Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 12 June 2020

::NATIONAL::

NHRC report says centre actively considering universal basic income

• In its report on human rights in India, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has informed the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that the recommended implementation of a universal basic income was “under examination and active consideration” of the Centre.
• As a part of the third round of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process, which is done every four-and-a-half-years, the NHRC submitted its mid-term report to the UN agency recently. The report, dated “May 2020”, reviewed the implementation of 152 recommendations of the UPR Working Group that the Indian government had accepted in September 2017.
• The report stated that there had been a consensus on the need for increasing budgetary allocation for health and nutrition by the Centre and state governments.
• With regards to child rights, the report said the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights was working on a proposal for a pilot project to eliminate child labour in five “aspirational districts with high incidence of child labour”.
• The NHRC noted that it had found “gaps in policies as compared to obligations” under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and had made recommendations to address the same. It added that it was in the process of setting up a committee to monitor the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
• The NHRC said it had expressed “concern over the inefficiencies in implementation of the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities Act) 1989 and the Rules of 1995” and warned States of coercive action when they failed to submit reports on violation of human rights of SCs, STs and minorities.

ICMR finds slum population most vulnerable to COVID spread

• The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Thursday released the results of the first sero-survey on COVID-19 spread that stated that the urban slum population was most vulnerable to the spread, followed by urban settlements. The ICMR asserted that the country is not in the community transmission phase.
• The sero-surveillance study, conducted in 83 districts covering 28,595 households and 26,400 individuals by the ICMR along with other agencies in May, also reveals that 0.73% of the population surveyed showed evidence of past exposure to SARS-CoV-2.
• India on Thursday overtook the United Kingdom to become the country with the fourth highest incidence of COVID-19. With a spike of 11,000 new cases, the tally rose to 2,97,928, which includes, 1,42,715 active cases. 
• The death toll rose to 8,497, a jump of 392 from the previous day. According to the country-wise tally maintained by Johns Hopkins University, the total cases in the U.K. stood at 2,92,854.
• Meanwhile, Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan, along with senior health officials, held a meeting with Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope and noted that all 36 districts of the State were COVID-19-affected.

::ECONOMY::

RBI proposes stronger bank boards to improve governance

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed a stronger board for banks for improving governance and stringent norms for CEOs and wholetime directors (WTDs). The norms are applicable to private, foreign and public sector banks.
• In a discussion paper on governance in commercial banks in India, the banking regulator said board members should not be a member of any other bank’s board or the RBI and should not be either a Member of Parliament or State Legislature or Municipality or other local bodies. Board of directors of a bank should not be less than six and not more than 15, with a majority being independent directors.
• A director on the board of an entity other than a bank may be considered for appointment as director on a bank’s board, if the person is not an owner of an NBFC or a full-time employee and that the NBFC does not enjoy a financial accommodation from the bank.
• The discussion paper suggested appointment, re-appointment and termination of wholetime directors and chief executive officers should be with the previous approval of RBI.
• The new norms will come into effect within six months after being placed the RBI’s website or April 1, 2021, whichever is later.

Centre releases rankings for higher educational institutions

• Union Minister for Human Resource Development Ramesh PokhriyalNishank today virtually released India Rankings-2020 for Higher Educational Institutions in New Delhi. IIT, Madras retains first position in Overall Ranking as well as in Engineering
• Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said, these rankings help universities to improve their performance on various ranking parameters and identify gaps in research and areas of improvement. He said that the Ranking of Institutions at national level instill a competitive spirit amongst institutions to perform better and secure higher rank in international ranking.
• Mr Pokhriyal said that the Ministry of HRD has taken this important initiative of creating a National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), which is being used for past five years for ranking of institutions of higher education in different categories and domains of knowledge . He said, it is indeed a source of encouragement for all. 
• He said that this exercise has also created a habit of organizing the data by the institutions and most of all these institutions attempt themselves to become more competitive. 
• The Minister was happy to observe that broad categories of parameters identified in the NIRF have successfully captured all the important aspects of teaching, learning and resources, research and professional practice, graduate outcomes etc. in institutions of higher education.
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::INTERNATIONAL::

India reiterates cultural and civilizational ties with Nepal

• As Nepal prepared to vote on Saturday for a new map amid the Kalapani territorial dispute, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday reiterated India’s civilisational ties with Nepal.
• The vote in Nepal’s Parliament for the Second Constitutional Amendment, which will give legislative support to the new map, has seen extensive discussions. On Thursday, sources in Kathmandu said the final round of discussions was expected to be followed by voting in the Lower House on Saturday.
• The official spokesperson said the report on international religious freedom for 2019, published by the U.S. Department of State, was a document produced for the domestic audience. He said other countries did not have the right to criticise India on religious freedom.
• The Indian official also hit out at Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s social media posts, offering help to the poor Indian households facing economic distress because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• “We all have known about their debt problem and how much they have been pressed for debt restructuring. It would also be better for them to remember that India has a stimulus package as large as Pakistan’s annual GDP,” Ministry’s official spokespersonMr.Srivastava said.

Trump orders sanctions against ICC probe officials

• U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday issued an executive order authorising sanctions against individuals involved in an International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into whether U.S. forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan.
• A senior White House official, without providing details, said the ICC probe is “being pushed forward by an organisation of dubious integrity” and accused Russia of having a role.
• Mr. Trump has repeatedly assailed The Hague-based ICC set-up to prosecute war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. It has jurisdiction only if a member state is unable or unwilling to prosecute atrocities itself.
• Afghanistan is a member of the ICC, though Kabul has argued that any war crimes should be prosecuted locally. The U.S. government has never been a member of the court, established in 2002. The government imposed travel restrictions and other sanctions against ICC employees a year ago.
• The ICC decided to investigate after prosecutors’ preliminary examination in 2017 found reasonable grounds to believe war crimes were committed in Afghanistan and that the ICC has jurisdiction.
• ICC prosecutor FatouBensouda wants to investigate possible crimes committed between 2003 and 2014, including alleged mass killings of civilians by the Taliban, as well as the alleged torture of prisoners by Afghan authorities and, to a lesser extent, by U.S. forces and the CIA.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

Gir lion population in Gujarat rises by almost 29%

• Gujarat prides itself on hosting Asiatic lions exclusively, and their numbers have now risen to an estimated 674 in the Gir forest region and other revenue areas of coastal Saurashtra.
• Once seen as threatened by extinction, the lion population has grown by almost 29% from the last count in 2015. Today, Asiatic lions are present in Protected Areas and agro-pastoral landscapes of Saurashtra covering nine districts, over an expanse of about 30,000 sq. km.
• Forest officials said there was a consistent increase in the population and distribution. The department had implemented strategies and interventions like community participation, use of technology, habitat management and increase in prey base, human-lion conflict mitigation and healthcare including import of vaccines after some lions were infected with Canine Distemper Virus (CDV).
• This year, the department carried out a “population estimation exercise” on the night of June 5-6 because the five-yearly regular census in May could not be held due to COVID-19. In October 2018, Gir witnessed an outbreak of CDV in which 36 lions died. The Prime Minister had then directed the State authorities to import vaccines.
• As per Forest Department data, there are 161 male, 260 female, 45 sub adult male, 49 sub adult female, 22 unidentified and 137 cubs. Experts said the male-female ratio was healthy in the Gir region with 161 malesvs 260 females.

::SPORTS::

BCCI president briefs on staging IPL this season

• In his first official communication to affiliates of the BCCI since the COVID-19 outbreak, presidentSouravGanguly assured the State associations of staging the IPL and preparing for the next domestic season with a new set of standard operating procedures (SOPs). But the letter has evoked a mixed response from the State associations.
• Ganguly’s mail, accessed by The Hindu, stated: “The BCCI is working on all possible options to ensure that we are able to stage the IPL this year, even if it means playing the tournament in empty stadiums.”