Current Affairs 23rd April 2018

Current Affairs 23rd April 2018 - Important Points

• Ordinance for death penalty for child rapists approved by - The Union Cabinet
• Commonwealth Cyber Declaration adopted by  - Commonwealth countries
• Civil Services Day celebrated on - April 21st 2018
• CCEA approves restructured Centrally Sponsored Scheme by - Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan
• President promulgates Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance on - 22nd April 2018
• World Earth Day 2018 celebrated on - 22nd April 2018

Current Affairs 23rd April 2018 - Details

Ordinance for death penalty for child rapists approved by - The Union Cabinet

The Union Cabinet has permitted promulgation of Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance to give death penalty for rapists of under 12 years girls. The law amends IPC, Criminal Procedure Code, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and Indian Evidence Act.
Key Provisions of Ordinance

• It delivers strict punishment of jail for at least twenty years or life imprisonment and death for rape of under 12 years girls. It delivers penalty with imprisonment for rest of life or death penalty in case of gang rape of girl under 12 years.
• It intensifies at least punishment from ten years to twenty years for crime of rape of girl below sixteen years, which can be stretched to imprisonment for rest of life. It rises minimum punishment for rape of women from rigorous imprisonment of seven years to ten years, which can be stretched to life imprisonment.
• It offers for fast investigation and trial, which must be finished in 2 months. It proposes six months’ time limit for discarding of appeals in rape cases. It delivers devoted manpower for investigation of rape cases in a time-bound means.
• It offers nil provision for anticipatory bail for individual accused of rape/gang rape of girl below 16 years.
• It has also been provided that court has to provide notice of fifteen days to Public Prosecutor and
  demonstrative of victim earlier deciding bail applications in case of rape of a girl below sixteen years of age.
• It has provision for preserving national database and profile of sexual offenders by National Crime
  Records Bureau.
• This information will be shared on regular intervals with States and Union Territories for monitoring, tracking and examination including verification of antecedents by police.

Commonwealth Cyber Declaration adopted by  - Commonwealth countries

The Commonwealth nations at the end of Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London
have accepted Commonwealth Cyber Declaration to take action on cybersecurity by 2020. The
announcement is measured as world’s largest and most geographically varied inter-governmental
commitment on cybersecurity cooperation.
Key Points

• Below this announcement leaders of 53 commonwealth nations decided to work closely to assess and reinforce their cybersecurity outlines and response mechanisms.
• It also goals to handle criminal clusters and hostile state actors who stances a world-wide threat to cybersecurity.
• The announcement forms common vision for making sure that internet remains free and open around Commonwealth. It pledges associates to increase national levels of cyber security and amplified collaboration to counter those who look forward to undermine our values, security, even integrity of elections.
• The capital below it will support Commonwealth associates to avoid and respond to cybersecurity
  hazards affecting governments, trades and citizens.
• It will permit low and middle-income Commonwealth associates to carry out national cybersecurity capacity reviews before next CHOGM in 2020. It will support projects across Commonwealth to provide technical help, training and guidance to address variety of cybersecurity and cybercrime threats.

Civil Services Day celebrated on - April 21st 2018

12th edition of National Civil Services Day was celebrated on April 21st, 2018 across India. This year
observation of the day aimed on ‘Evolving Strategies for Transforming Aspirational Districts’. A function
was planned on this occasion, by the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances,
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions. Civil employers from various corners of nation come together and met each other and learnt from each other’s experiences of working in the public field. On this day, the PM Award for Excellence in Public Administration was conferred upon best civil servants.
More about Civil Services Day

• The National Civil Services Day is observed every year on April 21st, when civil-servants re-dedicate themselves to cause of the citizens and reintroduce their promise to public service.
• On this day in 1947, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel had addressed the 1st probationers batch at All India Administrative Service Training School at Metcalfe House, New Delhi. Sardar Patel had referred bureaucrats as “steel frame of India” in this famous speech.
• On this day, the ‘Prime Minister Award for Excellence in Public Administration’ is offered in 3 categories.
• These awards were instituted in 2006. The awards have been introduced with an idea to admit, recognise and award the extraordinary and advanced work completed by officials of Central/State Governments for the wellbeing of common residents.

CCEA approves restructured Centrally Sponsored Scheme by - Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs led by the PM Narendra Modi permitted restructured
Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan. The updated plan will emphasis on
training, construction infrastructure, stepping up creativities for e-governance under e-Panchayat
Mission Mode Project to distribute on the Sustainable Development Goals. It will be executed during
time period from April 2018-March 2022 with sum proposed price of the plan is Rupees 7255 crores.
Key Points

• The plan will spread to all states and Union Territories of nation and will also have institutions of rustic local government in non-Part IX areas, where survival of Panchayats is not there.
• The plan will have both central component-National Level activities together with National Plan of Technical Assistance, Mission Mode project on e-Panchayat, Panchayat’s Incentivization and state
  component Capacity Building of Panchayati Raj Institutions.
• The execution and monitoring of activities of plans will broadly be associated for achieving Sustainable Development Goals with chief thrust on Panchayats recognized under Mission Antyodaya and 115 aspirational districts as recognised by NITI Aayog.
  Importance
• The restructured plan will assist over 2.55 lakh Panchayati Raj Institutions to progress governance
  capabilities to distribute on Sustainable Development Goals via inclusive local governance with attention on ideal usage of available resources.
• It will endeavour to attain chief principles of Sustainable Development Goals, reaching farthest 1st and universal coverage, along with gender equality.
• It will priorise to subjects of national position that marks the excepted groups the most, including poverty, nutrition, teaching, principal health services, vaccination, hygiene, water conservation and many more.

President promulgates Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance on - 22nd April 2018

President Ram Nath Kovind promulgated the Fugitive Economic Offenders Ordinance, which will permit the government to remove properties and assets of loan defaulters who escape the country, on April 22nd, 2018.
The President sanctioned the regulation after its endorsement by the Union Cabinet led by PM Narendra Modi. The Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill was presented in the Lok Sabha on March 12th, but it could not be taken up for debate due to commotions in the house over various matters.
Key Provisions of the Ordinance

• The regulation looks forward to seize properties of economic offenders who have port the nation to avoid facing criminal prosecution.
• The provision will be applicable for economic offenders who rejected to come back, peoples against whom an arrest warrant has been released for a arranged offence as well as wilful bank loan nonpayers with an outstanding of more than ?100 crores.
• The regulation also delivers for removal of assets without a belief and paying off lenders by selling off the fugitive’s belongings. Such economic offenders will be under trail under Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
  Other Details
• As per to the regulation, a deputy director selected under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 may file an application prior to a special court elected under the 2002 Act to announce an individual as a fugitive economic offender.
• The application will also have the data of the fugitive’s locations, a list of properties supposed to be profits of a wrongdoing, foreign properties and a list of people having an interest in these belongings.
• Upon getting the application, the special court will release a notice to the person, guiding him to look at a specified place within the restricted time of 6 weeks. 
• Any property concerned to the fugitive economic lawbreaker may provisionally be involved without the former permission of the special court, provided that the application is filed previously the court within thirty days.
• Petitions in contradiction of the orders of the special court will presented earlier to the high court.

World Earth Day 2018 celebrated on - 22nd April 2018

World Earth Day was celebrated on April 22nd, 2018 around the world. On the event of Earth Day on Sunday, influential around India and the world stated solidarity over shield and preservation of the planet Earth, with stress on reduction of plastic usage and adopting a supportable lifestyle.

People across the world also came together to observe the Earth Day. The Earth Day was 1st observed in the US in 1970, and the idea of memorializing such a day was advocated by Gaylord Nelson, who was a United States senator from Wisconsin. Gaylord Nelson, who had been an observer to the destruction caused by an enormous oil spill in Santa Barbara, California in 1969 and thought the perseverance of the issue. As per to The Earth Day Network, current year’s Earth Day is finalised to distributing awareness about the pollution triggered by plastic and the required to eventually terminate its usage. The Earth Day went global by the 1990s and is now observed by minimum 192 nations.