Daily Current Affairs and GK | 12 December 2019

1. Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 and Arms (Amendment) Bill passed in Parliament

• Rajya Sabha has approved the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019, with 125 members supporting it.
• Lok Sabha has already passed the bill.
• The bill provides eligibility to the illegal migrants of six communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan for Indian Citizenship.
• The Arms (Amendment) Bill 2019 has also been passed in the Parliament with the approval of Rajya Sabha.
• The bill seeks to amend the Arms Act, 1959.
• The bill decreases the number of licensed arms per person and increases the license period for arms from 3 years to 5 years.
• The bill aims to curb the illegal trafficking of arms.

2. Cabinet approves setting up of Infrastructure Investment Trust

• The union cabinet has approved the proposal of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways that provides for setting up of an Infrastructure Investment Trust by NHAI.  
• The trust will be established as per the guidelines of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
• It will allow NHAI to monetize those National Highways that have a toll collection record of one year.
• The Cabinet has also approved the introduction of Aircraft (Amendment) Bill 2019 to amend the Aircraft Act, 1934.

3. Lok Sabha passes International Financial Services Centres Authority Bill

• The International Financial Services Centres Authority Bill 2019 has been passed by the Lok Sabha.
• The bill seeks to create a unified authority to regulate the financial services market in IFSC in India.
• Presently, agencies like RBI, SEBI, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) regulate the financial market in India.
• The bill will amend 14 central acts- 7 related to RBI, 3 each related to the SEBI and the IRDA and 1 on the PFRDA.
• GIFT City in Gandhi Nagar is the first and only functional IFSC in India.
• IFSC is a jurisdiction that provides for both residents and non-residents the financial services in foreign currencies.

4. Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens (Amendment) Bill introduced in Lok Sabha

• Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawarchand Gehlot introduced the  Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens (Amendment) Bill, 2019 in Lok Sabha.
• The bill seeks to amend Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007.
• The cap of Rs. 10,000 as the maximum maintenance will be removed after the passage of the bill in the Parliament.
• The bill mandates for all senior citizen’s care homes and home care services agencies to register themselves and maintain the required standards at such homes.
• The violators will be punishable for 3 years of imprisonment or with a minimum fine of Rs 5,000 or both.

5. Code on Social Security, 2019 introduced in Lok Sabha

• Code on Social Security, 2019 has been introduced in the Lok Sabha, which aims at bringing down the number of laws on employees’ welfare and social security from 44 to just 4.
• It is the last code of the four labour codes; the other three are- Code on Wages, Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Bill and Industrial Relations Code.
• The code will allow the central government to fix provident fund contributions for the employees in different sectors.
• The code also provides for payment of gratuity to fix term employees.
• As per the code, Aadhar will be mandatory for securing the benefits under different social security schemes.
• The Code on Social Security will subsume the following 9 Central Labour Acts:

1. Employees' Compensation Act, 1923
2. Employees State Insurance Act, 1948
3. Employees Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952
4. Maternity Benefit Act, 1961
5. Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972
6. Cine Workers Welfare Fund Act, 1981
7. Building and Other Construction Workers Cess Act, 1996
8. Unorganized Workers Social Security Act, 2008
9. Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act 1959

6. Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 introduced in Lok Sabha

• Minister for Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad introduced the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 in Lo Sabha.
• The bill will be sent to a Joint Select Committee that will include the members from both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
• The bill restricts public as well as private entities from storing sensitive data outside India.
• Right to Privacy is a fundamental right.

7. 6^th India-Maldives Joint Commission Meeting to be held in India

• Foreign Minister of Maldives, Abdulla Shahid, has arrived in India to attend the 6^th India-Maldives Joint Commission Meeting.
• India and Maldives signed an agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation in 1986, which created the Joint Commission Meeting.
• JCM aims at improving bilateral relations in all fields.

8. United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade deal signed

• The United States, Mexico and Canada signed a regional trade deal agreement UMCSA.
• United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (UMCSA) will replace the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
• The agreement will now have to be ratified by the legislations of all three countries.

9. Gujarat government given clean chit by Justice Nanavati-Mehta Commission

• The then Gujarat government has been given clean chit by the Justice Nanavati-Mehta Commission in 2002 riots.
• The Commission has presented its final report in which it is stated that the riots were not organized. The allegations put forth by senior police officers have been found baseless.
• The first part of the report was tabled in the Gujarat Assembly on 25^th September 2009.
• The Justice Nanavati-Mehta Commission was appointed by the Gujarat government to enquire about the Godhara train burning incident and also the 2002 Gujarat riots.

10. Mobile Number Portability (MNP) process to become quick and simple

• The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued a public notice for the revised Mobile Number Portability (MNP) process.
• The MNP process will become simple and fast with the implementation of new norms from 16^th December 2019.
• It will now take only 3 days to port one network to another in the same circle and 5 days for porting to another circle.
• The TRAI has specified that no change has been in the porting timelines for corporate mobile connections.

Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)

1. Which of the following is not among the six communities whose illegal migrants are made eligible for Indian Citizenship as per the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019?

a)      Sikhs

b)      Jains

c)      Muslims

d)      Parsis

2. GIFT City, the first and only International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in India, is located in

a)      Ahmedabad

b)      Surat

c)      Gandhinagar

d)      Kachchh

3. According to the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, what was the maximum maintenance that was to be paid to the senior citizens by their adult children?

a)      Rs.8,000

b)      Rs.10,000

c)      Rs.13,000

d)      Rs.15,000

4. Which of the following is not one of the four labour codes introduced by the government?

a)      Code on Wages

b)      Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working conditions

c)      Code on Social Security

d)      Code on Employment Exchanges

5. When did the Joint Commission Meeting establish between India and Maldives?

a)      1978

b)      1986

c)      1994

d)      2005

6. Which of the following countries is not a part of the USMCA trade deal?

a)      USA

b)      Canada

c)      Mexico

d)      Chile

7. Justice Nanavati Mehta Commission was formed to probe into which of the following cases?

a)      Sikh riots 1984

b)      Gujarat riots 2002

c)      Muzaffarnagar riots 2013

d)      Panchkula riots 2017

8. What does MNP stand for?

a)      Mobile Network Principle

b)      Memory Network Progress

c)      Mobile Number Portability

d)      Minimum Network Progress

Solution:

1. c)

2. c)

3. b)

4. d)

5. b)

6. d)

7. b)

8. c)