# Bar council

• The bar council of India, the legal profession’s apex regulating body, has decided to allow foreign lawyers and firms to practice in the country in the field of foreign law and international issues in non litigious matters.
• This is the first step towards opening up of the profession for overseas players.
• The council notified rules for registration and regulation of foreign lawyers and foreign law firms in India to allow entry of foreign lawyers and law firms in a restricted, well controlled and regulated manner on the principal of reciprocity.
• It means lawyers of only those countries that permit Indian lawyers to practice law there would be allowed to operate.

# US envoy

• President Joe Biden’s close aide Eric Garcetti was confirmed on Wednesday by the US Senate as the country’s next ambassador to India.
• So the position of US ambassador to India has been filled after being vacant for over two years.
• The senator voted 52-42 to confirm his nomination.
• The Ex los Angeles Mayor’s nomination was pending before the US Congress since July 2021 when he was nominated for the key post.

# PMLA

• Amid allegations that its probes are launched for political reasons and quickly turn into roving enquiries only to fail in courts, the ED has claimed a conviction rate of 96% in cases registered under the prevention of money laundering act, in which trials have been completed.
• According to latest data released by the ED with completed trials, 24 resulted in conviction, leading to sentencing of 45 accused.
• Trials are in progress in other 1142 cases, with the ED having filed chargesheets.
• During trials, the ED attached assets worth ₹1.15 lakh crore in about 2000 attachment orders.

# Trade deficit

• India’s goods exports and imports shrunk by 8% each in February.
• Despite the recent weakness in numbers, the government is hopeful of ending the current financial year with record exports, which may be in the region of $435-440 billion.