# Supreme Court

• Raising questions on the centre appointing serving bureaucrats of its choice as Chief election commissioner and election commissioner.
• Supreme Court said on Tuesday “a fair and transparent” Mechanism should be adopted to appoint the best apolitical person with strong character who can make independent decisions without being influenced.
• Pointing that article 324 (2) mandates framing of a law for selection and appointment of CEC/ECs but nothing had been done in seven decades.

# United States of America

• The interview wait period for first time US visitors visa B1 (Business) and B2 (tourists) – applicants in India is now close to 1000 days, just short of three years.
• According to the state Department website, the wait period for B1/B2 applicants requiring an interview, as on Tuesday, November 22 is 999 days in Mumbai, 994 in Hyderabad, 961 days in Delhi, 948 in Chennai and 904 in Kolkata.
• The state Department officials also said that it is unlikely to get the waiting period down.

# Australia

• The Australian parliament on Tuesday ratified the FTA with India.
• It will pave the way for the rollout of the first phase of the treaty, which will see Canberra remove import duty on all products and offer a more liberal Visa regime in return for India cutting tarriff on some items.
• Meanwhile, External affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayad Al Nahyan, held talks on food security, trade and investment.
• India and UAE have projected they will surpass bilateral trade worth $88 billion this year.

# Paytm

• Shares of one97 communications which operates under the Paytm brand fell 11% to end at ₹477 by close of Tuesday’s trade on BSE.
• This happened after a research report said that the company would be hit by the entry of the Reliance jio in the financial services.