The Daily Brief – 14th March 2019

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has stated before the Supreme Court that exclusion of names of persons from draft National Registry of Citizens (NRC) in Assam will not affect their voting rights in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls provided their names feature in the electoral rolls. Petition filed by Gopal Seth and Susanta Sen, residents of Assam feared that people would lose their voting rights due to the ongoing exercise of National Registry of Citizens.

Social media platform Facebook has launched Facebook Hub to be part of a global network for training and mentoring facilities for not just start-ups, but also developers, small and medium businesses, creators, and job seekers. Facebook Hubs will provide support for start-up community by hosting mentor hours and conducting trainings, workshops and discussions across 20 locations in India.

The European Union has expanded its tax haven blacklist by including 10 countries to make it a list of 15 countries. The list was first drawn up by EU in 2017. Seven countries Aruba, Belize, Bermuda, Fiji, Oman, Vanuatu and Dominica were moved from greylist to blacklist due to their inability towards reform commitments. Three other countries added into the list are Barbados, the United Arab Emirates and the Marshall Islands.

The UK Parliament on March 12, 2019 yet again overwhelmingly rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal, delivering a massive blow to her efforts to see the planned withdrawal of Britain from the European Union on March 29. The British Parliament is scheduled to vote on a new motion on March 13, 2019 to decide if Britain should leave the European Union within the March 29 deadline without any deal in place.

Arecanut, known as supari or betel nut, made its entry in the list of agricultural produce for the first time with the Geographical Indication (GI) tag for ‘Sirsi Supari’. The ‘Sirsi Supari’ is grown in Sirsi, Siddpaur and Yellapur taluks of Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka. The GI tag will guarantee the authenticity of arecanut grown in these taluks, and ensure a better market.

Supreme Court ruled that only officers who have a minimum of six months tenure left in police service should be considered for the post of Director General of Police (DGP). A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said the recommendation for post of DGP by UPSC should be purely on the basis of merit. Former Uttar Pradesh DGP Prakash Singh filed a petition alleging that the July 3, 2018 directive of the Supreme Court was being misused by state governments who were ignoring competent senior officers for appointment as DGPs.

Vikram Sahay, Joint Secretary at Union Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Sadhana Rout, Director General of Publications Division jointly inaugurated the India Pavilion at London Book Fair to be held in the London Olympia from March 12 to 14, 2019. The India Pavilion lays special focus on 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. It displays the digital version of the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, in addition to various other titles on Culture, History and Folklore of India.