Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 02 October 2017

::NATIONAL::

Core banking facilities to be available in Hindi

• The Home Ministry has asked all banks, private and public sector, to enable their core banking facility in Hindi.
  Prabhas Kumar Jha, Secretary, Department of Official Language told that banks have been asked to update databases in Hindi and customers should not be compelled to fill forms only in English.
• “Software that would help banks transact in Hindi has already been developed by Infosys. Banks should modulate the software in such a way that a customer can get the passbook in Hindi. It should also be in regional languages. Some banks in Gujarat and Maharashtra have done it. ATMs already have a Hindi option,” said Mr. Jha.
• He said that as per the Official Languages Act, 1963 there was no provision of punitive action for not using Hindi in official communication but the language could only be promoted through “persuasion and encouragement.”
• Last year, the Official Language department pulled out a 2011 report of the parliamentary standing committee on Hindi and sent it to the then President of India PranabMukherjee for his approval in April. As many as 110 out of 117 recommendations in the report were accepted.
• The Home Ministry issued an advisory to all States and government departments to implement the recommendations.
• A Home Ministry official said the recommendations were not mandatory. In August, President Ram Nath Kovind accepted the remaining recommendations which include “financial services in Hindi.”
• Mr. Jha said though States were free to choose their language, Hindi-speaking States should also learn other regional languages like Tamil

Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve sees increase in leopards population

• In what is seen as a healthy sign of leopard population in the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR), the Forest Department has identified and tagged 111 leopards through camera traps over a period of three years.
• These included a leopardess with her three cubs. To promote conservation of the tiger, the Ministry of Environment and Forests is implementing ‘Project Tiger’ at the 50 tiger reserves in the country through the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
• Tiger estimation is done through camera traps in association with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The STR — spread across 1,411.60sq.km. — has tigers, elephants, leopards, gaurs, blackbucks, four-horned antelopes, hyenas, wild dogs, white-backed vultures, deer and other animals.
• As many as 320 camera traps were placed in the forest during the last three years to capture the images of tigers and other animals.
• I. Anwardeen, Chief Conservator of Forests and Field Director of the STR, told that while undertaking the camera- trap monitoring exercise for tracking tigers, the department got images of leopards.
• After profiling the images based on the unique skin rosette pattern, the department identified 111 leopards, including 35 male, 56 female and 20 unclassified leopards.

Ambala getting ready to host first squadron of Rafale jets

• The Indian Air Force has initiated a major infrastructure upgrade at its frontline base for the deployment of the first squadron of Rafale jets, which will start arriving in September 2019.
• The government has sanctioned Rs. 220 crore to set up 14 shelters, hangars and maintenance facilities at the 78-year-old base for the fighter jets, a senior IAF official said.
• The Rafales will give India greater “potency” to fight Pakistan as they can carry nuclear and other missiles. The strategically located Ambala base is just 220 km from the border.
• Currently, the base has two fighter squadrons of Jaguar and and one of the MiG-21 Bison.
• Several teams from Dassault Aviation, the French manufacturer of Rafale, have visited the base and finalised the requirement for the first squadron.
• The IAF is carrying out an infrastructure upgrade at its Hasimara base in West Bengal, which will house the second squadron, the official said.
• In September last year, India signed a €7.87-billion (approx Rs. 59,000-crore) deal with the French government for buying 36 Rafale jets in flyaway condition. Half of them will go to Ambala and the rest to Hasimara.
• The two bases will have simulator-based training facilities for the air crew. The IAF has selected a batch of pilots to fly the jets and they are being trained by Dassault Aviation in France.
• The Rafale squadron to be deployed in Ambala will be known as Golden Arrows, which was originally based in Bhatinda and disbanded two years ago.

Patna University turns 100

• Patna University, established at a time when not a single girl student was studying in any college of the newly created province of Bihar, completed 100 glorious years.
• It was on October 1, 1917, that the Patna University Act passed by the then Imperial Legislative Council, came into effect, turning the long-cherished dream of the province into a reality.
• The administration of the country’s seventh oldest university has lined up a host of events this year as part of the centenary celebrations, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to formally launch later this month here.
• Since the establishment of the university is closely linked with the creation of the new province of Bihar in 1912, its story is also the story of modern Bihar, both being inspirational.
• The university indeed scripted a new destiny for the province, shaping both academic and cultural life of the students, and in a short passage of time assumed the aura enjoyed by Oxford and Cambridge universities.
• And the iconic buildings of the university, sitting handsomely on the banks of river Ganga, evoke a parallel with the famed British universities.

AIR planning to launch services to other countries

• All India Radio is planning to launch services in several countries such as Japan, Germany, Canada, South Africa and the Maldives and some in the Russian Commonwealth.
• Its aim is to supplement the government’s diplomatic efforts and outreach to the Indian diaspora, an official said.

INDIA AND WORLD

China ignores a standard practice

• India and China may have made peace after the Doklam crisis at the BRICS summit, but suspicions still linger on the ground. China has not invited India for the ceremonial Border Personnel Meeting (BPM) along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to commemorate its National Day on October 1.
• “It is a standard practice to invite [India]. But we did not get any invitation from China for the BPM this time,” an official source confirmed.
• This development comes before the crucial National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which is considered very important for President Xi Jinping.
• The last time a similar incident occurred was on August 15 to commemorate India’s Independence Day at the height of the Doklam stand-off. While India had sent an invitation, China did not respond to it. However, both sides exchanged sweets on that occasion.
• The two sides ended the stand-off just before the BRICS summit in China, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Jinping held bilateral discussions on the sidelines.
• Ceremonial BPMs are held on National Days and, usually, the process of inviting and confirming is carried out a couple of days in advance. It is seen as an opportunity for each side to showcase its traditions and cultural diversity to the other.
• There are five BPM points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) at Bum La and Kibithu in Arunachal Pradesh, Daulat Beg Oldi and Chushul in Ladakh, and Nathu La in Sikkim.

::INTERNATIONAL::

Germany celebrate first same sex marriage

• Two German men made history on Sunday by saying “I do” and becoming the first same-sex couple to marry after decades of struggle, but campaigners say the battle for equal rights isn’t over.
• Wedding bells rang out in Berlin, Hamburg, Hanover and other German cities where local authorities have exceptionally opened their doors allowing weddings on the day the law comes into effect.
• The dash to exchange vows comes three months after lawmakers voted to give Germany’s roughly 94,000 same-sex couples the right to marry, following a shift in position by Chancellor Angela Merkel.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

India’s demand for coal is on rise

• Demand for coal is expected to climb despite ramping up of renewable energy capacity
• With India embarking on an ambitious journey to achieve renewable energy capacity of 175 gigawatt (GW) by 2022, questions have been raised on the relevance of coal in the present context. Does coal, the principal source of energy for now, face a dark future?
• According to analysts, renewable energy sources and coal will coexist, as the availability of coal is abundant in India and it can provide affordable power to propel India’s growth and light every household.
• Despite the rapid growth in renewable energy, legacy coal plants will continue to generate thermal energy. However, most additional capacity in the country will come from renewable sources.
• If coal had a bleak future in India, then the coal block auctions could not have happened or succeeded. This is evident from the fact that captive power plants purchased 80% of the coal offered on a five-year contract at an auction at an average premium of 25% over the notified price.
• With reliable supply of energy becoming critical to provide round-the-clock electricity across the country and to achieve 100% electrification by December 2018, super thermal power plants and other modern thermal plants are being nudged by the Centre to produce more energy from the same capacity.
• The NITI Aayog, which had sought suggestions from experts for meeting the electricity demand under the current circumstances, was advised to allow thermal plants to enhance output without adding any capacity.
• Though the latest prices of solar and wind energy do throw a question mark on whether further thermal power capacity would come up, analysts said coal would continue to dominate in the absence of cost-effective storage of renewable energy that has been generated.
• Today, the plant load factor (PLF) for India’s thermal power capacity has dropped to 52% from 79% in 2007-8 but the country’s thermal plants are equipped to operate at about 85 to 90% PLF. Assuming the PLF is scaled up from 55% to 85%, one can see a 50% increase in output from the same capacity. The only costinvolved here is the variable cost of coal.
• This variable cost is far lower than that for solar power. It is expected to be about Rs. 1.50 per unit and the price difference is expected to be in the range of Rs. 0.70 to Rs. 1 per unit with solar or wind energy, according to industry players.
• It makes eminent sense for the country to increase the output from existing plants. The additional generation will be close to 500 billion units. With an average cost saving of Rs. 0.80 is Rs. 40,000 crore. This benefit will go to discoms and consumers if the country adopts this kind of a strategy.
• To produce 500 billion units, 350 million tonnes of coal would be required — this is the additional demand. Even at a requirement of 300 million tonnes of coal, coal demand will increase by 7% a year from now.
• India uses about 800 million tonnes of coal. The current coal production in the country is 650 million tonnes, while the balance is imported. The additional demand for coal to fire up power plants would contribute a substantial Rs. 12,000 crore annually to the Clean Environment Fund at the rate of Rs. 400 per tonne.
• India’s share in pollution is far less than its share of the global population. Developed countries did want to club India with China and said that what applied to China, applied to India too. Fortunately, India has not succumbed to that.
• Using more coal to meet the energy demand from the same thermal capacity for the next 20 years will not put India at disadvantage given its commitment to meet the Climate Change COP 21 obligations.
• As per the obligations, India’s renewable capacity should be 40% of the total capacity by 2030. Including hydro-based power, that capacity is currently at 28%. Once India implements the 175 GW renewable programme, the 40% criteria will be achieved.
• Besides, India is well within the COP 21 obligation till it uses 1,500 million tonnes of coal a year as compared with 800 million tonnes now to generate energy.
  Analysts also said India could continue with a coal-based growth plan, which is cost effective. This is what China has done to place its economy on a solid footing, said an analyst with a foreign brokerage firm.
• The Chinese share in global emissions is now close to 30%, whereas its share in global population is just about 17%. India’ share in global population is 16%, while its share in emissions is only 6%-7%, said an analyst, highlighting the contrast.
• Even though the NITI Aayog energy policy mentions 330 GW of thermal capacity as target by 2040, it is unlikely to be achieved because of the sharp correction in solar power prices, said an analyst.
• The International Energy Agency (IEA) in a recent report titled India Energy Outlook has said, “The rapid change anticipated for the Indian energy system in the New Policies Scenario does not translate into a dramatic shift in the energy mix. Coal retains a central position in the mix, increasing its overall share in primary energy from 44% in 2013 to 49% in 2040.”
• It said coal-fired power contributes substantially more to output than to overall costs, helping to keep electricity tariffs affordable for consumers in a period when India is adding more costly sources of power.
• In India, coal has always been thought of as the raw material for power. Because the demand from the power sector was much more than the availability of coal in the last 10 years, no serious thought has gone into any other use for coal.
• Once the power sector begins to use increasing amounts of power from solar and other renewable sources, then coal can be put to use elsewhere: eg, coal can be deployed in the manufacture of ammonia and for conversion of ammonia to fertilizer.
• With the government’s plans to usher in a second green revolution, the demand for domestically-made fertilizer will be high. Thoughts are being channelised now to come up with methods to produce chemicals such as methanol and others of its ilk from coal.
• India’s total coal reserve is estimated at a little more than 300 billion tonnes. If 50% of that is extractable, a 1-billion-tonne annual consumption will translate into availability for 150 years.

Total Return Index

• Currently, a majority of fund houses benchmark their equity mutual fund schemes against simple price indices which capture only the change in price of the stocks that are components of the said index.
• An index comprises a basket of securities taken at the prevalent market price. For instance, two of India’s popular indices Sensex and Nifty comprise shares of 30 companies and 50 companies respectively and the returns are measured based on price movements of the index components. So, an equity mutual fund’s performance was measured against the performance of their respective benchmarks.
• A Total Return Index takes into account not just the Price Returns of the stocks but also dividends paid out on the stocks.
• Total Returns Indices are commonly used as the primary benchmarks for comparing fund performance, but in India this trend is only now taking off.
  Historically, Indian indices have always been tracked for the Price Return, but now you can find historical Total Returns data for most indices, although they are not widely tracked yet, the firm said.
• Total returns included interest, capital gains, dividends and distributions realised over a given period of time.
• The TRI will help in giving the right picture of the real alpha (a metric which measures what the fund has earned over and above — or below — what was expected.
• The alpha that is shown currently may look overstated as dividends are not added in benchmark returns calculation and the move towards TRI is a step towards “responsible and transparent communication with our advisors and investors and also sets high standards in investment management,” BlackRock said.
• The number of equity mutual funds beating the benchmark dropped to 58% from 85% after making a comparison on TRI rather than on Price Return Index basis.
• From an investor stand point, TRI would give the actual picture of what exactly he or she earns from a mutual fund investment. From the standpoint of fund managers, it will make them work a little harder to make the right stock pick.
• One has to wait and see how the TRI changes the working style of fund managers and their performance in India.

To reduce power costs competition is required

• India is the world's third-largest producer and fourth-largest consumer of electricity. In the last couple of years, the power sector witnessed record capacity addition taking the installed generation capacity to more than 330 GW.
• Considering its role in developing the economy and in achieving universal electrification, the Central and State Governments have always given special tax treatment to the power sector in the past. But post GST, that trend may not continue.
• The GST Act has kept electricity out of its ambit while keeping the capital goods and services consumed by the sector under its coverage. Power generating companies will hence not be able to claim input tax credit — that is, they cannot pass on the tax they paid for inputs to the consumers.
• There is also no benefit of input tax credit in respect of state VAT on inputs used in the process of power generation and distribution. So, the cost of power will come embedded with taxes on power generation equipment and other inputs.
• A marginal rise in the power tariff is therefore inevitable at least in the short to medium term.
  Though the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts could see a reasonable decrease as works contract gets subsumed into service tax, they cannot avail input tax credit on contracts for the same reason that electricity is outside the GST regime.
• As for the renewable sector, there will be an increase in cost of generation to the extent of 5-10%, due to the increased tax incidence on many of the components that go into the manufacturing of solar PV systems and wind generation systems.
• According to an estimate by the Ministry of New and Renewable energy, the cost of setting up solar off-grid projects will rise by 16-20%, after GST. There will be an about 16% increase in solar PV grid installations and a 11-15% jump in the cost of setting up of wind energy projects. As far as biomass and hydro projects are concerned, the increase in project cost will be about 11-14% and 11% respectively.
• But the GST does come with its own benefits. Domestic coal, for instance, has been brought under the 5% tax slab — in the past, the tax slab for coal varied from 11% to 12%. This comes as a much needed breather for a majority of private sector thermal power generators who are struggling with low returns. It is estimated that the variable cost of generation for coal-based power companies will be decline by 5-6 paise a unit, or about 1% of the current open market tariff.
• The impact of GST will be positive for the electrical and the lighting sectors that will enjoy reduction in indirect taxes — from about 30% to 18%. India has announced a major initiative to achieve an all Electric Vehicle Regime by 2030. Towards this, the GST at 12% for Electric Vehicles compared with 28% for diesel /petrol vehicles and hybrids is a major step.
• The fallout of the programme will give a major boost for the demand pick-up. With more and more charging stations coming up, electricity demand should go up by a few hundred gigawatts by 2030. This indeed is a welcome move.
• While the government needs to rationalise the tax structure and pave the way for the seamless flow of input tax credit, eventually market competitiveness of power generators — public or private, conventional or renewable — could absorb the increase, relieving consumers of the burden.

::SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY::

Solar storm hits Mars

• An unexpectedly strong solar storm hit Mars, sparking a global aurora and doubling radiation levels on the red planet, NASA scientists say.
• The solar event on September 11 sparked an aurora more than 25 times brighter than any previously seen by the MAVEN orbiter, which has been studying the Martian atmosphere’s interaction with the solar wind since 2014.
• It produced radiation levels on the surface more than double any previously measured by the Curiosity rover’s Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) since that mission’s landing in 2012. The high readings lasted more than two days.
• NASA’s distributed set of science missions is in the right place to detect activity on the Sun and examine the effects of such solar events at Mars as never possible before.
• It occurred in conjunction with solar activities during what is usually a quiet period in the Sun’s 11-year sunspot and storm-activity cycle.
• This event was big enough to be detected at Earth too, even though Earth was on the opposite side of the Sun from Mars.
• RAD monitored radiation levels inside the encapsulated spacecraft that carried Curiosity from Earth to Mars in 2011 and 2012 and has been steadily monitoring the radiation environment at Mars’ surface for more than five years.
• RAD findings strengthen understanding of radiation’s impact on Mars habitability, a key objective of the Curiosity mission.

A plant based ink likely to kill cancer cells

• A plant-based ink, that has been used by Chinese calligraphers for hundreds of years, could non-invasively kill cancer cells, scientists claim.
• As cancer cells leave a tumour, they frequently make their way to lymph nodes, which are part of the immune system.
• In this case, the main treatment option is surgery, but this can result in complications.
• Photothermal therapy (PTT) is an emerging non-invasive treatment option in which nanomaterials are injected and accumulate in cancer cells. A laser heats up the nanomaterials, and this heat kills the cells.
• Many of these nanomaterials are expensive, difficult-to-make and toxic.
• However, a traditional Chinese ink called Hu-Kaiwen (Hu-ink) has similar properties to the nanomaterials used in PTT.
• For example, they are the same colour, and are both carbon-based and stable in water.
• The researchers also noted that Hu-ink could act as a probe to locate tumours and metastases because it absorbs near-infrared light, which goes through skin.

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