks on ways to strengthen bilateral ties.

• Mr. Modi, who came to this port city of China on September 3 to attend the 9th BRICS Summit, held two bilateral meetings on the last day of his China visit.

• Earlier, during his address at the BRICS Emerging Markets and Developing Countries Dialogue, which was attended by Egypt, Mexico, Guinea, Thailand and Tajikistan on China’s invitation as part of “BRICS Plus” outreach exercise, Mr. Modi described these countries as “close and valued” partners of India.

• India and Egypt have a strong economic relationship and cooperation in areas of security and counter-terrorism.

• India is the sixth largest trading partner of Egypt. India’s imports from Egypt were worth $1.74 billion during the 2014-15.

India- Myanmar

• Narendra Modi Will hold talks with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived on his first bilateral visit to Myanmar.

• Mr. Modi called on President HtinKyaw and will hold wide-ranging talks with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. Mr. Modi had said India and Myanmar would look at strengthening cooperation in security and counter-terrorism, trade and investment, infrastructure and energy and culture.

• He said he was looking forward to his visit to the heritage city of Bagan.

Ten noble commitments’ for BRICS by Modi

• PM calls for coordinated action on counter-terrorism, cybersecurity and disaster management

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitched for a coordinated action on counter-terrorism, cybersecurity and disaster management, as he suggested 10 “noble commitments” through which BRICS could achieve leadership in global transformation.

• At the BRICS Emerging Markets and Developing Countries Dialogue organised by China on the sidelines of the 9th BRICS Summit as an outreach exercise, Mr. Modi said India had a long tradition of partnerships with fellow developing countries, while pursuing its own aspirations for growth.

• “Whatever we do, will impact the world substantially. So, it is our solemn duty to make a better world — brick by brick, or, through BRICS..,” Mr. Modi said.

• The 10 noble commitments suggested by the Prime Minister included creating a safer world by “organised and coordinated action on at least three issues: counter-terrorism, cybersecurity and disaster management.”

• Other noble commitments suggested by Mr. Modi were: creating a greener world, creating an enabled world, creating an inclusive world, creating a digital world, creating a skilled world, creating a healthier world, creating an equitable world, creating a connected world and creating a harmonious world.

• Apart from Mr. Modi, leaders of Brazil, Russia, China, South Africa and five guest countries Egypt, Tajikistan, Thailand, Mexico and Guinea attended the dialogue.

• He said recently India completed its first voluntary review of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

::INTERNATIONAL::

Japan plans to develop missiles in the wake of threat from neighbours

• Japan faces an unprecedented threat to its existence from North Korea’s possession of hydrogen bomb.

• Speaking at an event organised by a think tank, KatsuyukiKawai indicated that Japan faced twin nuclear threats from North Korea and “expansionist” China and, therefore, wanted to develop long range missiles, ending its post-World War II stance.

• Japan’s national security environment has been drastically changed since the crisis in the Korean peninsula escalated. Under the present conditions Japanese Self Defence Forces may consider acquiring Inter-Continental

• Ballistic Missiles and cruise missiles to deal with the threat we are facing

• Mr. Kawai indicated that North Korean thermo-nuclear tests had shaken the security arrangement in East Asia which came up following the Second World War. Tokyo was considering all options to deter North Korea’s missile and thermo-nuclear capabilities.

• The upcoming visit of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to India is also significant in view of the recent tension on the India-China border. Mr. Kawai welcomed the end of the standoff at Doklam.

• Japanese media reports have indicated that Mr Abe will visit India between September 12 and 14 when he will hold bilateral discussion with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attend a ceremony to start a high speed railway project. A Japanese advance team visited India, laying the ground for Abe-Modi talks on railways and infrastructure.

• The Abe-Modi talks would be the first major opportunity for Japan to share its concerns on the North Korean developments with India, which had deplored the recent hydrogen-bomb test by North Korea.

Trump administration discontinued amnesty scheme for young immigrants

• The Donald Trump administration discontinued an Obama-era immigration reform measure that protected from deportation people who had entered the U.S. illegally as children.

• “(T)he programme known as DACA that was effectuated under the Obama administration is being rescinded,” Attorney-General Jeff Sessions said.

• The former President had introduced the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) as an interim relief even as a debate on a comprehensive immigration reform to address the status of 11 million undocumented residents in America was caught in a political logjam for years.

• The Department of Homeland Security stopped processing any new applications under the programme but will continue to renew permits for anyone whose status expires in the next six months. If the U.S. Congress does not pass a law on their status within the six months, people will be at risk of being deported.

• President Trump said the decision was about constitutional division of power between the executive and the legislature.

• There is nothing compassionate about the failure to enforce immigration laws. Enforcing the law saves lives, protects communities and taxpayers, and prevents human suffering. Failure to enforce the laws in the past has put our nation at risk of crime, violence and even terrorism. The compassionate thing is to end the lawlessness, (and) enforce our laws.

• Since 2012, the DACA has helped 8,00,000 young adults to pursue education and career opportunities in America. The programme gives beneficiaries renewable two-year work permits and Social Security numbers and more opportunity for higher education. About 1% of the beneficiaries (8,000 persons) of have been of Indian origin, according to the U.S. Customs and Immigration Services.

• A Pew study estimated that in 2014, around five lakh out of a total of 11 million Indians were in America illegally. Asia, encompassing South Asian nations such as India as well as East Asian countries including China, was the birthplace of 1.4 million U.S. unauthorised immigrants, or 13% of the total in 2014.

• The Trump Administration’s cruel decision to not save the DACA programme will affect many Indians in America. A lot of people think that Indians do not have to worry about their immigration status, but this is false...

• Undocumented Indian youth who have DACA status are now in a position where they don’t know if they can keep their jobs or if they have to live in fear of immigration officials coming to their door.

• Trump’s decision is inhumane, and it reflects this administration’s relentless attacks on immigrants and anyone perceived as being different.

• Several lawmakers, including some Republicans, have opposed the move.

Rohingya crises

• Dhaka has urged the international community to mount pressure on Myanmar to stop pushing its nationals into Bangladesh and take back Rohingya refugees, who are crossing in the thousands following fresh military onslaught in Rakhine State .

• The call was given by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who said that the huge influx is a “big burden” for Bangladesh because it already has hundreds of thousands of Myanmar refugees living in its southeast distr

• The newly appointed Indonesian Ambassador Rina PrihtyasmiarsiSoemarno met her during the day, and the country’s Foreign Minister RetnoMarsudi reached Dhaka following her visit to Myanmar where she had urged

• Aung San Suu Kyi to end the ongoing violence against Rohingya Muslims.

• Malaysia summoned Myanmar’s Ambassador to express displeasure over the violence and scolded Myanmar for making “little, if any” progress on the problem.

::ECONOMY::

Services sector contracts on GST woes

• Services sector contracted for the second month in a row in August as business activity and new work orders were hit by disruptions caused by the new GST regime, a monthly survey showed.

• Business orders and jobs fell at a slower rate than in July, as per the PMI survey. The Nikkei India Services PMI Business Activity Index improved slightly from 45.9 registered in July to 47.5 in August, but remained below the crucial 50-mark for the second straight month.

• A contraction for two consecutive months was last seen in November-December 2016 after the government’s demonetisation decision.

• While manufacturing sector rebounded into growth zone during August, a composite index for services and manufacturing sectors continued to show contraction.

Undersea pipeline from Iran- India would be beneficial

• Proposed 1,300-km line can save $1 billion annually; will avoid Pakistani waters

• A 1,300-km undersea pipeline from Iran, avoiding Pakistani waters, can bring natural gas from the Persian Gulf to India at rates less than the price of LNG available in the spot market, proponents of the pipeline.

• Releasing a study on the Iran-India gas pipeline, former oil secretary T.N.R. Rao said natural gas imported through the more than $4-billion line would cost $5-5.50 per million British thermal unit at the Indian coast, cheaper than the rate at which some of the domestic fields supply gas.

• Liquefied natural gas, or LNG, imported through ships costs about $7.50 per million British thermal unit.

• Mr. Rao, who is the chairman of the advisory board of South Asia Gas Enterprise Pvt. Ltd. (SAGE) — the firm wanting to lay the undersea line — said the pipeline can first travel to Oman, and then onwards to Porbandar in the state of Gujarat.

• According to the study the cost of landed gas through an undersea pipeline will be at least $2 cheaper than importing LNG, saving about $1 billion annually.

• The pipeline is planned to carry 31.5 million standard cubic meters gas per day and will be built in two years from the date of necessary approvals and a gas sale and purchase agreement (GSPA) being signed.

• The subsea pipeline is being seen as an alternative to the on-land, Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline. New Delhi has not been participating in talks on the 1,036-km Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline since 2007 citing security and commercial concerns. But, it has never officially pulled out of the $7.6 billion project.

RCEP- India plans

• At the forthcoming ministerial-level meeting on the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) involving 16 Asia-Pacific nations, India will raise concerns regarding the ‘slow’ pace of negotiations on services trade liberalisation as opposed to ‘higher priority’ being accorded to commitments to open up goods trade in the region.

• The mega-FTA is known in official parlance as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). It involves the 10-member ASEAN bloc and its six FTA partners including India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

• The new commerce minister Suresh Prabhu will be representing India during the fifth RCEP Ministerial Meeting, which is slated to be held on September 10 in Manila on the sidelines of the ASEAN Economic Ministers

• Meeting and related meetings with ASEAN’s major trading partners. This would be Mr. Prabhu’s first major international trade meeting as the new commerce minister.

• India is learnt to be upset that other RCEP nations seem to be focused more on “extracting as much (binding commitments) as possible on eliminating tariffs to open up goods trade”, instead of sticking to the RCEP

• ‘Guiding Principles and Objectives’ which state that the “negotiations on trade in goods, trade in services, investment and other areas will be conducted in parallel to ensure a comprehensive and balanced outcome.”

• India will “talk tough and state that any more discussions” on opening up goods trade will be only after ensuring that negotiations on services trade liberalisation “catch up” with talks on goods trade.

• India is keen that in return for agreeing to open up goods trade (where most RCEP nations have an advantage), other member nations must commit to substantial liberalisation of services trade – including on easing norms on movement of professionals and skilled workers across borders for short-term work.

• India is seeking support for its proposal on an ‘RCEP Travel Card’ for the purpose. India is relatively strong in services with its vast pool of professionals.

HP tablet to enable State services

• Device has been designed to monitor Aadhaar-based subsidy distribution

• HP Inc India introduced its range of ‘Made for India’ tablets to enable digital delivery of services and benefits with prices starting at Rs. 19,374.

• The Pro8 tablet range, the company said, was aimed at supporting financial inclusion and monitoring subsidy distribution through Aadhaar authentication, among other things.

• The device range has been specially designed for rugged Indian field conditions. The Pro8 tablet range comprises an 8-inch tablet, coupled with a host of customisable configurations that include [an] iris scanner and [a] fingerprint reader for Aadhaar-based authentication, magnetic stripe reader and thermal printer for transaction management and bar code reader for inventory management and tracking.

• The devices were designed by HP’s Digital India Unit with inputs from public and private sector customers. They feature a sunlight readable screen for outdoor usage, a large battery for uninterrupted operation in the field, and a dust- and water-resistant build, with support for Indian languages.

• The tablets, targeted mainly at government use, feature Android OS ‘Marshmallow’, Quad Core Processor; 2GB RAM; 16 GB storage plus 64 GB expandable memory; 4G LTE connectivity with Bluetooth; Wi-Fi, and GPS enabled; and 6,000 mAh high capacity battery.

Supply to non-power sectors to be regulated by Coal India

• In a bid to push increased fuel to coal-based thermal power plants having low levels of stock, Coal India Ltd. has decided to temporarily regulate coal movement to the non-power sector, the firm said.

• CIL had set up a round-the-clock Initiatives, Monitoring and Control cell to watch the situation. Currently, 21 power plants are running with low level of coal stocks, of which nine are at a super-critical level (less than three days’ stock), enquiries revealed.

• The move comes at a time when Coal India’s production, at 193.1 million tonnes, slipped on its target for April-August. However CIL was able to push forth 225.4 million tonnes to the user industry.

• In the wake of poor demand and high stocks with the power sector last fiscal, CIL had ended the year with stocks of 68.4 million tonnes.

• CIL improved dispatches from its coal sidings (by increasing the number of sidings) and also adopted a road-cum-rail approach for transporting coal by using its sidings more extensively.

• A CIL statement quoted Gopal Singh, who has taken charge as CIL’s CMD from September 1, as saying that the IMC Cell had been activated to avoid any stock crisis at any of the linked power stations. The monitoring plan aims at co-ordination with Railways and Power Utilities and independent power purchasers.

• CIL has asked NTPC to prioritise coal movement to the latter’s plants on the basis of stockholding.

Govt. to bring out policy to develop agri-clusters and boost farm exports

• The government will soon bring out a policy to develop agricultural clusters and boost farm exports

• In 10th Agriculture Leadership Summit 2017 Mr. Prabhu said, “If there are clusters for industry, why should we not think about clusters for agriculture. Farmers have the right to access global markets and get better prices (for their produce) and for that we will put in place a good policy framework soon.” He added, “We have to develop global supply chains and we will work on that.”

• The minister said at the multi-lateral level too there was work to be done to eliminate trade restrictions. Mr. Prabhu said he would be soon meeting trade ministers in Manila and Seoul in this regard.

• On the World Trade Organisation-level negotiations, he said there would be a ministerial conference in Argentina in December. Our agenda is going to be very aggressive. This is a development round .We will ensure that

• Indian farmers get their due by getting better price from global markets. This is very important and this is going to be part of the strategy to increase farmers’ income in India.

Finance Ministry asks banks to restrict accounts of 2.09 lakh firms

• The finance ministry has advised all banks to take immediate steps to restrict transactions in bank accounts of more than 2.09 lakh companies, whose names have been struck off the Register of Companies.

• Banks have also been advised to step up due diligence while dealing with all firms in general and been alerted that even if a firm is ‘active’ in the corporate affairs ministry database, it should be seen with ‘suspicion’ if it has failed to file statements or returns.

• On July 1, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had first revealed the government’s decision to cancel the registrations of one lakh companies that had suspicious and questionable operations, identified on the basis of data mined from the deposit of bank notes following last November’s demonetisation of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes.

• The PM had promised more action would follow on two lakh similar firms and 38,000 shell companies. Tuesday’s statement reveals that progress has been made in scrapping another 1,09,032 firms under the Companies Act since then.

• The existing directors and authorised signatories of such struck-off companies will now become ex-directors or ex-authorised signatories. These individuals will therefore not be able to operate bank accounts of such companies till such companies are legally restored under Section 252 of the Companies Act by an order of the National Company Law Tribunal.

• Since such ‘struck off’ companies have ceased to exist, action has been initiated to restrict the operation of [their] bank accounts. The Department of Financial Services has, through the Indian Banks Association, advised all banks to take immediate steps to put restrictions on bank accounts of such struck-off companies.

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