Current Affairs in Short: 23 September 2020

Centre constitutes task force to examine legal age for Marriage

• The government has constituted a task force to examine the correlation of marriageable age and motherhood with medical well-being, health and nutritional status of the mother and infant during pregnancy, birth and thereafter.
• The task force will also examine key parameters including Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB), Total Fertility Rate (TFR), Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and other relevant points pertaining to health and nutrition in this context. 
• The information was provided by Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani in a written in the Rajya Sabha.

Parliament passes the Bilateral Netting of Qualified Financial Contracts Bill, 2020.

• The Parliament passed the Bilateral Netting of Qualified Financial Contracts Bill, 2020 after the Rajya Sabha approved it on September 23, 2020. The Lok Sabha had passed the Bill earlier on September 20.
• The bill covers all financial contracts entered into on bilateral basis outside clearing system. It aims to empower financial regulators such as SEBI, RBI and IRDAI. 
• These regulators will notify contract under the bill’s purview as qualified financial contractor. The bill is expected to have a huge bearing on the financial stability of India, according to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. 

Rajya Sabha adjourned sine die

• The Rajya Sabha was on September 23, 2020 adjourned sine die, amid concerns of the spread of coronavirus among lawmakers. 
• While the opposition boycotted the proceedings, the Upper House passed few bills before adjourning. 
• The bills include- The Bilateral Netting of Qualified Financial Contracts Bill, 2020, The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2020, Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill and three labour codes.
• The suspension of the session comes after Parliament functioned for 10 days and passed 25 bills. Additionally, six bills were introduced in this session.

India slams Turkish President’s remarks on Kashmir at UNGA, calls it gross interference in internal matters

• India on September 22, 2020 slammed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks on Kashmir during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session, calling it a "gross interference" in India's internal affairs and "completely unacceptable".
• India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, TS Tirumurti, said that Turkey should learn to respect sovereignty of other nations and reflect on its policies more deeply.
• The Turkish President said during day two of the high-level UNGA meeting that the Kashmir conflict, which is also key to the stability and peace of South Asia, is still a burning issue. He stated in a pre-recorded statement that it is imperative to solve the issue of Kashmir through dialogue.
• He said that Turkey is in favour of solving this issue through dialogue within the framework of the United Nations resolutions, especially in line with the expectations of the people of Kashmir.

DRDO to cultivate vegetables under intense winters for Indian Army

• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is working on cultivating vegetables under intense winter conditions for the Indian Army using technologies such as passive greenhouse technology, microgreens and zero energy-based technique storage.
• The research for the same was undertaken by DRDO's Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR). With DRDO technology and hill council, all vegetables can be grown in summer but now the focus is on how to augment the availability of fresh items in winters. 
• DRDO is currently working on a passive greenhouse to enable cultivation of cauliflower, cabbage and tomato even in January when the temperature drops to about minus 25 degrees. DRDO is planning to use underground greenhouse as well.