Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 01 January 2016

:: NATIONAL ::

Odd- even scheme in Delhi from today

The stage is set for the enforcement of odd-even scheme, despite mixed reviews about its two-hour trial run.
As many as 200 teams of Civil Defence volunteers will be deployed at as many locations, while 45 teams of the Delhi Transport Corporation 29 teams of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and 15 teams of the DIMTS have been formed to ensure minimal inconvenience and effective enforcement of the scheme
Violating the scheme’s provisions, as has been announced earlier, will lead to a Rs.2,000 on-the-spot fine.
Restrictions based on the odd-even rule will also apply at parking lots across the city.

After planning commission, National development council to be scrapped now

After the Planning Commission, the Narendra Modi-led government is set to bring down the curtains on another Nehruvian legacy: the National Development Council (NDC).
After getting the Cabinet’s approval, Mr. Modi will take up the resolution with the Chief Ministers at a meeting of the Governing Council of the NITI Aayog.
This will be on the lines of a discussion Mr. Modi had with the Chief Ministers at the first meeting of this council about a year ago for replacing the Planning Commission with the NITI Aayog.

DANICS and IAS officers on leave in Delhi

The Home Ministry has declared the suspension order of two DANICS officers non-est and the two officers should be considered deemed to be on duty.
The officials were suspended after they refused to sign a file on the Cabinet decision to hike the salary of public prosecutors.
Officers of DANICS and IAS cadre are on mass leave because of the action against the two officers.
But Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal sent out a stern warning to the agitating officers saying the government was exploring “all options” against those who were on leave.

World Bank help for Nai-Manzil scheme

The Union government and the World Bank signed a $50-million credit agreement for a project aimed at helping young people from minority communities complete their education and improve their employment opportunities.
The Nai Manzil Scheme is designed as an integrated education and training programme that provides youth from minority communities skills needed for different tasks in a rapidly changing world.
Interventions under this project will support the Nai Manzil Scheme in improving the employability and performance of minority youth in the labour market.
Around 20 per cent of those between 17 and 35 years of age from minority groups such as Muslims, Parsees, Jains, Buddhists, Christians, and Sikhs are out of the labour force, according to the World Bank.

:: International ::

China’s counter to U.S. strategy

In the year gone by, China, the world’s second-largest economy, had answers to everything thrown at it by the U.S. the known “global hegemon”.
If the Americans focused on their Asia pivot — a doctrinal shift, geared toward the containment of China through the concentration of forces in the western Pacific — the Chinese did not waste any time in building a credible Pacific-centred nuclear and conventional deterrents in 2015.
This has included reinforcement of its nuclear second-strike capability by mounting JL-2 missiles, with a range of 7,350 km, on its JIN class submarines.
Russia was a major partner in building the Chinese military deterrent. Beijing concluded with Moscow a decisive S-400 air defence deal.
The contract nullifies threats by fighter jets or ballistic missiles by the U.S. or Japan if batteries of the S-400 missiles are deployed on the mainland or China’s artificial islands, built atop coral clusters, in the South China Sea.
After protracted negotiations, the Russians are also supplying Su-35 fighter jets to China. The acquisition of 24 Su-35 planes would greatly extend China’s reach over the South China Sea.
The bonding between China and Russia is being reinforced through an extensive energy relationship. With smog resulting from coal-fired power plants choking Beijing and its surrounding industrial belt, China is trying to beat the clock by turning to clean energy in the form of natural gas, nuclear, and renewable energy.
A similar undertaking is expected shortly though the western Altai route, thus making Moscow Beijing’s core energy security partner.
Both China and Russia are working together on undermining the hegemony of the U.S. dollar. The two have already accelerated trading in the Chinese yuan and the Russian ruble. The currency swap tool has significantly eased pain inflicted upon Moscow through sanctions imposed after the crisis in Ukraine.
Trading in local currencies, exemplified by the two partners, is now being reinforced in an institutional manner by two powerful non-western financial entities — The New Development Bank (NDB) of the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) grouping and the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
A $40-billion Silk Road Fund, the AIIB, the NDB of the BRICS, and China’s own state-run “policy banks” will provide the liquidity so that, instead of depending on the West, “new growth engines” are established along the New Silk Road.
China has been conscious that its Belt and Road initiative can more easily fly if it has the cooperation not only of Russia, which will take care of the western flank, but also of its eastern, South Asian flank, through a simultaneous engagement of India and Pakistan as well.

:: Science and Technology ::

Smart-phone based 3-D printer will become a reality

Researchers in Taiwan have developed a next generation smartphone-based 3D printer that may cost just over $100.
The printer employs a photopolymer that uses visible light emitted from a smartphone to cure the resin instead of the traditional method of using ultraviolet (UV) light or lasers.
The machine starts by placing a coated vat of the speciality resin on top of a smartphone, which cures the resin onto a metal print-bed as the photopolymer material is released.
The machine uses a z-axis platform to shape the design, and the phone to cure the material as it builds the object in layers, ‘Digital Trends’ reported.
This custom app makes it easy to load and print 3D models because the printer and the print management tool are housed within the same device.
Prof. Jeng hopes to add a scanning feature in the future that would allow users to scan a 3D object by inserting the phone into the 3D printer and printing up the model with minimal effort.

:: BUSINESS and ECONOMY ::

Core sector registers sharpest decline in a decade

Registering the steepest fall in over a decade, the core sector output in November 2015 shockingly shrank 1.3 per cent compared to the same month a year ago, indicating a possible hiccup in the nascent economic recovery and a downturn in industrial production.
The industrial output in October 2015 had recorded a five-year high of 9.8 per cent year-on-year growth on account of a favorable base even as October 2014 registered a negative growth 2.7 per cent.
Significantly, ever since the release of the ongoing series of core sector data in April 2005, the overall core sector has been in negative growth territory only on four other occasions — in July 2005 (-0.3 per cent), October 2013 (-0.1 per cent), March 2015 (-0.1 per cent), April 2015 (-0.4 per cent).
The output of eight core industries — that comprise nearly 38 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) — contracted in November owing to a fall in production of crude oil (-3.3 per cent), steel (-8.4 per cent), cement (-1.8 per cent) and natural gas (-3.9 per cent).
Coal production increased by 3.5 per cent while refinery production went up by 2.5 per cent and fertiliser output rose by 13.5 per cent. Electricity production remained flat in November 2015.
The core industries — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity — had recorded an 8.5 per cent growth in November 2014.

SEBI proposes new norms for Real Estate Investment Trusts

To provide new avenues for raising funds, capital markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), proposed fresh norms for the public issue of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), including cap of 75 per cent allocation to institutional buyers.
SEBI said the proposed norms for the public issuance of REITs relate to appointment of merchant bankers, disclosures in the offer documents and filing of draft papers, keeping them in the public domain for at least 21 days.
For an issue made through the book building process or otherwise, the allocation in the public issue should be maximum 75 per cent to qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) and at least 25 per cent to other investors.
Investment manager can allocate up to 60 per cent of the portion available for allocation to QIBs to anchor investors, subject to certain conditions.
An anchor investor should make an application for at least Rs 10 crore in the public issue and allocation to such investors should be on a discretionary basis and subject to the minimum of two investors for allocation up to Rs.250 crore and five such investors for over Rs.250 crore.

In order to better manage public borrowing govt changes its debt strategy

With an aim to better manage public borrowing, government plans to switch Rs 50,000 crore high cost debt each in year ending March 2017 and 2018 into instruments of longer term maturity.
The objective of the debt management strategy (DMS) is to secure the government’s funding at all times at low cost over the medium /long—term while avoiding excessive risk.
The MTDS is developed for the period 2015—16 to 2017—18 based on the outstanding government market borrowing as on end—March 2015.
The borrowing cost in the domestic market is expected to be lower in fiscal year 2015-16 due to reversal in the interest rate cycle.
With an objective to smoothen redemptions, switching of short tenor bonds maturing at proximate years with long-tenor bonds will be undertaken and is expected to reduce rollover risks.

Central bank has asked for more brick and mortar branches in villages

India’s central bank has asked the lenders to open more brick and mortar branches in villages with no banking facilities and with a population of more than 5,000.
The banking regulator has asked banks to submit a roadmap on how many branches they will be opening by 31 March 2017. Banks have to submit the roadmap by end of January 2016.
It has been observed that coverage of banking services in unbanked villages is skewed towards the BC model and the ratio of branches to BC is very low.
For increasing banking penetration and financial inclusion, brick and mortar branches are an integral component.
This will also enable banks to provide quality financial services and timely support to BC outlets that would help in sustaining and strengthening the services provided through BCs and also ensure close supervision of BC operations.