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April 20, 2023: National Current Affairs MCQs
1. Anwarul Haq elected AJKPM
• In a dramatic move, the AJK Legislative Assembly elected its Speaker Chaudhry Anwarul Haq as the next premier in the small hours of April 19, 2023, ending a weeklong deadlock after ex-PM Tanveer Ilyas` disqualification.
• Polling was held at about 1:25am and 31 members voted for Mr Haq, including seven from PML-N and 12 each from PPP and renegades from ruling PTI.
• Mr Haq remained with PTI `to ensure its return to power in the face of manoeuvres by the combined opposition` which wanted to clinch power with the help of another small group of PTI deserters, under President Sultan Mahmood`s influence
2. Another bill to amend NAB law sails through Senate
• Another bill seeking to amend the accountability law, dubbed `part two of NRO2` by the opposition, sailed through the Senate without being referred to the standing committee concerned.
• The National Accountability (Amendment) bill, 2023, already passed by the National Assembly last week, was moved in the Senate by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar amid a protest by senators belonging to the PTI.
• The bill not only empowers the NAB chairman to transfer graft cases involving corruption of less than Rs500 million to the relevant agency, authority or department, but also close the pending inquiries and investigations where he thinks no case is made out
3. Alvi refuses SC powers bill a second time
• President Arif Alvi on April 19, 2023, for a second time, refused to give his assent to a bill seeking to curtail the chief justice of Pakistan`s (CJP) powers and sent it back to parliament, maintaining that the matter was now subjudice, Dawn.com reported.
• `The matter of competency of legislation and validity of the bill is subjudice now before the highest judicial forum of the country. In deference to the same, thereto no further action is desirable, he said in his reply.
• The legislation in question, titled the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Bill 2023, is aimed at depriving the office of the CJP of powers to take suo motu notice in an individual capacity and giving the right to appeal in all suo motu cases with retrospective effect
4. First current account surplus in two years
• The country`s current account turned to a surplus of $654 million in March a big monthly figure and the first surplus in over two years against a deficit of $36m in February.
• This helped contract the ongoing fiscal year`s current account deficit (CAD) by a massive 74 per cent year-on-year to just $3.37bn in July-March.
• This decline in the current account deficit was the outcome of $11.25bn fewer imports, a direct outcome of the import ban on luxury products and nonessential raw materials imposed last year, which hit manufacturing, prompting plant closures in the automotive and cellular sectors
5. First-ever compliance centre launched
• Commerce Ministry has launched the first-ever National Compliance Centre (NCC) aimed to ensure international compliance requirements and facilitate the manufacturers and exporters.
• The NCC would have a federal-level office with provincial secretariats to ensure coordination at the national level. It will havean organisational structure consisting of eight compliance clusters, and additional clusters may be established in the future as needed.
• The NCC will act as a repository of all international compliance requirements and develop a user friendly online database and other resources to assist businesses, industries, agricultural producers, public and private sector stakeholders, and other entities to understand and comply with international regulatory requirements