Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 01 June 2016

:: National ::

Sixteen men were killed in a massive fire at the Army’s Central Ammunition Depot

Sixteen men, including two Army officers, were killed in a massive fire at the Army’s Central Ammunition Depot (CAD) in Pulgaon town of Maharashtra’s Wardha district.
CAD is the most crucial ammunition depot of the Army and among the largest in the world.
Mr. Parrikar did not rule out sabotage. “But according to the Army officers and the experts, the possibility of sabotage seems less,” he said.
Residents of villages such as Agargaon, Pipary and Nagjhari, situated within 5 km of the depot, moved to safer locations. Some houses were damaged when the ammunition exploded but no one was injured.

PM increased the retirement age for doctors of central services to 65 years

Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the retirement age of 65 years for doctors of central services, in an aim to strengthen the healthcare sector in the country.
It said the move would enable the government to retain experienced doctors for a longer period, and to provide better services in its public health facilities, particularly to the poorest, who are entirely dependent on public facilities.
The decision comes after Prime Minister Modi’s announcement at his Saharanpur rally recently that the retirement age of government doctors would be raised to 65 years.

The Indian Navy gets new chief and vice-chief

The Indian Navy saw a major change of guard in its top leadership when it got a new Chief and Vice-Chief.
Admiral Sunil Lanba assumed command as the 23rd Chief of the Naval Staff. Later in the day Vice-Admiral Karambir Singh assumed charge as Vice-Chief of Naval Staff.
A Navigation and Direction specialist, Admiral Lanba has served as the Navigation and Operations Officer on board numerous ships in both the Eastern and Western Fleets in his nearly four decades-long career.
Admiral Lanba served as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Southern and Western Naval Commands, when he provided impetus to skill development, synergising combat operations, coastal security and safety and infrastructure development.

Around 53% fail in 10th exam in Bihar

The results of lass 10 Bihar Board exams , showed only 46. 66% students passed, a dip of 28% compared to last year when 75.17 % had cleared the exam.
Out of 15.47 lakh students, as many as 8.21 lakh (53%) have failed and 7.8 lakh have failed in mathematics alone.
The pass percentage of boys at 54.44% was almost 17% more than that of girls at 37.61%. Only 10.86 per cent students were able to attain first division as compared to 21.45 per cent students of last year.
Significantly, all top 10 students are from a government residential school, Simultala Awasia Vidyalaya of Jamui district, which was opened a few years back on the pattern of Jharkhand’s famous Netarhat School.
Last year, when the photograph went viral, the then Education Minister said: “Over 14 lakh students are taking the examination, what can the government do to prevent copying if parents and relatives are not ready to cooperate?"
But this year, Govt had CCTV cameras installed and 70,000 officials and policemen deployed at the exam centres. The government also decided to slap a fine of up to Rs. 10,000 on those caught using unfair means.

:: International ::

About $13 million in bitcoins will be auctioned in Australia

About $13 million in bitcoins will be auctioned in Sydney in June after Australian police confiscated the digital currency as proceeds of crime.
Ernst & Young was running the process, which is only the second such bitcoin auction in the world after the U.S. Marshals Service sold 1,44,000 bitcoins over a two-year period that had been confiscated from Ross Ulbricht.
Based on current bitcoin price of $533.80, the cryptocurrency is valued at almost $13.1 million.
The Victoria State government has confirmed that is had seized about 24,500 bitcoins in late 2013 from a Melbourne drug dealer.
Richard Pollard, 32, was sentenced in the Melbourne County Court in October to 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to drug trafficking on the Silk Road website
Like the U.S. auction, the Australian bitcoins will be mostly sold in lots of 2,000. One lot will contain 2,518.
Bitcoin is a digital currency that allows people to purchase goods and services and exchange money without involving banks, credit card issuers or other third parties.

Dalai Lama says refugees in Europe should eventually return to home countries

The Dalai Lama said in an interview that Europe has accepted “too many” refugees, and that they should eventually return to help rebuild their home countries.
“A human being who is a bit more fortunate has the duty to help them. On the other hand, there are too many now,” he said.
He added that “from a moral point of view too, I think that the refugees should only be admitted temporarily”.

US says Euro 2016 soccer tournament will present “potential targets for terrorists”

The United States warned its citizens that this summer’s Euro 2016 soccer tournament and related events across France and Europe will present “potential targets for terrorists”.
The month-long European Championship finals start in Paris on June 10, drawing the best international teams from the continent and hundreds of thousands of fans.
The French government has ruled out cancelling the prestigious tournament, which is expected to draw two million fans to cities across the country.
To strengthen security at Euro 2016, France has extended a state of emergency put in place after attacks last November on a concert hall, cafes, police and a football crowd.
The State Department travel warning also noted that huge crowds and extra security should be expected in Krakow, Poland, during the Catholic Church’S World Youth Day event between July 26 and 31.

:: Business and Economy ::

India maintains its position of fastest growing major economy

India’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 7.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2015-16, increasing overall growth for the entire year to 7.6 per cent and help maintain its position as the fastest-growing major economy.
India’s gross value added (GVA) for the year grew by 7.2 per cent in what economists termed a consumption-led recovery.
Any movement in investment is due to the public sector. This is being reflected in higher private consumption which is a good thing up to a point.
But it does pose a danger of the re-emergence of inflation unless the monsoon is spot on this time.
The agriculture sector grew 1.2 per cent compared to the advance estimate of 1.1 per cent. The sector contracted 0.2 per cent in the previous year.
Manufacturing grew 9.3 per cent, slower than the 9.5 per cent forecast in the advance estimates. But this is much higher than the 5.5 per cent seen in 2014-15.
The consolidated services sector grew 8.8 per cent in 2015-16 compared to 9.05 per cent mentioned in the advance estimates.
Private final consumption expenditure, a proxy for private demand, grew at 7.4 per cent in 2015-16 compared to 6.4 per cent in the previous year.
Growth in gross fixed capital formation, a measure of private sector investment, slowed down to 3.9 per cent from 4.9 per cent in 2014-15.
Construction sector grew 3.9 per cent in 2015-16 compared to 4.4 per cent in the year-earlier period. However, the sector grew at 4.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of FY16 compared to 2.6 per cent in the year earlier period.
Real GDP or GDP at constant (2011-12) prices for the year 2015-16 is now estimated at Rs.113.50 lakh crore, showing a growth rate of 7.6 per cent over the First Revised Estimates of GDP for the year 2014-15 of Rs.105.52 lakh crore
The statistics office also revised downwards the GDP growth rate for the previous quarters of 2015-16. The first quarter grew at 7.5 per cent, slightly lower than the 7.6 per cent as per the advance estimates.
The second quarter witnessed a growth rate of 7.6 per cent compared to the 7.7 per cent in the advance estimates. The third quarter grew at 7.2 per cent compared to the previous estimate of 7.3 per cent.

Core sector growth remained positive for the fifth consecutive month

Core sector output remained in the positive territory for the fifth consecutive month with an 8.5 per cent year-on-year growth in April due better performance by petroleum refinery, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity sectors.
This is the highest since the 8.54 per cent growth recorded in November 2014.
The eight core industries comprise nearly 38 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). The core sector growth had contracted 0.2 per cent in April 2015.
A number of core sector industries such as petroleum refinery products and cement have shown excellent growth (in April) due to extremely low base.
However, growth in electricity output remains the bright spot. Even growth in cement output is encouraging and appears to be benefiting from the revival of road sector.
Petroleum refinery production rose 17.9 per cent in April 2016 (as against -2.9 per cent in April 2015) while fertiliser output increased by 7.8 per cent (-0.04 per cent in April 2015) and steel production jumped 6.1 per cent (0.01 per cent in April 2015).
Cement output went up by 4.4 per cent (-1.4 per cent in April 2015) while electricity generation increased by 14.7 per cent (-0.5 per cent in April 2015).
The areas of concern included coal production that shrank 0.9 per cent (8.1 per cent in April 2015) and crude oil production that contracted by 2.3 per cent ( -2.5 per cent in April 2015).
Natural gas production also decreased by 6.8 per cent (-3.6 per cent in April 2015).
The core sector output had slipped into the negative territory in November 2015 when it shrunk by 1.3 per cent.

Credit rating agency Fitch says public sector banks credit profile worrisome

The credit profiles of state-run banks are under pressure following huge losses in the past two consecutive quarters, which have weakened their core capital adequacy, says international ratings agency Fitch.
Following the asset quality review by the RBI, the banks, have reported close to Rs.2 trillion worth of fresh NPAs in the last two quarters taking the total stressed accounts to Rs.8 trillion or over 13 per cent of the system.
The 45 listed banks have identified as much as Rs.5.81 trillion worth of loans as NPAs alone as of March 2016.
“State-run banks’ inability to strengthen their capital in a timely manner could have a potentially negative impact on their ability to achieve balance-sheet stability, pursue credit growth and defend market share in the long-term.
Noting that core capital ratios for many public sector banks are close to or below the Basel-III 2019 minimum regulatory requirement of 8 per cent.
It said the domestic banking sector was unlikely to build capital through internal capital generation in the light of the dim earnings outlook, at least for the next two years due to provisioning pressure.
Fitch ratings said cumulative losses at Indian public-sector banks in second half of the past fiscal year were more than double the government’s capital injection in the financial year 2015-16.
They had eroded nearly 15 per cent of capital as of financial year 2014-15. This has heightened the sector’s need for additional external capital.
Though the recent RBI steps to allow part of the revaluation reserves into core equity has helped counter some of the pressure, but it is not enough, keeping in mind the higher capital requirements.
The report also notes that there are few options for the private sector capital to flow in now and their ability to approach the capital markets is likely to remain weak.
The state-run banks face higher capital risks with their average net NPL to equity ratio at around 70 per cent against 8 per cent for private banks.
The note said the new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code may significantly improve resolution timeframe in a timely and effective manner.
So is the recent RBI move to cap banks’ exposure to large corporate borrowers, as it can further reduce systemic risk by limiting concentration risk to large corporates.