Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 01 October 2015

:: International ::

Palestine flag raised at the United Nations

The Palestinians campaigned for a General Assembly resolution that was overwhelmingly approved on September 10 allowing the UN observer states to fly their flags alongside those of the 193 UN member states. The Holy See and Palestine and are the only two UN observer states.
Abbas told the crowd it was a “historical moment” on the Palestinian road to independence and said “the dawn is coming” when the state of Palestine will be free. He declared that in the future September 30 will be “the day of the Palestinian flag.”
He then raised the black, white, green and red flag among cheers and shouts of “Peace! Peace! Palestine.”

:: India & world ::

India matches Brazil's record in university rankings

Seventeen Indian higher education institutions have featured in a list of the world's best universities topped by California Institute of Technology.
While no Indian institution was among the world's top 200 universities, the 12th edition of the annual rankings released by 'Times Higher Education' here on Wednesday has the Indian Institute of Science in the un-ranked 251-300 category and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in the 351-400 category.
With 17 institution on the list, India is now at par with its BRIC counterpart Brazil.
"With the population of young people in the country continuing to expand resulting in further pressure on resources, it is now more crucial than ever that India invests in research and strengthens its links with other nations. The government has spoken about improving its universities but is yet to implement an initiative in this area.
"It will need to act, and fast, if it wants to match up against its fellow BRIC nations and the rising stars in Asia," he said.
Other Indian institutions featured in the list are: Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and Indian Institute of Technology Madras in the 401-500 category.
The 501-600 category has Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Jadavpur University and Panjab University.
Aligarh Muslim University, Amrita University, Andhra University, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, University of Calcutta, University of Delhi and Savitribai Phule Pune University have been placed in the 601-800 category.

UAE Space Agency Seeks Cooperation With ISRO

A delegation from the UAE Space Agency has undertaken a visit to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to discuss possibilities of cooperation between the two space organisations.
The delegation was led by Khalifa Al Rumaithi, Chairman of the UAE Space Agency, and Mohammed Nasser Al Ahbabi, its Director-General, according to statement released by official WAM news agency.
This is part of the agency's efforts to build strategic partnerships and achieve goals of regional and international cooperation within the industry, it said.
The UAE delegation learnt about the Indian space sector and the different programmes that ISRO has led within space exploration, it said.
They also looked at satellite launching capabilities which have positioned India as a leading nation within the industry, as it provides a number of services across the space sector.
The visit also involved a tour of the Satellite Assembly and Testing Center for ISRO, where the final tests are made on satellites before they are launched.

:: Business ::

FDI data on India created a stir

A recent report by a data consultancy owned by the Financial Times of London created a stir by estimating that India is now the most favorite destination for foreign direct investment, beating China and the USA. The fine print indicates that they are talking about "estimated capital expenditures" in greenfield, that is, new ventures. By this estimate, India attracted $31 billion compared to China's $28 billion in the first half of 2015.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data for foreign investment flows does not appear to reflect this, causing much puzzlement in India. The total foreign direct investment that flowed into India between January and June 2015 is pegged at $20.6 billion. If you deduct the outflow from India in the form of outgoing FDI from India, this gets pared down to $19 billion.
Besides this inflow, there is also foreign portfolio investment mainly by institutional investors in the stock market. This was about $17 billion in the first half of 2015.
Putting these two components of investment - direct and portfolio - together yields about $31.5 billion for the same period. But this could hardly be what the FT report is talking about since much of this is neither greenfield nor capital investment.
National Statistical Bureau of China, foreign direct investment into China in the first half of 2015 was a whopping $68.4 billion, more than three times that of India's $20.6 billion, between January and June 2015.
A comparison of RBI data between the first halves of 2014 and 2015 shows that incoming FDI has increased by about 16% in 2015 but outgoing FDI has drastically declined, probably due to weakening economies around the world. Hence net FDI inflow to India has jumped up from $8.8 billion to $19 billion.
Analysis of this data by India's Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) indicates that most of the foreign direct investment has come into the IT sector followed by automobiles, trade and the financial sector.
Major sources of FDI in India remain Singapore and Mauritius followed by the Netherlands, US and Germany.
Net portfolio investment has however sharply declined by about 23 percent from $21.7 billion in the first half of 2014 to $16.8 billion in the comparable period of 2015.
As a result of these opposing trends, the net foreign flows into India have shown only a marginal increase from $30.5 billion to $31.5 billion between the first halves of 2014 and 2015.

:: Sports ::

BCCI set to elect new president

The BCCI has called a Special General Meeting (SGM) on October 4 to elect its new President with Nagpur lawyer Shashank Manohar emerging as a "consensus" candidate.
Apprising media of the development, BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur said the meeting will be held in Mumbai and scrutiny of the nominations will be done on October 3.
The Supreme Court hearing on Srinivasan's eligibility on attendingBCCI meeting is slated for October 5.
Thakur said Srinivasan can not attend the meeting but he was not barred from casting his vote.
Manohar, who has served as BCCI President from 2008 to 2011, has agreed for a second innings as BCCI chief after initially refusing to come into picture.
Jagmohan Dalmiya's demise left the post vacant and most likely the new CAB President and former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly is likely to propose Manohar's name for the post.