Daily GK Updates - 2nd January, 2019

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Justice AK Sikri nominated as EC of NALSA : President Ram Nath Kovind nominated Justice AK Sikri as the Executive Chairman (EC) of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA). The post got vacant after the retirement of Justice Madan B Lokur.The NALSA was constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 to provide free legal services to the weaker sections of the society and to organise the Lok Adalats.

2. Anti-Dumping duty imposed on chemical : The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has recommended anti-dumping duty on a chemical used in paint and printing industries, imported from Brazil, Indonesia, and Thailand. The name of the chemical is ‘non-plasticised industrial grade nitrocellulose damped in isopropyl alcohol having nitrogen content in the range of 10.7-12.2%’. The duties have been imposed for three years.

3.Govt releases 6-crore LPG connection : The government of India gave 6-crore free cooking gas (LPG) connections under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) on 2 January 2019. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu handed over the 6 croreth LPG connection under PMUY to Jasmina Khatoon from Delhi. The PMUY was launched on 1 May 2016, with a target to give 5 crore connections by March 2019.

4. Aadhaar Amendment Bill introduced in Lok Sabha : On 2 December 2018, the government of India introduced the Aadhar amendment bill in Lok Sabha. The bill seeks to provide legal backing for voluntary seeding of biometric Aadhaar ID with mobile numbers and bank accounts after the Supreme Court barred mandatory use of the Aadhar by private firms. In December 2018, the Union Cabinet approved amending the existing Aadhaar law.

5. Global advertising meet in Kochi : The 44th Global Summit of the International Advertising Association (IAA) will be held in Kochi from February 20 to 22, 2019.

The theme of the summit is ‘Brand Dharma’.It is for the first time an Indian city is hosting the summit. The last three summits were held in Washington DC, Moscow and Beijing.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Brazil’s Bolsonaro takes oath as President : Former Army captain, Jair Bolsonaro was sworn in as Brazil’s President on 1 January 2019. He won the Presidential election of Brazil on 28 October 2018. He defeated leftist opponent Fernando Haddad. He was declared the winner by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal after 94% of the votes were counted.

2. Justice Rana takes over as Nepal’s new CJ : Justice Cholendra Shamsher J B Rana took over as the new Chief Justice of Nepal’s Supreme Court on 2 January 2019.President Bidya Devi Bhandari administered the oath to Justice Rana. He will have a tenure of four years. He succeeded Chief Justice Om Prakash Mishra, who retired on 1st January 2019. He was appointed as the permanent judge of the Supreme Court on May 27, 2014.

3. US, Israel quit UNESCO citing bias :  The US and Israel had quit the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) with the close of 2018.The countries had announced their decisions in 2017 of withdrawing from the agency, accusing it of bias against Israel. Israel joined the agency in 1949.UNESCO is best known for its work to preserve heritage, including maintaining a list of World Heritage sites.

OTHER UPDATES:

BUSINESS/ECONOMY:

1. Direct tax-GDP ratio in FY18 best in 10 years : The Ministry of Finance said that the direct tax-to-GDP ratio of 5.98% achieved during 2017-18 fiscal is the best in the last 10 years. It was 5.57% in 2016-17 and 5.47% in 2015-16.The growth rate for corporate income tax (CIT) and personal income tax (PIT) stood at 17.7% and 18.3% respectively. The number of individuals filing return of income has also increased by about 65% in 2017-18.